SportsTech Weekly: AI-Powered Innovation and Strategic Growth Define Industry Trajectory
Week 18 of 2025 highlights AI integration, platform launches, and expanding investment landscapes reshaping sports technology
Hello sports tech enthusiasts 👋🏼 Welcome to Regen Sports, your twice-weekly deep dive into the intersection of sports and technology. Every Monday, catch up on the week's most important developments in sports innovation, and every Thursday, explore in-depth analysis of trends, companies, and technological breakthroughs reshaping the future of sports.
Before we get into this past week’s developments, if you didn’t manage to get last week’s developments, be sure to find the recap of week 17's sports tech highlights.
As we move through week 18, the sports technology industry continues to demonstrate remarkable vitality through AI-driven platform launches, strategic partnerships, and targeted investment initiatives.
From Greenlite Ventures' AI-powered NBA fantasy platform to IBM and Scuderia Ferrari HP's revamped F1 Fan app with Watsonx AI, AI remains at the forefront of innovation. Strategic partnerships between established sports organisations and technology providers underscore the industry's commitment to enhancing fan engagement through data-driven experiences.
Meanwhile, significant investments from TPG launching their dedicated sports business and Fanstake securing $6.25 million in seed funding signal growing confidence in the sector's commercial potential. This week's developments further illustrate how technology is not only enhancing the core sports experience but fundamentally transforming business models across the entire ecosystem.
Without further ado;
PRODUCT LAUNCHES & TECH INNOVATIONS 🔬
Image source: Genius Sports
Genius Sports announced the launch of BetVision for Soccer, the world’s first interactive in-game wagering product, available across 120+ leading soccer competitions
Greenlite Ventures, an innovator in sports, gaming, and technology, announced the official launch of its AI-powered NBA Daily Fantasy Sports platform
NCSSR announced the dual launch of ‘Return to Play’, for athlete rehabilitation and performance tracking, and ‘Speed 2.0 by Digital Darwin’, an athlete performance system
IBM, along with Scuderia Ferrari HP have released the new revamped F1 Fan app with several all-new features powered by Watsonx AI
Prime Focus Technologies announced the launch of CLEAR(®) Content Studio AI Agents, designed to help creators produce content at scale
Xiao-I Corporation, an AI company ("Xiao-I"), announced the launch of its artificial intelligence solution for golf course management
New Zealand Rugby League announced their official launch on CoachMate, the free coaching and team management app to support the game at grassroots level
Why This Matters: IBM and Scuderia Ferrari HP's F1 Fan app integration with Watsonx AI represents another big moment for personalised sports consumption. By leveraging sophisticated AI to tailor content and insights to individual preferences, the app potentially creates a blueprint for how sports properties can transition from broadcasting to narrowcasting. This technology enables fans to effectively have their own personalised F1 experience, potentially increasing both engagement duration and commercial opportunities through highly targeted content delivery. As sports compete more intensely for audience attention, this level of customisation could become table stakes for premium fan experiences across all major sports.
PARTNERSHIPS & COLLABORATIONS 🤝🏼
Image source: Infobip
F1 team Haas has agreed a multi-year partnership with cloud communications software firm Infobip, designed to enhance experiences for better fan engagement
SAS announced an extended partnership with the Orlando Magic, that sees them named as an official partner, designed to revolutionise the AI-powered fan experience
OTT streaming platform DAZN has reached an agreement with the LFP organising body to terminate their domestic broadcasting deal for Ligue 1 after one season
Bundesliga International, the commercial rights division of the league, signed a Joint Declaration of Intent with Migu, China Mobile’s sports content streaming platform
Formula E, in collaboration with Google Cloud, successfully charged its GENBETA prototype race car to descend a 1,000-vertical-meter mountain in ‘free-wheel mode’
Why This Matters: The dissolution of DAZN's domestic broadcasting rights deal with Ligue 1 after just one season signals potentially profound shifts in sports media valuation models. This early termination suggests that traditional rights packages may be increasingly difficult to monetise in fragmented viewing environments (such as in France), even for established streaming platforms. The development could accelerate experimentation with alternative revenue models, including micro-transactions, freemium structures, or hybrid approaches that better align costs with actual consumption patterns. Rights holders across sports may need to reconsider how they package and value their content to ensure sustainability in an increasingly volatile media ecosystem.
FUNDING & INVESTMENTS 💰
Fanstake, the fan-powered NIL marketplace and engagement platform, announced its $6.25 million series seed financing, with the round led by Courtside
TPG, a global asset management firm, announced the launch of TPG Sports, a business focused on partnering with companies, teams, and leagues shaping the future of sports
Why This Matters: TPG's launch of a dedicated sports business vertical represents a significant vote of confidence from institutional capital in the long-term growth potential of sports-related investments. With TPG's considerable resources and expertise now focused specifically on this sector, we may see an acceleration of sophisticated deal structures and consolidation across the sports technology landscape. This development could potentially create more viable pathways to scale for promising sports technologies that might otherwise struggle to achieve sufficient growth independently, ultimately benefiting the ecosystem by enabling more innovations to reach commercial viability.
INNOVATION HUBS & ACCELERATORS 🏗️
The Arizona State University announced the launch of SPORTx, a new initiative to accelerate sports-related entrepreneurial ventures
Why This Matters: Arizona State University's launch of SPORTx represents an important bridge between academic innovation and commercial application in sports technology. By creating a structured pathway for sports-related entrepreneurial ventures, ASU is establishing an innovation pipeline that can tap into multidisciplinary expertise across engineering, computer science, exercise physiology, and business. This academic-industry collaboration model could significantly reduce the time from concept to market for sports technologies while simultaneously providing real-world application opportunities for research. The initiative potentially creates a replicable template for how universities can more effectively contribute to sports industry innovation.
MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS 🪜
Image source: On3
On3, the sports media and data platform, acquired Rivals for an undisclosed amount, with Yahoo Sports taking a stake in the On3 parent company
Why This Matters: On3's acquisition of Rivals, with Yahoo Sports simultaneously taking a stake in On3's parent company, represents a consolidation in the sports recruitment media space. This three-way alignment creates a potentially dominant player in college sports content and recruitment intelligence at a time when NIL and transfer portal dynamics are fundamentally reshaping collegiate athletics. The deal could substantially influence how recruitment information is distributed and monetised, potentially centralising power in determining which athletes receive visibility and opportunities. As college sports continue their commercial evolution, this consolidated media influence may become an increasingly important factor in shaping talent development pathways.
FACILITY & INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENTS 🧱
Image source: Sports Video
At the 2024 Rolex 24 in Daytona, NASCAR debuted new remote-production workflows, utilising its newly opened Concord, NC facility
Immersive experience company Cosm, along with developer Bedrock broke ground on their fourth location, which is set to open in 2026 in Detroit
Why This Matters: NASCAR's implementation of remote-production workflows from its new facility represents a shift in how broadcast operations can be structured in modern sports. By centralising production capabilities while maintaining high-quality broadcast standards, NASCAR is pioneering an operational model that could reduce the environmental impact and logistical complexity of traditional on-site broadcasting. This approach potentially creates a template for other traveling sports properties to enhance production quality while simultaneously improving sustainability metrics and controlling costs, representing a win-win that could become the industry standard for sports broadcasting.
INDUSTRY RECOGNITION 🥇
If you missed the recent Sports Technology Awards in London, you can find the recap of all the winners in their respective categories.
FINAL THOUGHTS
As week 18 concludes, we're witnessing a sports technology landscape increasingly defined by AI-powered personalisation, strategic platform consolidation, and innovative funding models designed to accelerate growth. The prevalence of AI across multiple segments—from fantasy sports to performance tracking to fan engagement—underscores how AI is no longer an experimental addition but rather a fundamental component of competitive sports technology offerings.
Particularly notable is the growing emphasis on creating tailored experiences for different stakeholder groups. This trend toward personalisation and specialisation suggests the industry is moving beyond one-size-fits-all solutions toward more targeted technologies addressing specific pain points and opportunities.
Looking forward, we anticipate continued refinement of business models as evidenced by DAZN's recalibration with Ligue 1 and TPG's significant entry into sports investment. Organisations that can successfully navigate the balance between technological innovation and sustainable economics will likely emerge as leaders in this increasingly sophisticated and competitive landscape. Stay tuned for next week's roundup as we continue tracking the transformative developments reshaping the global sports technology landscape.
Track the Trends. Spot the plays. Shape the game.
Thanks for reading,
Dean
P.S. If you found this newsletter valuable, please share it with others who might benefit from these insights. The sports tech industry grows stronger when we learn together.