How Mantis AI Is Turning Video Data Into Magic

Sports fans have never had so many choices regarding following their favorite athletes and teams.

As exciting technology and innovation continue to drive the future of fan engagement, Mantis AI is emerging as a crucial player, reshaping how fans around the globe experience sports content.

Founded and led by Rafael Vieira, Mantis AI represents the forefront of entertainment tech, leveraging advanced AI and computer vision to transform raw video footage and data into meticulously curated video clips and actionable content insights.

Vieira, a seasoned entrepreneur with a background in economics and a two-decade career in financial markets, transitioned into the sports tech sector driven by a lifelong passion for sports. His journey to founding Mantis AI was not just a career shift but a leap into revolutionizing how sports media is consumed and produced. With Mantis AI, Vieira and his team are tackling the core challenge of optimizing time spent engaging with sports content, enhancing efficiency, and unlocking new avenues for creativity in the digital age.

Recently, we spoke with Vieira, who shared Mantis AI’s mission to automate and elevate sports content creation, catering primarily to media giants seeking sleek and innovative solutions. By integrating sophisticated AI algorithms, Mantis AI empowers its partners to deliver personalized, real-time content experiences that resonate deeply with audiences across digital platforms. From enhancing viewer engagement during live events to revolutionizing post-game analysis, Mantis AI is a major player driving innovation in sports media.

Read our full transcript of Mantis AI’s approach to automating sports content and the significance of personalization and storytelling.

Taylor Pipes – Boomtown
Tell me about your background and your journey until arriving at Mantis.

Rafael Vieira – Founder and Managing Director, Mantis AI
Sure, absolutely. My history with sports tech and sports in general comes from a very young age. My father was a professional athlete. Even though I did not have the skill or the talent to become one, I was always passionate about sports and involved in some fashion. I graduated in economics and had a two-decade career in the financial market. I had positions in private equity, investment banking, and venture capital – the sports passion was always in my mind. Then I began investing in a few enterprises from close friends and family members. When the Mantis opportunity came to fruition roughly six years ago, I didn’t think twice about not only investing but joining the team. I made the transition from financial blue-collar to founder and sports tech executive.

Pipes
What’s the core challenge that you’re helping to solve with Mantis, especially as it relates to sports technology?

Vieira
We want to make the best use of people’s time. I think that’s the shortest answer. We’ve been involved in AI and computer vision before it was the buzz that is now. We like to think that our value proposition is to make people’s time well-spent and more valuable. At the end of the day, we create solutions to automate a number of those processes, especially those that are not as creative and cerebral, and help our customers and partners find more time to dedicate to those more value-added tasks that they’re involved in.

Pipes
Who is the typical customer for Mantis? Who is the ideal customer?

Vieira
We’ve been working more and more with media companies, especially those that hold rights in sports. But, our solution has evolved to a more enterprise one. In a sense, we’ve been dealing more and more with the Sky Sports, Warner Bros, and Disneys of the world.

Pipes
Was there a light bulb moment at Mantis when you knew this technology could help solve unique challenges?

Vieira
I have a couple of examples. I think the light bulb was more reactive than proactive. It was cool to see when we started building, creating algorithms, and training the models – the way people consume content and sports content specifically, was not in the place that it is right now. As our technology evolved, the light bulb moment came when the focus was shifting to digital, social, and short-form content. It was cool to see when we were picking the value proposition that we were developing. the maturity of the product was exactly when TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube Shorts came to be. In a way, it validated our thesis from a decade ago when we began discussing the enterprise. The timing worked perfectly.

There’s an additional one I would like to take credit for, but I don’t think we can – it has become easier and cheaper to do AI. When we first started building models for different sports back in 2015, it took a lot of time and resources. Nowadays, computing is commoditized and cheaper. There are also a lot of professionals coming out of universities and doing research that relates to what we do.

Pipes
Walk me through some of the Mantis features and how they came to be built.

Vieira
Some of our solutions used to be more off-the-shelf. We did have a solution to clip highlights for mainstream sports and a solution to monitor brand advertising. The way that we built them, we always had the long tail in mind. It made sense for us to have a product that was more put in place. What we found was that our technology was capable and good enough to be marketable to the top of the pyramid. Roughly two years ago, we took those off-the-shelf solutions and customized them to the enterprise customer profile that we created. We always knew that we were capturing way more data than we knew what to do with, and we would only fulfill the value of everything we were doing if we dealt with those enterprise customers. To address that, we came up with a value proposition that was built on top of a more flexible approach to how we use our core technology. When we go to a meeting with Sky Sports, for instance, we have a powerful engine that captures thousands of data points on a frame-by-frame basis. What we’re going to do with that is actually up for grabs. At the end of the day, that product or solution solves the pain point and it came from a collaborative effort between our technical and product teams. That’s when the full value of what we’re building came to life.

Pipes
It sounds like you’re less feature driven and you’re more adaptable to customizing to the client’s needs. Is there a certain mindset that you have, from a development or an engineering or a product philosophy that allows you to be nimble for clients and build solutions for them and also focus on other clients?

Vieira
Even though what I just described to you made our solution broader, we tried to stay in our lane in terms of addressing and tackling what was our expertise. You’d be amazed at how much you know and how many opportunities come from security or computer vision. There are a lot of challenges! People think that since you’re able to track a ball flying 100 miles per hour, you’ll be able to track people in an airport. So we’ve been somewhat disciplined. We try to be as proactive, fast, and driven as we can in terms of addressing our customer’s needs. I think that’s what makes us different from the handful of companies that are doing similar things to what we’re doing. I’m sure Sky Sports or the Premier League, just to name a few – I’m sure they stumble upon companies using a somewhat similar approach to the 10 points and challenges that they have as we do, but the fact is we are able to adapt our solution to their specific need and to create a workflow and framework that integrates with their stack and their ecosystem. I think that’s something that makes us unique in the landscape.

Pipes
How did you find out about the SportsTech program? What was the motivation for you to send in that application?

Vieira
We first heard about it in the previous iteration back in 2021. I spoke with Jose Vieitez back in the day and kept reaching out to him. I always thought that the program made a lot of sense for us. We didn’t have a strong footprint in North America and we had some traction in Europe and South America where the company was founded. But the North American market was always the Holy Grail in terms of where we wanted to be. So, in 2023, we were at the Viva Tech Conference in Paris, and Jose was there. The timing was perfect in terms of (the program) just starting to get applications. He mentioned how many of the companies from the consortium commented about the tagging and clipping pain point and how that solution, like the one that we were building, made sense for them. So, we applied!

Pipes
I was just stunned by the level of maturity that a lot of these companies in the current program have achieved. As I’ve talked to each of the companies, I see alignment with two or three others – things you’re working on make sense to what Dizplai is doing, for example. What has collaboration been like, and what are you learning from these other teams?

Vieira
I spoke with some co-founders from previous cohorts, and they commented about how that was not so much the case during their classes. I think there’s some thought from the decision committee about how those companies not only provide value on a permanent basis, but how they can make people achieve something, and Dizplai is a great example. Even though we do have projects in the linear TV space, most of our traction comes from digital and the work that those guys do – there’s a clear collaboration to be made from their product staff in comparison to ours. We do share some of the same clients. We do go after some of the same prospects and targets. It’s been incredible. And on top of that, people are awesome. I’ve made some real fans!

Pipes
What’s it been like experiencing sports and venues like NASCAR, for example, coming from overseas and seeing what that model of sports and engagement looks like? How has that shaped your view and your worldview on sports?

Vieira
It’s mind-blowing. I’ve been a sports fan for as long as I can remember, and I’ve been to America a lot in the past, but mostly to NBA games and NFL games. It blew my mind to go to a NASCAR event and see not only the sheer size of the thing but also the thought of those organizing it. It’s not by chance that the market is as huge as it is, and companies are competing to get a slice of theirs. It’s so valuable to see first-hand how those things come to be organized, not only from a sports and event perspective but also from the business side of things, from a media, distribution, and monetization perspective,

Pipes
How do you watch sports as a fan? Are you seeing problems and solutions or are you just enjoying this as a fan?

Vieira
They’re mixed feelings for sure, especially for sports and leagues near and dear to my heart. So the soccer team that I cheer for, or the basketball league that you know, it’s not fulfilling its potential here in Latin America, I tried to enjoy the moment in the event as a spectator, but I cannot take my mind away from thinking, ‘Okay if those guys had a better second screen experience…If those guys provided you with a better video experience or more personalized content, they’d be doing so much better.’

Pipes
What’s the biggest thing you’re working on right now? Where’s your focus right now?

Vieira
I would say doubling down on the personalization aspect of the video experience. We invested and dedicated a lot of time and resources to automate a number of processes that were done by humans in a repetitive fashion, and we became quite good at that. But now, how do you make use of all of that and deliver an experience that is unique to their preferences? Maybe Taylor likes short-form content, and you watch it on a vertical screen. Maybe you are a betting person. Knowing that information, how do we deliver a video experience that is unique to you and only you? And that’s what we are pushing with the community, that’s what we’re pushing with XFINITY, with Sky Sports, and now with the PGA. I think that’s the biggest challenge and would be the best outcome that comes from being in the program.

Pipes
I think the personalization experience of app-based programming on your phone has brought in this new era of personalization. Why has video not caught on the mainstream in sports into catering to the fans in a similar way>

Vieira
I think one of the main reasons is that there’s so much value being created on the live side of things. We’re capturing all of that value from the live stream, and that’s it for now. You push some highlights, have a TikTok account and YouTube channel for groups, and so on. But, now everybody is starting to realize the amount of attention and value the postgame is bringing to the table. That’s how I think that the next level is going to be reached because, from the technical side, it’s not that much more difficult to push a more personalized experience.

Pipes
What trends are you looking at through work you’re doing at Mantis or in sports tech? What is the big trend that you’re that you’re keeping an eye on?

Vieira
I’m going to say personalization. That’s something that has been said over and over – how the Gen Z’s and their young friends want things. They want to see a game, not necessarily when the game is being aired, but at the time of their preference. They want to see it on a screen that they want to see. They want to have a second screen experience and they do not want to have the passive experience of another gentleman like myself. They want to participate. That was a big challenge up until a few years ago, even though everybody already had their iPhones and social media accounts. But now, through the creator space and the fact that everybody’s getting a louder voice, that’s the next big step in terms of what I think is gonna drive people’s attention.

Pipes
Is there a sports tech company that you’re watching right now that’s doing some really cool stuff?

Vieira
There’s a company called Second Spectrum. They’re doing some amazing things in the computer vision space. They’ve been working with the NBA, and they were always capturing a lot of data from live footage and now they are figuring out ways to make the broadcast experience more technological. They’re certainly one to keep an eye on.

Pipes
Is there anything you’re reading or a podcast you’re listening to right now that’s keeping you excited or interested?

Vieira
I’ve always been a fan of Bill Simmons, the guy who used to work for ESPN and now has a website called The Ringer. The fact that he’s able to put his heart into every program that he has, and how he brought attention to the gambling aspect of sports events – that’s very interesting.

Pipes
I’m a massive fan back to Grantland at ESPN and The Ringer.

Vieira
Right?

Pipes
I truly appreciate you taking the time to chat with me! Thanks!

Vieira
Thank you!