With a new $1.75 billion valuation, Goat Group is living up to its name. The sneaker resale platform raised $100 million in Series E funding, more than tripling its previous $550 million valuation in the process.

The new round of funding — from D1 Capital Partners — will be used to launch new apparel and product categories, as well as back efforts to get more brands to sell products directly on the platform. Goat Group’s previous investors include Foot Locker, Accel, Index and Upfront Ventures.

Online sneaker sales are taking off. Goat Group’s chief competitor, StockX, reached a $1 billion valuation last year. Global resale market could reach $30 billion by 2030

Sneaky Success:

• Global sneaker market: $100 billion
• Global resale market: $6 billion 
• U.S. sneaker market: $21 billion
• U.S. resale market: $2 billion

Sneaker Retailer Digital Sales Growth:

• Nike: 82% year-over-year online growth in its fiscal first quarter
• Adidas: 93% e-commerce growth in its second quarter

Just 10 days into the season, the ACC has already seen four football games impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Notre Dame, the conference’s special guest, is the latest to be impacted with its Saturday game likely a no-go after seven positive tests.

Virginia Tech has yet to play a game this season after dealing with several outbreaks on the team. The season is likely to finish with teams in the conference playing a varying number of games, which has unknown implications on the postseason.

International Competition: 

While sports in the U.S. are underway, the Notre Dame situation is just the latest high-profile road bump. By next year, the U.S. could provide the most significant challenge to making sure the postponed Tokyo Olympics go off without a hitch.

The U.S. currently has the most confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world and just 15 countries welcome those traveling from the states without special permission. That could put an added pressure on officials looking to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus in Japan next summer as they consider various options.

Fall Guys has continued to rock the video game industry as it was the top-selling PC game in August, as well the No. 2 gaming category on Twitch. Overall, the video game industry has maintained its torrid 2020 pace spurred by the pandemic.

Digital gaming global revenue reached $82.8 billion through August, a 13% increase year-over-year, according to Nielsen. Twitch is back on the upswing after a June and July dip following the height of stay-at-home orders.

In the U.S., video game sales jumped 37% year-over-year in August. Game sales in the U.S. are up 22% through the first eight months of the year.

Video Game Fast Facts: 

• August global digital games revenue: $10.8 billion, 16% year-over-year growth
• August U.S. video game revenue: $3.3 billion
• Premium sports games global revenue: $321 million
• Twitch August hours watched: 1.47 billion, 57% year-over-year growth
• Fall Guys August hours watched: 106 million

Amazon appeared to be stepping into the connected fitness industry on Tuesday as reports of a $500 “Prime Bike” spread across the internet. It even caused Peloton shares to drop more than 4%, just a week after Apple also announced its entry into at-home workouts.

Initial reactions thought a connected bike from Amazon could be a major challenger to Peloton — especially with a price difference of nearly $1,500. However, the e-commerce giant denied any connection to the product released by Echelon, scrubbing mentions of the alleged partnership from the product page and listing the bike as “unavailable.”

While Apple Fitness+ will still be a major tech company challenger, Peloton stocks were back up yesterday. Peloton will look to build on its fourth quarter subscriber growth of 113% — it has added more affordable products to stay competitive as players continue to enter the connected fitness space.

Don’t Stop The Fitness Funding:

Freeletics, an AI-powered fitness coaching app, has joined this year’s hunt for cash by connected fitness start-ups. The app closed on a $25 million Series B round after a $45 million Series A in 2018.

Other fitness start-ups to receive funding during the pandemic include Zwift ($450 million) and Tonal ($110 million). Lululemon acquired fitness start-up Mirror for $500 million this summer.