StatusPro, an extended reality training and gaming company, announced a series of strategic investors, all of whom are the biggest names in sports and entertainment: LeBron James, Drake, Naomi Osaka, Mavericks Carter, Jimmy Iowen and Paul Vocht. Together with institutional investors, they promoted a seed round of USD 5.2 million, led by KB Partners and TitletownTech.
StatusPro was co-founded by former footballers Andrew Hawkins and Troy Jones. It uses player tracking data to create a real training platform deployed by six NFL teams. The program has nothing to do with the device and can be viewed in augmented reality, virtual reality or mixed reality.
"I am looking for investment opportunities that can have a lasting impact on culture and society-and StatusPRO is ready to do so," Osaka said in a statement. "This will not only affect games and entertainment [two things I am passionate about], but it will also affect the way athletes train and analyze their performance."
The company's chief commercial officer Hawkins is a former NFL wide receiver. He played for the Cincinnati Bengals and Cleveland Browns for three seasons. He later served as director of business development at SpringHill, where he worked with James and Carter. StatusPro CEO Jones played college football in Maryland and Western Kentucky.
Hawkins said: "We always say,'We only have our own team strong,' and now our team is stronger, especially in the sports field."
StatusPro is developing consumer products that can reproduce the elite sports experience and expanding its product range beyond American football. "One thing we want to do is to identify partners, even if they are outside of football, this can also help us tell how they feel about becoming athletes," Jones said.
The holographic display device Portl raised US$12 million from an investment group that includes three-time National League MVP Albert Pujols, Phoenix Suns center Deandre Ayton, WNBA stars Brina Stewart and Nneka Ogwumike, as well as former NFL players Marshaun Lynch and Robert Griffin III.
Music artist Quavo also invested in a Series A financing led by True Capital Management. Portl's full-size machine is about 7 feet high and 5 feet wide, and costs US$60,000. It broadcasts 4K stereo video to produce a hologram-like display, and Portl hopes to introduce it to markets such as sports events, concerts, healthcare, corporate work, and education.
"CEOs, brands, universities, and crypto artists are all using Portl to connect and communicate in new ways. Portl will forever change the way we work, study, and play," the Los Angeles-based founder and CEO of Portl David Nussbaum said in a statement.
Portl has completed projects with brands such as HBO, Netflix, Chase Bank, T-Mobile, and AT&T.
The Buffalo Sabres announced a new partnership with Mixhalo to stream real-time audio to fans on-site during the game. Sabres will become the first NHL team to adopt Mixhalo sound technology, joining the NBA's Sacramento Kings and MLS club LAFC and other teams.
Mixhalo will use the company's free mobile app to connect fans with the live commentary of Sabres commentators and other fan experiences. Sabres will also consider using Mixhalo to play audio comments from players.
"Since this is RJ’s [Sabres broadcaster Rick Jeanneret] last season, we know that for the fans of the KeyBank Center, hearing our legendary broadcaster’s call behind the microphone in his last season and all the following games is very Important," Sabres senior vice president of marketing and business strategy John Durbin said in a statement.
The Sabres announced in April that only vaccinated fans will be allowed to watch their home games at the KeyBank Center this season. Mixhalo was co-founded by Mike Einziger, guitarist of the popular rock band Incubus in the 1990s.
Due to transparency issues with the two companies, European football powerhouses Barcelona and Manchester City both withdrew from their recent sponsorship agreements with cryptocurrency companies.
On November 12, defending champion Manchester City designated 3Key Technologies as a regional partner to provide the club with "decentralized financial transaction analysis and consulting technology." But according to the Associated Press, Manchester City suspended the transaction after media reports pointed out that 3Key's website had no contact information and its alleged employees had no digital footprint.
"Man City is currently conducting further investigations into 3Key Technologies, and until all these issues are satisfactorily resolved, the relationship between the two parties has been suspended," the club said in a statement on Friday.
Barcelona announced on November 5 that it had reached an agreement with Ownix to create an NFT that fans can buy using Ethereum. According to the Times of Israel, the La Liga club cancelled the deal on Friday and Moshe Hogeg, a businessman who had previously advised Onyx, was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of cryptocurrency-related fraud. Hogg is also the owner of the Israeli football team Beta Jerusalem.
Three former FanDuel executives, including founding CEO Nigel Eccles (Nigel Eccles), launched BetDEX, a blockchain-based decentralized sports betting company. Edinburgh-based BetDEX has raised US$21 million, which is the largest seed investment for a British startup.
BetDEX will rely on the public blockchain Solana and plans to provide fast and low-cost transactions. The agreement will be open source, enabling partners to build products on top of the platform. Paradigm, a cryptocurrency investment company, led the funding round. FTX joined the funding round. The cryptocurrency exchange has always been an active sponsor of the sports world, has the naming rights for the Miami Heat’s home stadium, and has established a global relationship with Major League Baseball. Partnerships.
Eccles will serve as the non-executive chairman of BetDEX. He co-founded FanDuel in 2009 and founded the sports group chat platform Flick in 2018. Varun Sudhakar works in FanDuel's senior strategy and corporate development department and is the CEO of BetDEX, while Stuart Tonner, the first engineer of FanDuel's CEO, is the CTO of the new company.
"Blockchain technology will revolutionize sports betting, and we want to be at the forefront," Eccles said in a statement. "It is exciting to start the company with Varun and Stuartand establish it in Scotland. We are motivated to get the support and wealth of expertise from Paradigm and FTX as cornerstone investors."
StormX, a crypto rewards company and a jersey patch sponsor for the Portland Trail Blazers, has announced a partnership with the team's star guard CJ McCollum. As a brand ambassador, McCollum will participate in the StormX event held at the Moda Center in Portland and appear in the company's marketing content.
Users can make purchases with StormX retail partners (including brands such as Nike, eBay, Adidas, Sonos, and Macy's) and get cash back in the form of Bitcoin and Ethereum. The company's mobile application has been downloaded more than 4 million times and has provided more than 4 million U.S. dollars in cryptocurrency this year.
Cryptocurrency companies have penetrated into the field of NBA sponsorship through venue naming rights transactions with the Miami Heat, Los Angeles Lakers, and Clippers, as well as the alliance's cooperation with Coinbase. McCollum of the Trail Blazers is the latest well-known athlete to sign a personal deal. Shooting expert Stephen Curry joins Tom Brady and Shohei Otani as athletes and owns equity in the cryptocurrency exchange FTX.
Nike teamed up with online gaming platform Roblox to launch Nikeland, a virtual world inspired by the reality headquarters of the clothing giant in Oregon.
The virtual campus includes Nike buildings, basketball courts, courts, and arenas for Roblox users to participate in games such as tagging, dodgeball, and "the floor is lava". A digital showroom can also allow users to put on Nike equipment-from assorted sports shoes to new products.
Nike's metaverse will also encourage sports in real life. Users with accelerometers in their phones can jump or run, allowing their game characters to replicate their movements. In-game activities will also receive material rewards for users to create their own mini-games in Nikeland.
According to CNBC reports, Nikeland plans to increase games around global sporting events, such as a potential football event during the World Cup or a national flag football game during the Super Bowl.
The virtual world was initially free, but Nike could eventually integrate paid products. Roblox's user-generated game platform provides in-game purchases through Robux, which is a virtual currency supported by credit card and gift card transactions.
Fans who purchase tickets for NFL games for the rest of the 2021 season will receive NFT commemorative coins as digital souvenirs. Souvenir tokens aspire to resemble the emotional value of paper ticket stubs-now they have become an ancient relic due to stadiums with only mobile tickets.
After the game, an email will be sent to fans to access their collectibles through the NFL NFT marketplace powered by Ticketmaster, where they can sell or trade tokens. Fans who purchase match tickets through StubHub and SeatGeek will also be eligible for post-match digital collectibles.
NFL Club Business Development Senior Vice President Bobby Gallo said in a statement: “Creating more one-on-one experiences through innovation and technology is the top priority of the entire league and the club.” “The emerging world that utilizes NFT is what we create. Additional value and a new and exciting way to further interact with fans participating in selected matches by providing virtual commemorative tickets."
The giveaway NFT will kick off in the Thanksgiving game between the Chicago Bears and the Detroit Lions, and will continue to play 20 games throughout the regular season. In September, the NFL and NFLPA announced an agreement with Dapper Labs to create a digital video collection NFT.
This summer, the NFL stated that 98% of fans use mobile tickets to enter the preseason. Tampa's Super Bowl LV is the first completely cashless Super Bowl, and all future Super Bowls plan to follow suit.
Mobile payment provider Tappit partnered with Rose Bowl to turn the stadium into cashless. Southern California’s iconic college football stadium now allows guests to scan a QR code with their mobile phones to order food, drinks and merchandise.
Tappit's QR code activation allows transactions to proceed without downloading an app. In August, QR Code teamed up with Digital Seat Media to make its debut on all 90,000 seats in the Rose Bowl. Fans of UCLA home games can currently scan tags to view team statistics, Instagram filters, and other features.
"Tappit’s white-label web wallet allows us to minimize the contact between people while still providing an excellent experience for fans. We will be able to clearly understand each guest and their preferences, and have a deeper understanding of Learn how to make their experience unique," Rose Bowl Stadium Chief Revenue Officer Jens Weiden said in a statement.
In May of this year, Tappit announced a multi-year agreement with university marketing company Learfield to introduce its mobile payment technology to the NCAA venue. Tappit's professional clients include the Jacksonville Jaguars, Kansas City Chiefs, Cincinnati Reds, San Diego Padres and San Antonio Spurs.
The International Olympic Committee will no longer require trans women to suppress testosterone before the competition, thus overturning the 2015 ruling. The committee decided to abolish "medically unnecessary" treatments and give priority to "athletes' physical and mental health." "
In a 10-point document released this week, the International Olympic Committee wrote: “Everyone, regardless of their gender identity, expression and/or gender differences, should be able to participate in sports safely and without prejudice. "
These guidelines follow the first Olympic Games for transgender and intersex athletes, and the new rules will take effect after the Beijing Winter Olympics in early 2022. The committee’s new position is not to assume that anyone has unfair competitive advantage development (DSD) due to their genetic differences.
However, the new IOC framework is not legally binding, and the final decision will be given to the specific governing body of each sport. The World Athletics Federation, which is in charge of track and field sports, told the Guardian that it has no plans to change its policy.
World Athletics requires that runners with DSD must artificially lower their testosterone below the threshold in order to participate in races between 400 meters and 1 mile, because it claims that higher testosterone levels have a competitive advantage over these distances . The policy prohibits South African 800m athlete Caster Semenya from defending her Olympic champion at the Tokyo Olympics this summer.
"What we are saying now is that you don't need to use testosterone at all," Richard Badt, the medical director of the International Olympic Committee, told the Guardian. "But this guide is not an absolute rule. So we can't say that any specific sports framework, such as world athletics, is actually wrong."
California-based cycling team Voler Factory Racing will genetically test its athletes through a new agreement with AxGen. The test is designed to inform Voler about the risk of susceptibility to injury to its cyclists-based on their personal genes-to help fine-tune individual training programs.
AxGen's DNA test assesses the risk of athletes suffering from 13 common sports injuries, including concussions, anterior cruciate ligament tears and Achilles tendon ruptures, and marks their tolerance to substances such as caffeine or ibuprofen. These tests are based on machine learning analysis of AxGen's database of approximately 500,000 human genomes, compiled by researchers at Stanford University and the University of Utah.
"Injuries are the number one negative impact on team performance and success. Obtaining data that can predict risk is the key to our prevention of these injuries. We believe this is an important part of cycling sports medicine," Voler Factory Racing team manager Philip Mooney said in a statement.
British football club Sheffield United is the first major professional sports team to require its athletes to undergo genetic testing through AxGen. The club told SportTechie in September that DNA testing will only help design procedures to prevent injuries, and the club has promised players that their results will not affect contract negotiations.
"It is scientifically rigorous, and it addresses the view that all athletes are not created equal, and some of them are at a greater risk of knee injury at birth and a greater risk of shoulder injury," AxGen CEO and Chief Executive Officer Executive Stuart Kim, a former geneticist at Stanford University, said in September.