NBA Invests In Kid’s Social Network Zigazoo

The National Basketball Association (NBA) has invested in children’s social network, Zigazoo, joining a US$17 million Series A funding round, which is aimed to create capital for a Web 3.0 expansion.

The platform is aiming to become more involved with sports and media properties, and has also caught the interest of Liberty City Ventures, who led the round, Dapper Labs, OneFootball and Animoca.

Zigazoo, which is worth US$100 million according to a source close to the company, has also worked with the NBA in the past, appearing at the NBA All-Star weekend and Playoffs, where the company wanted to attract young basketball fans to become life-long spectators.

Zigazoo chief executive officer, Zak Ringelstein said the app now has more than 1 million users and will use the fresh capital to develop more creator tools, create a marketplace for digital goods and expand into emerging tech sectors like augmented reality and the metaverse.

Additionally,  the rise of sports has given Zigazoo the chance to include music as its latest addition to the app.

“One of the biggest opportunities in this space is creating long-term relationships with not only kids’ music, but also with pop music,” said Ringelstein.

“That’s No. 1,” he said.

The latest round of investors comes after tennis star, Serena Williams, Late-show host Jimmy Kimmel and social media personalities, Charli and Dixie D’Amelio, invested in the company.