International Sportstech News

China's biggest sportswear brand Anta Sports Products has struck a deal to buy a 29% stake in Puma from the Pinault family for 1.5 billion euros ($US 1.8 billion), making it the biggest shareholder in the German sportswear maker. Anta said it would ‌use its expertise to help struggling Puma increase its sales in the lucrative Chinese market. The deal also helps Fila owner and Salomon backer Anta in its quest to become a more global business.

European Leagues and LaSource have been working together to shape the Sports Data Value Chain (SDVC) project: a strategic initiative designed to help member leagues gain more control of their sports data and build the foundations for a shared, future-ready data ecosystem. The European Leagues brings together 40 professional leagues representing more than 1,170 clubs across 34 countries and over 70 football divisions. 

Otro Capital has announced the close of its inaugural sports fund, Otro Capital Fund I, with $US 1.2 billion in committed capital. Fund I represents the largest first-time, dedicated sports buyout fund ever raised globally. The Fund is targeting investments where it believes professionalized operations, intellectual property, and enhanced governance can unlock significant value.

The National Basketball Association (NBA) today announced the five companies that will make up the fifth cohort of NBA Launchpad, the league’s initiative to source, evaluate, and pilot emerging technologies to further impact the future of basketball. The five companies include Atlas, a brain-sensing wearable; CRED, an intelligence platform for sponsorship lead-generation; Diddo, an API for rights holders and publishers to integrate shoppable moments within media platforms; Peripheral Labs, a spatial intelligence platform focused on applying autonomous vehicle technology to reconstruct live sports, and; Swish Basket, an AI-powered basketball training and gaming platform.

Athvance Capital has launched a European investment platform dedicated to building scaled sports assets across intellectual property, technology, and services, as private capital increasingly targets under-commercialised segments of the global sports industry. The platform is founded by Danny Menken, former managing director of Eurosport and co-founder of Eleven Sports, alongside Karim Ben Rejeb, a former JPMorgan investment banker.

Genius Sports has struck a deal to acquire Legend's sports and gaming media network worth up to $US1.2 billion, which the sports technology company plans to combine with its FanHub platform. Legend offers marketing technology for owned and operated digital properties while syndicating sports and betting content for the likes of Yahoo Sports and Sports Illustrated. Genius said the company helped generate 320 million visits from 118 million unique visits in 2025.

With $US 200 billion in total announced deal value across more than 1,000 deals, 2025 was an unprecedented deal making year in sports Tech with a wave of mega-mergers, according to Drake Star's latest Sportstech Report. The year featured five $US 1 billion-plus acquisitions, 23 private financings exceeding $US 100 million, and $US 12 billion of new funds being raised for sports acquisitions and investments. Notable M&A deals included Netflix’s $US 82.7 billion acquisition offer for the streaming and studios division of Warner Bros Discovery, and Saudi PIF and Silver Lake’s $US 55 billion acquisition of EA. Some of the large private placements included DAZN's $US 2.4 billion financing, Oura ($US 900 million), NEP Group ($US 700 million) and Teamworks ($US 235 million).

Full body VR movement platform Virtuix has listed on the US-based Nasdaq, and secured $US 11 million investment from Chicago Venture Partners. Tcompany said the proceeds are expected to support several initiatives, including the sales and marketing of Omni One, its at-home gaming system that features a treadmill-like platform and lets players enjoy 360-degree movement within a virtual world. Players wear a VR headset and can walk or run safely in any direction, as well as crouch and jump, secured by an adjustable support vest attached to a metal arm.

Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Dončić today announced the launch of 77X, a company he built to create original entertainment, collectibles, merchandise, and live experiences for his fans, and Fan Pass, a free membership platform available now at 77x.world. He is the first athlete to bring everything he creates – from content and products to events and community – into a single direct-to-fan universe, giving members early access to limited drops, exclusive content, and a voice in what gets made.

Bruin Capital, in collaboration with affiliates of 26North Private Equity, TJC LP and select other partners, has launched a new investment platform capitalized with $US 1 billion. The platform will target high-growth businesses that provide technology, data, media and commercial services—referred to as “second-level enablers”—to sports teams, leagues, federations and rights owners. This marks a significant expansion of Bruin’s specialist strategy focused on infrastructure critical to the global sports industry.

Sportable has announced that its premier Portable LPS tracking product has been officially certified within the FIFA Quality Programme for Electronic Performance & Tracking Systems (EPTS), marking a major milestone for the company and further validating its position as a global leader in sports tracking and connected ball innovation. The FIFA Quality Programme for EPTS is the global benchmark for tracking accuracy and reliability in football. Systems are independently assessed against strict criteria including positional accuracy, consistency, latency, and robustness.

KKR has agreed to acquire sports-focused investment firm Arctos Partners in a transaction valuing the business at approximately US$1 billion, according to Bloomberg. With more than $US 700 billion in assets under management, KKR has previously invested in sports and entertainment assets including FanDuel and the Ultimate Fighting Championship. The acquisition would further deepen its presence in the sector. Arctos holds stakes in more than 20 professional sports franchises across the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL and MLS, making it the only private investment firm approved to own equity across all five major North American men’s professional leagues. It is also the largest institutional owner of North American sports equity globally.

Indian-based Centre Court Capital has closed its maiden fund at NR 410 crore ($US 40 million) supported by domestic institutional investors and sports and media personalities. The fund will leverage off the wave of convergence across sports, fitness, wellness and social gaming in India. 

Sports investment firm APEX has announced the launch of a of a high-growth private equity fund with plans to raise 300 million euros, or about $US 350 million. APEX, which is based just west of Lisbon in Oeiras, Portugal, intends to use that newfound scale to pursue minority stakes ranging from 20% to 49% in teams, leagues and other sports assets. Over the life of the ten-year fund, Caçorino expects to strike 10 to 20 deals, with ticket sizes falling between $US 15 million and $US 50 million.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has faced an unexpected broadcasting crisis just two months before the impending T20 World Cup 2026, after JioStar formally informed the body that it cannot fulfil the remaining two years of its four-year India media rights deal. The broadcaster cited mounting financial losses as the primary cause for pursuing a premature exit from the $US 3 billion agreement.

Globant, a company dedicated to reinventing businesses through innovative technology solutions, and LALIGA, Europe's most successful football league, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that marks a milestone in the transformation of the operations of one of the world's leading sports organizations through the large-scale adoption of artificial intelligence (AI). Through Sportian, the joint venture between Globant and LALIGA, AI agents will be created in key organizational areas such as talent development, operations, and technology to improve sports performance analysis, personalized content creation, and workflow automation, all within a coordinated and centralized system. These new agents will join Sportian's current offering of technological solutions.

Ten startup companies from five African countries that have been selected as finalists as part of the second edition of NBA Africa Triple-Double Accelerator, which the league launched last year to support the continent’s technology ecosystem and the next generation of African entrepreneurs. Five winners will receive financial support and the opportunity to join CMU-Africa’s 12-month Business Incubation Program – in the Innovation Hub. 

Ultrahuman, a Bengaluru-based health technology and wearables company, has secured roughly $11.27 million in venture debt to accelerate its next phase of global growth. The debt round is positioned as a bridge toward a larger equity funding round expected in the coming weeks. Ultrahuman plans to use the capital to scale operations in Canada, Mexico and Australia. At the same time, Ultrahuman is managing a US patent dispute while targeting revenue of about $120 million by the 2026 financial year.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced extraordinary digital engagement results for the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025. The tournament generated 5.2 billion video views, a dramatic leap from the 1.5 billion achieved during the 2024 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup. Social media engagement soared to 279 million interactions, more than triple last year’s figure (84 million), while the ICC website and app attracted 8.5 million unique visitors, up from 3 million in 2024.

La Liga have secured a fresh TV package deal for the years of 2027-2032, extending with channels Movistar+ and DAZN. The deal represents an increase on the previous package, but also continues to illustrate the gap opening to the Premier League in terms of TV rights. The current deal is worth €4.95b runs until 2027, and is worth around €990m per season. The new deal has been confirmed to be worth €5.25b in total over the five seasons, averaging out as €1.05b per season, an increase of €60m.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs has launched a program called “Sports Everywhere” to support domestic companies in developing sports technologies, including training and safety solutions for baseball, golf, cycling, and hiking. The program will run through next year with a budget of $US 17 million. It focuses on developing sports-technology applications, integrated software and hardware solutions, and mixed virtual and physical services to boost the sporting goods manufacturing

Smart athletics track, Feldspar has now passed third-party testing by Sportslabs EU, the leading sports surfaces testing lab, confirming that our prototypes comply with World Athletics performance standards. This puts Feldspar one step closer to delivering a fully certified, next-generation running surface for athletes worldwide.

KINEXON Sports has been recognized as the first technology provider officially validated by FIBA for its wearable and in-venue tracking systems. The milestone, achieved through the federation’s inaugural independent testing program, confirms that KINEXON’s IMU and LPS solutions meet — and in several areas exceed — FIBA’s benchmarks for data accuracy, reliability, and player safety.

Function Health is heading into 2026 as a celebrity and athlete-backed unicorn, raising $US 298 million Series B round at a $US 2.5 billion valuation and unveiling a “Medical Intelligence Lab” that introduces new AI features. The funding will help fuel the MI Lab, where Function is working to turn AI into what it calls “medical intelligence,” a system built to capture the deepest possible view of each person’s biology by unifying data from lab tests, imaging, wearables, IoT devices and medical records, then layering it with global research and clinical expertise to spot early warning signals.

Leading smart basketball flooring company ASB GlassFloor have opened ASB Athletes Lab 2.0 in Orlando in partnership with the NBA. The new facility combines our ASB GlassFloor, ShotTracker analytics and Spiideo video systems to deliver a fully interactive and data-driven performance environment for professional and collegiate athletes.

TeamSnap, one of the world's leading youth sports management platform with over 19,000 sports organizations and 30 million users, has launched TeamSnap ONE. This new, comprehensive platform is the only technology in the market that combines flexible registration, next-generation communication, team management, expert training content, live streaming and game highlights.

The major US domestic broadcast rights tie-up between Major League Soccer (MLS) and Apple will end in mid-2029, three and a half years earlier than originally agreed. The initial 10-year deal between the MLS and the Apple TV streaming service, unveiled in mid-2022, was due to run through 2032 but has now been cut to a six-and-a-half-year agreement. The change to the length of the deal was voted through at the same time as the MLS's 30 team owners agreed to change the format of the season (as mentioned above), switching from February-December to July-May.

Automated production leader Pixellot has raised another $US 35 million to fuel its scale and growth. Pixellot last raised a $US 161 million Series D round led by PSG Equity in May 2022. This time, PSG invested an additional $US 15 million with $US 20 million structured as venture debt financing. This year, Pixellot is on pace to stream 1.5 million games across 14 sports. Most recently, Pixellot announced a five-year expansion to its longstanding agreement with PlayOn Sports -- which operates high school brands GoFan, MaxPreps and the NFHS Network.

IBM and Web Summit today unveiled a new global sports-tech competition proposal. The Sports Tech Startup Challenge will spotlight startups using AI to revolutionize sports — from athlete performance and stadium operations to fan engagement — with regional events planned for Qatar, Vancouver, and Rio, culminating with global winners being selected during Web Summit Lisbon 2026. 

Strava users will be able to use their physical activity to help raise awareness for causes they care about by adding the “For a Cause” tag to an activity and dedicating it to a GoFundMe fundraiser or nonprofit. The partnership integrates the fundraising platform into the app by allowing users to directly connect their Strava accounts to a fundraiser they’ve started on GoFundMe. From there, miles and activities logged will automatically show up for the donors who support the fundraiser.

Fastbreak AI, a firm that specializes in sports scheduling optimization, is raising $US 40 million in new funding as artificial intelligence services get more integrated into sports leagues around the world. Users of the solution, the NBA and NHL, participated in the round of funding. Management plans to spend the fresh capital to build out sales and marketing in a deeper push into amateur sports, such as youth travel tournaments, and hire more engineering staff.

Champions Innovate is a programme created to address modern, meaningful, and relevant challenges identified by UEFA and the host national association of the UEFA Champions League final. Launched by the UEFA Innovation Hub the proprietary initiative began two seasons ago, with a successful debut during the 2024 final in London and another successful edition in Munich in 2025. And in 2026 the programme is run in partnership with the Hungarian Football Federation (MLSZ), who will host the 2026 UEFA Champions League final at the Puskás Aréna in Budapest. In this edition the Champions Innovate programme will shine a spotlight on the beating heart of the game: grassroots football, and more specifically parents, coaches, womens participation and the workforce. Applications close 30th November, with participating innovators selected by 19th December.

Agassi Sports Entertainment and IBM announced a multi-year collaboration aimed to transform the global racquet sports landscape through next generation artificial intelligence and digital innovation. They have signed a partnership agreement to bring together IBM's technology and expertise with ASE's vision for an innovative digital community across racquet sports.

PNOĒ, NADclinic and BranX360 have announced a partnership to advance human performance optimisation and longevity. The partnership will combine NADclinic’s advanced gender-specific Blood Panel, providing deep biochemical insight into hormones, inflammation, and cellular function, with neurocognitive QEEG Brain Mapping by BrainX360, and PNOĒ’s revolutionary breath analysis technology. The partner ultimately provides a range of biomarkers across mind, metabolism, and cellular health.

Leading sportstech investor APEX is partnering with Federação Portuguesa de Futebol (FPF) in the next edition of their Impact Program. In addition to receiving strategic investment from APEX, companies that successfully emerge from the program will have a chance to collaborate with the PFF.

Exos, aglobal leader in human performance, has announced the acquisition of sports technology company, Infinite Athlete and its subsidiary Biocore. This acquisition marks the next chapter for Exos as it blends human expertise with AI and data-driven insights to revolutionize human performance. The company will focus on expanding its tech-forward products and services across professional sports, collegiate and youth athletics, corporate workplace solutions, healthcare, and the U.S. military, redefining how performance is measured, improved, and sustained.

Electronic Arts, EA SPORTS™ and the National Football League announced an expanded, multi-year exclusive agreement to grow American football worldwide. Under the partnership, EA SPORTS and the NFL will continue to drive innovation and expansion of the Madden NFL franchise, which will continue as the exclusive action simulation game for NFL football. The partnership will also support new content and experiences in EA SPORTS™ College Football, as well as new, large-scale interactive experiences for football fans, built around community, social connection, self-expression and gameplay.

Nike is launching a new type of shoe designed to help athletes lock in their mindset pre- and post-competition. The Mind 001 and Mind 002 are the first neuroscience-based footwear from Nike that tap into the mind-body connection by activating sensory receptors in the feet. The Mind 001 and Mind 002 feature 22 independent foam nodes per shoe that are bonded to a flexible, water-resistant material that allows them to act as pistons and gimbals as athletes move. This interaction heightens sensory awareness, which can help clear away distractions and enhance concentration.

CourtReserve, a leading club management software platform used by more than 2,000 racquet clubs and paddle sports facilities and five million players, announced that it has secured a $US 54 million strategic growth investment from Mainsail Partners. The investment will help fuel accelerated product development, enhance customer service and support, deepen integrations, and expand the company’s market reach to sports facilities across North America.

26North Partners has led a $US 700 million equity investment in NEP Group to accelerate growth and innovation. NEP Group is a global leader in media services and technology solutions for the live sports and entertainment industry. NEP powers many of the world’s most iconic productions, including the Super Bowl, the World Cup, the Olympics and major entertainment events like the Oscars. NEP partners with leading broadcasters, rightsholders and producers.