Nextiles, a smart fabric technology for athletes, announced its $5 million seed round led by Drive by DraftKings, with participation from the NBA, Madison Square Garden Sports Corp., Alumni Ventures, SmartSports, Phoenix Capital Ventures, and Newlab.
The new round includes investments from prior round investors, customers and an investment from three-time Olympic ice hockey medalist Hilary Knight.
The funding will accelerate Nextiles’ patented fabric-based sensor platform supporting sports analytics.
Nextiles, a materials science company, merges flexible electronics with its patented sewing technology to quantify raw forces, range of motion and micromovements. The intelligent threads are force-sensitive, can be sewn into any fabric and measure mechanical changes via Bluetooth as the material bends, stretches and twists.
This round brings Nextiles’ total funding to over $6 million, building on top of the company’s recent government grants. In late 2021, Nextiles was awarded two Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants from the National Science Foundation and Air Force, both focusing on biometric research.
“We are honored to have attracted strategic investors who believe in our vision of a more connected future,” said Dr. George Sun, CEO and Founder, Nextiles. “Our success has proven the need for a reliable and comfortable technology platform for athletes, so we’re excited to accelerate our expansion into other sports and launch new products later this year.”
“Nextiles is building the future of wearable technology with its semiconductive threads, providing breakthrough movement analytics for athletes to improve technique and avoid injury,” said Drive by DraftKings CEO and managing partner Meredith McPherron. “We are thrilled to partner with Nextiles as they expand their product application across all athletics.”
Nextiles is currently in the market with baseball and tennis and is participating in the NBA’s inaugural NBA Launchpad initiative.
“What stands out to us about Nextiles is its materials science expertise and overall approach to the human performance industry,” said Tom Ryan, vice president, Basketball Strategy, the NBA. “We’re excited to support Nextiles in its next growth phase as we continue to help design and test new solutions to quantify performance better.”
Later this summer, Nextiles will launch its Nextiles Sleeve platform in the tennis market and collegiate baseball.
