{"id":14940,"date":"2018-02-17T15:27:05","date_gmt":"2018-02-17T21:27:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/?p=14940"},"modified":"2018-02-17T15:27:05","modified_gmt":"2018-02-17T21:27:05","slug":"sports-media-startup-overtime-raises-9-5-million-from-nba-champion-all-star-and-current-technology-investor-kevin-durant-of-the-golden-state-warriors-and-technology-power-broker-andre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/?p=14940","title":{"rendered":"Sports-Media Startup “Overtime” Raises $9.5 Million From “NBA CHAMPION, ALL STAR AND CURRENT TECHNOLOGY INVESTOR”, “Kevin Durant” OF THE GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS, and Technology Power Broker, Andreessen Horowitz"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"Overtime<\/a>, a digital-media startup with dreams of becoming an ESPN-size brand for high-school sports, has raised a $9.5 million Series A funding round, led by Silicon Valley VC firm Andreessen Horowitz.\u00a0<\/strong>Also contributing to the round: NBA star Kevin Durant, \u00a0@KDTrey5 \u00a0,via his investment firm, Durant Co. He joins former NBA commissioner David Stern as an investor; Stern invested in the startup\u2019s $2.5 million seed round in February 2017 led by Greycroft.<\/strong><\/div>\n
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Andreessen Horowitz\u2019s investment was led by Jeff Jordan, a former college basketball player who led the firm\u2019s early investments in Airbnb and Pinterest. Other investors participating in the round include Greycroft, Afore Capital, Box Group, Fitz Gate Ventures, Imagination Capital, 645 Ventures and TACK Ventures, as well as individual investors Durant Co.\u2019s Rich Kleiman, Redpoint Ventures\u2019 Geoff Yang and Fox Sports Regional Networks exec Michael Spirito.<\/strong><\/p>\n
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\"\"Brooklyn-based Overtime is focused on emerging high-school sports stars. Its staff and network of videographers produces short-form content for Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube to cater to a younger demo that is watching far less live sports on TV then their elders do.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The company was founded in the fall of 2016 by Dan Porter<\/a>, a serial entrepreneur who previously served as WME\u2019s head of digital<\/a>, and Zack Weiner<\/a>, a 25-year-old former chess champion turned entrepreneur. Porter, who is Overtime\u2019s CEO, sold his games startup OMGPOP to Zynga in 2012 for $180 million (before Zynga shut it down the following year).<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been this evaporation of a younger sports audience: They\u2019re not watching a three-hour game; they\u2019re watching sports highlights,\u201d said Porter.\u00a0Given that YouTube and Instagram stars are the new celebrities for teens, he added, \u201cthen old guys calling games and pontificating on television couldn\u2019t be further out of touch from what kids want to watch.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"Overtime\u2019s videos have been viewed nearly 1 billion times to date, and they\u2019ve caught notice in the sports world. They\u2019ve been picked up by ESPN\u2019s \u201cSportsCenter\u201d and Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry, who featured an Overtime video on his Instagram feed. The company also has content partnerships with NBCUniversal\u2019s SportsNet New York (SNY) and NBC\u00a0Sports\u00a0Philadelphia.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Porter said Overtime is drafting on the social-media reach of top high-school sports players \u2014 some of whom have hundreds of thousands of followers \u2014 who aren\u2019t covered by traditional media. \u201cNobody had built a national brand for reaching these kids,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s the same dynamic as YouTube stars with massive followings.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Added Weiner, who serves as the company\u2019s president: \u201cThe market for pro sports is saturated. When these players supernova in high school, it\u2019s exciting \u2014 and it gets us the young viewers.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"Overtime, whose headquarters is in the Dumbo section of Brooklyn, currently has 24 full-time employees. In addition, it runs a network of more than 100 remote videographers, who submit on any given night more than 1,000 video clips of high-school b-ballers from across the country. \u201cWe don\u2019t do scores. We don\u2019t do live games. We focus on short-form highlights and behind-the-scenes stuff,\u201d said Porter.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Here\u2019s an example of Overtime content in action. During a Feb. 6 game, Mac McClung \u2014 a high-school senior from Virginia who\u2019s heading to Georgetown U. this fall to play for Patrick Ewing \u2014 made\u00a0<\/span>an insane<\/a>\u00a0between-the-legs dunk<\/a>. Overtime posted its video of the play a little after 6 p.m. ET; by 11 p.m., it was\u00a0<\/span>airing on ESPN\u2019s \u201cSportsCenter\u201d<\/a>\u00a0as one of the top 10 plays of the day. A little more than 12 hours later, it had already been viewed more than 4 million times across Overtime\u2019s accounts\u00a0<\/span>on Instagram<\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>Twitter<\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>Facebook<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>YouTube<\/a>, and on\u00a0<\/span>SportsCenter\u2019s Twitter feed<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>Instagram<\/a>.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u00a0While Overtime has a huge focus right now on high school basketball, the company\u2019s overall mission is dedicated to finding the next generation of sports superstars. Weiner noted that around 30% of Overtime\u2019s views are related to high-school football.<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Right now, Overtime makes money through brand partnerships, under which the startup provides content creation, distribution or both. Brands Overtime has worked with include Gatorade and Under Armour. Long term, Overtime hopes to create video channels that are distributed through internet-TV bundles (like Sling TV and YouTube TV), under which it\u00a0would receive cable-like distribution fees.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"Overtime isn\u2019t alone in building a media business around high-school sports stars. Another player in the space is L.A.-based Mars Reel, founded by twin brothers Brandon and Bradley Deyo in 2010 when they were teenage college-hoops hopefuls.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mars Reel recently closed $2.7 million in financing as part of an initial $4.7 million round of funding from investors including LeBron James, Maverick Carter, hip-hop artist Nas, Translation founder and CEO Steve Stoute; Bruce Tuchman, former global network chief for AMC, Sundance and MGM; and lead investor Robert Hisaoka. Kevin Durant also is an investor. Mars Reel also inked a partnership with LeBron James\u2019 Uninterrupted digital-media company to team on content development and distribution.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kevin Wayne Durant (born September 29, 1988) is an American professional basketball<\/a> player for the Golden State Warriors<\/a> of the National Basketball Association<\/a> (NBA). He has won an NBA championship<\/a>, an NBA Most Valuable Player Award<\/a>, the Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award<\/a>, the NBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Award<\/a>, four NBA scoring titles<\/a>, the NBA Rookie of the Year Award<\/a>, and two Olympic gold medals<\/a>. Durant has also been selected to seven All-NBA<\/a> teams and eight NBA All-Star<\/a> teams.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Durant was a heavily recruited high school prospect who was widely regarded as the second-best player in his class. He played one season of college basketball for the University of Texas<\/a>, where he won numerous year-end awards and became the first freshman to be named Naismith College Player of the Year<\/a>. In 2007, he was selected as the second overall pick by the Seattle SuperSonics<\/a> in the NBA draft<\/a>. After his rookie season, the team relocated to Oklahoma City<\/a> and became the Thunder<\/a>. Behind Durant’s leadership and his pairing with All-Star guard Russell Westbrook<\/a>, the Thunder emerged as a perennial title contender, advancing as far as theNBA Finals<\/a> in 2012<\/a>, where they lost to the Miami Heat<\/a>. He played nine seasons in Oklahoma City before signing with Golden State in 2016, winning a championship in his debut season.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Off the court, Durant often ranks as one of the highest-earning basketball players in the world, due in part to endorsement deals with companies such as Foot Locker<\/a> and Nike<\/a>. He has developed a reputation for his philanthropy and regularly leads the league in All-Star votes and jersey sales. In recent years, he has contributed to The Players’ Tribune<\/a><\/i> as both a photographer and writer. In 2012, he tried his hand at acting, appearing in the film Thunderstruck<\/a><\/i>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Durant playing in a game between the Drew League and the Goodman League in August 2011.<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Though Durant’s height is officially listed as 6\u00a0ft 9\u00a0in (2.06\u00a0m), he has stated that he actually stands 6\u00a0ft 10\u00a0<\/span>3<\/sup>\u20444<\/sub><\/span>\u00a0in (2.10\u00a0m) barefoot and 7\u00a0ft 0\u00a0in (2.13\u00a0m) with shoes.<\/sup> He plays mostly at the small forward<\/a> position,<\/sup> and his career averages are 27.2 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game.<\/sup> Durant has earned All-NBA honors seven times (2009\u201314, 2016\u201317) and was voted Rookie of the Year in his debut season.<\/sup> He has won an MVP Award and finished second in the voting three times,<\/sup><\/sup><\/sup> a trend he has expressed frustration over.<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"Described as a “scoring prodigy” by John Hollinger<\/a>,\u00a0<\/sup> Durant regularly finishes as one of the NBA’s points leaders and has won the scoring title four times.<\/sup> A strong outside shooter, he is one of only seven members of the 50\u201340\u201390 club, and his 2013 campaign was called “one of the greatest shooting seasons in league history” by Grantland<\/a>‘s Zach Lowe.<\/sup> One of the primary reasons for Durant’s shooting prowess is his 7\u00a0ft 4\u00a0in (2.24\u00a0m) wingspan, which helps him get his shot<\/a> off cleanly over most defenders.\u00a0<\/sup><\/sup>He is also a strong finisher at the rim, converting on 72.2 percent of shots in the paint<\/a> in 2012.<\/sup> Early in his career, he was criticized for his slim build, defense, and passing.<\/sup> Over time, he grew as a playmaker, increasing his assist numbers every year from 2010 to 2014.\u00a0<\/sup> He also showed defensive improvement, with opponents averaging just .62 points per isolation play against him in 2014, the best success rate for defensive players who faced at least 100 isolations that season.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"Durant describes himself as a “high school kid” and enjoys playing video games in his spare time.<\/sup> He is very close with his mother, Wanda, a relationship that was detailed in the Lifetime<\/a> movie The Real MVP: The Wanda Pratt Story<\/i>.<\/sup> A Christian<\/a>,\u00a0<\/sup>Durant goes to chapel before every game and has religious tattoos on his stomach,<\/sup> wrist,<\/sup> and back.<\/sup> He owns several properties in the Oklahoma City area and listed his primary residence, located in the affluent Club Villa neighborhood, for sale for $1.95 million in 2013.<\/sup> That same year, he opened a restaurant, KD’s Southern Cuisine, in the Bricktown<\/a> neighborhood and briefly became engaged to Monica Wright<\/a>, a WNBA<\/a> player.<\/sup><\/sup><\/sup> In 2016, he was a credentialed photographer for The Players’ Tribune<\/a><\/i> at Super Bowl 50<\/a>.<\/sup><\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n

Durant was formerly represented by agents Aaron Goodwin<\/a> and Rob Pelinka<\/a>.<\/sup><\/sup> He left Pelinka in 2013 and signed with the Roc Nation group, headed by Jay-Z<\/a>.<\/sup><\/sup> Durant has endorsement deals with Nike<\/a>, Sprint<\/a>, Gatorade<\/a>, Panini<\/a>, General Electric<\/a>, and 2K Sports<\/a>.<\/sup> In 2012, he tried his hand at acting<\/a>, appearing in the children’s film Thunderstruck<\/a><\/i>.<\/sup> In 2013, he earned $35 million, making him the fourth-highest-earning basketball player that year.<\/sup> In an interview with Sports Illustrated<\/a><\/i>, Durant claimed that, despite his high earnings potential, “global marketing and all that stuff” does not interest him.<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Durant playing American football<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

One of the most popular players in the league, Durant’s jersey regularly ranks as one of the NBA’s best-selling and he is consistently one of the top All-Star vote-getters.<\/sup><\/sup> He has developed a reputation for his kind demeanor; in 2013, Foot Locker<\/a> released a series of commercials calling him the “nicest guy in the NBA”,<\/sup> and he has become a beloved figure in Oklahoma City, known for his “nice escapades” toward the Thunder’s staff.<\/sup> In 2014, he partnered with KIND snacks and launched StrongAndKind.com to show “being kind is not a sign of weakness.”<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n

Throughout his career, Durant has participated in philanthropic causes. In 2013, he pledged $1 million to the American Red Cross<\/a> for the victims of the 2013 Moore tornado<\/a>.<\/sup> His generosity inspired the Thunder and Nike to match his donation.\u00a0<\/sup>He is also a spokesperson for the Washington, D. C. branch of P’Tones Records, a nationwide non-profit after-school music program.<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n

In 2017, Durant became involved with YouTube<\/a>. In February, he visited YouTube’s headquarters for a speaking engagement.<\/sup> On April 7, 2017, he created a YouTube account and soon began to upload live stream<\/a> vlogs<\/a> onto it.<\/sup><\/sup> In his first vlog, he detailed, “I’m so excited because I got off social media. I got off theInstagram<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, all that stuff, just to distance myself a bit. But somebody talked me into getting on the YouTube.”<\/sup> As of January 2018, Durant’s YouTube channel has received over 590,000 subscribers and 18 million video views.<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n

On February 13, 2018, Deadline<\/a> reported that Durant in partnership with producer Brian Grazer<\/a>‘s Imagine Television<\/a> will create a basketball-themed scripted drama for Apple<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Durant Company<\/span><\/div>\n
Durant Company is a startup founded by basketball star Kevin Durant that invests in tech companies.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Founders\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Kevin Durant<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Operating Status\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Number of Current Team\u00a0Members\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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2<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Kevin Durant<\/a><\/p>\n

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Rich Kleiman<\/a><\/p>\n

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Feb 6, 2018<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Yoshi<\/a> <\/span>raised $13,700,000 <\/span>\/ Series A<\/a> <\/span>from Arab Angel Fund<\/a> and 3<\/a> other investors<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Brat<\/a> <\/span>raised $10,000,000 <\/span>\/ Series A<\/a> <\/span>from A.Capital Ventures<\/a> and 7<\/a> other investors<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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LimeBike<\/a> <\/span>raised $50,000,000 <\/span>\/ Series B<\/a> <\/span>from Andreessen Horowitz<\/a> and 5<\/a> other investors<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Lively, Inc.<\/a> <\/span>raised $4,200,000 <\/span>\/ Seed<\/a> <\/span>from Durant Company<\/a> and 11<\/a> other investors<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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May 4, 2017<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Propel<\/a> <\/span>raised $5,239,942 <\/span>\/ Seed<\/a> <\/span>from Andreessen Horowitz<\/a> and 6<\/a> other investors<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Overtime, a digital-media startup with dreams of becoming an ESPN-size brand for high-school sports, has raised a $9.5 million Series A funding round, led by Silicon Valley VC firm Andreessen Horowitz.\u00a0Also contributing to the round: NBA star Kevin Durant, \u00a0@KDTrey5 \u00a0,via his investment firm, Durant Co. He joins former NBA commissioner David Stern as an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14946,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11,8,1314,2432,1456,1156,13,2404,14,106,104,187,1,12,7,9,10],"tags":[2521,2522,2520,2523,2524],"class_list":["post-14940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-entertainment","category-global-business-entrepreneurs","category-global-gamers","category-global-news-updates-and-more","category-global-sports","category-health","category-high-school-sports","category-most-commented","category-nba-sports-news","category-ncaa","category-ncaa-basketball","category-news","category-scitech","category-sports","category-us","category-world","tag-1988-age-29-washington","tag-d-c-nationality-american-listed-height-6-ft-9-in-2-06-ma-listed-weight-240-lb-109-kg-career-information-high-school-national-christian-academy-fort-washington","tag-kevin-durant-kevin-durant-techcrunch-disrupt-sf-2017-day-2-36517991413-jpg-durant-in-2017-no-35-golden-state-warriors-position-small-forward-league-nba-personal-information-born-septe","tag-maryland-oak-hill-academy-mouth-of-wilson","tag-virginia-montrose-christian-school-rockville","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14940\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}