Pro athletes own part of sports device startup


Pro athletes own part of sports device startup

Blake Griffin, power forward for the NBA Los Angeles Clippers, is one of several professional athletes who have become equity partners of Hyperice in Anaheim. Griffin is using the company's ice compression wrap following knee surgery.


Address: 3301 E. Miraloma Ave., suite 195, Anaheim 92806

Phone: 714-524-3742



Type of business: manufactures cold compression wraps to prevent or treat sprains, shin splints, bruises and tendonitis

When professional athletes appear in advertisements for some product, chances are they're being paid. So it's notable that an Anaheim startup has attracted four well-known pros in three different sports as investors as well as endorsers of its initial product line.

Blake Griffin of the NBA Los Angeles Clippers, Troy Polamalu of the NFL Pittsburgh Steelers, Rudy Gay of the NBA Memphis Grizzlies and Hope Solo of the U.S. Women's Soccer team have become equity partners in Hyperice, which recently started selling its ice compression wraps for prevention or treatment of sprains, tendonitis and other activity-related conditions.

Hyperice is a classic example of luck, best defined as when preparation meets opportunity. What sets this company apart from thousands of ventures that come up with ideas to meet a consumer need are patents and personalities.

Hyperice makes five versions of the ice compression product priced from $80 for a utility wrap to $130 for an extended shoulder pack.

Anthony Katz, who grew up in Laguna Niguel, came up with the concept out of his life-long love of sports, especially basketball, and used his natural talent for making friends to turn it into reality. Then Rob Marton, working at family-owned Marton Precision Manufacturing in Fullerton, turned Katz's idea into a real product that the two have patented as the basis for Hyperice, which recently opened its own manufacturing facility in Anaheim.

Katz had a lot of friends who were elite high school and college athletes. When they wanted to keep fit off season, Katz organized pick-up games. He did the same in Australia where he taught school for a year.

About five years ago, Katz became interested in ice therapy after watching athletes use everything from plastic baggies filled with ice cubes to $4,000 machines used on race horses.

The common elements: elevate, ice, compress.

To make his own ice compression wrap, Katz bought Neoprene from a Huntington Beach wetsuit maker, cut it with an X-ACTO knife and sewed on Velcro to hold it in place.

A friend introduced Katz to Robbie Davis, a Los Angeles personal trainer to dozens of NBA players and Olympic volleyball and soccer stars.

"I laughed him out of the gym; I said, 'it's been done,'" said Davis, who is constantly approached for product endorsements or introductions to celebrity athletes.

Instead of leaving, Katz hung around Davis for a week, watching him fill 30 bags with ice and manually suck the air out for players to use following a practice game.

"The problem is that as the ice melts, the bag fills with air so it loses its cold and compression," Davis explained. "We tear a hole to release the air and then it leaks."

Katz was undeterred. "I continued to work on the compression side, and I thought of a button you could push to let the air out."

Another friend told him about Marton Precision Manufacturing, which makes parts for aerospace, medical and energy companies. "They built it so I could have a prototype to show people," Katz said.

Rob Marton thought Hyperice was so promising he took the job of director of operations to run the manufacturing side of the new company. "One thing that alerted us to the idea this wouldn't fail is feedback from athletes from high school to pro and professional trainers who tried it."

When Katz returned to Davis, the trainer was impressed but incredulous. "It was a no-brainer. I said, 'are you sure no one is doing this?' but he had a patent on it."

Katz structured Hyperice as a corporation with a third of its shares undistributed for future investors. It's a private company so he does not disclose valuations or amounts investors have put into Hyperice.

For the first time in 19 years as a professional trainer, Davis endorsed the Hyperice and invested time, energy and money in the startup. He also introduced it to the influential athletes under his training.


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