For the second year running, SportsPro presents its pick of sports tech startups and early-stage companies whose products and solutions should be on every investor’s radar.
To help compile this year’s cohort, the opinions and predictions of investors, advisors, executives and analysts were sought from across the global sports tech ecosystem, each of whom shared their views on the standout companies and top trends to watch in the sector in 2021.
ANTOURAGE
Country: Sweden
Funding stage: Unknown
Sector: Media and content
Based in Stockholm, Antourage has created a web application that gives content teams at sport and entertainment brands a customisable and cost-effective way to engage audiences with interactive content across both social media channels and owned and operated platforms. Founded in 2015, the company’s software is currently utilised by Sweden’s elite soccer league, among others.
B42
Country: Germany
Funding stage: Unknown
Sector: Athletic performance
Founded in 2016 by Andreas Gschaider, B42 is the first app-based performance and rehab training programme for amateur soccer players. Used by 600 non-professional teams and 70,000 male and female athletes, its personalised, sports science-based guides are customisable to suit all fitness levels. Having launched in Germany, the company has now set its sights on capturing a share of the burgeoning fitness app market further afield.
BEYOND SPORTS
Country: Netherlands
Funding stage: Unknown
Sector: Media and content
Dutch company Beyond Sports uses player positional tracking data to create virtual match simulations and deliver any perspective to any platform at any moment. Its solution has already been used by rights holders such as Arsenal and Ajax for player development, and by major broadcasters like Sky and Fox Sports for match analysis. Based in Alkmaar, the startup is now venturing into the realm of consumer-facing experiences.
BOOST SPORT
Country: USA
Funding stage: Seed
Sector: Athletic performance
Based in Seattle and led by chief executive Mustafa Abdul-Hamid, a former pro basketball player, Boost Sport raised US$1.3 million in seed funding in October from lead investor TitletownTech as well as Portfolia and Stadia Ventures. Its AI-powered solution helps basketball teams to scrutinise their performance with video analysis technology that does not rely on in-venue camera systems and wearable devices.
BUZZER
Country: USA
Funding stage: Seed
Sector: Media and content
Founded by Bo Han, Twitter’s former director of live content, Buzzer recently secured US$4 million in seed funding from a group of investors including Sapphire Sport, Lerer Hippeau, R&R Venture Partners, Imagination Capital, and Social Finance chief executive Anthony Noto. Set to launch in 2021, its mobile platform is being pitched at young consumers by offering frictionless look-ins to live games using a system built on notifications and micropayments.
FURTHER READING: How Buzzer is planning to bring live sport to the House of Highlights generation
CLIPPD
Country: UK
Funding stage: Seed
Sector: Athletic performance
Launching in 2021, Clippd bills itself as ‘golf’s data-driven performance platform’. Co-founded by two Oxford University graduates, the well-funded startup has been described as the ‘Strava of golf’ and intends to aggregate a wealth of performance data – including insights from smart golf clubs, GPS wearables, and ball-flight hardware – within a single app, therefore enabling a more complete analysis of an individual’s game and creating opportunities to compare performance with fellow players.
EDISN.AI
Country: India
Funding stage: Unknown
Sector: Media and content
Born of the trend towards interactivity, engagement and personalisation, Bangalore-based company Edisn.ai is a fan engagement platform which uses computer vision and machine learning technologies to recognise athletes on the screen and provide contextual content such as statistics, ratings, and betting and fantasy data.
GREENPARK SPORTS
Country: USA
Funding stage: Series A
Sector: Gaming
Formed in 2018, mobile games developer GreenPark Sports was co-founded by former YouTube chief executive Chad Hurley, Zappos founder Nick Swinmurn and Ken Martin, a co-founder and former chief commercial officer at Blitz. Its app, which launches in early 2021, combines a social platform with free-to-play games that enable users to earn real and virtual rewards. In December, the company secured US$14 million through a Series A funding round led by Galaxy Interactive, as well as the likes of ADvantage, Sinclair Broadcasting, and existing investors SignalFire and Sapphire Sport.
HUMANOX
Country: Spain
Funding stage: Seed
Sector: Wearable tech
Hailing from Cadiz, Spain, Humanox are the makers of a smart shin guard equipped with sensors that monitor player performance data in real time. With use cases in the professional and grassroots games, the company’s solution tracks over 40 metrics related to a player’s health and performance, such as heart rate, calories burned, and the force of impacts received. As well as raising US$1.8 million in seed funding from Univen Capital in 2020, the fledgling firm has received industry recognition for its innovative product.
HUBBSTER
Country: Denmark
Funding stage: Seed
Sector: Grassroots participation
What good is a basketball court if you don’t have a ball? That question is what inspired the formation of Danish startup Hubbster, which has set out to maximise use of public spaces by making sport accessible for anybody, anytime and anywhere. Hubbster works by supplying equipment for 28 different sports in on-site lockers called Hubbs, with users able to hire the equipment, find out if Hubbs are already in use, and connect with others through an app. Having signed agreements with distributors in seven countries, the company is planning a global launch in 2021.
IMMERSIV.IO
Country: France
Funding stage: Unknown
Sector: Augmented reality
Immersiv.io is a Paris-based startup founded in 2016 by chief executive Emmanuelle Roger and chief technology officer Stéphane Guerin. Offering an award-winning technology that allows stadium visitors to see live match information and player statistics using augmented reality, it has set out to reinvent the spectator experience and has already gained traction in sports like soccer.
LIV3LY
Country: Singapore
Funding stage: Unknown
Sector: Event management
Founded in 2018, Singapore-headquartered LIV3LY is a social fitness marketplace for mass participation events in Southeast Asia. With notable clients including Disney and Under Armour, it provides digital registration, payment and database management services to event organisers targeting amateur athletes. The company is now poised to roll out more virtual runs in the region with major brands as the mass participation sector adjusts to life after Covid-19.
LIVELIKE
Country: USA
Funding stage: Series B
Sector: Media and content
Founded in 2015, LiveLike is an audience engagement platform that allows broadcasters to transform streaming into fan-driven interactive experiences. Deployed by broadcasters and streaming platforms including Canal+, Turner Sports, Sky Sports and FloSports, the company’s offering is among a growing crop of solutions helping major content distributors create social viewing experiences.
UPLIFT LABS
Country: USA
Funding stage: Seed
Sector: Athletic performance
Virtual coaching platform Uplift Labs digitises human movement to improve athletic performance and reduce injuries. Its AI-powered, camera-based biomechanical analysis enables coaches and athletes to collaborate remotely, as well as offering instructors a way to curate and monetise live and on-demand classes. Co-founded by former Tesla Motors Japan president Sukemasa Kabayama, ex-GoPro executive Jonathan Wills and Rahul Rajan, a specialist in human-computer interaction, the Palo Alto, California-based startup has raised around US$3 million to date.
RUNMOTION COACH
Country: France
Funding stage: Seed
Sector: Athletic performance
Launched in October 2018, RunMotion Coach is a personalised mobile coaching app for running. With around 100,000 users as of June 2020, the French startup now has plans to expand internationally having completed a seed round of roughly US$300,000 from private investors in September. Its customised training plans are generated by algorithms developed by co-founder and former elite runner Guillaume Adam.
SPORT BUFF
Country: UK
Funding stage: Unknown
Sector: Media and content
The brainchild of founder Benn Achilleas and and sports broadcaster Jonty Whitehead, Sport Buff’s audience engagement platform features gamification elements that enable viewers to play along during live broadcasts, archive and on-demand content. Users interact and compete against each other in predictions, quizzes and social challenges, providing a means through which rights holders and broadcasters can keep fans engaged for longer and monetise. In June, the company joined data provider Stats Perform’s Sports Partners Intelligence Network, signed a betting partnership for products including UFC Picks, and was part of the award-winning Fifa World Cup at home campaign.
TRACK160
Country: Israel
Funding stage: Series A
Sector: Athletic performance
One of many Israeli companies using AI and cutting-edge deep learning technology to revolutionise sports data analytics, Tel Aviv-based Track160 enables teams to scrutinise their matches with a high level of accuracy through insights from 3D pose data and player orientation. Backed by the German Football League (DFL), which invested through its DFL for Equity arm in 2018, Track160’s technology captures the motions of players and the trajectory of the ball without the need for GPS or other wearable sensors, expensive hardware or human operators, making it a cost-friendly option.
WAVE
Country: USA
Funding stage: Series B
Sector: Media and content
LA-based startup Wave creates interactive virtual experiences around music concerts that help artists reach fans and earn money, but the potential for its offering to crossover into sport is obvious. Having started life as a VR company in 2016, the firm has shifted focus to gaming and live streaming. Retired baseball legend Alex Rodriguez and Twitch co-founder Kevin Lin both participated in a recent Series B funding round which raised US$30 million, while a series of senior hires and new content partnerships with Warner Music and Roc Nation suggest this young company is going places.
WINGFIELD
Country: Germany
Funding stage: Seed
Sector: Athletic performance
Another technological solution that falls within the burgeoning category of athletic performance, Wingfield is the creator of an AI-powered system and digital training app for tennis players and coaches. With its proprietary Wingfield Box, an IP camera-equipped unit which is designed to replace one of the two net posts, the Hannover-based company enables the digitisation of any tennis court at an affordable price point.
ZIPPIN
Country: USA
Funding stage: Series A
Sector: Retail
Founded by engineers from Amazon and SRI, Zippin wants to banish checkout lines and self-scanners for good. With the pandemic accelerating the adoption of cashless payments and checkout-free shopping, the San Francisco-based firm is spearheading an overhaul of the customer experience in bricks-and-mortar retail. Having secured US$12 million in Series A funding from the likes of Evolv Ventures and Scrum Ventures in December 2019, the six-year-old company now has plans to open new stores and has identified sports venues – like Sacramento’s Golden 1 Center (below) – as a target growth area.
This feature was originally published in Issue 112 of SportsPro magazine. Find out more about the edition here or click here for complimentary access to the digital version.
