Comcast NBCUniversal SportsTech today announced that the 10 companies in its fourth class have secured 15 pilots, partnerships, and commercial deals as a result of their participation in the program. Over the past six months, 28 entrepreneurs have engaged with SportsTech’s prestigious partner consortium, which includes: NBC Sports, NBC Sports Next, Sky Sports, Comcast Spectacor, GOLF, NASCAR, PGA TOUR, Premier League, U.S. Ski & Snowboard, USA Swimming, USA Cycling – and the recently added partner the University of Notre Dame. This builds on SportsTech’s legacy of connecting early-stage companies with some of the world’s top sports brands: since the first class debuted in 2021, alumni have achieved 159 pilots, partnerships, and commercial deals with consortium partners.
The 2024 SportsTech program is formally coming to a conclusion at the RALLY Innovation Conference starting today and running through August 28 in Indianapolis, which will feature several SportsTech leaders, including alumni and experts from Xfinity, NASCAR, Notre Dame, and NBC, and offer founders an opportunity to showcase their capabilities to a global audience.
“The 10 enterprise-ready companies selected for this year’s cohort, chosen out of a pool of 1,500 applicants, have gone above and beyond to exceed the expectations of Comcast NBCUniversal SportsTech and our partners,” said Jenna Kurath, Vice President of Startup Partnerships and Head of Comcast NBCUniversal SportsTech. “Over the past six months, they have excelled at forming meaningful partnerships and striving to make a lasting impact in the world of sports – and beyond. I am proud of their continued achievements and impressed with their potential for growth and scale, based on the business value they are providing to our SportsTech consortium partners.”
Through exclusive strategic engagement with partners, including during opportunities at NASCAR’s Daytona International Speedway, Universal Studios Florida, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and SportsTech’s annual Combine conference in Charlotte, NC, founders are able to go behind the scenes and identify how to align their technology solutions to partners' operational needs.
These experiences enhance SportsTech’s customized curriculum, which strategically aligns advisors with companies to refine their enterprise approaches, learn to adapt within evolving and emerging marketplaces, and achieve successful business outcomes.
Here are some highlights from the 2024 class of Comcast NBCUniversal SportsTech:
Aquimo, INC - Mesa, AZ
Aquimo drives value to brands, sports teams, and media through massive multiplayer mobile skill-sports games that integrate the motion of users’ phones and let millions play on any TV or live-stream broadcast – with no download required.
Aquimo piloted a custom-built mobile game for Comcast employees to enjoy during the Olympic Games. Accessible exclusively on X1 and played by nearly 60% of employees with eligible devices, the gamified living room experience challenged them to claim the spot atop the media podium – with an X1 leaderboard integration and branded prizes.
Dizplai - Manchester, United Kingdom
Dizplai is a media experience company that enables real-time audience engagement for live news, sports, and entertainment, turning broadcasts into immersive two-way experiences by seamlessly integrating social media, messaging apps, user-generated content, and sports data with dynamic graphics.
Dizplai has earned a commercial agreement extension with Sky Sports to continue turning live broadcasts into interactive experiences like the Viewer’s Verdict Scorecard for boxing, and to support future interactivity needs. Up next are active pilots with NASCAR’s YouTube Live in-car camera stream via contextual and promotional overlays and an NBC Local initiative for local news feedback.
Fobi AI - Vancouver, Canada
The Fobi Mobile Wallet Pass platform helps organizations open new marketing channels and deliver exceptional customer experiences using the native mobile wallet functionality available on every smartphone.
Through a partnership with Comcast Spectacor, Fobi is supporting the 2024 Flyers Community Caravan with mobile wallet credentialing, which runs July to September 2024. Fobi is leveraging its advanced wallet pass technology to optimize event management and enhance fan experiences.
KYMIRA - Reading, United Kingdom
KYMIRA enhances performance and recovery through smart infrared-emitting garments that boost circulation, reduce soreness, and accelerate healing while also addressing chronic illness, mitigating injury risk, improving sleep, and providing unprecedented health insights.
As a result of SportsTech, the Philadelphia Flyers’ players, coaches and staff can be spotted wearing Kymira's infrared-infused apparel that boost circulation, reduce soreness, and accelerate the healing process for athletes, which could be a true gamechanger for both players and sports staff.
Mantis.AI - Sao Paulo, Brazil
Mantis.AI is an AI media-tech company transforming raw footage and noisy data into organized video assets and actionable intelligence.
Based on early proof of concept success with Sky, Mantis.AI is proving their AI-driven content management, highlight creation, and distribution of sports content at scale, as part of an active long-term selection process. The NBCU Local news and sports production teams in the Bay Area are currently scoping a proof of concept to discover how their AI can deliver efficiency gains by offloading manual, repetitive tasks to free up time to concentrate on creative journalistic pursuits.
Mobii Systems - Ontario, Canada
Mobii Systems’ Microblock Technology revolutionizes the way video streams are synchronized, encoded, and distributed in real-time globally, delivering new user experiences at the live edge.
Ensuring minimal latency and seamless synchronization without compromising streaming quality is crucial for streaming services such as Peacock, where a proof of concept is currently underway. Up next for Mobii are multiple proofs of concept with the NBC Regional Sports Network team to prove out low latency in remote production environments, as well as other pilots with SportsTech’s partners.
Plantiga - Vancouver, Canada
Plantiga helps teams and athletes reduce time lost to injury with in-shoe sensors and AI, enabling asymmetry and load monitoring on-court, on-field, on-ice - anywhere.
Working with the Premier League performance team, Plantiga is meeting with its football clubs and FIFA, which governs all facets of the game. Up next, a Sports Performance pilot with Notre Dame, and NASCAR teams are piloting Plantiga’s in-sole technology; all to bring lab-grade athlete measurement data to the field/court/ice of play.
StellarAlgo - Calgary, Canada
StellarAlgo applies deep data insights and machine learning to turn sports fans into avid customers, enabling true precision marketing by identifying the right opportunities for the right fans at the right time.
StellarAlgo is supporting the Premier League, its clubs, and its broadcast partners in two pilots to help them develop the most actionable fan insights to drive engagement, tune-in, and revenues.
ZATAP - Winterthur, Switzerland
ZATAP is a platform for creating direct-to-customer connections for brands through “phygital” products: tapping the product with a smartphone allows the customer to unlock engaging digital experiences while enabling brands to build sophisticated customer profiles.
ZATAP and NBC Sports GOLF are scoping a pilot tied to its SmartPlay technology within GolfNow and GolfPass. For the 10K+ golf course properties that use the NBC GOLF’s platforms, a myriad of exclusive digital offers can be linked to physical golf gear to create a virtual clubhouse experience. ZATAP is also deeply integrated into the music and artist industry as they tie digital experiences to record sales, tour merchandise, and concert goers.
Zoomph - Reston, VA, USA
Zoomph provides partnership insights and analytics that help sports and entertainment brands, media, leagues, teams, and athletes analyze social and broadcast content and track trends and competition in real-time.
Zoomph is working on extending its commercial agreements with Xfinity with the goal of an expanded and unified measurement platform to rigorously track the return on investment on Xfinity brand sponsorship investments.
About Comcast Corporation
Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA) is a global media and technology company. From the connectivity and platforms we provide, to the content and experiences we create, our businesses reach hundreds of millions of customers, viewers, and guests worldwide. We deliver world-class broadband, wireless, and video through Xfinity, Comcast Business, and Sky; produce, distribute, and stream leading entertainment, sports, and news through brands including NBC, Telemundo, Universal, Peacock, and Sky; and bring incredible theme parks and attractions to life through Universal Destinations & Experiences. Visit www.comcastcorporation.com for more information.
About Comcast NBCUniversal SportsTech
Comcast NBCUniversal invests in some of the best sports tech startups in the world. We back this investment by providing our startups with a rigorous, custom curriculum, and we surround our entrepreneurs with a dream team of sports industry advisors and experts who are passionately dedicated to helping them succeed. Comcast SportsTech features a partnership of four of Comcast NBCUniversal’s sports brands - NBC Sports, Sky Sports, Comcast Spectacor, and Golf – alongside Premier League, NASCAR, PGA TOUR, Notre Dame, and three US Olympic sports organizations: U.S. Ski & Snowboard, USA Swimming, and USA Cycling. This network of partnerships brings an early lens into innovation solutions, exclusive access to research and business insights, and differentiated value to Comcast’s media rights relationships. The program brings creative solutions to the partner consortium and to market through the lens of eight core investment categories: Media & Entertainment; Fan/Player Engagement; Athlete/Player Performance; Team & Coach Success; Venue & Event Innovation; Fantasy Sports & Betting; esports; and the Business of Sports. Visit www.comcastsportstech.com to learn more.
About Boomtown Innovation
Boomtown Innovation delivers custom, end-to-end innovation services to major corporations and organizations seeking to maximize the power of innovation to achieve measurable outcomes. Boomtown’s comprehensive services include Innovation Strategy, Innovation Operations and Ecosystem Development. Since 2013, Boomtown Innovation has successfully executed more than 25 innovation programs and co-invested in nearly 250 startups, achieving a portfolio value of more than $1.9 billion in sports, health, education, environment, and sustainability. For more information visit https://btinnovation.com/
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