Hoops Innovation, which makes a shooting aid for basketball players, has received more than $200,000 in investment from the First Angel Network and will soon launch a fundraising round in the U.S. with a target of $3.5 million.

The Halifax company asked the angel network for $200,000 as the final component of its round of seed funding. The FAN members oversubscribed the issue and Hoops agreed to take the additional capital. The seed funding included investment from family and friends and investors from outside the region.

Now that the seed funding round is complete, the company plans to launch a $3.5 million regulated securities offering in the U.S., managed by Alternative Capital Partners of New York, said President David Coldwell in an interview.

Hoops Innovation owns the intellectual property to the Shotloc, a foam brace that fits on to a basketball player’s fingers to position the hand properly through the course of a shot. The product is the brainchild of Robert Ffrench of New Minas, who designed it to help his daughter Whitney with her shooting form. (It must have worked  -- she played NCAA basketball at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia.)  

Shotloc has been endorsed by the NBA and such stars as J.J. Redick of the Orlando Magic and Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors. The product is already selling on Eastbay, Amazon and NBA Store and the retailer Scheels.  Hoops Innovation is one of only 10 companies to achieve the  ``NBA Authentics’’ endorsement.

FAN Co-Founder Brian Lowe said he believes the FAN offering was oversubscribed ``because of the NBA endorsement  and the deals they have with a number of retailers. And it’s all come together with a strong management team behind it.’’

Coldwell said the company will use the proceeds of the FAN funding to continue marketing the product in the U.S., which is now its prime market. It plans to use the proceeds of the $3.5 million offering to expand the marketing outside the U.S., in markets such as Europe, and also to move its manufacturing base from the U.S. to a less expensive market in Asia.

Coldwell said the company is now focused one marketing the Shotloc but is working on developing and selling other products.