Charlottesville, Va.-based Utrain, a platform that brings together basketball players and trainers, is still eyeing funding after receiving a $20,000 grant from the University of Virginia investing group, UVA Licensing & Ventures Group last December.
In a report last June, Business Journal said the developer of an all-in-one basketball training software solution aimed to raise $1 million on a $5 million valuation.
“We have a couple of pieces that we’ve been talking to that also have previous investments in the sports industry and have some synergy there,” co-founder and CEO Daniel Ginsberg told Business Journal.
Ginsberg, a former professional basketball player and coach with experience of training in China, and four others co-founded Utrain in 2019. Utrain’s other co-founders are: Chief Technical Officer Darryl Smith II, Chief Financial Officer Joseph Toe, brand ambassador Korey Harris and marketing president Cade Lemcke, a former University of Virginia basketball player.
The New York-born Ginsberg is an alumnus of Blue Ridge School in St. George, Va. He has played professional basketball in Israel with Hapoel Eilat B.C. and served as a trainer at Stronger Me, a basketball education company in Beijing. In China, he worked with elite trainer Gannon Baker and former NBA All-Star Stephon Marbury.
Ginsberg has leveraged the ties to strike a deal with Ganon Baker Basketball (GBB), a powerful brand in global basketball. The partnership will allow new trainers to complete a Ganon Baker Certification Program.
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“The global partnership with Ganon Baker Basketball will ensure that athletes and parents looking for trainers on the Utrain Platform have unrivaled assurance that they are working with highly qualified and verified trainers around the globe,” Toe said when the deal was finalized in late 2021. Under the partnership, Utrain will also provide an all-in-one business management solution for GBB Certified trainers.
Utrain’s app has several features that make booking appointments with trainers a breeze. According to Utrain, Americans spend an estimated $1.2 billion on basketball training annually. It charges a commission for users.
UVA Licensing helps innovations discovered at UVA to the marketplace. Its recent investments include BrightSpec, GenEp, Nanochon, Mission Secure and Slate Bio.
