#95 💰 More money in Sports Tech! August Investment Recap

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Investment recap from August continues the positive vibes we saw in July. Seems like it’s been a good summer for Sports Tech after all.

As always, have a great weekend!

Sports Tech Monthly Investment Roundup: August 2024

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

August was a solid follow up to July, which was the biggest month of the year so far topping out at just over $800 million. This takes the total funding in the year so far past the $1.6 billion mark, and finally on track to beat 2023. Phew!

Here’s a quick summary:

• Geography: North America remains the hub, as always leading the deal flow in both funding and M&A.

• Sectors: ‘Fans & Content’ solutions have been getting the maximum attention and investment, with 91% of total funding going to that category.

• Top Deals: $250 million in funding for TickPick and $11.1 million acquisition of winner.ro by Evoke.

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Top News from the World of Sports Tech & Biz

🚀 CBS Sports is set to debut a revamped Studio 43 for the 2024 NFL season- primary home of CBS’ NFL coverage and ‘The NFL Today’, along with college football and March Madness, incorporating several tech upgrades to enhance production capabilities and visual presentation. 

⚽ The DFL is planning to launch its own TV channel. Currently the sale of media rights outside of German-speaking countries does not bring in as much money as clubs and the DFL would like, so going DTC might be the answer.

💪🏽 The Paris 2024 Paralympics opening ceremony secured more than 22 million viewers, plus a record: more than 225 Media Rights Holder broadcasters, web streamers, digital, social and audio platforms, are covering the 2024 Paralympic Games. 

🌐 Walt Disney's ESPN network is exploring the use of AI to help personalise it's legendary news and recap show "SportsCenter" in the hope of attracting younger audiences. Disney is crafting a plan to offer its flagship ESPN network as a standalone app for the first time next year. 

🎾 The IBM SlamTracker, the premier scoring application for the US Open, served up AI-generated insights and a match-viewer window that displayed shot data and live ball flights in 3D. 

⚾ Major League Baseball announced that the league’s virtual ballpark will host an interactive watch party for a select regular season match-up each Wednesday in September.

🎾 SportAI, the B2B sports technology company using AI to enhance sports technique coaching, announced its partnership with MATCHi, to bring AI-powered sports technique analysis to 1 million+ players worldwide. 

💸 Louisiana Tech Athletics announced the launch of the Louisiana Tech Sports Performance Institute and Bulldog Venture Fund, designed to impact the entire Bulldog Nation while generating revenue in ways previously not realized in college athletics. 

🏈 The NFL, the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) and StatusPro announced that NFL Pro Era 2025 will move to a live service model and feature a deeper NFL gaming experience with upgrades and additions that allow you to control and compete on both sides of the ball with every NFL team. 

🌐 World Squash Officiating (WSO) – the organisation dedicated to the regulation and development of squash officiating worldwide – signed a partnership with US-based startup DigiMithril to bring artificial intelligence (AI) into squash refereeing.

🏀 The NCAA blocked Oklahoma State from placing QR codes on their players’ helmets, a move that would have allowed fans to link to a team fund and donate to the program’s name, image and likeness money pool. 

Money Talks:

💰 DubClub, a Chicago based platform for people to consume, discuss, and buy premium sports content from creators, raised $7.5 million in Series A funding.

💰 Indo-Swedish sports tech startup, Spolto, secured $1 million (approximately Rs 8.4 crore) in a seed funding round led by investor Andrew Johnston. 

💰 Athlens, platform dedicated to connecting student athletes with student creators and marketers, completed an angel funding round of an undisclosed amount.

🤝 Teamworks, the enterprise SaaS company serving elite sports and tactical organizations globally, announced the acquisition of Zelus Analytics, a sports intelligence platform, for an undisclosed amount. 

🤝 Outside, a media company that houses dozens of outdoor enthusiast brands, acquired MapMyFitness, a suite of mapping technology apps, from Under Armour, for an undisclosed amount.

🤝 Urban Sports Club, an European platform for sports and wellness known for its corporate employee benefit programs, acquired myClubs for an undisclosed amount, to create unprecedented full-service fitness and wellbeing offering across DACH. 

🤝 7NXT, which owns and operates the DACH region’s online fitness platforms Gymondo and 7Mind, acquired Buddyfit, an online fitness platform in Italy and Spain, for an undisclosed amount. 

🤝 KKR, a global investment firm, announced the acquisition of Varsity Brands from Bain Capital and Charlesbank, for an undisclosed amount. 

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Latest from our channels

Last Thurs (Aug 29) we hosted a Live webinar, 45 mins on our main takeaways from the last 6 weeks of content on this fast growing segment of Sports Tech. Watch the replay in case you missed it. We covered:

• Summary of investments in sports related media production & broadcasting

• New Broadcast Innovations by Intel for Paris 2024 Games. With some insights from the innovation showcase centre.

• Details of a private tour at the International Broadcast Centre (IBC), from where the Olympics were broadcasted to the world

• Insights from numerous conversations on our podcast with innovators in sports broadcasting technology. We’ve had guests covering a wide range of topics: Interactive multiview & VR experiences, real-time clips from streaming feeds to award winning, venture-backed, global AI-powered production tech.

🔙 STX Article: Turn Gen AI Potential into Value in the Sports Tech Industry.

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

💪🏽 SportsTech AllStars Recap: Innovation in Broadcasting Tech