#119 💰 Sports Tech Investment Hits $2.5 billion in Feb

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

Back-to-back billion dollar months! Feb closed with $2.5 billion in investment, that is a hot start for SportsTech in 2025. Keeping up the momentum, two new sports-focused fund announcements were made in distinct market segments—Private Equity (PE) and Venture Capital (VC).

As Glenn Frey would say, “The heat is on"

Sports Tech Monthly Investment Roundup

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

Last month’s investment summary showed that January 2025, with $3.9 billing in investment, had already surpassed the total investment volume of 2024. February has followed closely behind, with $2.5 billion in total funding. A mega start to the year.

Here’s a quick summary:

• Geography: 98.5% of the investment in Feb went into Europe, not often we see such big tickets in this part of the world.

• Sectors: Essentially all of the funding was in the solutions ‘For Fans’ sector for both these months. It was the most funded sector in 2024 and seems like 2025 is on track to be the same. Interestingly, M&A activity has been mainly in the For Athletes sector.

• Top Deals: Superbet secured a $1.43 billion from Blackstone and HPS Investment Partners while DAZN received $1 billion from Surj Sports Investment, the sports investment unit of the PIF.

Though two deals - Superbet and DAZN - make up almost the entire total, it is encouraging to see appetite for such mega deals. We expect a trickle-down effect leading to smaller ticket sizes.

Here’s hoping that March can close out Q1 with a bang and set up the ecosystem for a record-breaking 2025. We certainly are on track.

Indian Sports Business and Tech Report 2025

Launched last week, our latest report delivers an in-depth look into India's fast-changing sports business and innovation landscape.

Key findings from the report:

• India Ranks 2nd in Global Sports Tech Investment by Country since 2020.

• 7000+ Total number of active Global SportsTech Startups, with 350+ from India, ranking 3rd in the world for number of startups.

• 37 global unicorns in Sports Tech out of which 4 are from India.

• Mumbai tops Sports Tech investment value in India with total deals over $1.8 billion.

• Bangalore tops the total number of funded startups in India with 33 companies.

If you want to learn more about this underrated Sports Innovation ecosystem then be sure to…

Top News from the World of Sports Tech & Biz

🏒 The NHL announced it will help produce several animated shows and simulcasts for the rest of the 2024-25 regular season. The first show, “Best Snow Day Ever,” will air March 11 as a simulcast of the Boston Bruins-Florida Panthers game.

🏒 Staying with the NHL, their officials will be wearing Apple Watches on ice. The NHL Watch Comms app aims to help on-ice officials stay aware of their surroundings.

🏀 Euroleague Basketball and TikTok joined forces to bring fans another immersive experience: Hoop District will be streamed live globally on the EuroLeague official TikTok for the first time. 

🏈 The NFL’s Next Gen Stats Combine IQ system, powered by Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Amazon QuickSight, represents a breakthrough in how to capture, visualize, and analyze athletic performance data in near real time.

⚽ FIFA is set to give broadcasters the option to use footage from referee body-worn cameras at this summer’s Club World Cup.

🏎️ Chip Ganassi Racing partnered on a strategic research collaboration with OpenAI -making them the first team to bring in an AI partner.

🎾 The ATP have announced a content partnership with Overtime that will deliver unprecedented, behind-the-scenes tennis content to Overtime's 100M+ millennial and Gen Z/Alpha audience.

🤝 Fanatics partnered with Ticketmaster to create the Fanatics Ticket Marketplace, where users on the Fanatics app can now buy tickets alongside apparel, merchandise, trading cards and collectibles.

🤝 Grand Slam Track™, the new global home of professional track competition, announced Stats Perform as its exclusive global data and betting rights distributor and integrity partner. 

🏀 Hong Kong is reportedly considering introducing basketball betting as a means of generating additional government revenue, where only horse race and football betting is allowed.

🏆 The third annual Sports Business Awards: Tech saw Lap of Legends, the real-versus-virtual F1 race that pitted Logan Sargeant against six virtual competitors, take home two awards - including the coveted Sports Technology of the Year award.

💸 The world's 100 most valuable sports franchises are all worth at least $2 billion, Sportico reported. The NFL's Dallas Cowboys lead the way at $10.32 billion, followed by the NBA's Golden State Warriors ($9.14B), New York Knicks ($8.3B) and Los Angeles Lakers ($8.07B) and MLB's New York Yankees ($7.93B).

🤝 A report from Investment Banking Oaklins showed sports mergers and acquisitions rose 44% in 2024 while the number of private equity investments nearly doubled from 96 deals in 2023 to 190, as private equity fueled a record year.

⚽ The 139th IFAB Assembly determined rule changes to be introduced from the next Football season. The offside change will continue to be studied, while goalkeepers will be monitored for time-wasting. It was also decided that VAR decisions will be made public.

🚫 NBA and NASCAR X accounts were hit by hacks. Malicious posts alleging the launch of official NBA and NASCAR cryptocurrencies have been taken down since the hack.

🤝 MVPD announced a merger with Disney's Hulu + Live TV in January and ended the lawsuit with now defunct Venu Sports.

🏎️ IndyCar’s debut on Fox was the most-watched race for the series, outside of the Indianapolis 500, since 2011.

🤼‍♂️ The chairman of Saudi Arabia’s GEA announced the launch of a new boxing promotion in partnership with TKO Group Holdings and Sela Company. The new promotion will be led by Dana White and Nick Khan.

Money Talks:

💸 Meta launched a $50 million Meta Horizon Creator Fund. Under the theme of “Shape what’s next,” Meta plans to reward creators who can innovate and earn with Meta Horizon Worlds.

💸 Yashaa Global Capital recently received financial services permission to establish a global sports venture capital fund. With a $75 million target size, the fund aims to invest in sports tech, esports, fitness, and related industries.

💸 Champion Venture Partners, a private equity firm geared toward the sports asset class, launched by Former NFL Player Marques Colston, has raised $100 million. 

💸 Serena Williams has become the newest member of the ownership group for Canada’s first WNBA team, the Toronto Tempo.

🎾 CVC has bid $1 billion for IMG’s Madrid Open and Miami Open tennis tournaments. The private equity firm is competing against Endeavor CEO Ariel Emanuel and other investment firms to acquire events.

💰 Aescape, a Ney York based lifestyle robotics company providing AI massage for personalized recovery, raised $83 million in funding. The round, which brought the total amount to $128 million, was led by Valor Equity Partners. 

💰 Coral Tree Partners made an investment of €50 million ($50.4 m) in DMC Production, a Copenhagen-based sports production company for comprehensive coverage of Danish professional football. 

💰 Hyperspace Ventures made a $5.3 million investment into Pickleball Inc., the parent company of numerous leading pickleball entities.

💰 StepOut, a Bengaluru, India-based Indian sports performance analysis and ecosystem technology startup, raised $500K in a Seed funding round led by Rainmatter by Zerodha. 

💰 FanUp, a NYC-based provider of a fantasy sports and pop culture gaming platform, raised  an undisclosed amount in funding from Tru Skye Ventures and 9.58 Ventures. 

💰 WeWard, the free walking app that rewards 20M users for every step, announced that tennis champion Venus Williams has joined the company as both an investor and ambassador.

💰 DraftKings announced that it successfully closed on its senior secured term loan B credit facility in an aggregate principal amount of $600 million.

🤝 Perfect Game, the world's largest youth baseball and softball platform and scouting service, announced the acquisition of Triangle Top Gun Sports from owner Wes Gregory, for an undisclosed amount. 

🤝 TKO completed deals for IMG, On Location and PBR. The parent company of the UFC and WWE finalized a $3.25 billion acquisition with Endeavor preparing to go private.

Recap from our content archive:

🔙 STX Article: Innovative Fan Engagement- The Future of Sports in the Metaverse, Web3, and Beyond

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

💪🏽 SportsTech AllStars Recap: Global Sports Tech VC Report series.