Australian Sportstech News

Last year, Centr unveiled a new lineup of fitness accessories, strength equipment and home gyms. Products from the new lineup will be on display at IHRSA, including Centr’s new Smart Stack 50, an elevated 5-50lb adjustable dumbbell. Additionally,  Inspire Fitness, part of the Centr family and exclusive line of strength products, will debut brand new innovations for the commercial space, including the Smith QuickSelect Commercial Smith Machine.

In what it describes as a first in the industry, fitness software provider Hapana has today announced the launch of an in-app group challenge capability. Developed in partnership with Strong Pilates, the innovation is enabling the launch of their inaugural challenge, ‘Feel Strong’, running from 26th February to 26th March before being rolled out globally on a to-be-announced date.The Hapana challenge capability empowers fitness brands and franchises with two options for initiating challenges: a fixed start date perfect for group settings, and a purchase-based start ideal for individual enrolments.

QUT will host Australia’s first national championships for cycling esports during the Brisbane Cycling Festival in March, as part of a partnership with AusCycling. The 2024 AusCycling Esports National Championships will be held at The Cube on the QUT Gardens Point campus on March 22. The final, which will be contested on Zwift and broadcast by SBS, will be an omnium-style multi-round event, taking cues from the latest UCI Cycling Esports World Championships.

Australian sneaker company ATHLETIKAN has partnered with the AFL to launch a team-based shoe range. The 2024 edition of the shoes will drop just before the start of the AFL season on 6th March. 

Next week, LiveHeats competition and results platform will be powering the very first freeski / snowboard competition to run in Saudi Arabia - the Snowblast Cup at Al Malqa, Riyadh. The event will feature a range of distinctive winter experiences for visitors, aiming to promote the sport and create local and international skiing competitions. The global event features skiing and snowboarding performances, along with the participation of 30 world and Olympic champions in skiing sports.

Utilised at the recently completed Australia Open, Stats Perform have built a model that uses millions of granular tracking data points to provide insight into how “predictable” a player is in any given situation and anticipate the zone their next shot may land in. The shot model is also tied to other predictions within a match like Stats Perform's point-win probability model, tournament predictor and player rankings.

The Fremantle Dockers have launched an educational hub to help support education in Western Australian schools. This digital platform offers teachers free access to a variety of resources including lesson plans, curriculum links, interactive content, videos, and articles. Tailored for students from Pre-Primary to Year 6, the hub covers topics such as fundamental movement skills, healthy eating, physical activity, wellbeing, resilience, respect, and positive role models. 

Across the sports industry, various organizations have been leveraging Roblox to reach young audiences. In addition to popular US-based leagues such as the NFL, NBA, NHL, NASCAR and PGA, international organizations have also activated on the platform including Manchester City, FIFA, Wimbledon, and F1 racing team McLaren. One sports organization that was relatively early to Roblox and that continues to build on the platform is Tennis Australia, the group responsible for hosting the Australian Open tennis tournament. Tennis Australia have just updated their AO Adventure experience on Roblox to coincide with their latest 2024 tournament,

Advance Queensland (an initiative of the State Government of Queensland) has launched a Private Sector Pathways (PSP) Challenge is aimed at finding innovative Queensland based organisations that can apply their solutions to enhance sport participation and performance for people with all forms of disabilities.

The winning proposal(s) will be selected based on its innovation, feasibility, impact, and alignment with the challenge objectives. The successful applicant will receive grant funding of up to $100,000 (excluding GST) through the Advance Queensland initiative, to develop and pilot their proposed solution for up to 6-8 months with QAS and Sport and Recreation stakeholders. $300,000 is available for this PSP Challenge, more than one applicant may be awarded a grant to participate. Applications close 26 March 2024.

Euroleague Basketball and SPORTPASS, a fan engagement and gaming platform, are collaborating to reinforce Euroleague Basketball’s gamification strategy. The collaboration announced today will create a Euroleague-themed gaming platform targeting the Gen Z fanbase, merging the thrills and culture of sports in a digital offering with a number of game experiences, rewards, in-game collectibles, and more.

HITIQ today announced it has executed an agreement with UK Sports Institute (UKSI), the United Kingdom's high-performance sports institute to supply its concussion management technology across the UK's elite sports ecosystem, expanding the Company’s global footprint. UKSI will implement HITIQ's CSX concussion management platform across 25 National Governing Body Sports Programs, onboarding 1,050 athletes. T

MyVenue, a South Australian company that specialises in point-of-sale software, purpose-built for stadiums, arenas and hospitality venues, has grown its exports in the United States market to $7.3 million in the past year. The company, which started in 2020, secured its first customer in the US in 2021 – a minor league baseball stadium and since then, MyVenue has deployed its technology in 78 venues across the US, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia – including stadiums hosting the Dallas Cowboys and Miami Dolphins.

Bupa today announced the launch of a new $20 million Bupa Ventures Fund to support and invest in start-ups that are focused on developing innovative models of healthcare that enable better health outcomes. Bupa Ventures has been set up to support the early funding rounds of start-ups who are at the Seed – Series A stage of development.

Today IMG announced the launch of their new website www.imgvideoarchive.com for the IMG Video Archive service. It contains some of the world's best sports video content from leading sports federations. Linius is powering the new Advanced Search feature through our Linius Whizzard product. This feature allows users to find highly detailed, specific moments from this archive faster than ever, and to combine these moments into video projects and collections for a wide variety of use cases.

The Connected Health & Fitness Summit, a two-day event bringing together leaders from the top fitness and wellness brands, has named Coach Welly and Gainful as the winning companies of its prestigious Innovation Showcase. Winning in the Innovation Showcase’s Fitness & Fitness Tech category was Coach Welly, an Australian health tech platform offering an app that rewards gym members with personalized tracking and gamification software. World Gym Australia recently tapped the fitness engagement company to enhance customer loyalty and satisfaction in its 230-plus locations.

Today, Catapult announced an inaugural league-wide partnership with the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL). This collaboration marks a significant chapter in women’s hockey, empowering all six PWHL teams with Video Analysis solutions, enhancing game strategies and performance analysis.

A new cyber insights report from CyberCX has found that the global sporting sector faces an increasingly hazardous cyber threat landscape as a broad range of threat actors demonstrate intent and capability to target sporting organisations and major events, with Australia becoming an increasingly attractive target.

Play Today officially launches Golf Ai, the next generation Golf Ai service for the golf industry. Play Today is solving a centuries-long dilemma – how to make sense of the golf rules! Not only has the Australian-based company unlocked a complicated and nuanced problem, but they’ve gone a step further to enable frictionless and fun ways for consumers to interact with golf.

IDA Sports - an athletic footwear brand dedicated to prioritizing high performance and comfortable gear for women and girls - has announced the launch of its Spring/Summer soccer cleat line. These revolutionary soccer shoes are designed to empower athletes while addressing the unique challenges women and girls face, including ACL injuries. Beginning February 5, 2024, IDA Sports spring/summer 2024 shoes are available online for purchase on idasports.com and through select retail partners, including Dick’s Sporting Goods. 

Total Performance Data and tripleSdata have come together to create the world’s largest automated distributor of live horse racing performance data to racecourses, stakeholders, bookmakers, media and racing fans. The merger will result in the combined company supplying live and post-race performance data from over 100 racetracks in 11 different countries, 365 days a year.  

Renowned for revolutionising the smartphone mounting space, Quad Lock has entered the action camera market, introducing two new adaptors to expand its mounting solution ecosystem. These new adaptors will empower users to capture and share their adventures with ease and confidence, helping to solidify Quadlock's position as the most intuitive mounting solution on the market.

Fliteboard, a leading manufacturer of electric hydrofoil surfboards, announced the launch of its new sub-brand FLITElab*. The announcement coincides with the launch of FLITElab*’s first product, the AMP board, which can help surfers catch a wave, both assisted and electricity-free.

Brisbane Roar FC has announced a new partnership with VERVE Fitness, a renowned Queensland-based fitness equipment company. VERVE Fitness, distinguished for its athlete-run operations, specializes in designing premium fitness equipment. A cornerstone of this partnership is the development of the VERVE Performance Centre. This state-of-the-art gym, set to be constructed at Brisbane Roar’s new Brendale training facility, represents a significant investment in the future of sports training and athlete development.

Today DECKEE announced the launch of NSBC Boating Data, DECKEE's new partnership initiative with the National Safe Boating Council to bring unprecedented data-driven decisions to recreational boating safety across the United States. The industry-first service offers unprecedented insights and analysis of privacy-protected boating activity and behavior informed by GPS movement capture and boater data inputs, helping government, consultants and businesses achieve a variety of operational, economic and environmental outcomes.

Populous has secured a contract to become the lead architect on the redevelopment of one of the world’s most iconic cricket stadiums, Kolkata’s Eden Gardens. All of Populous’ work in the Asia Pacific region is directed from its APAC headquarters in Brisbane, with 14 offices reporting to this central hub, including in India. Along with Narendra Modi Stadium and the MCG, Populous’ cricket stadium portfolio includes Lord’s in London, England and The Gabba in Brisbane, Australia.

Lumin Sports and the Volleyball League of America (VLA) have entered a performance partnership to support the growth and development of professional volleyball in the United States. The agreement allows the Australian-based technology company to expand its footprint in the United States while the VLA leverage Lumin Sports’ athletic performance software to support its premier teams manage physical performance, monitor health and wellness data, as well as improve team operations and administration.

To enhance its members' experience in clubs across Australia, Anytime Fitness - with more than 550 clubs and 650,000 members - has recently launched AF SmartCoaching technology and AF App. AF SmartCoaching will provide Anytime Fitness members with personalised coaching that can now be accessed via the app anytime, anywhere. The app also features the ability for members to upgrade to the AF Access Pass and enjoy the convenience of opening the door to clubs around Australia with their smartphone. 

Winter Sports World (WSW), the ground-breaking indoor snow resort proposed for Penrith, has achieved a significant milestone with the granting of approval by the NSW Department of Planning and Environment. Dubbed “The Giant Esky,” the project is set to enter a phase of detailed design and engineering development in early 2024, with negotiations ongoing for suppliers and contractors globally.

Sports Environment Alliance (SEA) has announced that it has been successful in its application for grant funding from the Waste Sorted program, an initiative of the WA government’s Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER). SEA’s successful submission was titled Reducing Community Waste: A team sport, and our project brings together five of SEA’s WA member sporting clubs from grassroots to elite level, to identify and implement behaviour change and education programs that reduce waste to landfill. Partners include Fremantle Dockers Football Club, West Coast Eagles, Western Force Rugby, Vasse Soccer Club and Youngs Siding Swamprats Cricket Club.

The Australia Open tennis tournament is using BindiMaps wayfinding solution for the 3rd year running. The app allows fans of all abilities to find what they need at the AO. BindiMaps have also introduced table-top kiosks for quick visual route checks. 

Centr, founded by Chris Hemsworth, has launched a new program, 'Centr Circuit: Elevate', to support members on their health and wellness journey. The six-week program features an all-new format to energize daily workouts with a wide variety of movements that promote strength and mobility, and conveniently offers a bootcamp style of functional fitness that’s accessible from the comfort of home, or at the gym through the Centr app.

GoPro announced an agreement to acquire Forcite Helmet Systems, a pioneer in embedding technology into helmets based in Australia. GoPro intends to accelerate Forcite's vision to provide a safer, more dynamic motorcycling experience through tech-enabled motorcycle helmets with the long-term goal of tech-enabling other categories of helmets over time.

Leading global sportstech investor, APEX (which invests with 100+ elite athletes), has announced their inaugural investments as part of their Impact Program, a key component of the firm’s Elite Performance VC Fund.

Following the programme, APEX has invested in three companies: Hexis, a personalised nutrition platform; VRTL, a virtual fan engagement platform, and ASTN Accelerator-alumni, Traits Insights, an athlete profiling solution.

See Traits Insights Press Release at https://www.traitsinsights.com/articles/traits-insights-apex-partnership

See the ASTN Case Study on Traits Insights at https://www.astn.com.au/case-study/traits-insights-translating-complex-sports-data-into-meaningful-player-insights.

Sportway has unveiled a landmark collaboration with Hockey Australia, solidifying its role as the exclusive broadcast production partner for National Championships for the next three years. This alliance will introduce cutting-edge technology and AI-driven cameras to create an unparalleled LiveHockey.com.au experience for fans nationwide.

Fans can experience BatFast’s new dynamic tennis simulator at #AO2024 with the innovative technology showcased as part of the AO StartUps program.

The UK startup uses data, augmented reality technology, machine learning and robotics to re-engineer how sports are played, helping drive participation and access to sport globally.