It is pretty unique that athletes hedge some of their investments in Web 2.0 startups.  Maybe WePlay will start a new trend because they have received $8.6 million in Series B funding from Deep Fork Capital, FirstMark Capital, Derek Jeter (MLB New York Yankees Captain and Shortstop), LeBron “King” James (NBA Cleveland Cavaliers Small Forward), and Peyton Manning (NFL Indianapolis Colts Quarterback).

This isn’t the first time that these three athletes invested in WePlay.  The three athletes along with Ron Conway provided WePlay with $870,000 in seed capital.  FirstMark Capital, Tony Parker (San Antonio Spurs Power Forward), Brandi Chastain (former San Jose CyberRays soccer player), and Summer Sanders (Olympic swimmer gold medalist) participated in WePlay’s $3.5 million Series A round.

WePlay is a niche social network with a heavy focus on youth sports.  WePlay features include calendars, groups, profiles, tournament and camp tracking, photo and video uploading, and blogging.

WePlay was founded by Steve Hansen, the former CFO and COO of Yahoo!’s GeoCities.  Rick Heitzmann, the Chairman of WePlay and Managing Director at FirstMark Capital, stated that he wants WePlay to become “the operating system of you sports.”

Related Links:
1. WePlay
2. WebWare
3. TechCrunch

“Television media represents the largest percentage of advertisers and agencies’ media budget today,” stated Brian McAndrews, SVP of Advertiser and Publisher Solutions Group at Microsoft.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has opened up its wallet once again.  This time it’s not for the most trafficked search engine company.  Microsoft has acquired Navic Networks, a Waltham, Mass. -based company that designs & delivers advertisements to cable TV networks.  The price was undisclosed, but there is speculation about the price being $200-$300 million.

Previous investors in Navic include Himalaya Capital, Highland Capital Partners, FirstMark Capital, Pilot House Ventures, and Lauder Partners.  Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is also planning on entering the television advertisement foray through their AdWords program.

Clearly this is Microsoft’s way of becoming more competitive against Google.  Rather than building an TV advertising platform internally, just buy one.

Information Source:
[1] Microsoft Press Release: Microsoft Announces Acquisition of Navic Networks