Sportstechx - Startups & The Sports Tech Ecosystem

In this week’s episode we chat with Swupnil Sahai, Co-Founder and CEO of the tennis performance tracking app SwingVision and recipient of the 2023 Apple Design Award. We talk about his journey from working at Tesla to co-founding his company in a sport that’s been dear to him from the very beginning- Tennis. We discuss how SwingVision harnesses the potential of the Neural Engine to bring real time pro-quality shot tracking, video analysis and line calling on any court with the help of just the iPhone and the Apple Watch, thus reducing barriers of entry to sports intelligence which were limited to a select few professionals. To learn more, visit https://swing.tennis Hosted by Rohn Malhotra from SportsTechX - Data & Insights about SportsTech startups and the surrounding ecosystem.

Interviewing Tal Brown, Co-Founder & CEO of Zone7 In this conversation, Tal talks about working in the homeland cyber security space, briefly. He worked on big data systems, as an engineer by training and worked in tech for about a decade and was probably one of the first engineers to work on building an AI platform. Tal talks about how he was particularly interested in machine learning connected with Human Workflow with an emphasis on human workflow. He took all of that knowledge and experience and co-founded Zone7, but had a fresh start in the sports ecosystem. The Co-Founder , Eyal Eliakim is a sports scientist and as they joined forces they were also keen on figuring out how to reduce human downtime. He talks about the three vectors that are driving the growth of Zone7.  He talks about how they conduct a risk forecast as they gather and analyse data from sports teams. He also sheds light on all of the teams that they have been working with.  Zone7 provides a comprehensive suite of products and service

Interviewing Tamir Plachinsky, CEO of Griiip In this conversation, Tamir talks about how he grew up with a passion for motorsport and wanted to be a driver. At 22 he switched his focus to being a motorsport world champion from the engineering side. While studying in one of the top Engineering Universities in Israel he combined his passion for adrenaline and speed with his engineering knowledge and started a Formula student team in Israel. He started Griiip out of passion and frustration towards the difficulties associated with motor sport. Griiip is currently working with some of the biggest names in the industry - FormulaE, the world endurance championship, DTM and SRO. Having been established in 2016, running rounds in Italy in 2018 and finally pivoting in 2020 when Covid struck. Griiip is an Israeli-based tech company that develops market-leading storytelling tools for the Motorsport industry. They have a racing Insights platform that changes the way users engage with Motorsport. Griiip is taking the motor

Interviewing Aditya Dhruva, CEO & Co-Founder of Factoreal In this conversation, Aditya talks about starting off as a software engineer and moving through the ranks. He had a short stint as an entrepreneur trying to develop what is now Siri. While working for Tech Mahindra as the CTO, the long term expansion started off as an idea and tested for US and Europe markets. They found a  strong footing in sports, with their first customer being the Jacksonville Jaguars. One led to the other and now sports teams now use factoreal for their own channel communications. Factoreal essentially solves three problems, integrating a tool for each communication channel, integrating the data for all the various platforms being used and producing a 360 degree understanding of customers in order to optimally engage them.  Factoreal is an innovative and comprehensive fan engagement automation platform that caters to sports teams worldwide, assisting them in effectively engaging and monetizing their fan base. This all-in-one s

Interviewing Andreas Westerlind, CCO of Solidsport In this conversation, Andreas talks about how Solidsport was born in 2016 with a vision of creating a sports streaming platform for sports at all levels. Journeying through his career as a journalist, then in marketing and currently as the Chief Commercial Officer at Solidsport in Sweden, Andreas mentions how they allow every sport to find their audience, find their voice, whether big or small. Andreas says, one thing that makes them a bit unique is that Solidsport basically offers a platform that's customised for the needs of the customer.  Solidsport is a leading sport streaming platform that is trusted by sport federations, leagues, clubs and events. On all levels and everywhere. Solidsport offers a complete OTT sports media platform with custom white label design, sport data integrations and unlimited live streaming and on demand possibilities. You can create new revenue streams with our in-built payment system, enabling custom subscriptions and pay-p

Interviewing Jake Schuster, CEO of Gemini Sports Analytics In this conversation, Jake talks about his background as a Strength and Conditioning coach and his work in biomechanics. As a proud, non-technical, solo founder, Jake discusses how Gemini Sports Analytics aims to simplify data-driven decision-making for sports executives by offering an easy-to-use application. This tool can help sports organizations optimize their decision-making processes and improve their overall performance. Jake mentions that the company has been funded for about a year and that they launched their application towards the end of last year. Currently, they have eight partners, half of whom are in football, which is attributed to the timing, networks, and common problems faced by teams in this sport. However, the company believes that any sport aiming to use predictive analytics in their talent identification, scouting, and roster management process can benefit from their product. Gemini Sports Analytics is empowering excellence th

Interviewing Abhinav Tandon, Founding Member and Global Spokesperson of Da One Global Ventures In this conversation, Abhinav talks about how they decided to headquarter in the middle east due to all of the interest around sport, the connectivity due to the location, the availability of funds and hunger for innovation. One of the 10 pillars of GCC was also sports. They also identified the importance of sports, tech and funds that Abu Dhabi very warmly welcomed them with. This is also what led them to operate out of the middle east. Da One leverages its robust network of VCs and sports industry leaders to empower startups to soar and scale, driving their operations to new heights. Da One also has an  E-Sports Studio that nurtures early-stage ventures, fostering innovative virtual sports experiences and fostering collaborative opportunities. And the Web 3.0 Studio champions startups that aim to launch and evolve blockchain projects, NFTs, and more, providing essential support for growth. To learn more, visit htt

Interviewing Amr El Behairy, Co Founder and CCO of Fanzworld  In this conversation, Amr talks about how fans are the heart and blood of the sports industry and the spend huge amounts of time, efforts and savings each year cheering for their favourite teams. There is no platform that helps your monetize cheering for your team. This is when Amr decided that there needs to be someone who rewards the fans. Jumping into the startup world in 2019, best friends of 30 years, Amr and Ibrahim. Identifying a gap in the way sports were consumed globally they set out on their venture in the world of sports tech. Amr says commercial sales and business is their passion but football is their addiction. Fanzword is a social network for football fans that allows them to discuss matches with their friends and other football fans, earn points, and win prizes. Users can rate a player, rate any scored goals, recommend any substitution, participate in match discussions, and predict the match score by using the app. To learn more, v

Interviewing Malik Shishtawi, Founder of Arab SportsTech & Gaming Expo Arab SportsTech & Gaming Expo is based in Qatar and is an opportunity to meet key players & leaders from the Sports Tech, eSports & Sports world in Qatar and the world, & to discuss latest trends and solutions in the industry. It focuses on providing real-world case studies, and learnings, enabling companies, teams, and individuals to excel in the sports industry.  In this conversation, Malik talks about how everyone now has their eyes on the middle east. The main objective is to bring the right audience and stakeholders together. Mangusteen is the event company that hosts the expo. It was previously known as the Arab SportsTech Forum and is now the Arab SportsTech & Gaming Expo. What started out of passion for exploring the internet and following its evolution. Malik first launched the Arab Social Media forum once he identified a gap in the region. What spanned across 6 countries and 8 editions had attendees who no

Interviewing Mohammad Ali Abbaspour, Founder and CEO at Sponixtech   Sponixtech is a technology company that provides services and solutions which helps broadcasters, TV channels and advertisers increase viewers and enhance fan experiences. Through the ‘Immersive Replay technology’, Sponix Tech assists its clients to acquire more viewers, enhance their fan engagement and experience by producing immersive content. And the Virtual ‘Advertisement technology’, helps sponsors increase their engagement with fans. It creates a new era of sponsorship in the sports industry. In this conversation, Mohammad discusses customizing the main solutions that we offer for various sports is their main  priority at the moment. Football, basketball, tennis, paddle, ice hockey and futsal are sports that Sponixtech have adapted technology for, cricket is of big interest and they now have their eyes on the huge market that the sport garners. Mohammad breaks down their clients into 4 categories: Rights holders like UEFA. Federations

Interviewing Petr Zhukov, Founder & CEO at Indigo SportsTech Founded in 2019 Indigo Sports Tech focuses exclusively on sports tech ventures and participated in Seed pre-A and A rounds. With a segment focus spanning from smart wearables and gadgets to sports media and marketing, fan engagement and e-sports. The fund's geographic focus is the EU, but it also has exposure to the US and Israel. With 9 investments and 3 exits Indigo is one of the most experienced investors in this space worldwide. In this conversation, Petr talks about the origins of Indigo SportsTech that stems from Indigo Capital. It was established in 2019 as an early stage investment fund. Pioneers in sports tech investments in Europe, Indigo SportsTech has started to make investments overseas and across sectors. He also discusses the new Association with SportsTechX as Rohn joins in as a Venture Partner. Petr also gives us an insight into the deployment of a new fund that has a rich pipeline of good companies. He also notes that AI wi

Interviewing Vasu Kulkarni, Partner at Courtside Ventures  Courtside Ventures is built on the backs of highly specialized sports and media entrepreneurs and investors. They look to utilize  industry networks and deep domain knowledge to bring unparalleled value to the companies that they invest in and support.  In this conversation, Vasu discusses his love for playing basketball that led him to starting his first software company in 2008. He highlights his struggles to raise funding from VC’s and getting them to believe in the sports area. He talks about Dan and his willingness to back them up as they went on to set up a one of a kind (at the time) sports focused fund. And that set them off onto their journey of letting people know that sports is actually an investable industry. 7 years later, they are now on their third fund and over $200 million under management which is a great stamp of approval.  To learn more, visit http://www.courtsidevc.com Hosted by Rohn Malhotra from SportsTechX - Data & Insights

Interviewing Machar Reid, Head of innovation at Tennis Australia and General partner at Wildcard Ventures Wildcard Ventures is a venture capital fund focused on SportsTech startups, led by Tennis Australia and supported by prominent figures in the tennis industry. In this conversation, Machar discusses the Australian Open's objective of becoming the most accessible and enjoyable sports event globally. To accomplish this objective, they continuously invest in  innovation. He elaborates on how, a decade ago, the Australian Open perceived innovative ideas from a client's perspective, but now they view these ideas from the lens of an investor. This strategy allows them to achieve higher returns rather than expending resources to adopt new innovations. Machar, also discusses the startups that AO Startups & Wildcard ventures has invested in and how they are not limited to supporting tennis but also emerging racquet sports. To learn more, visit https://www.wildcardventures.vc/ and https://aostartups.ausopen

Interviewing Max Feldstein, Vice President of Elysian Park Elysian Park, owned by the LA Dodgers, is a global investment platform focusing on the intersection of sports with health, culture, commerce, and technology. They work across stages from seed to growth to provide companies with perspective, relationships, capital, and powerful strategic resources, their investments include Trailblazer Venture Studio, Draft Kings, COPA90, PitchVision, Fitt Insider, and EP Golf Ventures in partnership with PGA of America, among others. In this conversation, Max talks about how Elysian Park broadened its key focus area from investing majorly in sports technology & entertainment to now expanding their investments across sports culture, health, commerce & technology. To know more visit www.elysianpark.ventures Hosted by Rohn Malhotra from SportsTechX - Data & Insights about SportsTech startups and the surrounding ecosystem.

Interviewing Simon Thompson, Founder of Trickshot Trickshot is a London-based sports technology company that uses 3D data from live sports to create engaging augmented & virtual reality experiences for fans In this conversation, Simon gives us an insight on how Trickshot's technology can help sports organizations attract younger audiences who are passionate about esports and seek the dynamic and immersive viewing experiences that regular sports broadcasts does not offer, resulting in a drop in viewership numbers from younger audiences.The discussion explores different approaches to utilizing their technology, which empowers fans to recreate their favorite moments and generate their own content using footage from the game. Simon also highlights their successful partnership with AFC Wimbledon, and sheds light on a few ongoing discussions with sports leagues and brands to expand and optimize the diverse applications of the technology To learn more, visit http://www.trickshot.dev Hosted by Rohn Malhotra from

Interviewing Brennon D’souza, Founder & CEO of DIBZ DIBZ is an extremely fast upgrade experience that is facilitated through text messaging, for Professional Sports, Concerts & Music Festivals. DIBZ Works closely with the NHL, NFL, NBA, MLS, CFL, NASCAR, WWE, Ticketmaster, TDC, MLSE, etc. Based out of London & Atlanta, DIBZ is a tech startup that is a full-service texting engagement platform. In this conversation, Brennon talks about how he noticed a lot of empty seats in stadiums and wondered why or how they could be filled. He thought if you can figure out how to get these seats full very quickly with a great user experience you’d be the king in the space, that was how DIBZ was born. Instead of virtually getting fans into those empty sets DIBZ works on actually getting them into those seats via text. They work across leagues and vertices and Brennon mentions that it’s really about taking their secret sauce and making sure they work fit  in all the different areas and vertices and leagues To

Interviewing Piyush Kumar, CEO of Rooter Rooter is India’s leading Game Streaming and eSports platform. The company is on a mission to provide a fair and inspiring platform to gaming content creators, helping them produce entertaining content that is unique to their personas while benefiting from monetizable opportunities for their efforts. At the same time, by building a rich and diverse content repository, driving effortless discovery, personalized recommendations, and convenient share-ability, the platform offers immersive community experiences for gaming enthusiasts to connect and bond over. With close to 50 mn downloads to date, Rooter is the No. 1 sports app on Google Playstore – a rank it retains since October 2020. Rooter has raised over USD 32 Mn in capital from a marque investor base and is playing a key role in driving India’s gaming creator economy. The company now envisions becoming India’s first unicorn in the game streaming space. To learn more, visit https://www.rooter.gg/ In this conversation

Interviewing Neil Zhang, Co-Founder of Frontrunner Frontrunner is a A decentralized sports prediction market built on blockchain. It is the first zero gas fee, decentralized sports prediction market built on blockchain where you get the best odds with no house edge. Frontrunner is a decentralized sports prediction market where users can buy shares of sports propositions and trade them like they would stocks or options. Unlike traditional sportsbooks where users place a bet and wait, Frontrunner gives users full control over their portfolios, allowing them to dynamically buy and sell positions as the odds change. By leveraging the power of free markets and the blockchain, we create transparent markets and liquid positions to reduce counterparty risk, create new types of sports-related markets, and fundamentally change the way in which people invest in their sports knowledge and beliefs. To learn more, visit www.getfrontrunner.com In this conversation, Neil talks about how because of a full level of control in

Interviewing Mohammed Kilany, CEO of Fanera Fanera is a sports tech startup based in UAE that aims to revolutionize football by providing fans, clubs, and sponsors with a one-single social platform to connect, engage and monetize. Fanera is also the first crowdsourced, intuitive, scalable and multi-lingual 360 degree social platform that is designed for and by football fans. It enables fans to share their favorite moments and enjoy football content created by a football community of fans, influencers, players and clubs. Fanera also works with football clubs and stadiums to facilitate the maximization of their customer engagement efforts. To learn more, visit www.fanera.co In this conversation, Mohammed talks about his background and describes himself as a middle eastern entrepreneur who started 5 companies in the last 15 years! He describes Fanera as a ‘New era for fans’. He goes on to explain how Fanera is different from other social platforms as it is targeted to bring football fans onto one platform and th