International Sportstech News

The Venue Barcelona has opened as a Music, Sports and Events Innovation Zone, a space and ecosystem where corporate-startup innovation, collaboration and creativity converge. The Hub is an innovation playground of 40000m2; a co-creation space of 1100m2; >2.000,000 Live Event Spectators and >150 Live Events per year.

Major League Rugby (MLR), which represents the highest level of rugby competition in North America, has announced Gilbert as the new official ball of the league. Additionally, thanks to a collaboration with Sportable, the leader in the development of wearable tracking technology and data analytics, each nationally broadcast game ball will be outfitted with a unique data tracking device that will measure speed, distance traveled and other unique metrics.

PlaySight nd Playbypoint have announced a partnership that will enhance the racquet sports experience for players worldwide. This collaboration will seamlessly integrate PlaySight’s cutting-edge video analysis technology with Playbypoint’s innovative court reservation system for racquet sports enthusiasts in the rapidly growing worlds of Pickleball, Padel, and Tennis.

The Lausanne based International Academy of Sport Science and Technology (AISTS), recently announced short – compact topical learning programmes for sport executives and managers to address the needs of the industry. Registration is now open for the short programme on Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Sport, to take place from 19 February to 1 March. Participants will be equipped with the tools and mindset needed to manage innovation efficiently.

The Sport Data Exchange Singapore, SPORTDEXSG, is a digital platform that facilitates the sharing of data and insights between sport ecosystem players in Singapore and beyond. With the digital transformation that SPORTDEXSG will enable, companies can gain the capabilities to expand their business and strengthen their operations for greater sustainable growth in both the Singapore and overseas markets.

ASTN partner, the Global Sports Innovation Center (GSIC) powered by Microsoft has launched its 2nd edition of the International GroundBreakers Sports Challenge. This initiative is at the forefront of driving innovation in the sports industry, inviting companies worldwide to address real-world hurdles faced by sports organisations across five key areas: Business Insights, Fan Engagement, High Performance, Fitness & Health, Media & Sponsorship and Smart Venues & Sustainability.

The Innovation Challenges from partner organisations are listed below. Applications close 18 March 2024.

https://groundbreakers.sport-gsic.com/

The NBA recently announced the latest cohort for its third Launchpad accelerator program. NBA Launchpad is the league’s initiative to source, evaluate, and pilot emerging technologies that advance the NBA’s top basketball and business priorities. The five startups selected include Reboot Motion, Plantiga, Tonsser, TextQL, and Dimension Studio.

NBC Sports Next and Pixellot are expanding their partnership to bring livestreaming to youth and amateur sports venues around North America, combining the streaming and highlight editing capabilities of the former with the AI-automated game-coverage cameras of the latter. Pixellot is already being used at more than 10,000 U.S. high schools to provide AI-automated sports cameras and analytics.

Sports content unicorn Minute Media announced on Wednesday that it has acquired STN Video, a leading North American sports content distributor. The value of the deal is estimated at around $150 million. STN Video holds premium partnerships with every major league in the U.S. alongside an award-winning Online Video Platform. The acquisition of STN will bring additional technology capabilities, distribution and sports highlight content rights to its ecosystem of owned sports content brands, distribution partners and advertisers.

ZIYNX, the innovative early career and NIL (name-image-likeness) marketing app for student-athletes, has launched a partnership with Opendorse, the leading NIL marketplace. The collaboration, driven by a shared commitment to empowering athletes at all levels of sport, is set to deliver one of the largest commitments to student-athletes in women’s sports since NIL’s inception in 2021.With almost 150,000 athlete users, Opendorse will support ZIYNX in sourcing the athletes who will then apply to NIL opportunities on the ZIYNX app by creating 24-second or less videos.

WWE and Netflix today announced a long-term partnership that will bring WWE’s flagship weekly program – Raw – to the world’s leading entertainment service. Beginning in January 2025, Netflix will be the exclusive new home of Raw in the U.S., Canada, U.K. and Latin America, among other territories.

adidas Training and Bumble have unveiled a partnership to tackle intimidation felt at the gym, a barrier to training which impacts athletes at all-levels. Coming together to offer a new adidas interest badge (which members can add to their profile to let potential matches see their interest in fitness) the collaboration is designed to create space for next-gen gym enthusiasts to connect and realize the research-backed benefits of training, together.

Global Sustainable Sport understands that more than 1,000 amateur clubs have already applied for financial support for climate protection projects since the launch of UEFA's Climate Fund last week. Based on pre-tournament projections, about €7m will be made available for climate protection projects. Clubs can choose from a set list of projects in the fields of energy, water, waste management and smart mobility.

Samsung announced at Unpacked 2024 that it will soon launch the Galaxy smart ring. The Galaxy Ring announcement was made by Dr. Matthew Wiggins, clinical research scientist at Samsung Research, after a segment demonstrating a new Samsung health experience powered by Galaxy AI. The Samsung Health experience will include the ability to monitor for potential sleep apnea symptoms by tracking sleep patterns, blood oxygen changes, and maintaining heart rate alerts during sleep. 

Kinvent, the European leader in connected physiotherapy solutions, recently announced the securing of a 16 million euro investment during its third round of fundraising. This investment will enable the company to enter a new phase of acceleration, including market penetration in the United States in 2024, increased R&D projects, as well as massive external expansion.

Fastbreak.ai has announced the NBA as their latest customer and NBA Equity as a seed round investor as part of a long-term agreement. The NBA will incorporate Fastbreak.ai's solution into their scheduling process. As part of this agreement the NBA will also leverage Fastbreak.ai for scheduling the WNBA, G League, and the NBA2K League.

The partnership, which officially launched as of January 2024, will see the ESFA’s international teams trial the i-Brain technology and provide schools across the country the opportunity to learn more about how the technology can support their pupils in their schools’ football endeavours. The i-Brain system unlocks new frontiers in brain analytics, providing unparalleled insights for progress tracking and talent identification.

Nearly 28 million total viewers watched the first-ever exclusively streamed NFL game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Miami Dolphins on Peacock. Viewers flocked to Peacock, setting records for the most-streamed live event in U.S. history and driving the Internet to its largest U.S. usage ever on a single day and the largest Internet event ever, consuming 30 percent of Internet traffic during the game.

More details have emerged on Prince Mohammed bin Salman Stadium, a new multi-purpose venue that will form part of Qiddiya, one of Saudi Arabia’s ‘giga-projects’ under its Vision 2030 masterplan. The stadium features an immersive design and “unique” technological features that will seek to enhance the fan experience. Global architectural firm Populous has designed the stadium, which Qiddiya claims will be the world’s first fully integrated venue with a combined retractable roof, pitch and LED wall.

GolfForever, an at-home training system for amateurs and professional golfers, recently announced a $10 million Series A funding round led by Clerisy, a consumer growth equity fund.

Also part of the raise are world No. 1 and reigning PGA Tour Player of the Year Scottie Scheffler and three-time PGA Tour winner Tom Kim, who join as equity investors as well as GolfForever ambassadors.

Major League Soccer (MLS) today announced the launch of MLS Innovation Lab, a program designed to shape the future of sports through the identification of cutting-edge startups and advanced technologies to help develop the next generation of athletes, enhance the fan experience and drive continued growth for the League and its Clubs.

Digital workout app Ladder closed a $US 12m Series A round led by Tapestry VC and LivWell Ventures. To date, the company’s focus on personalized, progressive strength training programs has helped it differentiate from general fitness or cardio-centric apps, reaching 50K+ paying members.

The sports industry in general has strong tailwinds with new capital coming in from multiple directions: Increased VC / PE activity, Big Tech, Sovereign nations / Family office wealth. The overall cautious investor sentiment has manifested itself in an interesting way for SportsTech startups. 2023 was the lowest year for Sportstech investment hat we’ve seen since 2015, will top out around $US2 billion. But it's been the highest year for M&A dealflow that we’ve ever seen, projected to cross $US11 billion.

Endeavor Streaming, a global leader in premium video distribution and monetization across sports, entertainment, media, and lifestyle, has partnered with LiveLike, a leading audience engagement suite, to bring new fan engagement features to EuroLeague TV. The partnership includes an interactive experience within The Players’ View content that will enable viewers to feel closer to the action and engage with the commentators through a suite of features such as quizzes, polls, cheer meters and more.

The Premier League sold four years of UK broadcast rights for £6.7 billion, mostly to its biggest existing partners Sky Sports and TNT Sports, in a deal that cements its position as Europe’s most lucrative sports franchise. The price amounts to a 4% increase from the previous cycle, just for the live events, according to the league. The rights run from the 2025 to 2028 seasons.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) and Prime Video today announced a four-year deal to provide exclusive live broadcast rights in Australia for ICC cricket, which will be available on Prime Video Australia. The partnership will see Prime Video Australia exclusively stream all men’s and women’s events, including the Men’s and Women’s Cricket World Cups, T20 World Cups, Champions Trophy, U19s and the World Test Championship Final. The deal includes streaming rights in Australia for 448 live games from 2024 to 2027.

Hang Media has completed a $9.2 million Series A funding round. HANG will use the proceeds to accelerate product development and audience growth, expanding its leadership position in the direct-to-consumer sports media category. HANG enables fans to mingle with their heroes on livestreams across YouTube, Facebook, and Twitch.

AllTrails, the world's largest and most trusted outdoor platform, was awarded iPhone App of the Year by Apple, celebrating its outstanding approach to helping people explore the outdoors. The 2023 App Store Awards spotlight app and game developers who are providing users with meaningful experiences and inspiring cultural change. Out of nearly two million apps in the App Store, AllTrails is recognized as the iPhone App of the Year for its innovative experience, user-friendly design, and, according to Apple, "for helping the world find their way outside."

The world of sports and entertainment is about to witness a remarkable event, Global e-Cricket Premier League (GEPL) presented by JetSynthesys. GEPL will be streamed on JioCinema and Sports18, reaching millions of viewers daily. GEPL opens doors to cricket, video gaming and e-sports enthusiasts, offering a magnificent prize pool of INR 2.51 crore (US $300k).

Diamond Kinetics and Marucci Sports have launched the The CATX Smart baseball bat. It's the first-ever fully-integrated Smart Bat approved by USSSA for in-game use. It features a Diamond Kinetics Gen-4 bat sensor built into the knob, that does not require charging. The CATX Smart seamlessly connects to the DK app on an iOS device via Bluetooth, providing hitters with real-time data on every swing - in-game or in the cage.