Nextiles, a smart fabric technology company, has raised $5 million in a preliminary fundraising round that was oversubscribed, allowing it to create technologies that might generate totally new streams of data for performance analysis.
Nextiles combines versatile electronics with stitching advanced technologies to generate “smart threads” that can be sewn into any textile. The smart threads record structural alterations as the textile flexes, stretches, and twists via bluetooth, delivering information that can be used to determine the performance and evaluate the potential injury.
Madison Square Garden Sports Corp, Alumni Ventures, SmartSports, Phoenix Capital Ventures, and Newlab were among the investors in the round, which was led by DraftKings‘ private investment arm, Drive by DraftKings.
Hilary Knight, a three-time Olympic ice hockey medalist, is also a stakeholder, as is the National Basketball Association (NBA), which featured Nextiles in its initial NBA Launchpad incubation project earlier this year.
The firm claims to be the only one that can give real-time Newtonian force calculations and 3D motion tracking via compressive apparel, having funded $6 million to date.
George Sun, Chief Executive and Founder of Nextiles, stated, “We are honoured to have attracted strategic investors who believe in our vision of a more connected future.
“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.”
Tom Ryan, Vice President of Basketball Strategy at the NBA, said, “What stands out to us about Nextiles is its materials science expertise and overall approach to the human performance industry.
“We’re excited to support Nextiles in its next phase of growth as we continue to help design and test new solutions to better quantify performance.”
Nextiles is now engaged in baseball and tennis, with their ‘Sleeve’ platform slated to debut later on in the year. Elite basketball, on the other hand, is considered a huge possibility for Nextiles, especially now since the NBA is involved.