Whistle Sports Raises $20M From NBC Sports, Tegna & Others

Digital sports media company Whistle Sports is "grabbing more money from traditional media players," with a $20M Series C round from investors including NBC Sports Ventures and Tegna (formerly Gannett Co.), according to Todd Spangler of VARIETY. The round brings N.Y.-based Whistle Sports to $60M funding raised to date. Also participating in the latest round "are previous investors Sky, the U.K. satellite TV operator, and Emil Capital Partners." Other Whistle backers include John Malone’s Liberty Global; former MLB N.Y. Yankee Derek Jeter; recently retired NFL Denver Broncos QB Peyton Manning; Clear Channel CEO & Chair Bob Pittman; former Oxygen Media & Nickelodeon Head Geraldine Laybourne; and SeventySix Capital. Whistle Sports, launched in Jan. '14, "now has a network of 400 sports content creators, delivering video across YouTube and social, digital and TV platforms." The company "claims it has 170 million aggregate subscribers, fans and followers with a growth rate of 2 million per week" (VARIETY, 3/10).