#65: XV Capital’s Stirling Mortlock & James Godfrey, powering the future of Aussie sports technology
Australian rugby union legend Stirling Mortlock, and much-vaunted sports mentor James Godfrey, are dynamically opening-up capital flow into sportstech start-ups, through their firm XV Capital. XV are investing capital, acumen and energy to help start-ups reach their full potential. They are behind the hottest sportstech property in the world, the Smart Ball, from UK company Sportable. Their Smart Ball- or as described by Eddie McGuire, ‘Super Footy’- will now be used in the AFL. It is already used in global rugby, while Nike and Adidas are jostling to bring it into soccer, and Sportable are now pushing into the USA. Mortlock & Godfrey are working with a wide array of tech start-ups like CoachMate- who’s mission is to empower women, girls, and all kids to have positive experiences in sport. And the likes of Queensland business, Clubfunders, which is using tech to help breach the perennial divide between how much money sports have, and how much they need. Mortlock & Godfrey tell us there’s so much room for growth and performance in Australian sports technology.