SGB Update Sports & Fitness

Nike Unveils One-Million-Square-Foot Serena Williams Building

Nike has unveiled the Serena Williams Building, a one-million-square-foot space at its headquarters in Beaverton, OR. The structure houses 200,000 square feet of lab space for Nike’s Consumer Creation team to “create the future of sport.”

PlayOn! Sports To Merge With GoFan

PlayOn! Sports, operator of the NFHS Network, and GoFan, a digital ticketing company in the high school sports market, have entered into a definitive merger agreement.

Centric Brands Acquires Hosiery Division From Daytona Apparel Group

Centric Brands LLC.  announced the strategic acquisition of a division of Daytona Apparel Group, a portfolio of retail brands owned by Windsong Brands, that closed on March 24th of this year. Centric will take full ownership of Daytona Apparel Group’s hosiery division which sells product across multiple brands in stores nationwide.

Higg Raises $50M In Series B Funding Round

Higg Co, the technology company behind the Higg Index platform, announced its $50 million Series B funding round. The funding is co-led by technology growth investor Silversmith Capital Partners, Tom Steyer and Katie Hall’s Galvanize Climate Solutions, along with participation by Series A partners Titan Grove and Buckhill Capital.

Puma’s Q1 Boosted By Americas Momentum

Puma reported earnings rose 11.2 percent in the first quarter on a 23.5 percent revenue gain. Currency-neutral growth of 19.7 percent was led by gains of 44.1 percent in the Americas region and 25.5 percent in EMEA that offset declines in Greater China. The company maintained its outlook for the year.

Garmin Sees 9 Percent Growth In First Quarter

Garmin reported sales grew 9 percent in the first quarter ended March 26. Sales gains of 50 percent in its Outdoor segment and 21 percent in its Marine segment offset a decline of 28 percent in its Fitness segment.

Darn Tough Vermont Appoints COO

Darn Tough Vermont announced the promotion of Angelica Taylor to chief operating officer. Taylor is advancing into this role after spending the last year as Darn Tough’s vice president of finance.

Altis Closes $10.5 Million Seed Round

Altis, a start-up offering a personal fitness trainer supported by artificial intelligence, announced it has secured over $3 million in financing, bringing its total financing to date to $10.5 million, with additional investments from Mike Capps, former head of gaming titan Epic Games; Bill Flynn, former CEO of Amtrak; and U.S. Olympians JR Celski and Georganne Moline.

Wahoo Acquires RGT Cycling

Wahoo has acquired the virtual cycling platform RGT Cycling, now Wahoo RGT. Terms were not disclosed.

Brooks Takes Top Spot In Performance Running Market

Brooks Running said that in the first quarter, it took the top spot in the U.S. national performance footwear market for the first time, with 22 percent dollar share across all U.S. channels—athletic specialty and sporting goods, mid-tier, premium, and shoe chain.