It’s no secret that collegiate athletes have been cashing in on deals after recent changes to the name, image and likeness (NIL) laws. Now, one startup wants to help them take advantage of the changes by cashing in through another method — the monetization of video content.
Curastory — a creator tool — helps student-athletes by “connecting brands in need of video content with athletes, influencers and actors who create video content and are willing to create directly for brands,” Sport Techie reports.
“So if you have a video talking about your pregame meditation routine, multiple brands can sponsor that, like Calm,” Founder Tiffany Kelly told Sport Techie. “As opposed to making an influencer post for Calm, it’s natural. You don’t mention Calm, other than audio and logo attribution between breaks, and Calm’s logo just so happens to be on the video.”
The unique technology not only allows athletes to have more creative power over their digital content, but Curastory also opens doors toward more equal opportunity for non-mainstream athletes through their social video posts.
Kelly — a former ESPN data scientist — launched the adtech startup in 2019 and on Tuesday, it announced a $2.1 million seed round of funding, according to Sportico. The funding round, which included participation from Lightspeed, Techstars and Mindspring Capital, is set to go toward Curastory’s staff expansion, market growth and sales and engineering footprint. It also comes after inking a deal with the National Basketball Players Association (NBA).
NBA players like Isaiah Thomas, Kelly Olynyk and Langston Galloway have all used Curastory. With the help of NBA players using the creator tool and Kelly’s past work experience with the Miami Heat, Kelly aims to continue bringing more NBA and collegiate players on board to use the technology.
“When creators want to learn more about or begin monetizing their content, the goal is for Curastory to be the first name that comes to mind,” Kelly said in a statement.
