Jason Levien, United managing general partner, has partnered with former NBA commissioner David Stern, the Los Angeles Dodgers ownership group, CAA and David Blitzer, co-owner of the Philadelphia 76ers and the New Jersey Devils to invest in Keemotion, an industry-disruptive automated video technology company.
Stern has said Keemotion’s autonomous production technology has the potential to “disrupt the way all live events are produced."
In a Forbes podcast last month, Stern called Keemotion the “Tesla for sports broadcasting” because of the company's ability to automate production. Keemotion could be installed in a high school or university gym or arena, he said, and how all events could then be streamed, giving people access to watch events from their mobile devices anywhere.
The company, which is currently involved in five sports (basketball, ice hockey, volleyball, handball and futsal), announced a $3.6 million Series A funding round on Wednesday. Keemotion is in early-stage conversations with a number of technology companies to figure out how its technology might potentially be used more broadly in film production, sports and consumer technology, or how technology such as deep learning and artificial intelligence might help to improve its product and accelerate the development of its automated technologies, according to its CEO, Milton Lee.
Since 2012, Levien has led the efforts that resulted in the development of the club's new state-of-the-art 20,000 seat Audi Field home and adjoining mixed-use development in D.C.'s Buzzard Point area south of the United States Capitol. It is the largest ever public investment in a soccer stadium in the United States.
Levien is the founder of Levien Sports and Entertainment (LSE), a diversified global investment and advisory company. LSE has sports-focused investments which, in addition to Major League Soccer, include interests in autonomous video production, esports and Swansea City A.F.C. of the English Premier League where Levien serves as Co-Managing Partner.
