Press Sports, a sports social media app, is excited to announce that the company has recently closed a pre-seed investment round with Central Piedmont Investment Group. Founded in early 2018, Press Sports has been focused on building an engaging platform where athletes from any level can comfortably self-promote their athletic achievements and share their highlights. The company was founded by Conrad Cornell, a 2018 Mercer graduate and Division 1 baseball player, and Drew Williams, an Atlanta native who has played organized sports since grade school. They have since built the platform and have attracted an exponentially growing user base that includes thousands of the nation's top prospects who are actively building their own highlight repositories.

“Growing up in youth and high school sports, we noticed there was no platform to comfortably share top highlights with friends, family, and fans. There was a clear negative stigma that prevented athletes from self-promoting these athletic achievements on existing social media. We wanted to create a place for all highlights to live – even if they aren’t ‘Instagram-worthy’ - which is why we created Press. Our users post anything from highlight mix tapes to training and weightlifting videos, and much of the content on Press is posted nowhere else. Early on we were diligent about getting feedback from the top athletes in the country so we're really excited about our product that is continuously evolving,” Cornell said.

The funding has allowed Press to hire some key players in the social media space – Tyler Droll and Tom Chernetsky, formerly the CEO and CTO of YikYak. The money will allow these new hires to improve on the original product and create a viral app that keeps the users engaged and excited about their athletic careers.

Press is currently supported by Georgia Institute of Technology’s Advanced Technology Development Center, or ATDC, which is a technology incubator that gives startups the resources to be able to grow and develop quickly in the market.

“We see our platform as a way for athletes to ‘create their own Press’ by self-promoting and hyping their own athletic achievements. The players profiles will be a repository of all of their favorite athletic memories throughout their careers, and these profiles can be shared directly with coaches and used as a recruiting tool to help them get to the next level. Athletes can work to climb our own ‘Press Athlete Rankings’ lists by posting quality content that gets other users’ attention. The rankings are created by an algorithm based on the user’s exposure on our app and shared on our website and other social media pages. Press hopes to help athletes build their brands and grow their fan-bases organically through our app. We want to give them a platform where they can gain exposure and share their hard work and talent,” Williams said.

Bob Easter, Managing Director of Central Piedmont Investment Group, describing Press Sports said, “We at CPIG are delighted to invest in and mentor these two creative, high-energy partners. This application they created and continue to enhance will enable athletes to showcase their accomplishments and create new opportunities for themselves. We look forward to seeing the huge growth of Press Sports!”