Insights from the Stadia Ventures selection days

When SportsTech enthusiasts meet in Texas.

We didn’t hesitate for long when we received an invitation to be amongst the judges at the selection days of Stadia Ventures, as we had a really good time at their overseas event in London earlier this year (see separate article), and based on their success stories and professional overall setup we see Stadia as a benchmark in the global SportsTech landscape. So we went on the long journey from Europe to the town of Frisco, not far away from Dallas, to take part in the event in July. Stadia’s ultimate goal was to select the startups for the upcoming fall cohort of their accelerator program. They received hundreds of applications from over 50 countries, out of whom they invited 10 startups to present themselves at the selection days and to get feedback from the judges. The two-day event took place at the Toyota Stadium, home of the MLS club FC Dallas. Tim Hayden, Co-Founder and Managing Director, welcomed the 100+ experts and industry professionals and thanked their partners before the pitches started.

The Finalists

It was interesting to see that European companies accounted for the majority of the finalists. Out of the 10 startups there were five from the UK (four of them from London), four from the US and one company from Hungary. Another clear sign that European SportsTech is developing strongly and that London is amongst the major global hubs. For more insights see our European SportsTech Report or our London SportTech Report.

2Mee — York, UK

The world’s only human hologram messaging platform for brands, fan engagement and education.

Clicktivated — Detroit, MI, USA

The interactive video platform enables viewers with the ability to simply “click and buy” the products in the video as they watch in frictionless shoppable/interactive video.

Connect Outdoors — Johnson City, TN, USA

Created the world’s first bluetooth digital scale and the most advanced digital platform for anglers that automates catch logging process and digitized the data for professional and amateur fishing tournaments.

Cue Audio — Denver, CO, USA

Synchronized smartphone light shows and fan-engagement tools using only inaudible audio (no WIFI, cell service or bluetooth needed).

Funder — London, UK

Builds subscription 50/50 lotteries and games for sports teams, celebrities and brands to leverage their following on supporting great causes, which is transforming mass charitable fundraising.

Livestyled — London, UK

A B2B SaaS platform that helps venues and business owners better understand and respond to their visitors, and spans across mobile commerce, ticketing, location services, customer identity, mass participation, while powering mobile apps, websites and digital signage.

Omnicoach — Budapest, Hungary

An Al esports coaching tool that is capable of understanding and analyzes gameplay videos for Overwatch and other competitive video games and can provide automated tips and exercises to esports enthusiasts.

Prophet — London, UK

Brings liquidity to the online sports gambling market by providing a platform to buy and sell percentages of previously placed sports bets, giving back to the consumer in an industry notorious for taking advantage of them.

Reactoo — London, UK

White-label video tech that allows fans or influencers to watch the game together through a virtual watch room. The product creates a social and interactive experience for fans, shareable user generated and influencer-led content for the platform and has partnered with Eleven Sports, Manchester City and NFL Gamepass.

Season Share — Los Angeles, CA, USA

Bringing the shared-economy to sports ticketing by allowing fans to split and share new or existing season ticket purchases.

The Fall Cohort 2019

And the four teams that ultimately made it into the new cohort are:

Clicktivated

Funder

Livestyled

Congratulations to all companies!

Demo Day Spring Cohort 2019

The Stadia crew combined the selection days for the fall cohort with the demo day of the spring cohort, showcasing the six startups that went through the program. All of them pitched extremely well and presented significant traction to the audience. And here they are.

ACE/Applied Cognitive Engineering (Hod HaSharon, Israel)

Improving athletic performance by boosting an athlete’s brain performance. Scientifically proven by NASA, DARPA and the Israeli Air Force, the computer-based training system, IntelliGym, has shown a 20%-30% improvement. Used by over 40,000 soccer and hockey players, the platform has improved on-field and on-ice performance from the pros down to kids.

Boost (Seattle, WA)

Uses artificial intelligence to level the playing field in sports scouting and recruiting. The platform extracts millions of data points from video and turns them into player comparisons and insights about skillset, performance, and sports IQ. Boost has worked with 7 college basketball teams and is an official data provider at The Portsmouth Invitational, which is the first of only two NBA pre-draft camps.

Fancam (Cape Town, South Africa)

As the world leader in high resolution event photography since they pioneered the medium in 2010, Fancam is evolving from their Zoomable, 3602 images to their new CrowdlD platform, which combines computer vision and artificial intelligence to extract facial analysis data from large crowds. Clients include the Atlanta Braves, Jacksonville Jaguars, Minnesota Twins, St. Louis Cardinals and Toronto Blue Jays.

GoWild (Louisville, KY)

The fastest growing social media and activity tracking platform for outdoors enthusiasts. In the last 90 days, the GoWild community has grown by about 75%. They’ve developed partnerships with over a dozen brands, including Garmin, National Wild Turkey Federation, First Lite, ALPS OutdoorZ, and more. This fall, they’re launching an e-commerce integration that will bring real-world experience and price monitoring all into one place.

Pledge It (Harrisburg, PA)

The leading sports crowdfunding platform empowering professional athletes, high school teams and fitness enthusiasts to earn donations based on their athletic performance. Teams and athletes like James Harden, Mike Trout, Lindsey Vonn and Russell Wilson) have raised more than $12M for causes from nearly 100,000 users, and Pledge It is trusted by the world’s top brands like adidas, CBS Sports, American Cancer Society and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Wearable X (NYC & Australia)

Wearable X designs and engineers smart textiles that incorporates patented sensing and feedback platform invisibly integrated into clothing. Nadi X is the most sophisticated product that is considered the “Peloton of Yoga.” It pairs their sensor and vibrational feedback built into yoga pants with a sophisticated analytics platform that allows the customer to practice their yoga and recovery on their own terms with the guidance of a “virtual” instructor. It offers better quality, personalized feedback in the comfort of their own home and costs less than a personal instructor.

SportsTech at its best

That’s how it should be done: A great selection of startups and the opportunity to be part of a high-class network of experts and professionals who are enthusiastic about SportsTech. We had a wonderful time and will be back (in case we get invited again, hehe). Thanks to the Stadia team for setting this up and for being so welcoming. We wish you lots of success for the next cohort.

Wanna see more SportsTech startups? Make sure to check out or global database.

Benjamin Penkert is the Founder of Berlin based SportsTechX — Data & insights about SportsTech startups and the surrounding ecosystem. You can get in touch via Linkedin, Twitter or email.