The amount of investments in Sports Tech exceeded 12 billion dollars (about 12 billion euros) in 2021, more than the previous four years combined. He brings it back The sun 24 hoursexplaining that in North America there was a 160% increase in loans compared to 2020, to 6.5 billion, but the most “fertile” area last year was the Asia-Pacific region.
In the survey signed by StageUp and Chainon, the Sports Tech market is expected to reach the value of 40 billion, mainly driven by the Far East. There are four directions that this market will most likely take:
- device (especially sensors and cameras),
- smart arena (in particular software and digital value-added services),
- eSports (in particular Ticketing and Blockchain systems) and software (in particular data analytics and blockchain).
The horizon of Sport Tech is currently dominated by Web3, metaverse, and NFT, but the triggering of Augmented & Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence promises to enhance and radically transform even the most “traditional” applications, from live sports broadcasts, to betting and fantasy sports.
Among the leading companies in the sector that have increased their value in 2021 there are Fanatics by Michael Rubin, who received a $ 995 million investment expanding to other areas such as betting, media and NFT. The former French startup Sorarewhich specializes in fantasy sports built on NFTs, instead attracted a funding round of $ 680 million, starting a collaboration with Major League baseball.
In North America, on the other hand, the focus on solutions for athletes and technology for fitness and outdoor sports is still very high. Moving on to other countries, theIndia raised approximately $ 2 billion in sports technology investment business in 2021 in fantasy sports, eSports and fitness technology. There China between 2017 and 2021 it injected resources into sports technology companies for more than $ 3.5 billion, while Australia, Japan e Singapore they are the most active markets ever.
Finally, in Europe, there are ten funds and investor networks in the sports technology sector, including realities such as Apex Capital, Aser Ventures and Seventure Partners. In 2021 the data and analysis company Genius Sports, the football platform OneFootball and the Urban Sports Club booking platform were the recipients of the largest funding rounds in the Old Continent.
