Synergy Leads To Acquisition Of Female-Founded SportTech Startup In Southeast

College sports are a large part of the college experience, especially in the southeast. They both entertain and build community. When fans attend events and root for their teams, they become more connected to their schools and teams.

Kayla Mount and Chris Nowak worked together at an advertising agency, then struck out on their own. As big college sports fans, they often talked about the teams they rooted for from the rival schools of the University of Kentucky and Western Kentucky University, respectively. “Your allegiance to the team from the school you attended never wavers,” said Mount, co-founder and CEO at SportsFan. That bond helps schools fund raise.

“[Back in 2011], we were working with a local university and heard some of the struggles that it was having around student attendance at, what they referred to, as Olympic sports,” said Mount. “People were always attending men’s basketball and football, but they [the schools] also wanted people to get out and come to soccer, softball, tennis, and other sporting events.”

“Starbucks had a rewards program and so did Krogers [a supermarket chain],” said Mount. Customer rewards and loyalty programs get people to return to stores. Why not sporting events? The program could even expand the college’s fan base. Rewards could encourage fans to attend sporting events they hadn’t in the past. And rewards might even attract new fans.

Nowak, SuperFan’s CTO, built an app that attracted six colleges and universities in its first year, 2011. In the second year, about 28 signed up. It turns out the need to attract and retain fans among collegiate sports teams was universal. In 2103, the pair sold their ad agency and went all in on the SuperFan mobile app.

“We knew we had a product that schools liked, but we needed money to scale,” said Mount. “There weren’t a ton of VCs in Kentucky.” Angel and venture capital investors, especially back in 2013, tend to invest locally. “I feel like that’s changing.”

Mount and Nowak brought in Tendai Charasika as CEO. He was a football star and the executive director of Greater Louisville Inc’s (GLI) EnterpriseCorp, the entrepreneurship arm of the region’s leading economic development agency and the Louisville Metro Chamber of Commerce and could help with fundraising. He stayed until 2020.

The two founders were connected to Kristina Montague, a managing partner at the JumpFund. “We were not seeing female founders on demo stages,” said Montague. “We were not seeing any women investors locally.” They [the limited partners of the JumpFund] were a group of women leaders from Chattanooga, Tennessee, who saw an opportunity to change the narrative around women fundraising. They started a fund with only women investors who invested in female founders in the southeast.

“When I was at the university, at the business school, I did a lot of work in PR and communications for the school,” said Montague. “I worked a lot placing ads at football games because that’s where a lot of your alumni and potential students are.” She wasn’t the only JumpFund member who got the potential of SuperFan. Another member was a huge college football fan.

There was no competition at the time, although later, a competitor emerged who didn’t gain traction. “We had a bit of a chip on our shoulder,” said Montague. “We felt people were going to expect us to invest in beauty products or fashion.” Investing in a startup focused on a male-dominated industry was attractive to the partners in the JumpFund.

Also appealing was that the SuperFan team was very diverse. The initial CEO, Charasika, is a black man; the COO (and now CEO) and co-founder is a white woman; the CTO and co-founder, a white man. The team had a wide range of backgrounds, from marketing to sales in the college and university space. They also had a technologist on the team.

Ultimately, about 20 investors—including three venture capital funds—invested in SuperFan’s first round. The JumpFund was one of the three funds that invested. Most investors returned for the second round. Between the two rounds, the company raised about $2 million.

“They’ve [The JumpFund] been super supportive,” said Mount. “Kristina has been part of our board since we took investment money from them, but we have access to Betsy, Corey, and other partners at the Jump Fund.” Montague is supportive through the good, the bad, and the ugly. She rolled up her sleeves whenever SuperFan asked for help.

Funding wasn’t the only challenge the startup faced. Another hurdle was the lack of tech talent in Kentucky. “It was one of the reasons why SuperFan went remote,” said Mount. “We had so many employees that were working outside of Louisville, Kentucky. We didn’t need physical space.”

SuperFan app expanded its functionality into a fan engagement and analysis platform. It now also offers:

• The Fan Data analytics platform: helps customers be more intelligent about who their fan bases are and what motivates them.
• RocketJar: a fundraising crowdfunding platform.
• RevPass: enables teams to generate revenue by creating fan-tailored campaigns, from digital sports passes to specialty gear to boost engagement and drive revenue.
• FlashTix: a secure ticketing solution that provides a fast purchasing experience for fans. The QR code scan system makes an entry at events seamless. The company expanded its market from colleges and universities to high schools, private schools, and even minor league teams.

Vendors in the college, university, and high school sports market all know each other. They talk regularly to each other, which is true of SuperFan and PrestoSports. PrestoSports offers complementary services to colleges and conference offices, such as websites, streaming capabilities, infographics, and stats. It is owned by Club Essential, which Battery Ventures backs. Silver Lake also invested in Club Essentials.

Joining forces through Presto’s acquisition of SuperFan is a natural, strategic fit and a win-win opportunity for both organizations. Both companies were asked by their customers if their services could be seamlessly integrated into the other’s services. Presto needed fundraising and ticketing. Employees, including Mount and Nowak, are staying on.

What market potential do you see that others don’t?