NEW YORK, Jan. 06, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, Break the Love, the next-gen social sports platform, announced the close of over $2.5 million in seed funding with a round led by Lake Nona Fund backed by leAD Sports & Health Tech Partners & the Tavistock Group. The round includes additional participation from venture firms Antler Ventures, Red Giraffe Advisors, and Caddie Ventures; as well as Naomi Osaka's coach, Wim Fissette; former Wimbledon doubles champion, Vania King; fitness influencers and entrepreneurs Hannah Bronfman and Sanne Vloet; fashion icons Inez and Vinoodh Matadin; founder of AppNexus, Brian O'Kelley; and others. The company plans to use the funding to build out its social networking features, iOS app, grow its team, and expand its geographical footprint.
It's no secret that the pandemic has sparked a tennis renaissance with racquet sports equipment sales spiking by 65% in Q1 2021 relative to Q1 2019, but getting started and finding a network to play with can be daunting. Break the Love aims to solve this pain point. The platform removes the hassle around logistics, venues, instruction, and organizing players, allowing a true social sports experience to occur at scale.
The idea for Break the Love arose from Co-founder Trisha Goyal's personal understanding of how difficult it was to connect with others and coordinate the logistics when playing tennis. Since launching in 2019, Goyal has found that her users loved the platform's micro-community features with the launch of its interest-driven leagues and groups.
"The level of connection that our users are making with one another is deeper than one might experience in a typical online social network because our platform actually gets users to connect offline through a shared interest like tennis," said Trisha Goyal, Co-Founder of Break the Love. "We've always seen Break the Love as a multidimensional brand driven by the community, and are excited to double down on our unique positioning within the sports landscape."
The platform already has support from some of the biggest brands and associations in the game including Wilson, the United States Tennis Association (USTA), Foot Locker, Tory Sport, and more.
"As a sports tech innovator, we are always searching for the next company that can elevate their market and makes a real difference to their community. Tennis is one of the largest and most beloved sports but connecting individual players and courts, as well as building that support system from players of any age has always been a struggle. We believe Break the Love is the solution and will help keep tennis at the forefront of social sports," said Thomas Rudy, Principal of the Lake Nona Fund.
To learn more, visit www.breakthelove.com or follow them on social media @breakthelove.
About Break the Love:
Break the Love was founded in 2019 and has since grown into one of the most comprehensive resources and communities for discovering and booking high-quality and unique group-based tennis activities to learn, train, or compete. Break the Love is powered by passionate organizers, pros, and athletes. Visit www.breakthelove.com.
About Lake Nona Fund:
The Lake Nona Fund invests in early-stage companies shaping the future of sports and health technology. The $30M Fund focuses on three investment areas: Health & Well-being, Fan Engagement, and Connected Athletes. Located in Lake Nona - an Orlando-based tech community heralded as the Silicon Valley of sports and health tech — the Fund scales the best sports and health tech companies in the world, providing access to the foremost domain experts and industry leaders, world-class infrastructure, and smart capital. For more information, please visit www.lakenonafund.com.
Media Contact:
Jennifer Buonantony
Jennifer@PressPassLA.com
323-496-1976
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