Sportstech & Member News

Sportable, a global leader in sports data AI, is proud to announce the acquisition of Intaneous, a computer vision company specializing in transforming sports data into insights and visualizations that enhance the way audiences experience and understand sports. By combining Intaneous’ advanced computer vision and visualization technology with Sportable’s smart ball and player tracking solutions, the company is poised to offer a comprehensive end-to-end solution including automated augmented reality graphics, real-time sponsorship placements and automated highlights. This integration will deepen Sportable’s relationships in its core markets of football (US), football, rugby and Australian rules football while also enabling growth into new sports such as volleyball and tennis. 

Withings, a connected health company, unveiled Omnia, a concept for a personal health mirror that will give you a more holistic view of your health. Omnia features a mirrored interface equipped with voice commands, a 3D body model (digital twin), and a connected base with advanced health sensors. It conducts daily in-depth health scans by integrating data from Withings’ extensive ecosystem of devices—including smartwatches, scales, blood pressure monitors, sleep trackers, and even mattress and bathroom sensors—alongside weight, heart health, and metabolic health scans from its base.

Euroleague Basketball, the organiser of Europe’s premier professional basketball club competitions – the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague and the BKT EuroCup – and IMG, a global sports marketing agency, have announced the renewal of their partnership agreement. This extended collaboration will run through the 2035-36 season. Under the renewed agreement, IMG will continue to drive long-term growth for the league through media rights distribution, brand partnerships, strategic consulting, digital services, and streaming. IMG will also continue as the exclusive live events broadcast production partner.

Advance Queensland, in partnership with the National Rugby League (NRL) and Australian Sports Technologies Network (ASTN) is launching a 10-week NRL Magic Round Tech Sprint. The program will support up to eight Queensland-based innovative businesses as they collaborate with NRL subject matter experts to refine and adapt their tech to meet the needs of the NRL and its clubs. Each successful business will receive $25,000 in funding to participate. The program kicks off from February to May 2025 with a showcase event hosted during the 2025 NRL Magic Round week.

As part of the Orlando Magic’s continuing commitment to innovation, the Magic will host the Orlando Magic Venture Challenge, Powered by LEAD, in collaboration with the DeVos family and LEAD Venture Corporation. Through the DeVos family and LEAD, the challenge will provide up to $US 750,000 in total investment capital to early-stage sports, health and wellness startup companies. The challenge will offer individual funding amounts between $US 50,000 and $US 200,000 for qualified startups. Applications open 6 January, with a six startups selected for a “Shark Tank”-style event on March 26 at Kia Center.

Disney is to merge its Hulu+ Live TV unit with sports streamer FuboTV, creating what is expected to be the second-biggest internet-based pay-TV outfit in the US after YouTube TV. The deal, which does not include the main Hulu service, will create a company with revenues of $US6 billion and more than six million subscribers across North America. The agreement paves way for planned Warner Bros Discovery, Fox and Disney sports streamer Venu. As part of the arrangement, the trio will pay $US220 million to Fubo, while Disney will provide an additional $US145 million loan in 2026. 

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.

Therabody, a leader in wellness technology, has announced a strategic relationship with smartwatch provider Garmin to bring smarter recovery solutions to athletes to help better understand the ways to recover. The collaboration focuses on data integration, an AI-powered digital coach and scientific research to better understand the impact of recovery on performance.

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.

Athletech News has analysed trends to watch in 2025, including the rise of longevity, the future of fitness wearables and strength training’s surge. The global wellness market is projected to grow to nearly $US 9 trillion in 2028 as consumers embrace new ways of living, moving and well-being. The rise of longevity services, GLP-1 weight-loss drugs and holistic wellness presents massive opportunities for the health and fitness industries. The popularity of strength training is reshaping the way gyms look, while the rise of AI begins to transform the way fitness brands do business.

Netflix has secured the exclusive US rights to the FIFA Women’s World Cup for 2027 and 2031, marking the first time the tournament will appear on a streaming service. Netflix will produce exclusive documentary programming spotlighting the top players and their journeys. This continues Netflix commitment to premium live sports programming which has recently included the Jake Paul / Mike Tyson bout, NFL's Christmas double-header as well as WWE Raw on 6 January 2025.

Health-tracking ring maker Oura announced it closed a $US 200 million Series D funding round led by Fidelity Management & Research Company and Dexcom. The investment raises the company’s valuation to $US 5.2 billion. The company has shared that it recently surpassed 2.5 million rings sold and has seen its member base and revenue more than double over the past year. The Oura Ring hosts a number of different sensors designed to monitor a wearer's health while sleeping or engaging in physical activities.

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.

The Technology Golf League (TGL), co-founded by golf icons Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, is set to begin on January 7, 2025. This new league aims to modernize the sport, featuring six teams composed of top PGA Tour players. Matches will take place at the SoFi Center, a state-of-the-art venue with a 1,500-seat capacity. This custom-built arena features an IMAX-sized screen, around 24 times larger than traditional golf simulator screens. The venue also boasts a uniquely engineered green complex that can rotate a full 360 degrees, allowing players to approach holes from various angles. The matches will provide a blend of simulator golf and authentic short game experience with real grass teeing areas and actual sand bunkers.

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.

In a remarkable achievement that underscores the growing importance of technology in sports travel, EventPipe has crossed a significant milestone by surpassing $US 1 billion in gross hotel bookings. This breakthrough highlights the company’s innovative approach to event housing and sports travel management. EventPipe has rapidly emerged as a game-changer in the event housing technology landscape, simplifying and streamlining accommodation bookings for sports events, tournaments, and travel management.

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.

Spiideo, a global leader in sports video technology, has announced the acquisition of Signality, an optical tracking and sports data generation company. The integration of Signality’s automated, real-time data and analytics technology into the Spiideo platform will further fuel Spiideo’s data and AI-driven solutions for media companies, leagues, federations, clubs, and schools. With millions of hours of automated sports production annually, Spiideo is used by thousands of team and installed in more than 6,000 venues across 60 countries.

Investors continue to embrace fitness software firms as Europe-based bsport becomes the latest brand to receive a cash infusion. Barcelona-based boutique fitness software platform bsport has raised $US31.5 million in a Series B funding round. bsport serves around 2,000 gyms and fitness studios across Europe and North America, predominately small and medium-sized businesses. Its platform include class bookings, payments, staff management, sales and marketing, and member experience tools. 

Endorphins Studios has launched as a next-generation content production company for health and fitness brands. The company will create immersive and personalized content experiences for health and fitness brands and creators, including video and photo production, AI content creation, game design, interactive learning simulations, and experiences in virtual (VR) augmented (AR) and mixed reality (MR). Endorphins Studios comes as ChatGPT developer OpenAI just released Sora, a video-generating AI that can create “realistic videos” from text, photo and video inputs.

PlayOn, the all-in-one fan engagement platform for schools, and Pixellot, one of the world’s leading provider of AI-automated sports video and data solutions, has announced a new partnership to exclusively offer Pixellot's VidSwap™ coaching tools platform for free to all NFHS Network member schools. PlayOn operates the NFHS Network, the leading broadcast network for high schools. Nearly 10,000 schools partner with the NFHS Network to broadcast over 800,000 events annually. Footage captured on Pixellot cameras is processed and made available for coaches on VidSwap, providing detailed analysis and game breakdowns.  

EngageRM, a global leader in CRM automation and data analytics for the sport and entertainment industry, is excited to announce a three-year partnership with Southside Racing, a new entity born from the amalgamation of Cranbourne Turf Club and Pakenham Racing Club in Victoria, Australia. Starting in May 2025, this partnership will see Southside Racing utilising EngageRM’s comprehensive suite of cutting-edge products, including CRM automation, premium ticketing and corporate sales tools, portals, and audience engagement technologies. This collaboration aims to enhance Southside Racing’s operational efficiency, deepen fan engagement, and elevate the customer experience across its venues.

The two startups for the second edition of Champions Innovate, UEFA's groundbreaking programme focusing on the promotion of active and healthy lifestyle around the 2025 UEFA Champions League final, have been announced. Mastercard will partner with FC Urban, while adidas will work with Equip Sport. Originally conceived by the UEFA Innovation Hub, Champions Innovate is a collaborative partnership between UEFA, the host city of the UEFA Champions League final as well as UEFA Champions League commercial partners. FC Urban and Mastercard will aim to explore innovative technological solutions to make access to sports more inclusive and equitable in Munich. Equip Sport and adidas will aim to leverage their technological expertise to make sports experiences, both planned and spontaneous.

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.

Sony’s Beyond Sports is collaborating with ESPN, the NFL, Disney, and The Simpsons to produce The Simpsons Funday Football, a real-time animated alternate presentation of the game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Dallas Cowboys on Monday, December 9, 2024. A combination of data processing and real-time visualization technology from Beyond Sports will insert well-known characters from “The Simpsons” into the game action while the Bengals and Cowboys play in real time.

New York Red Bulls is set to become the first major sports team to offer blockchain-based ticketing for all events through a wide-ranging partnership with Sports Illustrated Tickets. Starting with the 2026 season, Sports Illustrated Tickets’ primary blockchain event ticketing platform Box Office will power all events at the 25,500-capacity venue. Beyond seamless access, the Avalanche blockchain will improve fan engagement by transforming event tickets into dynamic digital assets, offering exclusive perks, personalized content, creating a next-generation event experience

The 2024 Euroleague Basketball FanXP competition unveiled its winner at the SPORTBIZ EUROPE event in Barcelona, Spain, this week. The winning start-up, ZATAP, a Switzerland-based company, has redefined the connection between physical merchandise products and the digital world. By facilitating direct-to-consumer interactions, ZATAP helps brands and sports teams better monetize their customer base. The winning start-up, ZATAP, a Switzerland-based company, has redefined the connection between physical merchandise products and the digital world. By facilitating direct-to-consumer interactions, ZATAP helps brands and sports teams better monetize their customer base.

PMY Group (PMY) has announced a new partnership with Digital Mortar, a US-based crowd intelligence company. Over an eight-year journey, the team has developed a best-in-class software platform that leverages LiDAR and camera data to visualize, analyze, and report on people movement and flow. Their technology has been deployed at major venues, including Vancouver Airport, Pittsburgh International Airport, SoFi Stadium, Meta, USPS, and New Jersey Transit. The technology will be integrated into PMY’s intelligence platform – Optic. Optic provides clients with powerful venue and crowd intelligence.

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. 

Athlete insurance and risk management provider Players Heath has closed on a $US 60 million funding round led by Bluestone Equity Partners. The Series C venture capital round will be used to expand the Players Health workforce to broaden its market reach, evolve its AI-based product personalization tools and provide funding for strategic mergers and acquisitions. The business supports over 40,000 sports organizations, insuring well over 5 million athletes. The youth and amateur sports insurance market is a sizable one, with about $US 3 billion in insurance premiums generated annually in the USA.

Athletes have been handed a golden start to their preparations for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, with the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) unveiling record investment allocations for sports. The announcement has resulted in 95% of Olympic and Paralympic summer sports receiving increased funding with an average investment increase of 64% per year, compared to the period leading up to the Paris Games. Some $AUD 385m has been invested in 70 sports over the next 18 months, ensuring Australians have world class pathways and support at all levels of sport, from participation to high performance.

Premier League Player, the first officially licensed Premier League VR game, is now available on Meta Quest. Developed by Rezzil, the Manchester-based VR developer, in partnership with the Premier League, the game officially launched on 3rd December. The game is built on real-life player mechanics drawn from the data collected by the iPhone cameras positioned on the sidelines during games. The movements of the footballers are captured so precisely, users playing the VR game can virtually set foot on the pitch and reenact plays from actual EPL games.

Sportico is reporting that former NBA player Metta Sandiford-Artest is starting a venture capital fund alongside Boost Mobile CEO Stephen Stokols, to be called Tru Skye Ventures. The duo is seeking to fundraise to the tune of $US 100 million by the end of the fiscal first quarter of 2025, targeting sports technology, the health and wellness industry, and digital media platforms.

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.

Global sports brand PUMA, in collaboration with Manchester City, has launched an innovative AI kit design platform, giving City fans the unique opportunity to design the club’s official Third kit for the 2026/27 season. In a first-of-its-kind, the new PUMA AI Creator tool is powered by DEEPOBJECTS, a leading co-creation platform that leverages generative AI to allow fans to design their dream PUMA Manchester City kits using text prompting, customization tools and intuitive sliders. The winning AI design will be worn by City stars on-pitch and sold to fans, in a groundbreaking first for a professional football club.

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.

360Player, a leading all-in-one digital platform for sports clubs, announced a $US 25 million investment from Five Elms Capital, a leading software investment firm. The funding will support 360Player's ambitious plans to expand its platform for clubs, coaches, players, and parents across new international markets. The company's suite of digital tools spans video analytics, player development, team management, and seamless financial services for clubs. 360Player currently serves over 420,000 users across 50+ countries, with recent rapid growth in key markets like the United States.

London-based fitness and wellness platform MAGIC AI, specializing in home fitness technology with computer vision and connected equipment for real-time exercise tracking, has raised $US 5 million in a funding round. MAGIC AI is a fitness platform that transforms home workouts with AI, holographic mirrors, and smart weights. The system uses computer vision and 3D cameras to provide real-time feedback on form, reps, and performance, offering a personalized training experience with guidance from athletes. MAGIC AI reports that it has surpassed 5,000 customers across 38 countries in its first year

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.

One of the busiest and most iconic sports venues in the world, Dodgers Stadium, has selected MyVenue as a key stadium service provider. Following a successful bid process and pilot, MyVenue has signed a 5-year agreement to install 719 fixed & portable point-of-sale terminals and its native back office with real-time reports, dashboards, and inventory management.

The AFLW season concluded last week which marked the successful debut and integration of the Sportable x Sherrin Smart Ball. The Smart Ball played a pivotal role in enhancing the game through the Score Assist officiating review system. The Smart Ball was used in a total of 108 games, across  29 stadiums and impacted 30 score reviews. The Smart Ball traveled an impressive 813,806 meters, recorded over 28,000 kicks and 21,000 handballs across all 108 games.

DAZN, one of the world’s leading sports entertainment platform, has been confirmed as the exclusive global broadcaster of the FIFA Club World Cup 2025. The landmark agreement will see all 63 matches at the FIFA Club World Cup 2025, which involves 32 of the best clubs worldwide, live-streamed, free to view on DAZN worldwide, with the possibility of sublicensing to local free-to-air linear broadcast networks.

 Strava, the app for active people, today announced the release of its annual Year In Sport: Trend Report, which identifies the trends that shaped the global active landscape in 2024. Strava combined the billions of unique activity data of its global community of more than 135 million people across over 190 countries, alongside insights generated from a randomized global survey of more than 5,000 active people both on and off the Strava platform. New global data highlights a shift toward more balanced workouts, run clubs replacing nightclubs as social hotspots, plus the year’s top workout gear.

 ECAL has announced its expansion into Saudi Arabia and the Middle East with the signing of a partnership MoU with exciting local digital agency Xplere, at the World Football Summit Asia in Riyadh. Xplere will provide on-the-ground services and support for ECAL clients across the booming sports and events ecosystem in Saudi Arabia to help realise their Vision 2030 mission. 

SportWest and revolutioniseSPORT have agreed to a three-year extension of their partnership to remain as SportWest’s Official Technology Partner and retain naming rights to the Community Club of the Year Award. Staff from revolutioniseSPORT are also set to ramp up their commitment to WA sport, with their team to collaborate with SportWest staff and the membership to deliver a range of workshops, seminars and events that aim to deliver to the SportWest strategic goal of enhancing the capability of the industry.

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.

Clubs and parents across NSW will have a lot less work to do this week at the State Swimming Championships. Swimming NSW has hired Olly Timing to provide backup times for the championship. This eliminates over 6 person months of volunteer effort via an estimated 700 timekeeping shifts. Touchpads at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre will be the primary timing, and Olly Timing’s world first artificial intelligence technology will provide the backup, instead of volunteer timekeepers.

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.