#82 📢 GLOBAL SPORTS TECH ECOSYSTEM REPORT 2024- OUT NOW

News, features & insights from the world of Sports Tech. Every Week.

Back to report season! And this time we’ve got a double header. First up: The Global SportsTech Ecosystem Report.

Global Sports Tech Ecosystem Report 2024 OUT NOW!

🚀 It's Report Time! 🚀

And this time we have a report double header, but more on that later.

First up: The Global SportsTech Ecosystem Report 2024 is out now!

A bit late this year but as always, our goal is to present what’s happening in different parts of the world and who the main actors are.

✅ Investment environment: Still fairly cool. We're not close to the levels seen in 2021, as the wave of consolidation (M&A) takes precedence over fresh investment. However, the evolution of the SportsTech market is evident, with new funds and initiatives consistently entering the space (news about a new one later in this newsletter).

✅ New Trends: We’ve highlighted three from 2023

• B2B solutions gaining importance: Their share of total investment is higher than ever before. As sports orgs are now willing to spend (a bit) on their digital transformation journey, investors are supporting the solutions that find a good 'Product Market Fit'

• Fitness tech continues to attract investors: The latest fitness segment getting investor attention in 2023 was GymTech - solutions for Gyms / Fitness Centers.

• BigTech (Apple, Amazon, Google, Meta & others) are heavily investing in sports, in various ways. From wearables to livestreaming to tech partnerships, they are in Big Time. We've got a summary to show their different touch points.

✅ Ecosystem players: As always, we hear from our SportsTech Innovators and highlight some great startups to look out for.

Check out the latest Ecosystem Report, though we do have more.

Another report will be out next week: A Survey of Innovation leaders at Sports Organisations in partnership with Teamworks. Hear from leaders at top sports entities such as the IOC, DFL, MLS, Tennis Australia, FC Barcelona & various others.

📢 Download this report for early access to that one.

Top News from the World of Sports Tech

⚽📢 LALIGA and SportBoost launched MEET LALIGA EA SPORTS, 2nd edition of the innovation program, aimed at tech solutions that can break down barriers between the physical and digital worlds. Apply via this link, until 19th August 2024. 

💰 ASTN partnership launched a new accelerator program for Queensland SportsTech startups as part of the state’s $130 million initiative to attract venture capital and encourage startups.

🎟️ CR7 is fully on the Web3 train, he just recently announced his fourth NFT collection – Forever Worldwide: The Road to Saudi Arabia - with Binance.

⚡ Infosys, in partnership with the French Tennis Federation (FFT), unveiled several AI-first innovations for this year’s French Open at Roland-Garros: RG Gen AI Poster Challenge, AI Bracket Challenge, New Symbol Room in RG’s Infosys 3D Art Museum, and Split Screen Analysis in Players Portal. 

🎮 ICC and FanCraze announced a multi-year partnership extension with the launch of ICC Crictos SuperTeam, a Web3 fantasy game featuring officially licensed ICC digital video collectibles. 

💻 MVP Interactive installed their MorphingStation AR experience at the Detroit Tigers' Comerica Park. 

🚀 Google’s Fitbit launched the Ace LTE smartwatch, specifically designed for kids aged seven or more, allowing parents to track their child’s location in real-time, make calls, messages, and more.

🎦 JioCinema will stream the Paris Olympics 2024 for free in India, expecting to reach about 150 million views. 

🏒 The New York Islanders and UBS Arena announced the launch of a brand-new, dual-mode, joint mobile app, designed to elevate the experience for Islanders fans and all guests of UBS Arena.

Not Sports Tech but you should know:

🚀 Lionel Messi is set to launch a new sports drink called Mas+ with low-sugar, electrolytes and vitamins, to take on Prime and Gatorade.  

💸 Winners Alliance, the commercial arm of the PTPA co-founded by Novak Djokovic, raised $40 million from existing investors including Pershing Square Foundation and Prysm Capital.

⚽ Red Bull, adding to its large football portfolio, has bought a minority stake in Leeds and will become their principal shirt sponsor next season, their logo will be on the front of the men’s and women’s first-team kits. 

🏀 Unrivaled, a new pro 3-v-3 women’s basketball league, raised a seed round from a group of athlete and celebrity investors including Alex Morgan, Carmelo Anthony, Steve Nash, Ashton Kutcher and others.

Money Talks:

💰 AI-Powered Swedish Sport Tech firm Spiideo, raised $20 million in a funding round led by Munich-based growth equity firm, Cipio Partners. 

💰 Innovative health tech company, Monk, secured £2 million ($2.5 million) in funding for its smart ice bath, backed by pro boxer Anthony Joshua among others. 

💰 A gaming and esports campus in Croatia has received €26 million in financing. It’ll include an esports venue with 4,000 seats and the largest dedicated esports facility in Croatia.

💰 Ukraine’s first sports tech fund launched recently, Ruta.vc, with focus on software and hardware projects at the pre-seed and seed stages.

💰 British esports organisation, Guild Esports has disclosed that a Dubai-based investor has acquired about 66.7m shares, totaling 8.28% of voting rights shares in the company.

🤝 Infinite Reality, an immersive AI company focused on digital media and ecommerce, acquired Action Face, an AI-powered avatar creation platform, for an undisclosed amount.

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He talks about his journey to starting this innovative company. We discuss how camb.ai enables the world to communicate in any preferred language, including huge sports leagues like Australian Open and MLS. We also touch upon all the challenges faced in reaching these milestones. Akshat provides a very holistic and wholesome approach to entrepreneurship in sports and how adopting the mamba mentality helped excel in the same. 

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