Peripheral Labs, a Canadian startup, has successfully closed a $3.6 million seed funding round led by Khosla Ventures. The company is pioneering a novel application of self-driving car sensor technology to transform the sports viewing experience, aiming to bring fans closer to the action through affordable, immersive 3D volumetric video.
Reports indicate a noticeable decline in live sports viewership, particularly among Gen Z audiences. In response, sports leagues and broadcasters are actively seeking innovative ways to enhance fan engagement through diverse viewing experiences, advanced statistics, and in-depth analysis. Volumetric video generation, which allows users to view gameplay from multiple angles and offers an "inside-the-video-game" perspective, is emerging as a key solution.
While the concept of volumetric video isn't new, Peripheral Labs, founded in 2024 by Kelvin Cui and Mustafa Khan, is making this sophisticated technology more accessible and affordable for teams and broadcasters. Their approach leverages cutting-edge AI models and advancements in computer vision, significantly reducing the hardware footprint. Traditional volumetric capture systems often require over 100 cameras, but Peripheral Labs' system can achieve similar results with as few as 32, drastically cutting costs and operational overhead.
Cui and Khan bring a wealth of experience from their work on driverless cars, having won multiple trophies with the University of Toronto's team. Khan previously served as a researcher at Huawei, while Cui contributed as a software engineer for chassis systems at Tesla. This background in robotics perception and 3D vision is directly applied to their sports technology.
“Both Mustafa and I are huge sports fans. He has been a massive Arsenal fan, and I grew up watching the Vancouver Canucks since I was seven. When Mustafa showed me his research about 3D reconstruction, my brain said it would be cool to watch hockey like this [in a free-flowing, multi-angle way]. This is how we started on Peripheral Labs,” Cui said in a call with TechCrunch.
Peripheral Labs' software platform utilizes its proprietary sensor stack, similar to those found in self-driving cars that capture depth information, to deliver photorealistic 3D reconstructions. This enables unprecedented control over the viewing experience for both broadcasters and fans. For instance, viewers can choose to track a specific player, such as the one with the ball, or freeze a moment in time to examine a foul or a critical play from various angles. Beyond fan engagement, the platform also provides detailed biomechanical data, including player joint movements like knee and ankle flexion. For example, in a football (soccer) scenario, the system can measure knee and ankle flexion, offering coaches valuable insights into body positioning and player flexibility for performance improvement.
The $3.6 million seed round saw participation from Daybreak Capital, Entrepreneurs First, and Transpose Platform, alongside lead investor Khosla Ventures. Joe Ros, a partner at Entrepreneurs First, highlighted the fund's confidence in Peripheral Labs, noting the founders' strong background and the entertainment aspect of their offering.
“Their ultimate viewer is the consumer, and their demand for sports content is evergreen, not cyclical. With Peripheral, the new standard for that consumption will be immersive, volumetric video. And the work they’re doing now in sports will give them the data, tech, and deployment moat to be the only person in the market able to enable this,” Ros told TechCrunch over email.
Peripheral Labs is strategically growing its team of 10 engineers, focusing on platform and hardware development to further reduce costs, decrease system latency, and enhance the resolution of its 3D reconstruction technology. While the company has not yet publicly announced its partners, it is actively engaged in discussions with several North American sports teams and leagues. Peripheral Labs operates in a competitive landscape, with other startups like Arcturus Studios also specializing in volumetric capture for sports.
