Australian Sportstech News

Australian cycling apparel MAAP are entering the UCI WorldTour as the official technical supplier to GreenEDGE Cycling (Team Jayco AlUla, Liv AlUla Jayco, and Liv AlUla Jayco Continental Team) for the 2025 season and beyond in a multi-year collaboration. Partnering with Australia's premier men’s and women’s WorldTour teams builds on MAAP's history of supporting professional teams and riders. The partnership also brings together two iconic brands of Australian cycling, both with a shared mission of performance, innovation, and elevating the sport on a global stage.

The Foxtel Group welcomed an agreement announced by its shareholders – News Corp and Telstra – that will see DAZN, a premier global sports streaming platform, acquire 100% of the Australian subscription television company. The deal will provide more international sports for Foxtel and Kayo subscribers and new opportunities to bring Australian sport to DAZN’s global audience. The transaction values the Foxtel Group as a streaming-led business with an enterprise value of $AUD 3.4 billion representing more than 7 x Fiscal 2024 Foxtel EBITDA. News Corp and Telstra will remain involved as shareholders in DAZN.

Australian independent provider of ticketing solutions, INTIX, has joined the AO StartUps programme. The Australian Open’s start-up initiative helps to accelerate businesses working in sport, health and entertainment to build, test or pilot solutions with Tennis Australia and tennis events. INTIX has been piloting its next-gen ticketing platform at the women’s Workday Canberra International 2025. The easy-to-use, full-feature online, membership, reserved seating and door sales solutions have been used by other sporting organisations in Australia, including AFL Victoria, Western Australian Football League, Queensland Rugby League and more. The full cohort of AO StartUp companies will be announced in the leadup to Australian Open 2025.

Racing and Sports, a leading provider of global racing data and trading solutions has announced that DAZN Bet has become the first UK operator to go live with Pragmatic Play's newly launched horse racing product. This release offers DAZN Bet users with best-in-class racing content, global data and innovative betting solutions.

The Las Vegas Raiders' has officially implemented PAM's Smart Navigation platform on their Mobile App and on the Allegiant Stadium Website. The platform provides more than just navigation, including premium experiences for fans, data-driven insights and enhanced in-venue revenue opportunities.

KOJO, a leader in the sport, entertainment and brand experience industries, has formalised a strategic partnership with CUE, a US-based leader in fan-first engagement technology. With KOJO, as CUE’s strategic partner across Australia and New Zealand, the collaboration promises to elevate fan experiences across major sporting, entertainment, and corporate events. KOJO will introduce CUE’s ground-breaking products to Australia and New Zealand. These include the popular FanSee live selfie cams, already a hit in the NBL, NRL and A-League, and AR Prize Drops that creates immersive sponsor activations.

Rip Curl’s Mirage3DP Boardshort has won the prestigious 2024 ISPO Award, recognizing outstanding achievements in the sporting goods industry. The award was presented at the ISPO Show in Munich, Germany. Developed in collaboration with Moon Creative Lab and Bilio, the Mirage3DP Boardshort sets a new benchmark for innovation and sustainability in surf apparel. The collaboration combines Rip Curl’s expertise in technical surf products, Moon Creative Lab’s innovative 3D printing materials and systems called ‘Variloom’, and Bilio’s expertise in complex soft goods design.

Under Armour, a global leader in athletic apparel, footwear and accessories, has announced a strategic investment in ISC Sport (ISC), becoming a major shareholder of the Australian custom teamwear provider. This landmark partnership unites two market leaders to revolutionise the teamwear landscape in Oceania. This partnership represents a pivotal milestone in Under Armour’s commitment to long term growth and expansion in the Australian market. ISC has built a strong reputation in Australia by serving over 2,500 amateur clubs, leagues and schools. As an official partner to major leagues and governing bodies, ISC connects with more than 800,000 athletes annually. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.    

The Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL) is poised for an exciting new chapter, with the Wollemi Capital Group Syndicate (WCGS) and the National Basketball League (NBL) consortium finalising the agreement to acquire a majority interest in the League. The consortium will assume control of the WNBL on April 2, 2025, with Basketball Australia retaining a minority shareholding. This landmark agreement marks a transformative moment for women’s sports in Australia, setting the stage for unprecedented growth, investment, and opportunities in women’s basketball.

Athletes training at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) will use the best in fitness equipment and flooring thanks to a new partnership with AlphaFit. Established in 2012, the 100% Australian-owned family business manufactures gymnasium gear specifically made for the strength and conditioning and high-performance community.

Catapult delivered a strong H1 2025 performance from its core SaaS verticals, with annualised contract value (ACV) growth of 20% year-on-year. ACV, Catapult’s leading indicator of future revenue, reached $US 96.8 million ($AUD 143 million). H1 2025 revenue increased to $US 57.8 million ($AUD 85 million), a 19% increase year-on-year. The result was driven by market segment expansion, new geography expansion and increased adoption of Catapult's New Video Solutions.

After winning the Inclusive Tech Challenge during the NRL Magic Round Tech Showcase Cérge's commitment to the Queensland Government, Advance Queensland and the Department of Sport, Racing and Olympic and Paralympic Games was to onboard 50 Sports Venues in 50 days. Cérge timed the start of the '50in50' with the introduction of new AI powered tools to support Site Consultants efficiently and consistently capture content. The solution aims to support confidence and participation for people with disability. 

Thule Group has signed an agreement to acquire Quad Lock, the global market leader in performance phone mount solutions, giving cyclists, motorcyclists and other adventurers access to their mobile phones while being active. Quad Lock has a turnover of nearly $AUD 200 million per annum, with sales to approximately 100 countries of which 75 percent is via e-commerce direct-to-consumer. The purchase price amounts to $AUD 500 million, or approximately SEK 3.6 billion, which corresponds to a multiple of 10x EBITDA.

MYLAPS Sports Technology and tripleSdata have announced a long-term partnership to offer real-time data insights in horse racing. tripleSdata, headquartered in Australia, is a leader in racing data innovation who provide fully automated, real-time technology solutions for animal racing. Their systems are deployed at premier venues such as Randwick and Flemington, as well as major events such as The Melbourne Cup and The Everest. The MYLAPS ProChip System offers a cutting-edge timing solution tailored for professional equestrian sports and high-speed racing.

Catapult’s MatchTracker is now being used to support UEFA's analysis workflow for this season’s club competitions, especially the UEFA Champions League. MatchTracker has been key in enhancing the analysis process by delivering live event and tracking data alongside video insights. This data serves as a foundation for UEFA’s technical analysts and observer group, helping them objectively frame and identify trends within each match while complementing their expert analysis.

Komo Technologies, a leading customer engagement platform, has partnered with Flowcode, one of the world's leading enterprise QR platforms. Flowcode’s cutting-edge QR tech and Komo’s suite of gamification, incentivization, and personalized content instantly connects the physical and digital worlds, keeping customers engaged well beyond the first scan. The solution can enhance event experiences, drive in-store engagement, or elevate digital marketing campaigns, with no coding required.

Refbook has signed an agreement with Touch Football Australia (TFA) to collaborate on modernising and steamlining tournament match officials administration. The project will deliver specialist functionality for TFA’s complex requirements when managing referees and coaching educators across all stages of large-scale national carnivals. A non-contact alternative to rugby league played in every continent, touch football is Australia’s largest social sport with 550,000 participants.

Australian software vendor Linius Technologies has partnered with Fujitsu to combine AI video analysis with the software vendor’s patented video technology. The partnership is focused on providing a suite of solutions to search, analyse and assemble video streams from multiple sources. The suite revolves around Fujitsu’s expertise in systems integration and “advanced AI-powered video analysis” via its Fujitsu Kozuchi for Vision product with Linius’s virtualised video and data-driven video assembly tech. Key verticals for the suite include security and surveillance, site and asset inspections and maintenance and consumer behaviour.

Centr, the brand founded by Chris Hemsworth that brings together state-of-the-art fitness equipment with expert-led programs in fitness, nutrition, and mindfulness, has announced its entry into the cardio category with the launch of nine premium treadmills. Each treadmill purchase includes a free membership to the Centr app, offering personalized training from Hemsworth’s team of expert coaches. The Centr Runr and Runr-S, tailored for urban runners, are the first treadmills available for purchase. As part of a continuation of Centr’s pivotal partnership with HYROX, they will introduce the new motorless Centr x HYROX Perform Treadmill.

Wellness and member retention platform Coach Welly has announced its newest customer, Aspen Medical Technology, part of the Aspen Medical Group, a global leader in healthcare solutions and services. The strategic partnership between Aspen Medical Technology and Coach Welly, a leading innovator in health and wellness technology, join forces to enhance employee wellbeing through Coach Welly’s innovative rewards software platform and Aspen Medical Technology’s new occupational health and wellbeing platform, Vitaport.

Michele Kang’s organization, Kynisca, is leading a $US 2 million investment in footwear brand IDA Sports. IDA Sports is the lone company in the soccer cleat space that designs and manufactures footwear exclusively for female athletes. The investment in IDA Sports further solidifies Kang and Kynisca’s hold in women’s soccer and their commitment to elevating female athletes. Elysian Park Ventures, Firebird Ventures Ltd and Tipt Ventures also participated in the round of funding.

Catapult has announced a new multi-year partnership with the Rugby Football Union (RFU) that will provide England’s national rugby teams, Premiership Rugby, and Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR) with advanced performance-tracking technology. These include the Catapult Vector System, MatchTracker, and Focus.

AQUAME has announced a partnership with Hess Cycling Team, a UCI Women's Continental Cycling Team. Commencing 2025 AQUAME will provide their innovative, data-driven hydration solution to support the Hess Cycling Team athletes. This partnership will allow the Hess team to prepare personalized hydration plans for training, racing and optimize post-ride recovery through AQUAME's detailed fluid intake tracking and hydration insights. With AQUAME, the Hess Cycling Team will gain a deeper understanding of hydration patterns and the impacts on their athlete’s performance and recovery.

AO Startups accelerates elite founders through priority access to the AO and professional and community sport. It provides a unique opportunity for startups solving large problems in sport, health and entertainment to build, test or pilot on the world stage with Tennis Australia and the Australian Open. Applications for the 5th AO Startup close on 8 Nov 2024.

Refbook has signed as a technology partner for Basketball New Zealand (BBNZ), providing a specialist platform for officials across the federation’s high performance pathway and competition network. The online solution will provide the flexibility and functionality needed across all of New Zealand’s representative basketball, including the national mens/womens leagues and all junior championships. The partnership is a key part of the national body’s strategy for improving the development and tracking of technical officials nationwide.