Kyck: the Social Network for Soccer Fans

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Name: Kyck

Quick Pitch: A social sports network tailored exclusively for fans of international and club soccer.

Genius Idea: Eliminating the clutter of other sports and giving soccer fans options to curate content relevant to them.

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With Euro 2012's knockout stage underway, there are a number of ways to follow the action — Twitter, TV, online news, or one of the social sports apps that have been proliferating over the past several months.

If you like your soccer with a dash of social, however, you could do worse than Kyck, a soccer-specific app aimed solely at fans of "the beautiful game."

Launched as a website last summer and iOS app [iTunes link] in April, Kyck lets you follow and be followed by other users and get content delivered based on the teams and players you support. Following users means their posts — whether photos, comments on live matches or takes on club or international squads — are delivered to a stream that resembles something of a cross between Twitter and Tumblr feeds.

You can tag your own posts by player or team so that they're filtered into specific conversations. A Top Kycks section, meanwhile, delivers content the app's algorithm deems most relevant to you for quick browsing according to the favorites you list in your profile. Checking in to specific club or international matches means you get game updates and stats delivered within the app or via push notification.

The Charlotte-based Kyck was founded by Mac Lackey, a tech industry veteran and no stranger to the online soccer space. In the 1990s he founded a site called InternetSoccer.com, which he sold in 2001. Kyck's team currently counts 14 members, including three interns.

The app is still in private beta, but marketing director Jason Yarborough told Mashable users can simply download it from the App Store and request an invite to likely gain access within a day. A full public release and wider marketing push is planned for sometime in the next few weeks.

Kyck raised more than $1 million in initial funding this spring and just began a second round as well. An Android app is planned for later this year, and Yarborough says the company's focus will likely continue to shift increasingly toward mobile moving forward.

Wider availability and an impending UI update are aimed to make Kyck's social components and custom content shine even more.

Have you checked out Kyck? What are your favorite social sports apps? Let us know in the comments.

For a video walkthrough of Kyck's features, check out the YouTube demonstration below:

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Series Supported by Microsoft BizSpark

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The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark, a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.

Thumbnail image courtesy toksuede, Flickr.