Throwing App Backed by Cuban, OneTeam Closes Round in Bid to Keep Kids on Field
Motion analysis and training app Mustard, co-founded by throwing coach Tom House, has raised $3.75 million in a seed round as it plans to grow its mobile offering to support sports beyond baseball.
The Lake Nona Sports & Health Tech Fund led the round, joined by notable investors including Mark Cuban, Ronnie Lott, OneTeam Partners, Justin Rose and others. Drew Brees and Nolan Ryan were among previous investors in Mustard (as in, Put some mustard on it!), which has now raised $6 million.
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By recording a few pitches, the app can create a report card and offer training tips for throwers. Developers now have their eyes on golf, soccer and football players, while adding more instructional content to the platform. Mustard is also working on a subscription offering for its users.
“We have major league pitchers using the application, but that’s really not the focus for us,” Mustard CEO and co-founder Rocky Collis said in an interview. “The core user is a younger pitcher—12, maybe 13 years old. That’s really the soul of the company.” The tech can be used by kids at home, or with the help of an in-person instructor.
“Unfortunately, many young athletes lack access to the type of coaching I received. I believe Mustard truly levels the playing field, making elite training accessible and affordable for young, aspiring athletes, and I’m proud to support their mission,” Brees said in a statement.
In October, a report found that 47% of kids had returned to their pre-pandemic level of sports activity, and concerns linger about long-term trends in youth participation. As part of the report, 28% of parents said their child had lost interest in organized sports after competing pre-pandemic.
“We’re worried about the fact that 70% of kids quit sports by the time they’re 14,” Collis said. “We really think that a lot of times, it’s because that’s the age where if you haven’t had some sort of coaching… you start losing all the time.”
Collis and House founded the company along with mental performance coach Jason Goldsmith, a longtime House collaborator, as well as Collis’ brother Luke. Ricky Collis pitched in the Seattle Mariners’ organization while Luke reached the Arena Football League as a QB and trained with House. Brees and Ryan are also among the many former clients of House, who has been in the industry for 50 years now, stretching back to his time as an MLB reliever. He has co-authored 22 books and trained the likes of Tom Brady.
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