International Sportstech News

Sportradar and European Football governing body UEFA have announced a multi-year extension of their existing exclusive betting data rights agreement, expanded to include the non-exclusive right to distribute data to non-betting media. In total, Sportradar can now offer more than 900 high-profile matches each season. UEFA and Sportradar will also extend their long-standing integrity partnership of 15 years.

Leading international sports agency TGI Sport has announced an agreement to acquire Supponor. Supponor’s AIR technology and experienced AI tech developers further bolsters TGI Sport’s Virtual Tech offering, whilst Supponor’s commercial and R&D teams add to the business’ leadership in tech development. Since 2020, the NBA, MLB, Formula 1, Serie A, La Liga, Bundesliga, MLS, dozens of regional sports networks, and several others have begun using virtual ads in live broadcasts. TGI Sport is backed by Bruin Capital and Quadrant Private Equity.

Pixellot announces its automated video solutions have received Software Approval from the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Equipment & Venue Centre. The approved products include Pixellot Prime, Pixellot Show S3, and Pixellot Air NXT, catering to fixed and mobile installations. Notably, these three Pixellot’s products are the first to receive Software approval for automated video solutions, marking a significant milestone for Pixellot’s basketball technology.

FIFA has enlisted UBS to raise up to $2 billion for the expansion of its streaming platform FIFA+, Bloomberg reports. The world governing body is working with Switzerland’s UBS Group AG to raise $1 to $2 billion for the streaming platform that FIFA launched to offer a wide range of matches from around the world, and which to date has predominantly broadcast games from smaller markets and smaller member associations. Bloomberg writes that FIFA and UBS will target financial investors for a minority stake in the platform in the US and the Middle East.

Soaring sports franchise values, plus the booming ecosystem of technology, betting, and media companies that has followed, has sparked private equity (and other professional managers of large pools of money) to invest in a sports industry increasingly on Wall Street’s radar. The impact of technology, a key factor for Private Equity (PE) firm investment, cannot be overstated. As sports modernized through tech and began to resemble the tech companies that PE was traditionally interested in, tech elevated their potential as a coveted asset class.

Notre Dame has joined the Comcast NBCUniversal Sportstech Program as its first college partner. Notre Dame will help select the 10 companies that will participate in the Program, provide guidance to them during the six-month program and have an opportunity to see first-hand any technologies that the University could incorporate into its athletics department. The firms each receive $50,000 from Comcast and Boomtown, a company that operates the accelerator. Notre Dame joins NBC Sports; Sky Sports; Comcast Spectacor; NASCAR; Premier League; PGA Tour; U.S. Ski & Snowboard, USA Swimming; and USA Cycling as partners.

Snapchat and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) have announced a two-year multi-region partnership that will see exclusive content shared on the social media platform. This includes a dedicated Olympics show featuring official highlights and behind-the-scenes content every day of the Games. There will also be a weekly Snapchat sports show called Beyond the Olympics, which will be localised for the France and UK, that showcases the best sporting content from WBD, including the biggest tennis, football and combat sports competitions.

Euroleague Basketball (EB) is joining forces with WSC Sports, the pioneer in AI-powered sports content technology, to provide digital creators with access to fully-licensed footage of its elite competitions. The continent’s two premier men’s basketball competitions, the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague and the BKT EuroCup, will make available fully licensed footage through the WSC Sports For Creators Program, collaborating directly with creators to increase the online brand presence and engagement, while helping to reach new audiences outside of the existing fan base.

Sports technology company Feldspar is working on creating the 'world’s first sensor-enabled running track’. Feldspar, a UK-based sports technology company, say their work is well underway to create a smart running surface which will help athletes train by feeding them AI-driven real-time data in addition to giving fans the kind of insights and analytics that have never been available before.

Leaders of CrossFit, Sweetgreen, Thrive Market, Athletic Greens, Momentous, Pendulum, Plunge and dozens of other health and wellness companies are joining together to an advocacy group to share stories of how Americans are using healthy food, exercise and other root cause actions to reverse chronic conditions. The key message of End Chronic Disease is simple: Americans are entitled to choice in where their healthcare dollars go – and that choice should include medically incentivized food and exercise interventions.

The ATP has announced the approval of in-competition wearable devices for players across the ATP Tour and ATP Challenger Tour, starting from 15 July. The initiative ushers in a new era of innovative data-led performance analytics and injury prevention in tennis. Wearable devices will generate cutting-edge insights for players from physical metrics such as heart rate and high-intensity load data, enhancing their analysis of matches and training sessions. ATP has approved both STATSports and Catapult devices and will centralise all data into ATP Tennis IQ – Wearables, an intuitive new dashboard for players.

Longevity-centered health platform, Function Health, has secured $53 million in a Series A funding round that attracted a slew of celebrities and wellness experts. The health platform, co-founded by Dr. Mark Hyman, offers 100-plus lab tests across all areas including heart, thyroid, hormones, brain, cancers and fertility (five times more than the average physical, according to Function) and provides detailed and actionable insights from doctors for $US499 per year, or $US42 per month. Results are stored so members can spot health trends over time and easily share the results with doctors. 

Nix Biosensors, the leading provider of cutting-edge hydration monitoring technology, has announced the launch of their groundbreaking app, Nix Pro. Building on the success of their individual athlete-focused app, Nix Solo, Nix Pro is designed for group hydration monitoring of sports teams, labor groups, and tactical organizations dedicated to increasing safety and improving performance among their respective groups.

Euroleague Basketball has announced the completion of the selection process for the 2024 Euroleague Basketball FanXP, a pioneering initiative in partnership with SPORTBIZ EUROPE. The Euroleague Basketball FanXP competition focuses on enhancing various aspects of the basketball experience, including Content Creation, Fan Engagement, Fantasy Sports, Gameday Experience, Digital Solutions, Venue Management, and New Businesses. Over the next five months, startups will strive to align with these criteria and showcase their expertise. A total of 16 candidates have been selected from 12 countries.

TMRW Sports, which is focused on building progressive approaches in sports, media, and entertainment, has announced the closure of its Series A investment round. The round was co-led by Dynasty Equity. TMRW Sports was founded by Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, and Mike McCarley. TMRW Sports’ first project is TGL presented by SoFi, a new team golf league that fuses advanced tech and live action with six teams of PGA TOUR superstars and will launch in January.

The NCAA x Meta have announced a new 'NIL Empower Program', a collaboration that will help women maximize their name, image and likeness endeavors throughout their time as college athletes. Participants will have the opportunity to form direct relationships with Meta experts, who will provide product and business best practices. The program will include education on building a community, using social media safety resources and preparing for the future. Corporate partner Invesco QQQ will assist the NCAA in building a financial literacy and career development session.

What if consumers could achieve their fitness goals with personalized, AI-powered workout planning and guidance for less than the cost of a weekly cup of coffee? That’s the idea behind Zing Coach, a fitness app backed by health tech company Palta, which just raised $US 10 million in equity and debt financing in a Series A funding round. Zing Coach will use the funding to enhance its technology and features, enter new markets and expand its team.

Centre Court Capital (CCC), a venture capital firm backed by the Sajjan Jindal Family Trust and specializing in sports tech and gaming, has led led an undisclosed Series A investment round in Quidich Innovation Labs. Quidich, a sports broadcast technology company founded by Rahat Kulshreshtha and Gaurav Mehta, has been focusing exclusively on sports, especially cricket, since 2019.

Nike athletes traveling to Paris will have recovery technology on their feet thanks to the new Nike x Hyperice boot, a collaboration between Nike and Hyperice that features heat and air compression for feet and ankles in the form of a high-top boot. To make it all work, the shoe includes Hyperice’s Normatec bladders bonded to warming elements to distribute heat throughout the shoe’s upper. Designed to push heat into muscle tissue, the boot can assist with both warmup and recovery. 

Over the past few days, the Connected Ball "Fussballlliebe" has been reported on worldwide. It is the first Official Match Ball produced for the UEFA European Football Championship tournament that incorporates Connected Ball #Technology, enabling match officials to make accurate decisions faster. The innovation contributes to UEFA's semi-automated offside technology. As demonstrated during the match Belgium-Slovakia, it can also help VAR officials to identify every individual touch of the ball, reducing time spent resolving handball and penalty incidents.

Kinomap – the platform & community providing the largest library of video footage from real-world locations for virtual cardio workouts – is now fully integrated within the one-and-only Technogym Ecosystem. The open-platform nature of the Technogym Ecosystem means that it seamlessly combines Artificial Intelligence, on-demand content, software, apps, fitness equipment and wearable devices.

SportsTechX have released a new report on Innovation Challenges faced by Sports Organisations. Some of the key trends from different stakeholders in the sports industry include;

- The Athlete - integrated solutiosn to manage various needs

- The Fan - enhancing the fan experience at home and in venue

- The Executive - improved operational efficiency and revenue opportunities.

After years of innovating the industry’s leading GPS sport watches–defined by long battery life, an incredibly easy-to-use interface, and robust training software, COROS announced today that it will bring the same formula to an all-new, solar-powered GPS bike computer, the COROS DURA. COROS DURA supports 120 consecutive hours of ride time with full GPS on a single charge. Also included with COROS DURA is a full training platform at your fingertips with the COROS app and desktop-friendly COROS Training Hub at no extra cost or monthly fee. 

Indian fantasy sports operator Dream Sports is shutting down its corporate venture capital unit, barely two years after it was launched. The company unveiled Dream Capital in August 2021 with a $250m commitment and planned to invest in gaming, sports and fitness startups in neighbouring areas to its core business, online fantasy sports platform Dream11. Dream Sports is India’s market leader in fantasy sports, having made more than $460m in revenue in 2022. But it is facing cash issues of its own due to the government imposing a 28% goods and services tax on industries including online gaming from this month. The move has led to businesses across the sector making heavy cuts to staff and operations.

For two weeks in July, the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) hosts Wimbledon. IBM has been partnering with the Club for more than three decades, enhancing coverage of The Championships and engaging fans with rich data-driven insights. This year, some of the most compelling stories of the tournament will be told with the help of IBM® watsonx™, the enterprise-ready generative AI platform. The new Catch Me Up feature, available in the Wimbledon app and website, provides AI-generated summaries for every singles player—describing what happened in their last match and the challenges they face in their next one. Users can personalize their Catch Me Up list by adding their favorite players. If matches are live or video highlights are available, Catch Me Up provides relevant links.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced the launch of ICC Immersive, a revolutionary app designed to transform the way fans experience cricket. ICC Immersive invites fans to step onto the cricket pitch from the comfort of their homes, offering a virtual experience. Developed in partnership with Quidich, a leader in sports technology, this app debuts during the Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 and is available for Apple Vision Pro users. The app harnesses advanced tracking technologies and various data sources to create an authentic replica of the stadium environment.

chelon has acquired ThriveX, signifying that the emerging fitness equipment brand is bullish on the recovery space. ThriveX is known for its advanced recovery solutions such as cold immersion therapy systems, smart hybrid saunas and compression boots and is a leading contender for Beyond Activ’s Startup of the Year award. ThriveX, which launched last June in Singapore and reported over $600,000 in sales within months, has since expanded its reach to the U.S., UAE, India, Thailand and Russia. 

Sports technology leader Hudl is on the verge of acquiring football analytics firm StatsBomb, as reported by The Athletic. Hudl, a premier performance analysis platform in the football industry, aims to consolidate its services in data, video, and analytics.  StatsBomb now covers over 100 football competitions worldwide, including three-quarters of Premier League and Championship teams, as well as two-thirds of MLS clubs. A significant draw for Hudl is StatsBomb’s potential to expand into other sports. In June 2022, StatsBomb introduced an American football product, leveraging their football analytics expertise to create a comprehensive college sport database. 

International Olympic Committee (IOC) Members will vote on the creation of Olympic Esports Games at the upcoming IOC Session held during the Paris Games. The IOC is already in advanced discussions with a potential host, and an announcement can be expected very soon after the last formalities have been finalised.

Future of Sport Lab (FSL) announced that nine Canadian sport tech startups have been accepted into its acclaimed incubator program. The companies come from a range of sectors including AI, athlete training, fan engagement, wearable technology and smart equipment, analytics and sports betting. Each of the startups will receive immersive programming in partnership with leading business incubator the DMZ, access to leading academics, and an opportunity to engage and receive mentorship from leaders across the FSL network.

Genius Sports and the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) have agreed to a global sports betting integrity information sharing and wider anti-match-fixing partnership. Genius Sports is the trusted integrity partner to over 150 sports leagues and federations worldwide, including the NFL, Premier League, PGA TOUR and DFB. It provides sports with comprehensive integrity services including 24/7 bet monitoring and reporting, bespoke education tools and robust intelligence solutions.

World Athletics and Tata Communications today announced a five-year global host broadcasting services deal covering World Athletics Series events. From 2025, Tata Communications will be a key strategic supplier for World Athletics, with a view to elevating innovation and audience engagement to new heights. As the host broadcaster of World Athletics Series events, Tata Communications will take on the pivotal role of crafting immersive coverage, and delivering customised, world-class live content across continents.

A global leader in AI automated sports video, Spiideo, announced the successful completion of a $20 million funding round led by Munich-based growth equity firm, Cipio Partners. The company will use this new investment to further accelerate innovation by expanding its product and AI teams, and drive growth through an expanded international sales team. Spiideo’s products are installed in over 6,000 venues and used by more than 4,000 teams across English football’s Premier League, NHL, NBA, Serie A, MLS, Ligue 1, NCAA, Liga MX, and Bundesliga.

Apple today previewed watchOS 11, with features for Apple Watch that build on its leading sensor technology, advanced algorithms, and science-based approach to offer breakthrough insights into users’ health and fitness, and more personalization than ever. The new Vitals app surfaces key health metrics and context to help users make more informed day-to-day decisions, and the ability to measure training load offers a game-changing new experience when working out for improved fitness and performance.

Fitbit is hoping to crack the market of wearable trackers for kids with their Ace LTE, a location-tracking smartwatch that incorporates activity gamification. The device features an array of small video games that children can play for limited periods before being told they must unlock more game time by meeting a certain activity goal. Youngsters can also play with the watch’s built-in Tamagotchi-esque game, the eejie.

Cisco and McLaren Racing have announced an expanded global partnership that now incorporates Cisco’s security solutions. This extension provides the team with comprehensive network visibility, enhanced threat intelligence, and streamlined security management across all their network operations. Professional sports organizations face a unique and elevated intensity of cyber threats. The combination of high-value data, widespread media coverage, and the involvement of various stakeholders makes these organizations prime targets for cyberattacks.

SportsTechX has released its Global SportsTech Ecosystem Report for 2024. The Report highlights a wave of consolation (M&A) as well as new funds & initiatives consistently entering the industry. Three key finding for this year include B2B solutions gaining importance, fitness tech continuing to attract investors and BigTech (eg Apple, Amazon, Google, Meta & others) heavily investing in sports, in various ways. 

Global sports data, live streaming and AI pioneer Stats Perform today announced it has secured the rights to exclusively collect and distribute official data and live streams for the ICC to licensed betting operators around the world. It includes the ICC T20 Men’s and Women’s World Cups, Men’s and Women’s Cricket World Cups, ICC Champions Trophy, and the ICC World Test Championship Final. Stats Perform will provide a comprehensive range of services for the ICC events to its wide portfolio of licensed betting operator partners, including real-time ball-by-ball match data and low latency video streams.

Sword Health, a pioneer of AI Care, artificial intelligence powering the delivery of care, announced a financing round of $US 130 million putting its valuation at over $US 3 billion. Sword has reinvented the way care is delivered, starting with back, joint, and muscle pain and has expanded to women’s pelvic health issues and sedentariness. The company has delivered over three million AI sessions to members to date and is available to over 10,000 employers across three continents.

USTA'a new strategic investment initiative, USTA Ventures, has invested in PlayReplay, a tennis technology company featuring an electronic line-calling (ELC) system set to increase access to accurate, user-friendly ELC for junior, adult and recreational play nationwide. The PlayReplay ELC system utilizes a minimally intrusive camera solution that provides a level of accuracy and precision not previously seen in replay technology priced for recreational competition. Through the PlayReplay app, or a touchscreen that can be installed courtside, players can immediately access necessary player and ball tracking data, “challenge” a line call and receive a visual representation of where the ball landed and an in/out ruling.