HomeTeam Live scores $450,000+ in pre-seed capital

START Cohort 5 winner and current Cultivator GROW Company, HomeTeam Live, recently announced the closing of a CAD $450,000+ pre-seed raise – a raise that was 200% higher than their initial goal! This is the company’s first round of funding that includes external high net-worth investors, as well as angel investors from Saskatchewan and across Western Canada. 

We had the opportunity to sit down with HomeTeam Live’s Co-Founder and CEO, Tanner Goetz, for an update on the company’s first round of official funding and a look back at their journey through Cultivator thus far…

For someone who isn’t familiar with HomeTeam Live, tell us what you are all about!

HomeTeam Live’s streaming software provides broadcast-quality video for amateur sports, allowing parents, family, coaches, athletes, fans, and scouts the ability to log in and watch the event from anywhere in the world. We differentiate ourselves through:

• Quality – Most amateur streaming apps only show the game and the video feed is usually low resolution. The HomeTeam Live video is near “Major Broadcast Quality” with additional videos/content between intermissions– this includes advertising, instant replays, play-by-play, voice overlays for sponsors, and much more. This content is injected into the video feed with the use of our proprietary software.
• Revenue Sharing – HomeTeam Live is proud to have the only amateur streaming app with additional content and advertising included in the video streaming feed.  Organizations will receive a percentage of revenue based on subscribers and they will be able to sell advertising directly to their sponsors. This creates a revenue stream for the amateur sports organization to help fund their operations and keep amateur sport viable in local communities.
• Sport and Hardware Agnostic – The few sports streaming products that are on the market are typically either reliant on a specific camera installation, which is cost-prohibitive for amateur sports organizations, or are only available for a single sport (like hockey).  HomeTeam Live has made it a priority from the very beginning to be agnostic with respect to sport and the hardware installed.  This lowers the barrier to entry and ensures that our app is accessible for all teams and players regardless of their chosen sport.
• Canadian Radio Telecommunications Commission Regulations – It’s recognized that companies like Rogers, Telus, SaskTel, and Bell are mandated by the government to show a certain amount of local content. There is a systemic shortage of local correspondents for these broadcasters to utilize in order to maintain compliance with CRTC regulations. These broadcasters regularly face fines when they are unable to meet the CRTC requirements. HomeTeam Live streams are high enough quality to be able to be distributed on major broadcast platforms to satisfy the CRTC requirements.

Who is currently using your technology and where are you seeing the most demand for your product?

Associations and venues are primarily the first users of our app, then once onboarding a league, we will see families of players, scouts, and friends subscribe to watch the athlete’s games. Initially, upon starting HomeTeam  Live, we saw a big uptake in the Hockey community, however, as we did more discovery, we were surprised by the number of sports that are a little more underserved, we’re willing to use the technology. This includes Volleyball & Gymnastics. 

When did you first come up with the idea for HomeTeam Live? What problem are you solving with your technology and how were you inspired to find a solution?

My co-founder, Logan Fraser, and I primarily worked in sports marketing for the last 10 years. We noticed a lack of quality streaming options available to amateur sports, particularly outside of hockey. We also saw a market for advertising within the streaming feeds.

We know how hard it can be for families to travel across cities, provinces, and even countries to watch their loved ones participate in sports–  particularly as these amateur athletes start competing at higher and higher levels. At the same time, leagues and teams continue to struggle with the rising cost of amateur sports and how to fundraise enough to minimize the impact on participation fees which present a meaningful barrier to amateur sports participation.

When the pandemic hit in March of 2020, it removed many of the opportunities to watch amateur sport in person, and we knew that this idea to live stream amateur sporting events was going to be in even greater demand.

Tell us more about HomeTeam Live’s journey…

Since incorporating in June 2021, we’ve come a long way! We started off working with the integrations with telecommunication organizations and shortly grew into a full-fledged live-streaming app. We understood early on that we were going to have to raise money, and we started on this in August 2021. We had everything in line, the team, the software, the customers, and now we just had to raise money to execute on our roadmap. HomeTeam Live is really about the Home Team , and as the months have gone by we’ve been able to add a lot of strategic partners including Grassland Ventures, Cultivator, and Munz Media. Our team of a small group has now grown into over 20 people working in sales, development, operations, installers, and a veteran executive advisory board. After winning the Cultivator START Cohort 5 Demo Day, this gave us a lot of validation, to keep pushing, and keep raising money.

Your success in START Cohort 5 was incredible! What was the experience like going through Cultivator’s START program?

I continually say that going through the START Program was really about taking the “idea” to a real “company” in such a short intensive term. The team at Cultivator truly had our back, constantly giving us feedback, hosting educational sessions, promoting us, and simply filling our team with energy. Coming from primarily a traditional business, I personally had a lot of learning to do in the tech space, and Cultivator really achieved this for me. I have a lot to owe to this group of fantastic people.

What advice do you have for others that are looking to join the START program?

START is the best thing to do in the early stage of your startup. You get to go through the motions of building your brand, slide deck, customer discovery, and identifying your problem and solution. From my experience, starting a business in the early stages can take time, but going through the START program can really accelerate your company, and help yourself grow as a founder

What are some of the biggest challenges you foresee in the future for HomeTeam Live?

Managing a rapid pace of growth over an extended period of time is very difficult.  Many think that high-growth organizations have it easy but maintaining these growth rates present their own unique challenges around accessing both human and financial capital.  These challenges are typically made harder when the focus of the team starts to fray or scatter. Maintaining laser focus on our core mission will be a constant challenge as HomeTeam continues to expand.

How do you plan on using the $450K?

With the current funding round, we hope to cover most development costs on our current product roadmap. This funding round also includes the use of funds for hardware development, and team hires– with a focus on sales and revenue acquisition. We also plan for additions to the HomeTeam Live App, along with the build of an IOS & Android App.

Where do you see HomeTeam Live a year from now? What excites you about this?

For us, we see HomeTeam across hundreds of sports, leagues, and venues across Canada & the US. That’s the goal right now. This is exciting for our group because working with people in sports is our passion, and we have had some really cool experiences with each league.

We can’t thank Tanner enough for taking the time to sit down with us. Congratulations to the entire HomeTeam squad on your pre-seed capital raise! We can’t wait to see your continued success through our GROW program in the coming weeks!

To learn more about HomeTeam Live, visit www.hometeamlive.com/ or by checking out the video below 👇