Charlottesville's Springbok Analytics receives backing from NBA

Charlottesville medical data company Springbok Analytics has raised $5 million Series A round that includes participation from the NBA.

Springbok said it will use to expand and innovate its AI-based muscle health assessments.

The oversubscribed round was led by Chicago’s Transition Equity Partners. Other participants along with the NBA ilude former pro tennis player CiCi Bellis’s Cartan Capital; Sydney, Australia’s Boston Global; Green Bay, Wisconsin’s TitletownTech; Houston’s Anthropy Partners; the Los Angeles-based Getty Performance Science; Charlottesville’s CAV Angels; and Manchester, New Hampshire’s Alumni Ventures.

Transition, TitletownTech and CAV Angels are return investors in the company, which raised a $3 million seed round in 2023.

“The successful completion of our Series A funding is a significant milestone for Springbok Analytics, reflecting our team’s singular focus on establishing the standard of care for muscle health and the growing recognition of our technology’s potential,” Springbok co-founder and CEO Scott Magargee said in a statement. “This investment will enable us to advance our mission to improve muscle health analysis and expand our impact across clinical care, research and health.”

Springbok’s Food and Drug Administration-approved 3D MRI imaging services are used by teams across the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, Premier League and NCAA. The company’s technology analyzes muscle and skeletal structures, providing detailed 3D visualizations and metrics, including muscle volume, composition and fat infiltration.

Its technology was invented at the University of Virginia by a team of researchers including Dr. Silvia Blemker, a biomedical engineer at the university and a Springbok co-founder.

“We are a classic technology story coming out of the university,” Magargee told Richmond Inno in 2023. “There were two or three researchers from UVa. who hit upon an approach that helped surgeons lengthen the tendons of people with cerebral palsy.”

Eventually, the researchers started working with athletes at the university and found other use cases for the technology.

Maplewood, New Jersey, boutique investment bank Full Court Capital served as financial adviser to Springbok for its Series A.

Source: Richmond Inno

By Drew Hansen – Assistant Managing Editor
January 29, 2025, 02:16pm EST