Menu
Finance

Drone Racing League Secures $20M In Funding From Brands Including Allianz, Sky

Corporate brands including insurer Allianz and broadcaster Sky backed "the burgeoning sport of drone racing" by contributing to a $20M fundraising, according to Bradley Gerrard of the London TELEGRAPH. The Drone Racing League, which launched in '15, raised $12M last year "but has been able to almost double that after its popularity has skyrocketed." DRL Founder Nick Horbaczewski said that the sport boasted 33 million TV viewers and 40 million people watching online in '16, according to Nielsen data. The money raised "will be used to help grow its broadcast audience as well as to develop the technology behind the drones," to which it owns the intellectual property and manufactures. The DRL 2017 final took place at London’s Alexandra Palace on Tuesday. Sky Group Dir of Business Development & Partnerships Emma Lloyd said that drone racing was in a "sweet spot" between the media, technology and sports worlds (TELEGRAPH, 6/12). In L.A., Todd Spangler reported the DRL also brought in WWE as a new investor. DRL also announced additional partners and sponsors including Swatch, Forto Coffee Shots and the U.S. Air Force. The league's '17 TV broadcast season kicks off on June 20 on ESPN, and will be broadcast in more than 75 countries with partners including Sky Sports, ProSiebenSat.1, Disney XD and OSN. In addition to Liberty Media, Sky, WWE and Allianz, other existing investors that participated in the latest round of funding in DRL include Hearst Ventures, RSE Ventures, Lerer Hippeau Ventures and Courtside Ventures. DRL also added as an investor CRCM Ventures, "supporting its expansion into China." LionTree acted as financial adviser for the company and Morrison Foerster was the company’s legal adviser (VARIETY, 6/12).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Global/Issues/2017/06/14/Finance/Drone-Racing-League.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Global/Issues/2017/06/14/Finance/Drone-Racing-League.aspx

CLOSE