Australian Sportstech News

The NRL held its Magic Round in Brisbane - a full weekend of rugby matches with teams from across Australia and New Zealand. As part of the weekend, Department of Environment, Science and Innovation organised a tech showcase, highlighting 20 leading companies with applications for stadiums, fan egagement, human performance, health, inclusiveness, and other application for sport. Companies showcased included the likes of WearOptimo, Chronosoft, tagSpace, Axiom Holographics, iNSPIRETEK and GravityFit.

The Melbourne & Olympic Parks precinct (M&OP) has confirmed its place as a powerhouse of Victoria’s sports, entertainment, and live events culture, contributing hundreds of millions of dollars to the Victorian economy and supporting over 5,800 jobs in 2022–23. An inaugural ‘Precinct-wide Social and Economic Value Study,’ has revealed the precinct’s pivotal role in shaping Melbourne’s status as one of the world’s most liveable cities, delivering widespread economic benefits and supporting a dynamic ecosystem of business and sporting excellence.

AO Adventure was the number 1 visited sporting experience on Roblox in April, 3 months after the Australian Open finished. The Emirates-sponsored obstacle course and ESPN-branded tennis game had 672k visits in April and 17.7 million over its lifetime. AO Adventure continues to grow and lead Tennis Australia's strategy to make the AO the world's most accessible sports and entertainment event. 

Neo-Bionica, a joint venture between the Bionics Institute and the University of Melbourne, has secured $5 million from Breakthrough Victoria. Neo-Bionica’s expertise includes developing and commercialising AI-powered implantable and wearable medical devices designed to restore human function and smart sensors capable of intelligently monitoring human physiology.

In the wake of the WNBA's monumental growth and anticipation surrounding the upcoming 2024 season, Cipher Sports Technology Group has announced the launch of its groundbreaking WNBA picks, props, trends, and parlay products on Dimers.com.

Alta Global Group (NYSE American:MMA) an Australian pioneering technology company dedicated to transforming the landscape of martial arts and combat sports training has announced its strategic acquisition of Hype. Hype's software platform strengthens Alta's vision to convert 640 million MMA fans to participants by providing tools to the gym owner, coach, and athlete partners to not only grow their revenues, but also operate more efficiently, save costs and enhance the offerings to their members and community. This acquisition is expected to accelerate Alta's technology roadmap, bringing forward new subscription revenue opportunities to Alta.

COX, a leading Australian architectural firm, has been chosen as the Lead Design Consultant for the Macquarie Point Multipurpose Stadium in Tasmania. The new stadium in Hobart would be home to the Tasmania Football Club of the Australia Football League (AFL). COX has designed sports venues including Optus Stadium, Sydney Football Stadium, Dunedin Stadium and the redesign of the Adelaide Oval.

Australian sportstech company Komo Tech has partnered with Fanatics Events - the live and special event division of Fanatics - to provide Komo’s next-generation customer engagement platform at Fanatics’ events in the US this year. Komo, which offers a complete Customer Engagement Platform that helps brands and properties connect with their customers through gamified experiences and interactions, will work with Fanatics Events to unlock new levels of fan engagement at each stage of the fan journey through interactive and immersive experiences at several of their events. The partnership will kick off at the newly announced Fanatics Fest in NYC. Sitting at the nexus of sports fandom, culture, and collecting, Fanatics Fest NYC will bring fans across all sports to celebrate their passions under one roof at New York City’s Javits Center from 16th to 18th August.

Alta Global Group, a pioneering technology company dedicated to revolutionizing the martial arts and combat sports industry, has announced its partnership with five-time MMA world champion Conor McGregor in support of Trainalta.com. McGregor, along with his long-standing coach and Alta Co-Founder John Kavanagh, has become a shareholder of Alta Global Group as it aims to convert 640 million MMA fans into active combat sports participants globally.

The State Government of Queensland has announced a new $3.3m round of their ActiveKIT program. ActiveKIT will support the active industry, startups or small to medium businesses to develop, trial or implement new and innovative solutions that respond to the challenge; “Personalising the experience for all”; enable inclusive, social, flexible and/or commitment-free physical activity opportunities for all that helps to create a positive mindset and encourages physical activity involvement for life. Expressions of interest close 22nd May.

Prime Minister The Hon Anthony Albanese visited the AIS campus to announce the $249.7 million investment to upgrade AIS facilities to ensure they are modern and world-leading. The funding follows the recently completed Independent Review of AIS Infrastructure which recommended that the AIS Campus remains in Canberra. The funding will be focused on three facilities:

- a 192 bed multi-story and fully para-accessible accommodation building
- a large indoor Sport Dome that will provide 24/7 all-weather training facilities for track and field sports
- a new Testing and Training Centre to provide state-of-the-art equipment and support for our athletes’ development.

The Hungry Jack’s National Basketball League (NBL) will be accessible to more sports fans after the League extended its partnership with ESPN, secured a new free-to-air broadcast deal with Network 10, with games to be played on its main channel, in High Definition (HD) and renewed its deal with News Corp Australia (NCA) to deliver deeper basketball coverage throughout the 2024/25 season. The League’s broadcast audience has increased by 26 per cent this season, off the back of a similar rise last season. 

Magnifi by VideoVerse announce a partnership with Linius Technologies Limited to revolutionize personalized video streaming experiences by integrating AI-driven video technology with innovative video virtualization capabilities. This collaboration introduces solutions that merge live and historical archive content, delivering automated, personalized highlights and highly tailored video streams. The joint solution was demonstrated at the recent NAB Show in Las Vegas in April 2024. 

Cipher Sports Technology Group is in the running for multiple awards at the esteemed SBC Awards North America 2024, set to be held next week at Hilton Midtown, New York City, on May 9, 2024. Cipher have been shortlisted for the 'Industry Innovation of the Year', 'Sports Affiliate of the Year' and 'Sports Data Product' for their 'Dimers' and 'Convertr' sports data, prediction and betting solutions.

News Corp Australia's sport streaming service, KommunityTV, today announced new streaming deals with Tennis Australia and the Australian Secondary Schools Rugby League. KommunityTV will exclusively stream matches from Tennis Australia’s five remaining Australian junior championship events in 2024, while rugby league fans will be able to stream every game of the Australian Secondary Schools Rugby League National Championships.

Applications are now open for the mid-year intake of AO StartUps – Tennis Australia’s pioneering program that enables startup companies to pilot their cutting-edge technology during the Australian summer of tennis and within Tennis Australia’s business. More than 20 companies have joined AO StartUps since its inception, providing Tennis Australia with a range of innovative new technology to pilot across verticals including participation, performance, broadcast, digital, event operations and the fan experience. AO Startups ongoing mission is to uncover the best ideas across early-stage sport tech companies and provide an incredible opportunity for them to be part of the biggest global sports and entertainment event in January. The sport and entertainment verticals of most interest in this intake include health and wellness, sustainability, Padel Tennis and fan experience. Early-stage tech companies have until 24 May 2024 to apply. 

LIGR Live leads its growth into Europe and North America through partnership with the Crionet Group. CEO and Co-Founder of LIGR Live announced his relocation to Europe to grow the business activities in the Northern Hemisphere.

The Australian Composites Manufacturing Cooperative Research Centre has begun a new project with investment company Gowing Bros to develop a travel surfboard (that requires minimal storage space, whilst not compromising performance) through Gowing’s brands Gowings Pacific Trader, FCS and Softech. Through this partnership, ACM CRC will identify and develop advanced manufacturing techniques for increased board laminating quality, and will adapt automated processes for core shaping, composite material deposition (glassing) and finishing, retaining the board’s high quality while reducing manufacturing costs.

ActiveXchange's National Infrastructure Database passed 50,000 sites this week. It's Australia's largest repository of sport and recreation data made possible through 200+ recreation and sport organisation integrations and a network of 1,200 contributing platform users. The database helps with planning, investing and operating sports infrastructure including usage, resident profile and demand and benchmarking of sites. 

A newly released survey on the fitness and health market has revealed that Australians spent up to $3.5 billion on fitness clubs and gyms in 2023 and that one in five of Australians over 18 have a gym membership. The information, released by retail intelligence platform GapMaps and based on data powered by CommBank iQ - which tracks the largest 27 brands within the industry - shows that the top fitness chains across Australia have over 3,000 locations. The report also reveals that despite cost-of-living pressures, the industry continues to grow, with the majority of operators increasing their network size in 2023. Excluding F45, the tracked brands added a net 53 locations in 2023. Brands such as Fitstop and BFT continued major expansions, adding 39 and 27 locations respectively.

BetMakers Technology Group has entered an agreement to acquire assets of RACELAB, a leading international supplier of enhanced racing wagering products and technologies. This is a highly strategic acquisition for BetMakers, adding leading race form, preview, and statistics technology to the BetMakers ecosystem, as well as proprietary fixed odds pricing technology and associated algorithms. The acquisition also offers potential for BetMakers to further expand its services in the harness and greyhound form and preview racing sectors and bring new customers to BetMakers.

STEPN has joined forces with adidas to revolutionise the web3 world, launching an exclusive “Step into the Future” collaboration. A total of 1,000 limited edition STEPN x adidas NFT Genesis Sneakers will be unveiled on the Solana Blockchain. According to Shiti Manghani, CEO of STEPN: “This collaboration between STEPN and adidas underscores how powerful it is when you can move-and-earn in both the virtual and real world simultaneously. That such a physical and digital - or ‘phygital’ - partnership between the most widely used lifestyle app and a global brand of such magnitude are now a reality indicates the direction lifestyle rewards are going".

The Bodhi & Ride x 2XU Limited Collection has officially launched. Each piece is designed to enhance performance but also provide unparalleled comfort, providing the perfect amount of compression and sculpting to ensure riders feel and perform their best during every Ride.

The Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) and SPORTPASS, a fan engagement and gaming platform and a subsidiary of Animoca Brands, today announced the entry into a framework in respect of a partnership to transform the fan experience for triathlon and endurance sports that leverages Web3 and blockchain technology. The arrangement seeks to redefine the way professionals, fans and amateur athletes engage with endurance sports, offering tokenized rankings, dynamic incentives, gamification, content and rewards across digital and ‘in real life’ starting at the newly announced T100 Triathlon World Tour, which began in Miami on 9 March.

Fans are now able to purchase food and drinks using cryptocurrency at Adelaide Oval following an agreement between the venue, its Australian Football League (AFL) tenants the Adelaide Crows, and Crypto.com. Supported by financial systems software DataMesh, which is providing the payment technology and terminals, the integration marks a world first at this scale.

In collaboration with the National Rugby League (NRL), Advance Queensland is offering a unique opportunity for up to 20 local businesses to showcase their groundbreaking products and solutions to key decision-makers from the NRL, clubs, stakeholders, and major sporting organisations across Queensland. Advance Queensland and the NRL are seeking expressions of interest (EOIs) from businesses with innovative solutions in areas such as: innovative fan engagement and fan experience enhancement, event operations and broadcasting optimisation, health and wellness technologies for athlete performance improvement, business data solutions for customer engagement and performance, any other technology solutions that can elevate the NRL's product offerings and sponsorship value. Applications close 23 April 2004.

VALD Performance has been become a successful recipient of an Advance Queensland Industry Research Fellowship grant, applying sports technology to prevent knee injuries in Queensland's female athletes. With the support of $240,000 over 2 years, Research Fellow, Dr Matthew Bourne's work will apply world-leading human measurement tech to predict which female athletes are at risk of injury, revolutionise training for injury prevention and monitor rehabilitation outcomes. The Advance Queensland Industry Research Fellowships program supports researchers partnering with industry to complete original research that will have a positive impact on Queensland. Applications for our 2024 Industry Research Fellowship grants are now open and close on the 22nd April.

The Gold Coast SUNS have today launched the ultimate free online fitness companion tailored to young people aged 12-17 in a partnership with the Queensland Government and Playbk Sports. SUNS Active Lab is a cutting-edge platform accessed via a smart phone or tablet which encourages young people to access inclusive fitness programs curated by SUNS staff.

Australian enviro-tech startup Samsara Eco and its partner, athletic apparel, accessories and footwear brand lululemon, have today launched the first product made from enzymatically recycled polyester. The lululemon limited edition Packable Anorak jacket is made from a variety of inputs, including mixed plastic waste, lululemon apparel at the end-of-life stage, and converted carbon emissions. The jacket is available for purchase online in Australia, the US and Canada beginning today. 

Advanced body composition analytics pioneer Evolt, has entered a strategic partnership with digital fitness solutions company, EGYM, signalling a pivotal shift within the industry as individuals increasingly adopt a holistic approach to health. The collaboration, announced at IHRSA in Los Angeles earlier this month, merges EGYM’s fitness equipment and digital platform with Evolt’s cutting-edge composition analysis technology, offering gym members comprehensive insights into their health and fitness. 

Alta Global Group (NYSE American: MMA), a technology company that is enabling the global martial arts and combat sports industry to maximize the monetization opportunities available to the sector by increasing consumer participation in the sport and building upon existing community offerings within the sector, announced the pricing of its NYSE initial public offering of 1,300,000 ordinary shares at a price to the public of $5.00 per share, for gross proceeds of $US 6.5 million. The Company intends to use the net proceeds of the listing for marketing and sales, product development, research and development.

News Corp Australia’s News Sport Network today announced it is joining forces with Partnerbrite, an internationally renowned fan audience platform. Partnerbrite is an ad-tech platform that transforms partnerships with fan targeted digital campaigns on social, video and display channels. It solves a major problem in sports marketing – providing a full-funnel solution for brands to target audiences, without sports organisations needing to share their data.  News Sport Network and Partnerbrite will work to sell their offerings together, work with brands to identify appropriate properties in the sport industry to invest in and work with sporting partners to identify appropriate commercial partners for available categories.

Populous has joined Building 4.0 CRC, an industry-led research initiative co-funded by the Australian Government. The Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) Program aims to fund industry-led collaborations between industry, researchers and end-users. Building 4.0 CRC aims to foster a thriving Australian advanced manufacturing sector, deliver better buildings at lower costs, and develop the human capacity to lead the future building and construction industry. Populous APAC is partnering on the #48 shared interest project titled “Scoping Study for Building the Future – Circular Economy,” and aims to design out waste and pollution by maximizing the utility of products and materials, thereby reducing excessive material extraction and manufacturing.

HITIQ has announced a partnership with the National Rugby League (NRL) for the 2024 season. The NRL has initiated a trial of HITIQ's state-of-the-art head impact mouthguard technology, aiming to evaluate the product's fit for broader rollout within rugby league. In addition to the NRL's trial, several teams have independently adopted HITIQ's instrumented mouthguard (iMG) technology to measure, mitigate, and better understand head impact exposure during training, games and competitions. 

Queensland University of Technology's (QUT) Centre for Data Centre launched its new Sports Data Science & AI Next Generations Graduate Program on 28th March. The event also featured two interesting panel discussions around Sports Tech, AI, and all the research around it now and in the future. Panelists included domain experts from Queensland Academy of Sport, Australian Sports Commission, QUT, ASTN, CSIRO's Data61 and University of NSW Data Science Hub. Details of the new program are at https://lnkd.in/gbQqWyfU

Basketball Forever, a rapidly expanding and highly engaged independent sports media brand, recently disclosed the successful closure of its Series A funding round, amassing over $US4 million. The fundraising was prominently spearheaded by Yolo Investments. Basketball Forever uniquely integrates its gaming operations with its content distribution, leveraging its website and social media platforms to engage users with a compelling second screen experience. Following the establishment of its presence in North America, Basketball Forever is set to channel these funds towards bolstering its growth, aiming to capture a larger audience within the region, branching out into additional sectors apart from basketball.

GTG Network, a leading Australian sports analytics company, are continue to expand its operations into the quick-play arcade game segment. GTG Network and Sinclair Broadcast Group are partnering on Game Center, a new direct-to-consumer platform offering personalized and interactive fan experiences with gamification elements aimed at growing fan engagement with the help of fandoms and social communities. A total of 79 Sinclair stations are making Game Center available on their websites. With 30 unique games across sports, word and number puzzles, trivia as well as cards and casino, the game collection is intended to have broad appeal from fans.

Coles Little Athletics Australia today announced it is extending its partnership with KommunityTV Team as the Official Streaming Partner for the 2024 and 2025 Coles Australian Little Athletics Championships. KommunityTV will provide the digital platform to live stream the 2024 & 2025 Coles Australian Little Athletics Championships (ALAC), in addition to writing and producing local stories about the competing Little Athletes in the lead-up and during the up-coming 2024 ALAC.

Queensland University of Technology, in partnership with AusCycling and Zwift hosted Australia's first National eSports Cycling Championship on 22 March. QUT welcome some of Australia's top men and women's cyclists to The Cube for the finals event. 27 QUT students assisted with the delivery of this event, from IT configuration to production, broadcasting, commentating and everything in between. Many of these skills and capabilities are learnt and led through our esports program which delivers Oceanic Varsity and Oceanic Development Tournaments to the region for Riot Games every week on campus.

Dimers.com, a leading sports analytics website, developed by Melbourne-based Cipher Sports Technology, has officially launched its revolutionary sports betting product, Dimers Pro. This new product offers a suite of tools and analytics to help users make informed decisions and elevate their betting experience. Dimers, which serves nearly one million monthly users with free access to top-tier sports betting models and technology, is transitioning to a subscription-based model at less than a dollar a day. This reflects the platform's commitment to delivering an enhanced and more sophisticated service to its dedicated user base.