PHILADELPHIA—Comcast NBCUniversal has announced that 10 companies were accepted into the fourth class of the Comcast NBCUniversal SportsTech Accelerator.
The program is designed to advance innovation in sports technologies and to provide entrepreneurs with access to major sports brands and operations.
This year, the program received more than 1,500 applicants for this year’s class, from across 52 countries. The 10 companies selected will have a chance to engage with some of the top sports and tech brands from around the world, including the Premier League, who just joined the SportsTech partner consortium last summer, along with NBC Sports, NBC Sports Next, Sky Sports, Comcast Spectacor, Golf, NASCAR, and PGA Tour; and three US Olympic sports organizations: U.S. Ski & Snowboard, USA Swimming, and USA Cycling.
Since the first class in 2021, SportsTech alumni have achieved 132 pilots, partnerships, and commercial deals with consortium partners.
“When it comes to constructing and curating our SportsTech portfolio, every facet of our decision-making process aims to unlock startups that can become ‘scale-ups’ ready to impact the world of sports,” said Jenna Kurath, vice president, startup partnerships and head of Comcast NBCUniversal SportsTech. “The SportsTech program focuses not only on tackling complex business challenges for a vast cross-section of some of the world’s most recognized sports brands, but it additionally prepares founders to build sustainable businesses.”
Entrepreneurs will work one-on-one with SportsTech advisors and participate in customized programming focused on refining go-to-market strategy, commercial business alignment, and adaptive business modeling, with an emphasis on direct business outcomes for enterprise-ready scale, the program explained.
SportsTech participants will also benefit from a series of unique excursions and working retreats structured around partner events that will bring founders behind-the-scenes to give them a better understanding of the organizations’ operational needs.
The 2024 program will begin on March 4 in Florida with a roadshow of partner events and immersion experiences designed to deepen customer discovery—taking founders behind-the-scenes at Universal Studios Florida and NASCAR’s Daytona International Speedway and showcasing how PGA Tour and NBC Sports’ Golf produce professional sporting events, like the Arnold Palmer Invitational—allowing founders to identify how to align their technology solutions to the business and operational needs of partners.
Mentors will include industry leaders from Comcast NBCUniversal as well as strategic advisors from the Boomtown network and the partner consortium, including: Will McIntosh, president, NBC Sports NEXT and Fandango; Lora Dennis, executive vice president, NBCUniversal Local; Jim Denney, chief product officer, Peacock; Alexandra Willis, director of digital media and audience development, the Premier League; Wyatt Hicks, NASCAR digital vice president; and Scott Gutterman, senior vice president, digital operations, PGA Tour, among others.
The capstone of the program will take place at Rally Innovation in Indianapolis on August 27-28, 2024, where this year’s founders will showcase their tech innovations, putting a spotlight on their scale-up traction during the program to garner new business opportunities across the broader sports industry.
Comcast NBCUniversal SportsTech Class of 2024 includes:
- Aquimo Inc – Mesa, AZ, USA. 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.
- Dizplai – Manchester, United Kingdom. Dizplai enables real-time audience engagement for live news, sports, and entertainment, turning broadcasts into immersive two-way experiences by seamlessly integrating with social media, messaging apps, user-generated content, and sports data with dynamic graphics.
- Fobi AI – Vancouver, Canada. Fobi AI uses automation, AI, and real-time data intelligence to enhance global customer engagement, personalization, and activation.
- KYMIRA – Reading, United Kingdom. KYMIRA creates products with infrared and sensor tech that enhance performance and recovery, address chronic illness, mitigate against injury risk, improve sleep, and provide never-before-seen data insights for men and women.
- Mantis-AI – Sao Paulo, Brazil. Mantis AI turns raw footage and noisy data into artfully-organized video clips with enriched data and content insights.
- 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.
- 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.
- Plantiga – Vancouver, Canada. Plantiga is redefining athlete health and performance monitoring with in-shoe sensors and AI.
- 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.
- Zoomph, Inc. – Reston, VA. 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.
For those interested in applying to join the next Comcast NBCUniversal SportsTech Class of 2025 and to learn more about the program’s eight focus areas: media and entertainment, fan/player engagement, athlete/player performance, team and coach success, venue and event innovation, fantasy sports and betting, esports, and the business of sports, visit www.comcastsportstech.com/2025.
