SportsTech Monthly Roundup 23: It’s Game Time – Announcing the 2022 Class

We’ve been waiting for this moment for months. Now, the moment has finally arrived—the announcement of the companies that are selected for the second class of our program.

They were selected from a pool of over 800 applicants from 44 countries across the globe. We picked them based on their capabilities and tech solutions that are focused on our program’s eight key investment 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.

Over the course of the next 12 weeks, founders will spend time working with the SportsTech program and its partners to grow their businesses and discover creative approaches to the biggest challenges facing the sports tech industry.

And now, it’s time to meet the starting lineup for your 2022 Comcast NBCUniversal Sports Tech Program. 

🏟 BookSeats.com
Toronto, Canada
BookSeats.com simplifies the way fans travel by allowing users to book custom packages that include any combination of flights, hotels, and/or tickets to events around the world.

📈 HeadVantage
Arlington, Virginia
HeadVantage visually captures the “impossible” moments and insights in sports, fused with biometric & performance data, from the athlete’s vantage point.

🍦 Ice Cream Social
Newport Beach, California
Ice Cream Social is a state-of-the-art social platform that helps companies turn their existing customers into brand advocates by rewarding them for inviting their friends.

💬 LetzChat
Westlake Village, California
LetzChat translates customer interactions—including subtitles, text messages, phone calls, chat support, and websites—into the viewer’s language, which offers opportunities to enhance sports viewing.

🤝 Local Sports Network
Austin, Texas
Local Sports Network is a digital community that strengthens ties between sports fans, high schools, and athletes.

🤳🏼 Meetlete
San Diego, California
Meetlete is a fan engagement platform that allows fans to experience a 4-minute meet and greet with their favorite athletes.

💰 Moneyline
Atlanta, Georgia
MoneyLine is a sports and entertainment game against the house that gives fans a chance to win money more simply and creatively than ever before.

🤸🏻‍♀️ Movrs
Los Angeles, California
Movrs uses AI to analyze human shape and motion data and make it easier for sports and entertainment organizations to use.

📲 tiptapSPORTS
Burlington, Ontario, Canada
tiptapSPORTS brings an enhanced touchless payments™ experience at sporting events of all sizes, while letting fans support young athletes through touchless giving™ solutions in the community.

🌎 Uru Sports
Traverse City, Michigan
Uru Sports is the professional network for elite athletes providing opportunity, community and information to connect the world’s 1 billion athletes to great opportunities worldwide.

You can take a look at some of the press covering our announcement in Forbes, SportTechie, and Sports Business Journal.

🤝 SportsTech Partners in the News 🤝

🏁 NASCAR’s Benefits of Acceleration | Via: innolead

For established businesses like NASCAR, participating in or creating a new startup accelerator is one way to get a look at what is percolating in the startup world. In January of 2020, Comcast NBCUniversal launched SportsTech, a global accelerator to attract sports technology startups. NASCAR is a founding partner, alongside PGA Golf, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), and other big-name sports brands. One example happening in real-time from SportsTech alum XiQ, which developed a device that attaches to golf carts and can be used from their smartphone.

Jessie Diggins Caps Winter Games with Silver | Via: Wall Street Journal 

Jessie Diggins came to Beijing as the only American cross-country skier—man or woman—to win a gold medal at the Olympics. She’ll leave China as the most decorated U.S. cross-country skier ever.

Team USA Closes Out 2022 Winter Olympics | Via: Team USA

Some of our nation’s best athletes spent years of preparation and training that culminated in 17 days of global competition. Check out some of the most memorable moments from Team USA.

Joey Logano Wins Inaugural Clash at the Coliseum | Via: NASCAR 

At the end of a transformative NASCAR experience that took the City of Angels by storm, Joey Logano held off hard-charging pole winner Kyle Busch to triumph in Sunday’s Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum.

📚 Sports Tech Stories We’re Reading 📚

Top 5 Trends That Will Impact Sports Tech in 2022 | Via: Inside Track

While we have so much to be proud of over the last year, we wanted to spend some time looking at the trends we think will define sports technology for the next 12 months. We saw bright startup founders work on some impactful sports technology. In the wake of a global pandemic, we have witnessed many innovative advances that will shape the future of sports for years to come.

The Most Memorable, Historic Moments in Women’s Olympic Sports from 2022 | Via: NBC Sports

While the United States finished the Beijing Games ranked fifth in the overall medal count, Team USA claimed more medals in women’s events (13) than any other nation. Women won a majority of Team USA’s medals at the Winter Olympics. Of 25 total medals, women played a role in winning 17. The U.S. women’s success is particularly remarkable when you consider that women still have fewer participation and medal opportunities than men.

Landmark Settlement Ensures Equal Pay for Male and Female Soccer Players in U.S. Soccer| Via: NBC News

U.S. women soccer stars, including Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan, have reached a $24 million settlement with the U.S. Soccer Federation following a lawsuit over unequal pay with men’s team players.

How Copper Became Premier Training Location for U.S. Skiers, Snowboarders | Via: Forbes 

This year’s U.S. Olympic team represented states across the country. But the largest group hailed from Colorado. There, the presence of Copper Mountain looms large for the ski and snowboarders who train on the 22-foot halfpipe and competition-sized slopestyle course. Olympians Mikaela Shiffrin and Ryan Cochran-Siegle hone their racing skills at the U.S. Ski Team’s Speed Center and Alpine Tech Center.

We are so excited to continue to share the stories from our accelerator and hope you enjoy following their progress as much as we do!