Innovator of sports media technology FirstV1sion has launched an equity Crowdfunding round backed by Spanish sports stars. Participating in the campaign for which FirstV1sion is looking to raise €2.5million on the BnkToTheFuture.com platform are Andrés Iniesta of Barcelona FC and Serge Ibaka of the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder.
The funding will go towards developing FirstV1sion’s body vest with an inbuilt camera that projects an athlete's on-court experience directly to the fans. Similar to GoPro camera’s enabling others to view real time experiences from skydivers, skiers and off road cyclists, the body vest provides an in-action view of basketball games. The product was showcased live during a Euroleague basketball game last week between Zalgiris Kaunas and Real Madrid. The result for fans was a first person experience of the game as seen by the Zalgiris Kaunas players who are the first team to test the product.
Like playing a first person shoot-em-up game where you can see the hand and experience the exact motion of the player
In describing the product experience, FirstV1sion described the vantage point to fans “like playing a first person shoot-em-up game where you can see the hand and experience the exact motion of the player.” Edwin Jackson, a player on FC Barcelona Basquet of the Liga ACB added, “It would be very good for fans or even basketball players to see what’s happening inside the game.”
Going forward, FirstV1sion is aiming to integrate the camera vests within the Euroleague for wider usage of the product. In this regard, the company’s crowdfunding campaign was initiated to both increase fan awareness as well as raise funds for product expansion. According to FirstV1sion, a successful crowdfunding campaign of the full €2.5 million goal will allow them to seek deployment of their product in football and other sports games.
Player view during the game
Simon Dixon, CEO of BnkToTheFuture, explained to Finance Magnates that despite FirstV1sion attracting celebrity athletes Andrés Iniesta and Serge Ibaka as investors, the firm decided to sell equity on a crowdfunding platform rather than directly from angel investors since "crowdfunding is angels, there is less of a distinction anymore". He added that they also "wanted to give fans of the game the ability to invest" in the campaign alongside pro-athletes.
In terms of BnkToTheFuture, Dixon said that the firm has been able to attract unique campaigns thanks in part to being a global platform that can accept investors from many jurisdictions. He added that they support multi-currency and Bitcoin deposits which are beneficial to investors. In terms of the current fundraising for FirstV1sion, Dixon stated that 18% of the over €300,000 in funds raised have been in bitcoin.
