Sportstech & Member News

A running app called Femmi, designed specifically for females has been launched today. Femmi offers personalized running guidance to help women reach new milestones and fall in love with running. The training is made to align with the unique physiology of each user, whether they are building, maintaining or just starting out on their running journey.

Bhout, a Portuguese connected boxing startup, has raised an impressive €10 million ($10.7 million) in seed funding for its AI-powered gamified boxing bag, scalable studio concept model and omnichannel approach.  Dubbed the “boxing bag with a brain” by Bhout founder Mauro Frota, the innovative fitness startup opened a boxing club in Lisbon, Portugal, in the summer of 2021 and was crowned the 2023 Startup Spotlight award winner at The Fitness Technology Summit in Washington, D.C.

ACHPER Victoria has announced a pioneering initiative stemming from a partnership with Readiness, a proven local wellbeing provider, to develop a scientifically-based curriculum to equip physical education teachers across the state to deliver a complete wellbeing curriculum to primary school students. What sets this curriculum apart is its meticulously crafted learning pathways tailored for every primary level, fully aligning with both the Australian and Victorian curriculum.

Geelong-based high-performance wheel manufacturer Carbon Revolution announced an initial investment of USD 70 million (AUD 108.7 million), which will be used to continue expanding the company’s global footprint. It also coincides with the closure of a business combination and the company’s listing on the Nasdaq stock exchange.

2023 has been a rough year for SportsTech startups looking for funding, with amounts invested at a 5 year low. However M&A deal flow has been at an all-time high. So it’s not that there’s no capital, it’s just being deployed in a different way. It’s been most interesting to see the sheer number of funds coming into the space over the last 12 months - both from new investors and existing investors with follow-on funds. 31 Funds with at least $4b+ of announced capital over the last 12 months. Yes some of that has already been deployed but most of it is yet to hit the market.

Readiness have announced the launch of the groundbreaking Wellbeing App in collaboration with the Victoria Jockeys Association. The App is designed to provide a range of resources and support tailored specifically for jockeys, ensuring they have the tools they need to thrive both on and off the track.

Australian sports advisory and investment firm XV Capital, co-founded by former Wallabies captain Stirling Mortlock and business partner James Godfrey, today announced a strategic partnership and equity agreement with CoachMate, a trailblazing sports technology company based in New Zealand. The partnership is poised to redefine grassroots community sport and offer invaluable support to sports organisations and communities while championing lifelong sports participation.

ActiveXchange, the leading data intelligence provider for the sport and active recreation industry, is excited to announce the launch of their Social Value of Sports platform module. Following the success of the Social Value for Leisure service, enabled through a research partnership with KPMG, this newly launched service will revolutionise the way sports organisations and local governments understand current and potential community savings and benefits generated through participation at sporting clubs, facilities and across priority local areas.

The GOAL sustainability platform, founded by Oak View Group, the Atlanta Hawks & State Farm Arena, Fenway Sports Group, and green building expert Jason F. McLennan, today announced a strategic partnership with Arctos Partners, to expand the tracking performance of the GOAL sustainability program and increase sustainable operations in venues around the country.

PlaySpark (formerly Spark Up Studios) recently partnered with Adelaide Lighting basketball club to implement their fan engagement platform to drive a more personalised and fun experience.

Australian cycling apparel company MAAP has announced the release of the new Atmos Pertex® Jacket & Vest. Designed in Melbourne, where riders frequently encounter up to four seasons on any given day, MAAP set out to create a jacket that performs in the most varied possible set of conditions. 

Legends and ASM Global today announced the signing of a definitive agreement under which Legends will acquire ASM Global to create a premium live events company dedicated to providing outstanding experiences for fans around the world. The acquisition of ASM Global’s venue management capabilities will enhance Legends’ services portfolio, positioning Legends to meet the expanding needs of sports organizations, entertainment venues, convention centers, and attractions globally while supporting its vision to deliver exceptional live experiences for fans in the digital age.

Smart Navigation platform PAM and the Los Angeles Rams are announcing that PAM will serve as the Technology Solutions Partner for the organization for a period of three years. During the 2022 season, PAM’s platform was used to enable Rams content to be shared directly with fans and visitors to SoFi Stadium during Rams game days. 

FIBA has presented its Venue Guide at the IAKS Congress in Germany to an array of the world's leading architects. The FIBA Venue Guide is overseen by the FIBA Equipment and Venue Centre, and provides technical recommendations, best practice examples and inspiration to support the build and renovation of basketball venues to ensure that they are suitable for potential future hosting of competitions.

Riverside Acceleration Capital (RAC) has announced a recent investment in Hapana, a full-stack fitness software solution servicing fitness businesses looking to streamline operations and elevate member engagement.

Chiliz, a sports blockchain company, has announced 25+ projects in its SportFi ecosystem, where the worlds of sports and decentralization converge to deliver new products and experiences to fans. The Chiliz vision for SportFi is that blockchain technology has the potential to transform sports into valuable, tradable digital assets, and create a new paradigm of interaction between sports entities and their communities

Barça Innovation Hub (BIHUB), an innovative division of the iconic football club FC Barcelona, has set its sights on Asia Pacific, aiming to create a lasting impact on the sports industry across the region. BIHUB looks to collaborate with regional startups whose values align with the club’s mission. The club, whose Asia Pacific office is headquartered in Hong Kong, also plans to open a physical office in Singapore.

After successfully completing two classes, the Minnesota Twins Accelerator by Techstars today announced its third cohort. Pioneering a unique pathway in the sports landscape, this accelerator is the first of its kind in Minnesota sports and just the second to be operated and funded by a Major League Baseball club.

Vald Performance have announced the launch of ForceFrame Max, the new addition to the ForceFrame line (with existing ForceFrame model being rebadged to ForceFrame Fold). ForceFrame Max is the outcome of over six years of feedback from clients who have cumulatively performed over 1.2 million ForceFrame tests on over 200,000 athletes and patients.  

The AFL has today entered a 10-year strategic partnership with global sports and entertainment leader TGI Sport. The AFL and TGI will deliver fans a brand new at match experience via new and innovative LED signage, digital screen and fan engagement offerings at both the MCG and Marvel Stadium.

In 2023, France had the honor of hosting the Rugby World Cup, an event of significance in the world of sports. To take fan engagement and excitement to new heights, organizers turned to the ‘Sync to Calendar’ marketing solution provided by ECAL, a trusted partner of World Rugby.

Coach Welly, a Queensland-based fitness & health tech start-up today announced its recent success in raising pre-seed funding, valuing the company at A$4.25M. The funding round was led by AngelLoop, and included Brisbane Angels and a group of strategic investors in Australia, Singapore and the USA who share Coach Welly's vision for helping millions of people to measurably improve their health and wellness.

A total of 17 of 18 AFL clubs use Tradable Bits for fan engagement, sponsorship, community and data-focused activations. Across these clubs there was nearly a 20% rise in campaign entries in 2023 and a 15% increase in communication subscriptions. The article take a deep dive into case studies from each club on how they engaged with fans, sponsors and the community through online activations.

The Australian Institute of Sport will hold its Sports Technology and Applied Research Symposium (STARS) from 15-17 November under the theme of ‘Driving Innovation in Sport’. Across 14 sessions presenters have been tasked with giving the STARS audience ideas, concepts, and insights into what it will take to ensure that the Australian high performance system is prepared to take advantage of ‘ten years of opportunity’ leading into Brisbane 2032.

STARS will again be held virtually via Microsoft Teams. The Symposium is free to attend for those in the Australian sports system and our industry and university partners.

The Aspen Institute studied the governance models and ecosystem results in 11 peer countries, with a focus on youth sport participation rates and elite performance. The countries studied (which included Australia) vary in population, geography, culture and forms of government, but all have found success in either youth sports or elite sports, or both.

NBA teams are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence (AI) to get an extra competitive advantage. The Brooklyn Nets, Detroit Pistons, Miami Heat and Orlando Magic are among the first teams to leverage Perch, a cutting-edge AI-powered weight training platform. Developed at MIT, Perch’s technology utilizes 3D cameras and machine learning to quantify weight room performance, with the goal of enhancing player motivation, safety and on-court performance.

A new global search is underway to find the most ambitious and creative sport technology innovators  for the next intake of AO StartUps. Since its launch in 2022, AO StartUps has selected 14 companies to pilot their cutting-edge technology during the Australian summer of tennis and across other areas of Tennis Australia’s business. The most recent intake featured a range of innovative tech companies from across the globe including PAM, Raven, DVOX, Circular, Straffr, Trickshot and Stringr. Early-stage tech companies have until 19 November to apply.

Australian sports nutrition company BODYSCIENCE® has announced the launch of a range of energy and protein water drinks for post-workout boost, a pre workout alternative, or a convenient on-the-go energy option. 

https://www.bodyscience.com.au/collections/bsc-drinks

In 2020, ASTN member Gangi Group was researching germicidal lighting and discovered high quality UV-C and anti-microbial blue light fittings. The company realised the need for automated, sustainable and effective disinfection and set about creating innovative, world-first solutions. And Lindo was born.

Lindo developed and manufactured lighting solutions that can break down the DNA structure of 99.9% of viruses and bacteria (including COVID 19). The lights are so effective it mitigates the need to use toxic cleaning chemicals. Less bleach, less risk, less manual labour, and more sustainable.

Lindo’s primary focus lies in creating, constructing, and producing stationary lighting systems that enhance the overall health and well-being of front-line workers and occupants in industries ranging from defence to healthcare and aviation. 

ECAL has announced a partnership with leading online marketing platform Optimove. ECAL provides Optimove's clients with a proven digital-calendar marketing channel to engage with an audience that is sophisticated and tech savvy. ECAL helps deliver 'in-time' promotions and messaging, enabling deeper personalisation and connection. ECAL's dynamic calendar marketing technology is used by many of the world's very best brands including Premier League, Formula 1, LaLiga, The FA, England Cricket Board, ICC Cricket, NBC Sports, bet365, Liverpool FC, FC Barcelona, and many others.

Nike has partnered with Dove to launch Body Confident Sport, a first-of-its-kind, scientifically proven set of coaching tools for coaching 11- to 17-year-old girls that will help build their body confidence and make them feel like sport is a place where they belong. The free open-source tool is available at bodyconfidentsport.com.

ŌURA, known for its Oura Ring, and Cronometer, a nutrition tracking app, have recently announced a collaborative feature for menstrual cycle tracking. This partnership integrates ŌURA’s Cycle Insights into the Cronometer app, aiming to provide a detailed understanding of menstrual health.

adidas has announced a new partnership with Calm, the world’s leading mental health platform with the ambition of progressing sports performance through supporting mental wellbeing. The partnership will kick off as a pilot in the UK and the US with adiClub members being able to redeem points to unlock Calm Premium services. There will also be a specially tailored set of Calm created content available to all global users, curated by adidas and aligned to supporting sports performance.

Australian-based Aircast has developed a next-generation technology that provides both sports fans and broadcast professionals with real-time access to multiviewer video, audio, and data feeds via mobile devices and IPTV at sub-second latency – less than 300ms end-to-end. During the 2023 high-profile women’s world soccer tournament, Aircast recently leveraged Haivision technology for live commentary and monitoring.

Centr, a health and wellness ecosystem founded by Chris Hemsworth, announced an all-new partnership with HYROX, the World Series of Fitness Racing, as its new Official Equipment Provider for all races. The partnership marks Centr’s initial entry into the competitive sports space.

With the commencement of the 2023/24 A-Leagues season, Brisbane Roar has unveiled a collaboration with digital engagement platform Tiparra. The ‘Roar App’ will revolutionise how fans engage with Brisbane Roar, offering an unparalleled interactive game-day experience.  Tiparra, renowned for its innovation in the digital space, specialises in turning passive spectators into active participants. Through the Roar App, fans can engage in real-time, creating an immersive experience through features like live polls, interactive matchday programs, competitions, and exclusive updates – all available at fans’ fingertips.  

As the Big Bash League and Women's Big Bash League (BBL) seasons are only two months long, the Melbourne Renegades wanted to find a way to engage their fans all year round. Felicity George, Head of Brand, Marketing and Fan Engagement at the Melbourne Renegades discusses how they implemented an online platform for their fans to interact with the team whenever and wherever. The platform, called Renegades Connect, created by SparkUp Studios and launched last December in time for the BBL season was a test to see how fans interacted with it.

BetMGM, a leading sports betting and iGaming operator, today announced the signing of a new deal with Sportradar (NASDAQ: SRAD) for access to products and services to be powered by official NBA optical tracking data. For the first time, Sportradar will provide BetMGM access to next-generation products and services that leverage NBA optical tracking data, which is provided exclusively by Sportradar through its partnership with the NBA. This will enable BetMGM to grow its prop markets and same-game parlay portfolio, as well as its in-play betting markets.

FORM, the fitness technology company pioneering real-time visual feedback to elevate athletic performance, today announces that under the current rules, World Triathlon has confirmed that FORM Smart Swim Goggles are allowed in all World Triathlon Competition formats after review from the World Triathlon Technical Committee.

In collaboration, Playbk Sports and Gold Coast SUNS are pioneering SUNS Fitness with the support of Health and Wellbeing Queensland / Queensland Government ActiveKIT (Knowledge | Innovation | Technology) with the goal to drive physical activity participation in Queensland.

Sonnant and Podder have joined forces to reshape the future of #audiodata. This partnership combines Sonnant’s pioneering content data with Podder’s cutting-edge demographic analytics, redefining content planning, targeting and the discovery of both exposed and unexposed audiences.

Umbro, the global football apparel, footwear and equipment retailer has teamed up with A.I. Football League, One Future Football. One Future Football is a virtual, A.I.-driven football league featuring 12 clubs based around the world with over 250 players. This exciting will see the Neo Swerve Pro ball used as Official Ball of One Future Football in all league games.

Kitman Labs, the sports technology and analytics company setting the industry standard for how elite sports organisations use data, today announced a new partnership with the Premier League.  The partnership will provide all Premier League and EFL club Academies with a centralised, fully integrated "Football Intelligence Platform" designed to aggregate and mobilise player and staff data across coaching, medical, sports science, operations, player care and education. 

Loughborough University’s twenty-year partnership with global sports brand adidas was announced the winner of the 2023 Royal Academy of Engineering Bhattacharyya Award in recognition of their stellar academia–industry collaboration.

Signos, a comprehensive metabolic health platform that includes a proprietary AI-engine with a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) to provide real-time data and recommendations for healthy weight management, announced $20 million in Series B funding.

3STEP Sports, the youth sports club and event operator, has partnered with Pixellot, a provider of AI-driven sports video technology, to elevate the production of live sports events for its 185 sport operators and 1.1+ million athletes across the US. 3STEP Sports will be able to deliver over 35,000 high-quality sports events to fans, athletes, and families worldwide, tripling its previous year’s production of game film with 300+ AI-automated Pixellot cameras implemented across all leagues.

World Athletics has launched an online tool that tracks the qualification process for next year's Olympic Games in Paris. "Road to Paris 2024" can be used by athletes, media and fans and provides a real-time view of each event in the qualification period.

F45 Training, a leading global fitness community specializing in innovative, functional group workouts, in collaboration with WHOOP, the human performance company, is delivering a first-of-its-kind F45 Challenge. The Challenge allows participants to track their holistic fitness lifestyle including recovery and sleep, and correlating that to their performance both inside and outside the studio for healthier habits.

Australasia’s Best Sporting Team (ABST) was designed in partnership with GAIN LINE Analytics and Platinum Asset Management to bring an analytical approach to answering questions like whether great historic teams could have survived in today’s competitions, or about which football code is the best of all. In doing so it aims to start a new conversation about greatness. The aim is to reward success, whilst unearthing some hidden gems and most importantly, helping those in need.

LiveHeats, an Australian-based company specialising in live scoring, competition management and rankings platforms for mainstream adventure sports has partnered with the Sweden Ski Association. The Swedish powerhouse has joined our LiveHeats platform to provide sophisticated scoring, integrated national rankings, FIS results, and WSF World Snowboard points. These end-to-end event tools will enhance everyone's season, especially the athlete, fan and organiser experience.