Relo Metrics raises for sports sponsorship analytics

Relo Metrics, a subsidiary of ad intelligence company GumGum that specializes in tracking sponsorships in sports, is raising a Series B Plus, CEO Jay Prasad tells Axios.

Why it matters: As consumers stay hooked to live sports across broadcast, streaming platforms and social media, sports tech companies supporting the sector have intrigued investors.

Details: Prasad tells Axios he started fundraising just before Labor Day and has traveled to 11 cities to meet with potential investors.

• Relo Metrics is looking to raise eight figures by the end of the year, he says. The company is not profitable and is looking to raise to help scale and then become so.
• GumGum is Relo Metrics' largest shareholder, while the remaining shares are divided among employees.
• Prasad says his pitch includes Relo Metrics' "large" total addressable market around sports marketing. The global sports sponsorship market was valued at $74 billion in 2022 and is estimated to reach $151 billion by 2032, according to a September report from Allied Market Research.

What they're saying: "The market is definitely tough," Prasad says. "Valuations are not what they were."

• "I don't think we face [the] same issues [as others] because we did not have an extraordinarily high valuation set by outside investors in 2021, which would then maybe have to be compressed in the repricing," he adds.

Yes, but: Nielsen Sports is a notable competitor. Prasad referred to it as a "legacy" business and suggested his company has the most scale other than it.

Catch up quick: GumGum Sports launched in 2016. GumGum spun it off as a standalone business and rebranded it to Relo Metrics in 2021, shortly after receiving a $75 million investment from Goldman Sachs.

• Prasad joined as CEO a year ago. Prior, he was chief strategy officer of TV at LiveRamp and chief strategy and business officer of VideoAmp.
• The company is based in Santa Monica, California and has 42 full-time employees.

Of note: Relo Metrics just launched Relo Census, a data set for broadcast and social media sponsor valuation across all games in the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL and MLS. Its platform allows users to compare sponsorships by league, team, region, placement or brand.

• Prasad says the company's goal is to support a transactional currency for sports marketing.