#190 🤝 Introducing Playmakers: 24 Founders, $250M+ in Venture Capital

Sports Tech & Venture Intelligence. Every Week.

We're formally announcing something we've been building quietly: Playmakers, our private network for high-growth sports tech founders and CEOs, revealed its 24 Founding Members earlier this week.

The numbers speak for themselves: 13 nationalities, more than $250 million in venture funding raised and four founders with previous exits. In this week's lead, we introduce them and the companies they're building.

Playmakers by SportsTechX: The Founding Members

We soft-launched Playmakers in January to bring together the sharpest builders in sports tech. We wanted the first 24 members, assembled as three groups of eight, to come from our immediate network, through private recruitment. This was crucial as the Founding Member group wouldn't just join the network, they'd help build it.

Earlier this week we announced the Founding Member cohort of 24 founders and CEOs. 13 nationalities, $250 million+ in combined venture funding raised and four previous exits between them. This is a serious network for serious builders.

Every member meets a financial bar to join: $1M+ in annual revenue OR $3M+ in funding OR a previous €5M+ exit. And some do so comfortably: about 30% of the network is approaching or has surpassed $10 million in annual revenue.

Over the coming weeks, we'll share more on the founders, their companies and the problems they're solving across the sports industry. For now, meet the founders:

The founding members:

• Agustin Rozadas & Jose Gonzalez Ruzo, co-founders of OLIVER Sports: Wearable football tracker and performance platform helping players and teams monitor physical, technical and training data.

• Aldo Comi, CEO & co-founder of Soccerment: Football analytics platform providing wearables, data and predictive tools for player performance, scouting and match analysis.

• Andrew Zwiers, co-founder of Universal Speed Rating: Speed measurement and benchmarking platform helping athletes, coaches and scouts assess sprint performance.

• Avneesh Prakash, co-founder of CAMB.AI: Real-time speech translation and dubbing company helping sports leagues, broadcasters and media companies localise content across languages.

• Christian Richter, co-founder of Sporting Rock: Digital systems for league planning, match reports, live tickers, team management and sports administration.

• Christian Theil, CEO of turfcoach: Turf intelligence platform using sensors, data and agronomic science to help sports organisations monitor and manage playing surfaces.

• Christof Babinsky, CEO of ASB GlassFloor: Sports flooring tech providing LED glass floors that turn playing surfaces into programmable courts for sport, events and media.

• Dr. Christopher Jahns, founder & CEO of XU Group: Digital learning and AI-enablement tools for workforce education and process optimisation.

• David Sciama, co-founder of Coaches’ Voice: Football coach education platform offering expert-led content, courses, session-planning tools and development experiences for coaches and clubs.

• Eero Kuusi, co-founder & CEO of Zenniz: Smart tennis court technology combining electronic line calling, video, analytics and interactive tools.

• Erik Anderson, CEO of SportIQ: Smart basketball and analytics platform helping athletes, coaches and teams measure and improve shooting performance.

• Guy Aharon, CEO & co-founder of Playermaker: Football wearable using boot-mounted sensors to track technical and physical performance.

• Harrison Brown, co-founder and CEO of HEADCHECK Health: Concussion management platform helping standardise head-injury protocols, incident tracking and compliance.

• Jake George Schuster, founder & CEO of Gemini Sports AI: Analytics platform helping football clubs with recruitment, player trading, squad planning and front-office decision-making.

• Dr. Martin O’Reilly, CEO & co-founder of Output Sports: Athlete testing and performance tracking giving coaches one system for profiling, monitoring, training and programming.

• Martin Wiklund, founder & CEO of Sportswik: Live streaming and engagement tools platform helping federations, leagues and grassroots organisations create content, engage communities and develop new revenue streams.

• Sidhhant Agarwal, founder of SportVot: Production and Live streaming helping grassroots and emerging sports broadcast matches, capture data and reach fans.

• Sowbhagya Shetty, CEO of Data Sports Group: Data provider delivering real-time APIs, live scores, statistics and widgets across more than 80 sports and thousands of competitions.

• Dr. Tobias Haupt, founder & CEO of GAMECODE.Ai: Football analytics platform helping clubs customise analysis around their tactical identity and playing model.

• Tom Kuhr, COO of Fastbreak AI: Scheduling and operations platform helping leagues, event organisers and brands optimise fixtures, logistics and revenue opportunities.

• Valtteri Salomaki, CEO of EDGE Sound Research: Audio tech platform building intelligent sound infrastructure and immersive audio experiences for sports, venues and media.

• Victorien Tixier, co-founder & CEO of ScorePlay: Media asset management platform helping sports organisations organise, tag, distribute and monetise their content.

This is the starting point for Playmakers: a private network built around the people already building the future of sports technology.

Membership is intentionally selective, with each new member added based on stage, relevance and fit with the group. Full details on costs, criteria and what's included are on the website.

Top News From The World Of Sports Tech & Biz

• 📊 Underdog launched prediction markets on its own federally licensed prediction market exchange, expanding its sports gaming offering into event-based trading within the existing Underdog app.

• 📱 TikTok expanded its sports push by securing the first professional boxing event streamed exclusively on TikTok LIVE and a multi-year global partnership with the NBA and WNBA to deepen basketball engagement on the platform.

• 🏀 DICK’S Sporting Goods’ in-house content studio Cookie Jar & A Dream Studios announced Life In the W, a six-part WNBA documentary series following A’ja Wilson, Napheesa Collier, and DeWanna Bonner as branded investment in women’s sports storytelling continued to grow.

• 📺 W-Sport launched a direct-to-consumer streaming app dedicated to women’s sport, in selected territories across Europe, Asia and Africa.

• 🎾 Acemate introduced the S10 tennis robot, an autonomous training partner using binocular 4K vision, onboard AI, omnidirectional wheels, adjustable shot speed, spin and placement, and performance data tracking to recreate live rallies for solo tennis practice.

• ⛳ LIV Golf was sued by Canada-based Mobii Systems Group for more than $1 million over alleged unpaid licensing and usage fees tied to technology used in the league’s tournament streams. LIV Golf has also agreed to pay $1 million to settle a trademark infringement lawsuit with an Ohio-based golf tee manufacturer, Stinger Golf.

• 🤝 SURJ Sports Investment, Live Nation, and Oak View Group launched radia, a joint venture designed to support Saudi Arabia’s sports and events infrastructure through venue management, operations, activations, and commercialization.

• 📺 YouTube reported that FIFA World Cup 2026 became its most-viewed World Cup ever, with more than 1.7 billion unique viewers, over 550 million watching on TVs, official final broadcasts drawing over 21 million AMA across more than 40 markets, and FIFA’s official channel adding 7.5 million subscribers.

• ⚽ Arsene Wenger said FIFA would review the hydration breaks introduced at the 2026 World Cup after accepting they had not been popular during the tournament.

• 💰 Bluestone Equity Partners, the institutionally-backed global private equity firm focused on the Sports, Media & Entertainment industry, announced that it has led a $55 million growth equity investment in Poolhouse, the technology-enabled cue sports company founded by the creators of Topgolf and Puttshack.

• 💰 ENGO raised $5.9 million (€5.1 million) to expand its smart sports eyewear business, accelerate innovation in lightweight heads-up display technology, and support international growth.

• 💰 PlayVS raised $4 million in a fully sold equity round after financial strain triggered restructuring, cost cuts, leadership changes, and a return to paid school esports leagues.

• 💰 PathFinder raised a multi-million dollar angel round to launch BirdieSense, a next-generation sports AI agent.

• 🤝 Graham Sports & Entertainment Partners and Bolt Ventures acquired MyGolfSpy for an undisclosed amount to launch Pin High Golf, a new platform focused on golf media, product testing, and consumer insight.

• 🤝 Harbinger Sports Partners, the investment fund led by Mark Cuban and Rashaun Williams, bought a minority stake in the Athletics for an undisclosed amount, marking the firm’s first investment since launching in May.

• 💸 Swansea City sold a stake in its women’s team, providing significant immediate investment into the side competing in Welsh football’s top domestic tier.

• 📺 A judge paused Paramount’s $110 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of TNT Sports, for at least 14 days after approving a temporary restraining order.

• 💸 Apollo, a minority investor in Wrexham, entered talks with the New York Yankees over a potential $2-3 billion financing deal that could create a commercial link between Wrexham and one of MLB’s most valuable franchises.

• 💸 Red Bull rejected a $3 billion Abu Dhabi-backed bid for Racing Bulls, its junior Formula 1 team, as F1 team valuations continued to hit record highs.

• 💸 Fenway Sports Group entered talks to sell a 30% stake in Liverpool to a consortium led by former Queens Park Rangers co-owner Amit Bhatia and backed by Lakshmi Mittal, with an offer of around $1.8 billion (£1.35 billion) on the table. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos also looking to join the bid.

• 💸 Leicester City owners King Power explored a sale of the club for an undisclosed amount, sounding out potential buyers a decade after the club’s Premier League title and after dropping two divisions.

• 💸 UK investment firm Boldhaven Management disclosed a 5.6% stake in Manchester United after amassing 3.1 million Class A shares, becoming the club’s second-biggest institutional holder.

• 💸 Nancy Walton Laurie and Bill Laurie explored a Las Vegas NBA expansion bid, with the Walmart-linked family worth around $18 billion seeking to secure a potential franchise.