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- #156 💡 FINAL COUNTDOWN: Global Sports Tech VC Report 2025
#156 💡 FINAL COUNTDOWN: Global Sports Tech VC Report 2025
Plus applications for UEFA Champions Innovate 2026 are now open
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Our latest VC report drops soon as we close the books on what could be a record-setting investment year in sports tech. Deal values are tracking close to 2021's peak, but here's the kicker: we've tracked a record number of new funds and initiatives launching this year. Full breakdown in the report. For today, here's a preview of the numbers.
💡 GLOBAL SPORTS TECH VC REPORT
2025: A breakout year for dealflow
After two down years, Sports Tech deal flow has certainly bounced back in 2025. The year started at record pace and maintained momentum through Q3. Total disclosed activity through October hit $12.5 billion across funding and M&A, driven by mega-investment rounds, major takeovers, and strategic consolidations across sports media, data, and wearables. Here’s a breakdown of the…
Total Funding and Top Deals by Month
January – $3.89B: Infinite Reality ($3B) and DAZN ($827M) defined the year’s explosive start.
February – $1.10B: Superbet ($1.43B) and DAZN ($1B) continued the momentum.
March – $494M: DraftKings secured $600M in term financing; Infinite Reality acquired Napster for $207M, then rebranded to the iconic name.
April – $277M: Poolhouse’s $34M seed round led funding; M&A volumes climbed to $215M.
May – $233M: Willow and Cricbuzz each raised $50M; Ticketmaster’s $110M acquisition topped M&A.
June – $1.05B: Teamworks raised $235M; Disney’s $439M acquisition of Hulu drove deal value.
July – $1.82B: SharpLink ($413M) led funding; Flutter’s $1.76B FanDuel takeover became the year’s biggest M&A.
August – $202M: SharpLink ($264M post-IPO) and Galaxy Racer’s $10M sale kept dealflow steady.
September – $1.63B: Sports Illustrated Tickets raised $50M; Allwyn’s $1.6B acquisition of PrizePicks defined the month.
October – $1.83B: Oura’s $900M Series E led globally; Catapult’s $91M purchase of Impect capped M&A.
2025 Monthly Funding Breakup
The pattern: massive rounds early and late in the year, bookending quieter spring months. While January set the tone for scale, July–October delivered sustained billion-dollar momentum, showing investor appetite remains concentrated in top-tier platforms.
Mega-deals from Napster, DAZN, Oura, and Teamworks defined the year’s flow. Consolidation through FanDuel-Flutter, Allwyn-PrizePicks, and Disney-Hulu confirmed that scale and ownership are now the dominant themes.
For full deal tables, top investors, and category analysis, stay tuned for the Global Sports Tech VC Report 2025. Out next week.
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📰 THE LATEST
Top News From The World Of Sports Tech & Biz
⚽ Applications are now open for UEFA Champions Innovate Budapest 2026, inviting startups to collaborate with the Champions League on solutions enhancing fan engagement, sustainability and event operations. Apply Here.
📊 Comcast NBCU SportsTech’s fifth cohort advanced through its accelerator program, highlighting startups gaining traction across the sports-tech ecosystem.
🏀 Disney, ESPN and the NBA teamed up again to present the second edition of Dunk the Halls, a real-time animated NBA game using Sony’s Beyond Sports technology on Christmas Day for Knicks vs Cavaliers across ESPN2, Disney platforms and ABC.
🥋 UFC and IBM introduced In-Fight Insights, an AI platform delivering real-time alerts on milestones, streaks and records during UFC events as part of the next phase of their tech partnership.
📊 Taiwan’s government launched a program supporting companies developing sports tech while showcasing new training and safety solutions designed to strengthen the sector.
📈 FanDuel launched a prediction-markets app aimed at states without legal sports betting while still including sports-based prediction products.
🏎️ A2RL brought an AI-driven autonomous car closer than ever to Formula 1 driver pace during its 2025 Abu Dhabi event.
📺 CAMB.AI and YES Network announced a strategic AI collaboration to explore multilingual technologies that enhance and personalize fan engagement.
⚾ Netflix became an MLB broadcast partner in a new three-year deal that shifted rights from ESPN and expanded MLB.TV availability across NBC platforms.
📉 FanDuel and DraftKings abandoned their memberships in the American Gaming Association amid rising tension over the growth of sports prediction markets.
⚽ MLS and Apple scrapped the MLS Season Pass model for 2026 so all league matches would be available to Apple TV subscribers.
Money Talks |
💰 MultiBank Group and Khabib Nurmagomedov launched a multi-billion-dollar joint venture called MultiBank Khabib LLC to build a regulated tokenized sports ecosystem headquartered in Dubai as global tokenization accelerated.
💰 Orion, the sleep-tech company founded by Harry Gestetner after selling his creator-economy startup, raised $18 million to scale its cooling-sleep technology built with his father.
💰 Unlimitr (formerly Health Click Away) raised $1.1 million in seed funding from a Texas-based investor consortium to deepen its AI-driven personalization engine and expand into new international markets.
💰 Sprocket Sports received an undisclosed amount from Frontier Growth to accelerate the expansion of its youth-sports technology platform supporting clubs with data, communication and operations tools.
🤝 VestGen Wealth Partners launched VestGen Athlete to help professional and student athletes and their families build long-term wealth and brand equity through a new advisory ecosystem.
💰 Sinclair Inc. bought an 8.2 percent stake in broadcaster E.W. Scripps as it evaluated a possible future acquisition.
💸 Wall Street banks were left holding unsold portions of a $1.64 billion loan tied to a majority stake in an Atlanta fantasy-sports operator after the financing deal faltered.
📊 Disney planned to increase its FY 2026 content budget by $1 billion to $24 billion due to rising costs of premium sports rights such as the NBA.
🏀 The British Basketball Federation entered liquidation following a major and unexpected collapse in income one month after the men’s national team was suspended by FIBA over governance issues.
A-Champs Acquires Goal Station, Redefining Football Performance Training
A-Champs has acquired Goal Station to create the world’s most advanced football performance training ecosystem. Combining patented ROX technology with Goal Station’s proven methodology, the unified platform embeds cognitive training into every drill, enhancing reaction speed, decision-making, and Football IQ. Trusted by elite clubs worldwide, the system is now expanding across Europe and into U.S. markets.
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