Two childhood friends have turned their love for basketball into a sports technology startup called Huupe.
Co-founders Paul Anton and Lyth Saeed developed what they’re touting as the world’s first smart basketball hoop.
The huupe Pro has a built-in HD screen that doubles as a backboard and can withstand the impact of playing. It connects to Wi-Fi and is controlled by a mobile app, allowing players to track their shooting accuracy and remotely compete against each other.
“That was the genesis of this idea,” Anton told the Business Journal. “Being able to track all of your stats on the court and then gamify that so you can play against each other from different parts in the world.”
Now, they’re bringing the basketball playing inside with its second product, the huupe mini. It’s a smaller version of the original huupe and can be mounted on the back of a door.
The huupe mini launched three months ago and currently sells for $599 on the company’s website with limited availability.
Finding a Better Way to Play
Anton and Saeed, whose dads met in college, grew up playing basketball together in Milwaukee.
The two went on to attend colleges in different states but continued to play basketball with each other every day via a now discontinued game on Snapchat called Instant Replay.
“We had this physical device that we had to hold in one hand to play remotely in a really poor way,” Anton said.
Anton initially experimented with augmented reality glasses that they found to be too “clunky,” which eventually led to the idea for Huupe in 2019.
Anton and Saeed created free multiplayer and battle royale games that can be played from different parts in the world.
The smart basketball hoops also come with video training sessions filmed by professionals such as Jordan Lawley, a National Basketball Association skills coach who has trained players like Zach Lavine, Klay Thompson and more.
If players want entertainment while they play, the screen can stream popular services including Hulu and ESPN.
Everything from software to hardware is engineered in-house by a team of nearly 20 employees, according to Saeed.
The Pro is sold on a special-order basis and requires professional installation while the mini can be set up in just five minutes. Unlike the Pro, the mini features all-sensor technology opposed to using a camera.
“It was five times as hard to do it with sensors, but we really wanted to respect people’s privacy in their homes and offices,” Anton said.
From Shark Tank Rejection to $11M
The two have navigated several challenges, including a rejected pitch on Shark Tank that never aired.
They’ve come a long way since then, having raised an $11 million seed round over three years that closed in 2023.
The fundraising round received participation from NBA players and minority owners, as well as venture capital firms Protagonist VC, TRI Investments and Kawn VC.
“We just really put one foot in front of the other and kept on building everyday no matter what the challenges were,” Anton said.
Anton said their goal now is to become a self-sustaining company that produces more products in the future.
