This Smart Interactive Hoop Will Help Elevate Your Basketball Skills

One new smart basketball hoop has raised the standards to ensure those who love the game will elevate their skill set.

Milwaukee Bucks minority owner, Keith Mardak, a part of Marvan Ventures, has invested in what’s called Huupe, which is pronounced hoop. The hoop is comprised of a content network of training videos that users can watch while playing the game of basketball. The project has raised $11 million, according to techcruch.com.

In totality, the Huupe product is a combination of hardware, software and media streaming. The physical component starts with a connected basketball hoop that picks up data about balls that are sunk through it or hit it or do not, the hoop is ruggedized and waterproof, and it is as robust as a regulation hoop.

Behind the hoop is a backboard that is made from a video screen, which is equipped with computer vision. It is covered by the same kind of enforced glass that is used in backboards on professional courts.

The video screen displays videos of basketball coaches, trainers as well as players users can watch by themselves or in a group. The content and the computer vision work together in lockstep to respond to how people are playing and what they need to do to get that much better.

Huupe’s video screen can also stream other videos.

The product costs $4,995 and $6,495 depending on the size that is ordered. And, folks will need to pay $30 a month for the app.

The idea was sparked by the two co-founders, Anton and Lyth Saeed, who were childhood friends in Milwaukee who used to play basketball together. Anton went on to study IP law and work in the field in the Bay Area, while Saeed was building his first startup in Dubai, a transport app called QUp.

“How could we still play basketball together in two cities?" Anton asked.

The product has been around since 2015, but the duo went from working on it part-time to full-time within the last couple of years. And last year the friends raised some seed money.

“We love the team; they are super scrappy and hard working,” George Bousis, the co-founder of Protagonist, said. “They have a big vision of where they see the company going and, thus, far, have a great understanding of the market; they’ve built a great product and have a ton of potential, given the early metrics…”