International Sportstech News

The Premier League and Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday announced a five-year strategic partnership to transform how 1.8 billion fans in 189 countries engage with the world’s most-watched football league. At the heart of the partnership are the Premier League’s new fan-facing digital platforms, which leverage Microsoft’s cloud and AI technologies to usher in a new era of intelligent and intuitive fan experiences. From today, fans around the world can learn more about the Premier League clubs, players and matches of their choice through a new digital Premier League Companion powered by Copilot.

JioHotstar has recently reached a major milestone, surpassing 300 million subscribers, bringing it just shy of Netflix‘s last reported figure of 301.63 million. This significant leap comes as the platform experiences a surge in user engagement, particularly spurred by the recently concluded Tata IPL. Jiostar, the result of a merger between Reliance-backed Jiocinema and Disney+Hotstar in February 2025, saw many firsts in the IPL season this year. Notably, digital viewership reached an impressive 652 million, surpassing the 537 million viewers on television, as per a report by Jiostar. Digital viewership for the 2025 edition grew by 5.16% compared to the previous year, which had recorded 620 million viewers. On the other hand, television viewers saw a modest 1.6% dip from 546 million last year. 

Prevent Biometrics and Texas Youth Football Association (TYFA) have announce an official partnership to bring Prevent's instrumented smart mouthguard (iMG) technology to the nearly 20,000 young athletes ages 8-11, competing across the state of Texas. For the first time ever, TYFA families and communities will have access to the same level of head safety monitoring trusted by elite organizations around the world, including World Rugby and the U.S. Department of Defense. Prevent iMGs actively monitor player head impacts and deliver alerts in real time via an embedded LED.

Aviron, a maker of gamified, at-home workout machines, is dialing up the energy with a new Les Mills partnership designed to keep home-based workouts from going stale. The collaboration brings more than 300 of Les Mills’ science-backed studio classes to Aviron’s gamified fitness platform, pushing the brand beyond its core rowing, running and riding content into a broader training ecosystem that now includes strength, cardio, mobility, dance and cinematic cycling experiences like Les Mills’ The Trip.

DAZN, a leading global sports entertainment platform, announced a new partnership with Meta to launch an extended reality (XR) version of its app for Meta Quest devices, delivering a fully immersive viewing experience for the FIFA Club World Cup 2025. Developed in collaboration with spatial computing pioneers Immersiv.io, the experience leverages virtual technology to bring fans closer to the action.  On top of live video streaming with multi-angle camera views and interactive XR stats panels, fans are able to watch every FIFA Club World Cup match with a dynamic 3D tabletop experience that provides a real-time virtual recreation of the pitch and players, providing unique perspectives and interactive controls. 

The NFL and Genius Sports have agreed to a multi-year extension and expansion of their existing strategic technology partnership. Genius Sports will remain the NFL’s exclusive distributor of real-time, official play-by-play statistics, proprietary Next Gen Stats data and the League’s official sports betting data feed to media companies and sports betting operators globally.  In addition, Genius Sports will continue as the sole supplier of official NFL watch and bet low latency live games to sportsbooks internationally and will now exclusively represent the in-game advertising inventory. As part of the agreement, Genius Sports and the NFL will also collaborate on further activation opportunities with FANHub.

Apple has launched at its WWDC 2025 conference Workout Buddy, an AI workout coach. The AI tool gathers data from both your current workout and your fitness history — including paces, miles logged, activity rings closed, and training load — to coach you through workouts in real time. Combined with Apple Intelligence on the iPhone, Workout Buddy relies on a text-to-speech model to translate encouragement into a fun generative voice that sounds like a fitness trainer. 

The Buss family is entering into an agreement to sell majority ownership of the Los Angeles Lakers to Mark Walter for a franchise valuation of approximately $US 10 billion, sources told ESPN on Wednesday, the highest ever for a U.S. professional sports franchise. The Buss family will keep a minority share of the team, just over 15%, for a period of time. Walter, the CEO and chairman of diversified holding company TWG Global, has been a stakeholder in the Lakers since 2021, when he purchased Phil Anschutz's share of 26%.

FC Barcelona has tapped Futureverse, a leader in AI, blockchain, and immersive fan experiences, to launch the Barca.Pass, the club’s first official digital collectibles wallet. This marks a milestone in sports history with the largest single Web3 wallet deployment to date. More than 11 million fans with an existing Barça ID now have instant access to a personalized digital identity and exclusive digital experiences, all without needing any crypto knowledge.

The International Cricket Council (ICC), in collaboration with its 12 Full Member Boards, has launched an Expression of Interest (EOI) process to identify potential partners to develop and publish a new, world class mobile cricket game that reflects the global appeal and rich heritage of cricket. The EOI process invites leading game developers, publishers, and gaming ventures to express their interest in building a transformative cricket game. Shortlisted parties will be invited to a formal tender process at the conclusion of the EOI.

Sportable, a global leader in Connected Ball and player tracking technology, and Elite 11, the premier high school quarterback competition in the United States¸have announced a multi-year partnership. As the Official Ball Tracking Partner, Sportable’s Connected Football will be integrated into the 2025 Elite 11 Finals, taking place June 17–19. Through this partnership, Sportable’s Connected Football will be embedded directly into quarterback drills and evaluations, capturing live, real-time data on everythrow, including target accuracy, velocity, tightness of the spiral, and release time. 

Hudl, a global leader in sports performance analysis and scouting, and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), the organizing body of global football for Asia, have signed a multi-year scouting rights agreement. All scouting video and data from AFC competitions will be made available on Hudl Wyscout—the world’s largest database of football video and data. With this agreement, Hudl has contracts with six of the seven global confederations.

Genius Sports, the tech and data company that brings together sports, betting, and media companies, has confirmed a new strategic alliance with TV measurement experts iSpot. By integrating iSpot’s industry-leading measurement capabilities into FANHub, Genius Sports enable clients to understand the impact of their campaigns across the fragmented sports viewing landscape. In an era where fans engage with content across multiple screens and platforms, this unified view of performance and outcomes transforms how brands optimize their sports-adjacent investments.

Sports agency network Elevate has created a $US 500 million fund to help colleges and universities fund projects that could create long-term growth. Elevate has partnered with private equity firm Velocity Capital Management and Texas Permanent School Fund Corporation to provide schools with money and resources to develop revenue-generating projects. On Friday, a judge approved a settlement that will require individual schools to pay up to $US 20.5 million to student-athletes per annum. Schools will use the capital for infrastructure and commercial projects ranging from modernizing venues, expanding premium seating and enhancing multimedia and digital rights and to investing in name, image and likeness platforms for athletes.

A federal judge signed off on arguably the biggest change in the history of college sports Friday, clearing the way for schools to begin paying their athletes millions of dollars as soon as next month. The sweeping terms of the so-called House settlement include approval for each school to share up to $20.5 million with athletes over the next year and $US 2.7 billion that will be paid over the next decade to thousands of former players who were barred from that revenue for years. The agreement will resonate in nearly every one of the NCAA’s 1,100 member schools boasting nearly 500,000 athletes.

ReSpo.Vision, a deep tech sports startup pioneering AI-powered tracking and visualisation solutions, has raised $US 5 million in its latest funding round. At the heart of ReSpo.Vision’s technology is a breakthrough use of computer vision and deep learning to extract highly detailed 3D tracking data from single-camera video feeds, such as standard sports TV broadcasts. The system detects over 50 body points per player in 3D space with centimeter-level accuracy, without the need for wearables or expensive camera setups. 

Fastbreak AI, a leading AI-powered sports operations software company, announced the launch of the AI Schedule Engine for amateur sports tournament operators. Designed for the demands of complex, high-volume sports events, this new engine enables tournament directors to generate complete, competition-ready schedules in minutes, even for events with hundreds of teams across dozens of venues. Currently used to handle the most complex scheduling problems in professional sports, Fastbreak’s engine powers schedules for more than 50 of the top professional sports leagues around the world, including the NBA, NHL, NWSL and MLS.

SailGP is working with gaming companies DraftKings in the United States and Bet365 internationally to let fans place bets on races, starting at the Mubadala New York Sail Grand Prix on June 7 and 8. SailGP’s sports betting push is part of a broader strategic plan to attract new fans, drive deeper engagement and grow the league’s popularity. The league pits 12 co-ed international teams racing identical 50-foot Catamarans against each other, with boats traveling at speeds that can exceed 60 mph.

The FIFA Club World Cup™ will see a range of innovations introduced that will make the tournament even more entertaining and engaging for fans, while streamlining operations and boosting transparency. This will include body cameras worn by referees, advanced semi-automated offside technology and AI-driven data from Hawk-Eye.

Hudl, one of the world’s leading provider of cloud-based technology connecting video and data for the sports industry, has completed the acquisition of Titan Sports. The addition of Titan makes Hudl’s performance tracking tools more accessible to teams and coaches at any level, while Hudl’s WIMU wearable continues to serve professional organizations. Hudl empowers more than 315,000 teams globally to reach their potential, working with coaches, athletes, and administrators at every level of sport. 

TOCA Football (TOCA), the fastest-growing soccer training and entertainment company in North America, has secured $US 35 million in new funding, including $US 15 million in equity. TOCA operates two primary businesses: TOCA Soccer, the largest operator of tech-enabled soccer training centers in North America with 37 locations, and TOCA Social, the world's first soccer-themed entertainment and dining venues, currently operating in London and Birmingham. 

SURJ Sports Investment and Kings League have today announced a partnership to launch Kings League MENA, a regionally anchored version of the revolutionary seven-a-side football league founded by football legend and entrepreneur Gerard Piqué. The new joint venture will launch later this year and will bring an innovative and digital-first sporting experience to the MENA region, with Saudi Arabia confirmed as the league’s inaugural host.

SportsTech Sweden have announced the launch of their Sports Tech Bootcamp 2.0. The 4-week online program released in partnership with SportsTechX provides startup founder, sports enthusiast, or industry professionals a guide to navigate the global sports tech ecosystem. The program covers 10+ hours of expert-led video content, step-by-step roadmap on how to launch a sports tech venture and insights into funding, business models & global best practices

Strava, the app for active people, announced it has acquired the core assets of The Breakaway, the Y Combinator incubated cycling training app. The deal follows the recent news of Strava acquiring Runna, a leading running training app. The Breakaway offers personalized cycling training, innovative ride analysis, and achievement tracking tools. The investment demonstrates Strava's continued investment in its developer community and open API, which enables third parties to connect and build new experiences for athletes.

In recent years, sports have become more than just entertainment—they've evolved into a powerful asset class attracting billions of dollars in global investment. Sports investment funds represent a growing niche within the alternative investment space. These funds pool capital to invest in sports teams, leagues, media rights, sponsorship deals, and related assets such as technology and infrastructure. 

Genius Sports has launched BetVision, the world’s first interactive in-game wagering product for soccer. Sportsbooks can now offer the ground-breaking BetVision experience across many of the world’s leading soccer competitions. As part of the launch, Genius Sports has partnered with Infront, the rights holder for several top-tier football competitions, for premium video content. BetVision harnesses AI to augment the live broadcast with data-driven insights and storytelling features that highlight player names and personalized bet tracking innovations.

A group of professional sports team insiders, including Dallas Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban, is launching a $US 750 million private equity fund designed to take small stakes in US pro sports teams. The Harbinger Sports Partners Fund will focus on acquiring stakes of as much as 5%, the group said in a statement. It expects to invest $US 50 million to $US 150 million in each transaction

Springbok Analytics, the platform for rapid MRI and AI-powered analytics for muscle insights to support training, recovery, and long-term health, has announced its first WNBA partnership. Springbok announced a partnership with WNBA champion, the New York Liberty, as the tip-off for the 2025 season commences.

In August 2024, the NFL opened its doors to private equity investments in teams. Ares and Arctos were the first to strike. Ares Management Corporation acquired a 10% stake in the Miami Dolphins and Hard Rock Stadium, and the F1 Miami Grand Prix, at a $US 8.1 billion valuation. Arctos took a 10% stake in the Buffalo Bills, at a $US 5.8 billion valuation. In December 2024, two families acquired small stakes in Jeffrey Lurie's Philadelphia Eagles, bumping the franchise value north of $US 8.3 billion. Last week the San Francisco 49ers sold a 6% stake to a trio of Bay Area families (the Khosla, Griffith, and Deeter families), valuing the franchise at $US8.5 billion - the highest for a sports team globally. 

Future of Sport Lab (FSL), Canada’s premier SportsTech accelerator, announced the selection of ten innovative startups for its acclaimed incubator program. This year’s cohort features a diverse range of ventures spanning AI, athlete training, fan engagement, wearable technology, and athlete wellness, including several Canadian-founded companies and a startup led by former NHL star Mike Weaver and Canadian Olympian Jill Moffatt.

A research team from the Chair of Biomechanics at the University of Bayreuth examined the soles of more than 100 running shoes. The results revealed that over a third of the heel areas were poorly designed and may therefore contribute to the risk of injury for runners. Using four measurement parameters, the Bayreuth researchers examined 112 shoes from various manufacturers.  the researchers found that 38% of the 112 tested shoe models were either over-designed (too little cushioning due to excess hardness) or under-designed (too little cushioning due to excess softness).

Mumbai-based Dream Sports invests $US 50 million into Cricbuzz and Willow TV (both owned by Times Internet), gaining a minority stake in cricket's global media ecosystem. Cricbuzz and Willow TV collectively have 185 million monthly users across more than 150 countries. Cricbuzz is a cricket media platform whilst Willow TV is a North American cricket broadcaster. Dreams Sports investments intend to provide more real-time analysis and statistics, engagement and commerce integrations and AI-driven predictions.

The France sports technology market is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20.7% from 2024 to 2030, reaching approximately $US 3.46 billion by 2030. Initiatives like France 2030 are accelerating this growth with billions in innovation funding, while the Paris 2024 Olympics provided a catalyzing widespread tech adoption. As of early 2025, France hosts a vibrant sports tech ecosystem with approximately 681 companies operating in this sector. Among these, 96 have secured funding, collectively raising over $US 1 billion in venture capital. 

YouTube will stream the NFL's Week 1 game in Brazil to a worldwide audience for free, the NFL has announced this week. The Los Angeles Chargers are scheduled to play at Corinthians Arena in Sao Paulo on 5th September. Their opponent will be revealed when the NFL releases its full schedule Wednesday night. This will mark the first exclusive NFL game to be streamed live and for free in its entirety on YouTube and YouTube TV.

Dream Sports and Microsoft have partnered to enhance India's gaming market, leveraging Dream Sports' extensive user base and Microsoft's AI expertise. The collaboration, announced at WAVES 2025, aims to publish Microsoft's gaming titles locally and develop AI-driven gaming experiences tailored for Indian gamers. This initiative taps into India's booming $3.8 billion gaming market, which boasts 600 million gamers.

SportsEngine Play has agreed to a multi-year extension with Pixellot, accelerating the NBC streamer’s efforts to activate game streaming from youth sports facilities across the U.S.  SportsEngine Play will continue to help sports facilities of all sizes reduce their financial barriers of entry to streaming by offering a live and on-demand solution at no cost. The platform serves a constantly growing list of more than 10,000 facilities. 

WHOOP, the human performance company, has launched WHOOP 5.0 and WHOOP MG, two next-generation wearables designed to unlock a new approach to personal health and longevity. The devices offer 14-day battery life in a seven percent smaller form - and introduce category-defining features, including Healthspan with WHOOP Age, Heart Screener with on-demand ECG and Blood Pressure Insights.

Unrivaled Sports, US's leading youth sports experiences company announced a strategic investment by DICK'S Sporting Goods which led the company's latest funding round. The strategic investment of $US 120 million will help to deliver and expand best-in-class youth sporting experiences, programs and destinations for young athletes across the nation. In the last year Unrivaled has built a national footprint across 30 states through acquisition, now hosting over 600,000 young athletes and nearly 2 million family members and fans.

ASICS has announced the launch of Run Concierge, a collaboration with Boston-based startup Neurun. Run Concierge is a first-of-its-kind AI-driven platform that integrates the latest advancements from Google Maps and Google Cloud to serve as a personal AI running guide. Run Concierge will debut later this summer across Race Roster’s and Njuko’s extensive network of racing events in North America, Europe, and Australia.

Fanstake recently raised $US 6.25 million in seed funding to continue building a platform that lets college sports fans crowdfund potential NIL payouts as a way to entice athletes to attend their school. Fanstake CEO Greg Glass foresees schools needing to find new revenue sources to pay their players and fund their athletic programs. Courtside Ventures led the latest funding round, with participation from the likes of Will Ventures and Scrum Ventures.