News, features & insights from the world of Sports Tech. Every Week
This week’s feature is a look at all the tech that surrounds the modern athlete, going beyond just performance enhancement to other areas that are gaining importance. And the podcast is a chat in lead up to the Global Sports Tech Ecosystem Report 2024, with the head of the Comcast NBCUniversal SportsTech Accelerator. Happy Friday 🙌🏽
Feature Story
Supporting the Modern Athlete: From Recruitment to Retirement
It’s a highly competitive world of sports as we all know. From being discovered by recruiters to planning for life after retirement, the journey of an athlete is quite demanding. However, with the advancement of tech, athletes now have access to a plethora of innovative solutions designed to support them at every stage of their career.
Here we have broken down how digital advancements in sports tech can support an athlete, from recruitment to retirement.
Global SportsTech Ecosystem Report 2024- COMING SOON!
We’re at the cusp of launching the GSTER24 – an investment overview and trend analysis of 3 geographies – North America, Europe & Asia-Pacific.
If you’re looking to generate visibility in the SportsTech ecosystem (be it a product, service, funding round, announcement – anything), our partnership will be the right fit.
Top News from the World of Sports Tech
⚽ Premier League is set to introduce semi-automated offside technology (SOAT) from next season, expecting to cut the average length of a VAR offside check by 30 seconds. SOAT has already been used in the Champions League, Serie A and FIFA World Cup.
⚽ Newcastle United’s sponsor Sela has introduced haptic shirts which will allow supporters with hearing impairments to experience the raucous atmosphere at St. James’ Park.
🏀 ‘March Madness Live’ not only launched a vertical video feed featuring short-form content, but was compatible with Apple Vision Pro to provide immersive fan experiences.
⛳ The Masters Tournament is leaning on VR and gen AI to improve the experience for fans who can’t make the trip to Augusta National by launching a new Apple Vision Pro app.
🏀 When the Sacramento Kings hosted the New Orleans Pelicans during their annual Tech Night, the team announced Strived.io as the winner of the 2024 Capitalize: Technology contest.
🏎️ NASCAR launched a new In-App Stories product from WSC Sports, a global leader in AI-powered sports video content, to enhance fan experience
Not Sports Tech but you should know:
💸 Nico Rosberg, former F1 World Champion announced the launch of a new €70 mln Fund of Funds through his investment firm Rosberg Ventures.
🏃♀️ UK Athletics has linked up with Athletic Ventures – an amalgamation of UKA, The Great Run Company and London Marathon Events – in a joint venture to boost the popularity and growth of the sport.
🏎️ Formula One has unveiled its 24-race calendar for its 75th anniversary, the 2025 season, commencing with the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on March 16.
🎮 India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, met with some of the country’s prominent stakeholders in esports and gaming to discuss industry developments in India and how the government has recognised the ‘creativity of gamers’.
Money Talks:
💰 Gemini Sports Analytics, who provide AI based predictive modeling for sports performance, raised $3.1 million in a round led by Will Ventures.
💰 The Players Fund invested an undisclosed amount into London based premium ticketing platform, Seat Unique.
🤝 Svexa, a US based human performance intelligence company, acquired Israel based AI-driven human performance platform, Zone7, for an undisclosed amount.
🤝 Seattle startup Volt Athletics acquired ZAMA Health, a Washington based company that provides mental health services to athletes, for an undisclosed amount as well.
🤝 Satisfi Labs, an AI-powered Conversational Experience Platform, and Broadw.ai, a leading provider of AI-powered concierge services officially merged operations, not disclosing the amount.
💰 Winklevoss Capital, the investment firm owned by Gemini founders, has made a $4.5 million bitcoin investment into Real Bedford FC, becoming Co-Owners with Peter McCormack.
💰 YouTube stars Dude Perfect secured an investment of more than $100 million from private investment firm Highmount Capital as the group looks to expand into a larger media company.
Latest from our channels
🎙️ #200 Comcast SportsTech: The Premier Sports Accelerator
Jenna Kurath, Vice President of Startup Partnerships & Head of Comcast NBCU SportsTech, talks about her journey into sports, why they launched an accelerator program in sports, what startups are they looking for, some success stories, exciting sports tech trends and more. Watch the full video here.
⚡ STX Weekly: Last week’s newsletter in case you missed it.
💸 Sports Tech AllStars Recap: Innovation in Sports Organisations.