Deloitte Ventures, Inovia Capital back Toronto startup’s AI for live sports vision.
Toronto-based AI startup Peripheral Labs announced on Monday that it has secured another $8.7 million USD ($12.1 million CAD) in seed funding to accelerate the development and deployment of its spatial intelligence technology for the sports market.
The financing was co-led by two new investors, Toronto’s Deloitte Ventures and Montréal-based Inovia Capital, with support from existing backers Khosla Ventures and Entrepreneurs First. It brings Peripheral’s total funding to $12.5 million USD ($17.3 million CAD), a figure that includes an initial $3.6-million USD seed round from May 2025.
Deloitte Ventures’ Jon Wolkin sees potential for Peripheral’s tech to make delivering immersive sports experiences “more practical.”
Peripheral co-founder and CEO Kelvin Cui said Deloitte Ventures provides “deep visibility into where sports media is heading,” while Inovia has a track record of helping “category-defining companies” across North America and the European Union.
In the release, Deloitte Ventures managing director Jon Wolkin said the firm is seeing “growing momentum toward more immersive sports experiences,” and that Peripheral’s tech has the potential to make delivering it more practical for both leagues and broadcasters.
Peripheral was founded in 2024 by Cui and CTO Mustafa Khan, a pair of University of Toronto robotics graduates and former self-driving racecar builders.
The sports tech-focused AI company is developing a large reconstruction model (LRM) capable of quickly turning two-dimensional images captured by cameras into fully navigable three-dimensional video for live sports and coaching. That neural rendering and real-time 3D LRM is built on breakthroughs in robotics and autonomous vehicle perception.
Peripheral relocated from San Francisco to Toronto in 2025. This May, it partnered with the Quantum Sports and Learning Association to build North America’s first biomechanics basketball shooting lab in the city. At the time, BetaKit toured the startup’s courtside set-up and sat down with Cui to unpack this partnership and why Peripheral returned to Canada, and moved from self-driving to sports tech.
RELATED: Peripheral establishes first biomechanics basketball shooting lab in Toronto
Peripheral’s latest seed round comes shortly after the startup demonstrated its tech to NBA and WNBA officials during summer league basketball, as part of the NBA Launchpad program, which identifies and tests emerging tech with potential to transform professional basketball. The Toronto Raptors have published several videos showcasing Peripheral’s tech on the team’s social media accounts that Peripheral claims have garnered millions of views.
Peripheral plans to put the fresh capital toward expanding its engineering team and accelerating its deployments with sports leagues and stadiums. The startup intends to launch its first consumer-facing product, a browser-based replay system, later this year.
Feature image courtesy Peripheral Labs.
