Golf star Bryson DeChambeau leads Sportsbox AI startup in Seattle area
Bryson DeChambeau first used Sportsbox AI to win big. He then invested in a Bellevue, Wash.-based startup. Now he participates in the whole company.
DeChambeau, a two-time US Open champion and one of golf’s most tech-savvy players, leads the investor group that found Sportsbox AI, a startup that uses AI and 3D motion capture to analyze golf swings in smartphone video.
In an announcement Tuesday morning, the company also announced SAMI, an upcoming Google Cloud-powered AI personal trainer assistant designed to translate the app’s dynamic data into personalized, conversational training advice.
As part of the partnership, DeChambeau will also carry the Google Cloud logo on his golf bag at the Masters and future tournaments — reportedly the first time the Google Cloud brand has appeared on a premium golf bag.
“This is about making golf more accessible, especially advanced coaching,” DeChambeau said in the acquisition announcement, saying “they’re building something that will bring real coaching to anyone with a smartphone, not just elite players. That’s what excites me.”
Financial details: DeChambeau, who is preparing to compete in the Masters later this week, told Bloomberg the project cost eight figures, without elaborating.
Sportsbox has raised more than $9 million, GeekWire previously reported. It raised an estimated $41 million in a March 2023 seed round, according to PitchBook.
A press release announcing the acquisition described the buyers as an investor group led by DeChambeau but did not name other members.
Co-founders Jeehae Lee and Samuel Menaker will continue to run Sportsbox, said a spokesperson for the group. About 30 of the company’s employees will stay, and Sportsbox will remain headquartered in Bellevue, although many employees will work remotely.
PitchBook lists 19 vendors as fully out of the deal, including Elysian Park Ventures, the PGA of America, golfer Michelle Wie West, golf instructor David Leadbetter, Randi Zuckerberg, and Twitch founder Kevin Lin.
The backstory: Sportsbox launched in 2020 as a spinoff of AI Thinktank, a Bellevue-based incubator founded by Mike and Rich Kennewick, the brothers behind Voicebox Technologies, an early stage speech recognition company.
Lee, the CEO, is a former LPGA Tour player who previously led strategy and business development at Topgolf. Menaker, CTO, was VP of engineering at Voicebox.
The app uses the phone’s camera to create a 3D model of the golf swing and measure hundreds of data points that would otherwise require an expensive motion capture studio.
Sportsbox monetizes coaching subscriptions and a consumer category for golfers for $15.99 per month or $110 per year.
DeChambeau’s connection: In the week leading up to the 2024 US Open at Pinehurst, DeChambeau used Sportsbox to identify and correct small misses to the right on his shots. He gave the company a standing ovation at his winner’s press conference and soon after joined as an investor.
SAMI – short for Sportsbox AI Motion Intelligence – is the next step.
Built on Google’s Gemini models, it is designed to act as a conversational AI trainer, interpreting 3D biomechanical application data and delivering personalized advice. The press release describes it as moving Sportsbox from a passive rating tool to an active AI agent.
SAMI is currently in beta, and the company said it will begin rolling out AI features for the agent throughout the second quarter, starting this week with AI-generated comments available to subscribers of its 3D Player and 3D Player Plus categories on iOS.
DeChambeau told Bloomberg that he was using the technology before the Masters and plans to continue using it during and after the tournament. But he said it is not meant to fill the positions of coaches.
“A camera and a phone will only tell you so much,” he told Bloomberg. “They will not make you feel what you are doing.”
