News, features & insights from the world of SportsTech. Every Week.

The numbers don’t lie. We know that most of you that read our newsletter haven’t yet downloaded our Global SportsTech VC Report 2023. 

Maybe you hadn’t seen it yet. Maybe you’ve been too busy Christmas shopping. Maybe you couldn’t find the Albariño (don’t worry, any wine will do). Maybe that’s far too many maybes.

Whatever the reason is, we highly recommend that you do. We’re biased of course but it is a quality read. Our lead story this week, on M&A in Sports, is from the report so we’ve even included a little teaser.

Though if you prefer to listen / watch > read, next Tuesday we’re hosting a 60 mins webinar to go through the report. Scroll down to sign up. 

And for those that have read the report (thank you 🙏), there’s plenty of interesting news to catch up on this week. Especially funding related, there has been a glut of deals lately.

Feature Story

GSTVCR23: Top M&As in Sports

We’ve christened 2023 as the ‘Year of Consolidation’ in SportsTech, looking at the heightened M&A activity through the year. 

And it seems like the moniker could also be extended to the Sports industry in general. There have been a number of prominent M&A deals in 2023, driven by differing incentives

• Merging with direct competitors, instead of competing (PGA and LIV Golf)
• Creating crossover, cross-promotion and all sorts of other cross-synergies (WWE & UFC)
• A combined entity to compete with ‘the big boys’ (PFA & Bellator), OR
• Straight up acquisition because 1 set of owners is happy to exit and another set is hoping to grow the asset (most others on that list)

In each of those deals, like with any M&A deal, the underlying belief seems to be pretty clear: there is value on the table waiting to be unlocked. 

And with good reason, few asset classes have appreciated as dramatically as sports franchises or assets have in recent years. 

Between 2018 and 2023, the combined value of Forbes’ analysis of the 50 most valuable sports franchises surged by a staggering 90% to $256 billion. 

That said, there is an important question to be asked: does the average sports fan actually benefit from all this? Or will they simply be forced to foot the bill through increasingly expensive tickets, merch and streaming subscriptions? 

The latter is likely inevitable. It’s up to sports to deliver the former to make all this sustainable.

For more such data and insights, all you need to do is… 

19th December

Recomended Reading

Top News from the World of SportsTech

💻 Sports streaming giant DAZN is eyeing a massive $1 billion capital injection to fuel its global expansion plans.

⚽ Bundesliga clubs have given the green light for the DFL to sell up to 8% of its TV and marketing rights for a pretty nifty €1 billion. 

🎾 Netflix continue their foray into live streaming with an exhibition match scheduled for March 3rd, 2024, pitting legend Rafael Nadal against current World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz in an event they’re calling “The Netflix Slam.”

👟 Reebok has partnered with AI and metaverse company Futureverse to create a blockchain-based gaming and metaverse experiences for consumers. Expect to see “Reebok Impact,” a digital shoe experience, sometime in 2024. 

🎮 Cristiano Ronaldo and other investors have invested $40 million in the UFL, a new football video game that aims to compete with EA Sports FC.

Not SportsTech but you should know:

🏎️ PE firm Arctos Partners (remember them from our piece on the Alpine F1 team) has bought a 12.5% stake in Paris Saint-Germain, valuing the club at over €4 billion. 

🏟️ Arsenal smashed the Women’s Super League attendance record with a staggering 59,042 fans packing Emirates Stadium for their clash against Chelsea. They surpassed their own previous record of 54,115, set the at Emirates earlier this season against Liverpool. 

Money Talks:

💰 Boston based Dust Identity, a specialist in authentication technology, has secured $40 million in Series B funding to fuel its expansion into rapidly growing market for sports memorabilia and collectibles.

💰 Cape Town based Smart Ball company Sportable raised a $15 million Series A round to expand its technology into more sports and markets.

💰 Texas based Fitness app Ladder secures $12 million in Series A funding to simplify strength training and fuel growth.

💰 FutConnect, a London based platform aiming to revolutionize football fan engagement, secured $12 million in Series A funding led by The Kicher Group.

💰 California based fitness platform Beachbody raised $5.3 million.

💰 Former Belgian and Spurs footballer Jan Vertonghen has invested in Belgium based Raw Stadia, specialising in playing surface analysis, alongside others as part of a €1.5 million funding round. 

💰 San Francisco based NeuroTrainer, a VR-based cognitive training solutions company, received an investment from the LG backed NOVA Prime Fund, 

More Top Deals:  Xponential Acq Lindora, FTN Network $3 million, CeleBreak Undisclosedfrom Barça Innovation Hub,  Field of Dreams Undisclosed,EsportsXO Undisclosed.

Latest from our Channels

🎙️ #189 ProFluence: A Multi-Media Ecosystem and VC Fund at the intersection of Sports, Tech & Media. 

On today’s episode we are joined by ⁠ Andrew Petcash⁠, founder of Profluence Sports, a multi-media powerhouse and VC fund sitting squarely at the intersection of sports, tech, and media. We discuss the various deals that Profluence Capital has been involved in such as Minutely, SportsVizio and Sapphire, we talk about India as an emerging market for SportsTech and their exciting future projects. Watch the full video here.

⚡ STX Weekly: Last week’s newsletter, in case you missed it.