#163 💸 December 2025's Investment Roundup

Powering Innovation & Investment Insights in Sports. Every Week.

December brought a soft fade out, rather than a thundering climax, to 2025's Sports Tech Investment year. Given how eventful it was, a bit of calm was welcome. All the analysis and insights will follow in our Global Sports Tech Ecosystem Report, releasing in about 8 weeks.

With all the buzz about NBA Europe going around, it's worth mentioning that last night's packed house at the Uber Arena was a great sign for a potential Berlin team ;)

💡 MONTHLY INVESTMENT ROUNDUP

December 2025 closed the year with moderate but focused investment activity. The month recorded $129.7M in funding across 22 deals, with all M&A values undisclosed. Capital flowed heavily toward performance-driven technologies, rounding out the year with a clear signal on where investor priorities are changing after Fan Solutions. The second biggest year in Sports Tech!

Here’s a quick summary:

• Geography: Funding activity was led by Europe, which accounted for $73.0M (56.3%) of total funding. Asia followed with $31.3M (24.1%), while North America contributed $24.4M (18.8%). Oceania made up the remaining 0.8% ($1.0M).
  On the M&A side, deal activity by count was split evenly between North America (40.0%) and Oceania (40.0%), with Europe accounting for the remaining 20.0%.

• Sectors: Funding was overwhelmingly concentrated in ‘For Athletes’, representing $107.2M (82.7%) of total capital raised.
  This was followed by ‘For Fans’ ($15.6M, 12.0%) and ‘For Executives’ ($6.9M, 5.3%). M&A activity mirrored this skew, with ‘For Athletes’ accounting for 80.0% of deals, and ‘For Executives’ making up the remaining 20.0%.

• Top Deals: SkillCorner raised $60M in a private equity round led by Silversmith Capital Partners, making it the largest funding deal of the month. All M&A transactions were undisclosed by value, with activity centered on athlete performance and operational platforms.

📰 THE LATEST

Top News From The World Of Sports Tech & Biz

📱 NBC Sports unveiled a real-time player-tracking viewing feature built with Japan’s Nippon Television, enabling mobile viewers to lock coverage onto specific athletes during live events starting this year.

🏎️ Honda revealed new concept models and race machines at Tokyo Auto Salon 2026, showcasing future vehicle designs and performance engineering under its “Honda Sports DNA” theme.

🏈 NFL Wild Card games delivered massive audiences led by 41 million viewers for Eagles vs 49ers on Fox, while Packers vs Bears on Prime Video became the most-streamed NFL game ever.

🥊 Meta took over naming rights to the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, rebranding the venue as Meta Apex as part of its expanding partnership footprint with the UFC.

⛳ The PGA TOUR and AWS expanded their partnership to accelerate golf content innovation and enhance fan experiences globally through cloud and data-driven technologies.

🎬 Fanatics launched Fanatics Studios via a joint venture with OBB Media, kicking off with a Tom Brady docuseries and production deals tied to the ESPYs, LA28, MLB and WWE.

🌱 Leigh Sports Village, used by professional rugby and football teams, installed Rhenac’s CLS mobile grow lighting systems to support sustainable pitch maintenance and improve grass quality through energy-efficient lighting technology.

🏀 FC Barcelona moved toward committing to EuroLeague by reportedly planning to sign a new 10-year license, following news of the hefty price tag for potential NBA Europe teams.

⚽ Qatar opened talks with FIFA about hosting the inaugural Women’s Club World Cup in January 2028.

🏋️ The National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM), a global house of fitness education, released data gathered from 600+ fitness and wellness professionals showing longevity had overtaken aesthetics as the top fitness goal, signaling a shift toward long-term health span-focused coaching.

🛍️ JD Sports outlined plans to enable shopping and purchases through AI platforms as it explored new digital commerce channels for consumers.

⚖️ USC Gould School of Law and Akerman LLP launched a Law+AI Initiative to connect academic legal research with real-world commercial AI innovation through a dedicated knowledge-sharing platform and multi-sector advisory board. USC Gould’s Center for Sports, Entertainment, Media, and Technology Law will be the academic home of the new Initiative.

💰 OTTO SPORT AI raised $16.5 million in seed funding co-led by Mamba Growth Equity and Rally Ventures to accelerate development of its youth sports technology platform and expand its AI (Athlete Intelligence) Lab.

💰 WeatherPromise, used in sporting events, golf and other outdoor activities, closed $12.8 million in an oversubscribed Series A round led by Maveron to grow its technology platform designed to drive demand for travel, event and recreation companies.

💰 Diamond Kinetics raised $12 million to expand its youth sports livestreaming and technology offering, or youth baseball and softball in a round led by Elysian Park Ventures.

💰 Hapana, the fitness software platform used by boutique studios, gyms, and franchises worldwide, raised $7.25 million in new funding, in a round led by Microequities, with follow-on investment from OIF Ventures.

💰 Signing Day Sports priced a $5.6 million public offering of shares and warrants to raise gross proceeds through the sale of 9.48 million shares and warrants exercisable over five years.

💰 London based Incentifi raised $190k (€174k) in phase-one pre-seed funding to pilot its wellbeing-focused workplace rewards platform.

💰 The 33rd Team, founded by former NFL executive Mike Tannenbaum, secured an undisclosed eight-figure Series B funding round to expand its football intelligence and technology platform.

💰 Evergent Technologies secured a strategic investment from the NBA for an undisclosed amount, extending their subscription-management partnership tied to NBA League Pass.

🤝 Teamworks, The Operating System for Sports, powering more than 6,500 elite sports organizations globally, announced the acquisition of Sportlogiq, the global leader in AI-powered hockey analytics, for an undisclosed amount.

💸 FuboTV Inc. entered into a new financing arrangement with an affiliate of The Walt Disney Company, borrowing an aggregate principal amount of $145 million through an unsecured promissory note.

💸 Saudi Arabia is reorganizing its global gaming holdings, with the Public Investment Fund (PIF) moving roughly $12 billion in listed gaming shares to its subsidiary, Savvy Games Group, as it sharpens its focus on digital entertainment investments.

💸 Global Sport Group (GSG), which is owned by CVC Capital Partners and counts a stake in Six Nations Rugby among its holdings, began courting investors as it launched a €2.7 billion ($3.13 million) debt-raising process to fund further acquisitions across sports assets.

💬 JOIN THE CONVERSATION