Gaming, VR and Digital Coaching Amongst the Companies Leading ‘Innovation from Inception’
Today the STA Startups, part of the Sports Technology Awards Group, in conjunction with Presenting Partner, Sportradar, the global leader in sports data intelligence, revealed its 2019 winners. In keeping with the nature of the sector, the emerging star line-up was revealed by video stream across a series of global channels, including Yahoo Sport.
Facing fierce international competition, as well as the scrutiny of a 20-strong panel of industry-leading judges, including Gfinity’s Amanda Lawson, UEFA’s Daniel Marion, the LMA’s Richard Bevan and the FEI’s Stéphane Schwander, the eventual winners were:
- Deal of the Year – Vald Performance’s Acquisition of ForceDecks
- Best Seed Funded Business – Guided Knowledge: the Next Generation of Wearables
- Best Crowdfunded Business – Incentive Games
- Series A Funded Businesses – Adrenaline Hunter
- Series B Funded Businesses – LiveLike
- Best New Concept – Danu Analytics: a Smart Injury and Performance Analysis System
Rebecca Hopkins, CEO of the Sports Technology Awards Group said ‘The Startups serve a highly exciting and dynamic part of the sports technology sector; our aim is to create valuable, third-party endorsement for young companies, which gives winners a tangible commercial edge in a competitive industry. The judges observed that this year’s entries were as diverse as they were exciting and global, and we look forward to great things from them all.’
Adam Azor, Sportradar’s Director of Product Marketing, added ‘The partnership between the Sports Technology Startups and Sportradar is one that is extremely important to us; innovation and startups go hand in hand and Sportradar has built its business on the foundation of innovation. We believe startups and their evolution are the future of our industry, so we are committed to staying closely aligned to them.’
The Winners and What They Do
- Vald Performance (Australia): Vald Performance’s human measurement systems are used to improve athlete performance and welfare
- Guided Knowledge (UK): Guided Knowledge creates wearable technologies which observe and assess a user’s performance in 3D; custom, expert advice is delivered in real-time via a mobile app
- Incentive Games (UK): Incentive Games is a B2B software developer which creates innovative, engaging, accessible games which help businesses acquire, retain and monetise customers
- Adrenaline Hunter (France): Adrenaline Hunter is the first booking platform for extreme sports and adventure travel worldwide
- Danu Analytics (Ireland): Danu Analytics has created a gait analysis system for injury and performance management
- LiveLike (United States): LiveLike’s live streaming platform is a white label product that allows broadcasters to stream regular or interactive content to end users, under their own brand, on mobile and VR
For more information about the Startups or the STA Group, visit sportstechgroup.org or follow @SportTechGroup on Twitter. For more information about Sportradar, visit sportradar.com
Click to learn more about the Yahoo Sports Technology Awards and Sports Technology Awards Startups.