December 13, 2024
Tyree Burks’ Gamers Medical insurance raised an extra $60 million in Sequence C funding.
A Black-owned insurance coverage startup catering to younger athletes has secured an extra $60 million in funding, bringing its whole funding to $100 million.
Minneapolis-based Gamers Well being secured its Sequence C funding with a lead funding from New York-based Bluestone Fairness Companions, a personal fairness agency specializing in sports activities, media, and leisure.
Extra backing got here from Mosaic Basic Companions, RPM Ventures, SiriusPoint, and TriplePoint Capital, the St. Paul Enterprise Journal reviews.
Founder and CEO Tyree Burks shared that the funding will probably be used to boost the corporate’s AI-powered merchandise, pursue further mergers and acquisitions, develop the staff, and broaden Gamers Well being’s presence throughout the nation.
Based in 2015, Gamers Well being started as a platform to trace accidents and allergy symptoms for youth sports activities athletes earlier than increasing into insurance coverage providers for sports activities leagues. Over its 9 years in operation, the corporate has onboarded over 5.5 million younger athletes and boasts a consumer checklist that features boutique health franchise Orangetheory, the American Youth Soccer Group, and USA Softball, the nationwide governing physique for over 150,000 softball groups nationwide. Gamers Well being additionally presents insurance coverage protection for kindergarten by means of Twelfth-grade college athletes.
Raised by a single mom on the south aspect of Chicago, Burks credit sports activities with remodeling his life, main him to Winona State and, ultimately, the Canadian Soccer League. Nevertheless, a sequence of accidents disrupted his athletic profession, which impressed him to discover methods to enhance youth sports activities.
In 2012, Burks launched a sports activities communication app earlier than transitioning to give attention to participant security. To develop his firm, he relocated from Chicago to Minneapolis to affix an accelerator program hosted by Minnesota-based sports activities tech firm SportsEngine.
“I didn’t have a enterprise mannequin. I had an concept, and I refused to surrender,” Burks instructed Twin Cities Enterprise in 2022.
His present success got here with preliminary setbacks and hurdles, together with hiring a developer who didn’t ship, elevating cash too early, and downplaying his mission within the early days.
“I used to be timid to start with—I didn’t wish to be perceived as a heart-led chief who didn’t perceive economics. Fundraising obtained simpler once I went all in on the mission.”
As a part of the funding, Walker Brumskine and Jake Harris from Bluestone Fairness Companions will be a part of the Gamers Well being board of administrators.
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