Hyperice CEO on the company’s NFL deal

Jim Huether, Hyperice CEO, joined Yahoo Finance Live to discuss the company’s latest fundraising round and its deal with the NFL.

Video Transcript

ADAM SHAPIRO: Whether you are an actual athlete or a couch potato who throws their back out from time to time, the key for both, muscle recovery. And there is a company out there approaching $1 billion in valuation, which has a deal not only with the NFL, but also with, I believe, the NBA and several other major sports leagues, that can get you to recovery a lot faster. Let's bring into the stream right now our guest Jim Huether. He is Hyperice CEO.

Congratulations on your latest fundraising round. But more important, the deal you just struck with the NFL. Can you tell us about that?

JIM HUETHER: Definitely. And first off, you guys do a great job, you and Seana, on this show. So thank you for having me on. This is a really exciting partnership for us. It's very progressive, it's the NFL's first ever recovery technology partner. And I think, for us, this kind of represents the intersection of how important this category has become, not only to player health, but overall everyday consumer health. And what we're trying to do together is optimize performance, promote recovery, and overall, enhance the health and longevity of the athletes within the league.

So this one in particular was very exciting. You did reference other deals that we've done recently, which are also very progressive with the PGA, NBA, MLB, and also the UFC. So it's been very exciting to see our position in this space kind of transform the industry in a positive way.

SEANA SMITH: And Jim, when you think about your position in this space and the growth potential of this space, what do you see just in terms of how big this industry could get just in terms of the feature contracts that you could sign, and also just going beyond the leagues, and also in retail stores?

JIM HUETHER: Yeah, I think it's one of the most exciting industries out there right now, I really do. I think that people are really interested in health and wellness. And with the advancement of technology, there is a lot of opportunity to teach people about their bodies, what they can do to improve performance, what they can do to promote recovery, how they can, you know, feel a little bit better, and as a result, live better. So I think this space right now are in the very early stages.

You know, I'm on record saying that I'm confident we'll be a multibillion dollar company in the next 24 months. Our growth trajectory over the last three years, we've grown almost 20x from a revenue perspective. And over the last five years, we've grown, I think, 70x from a valuation perspective. So people are understanding the space a little bit more, they're understanding the importance. And these league partnerships from a high level really just kind of not only authenticate the technology, but bring more awareness on how important this can be for the everyday person.

ADAM SHAPIRO: Is your business, is your path forward? I mean, these deals are important, and there's millions upon millions of dollars at stake for those players and those professional sports teams. But for the average men and women out there, I mean, the best part of going to the chiropractor is when they put that electric thing on your back and they zap you up. And you've got that device that does this. Are we going to be your mainstream clients going forward? Is that where you're going to get your growth?

JIM HUETHER: Yeah. And Adam, you are my target consumer. So when you look at our actual demographic on the people that are buying our products, it's the everyday person, the person that wants to enhance their performance, they want to feel better in the morning. When they're taking their kids to Little League, they want to feel a little bit better, have a little bit more ability. So we're really using the league partnerships as a way to teach people about how important this is, right?

When you look at an NFL player, and actually, if you step back and look at this partnership at the NFL, right, this is valuable to everybody. It's valuable to the player because he's going to optimize performance. The Patrick Mahomes is going to, you know, deliver a little more thoroughly because he feels good and he's moving better. It's great for the teams because they're optimizing performance. It's great for the league because, you know, the best ability sometimes is availability.

If their best players are on the field, ratings boom. It's really-- and then it's good for the brand Hyperice, obviously, because we get the exposure. But what we're trying to do is teach people. Over the last 10 years, our products and technology have been, you know, secret weapons in the training rooms. And it's time for the everyday consumer to understand that those can benefit you in everything that you do throughout your life to promote an active lifestyle.

So that's really the value of these strategic partnerships. And it's-- you know, I'm really encouraged, like, for the league to take this type of proactive approach. To really care about their players' health I think is a huge step in the right direction. And then for them to want to extend this to the NFL consumer I think really shows that they're forward thinking and on board with this health tech movement.

SEANA SMITH: So Jim, the numbers that you just rattled off there a little while ago, 70 times-- you've grown 70 times from a valuation perspective. The notes that you sent over, you said that you've been profitable for the past five years. So what's the next step? Do you have plans to go public?

JIM HUETHER: We want to put ourselves in a position to have options to explore the public markets. We could stay private and continue to acquire companies. We believe that because we are profitable and because we have a fast growth trajectory and we're also developing new innovations around the connected environment, we're exploring artificial intelligence, we actually have phase one in our app right now where we're connecting into wearable devices and curating activity data and providing recommendations for recovery and wellness. So I think, for us, we want to continue to kind of push the limits of innovation.

We want to expand our awareness, obviously, expand our consumer base, get a little bit more technology driven on the app and AI side. And then I think we'll be in a great position to go into the public markets or continue to stay private, acquire companies, and build.

ADAM SHAPIRO: I got to imagine, very quickly, any SPACs reached out to you and say, hey, let's do a deal?

JIM HUETHER: Say that again? Oh, all the times.

ADAM SHAPIRO: Any SPACs reach out and say, hey, let's do a deal?

JIM HUETHER: Oh, I mean, our-- very humbly, my LinkedIn inbox is-- right now, I think we have 30 or 40 different SPACs that have reached out, you know, since, I think, the MLB, the NBA, the PGA, and obviously, the new NFL deal. There's just a lot of awareness, and people are excited about this space. Like, we aspire, as a company, to be kind of a combination of a Apple, a Dyson, a Tesla, or a Nike.

And, you know, it's a fun space. This category is growing fast. We get to deal with a lot of professional athletes and organizations and health-minded people. And we're going to continue to push the innovation.