🔊 Comcast SportsTech Announces 2025 Cohort

📰 TOP STORY
Comcast SportsTech Announces 2025 Cohort Of Companies

• This week, 10 sports-focused companies were chosen for the fifth class of Comcast NBCUniversal SportsTech. The program, led by Jenna Kurath and powered by Boomtown Innovation, identifies and cultivates emerging companies to help drive their growth and shape the sports industry while creating a space for Comcast and its partners to test and pilot new solutions. The 10 companies were chosen out of 1,600 and will participate in a six-month program working directly with industry leaders and partners of the accelerator, which includes:

• NBC Sports

• NBC Sports Next

• Sky Sports

• Comcast Spectacor

• GOLF Channel

• NASCAR

• Premier League

• PGA TOUR

• University of Notre Dame

• US Ski & Snowboard

• USA Swimming

• USA Cycling

The 2025 cohort includes the following companies:

1. Camb.ai

2. Diddo

3. Orreco

4. Satisfi Labs

5. LiveLike

6. OZ Sports

7. Transmit AI

8. Ekkobar

9. PAM

10. Liminal Space

Previous companies and cohorts included the following:

2021 Cohort: Ane Swim, Audazzio, Dibz, Eon Media, GlobalM, nVenue, Safety Skin, Sharper Sense, StreamRecap, XiQ
2022 Cohort: BookSeats.com, HeadVantage, Ice Cream Social, LetzChat, Local Sports Network, Meetlete, MoneyLine, Movrs, tiptapSPORTS, Uru Sports
2023 Cohort: Aircast, GeoSnapshot, Quicc, Fanfest, FanSaves, EINBLIQ.IO, Recut, Rivalry Tech, Rizzar, Tickets for Good
2024 Cohort: Dizplai, Aquimo, Mobii, Zatap, Mantis AI, Plantiga, Fobi AI, KYMIRA, Stellar Algo, Zoomph

Accelerators, in general, play an instrumental role in helping companies grow. Outside of capital, they can provide exclusive access, powerful resources, and a network to help scale companies with a proven model and traction. Comcast SportsTech was born with a vision of finding sports-focused startups that would bring innovation to their league partners and has aided the progress of 50+ companies since its inception. Sports can be a difficult industry to build in, but the guidance and expertise this accelerator provides push the overall ecosystem forward. One of the best aspects is that the assistance doesn’t stop once the program ends. These companies continue to receive help well after it’s over as they become a part of the “family.” The reality is that most startups don’t make it, but being part of a program such as this positions them for success. It’ll be interesting to see which of the companies going through the accelerator today become the brands that shape the sports industry tomorrow.

💰 MONEY MOVES 
Sports Sponsorship Analytics Company Raises Seed Round

• SponsWatch Raises €1M. SponsWatch, an AI-powered sponsorship analytics platform, has secured €1M in Seed funding in a round led by node.vc, with participation from Venrex. The investment will help the company to scale operations, enhance its product offerings, and hone how brands and rights holders measure sponsorship impact. Sponswatch specializes in accurately measuring sponsorship exposure value across all media platforms. They utilize advanced computer vision, machine learning, social media listening tools, and artificial intelligence to provide consistent and effective valuation methods based on industry-approved standards (more here).

• Barca Innovation Hub Invests In Riterz. FC Barcelona‘s innovation hub, BIHUB, has announced a strategic investment in Riterz, an AI-powered platform designed to modernize and optimize sports sponsorship. Riterz revolutionizes how rights holders and brands connect by leveraging AI-powered matchmaking and real-time analytics. This investment marks Riterz as the tenth startup to join BIHUB’s portfolio. Financial details were not disclosed (more here).

• Fastbreak.AI Acquires Barcelogic. Fastbreak.AI, the leading AI-powered sports scheduling tool for teams and leagues, announced the acquisition of Barcelogic, a European-based sports planning company. Barcelogic clients include FIFA, La Liga, LigaMX, and the England & Wales Cricket Board, each of which (among others) will join Fastbreak’s roster of professional sports league customers. This is the company’s fourth acquisition since August 2024. Financial details were not disclosed (more here).

• Altor Capital Acquires Tasmania JackJumpers. Former majority owner Larry Kestelman has sold the NBL basketball team Tasmania JackJumpers to Brisbane-based private equity firm Altor Capital. According to ESPN, the JackJumpers were sold for a valuation of $35M. Altor Capital will take on a 51% stake in the franchise from the middle of 2025 before assuming full ownership in two years. Kestelman will remain involved with the team throughout those two years (more here).

• Coral Tree Acquires DMC Production. Coral Tree Partners, a sports, media, and entertainment-focused private equity firm, has become the new majority owner of DMC Production, a media production company specializing in providing a variety of broadcast and digital services to broadcasters, federations, and media rights agencies, after investing over €50M in the Sweden-based company. As part of the deal, Coral Tree’s founding partner Alan Resnikoff will join the sports production company’s board of directors and serve as lead investor (more here).

• Perfect Game Acquires Triangle Top Gun Sports. Perfect Game, the world's largest elite youth baseball and softball platform and scouting service, has acquired Triangle Top Gun Sports, a youth organization in the Carolinas. It also announced a partnership with Cincy Flames, a high school-age baseball tournament organization that will now operate under the Perfect Game banner (more here).

 🤝 PARTNERSHIPS
ATP Tour Announces Groundbreaking Partnership

• ATP Tour & Overtime Form Partnership. The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Tour has agreed to a content partnership with youth-focused digital media brand Overtime. The collaboration will see behind-the-scenes tennis content produced and distributed to Overtime’s platforms. Overtime will produce content at several ATP Tour events throughout the season, including the ATP Masters 1000 events, the ATP Finals, and the Next Gen ATP Finals. Both will also work on producing longer-form content to take advantage of access to star players. (more here).

• Grand Slam Track & StatsPerform Form Betting Partnership. Grand Slam Track, the new high-profile track league established by Olympic legend Michael Johnson, has partnered with the international sports and data technology provider Stats Perform. Through the deal, Stats Perform becomes the exclusive global data and betting rights distributor and integrity partner for the new-look athletics competition, ahead of its inaugural 2025 season (more here).

• Sacramento Kings & OneCourt Form Partnership. The Sacramento Kings announced a partnership with tactile tech startup OneCourt to bring haptic devices to Golden 1 Center for fans with blindness or low vision. The partnership, also in collaboration with Ticketmaster, brings five OneCourt devices for checkout from the Kings' guest services. Their cutting-edge technology converts live game action into audio and trackable vibrations, allowing users to follow plays with their fingertips. It’s the second team partnership for OneCourt, which announced a similar deal with the Trail Blazers earlier this year (more here).

• Evolv Technology, Sports Illustrated Stadium & New York Red Bulls Form Partnership. Evolv Technologies, a leading security technology company pioneering AI-based solutions designed to help create safer experiences, announced a partnership with Sports Illustrated Stadium, home of MLS’s New York Red Bulls. The partnership, through which Evolv has been designated as the Stadium’s "Official Fan Screening Partner," will include the deployment of Evolv Express systems at the Stadium’s main entrances. In addition to fan screening, Express will also be used for staff and talent entries (more here).

🔊 ATHLETES & OTHER NEWS
Global Soccer Club Launches An Innovation Lab

• Paris Saint-Germain Launches PSG Labs. At the Web Summit Qatar, Paris Saint-Germain announced that the club is diving into sports innovation with the launch of PSG Labs, a pioneering global initiative designed to accelerate cutting-edge technology in sports, fan experience, and performance. PSG Labs will serve as the Club’s dedicated innovation engine, identifying and supporting high-potential startups, entrepreneurs, and tech partners to create transformative solutions that will redefine the industry (more here).

• These Sports Startups Raised Millions In VC Funding Last Year. In addition to League One Volleyball, two NWSL teams and the three-on-three basketball league Unrivaled were among the 10 sports startups that raised the most money last year, per PitchBook. These teams and leagues feature some of the biggest names in women's sports, such as Breanna Stewart, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, and Rose Lavelle (more here).

• This Super Bowl Champ Raised A $100M Investment Fund. Marques Colston, a former wide receiver for the New Orleans Saints, joined Forbes senior writer Jabari Young at the Nasdaq MarketSite to discuss private capital firm Champion Venture Partners and its mission to invest in the sports asset class. Colston played 10 seasons with the Saints, and in 2010, he helped the franchise win a Super Bowl (more here).

• TOGETHXR Reveals $6M Record Revenue. Togethxr, the lifestyle brand and media company built around women’s sports, announced $6M in revenue from its “Everyone Watches Women’s Sports” merchandise line in the calendar year 2024. That total is double the mid-year revenue from June 2024, which included selling 20,000 units of T-shirts, tote bags, and hoodies in three days toward the end of the women’s NCAA basketball tournament in early April (more here).