When TAKKLE first came out, I thought to myself, “would a high school sports social network really take off?” Every time I hear more news about TAKKLE, my question gets answered (which happens frequently these days). The answer is yes. High school sports is a national craze and I should have known this, especially after watching movies like Varsity Blues starring the guy from Dawson’s Creek.

I read an article tonight on alarm:clock^[1] about the social network receiving an investment from Sports Illustrated and as I investigated more, I found that were other investors in the company as well:

Investors in TAKKLE include:
1.) Sports Illustrated (SI.com): This publication is dubbed as the “biggest weekly American sports magazine” according to Wikipedia. The publication has over 3 million subscribers and 23 million adults read the magazine each week. The company is owned by Time Warner.
2.) New York City Investment Fund (NYCIF): is a company that was founded by Henry R. Kravis. Kravis is known as the 107th most richest person in the world and for founding Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR). KKR registered to go public on July 3rd according to Hoovers. Ironically, I was reading a book about KKR’s involvement with RJR Reynolds and Nabisco in the book, Barbarians at the Gate earlier today.
3.) WMG Investments: Finance arm of Wasserman Media Group, LLC (WMG). WMG is a sports marketing company that was started by Casey Wasserman. Wasserman graduated from UCLA with a major in Political Science and is now also an owner of the Los Angeles Avengers football team.
4.) Greycroft Partners, LLC: A $75 million powered company founded by Alan Patricof. Patricof completed a BA from Ohio State University and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon and is a board member of New York Small Business Venture Fund and New Jobs for New York Association. Greycroft has also invested in PaidContent (technology news blog), Pump Audio (hub for independent artists to sell music), and Ladies Who Launch (social network for entrepreneurial women).
5.) IJ Smith Enterprises LLC
6.) Jack Schneider, Managing Director, Allen & Company

Through the investment by Sports Illustrated, a partnership has been solidified. Sports Illustrated agreed to bring about sponsorship programs for TAKKLE endorsed by companies such as Gatorade and Finish Line. TAKKLE also made a deal with Spalding for a three-on-three basketball competition.

Previous Pulse 2.0 TAKKLE coverage is available at: http://pulse2.com/category/takkle-inc/

References:
[1] Alarm:Clock: Time Inc’s Sports Illustrated Takes Stake In TAKKLE
[2] MediaPost Publications: SI Makes A ‘Deeper Alliance’ With Takkle

Michael Jordan, Carmelo Anthony, Dwayne Wadge, and Vince Carter all have something in common besides being in the NBA.  All of them were involved with Five-Star Basketball at one point.  Five-Star is an institution that educates students and adults about basketball since 1966.  In a move that benefits both parties, Takkle.com (high school sports social network) and Five-Star basketball have partnered with each other.

“We are delighted to partner with Five-Star, one of the pre-eminent brands in high school basketball. High school athletes today not only compete on their high school teams, but also spend a lot of time honing their skills at off-season camps,” stated David Birnbaum, the chief exec and co-founder of TAKKLE. “Our partnership with Five-Star highlights the value of TAKKLE’s robust social networking platform to the leading sports brands and companies in the high school market.”

Takkle will create channels for those who are involved with Five-Star and Five-Star will promote its agency on the social network.  “Via TAKKLE, basketball players attending a Five-Star camp or tournament will be able to check out other athletes planning to attend a camp or tournament, and they’ll also be able to easily stay in touch after the camp” states a press release I received in an e-mail from Jeff Rutherford, Takkle’s media agent.

“Five-Star reaches approximately 200,000 athletes every year through our camps, tournaments, and instructional products,” stated Leigh Klein, the President at Five-Star. “Through our partnership with TAKKLE, Five-Star now has a great online platform to communicate and share content with the athletes attending our camps and tournaments. In addition, we can market Five-Star’s events to TAKKLE’s large and growing community of high school athletes – our target customer.”

Previous coverage of Takkle is available at:
http://pulse2.com/category/takkle-inc/

“Hey, Mickey, you’re so fine, you’re so fine, you blow my mind, hey, Mickey!” states Toni Basil in her song from 1982 called “Mickey.” This is the type of videos that you may see appear on Procter & Gamble’s product-line, Tampax’s promotional contest on the Takkle.com website because cheerleaders are asked to submit 3-minute video clips of their cheers. Users will vote on their favorite cheerleaders and their cheers and there is a $10,000 award for equipment and clothes.

Takkle had received funding from several investors back in November and now has a new and improved user interface. “The reality is if an advertiser want to target on MySpace, it doesn’t know who it is reaching,” stated David Birnbaum, the CEO of Takkle. “There’s no confidence in advertisers in their ability to target their user base.”

From what I’ve seen in the movie (and I’m not afraid to deny it — it plays on TBS all the time!!), Bring it On, high school cheerleaders are hypercompetitive. The being said, this contest could really be a hit.

For additional information, refer to Mashable.

TAKKLE, Inc. which is a social network for high schoolers has announced that today the company has received Series A funding from several venture capitalists.  Some of the investors include Greycroft Partners LLC, WMG Investments, IJ Smith Enterprises LLC, and Jack Schneider, who is a Manager Director at Allen & Company Inc.

“Given our sports-crazed national culture and the explosive growth in social networking, we built TAKKLE to enable amateur athletes and fans to connect via their passion for sports,” stated David Birnbaum, the CEO and founder of TAKKLE Inc.  “With this financing from strategic partners, we are now poised to build on our early success and grow TAKKLE to its full potential.”

TAKKLE is the first and only social network that focuses on high school sports thus far and hopefully the last.  I say this only because I played sports in high school and this is not the type of social network that I see myself belonging to, but I am always willing to try new things.  However, I do give TAKKLE credit for being original and providing modern technology for a market that has never been chased after.  TAKKLE will allow users to upload photos, videos, statistics, and create player and team profiles.  Not even ESPN offers such a service for high schoolers and that could be a winning point for TAKKLE.

Wasserman Media Group, one of TAKKLE’s investors stated that the investment firm would do what they can to support TAKKLE.  Wasserman has direct experience in the sports management industry and is planning on providing brand visibility for TAKKLE.  “We are initially targeting the high school market but will soon grow the TAKKLE network to encompass all amateur athletics – intramural, club, office league, youth, and fantasy – and create uniquely targeted marketing opportunities for our partners and sponsors,” Birnbaum added.

If you are a user of TAKKLE, make sure to root for the Ann Arbor Huron River Rats sports teams in their profiles (if they have one).  That’s right, the former high school of myself and fellow Pulse 2.0 bloggers, Mo Kakwan and Shan Sadiq, was built on a landfill next to the property of the University of Michigan, thus we are the River Rats and proud of it.