#86 💰 SportsTech Investment Recap for June 2024

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

June's investment round up isn't much to write home about but we do our job and write about it. Here's hoping that the second half of the year picks things up big time.

As always, Happy Friday 😎 

Monthly Investment Roundup: June 2024

The data is a snapshot from our SportsTechDB. with only highlights included in this newsletter edition. Head there for more in-depth data.

April started Q2 with much promise. June has ended it in disappointment. The lowest month by investment this year so far, and not a great month for M&A either. Hopefully things get better from here.

Here’s a quick summary:

• Geography: Europe continues to be the most active region for funding, generating almost 52% of this month’s activity as well. M&A is still dominated by North America at 50%, with an even split between Asia and Europe for the rest. 

• Sectors: As we predicted correctly last month, solutions for ‘Management & Organization’ are taking off, dominating the month’s both funding and M&A activity. ‘Analytics and Performance’ solutions for athletes follow next. 

• Top Deals: $20 million in funding for Sweden based Spiideo and $32.7 million acquisition of Freaks 4U Gaming by Indian NODWIN Gaming. 

SportsTech Connect: Berlin

​An exclusive event with limited places, bringing together key stakeholders driving innovation in the sports ecosystem. 6:30 pm onwards on Friday, 12th July 2024.

If you're interested to attend, please drop us an email.

Webinar: Global Sports Tech Ecosystem Report 2024!

📢 Have you read the full Global SportsTech Ecosystem Report 2024 yet? If not, join us for the webinar!

We couldn't do this last week on account of a last minute schedule change so apologies to those who registered. This time it's definitely on!

A 60 mins snapshot of the investment overview and trend analysis of 3 geographies - North America, Europe & Asia-Pacific; along with the top Innovators & Startups.

✅ If you still want to, you can download the full report here. Else just sign up for the webinar. (Or show us some love and do both!)

Top News from the World of Sports Tech

🎾 The ATP announced the approval of in-competition wearable devices for players across the ATP Tour and ATP Challenger Tour, to enhance player performance and recovery, starting from 15 July. 

🎾 Wimbledon’s new online feature, Catch Me Up, which publishes pre- and post-match player profiles with AI-generated stories and analysis, made 2 errors on the first day of the championships. 

🎾 The All England Lawn Tennis Club along with BLAST, announced its first official esports tournament called the Wimbledon eChamps. Presented by American Express, it’ll be played on the tennis video game TopSpin 2K25 on July 6th 2024.

🏃‍♀️ UK based sports tech company Feldspar, is working on creating the ‘world’s first sensor-enabled running track’ that'll capture athlete’s data from their footsteps using sensors.

⚽ FC Barcelona’s plan to raise hundreds of millions of euros to help fix their severe financial problems by floating a ‘Barca Media’ on the NASDAQ stock exchange in New York is officially over due to problems with German company Libero’s involvement as investors. 

🏀 The NBA and Take-Two to reimagine the NBA 2K League into a global digital entertainment business that’ll feature a new digital media brand, immersive live events and a revamped 2K competitive league.

⚽ UEFA has tapped Genius Sports to provide player-tracking data for some of its club matches, including the Europa League, Nations League and European qualifiers.

⛳ NTT DATA announced that it will launch its digital twin-supported ShotView technology at The 151st Open, taking place at Royal Liverpool from 16-23 July.

Money Talks:

💰 Grandstand, launched Fan Fund, a new initiative to help athletes cover unseen (and massive) costs, ahead of Paris 2024. 

💰 ParlayPlay, a sports prediction platform catered towards Gen Z, raised $3.8 million in funding according to a recent SEC filing.

💰 LunchTable, a brand amplification platform, raised $2.4 million in a seed financing round led by JumpStart Ventures. 

💰 JohnWallStreet, NYC-based newsletter service in sports business, raised $1 million in a funding round led by Bolt Ventures.

💰 Indian sports and fitness tech startup Machaxi, raised $735k (INR 4.8 Cr) in a Pre-Series A funding round led by Inflection Point Ventures, with participation from Curefit cofounder Ankit Nagori.

💰 Sports Tech startups APEX Fitness and Fortus, both have received $15k each in funding from The University of Queensland’s 2024 Ventures ilab Accelerator Chapter 2 program. 

💰 Indian esports and gaming company NODWIN Gaming announced that it will fully acquire German esports and gaming company Freaks 4U Gaming, in a deal valued at €30.3m (~£25.6m).

💰 EverPass Media, premium live sports content distributor, acquired UPshow, an on-premise entertainment and performance marketing platform, for an undisclosed amount.

💰 Dizplai, a cloud data-display platform, acquired PickGuru, a free-to-play gaming platform, for an undisclosed amount as well. 

💰 Marc Lasry’s Avenue Sports Fund purchased a minority stake in CityPickle, a New York-based court operator.

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