#103 🍩 NFL Funday with the Simpsons

News, features & insights from the world of Sports Tech & Biz. Every Week.

October's investment summary painted a less optimistic picture than we saw in the last quarter. Hopefully this is a temporary dip rather than a revert to type. More analysis to follow in our latest SportsTech VC Report, out next week so stay tuned.

And a final reminder: today is the deadline for our Sports Tech Bootcamp applications – if you've been considering applying but haven’t yet, now’s your chance.

As always, have a great weekend!

Sports Tech Monthly: October 2024 Dealflow Roundup

The data is a snapshot from our SportsTechDB. with only highlights included in this newsletter edition. Head there for more in-depth data.

Not much to write home about in October’s investment summary. The third lowest month of the year (after June & February) with only two deals crossing $10 million, details below. While we spoke last week about Sports Tech bucking global investment trends, it is not immune to them so this roller coaster ride is set to continue.

Here’s a quick summary:

• Geography: North America back up on the charts with maximum dealflow in that region, while there’s a pretty even split between Europe and North America for M&A.

• Sectors: ‘Activity & Performance’ solutions top this month again, with 93% of funding in that sector.

• Top Deals: $100 million in funding for Toca Football and $45 million acquisition of Zapper by Infinite Reality.

VC Report 2024 Pre-Sale Offer: 50% discount on Report + PRO DB, both for €999!

🐤 EARLY BIRD SPECIAL: Last chance to get in early since the report comes out next week. The offer:

• VC Report PRO edition: With ~20 additional pages for those who want to dive deeper into Sports Tech investment in the last year (see 2023 report)

• SportsTechDB PRO: With additional filters such as location, sector, funding raised, sports, tech tags and others to look for the right startup out of 7k+

Purchase the package of 2024 Sports Tech VC Report Pro + SportsTech DB Pro at 50% off, both for €999!

📣 Last Call for Applications: Sports Tech Bootcamp

LAST CALL: APPLICATIONS CLOSE TODAY ⌛

If you’ve been planning to apply but haven’t got around to it yet, this is your last chance.

If you needed any more incentive, here’s some: we've lined up some amazing guest speakers - from a Champions League winning club, top SportsTech VC, and leading tech providers in sports. Cannot wait.

🤝 Only 10 seats in the first edition. At an inaugural offer price of € 649.

Top News from the World of Sports Tech & Biz

🍩 Disney and ESPN will livestream an animated version, set in the cartoon world of The Simpsons, of the NFL game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Dallas Cowboys on Dec. 9. Classic characters will make appearances throughout the program with bits and skits co-developed by the NFL, ESPN and The Simpsons' production team. Anything for the kids.

⚽ MLS partnered with crypto startup Sweet to launch a new NFT-based fan engagement platform MLS Quest, on the Sui blockchain. The new platform will feature MLS stars such as Lionel Messi and allow fans to collect NFTs known as “Key Play of the Game Medallions” that unlock video highlights from MLS games.

🏈 Immersive-tech company Cosm announced a deal with the NFL to produce and air Thursday, Sunday, and Monday Night Football for the rest of this season.

💡 Sportradar announced the launch of their Futures Hub, a new program is designed to “identify, assess, and support the work being done by cutting-edge start-ups.”

🎦 UFC and community-driven online streaming platform Kick agreed on a new global marketing partnership which will see UFC launch a dedicated channel on Kick featuring original UFC content.

🏑 UBS Arena and the New York Islanders announced a partnership with Viam, the engineering platform that unlocks the power of AI, data and automation in the physical world, making the company their Official AI Technology Partner. 

💪🏽 The sleep health company SleepScore Labs, launched Sleep.AI, a platform that provides advanced insights and predictive models, allowing health and wellness brands to optimize sleep health for their customers.

🤝 Sportlight, which uses Lidar and AI for player tracking, reached its first commercial, league-wide deal with the Saudi Pro League to become its exclusive provider of player tracking and performance insights.

💪🏽 NHL’s dasherboard tech gave sponsors a chance to own the moment with Norwegian Cruise Line’s branding around the first goal during nationally televised games. The NHL revolutionised its approach to in-game advertising two years ago when it introduced digitally enhanced dasherboard (DED) technology. 

⚽ FIFA has confirmed the 12 stadiums in the United States that will stage matches at the new FIFA Club World Cup 2025™ when the 32 best clubs in the world play for the only official title of FIFA Club World Champions.

Money Talks:

💰 Healthify raised $20 million in fresh capital, closing a $45 million financing round, led by existing investors Khosla Ventures and impact investor LeapFrog Investments with new participation from Claypond Capital, the family office of Ranjan Pai.

💰 Moonwalk Fitness, a fitness accountability app that gamifies healthy habit formation, successfully raised $3.4 million in a seed funding round led by Hack VC, with additional support from Binance Labs and CMS Holdings. 

💰 Austin-based SweatPals closed a $3 million funding round, led by a16z SPEEDRUN and Pear VC, in a significant milestone to drive the company’s mission of fostering connections through fitness.

💰 Fantasy tennis platform Fungiball secured €2.2 million ($2.4 million) in pre-seed funding from individual investors with additional support from Cliff Capital and Bpifrance. 

💰 London-based Bioniq, which provides personalised nutritional support based on blood biomarker data, announced that Cristiano Ronaldo financed an undisclosed investment amount in the company, bringing their total valuation to $82 million . 

🤝 TKO Group Holdings, the parent company of WWE and UFC, announced its acquisition of three key businesses—IMG, Professional Bull Riders (PBR), and On Location—from Endeavor Group Holdings in a mega $3.25 billion deal.

🤝 Two Circles, the data-driven sports and entertainment business, acquired Spring Media Group, adding new products and solutions to Two Circles’ already market-leading fan-marketing services.

🤝 L Catterton, a global consumer-focused investment firm, signed a definitive agreement to acquire a majority stake in [solidcore] from VMG Partners, Kohlberg & Company, and Peterson Partners. 

Latest from our channels

🔙 STX Article: The Rise of Esports- Transforming the Future of Competitive Gaming.

✅ STX Monthly: Last month’s sports tech dealflow, in case you missed it.

💪🏽 SportsTech AllStars Recap: Innovation in Broadcasting Tech