This Ex-College Athlete Has Raised $500K For Her AI Startup That Analyzes Basketball Performance
Sports tech company, Ballin AI, just announced the close of a $500,000 angel round. The startup, founded by Division I athlete Nyla Pollard, analyzes players’ gameplay to help them improve their performance and increase their recruitment chances.
After players upload their film, the footage is examined by a nationally recognized evaluator, who then scores it across various criteria, including defense, shooting, rebounding, scoring, transition, ball handling, and finishing.
How does Ballin AI work?
“We created Ballin because every athlete deserves the opportunity to have the information they need to develop their game and to own their recruitment process,” Pollard said in a video on their website. Each athlete receives a personalized development plan as well as an option to join the company’s AI-powered ranking system to see how they perform compared to other athletes.
Pollard’s idea for the startup came after her graduation during her own college recruitment process.
“I remember reflecting on my own recruiting process and thinking, ‘Oh, this could be better,'” she told her alma mater in January, as reported by Black Enterprise. “But I didn’t really start working on it until November of 2022, and we formally incorporated our company in 2023.”
“My initial idea was to focus on the recruiting process and how to make that better for coaches and players. Then, when we dove into customer discovery and market research, we really landed on the right solution for right now,” she added.
$500,000 Angel round
Pollard announced the close of its $500,000 Angel round in a LinkedIn post, sharing that Slauson & Co., Oregon Sports Angels, ACT House, and FBomb Angels Investment Club participated in the round.
“We’re backed by an incredible group of early believers fueling our mission: to make recruiting faster, smarter, and data-driven for both athletes and coaches,” Pollard said.
Image: JE Visuals
