Capital raise drives V1’s continued growth as a leading sports improvement solutions brand
Novi, MI – With a recently closed round of funding from Black Cat Ventures, V1 Sports (V1), the leader in video analysis software and mobile apps, revolutionizing the way coaches and athletes improve, will be pursuing projects that further cement the brand as the number-one solutions provider for those instructors, coaches and improvement-driven athletes. Black Cat Ventures is the golf technology fund founded by Michael Jordan and managed by his partners Ken Weyand and Darren May, the general manager and golf coach at The Grove XXIII in Hobe Sound, FL, respectively.
Under the direction of CEO Bryan Finnerty, V1 has developed into a vital game-improvement ecosystem for coaches and athletes across multiple sports. By running the 26-year-old company with the energy and direction of a groundbreaking start-up, Finnerty has added an expert executive team, expanded the product line and positioned V1 as a leading developer of sports improvement software applications. As a longtime leader in the golf industry, V1 offers best-in-class professional and consumer video analysis apps to Improve Your Swing, and the most innovative GPS and stats app with auto shot tracking intelligence to Improve Your Score.
“Our team has been working to make V1 Sports mean ‘more things to more athletes’ and to be attractive to potential investors,” Finnerty says. “We’re pleased that our investors’ enthusiasm for the process of sports instruction, development and training truly aligns and now sets the framework for an ecosystem athletes and coaches can trust for a lifetime.”
While best known for its pace-setting video analysis platform, V1 has been steadily growing its stable of game improvement technology in recent years. The portable V1 Pressure Mat, provides instant visual feedback and ground pressure data integrated into the V1 video stream and has become a powerful tool for player and coach to see and quantify what the athlete could only feel in the past. 2020 saw the launch of the award-winning V1 Game mobile app for GPS course data, intelligent auto shot tracking and powerful stats analysis providing insight for the golfer and instructor to evaluate on-course performance. Also last year, V1 launched the rapidly-growing V1 Baseball segment of its business, extending its focus beyond golf.
Finnerty, an entrepreneur and former professional soccer goalkeeper in the National Professional Soccer League, has been laying the groundwork for V1’s expansion with calculated restructuring. This latest investment in V1 will accelerate projects slated to further solidify the brand as the go-to solution for data capture, analytics, training and coaching, including new and improved ways for athletes to get what they need from coaches who have the expertise to help them on their journey.
“As an all-inclusive ecosystem for learning, practicing, improving, coaching and commerce, we see that the amount of data available to athletes today is vast, but we want to help athletes, from professionals to enthusiasts, interpret that data in a way that actually helps them perform better. Our investors’ belief in our trajectory, and how it fits their overall vision for providing elite coaching and training methodologies to more athletes, is a huge inspiration to our growth process,” Finnerty says. “The best coach for you might be 2,000 miles away, but that shouldn’t restrict your access to learn the way elite athletes learn in a way that fits your goals and lifestyle.”
To learn more about V1 Sports and its current products and future plans for athletes and coaches, visit www.v1sports.com.
About V1 Sports V1 Sports builds innovative software, systems, and services that give athletes and coaches the integrated video capture and analysis, ground pressure measurement, and game tracking and stats tools, to revolutionize improvement. Founded in 1995, V1 Sports offers tools to capture, review and analyze athletic movement and is the pioneer in delivering seamless voice-over video lessons with integrated telestration, pressure data and personalized tips and drills. With more than 10,000 coaches and three million athletes, V1 Sports is the leading video analysis solution for the most respected coaches, instructors, athletes, and training facilities around the world. The V1 Golf App enjoys worldwide leadership among consumers as evidenced by millions of downloads. V1 Golf has been ranked the No. 1 Video Analysis app by Golf Digest multiple times. V1 Game was named the best Apple Watch app for golf by GolfPass in 2021. Visit https://v1sports.com/. Follow V1 Sports on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram @v1sports.
