Sportstech & Member News

Athletes have been handed a golden start to their preparations for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, with the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) unveiling record investment allocations for sports. The announcement has resulted in 95% of Olympic and Paralympic summer sports receiving increased funding with an average investment increase of 64% per year, compared to the period leading up to the Paris Games. Some $AUD 385m has been invested in 70 sports over the next 18 months, ensuring Australians have world class pathways and support at all levels of sport, from participation to high performance.

Premier League Player, the first officially licensed Premier League VR game, is now available on Meta Quest. Developed by Rezzil, the Manchester-based VR developer, in partnership with the Premier League, the game officially launched on 3rd December. The game is built on real-life player mechanics drawn from the data collected by the iPhone cameras positioned on the sidelines during games. The movements of the footballers are captured so precisely, users playing the VR game can virtually set foot on the pitch and reenact plays from actual EPL games.

Sportico is reporting that former NBA player Metta Sandiford-Artest is starting a venture capital fund alongside Boost Mobile CEO Stephen Stokols, to be called Tru Skye Ventures. The duo is seeking to fundraise to the tune of $US 100 million by the end of the fiscal first quarter of 2025, targeting sports technology, the health and wellness industry, and digital media platforms.

Linius, a cloud-based solution that unlocks the value of video archives, has signed its first US NCAA Division 1 customer with Brown University. Brown University has deployed Linius Whizzard and Whizzard Highlights, its automated highlights extension. Brown is now able to curate videos and publish automated highlight reels for the 2024/25 men’s and women’s basketball season.

Global sports brand PUMA, in collaboration with Manchester City, has launched an innovative AI kit design platform, giving City fans the unique opportunity to design the club’s official Third kit for the 2026/27 season. In a first-of-its-kind, the new PUMA AI Creator tool is powered by DEEPOBJECTS, a leading co-creation platform that leverages generative AI to allow fans to design their dream PUMA Manchester City kits using text prompting, customization tools and intuitive sliders. The winning AI design will be worn by City stars on-pitch and sold to fans, in a groundbreaking first for a professional football club.

Zhik, the high-performance sailing apparel brand, proudly announces the extension of its partnership as the Official Technical Sailing Gear Partner of the Black Foils, New Zealand SailGP Team. SailGP, one of the world’s fastest-growing sports events, will kick off its 2025 season in Dubai on November 23-24, where the Black Foils, led by Peter Burling and Blair Tuke, will be racing in Zhik’s elite technical apparel.

360Player, a leading all-in-one digital platform for sports clubs, announced a $US 25 million investment from Five Elms Capital, a leading software investment firm. The funding will support 360Player's ambitious plans to expand its platform for clubs, coaches, players, and parents across new international markets. The company's suite of digital tools spans video analytics, player development, team management, and seamless financial services for clubs. 360Player currently serves over 420,000 users across 50+ countries, with recent rapid growth in key markets like the United States.

London-based fitness and wellness platform MAGIC AI, specializing in home fitness technology with computer vision and connected equipment for real-time exercise tracking, has raised $US 5 million in a funding round. MAGIC AI is a fitness platform that transforms home workouts with AI, holographic mirrors, and smart weights. The system uses computer vision and 3D cameras to provide real-time feedback on form, reps, and performance, offering a personalized training experience with guidance from athletes. MAGIC AI reports that it has surpassed 5,000 customers across 38 countries in its first year

Brisbane-based gym franchise group Fitstop is planning to dramatically scale its US operations after teaming up with Australian Sydney-founded fitness studio software platform Hapana to support its membership base globally. Fitstop, which has 153 locations in Australia, New Zealand, the US and Singapore, sees Hapana’s technology as critical to enhancing its global rollout by empowering its existing mobile app, location operations and lead generation.

One of the busiest and most iconic sports venues in the world, Dodgers Stadium, has selected MyVenue as a key stadium service provider. Following a successful bid process and pilot, MyVenue has signed a 5-year agreement to install 719 fixed & portable point-of-sale terminals and its native back office with real-time reports, dashboards, and inventory management.

The AFLW season concluded last week which marked the successful debut and integration of the Sportable x Sherrin Smart Ball. The Smart Ball played a pivotal role in enhancing the game through the Score Assist officiating review system. The Smart Ball was used in a total of 108 games, across  29 stadiums and impacted 30 score reviews. The Smart Ball traveled an impressive 813,806 meters, recorded over 28,000 kicks and 21,000 handballs across all 108 games.

DAZN, one of the world’s leading sports entertainment platform, has been confirmed as the exclusive global broadcaster of the FIFA Club World Cup 2025. The landmark agreement will see all 63 matches at the FIFA Club World Cup 2025, which involves 32 of the best clubs worldwide, live-streamed, free to view on DAZN worldwide, with the possibility of sublicensing to local free-to-air linear broadcast networks.

 Strava, the app for active people, today announced the release of its annual Year In Sport: Trend Report, which identifies the trends that shaped the global active landscape in 2024. Strava combined the billions of unique activity data of its global community of more than 135 million people across over 190 countries, alongside insights generated from a randomized global survey of more than 5,000 active people both on and off the Strava platform. New global data highlights a shift toward more balanced workouts, run clubs replacing nightclubs as social hotspots, plus the year’s top workout gear.

 ECAL has announced its expansion into Saudi Arabia and the Middle East with the signing of a partnership MoU with exciting local digital agency Xplere, at the World Football Summit Asia in Riyadh. Xplere will provide on-the-ground services and support for ECAL clients across the booming sports and events ecosystem in Saudi Arabia to help realise their Vision 2030 mission. 

SportWest and revolutioniseSPORT have agreed to a three-year extension of their partnership to remain as SportWest’s Official Technology Partner and retain naming rights to the Community Club of the Year Award. Staff from revolutioniseSPORT are also set to ramp up their commitment to WA sport, with their team to collaborate with SportWest staff and the membership to deliver a range of workshops, seminars and events that aim to deliver to the SportWest strategic goal of enhancing the capability of the industry.

STEPN, the social lifestyle app has broken two Guinness World Records for remote running participation. A total of 42,656 STEPN members completed a remote mile. Records were broken for the most users to complete a remote one-mile distance in 24 hours and most users to complete a remote one-mile distance in one hour.

Clubs and parents across NSW will have a lot less work to do this week at the State Swimming Championships. Swimming NSW has hired Olly Timing to provide backup times for the championship. This eliminates over 6 person months of volunteer effort via an estimated 700 timekeeping shifts. Touchpads at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre will be the primary timing, and Olly Timing’s world first artificial intelligence technology will provide the backup, instead of volunteer timekeepers.

The West Coast Eagles and Playbk Sports have announced a strategic partnership aimed at enhancing the club’s connection with fans across the Western Australian community. Utilising tailored online programs to promote education and physical activity initiatives. 
Eagles Active, the club’s Learning Management System, will be at the heart of this innovation, serving as the home for all eLearning and online fitness products. Through Eagles Active, participants will have access to expertly designed content, whether they are teachers, students or young athletes working on their fitness and skills.

Australian fitness tech company Coach Welly has announced a partnership with fitness education leader International Fitness Academy (IFA). This collaboration integrates Coach Welly’s innovative Welly Rewards system into IFA’s programs, providing students with hands-on access to the latest in health and fitness education, technology and rewards. 

Advance Queensland, in partnership with the NRL and the ASTN (Australian Sports Technologies Network) is launching a 10-week NRL Magic Round Tech Sprint. The program will support up to eight Queensland-based innovative businesses as they collaborate with NRL subject matter experts to refine and adapt their tech to meet the needs of the NRL and its clubs. Each successful business will receive $AUD 25,000 in funding to participate. The program kicks off from February to May 2025, with the showcase event held during the 2025 NRL Magic Round week.

The Sporting News has announced a partnership with global sports streaming platform DAZN, which will see the digital website support commercialising DAZN’s content and channels in Australia and New Zealand. In Australia, DAZN’s sports and entertainment content and channels generate more than 8 million long form, brand safe streams a month on YouTube, which can now be directly targeted through contextual ad campaigns.

The global value of sports media rights has broken the $US 60 billion barrier for the first time, boosted by the Summer Olympic Games and UEFA Euro 2024, according to the new SportBusiness Global Media Report. The total value stands at $US 62.6 billion for 2024, a 12 percent increase on last year’s figure of $US 55.9 billion, with the year-on-year growth propelled by the presence this year of several marquee global events. Soccer and American football dominate, together bringing in 54.5 per cent of the overall value. 

Leading activity tracking platform Strava has updated its API agreement, restricting user data on third-party platforms. Users can no longer publicly share metrics with connected apps, while developers are prohibited from utilizing the data for visualizations, coaching, or training AI. Strava counts 125 million users across 190 countries logging 40 million activities per week. For Strava, criticisms over privacy and experimental features like AI analysis warrant a tighter grip on the reins, shielding its wealth of data while keeping users engaged in its ecosystem.

Teamworks, a leading enterprise SaaS company serving 99% of Division 1 NCAA institutions, has announced the acquisition of Basepath, a leading NIL Operations Software that automates tasks, contracts, communication and finances for NIL stakeholders and student-athletes. Teamworks provides a consolidated tech stack to power every function within the Athletic Department. Specifically for NIL, 240+ D1 Universities and 100,000+ student-athletes have adopted Teamworks 'Influencer' to manage content, deals, and transactions. Basepath is used by more than 75 campuses and delivering over $100M payments to student-athletes.

Rookie Me has announced a new partnership with the Melbourne Central Basketball Association (MCBA), serving as the naming rights sponsor of the Melbourne Tigers representative program. As the Official High Performance Partner, Rookie Me will support the Tigers’ commitment to investing in athlete development through innovative technology and expert guidance in high performance, and strength and conditioning. 

Sportradar, a global sports data and technology company, has entered into a multiyear agreement with Major League Baseball (MLB) to augment the league's scouting of amateur baseball talent through its Synergy Coaching and Scouting solution. The partnership aims to transform the evaluation of player potential using Sportradar's advanced technological platform. The deal grants MLB and its 30 clubs access to an extensive range of player analysis and insights, with event coverage expanding from 3,300 to over 20,000 games (including college, international, and leading amateur leagues, including the MLB Draft League and high school events).

Australia's leading 200m runner, Gout Gout, is rewriting with record-breaking sprints that have shaken up the athletics world. This 16-year-old prodigy has not only set new standards but has a secret weapon that's amplifying his performance - VueMotion. Vuemotion, an AI-powered video assessment tool, is used by Gout's coach Dianne Sheppard and allows her to identify and address specific areas for improvement in real-time. VueMotion enables coaches and athletes to refine technique, correct imbalances and better understand movement.

Athletics Ventures, led by former AFL star Matt De Boer and basketballer Matthew Dellavedova is planning to raise at least $AUD 25 million for its early-stage venture capital limited partnership (ESVCLP). Athletic Ventures has backed the likes of Mexican-themed fast-food chain GYG, Ozempic seller Eucalyptus and electric golf buggy maker MGI.

Sports Entertainment Network (SEN) can confirm that its TV arm, Rainmaker, will produce programs for the Seven Network’s weekday AFL programming slate in 2025. Rainmaker has entered into a commercial partnership with Seven, which will see the production of three new shows each week. News and opinion driven ‘The Agenda Setters’ will air each Monday and Tuesday night, produced live from Rainmaker’s TV studios at SEN’s Southbank offices.

VANAD Group, a global family-owned enterprise with over 1,500 employees, has acquired SciSports, a market leader in sports technology, data analytics, and artificial intelligence. SciSports, headquartered in Europe with operations in North America, empowers football organizations with actionable insights to enhance performance and strategic decision-making. The company collaborates with players, clubs, and federations to support strategic decision-making and team development. SciSports will leverage VANAD Group’s financial strength and strategic guidance to enhance its technology offering, scale operations, and expand its footprint in both Europe and North America. 

Sports streamer DAZN is a contender to acquire Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation’s majority stake in Australian pay-TV business Foxtel, according to the Australian Financial Review (AFR). The outlet reports that most of DAZN’s takeover interest has been focused on the sports rights owned by Foxtel. News Corp confirmed in August that its stake in Foxtel was up for sale. Foxtel has 3.22 million streaming subscribers and an additional 1.42 million cable subscribers. Of its streaming subscriber total, Kayo Sports, its over-the-top (OTT) sports streaming platform, accounts for 1.51 million – a seven per cent year-on-year (YoY) increase.

Playbk Sports, one of Australia’s leading provider of bespoke eLearning and fitness technology solutions, has partnered with the Brisbane Bullets to develop Bullets Assist, an innovative Learning Management System (LMS) designed to assist young athletes and educators in achieving success both on and off the court. Set to launch in early 2025, Bullets Assist will deliver dynamic and accessible learning resources to educators and young athletes across Queensland, fostering skills, passion and holistic development both on and off the court.

Sony has won the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) media rights for the 2024-31 cycle at a base price of $US 170 million via an e-auction process. It was an increase of 70% from the previous cycle where Disney-Star had the Asia Cup rights at $US 100 million between 2016-2023. Sony was the only participant as Jio-Disney did not turn up to the e-auction.

Women’s Elite Rugby (WER), the first professional women’s rugby league in the United States, has signed a landmark deal with Lumin Sports ahead of its inaugural 2025 season. The deal will see WER supply each of its six foundation teams with access to Lumin Sports. Lumin Sports is an Australian technology company that’s developed one app for performance monitoring, strength & conditioning programming as well as medical and team operation needs.

Premier League clubs have unanimously agreed that the Premier League will establish a new in-house media operations business. Launching for the start of Season 2026/27, the Premier League will bring all international media content production and distribution in-house. For 20 years, this service has been provided in partnership with IMG, operating as Premier League Productions (PLP). The two organisations will continue to deliver the next two Premier League seasons to broadcasters.

Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Milwaukee Bucks NBA superstar has announced the launch of Build Your Legacy (BYL) Ventures, a venture capital fund that will focus on investments in sports, entertainment and technology. Antetokounmpo, the two-time NBA MVP from Greece, is hoping to help connect entrepreneurs with investors who will be able to grow their businesses. The fund has already invested in Unrivaled, the new women's 3-on-3 basketball league.

Disability and inclusion facilities access app Cérge has won the 2024 Queensland Sports Innovation of the Year. The awards were supported by QSport, the Queensland Government and QUT Sport. The award elevates Cérge's mission to make the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games the most inclusive and accessible in history, through the use of advanced technology.  

SLOCOACH has announced an official partnership with USA Flag to revolutionise the way Flag Football is coached, learned, and played. Together, they are building an educational and accreditation platform designed to empower coaches, officials, and players as they prepare for the 2028 Olympics. The online platform will provide world-class training resources to nurturing grassroots programs, making Flag Football more accessible, inclusive, and impactful on a global scale.

A passionate group of entrepreneurial fans, former players, and investors have teamed up to launch Fanstake, the first open and competitive fan-driven Name, Image & Likeness (NIL) platform. Fanstake enables college sports fans to directly influence athlete recruitment and retention by pledging money toward their favorite athletes' NIL endorsement deals. Fans can stake financial support to promising recruits, transfer players, or current athletes, with funds going directly to the athlete’s endorsement deal with Fanstake if they choose the fan's school. Fanstake has raised $US 3 million in a pre-seed round led by Susa Ventures and Will Ventures,.

Ladder, the number one iOS app for strength training, announced it has raised $US 15 million in Series B funding led by Point72 Ventures and ADvantage VC. Ladder has also secured a $US 90 million growth investment from General Catalyst’s Customer Value strategy, to provide financing for customer acquisition costs. Following last year’s $US 12 million Series A raise, Ladder is on track to achieve 200% growth and reach 150,000 paid members by the end of 2024.

Hockey Australia has extended its partnership with SportsLink Travel, continuing its commitment as the non-exclusive Travel and Tour partner of Hockey Australia. SportsLink Travel’s all-inclusive, world-class travel package experiences saw hockey fans enjoy a stellar, action-packed 2024, with the opportunity to witness the Hockeyroos and Kookaburras at the peak of their game at international tournaments, including the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. 

Michael Jordan is putting money into Courtside Ventures, a VC fund focused on sports, lifestyle and gaming. The billionaire has invested in Courtside’s current round. In June, Courtside filed its plans to raise $100 million for its fourth fund. Courtside was founded in 2016, back when sports-focused funds, particularly in early-stage investing, were rare. The group currently has three funds, more than 100 investments and $200-plus million in assets under management. 

More details have emerged regarding King Salman Stadium, a planned 92,000-capacity stadium in the Saudi capital of Riyadh that has been designed by Populous. Plans for the project were first announced in July, and fresh images have now been released. The stadium is scheduled to open by the end of 2029 and would be used during the 2034 FIFA World Cup, which Saudi Arabia is set to be awarded hosting rights to. Populous is also working on other stadium projects in Saudi Arabia, including Prince Mohammed bin Salman Stadium, King Fahad International Stadium and Aramco Stadium.

Smart ring maker Oura has hit a $US 5 billion valuation after raising a $US 75 million Series D from US continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) giant Dexcom. The two companies also announced a strategic partnership that will integrate products including Dexcom’s CGMs and Oura’s ring — which track users' sleep, physical activities and health data — and app. In June, Oura announced that it has sold 2.5m rings, and said it expects to see annual sales double in 2024 to roughly $US 500 million.

Traits Insights is barely two years old, but already the analytics startup is helping world-class sporting clubs gain a competitive edge and has attracted the attention of elite athletes globally. The company’s software platform helps professional sports teams translate complex performance data so they can identify players’ strengths, develop talent and make informed strategic decisions. Traits’ momentum has earned it backing from well-known investors, including venture capital fund Artesian and APEX Capital, a group comprised of professional athletes who invest in sports ventures. The APEX fund is backed by a group of 100 elite athletes from across the UK and Europe.

The Al Ain Chess and Mind Games Club, powered by Checkmate Live, has launched the E-chess Championship a global, multi-stage chess tournament with a $US 60,000 prize pool and a Grand Final in Al Ain, UAE, on December 22, 2024. Players can register for free, and compete across four regions of the world. Online Qualifiers start November 23-24 & November 30 - December 1.

Endeavor Group will sell its sports data businesses, OpenBet and IMG Arena, to management-led group OB Global backed by Hollywood power broker Ari Emanuel for about $US 450 million. Both IMG Arena and OpenBet were put up for sale in August. IMG Arena delivers live streaming and data feeds for more than 65,000 events across multiple sports. Selling off non-core businesses like IMG Arena and OpenBet is a necessary move ahead of Silver Lake’s deal to take Endeavor private. Last month, as part of that larger deal, Endeavor agreed to sell its On Location, IMG and Professional Bull Riders businesses to its TKO Group Holdings in a $US3.25 billion deal.

TOD, the sports and entertainment streaming platform in the MENA region and a beIN Media Group company, has appointed LiveLike to enhance the TOD streaming platform. TOD and LiveLike will be implementing interactive and immersive experiences that aim to transform how fans connect with sports and entertainment. Launching early in 2025, this collaboration leverages gamification, loyalty, rewards, and live interaction to deliver a new streaming experience.

Whoopi Goldberg, Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Award winner and international streaming media company JungoTV, have announced the launch of All Women’s Sports Network (AWSN). It is the first global media channel dedicated exclusively to showcasing women’s sports. The international network is available on VIZIO WatchFree+ (United States), Jio TV and Jio TV+ (India), Evision (UAE/Saudi Arabia), and Jungo Pinoy (Philippines). AWSN's goal is to have the largest distributed female sports network in the world, digital or broadcast. The channel launches with live WNBL basketball and Hockey One League women's games on 13 November. AWSN already has content deals with UEFA, FIBA and a number of international women's soccer leagues.

Zhik, the high-performance sailing apparel brand, today announced the extension of their role as the Official Technical Partner to the United States SailGP Team. Through an extended partnership, the U.S. SailGP Team will wear Zhik-branded technical gear, including wetsuits and drysuits. SailGP, one of the world’s fastest-growing sports properties, launches its 2025 season in Dubai on November 23-24.