Vetted Sports

For years golf was a sport on the decline. Between 2003 and 2018, golf saw a decrease of over 6.8 million players and more than 1,200 course closures. As we head into 2025, that’s no longer the case. Golf?is exploding and the industry is estimated to reach $160 billion by next year. More money means more startups. One of the top emerging golf startups is Golf.ai, an AI partner for every golf experience. In this interview with CEO and co-founder Peter Bergin, we discuss Golf.ai's growth and where he sees it going, as well as his predictions for the golf industry. https://lnkd.in/eghxUYMn

Here's a brief rundown of the latest news in the world of sports, tech, and investing?? ? Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel Leads $450M Buyout Of OpenBet & IMG ARENA ? Fastbreak.ai Acquires SEQL ? GameAbove Sports Acquires Ownership Stake In Brisbane Bullets Basketball Club ??Andres Iniesta Becomes Co-Owner Of Danish Club FC Helsing?r ? Bluestone Equity Partners Invests $21M Into Volo Sports ? Coopah Raises ￡1.5M Seed Round ? Ultimate Fighting Championship Partners With IBM ? Robinhood Partners With Howard University ??University Of Michigan Partners With Passes ? Williams Racing Partners With Zoox ? rEvolution Partners With Blueprint Sports ? Whoopi Goldberg Is Launching An All-Women Sports Network ? Premier Lacrosse League Launches Professional Women's Lacrosse League ??Former NBA All-Star Jayson Williams Joins Oaktree Solutions To Launch Oaktree Sports Ventures Subscribe to?the Vetted Sports weekly newsletter?to get the latest industry news, trends, and updates ?? ?? https://lnkd.in/ePX_Tth5

Here's your weekly news rundown at the intersection of sports, tech, and investing ???? ?????????? ?????????? ?? ? Two Circles acquires KORE ? Forest Road & Ares Management Corporation co-founders buy Formula E team ? Sony acquires KinaTrax ? Dryvebox raises new funding from TMRW Sports & Golf Digest ? Eyeball Football raises €5M Seed round ? Quiet Golf secures Seed funding led by Old Tom Capital ???????????????????????? ?? ? Unrivaled Basketball agrees to a multi-year deal with TNT Sports ? The Athletic partners with Fubo ? Los Angeles Rams partner with Genius Sports ? FIFA partners with Lenovo ?????????? ???????? ?? ? James Dolan is bringing the Sphere to Abu Dhabi ? Tom Brady approved to become a limited partner of Las Vegas Raiders ? NBA App releases new fan features ? Sports technology market to attain worth of $79.43B by 2031 Subscribe to?the Vetted Sports weekly newsletter?to get the latest industry news, trends, and updates ?? ?? https://lnkd.in/dSqz-2U5

Another exciting week at the intersection of sports, tech, and investing ???? Here's your weekly rundown: ?????????? ?????????? ?? ? LVMH owner Bernard Arnault is acquiring Paris FC with Red Bull ? TOCA Football raises $100M Series F round ? Major League Table Tennis raises $5.5M ? Infinite Reality acquires Zapper for $45M ? Dyn Media GmbH plans to raise funding round at ‘€60M’ valuation ? VOZZI raises $7M ? PlayerProfiler closes $1.5M Pre-Seed round ? LeagueApps secures equity investment ? Aston Villa Football Club minority stakeholder Atairos injects ￡50M into the club ? Pohlad family looks to sell the Minnesota Twins ???????????????????????? ?? ? English Premier League partners with L Marks to launch an innovation lab ? Yahoo Sports partners with The Athletic ? Champion Venture Partners teams up with Chapwood Investments, LLC ? Rice University partners with BeONE Sports ?????????? ???????? ?? ? Allyson Felix launches women-focused sports management firm ? Wimbledon brings in AI line calling for 2025 ? Drake Star releases new sports tech report ?????????????????? ???????????? ?? ? How American Aires Inc. protects the health of athletes ? How StadiumDrop is creating an entirely new in-stadium experience Subscribe to?the Vetted Sports weekly newsletter?to get the latest industry news, trends, and updates ?? ?? https://lnkd.in/e-pYqYBe

An exciting past week around sports tech and sports investing ???? Here's your weekly rundown: ?????????? ?????????? ?? ? Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross prepares to sell stake to Ares Management Corporation & Joe Tsai ? Altor Equity Partners acquires majority stake in CCM Hockey ? Roy raises $2M seed round ? str8bat raises $3.5M ? Thirty-5 Capital invests in Muev ? Fanatics acquires Voggt ? Sporttrade receives strategic investment from SIG Sports Investments ???????????????????????? ?? ? MLS teams up with OneFootball ? MLB Players Inc & LEAD form strategic alliance ? Animoca Brands partners with Lamborgini ? Champion Venture Partners announces partnership with Sweater ? Matchable partners with MATCHi ? The Picklr & Wingfield form partnership ? Los Angeles Rams & SprintAI announce a multi-year partnership ?????????? ???????? ?? ? MLS announces second cohort of its Innovation Lab ??Why Josh Harris thinks $6B for an NFL team is a bargain ??72% of women are ‘avid fans’ of at least one sport ? Patrice Evra launches LinkedIn-style platform to connect soccer players ? Dude Perfect hires former NBA Exec, Andrew Yaffe ??Why Caitlin Clark & other WNBA stars make modest salaries even as the sport booms Subscribe to?the Vetted Sports weekly newsletter?to get the latest industry news, trends, and updates ?? ?? https://lnkd.in/gSgAXfpF

Teams have to think bigger these days. The competition for fan attention is everywhere. This is why a majority of teams are investing in interactive and immersive in-stadium experiences. One of the companies paving the way for this is?MVP Interactive, a creative technology company specializing in producing immersive experiences for the world’s largest brands. They’ve been in business for over 10 years and so far they’ve worked with several clients including Boston Red Sox, Columbus Blue Jackets, Los Angeles Clippers, NY Rangers, NFL, NBA, and MLB. In this interview with founder??? James Giglio, we discuss how he got the company off the ground, how MVP Interactive captures first-party data, and his thoughts on the future of fan engagement. https://lnkd.in/gv7u74rP

EGYM, a German fitness technology and corporate wellness company, recently raised $200 million in a Series G funding round. The round was led by L Catterton and Meritech Capital. The company, which has raised over $600 million, intends to use the funds for the continued expansion of its wellness network and the development of digital solutions, smart strength equipment, and tech-enabled products for data-driven and personalized training. EGYM, founded and led by CEO Philipp Roesch-Schlanderer, is a vertically integrated market business that partners with companies to improve employee health by providing access to fitness and health facilities. More here ?? https://lnkd.in/eXM9h4tS

In sports, data is gold. But, many athletes either don’t have access or don’t know what to do with it. BreakAway Data is on a mission to change this. Founded by former NFL Wide Receiver David K Anderson, the app helps the best athletes in the world access, control, and use their data securely. They aggregate and track everything from what an athlete did in a game, to what they did in training, to their medical history, and all of their activity for all 24 hours of the day. From there, athletes can make adjustments, and considerations that increase performance, aid recovery, and create better results. In this interview with Dave Anderson, we talk about how they came up with the idea, how he utilized data during his NFL career, and the role AI will play in data in the future. https://lnkd.in/eiZHRV2j

Thanks to Vetted Sports for featuring our interview on how Uplift Labs is utilizing AI to enhance athletes' performance and reduce injuries. Check out the article to discover a major hint dropped for what's coming next! #AI #movementperformance #humanperformance #whatsnext #majorhint https://lnkd.in/g-GP7_8U

Sports is all about community. But how can you build community within a solo sport? That’s what?TENNI?aims to solve within tennis. Founder?Mark Pesahovich?struggled to find quality tennis partners after relocating several times. After realizing how many other people had the same problem, he started to build a solution. Tenni is now the only?tennis companion app designed?with?a?diverse community?truly at the core. They’ve been building in stealth for months and now they’re ready to bring it to tennis players across the world. In this interview we discuss some of the struggles of launching a product, why community is important when building a company, and when you should bootstrap versus raising capital. https://lnkd.in/eXmixCr3