Twitter's Dorsey, Warrior Durant Invest in Fitness Tracker Whoop

(Bloomberg) -- Twitter Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey and Golden State Warriors All-Star Kevin Durant are among the newest investors in Whoop Inc., a wearable fitness tracker popular with professional and elite athletes.

The $25 million Series C funding round was led by UAE71 Capital, said Whoop Chief Executive Officer Will Ahmed. The latest investors also include former National Basketball Association Commissioner David Stern. The venture arm of the National Football League Players Association was already a backer.

“I'm intrigued by the notion that the proper use of data, such as that provided by Whoop, can improve players' health and extend their careers,” said Stern, who will join the Boston-based company as an adviser.

While Whoop's wrist strap costs $500 and caters to elite jocks, the company is seeking to increase its popularity among weekend warriors, a group Ahmed called “undertargeted.”

“We're going to double down on marketing related to the consumer audience,” he said.

Whoop was founded in 2012 by Ahmed, a former varsity squash team captain at Harvard University, and two of his classmates. He declined to disclose the company's valuation.

The company is valued at about $100 million after the latest raise, said a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because that information was private.

Ahmed said Whoop would pursue more deals with professional and college sports teams, including entire athletic departments at select universities.

Also participating in the raise were the NFL Players Association, separately from the group's venture arm, and Thursday Ventures, as well as existing investors Two Sigma Ventures, Accomplice, Mousse Partners, Promus Ventures and NextView Ventures.

Other individuals who participated included NFL player Russell Okung, Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz and MIT Media Lab founder Nicholas Negroponte. Stern is also an adviser at Paul Taubman's PJT Partners, which advised the company on the raise.

Whoop raised $12 million in a Series B funding round in 2015.

To contact the reporter on this story: Scott Soshnick in New York at ssoshnick@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Janet Paskin at jpaskin@bloomberg.net, Michael Hytha, Elizabeth Fournier

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