Smart basketball creator SIQ raises US$3 million to expand reach in delivering player analytics

SIQ Basketball has raised US$3 million in additional funding to accelerate its ambition of delivering personalized analytics to every player in the world.

The investment was led by KB Partners, a Chicago-based venture capital firm with a portfolio that includes multiple sports technology businesses, and included Tera Ventures from Estonia.

SIQ created a smart basketball that has been approved for use by the International Basketball Federation (Fiba),

Through tailored analytics, SIQ's smart basketball allows any player of any skill level to improve their performance. The ball is the same size, shape, bounce, weight, and functioning as a regular basketball, but it also tracks 192 different metrics per shot.

Data like consistency, quickness, and swish percentage is immediately transferred to a linked smartphone app, and the ball learns each player's fingerprints after 500 shots.

The ball comes in men's, women's, indoor, and outdoor versions, with a subscription-based service.

Since its beta introduction in January of last year, the SIQ platform has recorded almost four million shots. The company and its investors feel that the technology, together with Fiba's approval, puts them in a good position to seize a large portion of an emerging market. SIQ will use the new money to broaden its reach and enhance its feature set, which will now include online leaderboards and social games.