Halifax-based startup Eyeball announced this week the close of a $1 million seed round, led by Clearwater Fine Foods, makers of premium quality, wild, sustainable seafood. The company said it will use the funding to fuel growth, as well as expansion into a larger office headquarters.
Eyeball is an online community for coaches, fans, and players of amateur sports. As part of the announcement, Eyeball has released new mobile apps for Android and iPhone providing users instant chat and real-time scorekeeping wherever they go. Clearwater had previously invested $1 million in Eyeball earlier this year to facilitate development of the apps.
“At Eyeball, we recognize that amateur athletes and their fans need to stay on top of what is going on at any time, in any place,” said Jay Steele, co-founder and CEO of Eyeball. “Our Eyeball app was specifically engineered with features for real-time discussion, photos and live crowd-sourced scorekeeping and statistics. We are giving users rich, interactive communities around the players and teams that they care about most.”
Steele is notably a former BlackBerry employee who hired three former colleagues to help create Eyeball following BlackBerry’s shuttering of its Halifax office in 2013.
“I took (BlackBerry’s closure) as an opportunity, maybe a kick in the pants, to get out there and start something new and do something exciting and fun,” said Steele at the time.