Sportstech & Member News

Disney+ will debut in the live sports space next Tuesday by airing Caitlin Clark's WNBA regular season debut. The Indiana Fever are slated to open their season against the Connecticut Sun, one of four games scheduled for the league's first day. A second matchup between the Phoenix Mercury and Las Vegas Aces will also air on Disney+. These two games will be the first traditional live sporting events to air on Disney+, barring a pair of themed animated telecasts of NFL and NHL games.

New Zealand Football have partnered with sports video production company Sportway to broadcast more domestic football from the National League and cup competitions than ever before. The partnership will see New Zealand Football broadcast over 200 games in 2024, live and free for fans on FIFA+. Utilising a fixed AI-automated filming solution, 4K Sportway cameras have been installed at grounds around Aotearoa New Zealand allowing National League games to be broadcast live with match commentary added by club commentators. 

Olly Timing has been selected to provide their swimming timing solution to the Sydney Open Unisport Nationals this weekend. Olly Timing has developed the world's first AI-powered swimming timing solution, and is available for permanent installation or temporary events. 

Football Australia has partnered with etrainu to develop the Football Australia Learning Centre. The new Learning Centre will consolidate the previous Learning Management System (LMS) and Qualification Management System (QMS) into a single platform, providing Football Australia with greater flexibility and control over their education pathways.

Stack Sports, a leading provider of youth sports software has launched a new rewards program delivering significant savings to youth sports families in the United States and North America. With Stack Rewards, families can earn cashback on everyday shopping and access special offers and deals to help pay for sports, resulting in projected savings of $100 million annually. Stack Rewards has launched through a ‘Shop & Earn’ tab within Stack Team App and later will appear in products like Sports Connect and CaptainU. In the first week of the program, over 10 thousand families have already signed up for Stack Rewards.

United Sports and Hockey Queensland have embarked on an exciting new partnership aiming to improve player development and wellbeing within the hockey community. Working together Hockey QLD's mission is to improve participation and injury rates in sport, improve access to appropriate injury management options, raise standards for coaching and performance, and elevate our collective conscience for health and wellbeing in sport.

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. 

The NFL announced on Friday that players will be permitted to wear Guardian Caps during regular-season games in an effort to increase player health and safety and prevent head injuries. The league said when the Guardian Caps debuted in 2022 that they can reduce the force from head contact by 10% if one player is wearing it, and 20% if all players involved are wearing them. The NFL instituted Guardian Caps during training camps ahead of the 2022 season, and then they were mandated during the 2023 season at every preseason practice, as well as every regular-season and postseason practice with contact. 

2K has re-launched TopSpin® 2K25, a revival of the beloved tennis simulation video game series. Featuring competitive single-player and multiplayer modes, all four historic Grand Slam® Tournaments, 25 playable pros, TopSpin 2K25 is a re-launch after more than a decade since its last iteration. Since the launch on 26 April, the game has already amassed 10 million plus matches played.

APEX have opened applications for the 2nd session of their Impact Program (AIP). The AIP aims to empower passionate founders building innovative early-stage technologies, whose goal is to positively influence the future of Sports, Media, & Entertainment. The program provides knowledge, networks and capital to selected startups. Australian-founded Traits Insights was one of three startups selected in season 1 of the Program. APEX invests €250,000 in each startup selected. Applications close at the start of July 2024.

The team at Infront Sports recently released their 2024 Employment and Salary Report. The market report delves into the future of sports recruitment, job seekers' expectations and company culture alongside labour market trends, and includes remuneration data to support hiring decisions with the latest salary trends.

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.

Playing video games can help boost children’s wellbeing in ways including making them feel competent, empowered and socially connected to others, according to a QUT study featured in a new UNICEF report on the impact of gaming. The UNICEF report was released today, with the Australian component based on a QUT study led by Professor Daniel Johnson from the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child, QUT School of Computer Science and the QUT Games Research and Interaction Design Lab.

Cape Bionics have been recently requested to demonstrate its body scanning units to the European Space Agency, and trial two of scanning technologies at NASA in Houston. NASA plans to deploy the Cape Bionics technology on orbit to understand how the body changes shape in microgravity, and how that impacts the fit and performance of compression garments worn during space missions. Cape Bionics are also helping NASA with customised compression garments for missions as well!

Sportable, a London-based sports technology business that specialises in game insights and analytics and advanced ball and player tracking technology across a number of sports, including football, Australian rules football, American football and rugby, proudly announces a £3 million investment from Guinness Ventures.

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. 

From soccer to the NFL, natural grass playing fields are increasingly becoming a point of contention between players and owners. With that backdrop, sports-focused private equity firm Bruin Capital is buying the majority of leading grass technology developer PlayGreen in a bet that high-level sports will continue the move toward grass surfaces. The deal values the company at more than $100 million. PlayGreen BV is a Dutch holding company better known for its two subsidiaries: Stadium Grow Lighting (SGL) and ALVA Technology. Altogether, the businesses are responsible for the development and maintenance of natural grass playing fields for some 600 teams worldwide including the Boston Red Sox, Dallas Cowboys and Tottenham Hotspur. 

Celtic Soccer Academy, the International department of Celtic FC have partnered with etrainu, a specialist eLearning platform and training solution, to help transform how they interact and develop coaches and clubs globally. With well over 1,500 coaches and volunteers across these partner clubs it presents a unique challenge when it comes to regular engagement and standardising the coach education content delivered by the club both at home and abroad. The first course available on the etrainu platform is ‘Coaching Fundamentals’ which has been designed for parent volunteers and grassroots coaches who are starting out in their coaching journey. The courses are designed to be educational yet simple to understand utilising video and other interactive content to engage the learner. 

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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.

After the inauguration of an Artificial Intelligence Olympic Agenda that seeks to empower athletes, the competition and the public, the IOC’s Director of Marketing and Digital Engagement, Leandro Larrosa, explains how the links between AI and networks will transform the imminent Olympic experience.

SEN have launched Stadium 2.0, their zero-latency live sports commentary app which is available anywhere fans happen to be, on WiFi or 5G. SEN Stadium complements SEN 'Sync' for major live sport calls in the SEN app to provide listeners with the ultimate variety of choice. SEN and RIOT Enterprises have been working together to launch SEN Stadium 2.0 and SEN Sync. These new technologies are world leading and home grown in Australia.

Barcelona Sports Hub have announced thei 6 finalist startups Sports Hub Competition. The final, where the winning startup will take home a prize valued at €50,000, will be held at the PRO Sportstech Congress on May 8th at the Antiga Fàbrica Estrella Damm in Barcelona. Each of these startups will deliver a 5-minute pitch presenting their innovative projects, demonstrating how their technology can transform sports, health, event organization, among other related fields. The finalists include Aktivity, Athlose Sports Travel, Beyond You, Bstadium, Lizcore and Lueira.

Sports-focused investment firm APEX Capital announced the second close of its €50 million Elite Performance Venture Capital Fund today. The Elite Performance Fund is dedicated to transforming the sports, media, and entertainment sectors by investing in innovative companies from Pre-Seed to Series A stages. APEX first launched its athlete-driven VC Fund in September 2023 which included early investors Carlos Sainz, Lando Norris, Valtteri Bottas, Miguel Oliveira, Raphael Varane, Christian Eriksen, Jan Vertonghen, and others. APEX has closed 18 investments since its inception together with an athlete community of +100 athletes across multiple sports.

The European Platform for Sport Innovation has announced launch of their Sport Innovation Index. The Sport Innovation Index aims to assess the innovation level of sport organizations across Europe, helping them enhance governance, compare results, and achieve excellence in innovation. Drawing inspiration from renowned models like the European Innovation Scoreboard and the Dutch Sport Innovation Monitor, this index will be a game-changer in mapping and promoting innovation within the sports industry.

Plug and Play Frisco has announced the 11 Sportstech startups that were selected for the inaugural batch of the Sportstech accelerator programs. The startups will graduate and pitch their ideas at Expo which is scheduled to take place in Frisco, Texas on May 23, marking the culmination of the program.“Our Sportstech program will naturally place the city of Frisco on the international and national stage,” said David Steele, Director of Plug and Play Frisco. “The founding partnership with the Frisco Economic Development Corporation (EDC) shows the city’s commitment to showcasing Sports City USA’s position as a hub for sports organization, technology and innovation.

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. 

NBA Africa today announced the launch of “Triple-Double: NBA Africa Startup Accelerator,” a startup accelerator based on the continent focused on early-stage African startup companies. Triple-Double: NBA Africa Startup Accelerator will support Africa’s tech ecosystem and the next generation of African tech entrepreneurs by providing them with access to mentorship and capital that will help drive growth in the sports and creative industries.Operated by ALX Ventures,  Triple-Double: NBA Africa Startup Accelerator is open to early-stage startups in Africa that develop solutions in event management and ticketing, youth development, AI, and digital marketing in the sports and creative industries.  

The NCAA has selected Teamworks to provide name, image and likeness (NIL) services to student-athletes and member schools. Under the agreement, Teamworks will develop a process to collect disclosures of NIL activities and create and provide educational materials to all NIL stakeholders. It also will build and maintain a registration process for agents and other professional service providers offering NIL services and make that registry available to student-athletes.

3D Measure Me has announced the release of its innovative body measurement tracking app in Open Beta version. 3D Measure Me have developed a simple yet powerful app that allows users to track shape changes and body measurements with ease and precision. The app lets users create 3D avatars and obtain accurate body measurements using just a few photos, your height, and gender. The solution is already being used by personal trainers and health professionals in the Open Beta to streamline manual measurements.

Drone Racing League has entered an agreement to be acquired by Infinite Reality (iR), a leading global provider of cutting-edge virtual, AI-powered immersive experiences, for $US 250 million. Together with Infinite Reality, the Drone Racing League will accelerate the future of technology-driven media and entertainment with professional drone racing stadiums, a Formula One inspired global circuit of Championship DRL events, and AI-powered immersive experiences that bring partners, pilots and fans closer to the action.

insideEDGE Sport and Leisure Planning’s Sports Facility Auditor software, in association with the Australian Football League (AFL), is playing a pivotal role in auditing football facilities across the nation, fueling the league's ambitious goal of reaching one million participants. By allowing the AFL to conduct thorough audits of facilities, insideEDGE are providing the AFL with invaluable data to identify areas for improvement and ensure every player has access to the right level of facilities. insideEDGE's audit software is a key component in ensuring that every dollar is strategically allocated to maximise impact and drive growth at all levels of the game.

Out2Win Sports have launched an AI-Powered algorithm aimed at revolutionizing the way brands and businesses evaluate their next athlete partner on social media. Our propriety algorithm analyzes hundreds of social media data points including performance on sponsored posts, posting frequency, engagement rate, and everything in between, giving brands an all-encompassing evaluation of an athlete’s social media marketability strength.

ASICS has announced the launch of its most recyclable running shoe. The NIMBUS MIRAI is a performance running shoe designed to be returned, recycled and remade – ready to run again. The knitted single-material upper has no overlays and is attached to the cushioned sole with a specially designed adhesive, meaning the shoe can be easily disassembled for recycling at the end of its life.

FitOn, one of the world’s biggest digital fitness platforms, was born to solve the nation’s health crisis with tech. It's using the ubiquity of smartphones, helping 15 million members get healthier with engaging fitness and wellness content streamed to their mobile devices. The brand offers a wide range of digital and in-person experiences. Along with traditional fitness offerings, FitOn features mental health resources, nutrition, rehab classes and chronic health condition management support systems.

In partnership with iReel and Catalyst XR, Melbourne Victory FC will be piloting generative AI and XR technology (called Frontier XR) at AAMI Park on 30th April to their fans. ‘Victory Pass’ will be the first sports experience available, giving Melbourne Victory fans the ability to relive their favourite sporting moments in VR. This fan experience will be in partnership with Sport Innovation Research and Swinburne University of Technology

Olympic organizers unveiled their strategy to use artificial intelligence in sports, joining the global rush to capitalize on the rapidly advancing technology. The International Olympic Committee outlined its agenda for taking advantage of AI. Officials said it could be used to help identify promising athletes, personalize training methods and make the games fairer by improving judging.

The team at PlaySpark have recently begun working with the University of Washington Consulting Association in conjunction with the Australian Sports Technologies Network (ASTN) to explore the current market opportunity for gamification and mobile gaming across sportstech in the USA.

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.

Stadicom's app, based on innovative 5G private cellular infrastructure technology, changes the experience of participating in large-scale events and turns every stadium into a smart stadium. Two years ago, The Petah Tikva Development Company issued a tender for the rights to upgrade HaMoshava Stadium with full 5G infrastructure. Now, Stadicom's collaboration with Charlton (Sport 1), WSC, Israeli sports broadcasting company Pixellot, the Israeli sports app 365Scores and Amazing Food allows Stadicom's app users to watch the action up close and in real-time, as well as track game statistics, watch goal replays and key events - Video Assistant Referee, fill out betting, and soon, order products from the concession stand.

Gemini Sports Analytics announced a new $US3.1m in financing led by Will Ventures with participation from existing investors Eberg Capital and Social Leverage after the latter two anchored a $US 3.25m Seed Round in August 2023. Gemini is leading the charge in a new era of sports analytics, merging cutting-edge technology with deep industry knowledge to empower and enhance decision-making in sports. This investment will help Gemini hire technical leadership and customer support while growing its partnership group across the data and AI ecosystem.

Enveu, the global provider of specialised OTT solutions, has announced a strategic partnership with Layercake, a top live streaming technology company. This collaboration aims to elevate the live streaming experience to new heights, offering users unmatched performance and reliability. Enveu is dedicated to enhancing streaming solutions for Sports, Content creators and other businesses, while Layercake is renowned for its stable and scalable live streaming technology. By joining forces, the two companies aim to set a new standard for live streaming excellence, specifically in the ANZ region.

Alphabeats uses music to help wearers enter a “flow state,” which can be beneficial for creativity, recovery, deep focus, improved reaction time and motor coordination. Although developed for professional athletes, Alphabeats is suitable for anyone looking to level up their training and wellness regimen with neurofeedback to train the mind. Ahead of its upcoming neurotech wearable launch in the U.S., Netherlands-based Alphabeats has appointed two former Spotify executives as it eyes the American wellness and performance training market.

The rapid commercial growth of women’s basketball, and Caitlin Clark’s much-anticipated pro debut, has led to speculation that WNBA could pursue a media deal entirely separate from that of the NBA. Speaking after the NBA’s board of governors meeting in New York on Wednesday, Silver laid out a handful of reasons why he believes the two would benefit from being sold together—at least in some capacity. He cited the year-round nature of their combined schedules, the NBA’s expertise in promoting basketball, and the two leagues’ shared investment in technology to improve fan engagement.

Inviting users to beta test potential features, the company launched an in-app R&D platform, Oura Labs. Its first Labs experiment, Symptom Radar, tracks temperature, respiratory, and HRV trends to predict oncoming health changes. Lacking FDA approval, Oura can’t claim to predict illness, yet — but mass user testing via Labs will only speed its progress toward medical device status.

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.

DivInc have announced the cohort in the Spring 2024 intake of their Sports Tech Accelerator. DivInc’s Sports Tech Accelerator supports startups using technology to drive innovation across  human performance, fan experience, future of media, NIL (name, image, and likeness). 10 startups will take part in the 12-week hybrid program which will run from April through July 2024. In-person programming will be hosted at the Ion, the center of Houston’s innovation corridor. The Spring 2024 Sports Tech Accelerator is supported by underdog venture team, Women In Sports Tech (WIST), The Collectiv, and HTX Sports Tech. DivInc premier partners include Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Gunderson Dettmer, Brown Advisory, Ion, and Mercury.

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.