#123 🔥 SportsTech Q1 Dealflow Hits $7.7 Billion

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The March investment summary is out, confirming that Q1 closed with $7.7 billion in total SportsTech dealflow (including investments and M&A). Now that’s how you kickoff a year!

As always, have a great weekend.

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.

We’re well on track for a record-setting year in SportsTech dealflow in 2025.

• January closed with $3.9 billion in investment, which had already surpassed the total investment volume of 2024.

• February followed closely behind, with $2.5 billion in total.

• March closed almost $800 million in investment + $200 million in M&A, thus ending Q1 with the weakest month of the quarter but still near the $1 billion mark.

Across Investment and M&A, Q1 has $7.7 billion in total dealflow 👀!👀

Here’s a quick summary:

• Geography: Almost 80% of dealflow activity in North America and around 20% in Europe. M&A activity was also dominant in North America with a 67% share.

• Sectors: Essentially most of the funding was in the solutions ‘For Fans’ sector for this quarter. 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 an even split between ‘For Athletes’ and ‘For Executives’ sector.

• Top Deals: Draftkings secured $600 million in Term Loan B and Napster was acquired for $207 million by Infinite Reality.

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Top News from the World of Sports Tech & Biz

🤼‍♂️ Meta has inked a multi-year agreement with the UFC, becoming the league’s first-ever "official fan technology partner". The partnership aims to enhance the fan experience by integrating Meta’s technology and digital services into UFC events.

🏈 The TitletownTech Startup Draft, in partnership with the Green Bay Packers and Microsoft, is an event where early-stage startups pitch for a $1 million investment, mentorship, and resources- modeled after the NFL Draft.

🏎️ Recognizing that not all drivers have access to the same level of data and analysis, Google Cloud and Formula E are using AI to help bridge this gap, and developing a new Driver Agent. The "Driver Agent," is an AI tool powered by Google's Vertex AI platform and Gemini and is designed to analyze extensive multimodal data generated during racing and provide actionable insights to drivers.

🏎️ Formula One plans to launch an engaging, data-driven betting product, teaming up with ALT Sports Data to power responsible in-race wagering and boost fan engagement.

🏀 nVenue has partnered with the WNBA to integrate their analytics platform into the league's media offerings, to enhance real-time fan engagement by delivering personalized content, interactive experiences, and more detailed game insights to WNBA audiences.

🕫 Garmin announced the launch of Garmin Connect+, a premium plan that provides new features and even more personalized insights in the Garmin Connect™ smartphone app.

🏏 The 18th edition of the TATA Indian Premier League kicked off in spectacular fashion, breaking all previous viewership records across JioHotstar and Star Sports Network. With a staggering 4,956 crore minutes of cumulative watch time, IPL 2025 has set new benchmarks. 

Highly recommend: If you’re looking to learn more about the IPL - origin, growth & why it could be could be bigger than the NFL in 10 years (TL;DR: Saudi investment, US League, Indians everywhere) be sure to check out this podcast by the brilliant Acquired. Long, but very worth it. They’ve also done one on the NFL and the NBA.

🏈 Speaking of the NFL,

• This season, they will use Sony’s Hawk-Eye cameras to measure the line to gain - a process the chain crew has done manually for decades. The 8K cameras will use virtual measurement technology to quickly and accurately determine whether the ball traveled 10 yards for a first down.

• They are set to play three games on Christmas Day this year, streaming across two different platforms.

• And they announced the expansion of their Global Markets Program, adding four new NFL teams and two new markets. The Ravens, Packers, Chargers and Commanders are the new teams to gain international marketing rights in other countries. Greece and the United Arab Emirates are the new markets for 2025.

🏀 Over to the NBA,

• Last week Commissioner Adam Silver confirmed that he is interested in creating a new European league.

• Hawks star Trae Young has been named assistant GM for Oklahoma men's basketball and will assist with the evaluation of high school and transfer portal prospects

⚾ Staying with American sports Leagues, the MLB:

• On Opening Day, The Famous Group partnered with Initiative and Corona Extra® to deliver a live Mixed Reality activation during ESPN’s broadcast of the Tigers vs. Dodgers game at Dodger Stadium.

• The 2025 MLB season kicked off with plenty of fanfare though there were many fans across the country who missed out on the action for a bit due to issues with MLB.TV.

🏆 Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE are preparing a joint bid to host the 2035 Rugby World Cup.

👀 GymNation, a Middle East fitness brand, unveiled the world’s first In-Gym Hotel. 

Money Talks:

💰Playback, a sports-focused livestreaming startup, secured $22 million in funding from investors like Alexis Ohanian's Seven Seven Six and is partnering with MLB.tv to offer interactive games.

💰 Pro Padel League , a North American-based padel league, raised  a $10 million seed round led by Left Lane Capital, as its gearing up for its second full season in 2025

💰 FloSports, a global sports media company, announced the closing of its Series D funding round of an undisclosed amount, led by Dream Sports, a leading sports technology company based in India. 

🤝 Italian K-Sport, one of the world’s leading companies in sports performance monitoring technology, completed the acquisition of a 67% stake in SPT – Sport Performance Tracking, for an undisclosed amount. 

🤝 PlayOn, the premier fan engagement platform for high school sports, announced the acquisition of MaxPreps, a leading source for high school sports schedules and stats, for an undisclosed amount. 

💸 Peyton Manning's Omaha Productions sold a 10% stake to a new investment platform led by Patrick Whitesell at a $750 million valuation.

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: Indian Sports Business and Tech Report series.