I have to admire the resilience and perseverance of startup entrepreneurs, who continue to build their businesses in the face of lock-downs, travel restrictions and associated economic challenges. Starting a new business is hard enough at the best of times, let alone during a global pandemic. The latest installment of Startupbootcamp‘s series of virtual Demo Days was another example of how founders and their teams have just knuckled down and got on with the job – this time, in the area of Sports and EventTech.
The 10 startups featured a mix of market places, content creation and distribution platforms, coaching and performance services, and fan engagement. In alphabetical order, they were (links in the names):
Founded by and for women, this is a digital coaching service designed to provide better access to (and feedback from) professional athletes and quality coaches. This is one way to help female athletes offset the costs of being a professional (as well as help pay for their own coaching). A good example where the gig economy meets digital delivery.
An app that brings AR into sporting events and tourism, to offer an enhanced fan experience and match-day activities, through virtual city guides, which could be presented by professional sport stars who are competing in the event you have come to see. For organisers and venues, the app provides great data on attendees. Offered as a
white label solution plus SDK.
Designed as an all-in-one content platform, it connects creators and consumers – not just in sport coaching and training, but across music, education, hobbies, well-being and fashion. The founders reckon that creators spend 70-80% of their time on the tech, and only 20-30% on monetizing their content. A huge challenge is that disparate digital tools don’t play nicely together…. The suite of services combines content, streaming, ticketing, branding and merchandising – all built on a commission and revenue share model.
Presenting itself as a data analytics and AI platform for events and venues, the founders see the current pandemic as an opportunity for new business, as economies start to open up and fans want to return to live events. Using AI-based marketing tools, it claims to predict the likelihood of a fan making a purchase (both tickets and merchandising. Again, uses a revenue share model based on a % of the sales generated.
This marketplace connects communities of fans who are traveling to attend events and watch live sports, with local fans and supporters. The latter can offer access to local experiences that visitors might not otherwise be aware of. Describing itself as “like Airbnb for Sports Experiences”, the platform takes a 20% commission fee.
Described as a “monetized fan community”, this platform enables organizers and promoters to realize the value of “billions” in unsold tickets for sports, events and concerts. Using primarily word of mouth, fans get to sell unsold tickets on behalf of the events – a form of “social buying”. It integrates into major ticketing platforms, and has proven that fan-generated content can directly lead to ticket sales, by offering the “ambassador” fans access to rewards and other engagement incentives.
According to the founders, managing sport officials is currently unsophisticated and disconnected, and lacks adequate no digital solutions. This is intended to be an holistic platform to help officials, and leagues co-ordinate, recruit, manage and process payments. With 200+ clients already on-board, the team must be doing something right! (It wasn’t clear from the pitch whether refbook can handle training, certification, accreditation and disciplinary aspects of officiating.)
The only startup here that is directly supported by the relevant sports body, this is a platform for indoor rowing (of which there are apparently 4+ million participants in Australia. Backed by Rowing Australia, it is positioning indoor rowing as a major
e-sport (“like Peloton for rowing”), and a significant part of the digital fitness market. Combining “community, connection, and competition”, at its core is the ability to track and compare personal performance.
A platform the early identification of future sporting talent, which, according to the founders, is currently a slow, sporadic and long-winded process. This solution uses predictive analytics based on measurements and movement, and takes an evidence-based approach to performance data.
This is a live steaming service for community-based and grass roots sports and tournaments. The founders claim that only 1% of all sport (in terms of actual participation) is televised, so this is designed to bring access to local sport enabling organizers to broadcast (OTT) their competitions using standard smart phone devices. The platform monetize the content via streaming fees and advertising.
Next week: Same, same – but different?
Content in Context 