#89 🏆 Broadcast Innovation and Fan Engagement at its peak in Paris 🚀

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

Recaps from recent SportsTech events, one we hosted in Berlin and another we attended in Cologne. Plus lots of funding news this week. Here’s hoping H2 2024 is far better than H1 for dealflow.

As always, have a great weekend!

Innovative Fan Engagement: The Future of Sports in the 🎙️, and Beyond

Last month, we had the pleasure of speaking at the DARE TO RISE Impact Contest in Cologne – an EHF Champions League start-up competition where the central theme was ‘Innovation in fan engagement’.

The interactions with all the stakeholders got us to reflect on the evolving relationship that sports teams have with their fans and vice versa. 

Quality fan data is the holy grail for sports orgs who currently face a major gap in understanding their fans. At the same time, fans often wonder how they can become more involved with the teams they love. Better fan data enables businesses, brands, and sports organisations to connect with and monetize their audiences more effectively. Solutions that bridge this gap are incredibly valuable.

We got to take an up close look at some really interesting ones in Cologne. Check out the article for more details about the companies and the event.

SportsTech Connect: Berlin

The idea was pretty simple: To get a bunch of professionals invested in the growth of Sports & SportsTech together and see where that leads. No slides, just chat. Was a great energy in the room.

We plan to do more of these, in Berlin and elsewhere, so get in touch if you'd like to co-host, partner or just attend.

Thanks to everyone who supported the event: Co-host Sporting Crypto and partners betahaus, The HBAR Foundation, Match Ventures, PlayersTech & SportGeniusAI 💪

And of course to everyone that made it. A great group of investors, sports teams, brands & startups. Looking forward to the next one!

Top News from the World of Sports Tech

🎦 Harnessing the power of its 5th Gen Xeon CPUs & Arc GPUs, Intel will showcase the first-ever 8K OTT broadcast at the Olympic Games Paris 2024.(Check out our article on it here)

🎟️ The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced a new licensing agreement with Panini to create collectible stickers and cards for the Olympic Games Paris 2024 and the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026.

🏀 It’s official, the NBA announced it’s landmark 11-year media rights deal with Walt Disney Company, NBCUniversal and Amazon Prime Video worth an eye-watering $77 billion.

An important side note, the NBA said it did not believe Warner Bros. Discovery could exercise its right to match Amazon’s new media rights package. Lawyers will get involved but it is almost certainly goodbye to the award winning show Inside the NBA on TNT Sports.

⚽ The English Football League, in collaboration with Genius Sports, officially introduced ‘Fantasy EFL’, a fantasy football game encompassing all 72 Member Clubs spread across the three Sky Bet EFL divisions. 

🤝 Google, Team USA and NBCUniversal announced a new partnership, with Google being named the Official Search AI Partner of Team USA, marking the first time the technology company has entered into a partnership with Team USA.  

🏀 Panathinaikos, in collaboration with Globalsat, to install the ASB GlassFloor, the Full-LED video sports surface officially endorsed by the EuroLeague. (Check out ASB on our pod)

🚴 NBC Sports’ Tour de France coverage added AR-based virtual-graphics and a telestrator system in the studio and, for the first time, live feeds from POV cameras mounted on several competitors’ bicycles.

🏀 Apple announced its upcoming lineup of immersive video content for the Vision Pro which includes behind-the-scenes footage of the 2024 NBA All-Star Weekend and more.

⚽ The DFL will test the "chip-in-the-ball" technology, during the Supercup match between Bayer Leverkusen and Stuttgart on August 17, that’ll detect ball contacts to signal goals and handballs. Already used at EURO 2024, If the test is successful, the Bundesliga could adopt this for the 25/26 season.

🎮 B2B gaming content provider Inspired has launched betting solution Re-Play Esports alongside sports betting brand Betano. Re-Play Esports blends Virtual Sports offerings with fixed odds esports to offer 24/7 esports events. 

🎮 Ukrainian esports organisation Natus Vincere (NAVI), partnered with financial technology company Visa to create a new youth-focused esports academy project.

Money Talks:

💰 Soccerverse, a crypto-based online soccer management game, raised $3.1 million in funding led by the Japanese video game giant Square Enix.

💰 Portuguese startup sqill announced the closing of a €2 million seed investment round led by GED Ventures.

💰 Granada-based sports and fitness management platform FitnessKPI, secured €1 million in a funding round led by Angels Capital, with participation from Encomenda Capital Partners SGEIC and more.

💰 TRAIT, a Berlin-based training app formerly known as twaiv, raised €1 million in seed funding from HTGF, the angel club Better Ventures and other private investors. 

🤝 iTero Gaming, a Welsh startup specialising in AI coaching solutions for competitive gamers, was acquired by esports organisation GIANTX in a multi-million-pound deal.

🤝 The Avenue Sports Fund acquired a significant minority stake in Trackhouse Entertainment Group, the parent company to Trackhouse Racing, for an undisclosed amount.

🤝 Snipitz Global Inc. and Media X Partners Inc. announced the merger and formation of Providential Media Group Inc., to be based in Texas with an initial focus on the $225 billion fan engagement, sports media and data markets.

Global Sports Tech Ecosystem Report 2024!

📢 Have you read the full Global SportsTech Ecosystem Report 2024 yet?

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

Latest from our channels

🔙 STX Article: Top 3 Sports Tech trends for the future!

✅ STX Monthly: Last month’s sports tech dealflow, in case you missed it.

💪🏽 SportsTech AllStars Recap: Innovation in Indian Sports Tech