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Social Networking - Friday, February 9, 2007

Sportsvite = MeetUp + Sports + First Financing

Sportsvite (www.sportsvite.com), a web service for recreational athletes, teams, and leagues, has secured its first round of financing from Grace Drive Management.

On Sportsvite, members set up profiles that detail their sports and recreational activities. The ad-supported service has two tracks: a social network for players, teams and leagues and a platform for organizing games – from practices to pick-up games to league competitions.

There are a good number of sporting social networks inluding - FanPage, FanNation, FanSpot, Tired and Tested, Takkle and SportsMates. Sports Illustrated bought FanNation recently at a healthy multiple which has buoyed this space. In addition to these all-sports sites, every sport has at least one portal it seems. However, given that many people play multiple sports we do see value in sites like Sportsvite. Still, they will need to get their traffic up quickly as we believe there will be a huge difference between number one and the also rans in this space.

On this sports theme, VC Brad Feld points us to the launch of YourCycling.com, the latest in a string of sports vertical sites from Boulder, CO-based The Enthusiast Group. They also operate YourRunning.com, YourClimbing.com, etc.

View - Sportsvite site
View - Enthusiast Group site