#165 🏆 PEAK Startup World Cup Global Qualifier: And the Winners Are...

Powering Innovation & Investment Insights in Sports. Every Week.

Yesterday, our jury picked the winners of the PEAK x SportsTechX Startup World Cup Global Qualifier. Along with the three winners from the Americas Qualifier and a few wildcard entries, these companies will get the chance to pitch on stage at PEAK in Vegas 🎲 

Without further ado…

🏆 PEAK X SportsTechX Startup World Cup Global Qualifier Winners

Yesterday, Jan 29, we hosted the the Global Qualifier for the PEAK x SportsTechX Startup World Cup! Three standout startups emerged victorious:

🏆 For Athletes - Activity & Performance: KinetikIQ

🏆 For Fans - Fans & Content: Spoda AI

🏆 For Executives - Management & Organisation: STAXY

These companies will get to pitch now pitch live in Las Vegas, alongside other qualifiers, for the $10,000+ prize and other startup perks that'll help elevate them to the next level.

Congratulations to the winners! 🎉

Massive thanks to our judges Koen Bosma (Partner, Apex Capital), Rebecca Hopkins (CEO, The STA Group) and Matt Best (Lead, Commercial Strategy, Innovation & Ops, FIFA). And props to the other startups. the competition was certainly close.

Next up? The Finals at PEAK 2026. See you there 😎

Join the SportsTechX community and the top founders, sports executives, innovation leaders, and investors at PEAK 2026 in Las Vegas, 20-22 April 2026.

📰 THE LATEST

Top News From The World Of Sports Tech & Biz

🏀 Luka Dončić launched 77X, a direct-to-fan platform built with Shopify to offer exclusive products and curated experiences that deepen fan engagement and open new avenues for athlete-to-consumer interaction beyond traditional sponsorships.

🎾 ESPN added animated alternate broadcasts branded as “AO Animated” to its Australian Open coverage to provide fans with creative viewing options beyond traditional match feeds.

⚽ Mitre and PlayerData unveiled a GPS-enabled connected football under development in partnership with PlayerData aimed at bringing high-level performance insights to all levels of the game with embedded sensor technology.

🎾 Australian Open organisers ordered professional tennis players to remove wearable fitness devices during competition at the 2026 tournament amid debate over performance tracking technology at Grand Slam events.

 🥋 Paramount+ added about one million new subscribers on the day of its first UFC event as nearly five million viewers tuned in, delivering a significant single-day customer acquisition boost for the streamer.

🏈 ESPN announced “The Handoff,” a one-time, 24-hour multi-platform event starting February 8 after Super Bowl LX to transition coverage toward the 2027 Super Bowl LXI campaign and extend engagement across its NFL season programming.

⚽ German professional football posted record revenue figures of €6.33 billion in 2024–25, the DFL Economic Report reveals. Total revenue jumped 7.9% year-on-year, with the Bundesliga alone pulling in over €5.12 billion. Fans snapped up nearly 21 million tickets, and the combined leagues posted an operating profit of €271.5 million.

⚽ Women’s Super League Football Limited reported a £8.2 million operating loss for its first standalone financial year on £17.4 million revenue, noting revenue increase and anticipation of profitability as broadcast and commercial income grew.

🏃 Grand Slam Track generated just $1.8 million in revenue while accumulating nearly $40 million in debt, with filings showing that the founder had loaned millions to support the financially troubled track league.

💸 Athvance Capital launched a European sports investment platform, looking to raise €500 million ($585 million), that will invest in global emerging and under-commercialised sports intellectual property, technology, and service providers alongside support from entrepreneurs with sports, media, tech, and finance experience.

💸 AO Ventures backed four early-stage companies - Bolt6 , Raven Controls, Mindspring Padel , Padel Haus - in its first nine months as Tennis Australia’s venture capital arm, supporting founders whose products could scale globally with the Australian Open and Tennis Australia as early customers or partners.

💰 Pixellot raised $35 million in new funding in Petach Tikva, Israel, including $15 million in equity from existing investor PSG Equity and $20 million in venture debt, to fuel global growth and expand its AI-as-a-Service platform that removed upfront camera costs and enabled revenue sharing with partners across youth and amateur sports.

💰 Arkero announced a $6 million pre-seed round led by Roger Ehrenberg’s Game Changer Ventures, as it expanded its AI-powered sports operations platform used by Seattle Sounders, Reign FC, San Diego FC, and Bolton Wanderers FC.

💰 Faves, an athlete marketing platform, debuted with $3 million in funding from CMT Digital and Collider Ventures to enable athletes to manage sponsorships, curate product collections, and earn revenue through affiliate links.

💰 Levellr raised $2.5 million in seed funding for its AI platform that collected and analyzed insights from Discord communities to help game companies and global brands understand next-generation audiences.

💰 Whistle Performance, San Diego-based sports and human performance software, announced the close of a $2 million Seed funding round alongside its rebrand.

💰 MyARC secured more than $2 million (€2 million) in funding from Araya Ventures, Morgan Stanley, Techstars, and G Fund, and launched a new platform designed to help fitness creators deliver personalized training at scale, monetize audiences, and build sustainable creator-led fitness businesses.

💰 TOGETHXR announced a strategic partnership and equity investment in Sportsish to expand female-forward sports storytelling and develop new sports and pop culture content focused on women’s sports and fandom.

🤝 ANTA Sports reached an agreement to acquire a 29.06% stake in PUMA SE for $1.6 billion (€1.5 billion) in cash from Groupe Artémis, as part of its long-term strategy to strengthen its global footprint in the sporting goods market.

🤝 WSC Sports acquired Partnerbrite for an undisclosed amount, to unify content creation and sponsorship activation by adding self-serve campaign execution and audience activation tools to its AI-powered sports content platform.

🤝 Orreco acquired Jennis, the hormone health and fitness platform, for an undisclosed amount, to combine AI bioanalytics, hormonal health, and computer vision into a single women’s performance ecosystem.

🤝 CVC announced the acquisition of a controlling stake in Equine Network from Growth Catalyst Partners as the first new league investment by Global Sport Group, expanding its portfolio to stakes in eight unique leagues and competitions.

💬 JOIN THE CONVERSATION