Pitch Deck: How athlete-focused startup Millions raised its first $7M

Social commerce platform Millions is trying to change the way athletes monetize their names, images and likenesses, from professional to collegiate levels.

The startup raised its first C$10 million ($7 million) in funding about three years ago and shared a presentation with Business Insider about how it raised the money.

The idea for Millions came about during the pandemic when former boxing gym owner Matt Whitteker heard from boxers trying to sell their own merchandise online and thought an e-commerce platform could help.

“We decided… to help our friends and create a small e-commerce platform for boxers,” Matt Whitteker, CEO and co-founder of Millions, told BI.

Whitteker then noticed the rise of UFC Watch Parties and personalities like Joe Rogan hosting video podcasts as Millions grew, and the company was inspired to add streaming and personalized video components to its platform.

Athletes and event organizers can host live streams, watch parties, and sell personalized videos as well as merchandise on the platform.

“Millions is an e-commerce and streaming platform for athletes to connect with their fans,” Whitteker said. “As part of the streaming platform, we have hundreds of events that use Millions every month to host their pay-per-views… so a little bit of exposure, e-commerce and streaming for athletes and sports.”

Millions aims to bring together services from platforms like Cameo, a personalized video company, Twitch, a live-streaming platform, and Shopify, all under one roof for athletes.

“Instead of having to use four different platforms, if you’re an athlete, a sports team, a gym or an event promoter, you can use Millions as a one-stop solution,” he said.

A month after the premiere In April 2021, Millions attracted about 300 combat sports athletes to its platform. The company said the platform now has more than 10,000 athlete profiles and is used by MMA fighters like Valentina Shevchenko and Bryce Mitchell, as well as UFC commentator Bruce Buffer, who joined Millions as a co-founder “after watching a pre-release demo of the product,” the company said.

It launched by raising seed funding in September 2021, which was led by venture capital firm Volition Capital and included several angel investors. The company said it hasn’t had to raise outside capital again since then.

Whitteker shared key slides from the Millions Used to Raise Early Funding presentation. The company has updated the slides since the funding was raised and removed some financial information, such as revenue and sales targets, year-over-year growth and number of profiles created.

Whitteker said one of the key selling points for investors was the platform’s “network effects.”

“More athletes attract more fans, more athletes and more fans create more content,” he said, adding: “There are multiple revenue streams and a huge global, growing team.”

Here are the 29 most important presentation slides that Millions used to raise $7 million in seed funding: