Over the past three months, startups engaged
with industry leaders including with NASCAR, PGA TOUR, and WWE, to
further develop their innovations
Founders to present their new technologies at
today’s second annual Demo Day celebration
Today, Comcast announced the second class of the Comcast
NBCUniversal SportsTech Accelerator, powered by Boomtown, has
secured 21 pilots, partnerships, and commercial deals as a result
of their participation in the customized startup program. Over the
past three months, the 10 companies from the 2022 accelerator
collaborated with experts from Comcast, NBCUniversal, Sky, and
Boomtown Accelerators, along with SportsTech’s advisors, to improve
the startups’ readiness for commercial success. These founders will
pitch their businesses, showcase new technologies, and celebrate
their accomplishments during the accelerator’s annual Demo Day,
broadcasting at 12 pm ET today.
One of the hallmarks of Comcast NBCUniversal SportsTech is the
access startups receive and the relationships they forge with the
accelerator partners, which includes NBC Sports, Sky Sports,
Comcast Spectacor and Golf – alongside NASCAR, WWE, and PGA TOUR,
and three US Olympic sports organizations: U.S. Ski &
Snowboard, USA Swimming, and USA Cycling.
During the accelerator, entrepreneurs worked one-on-one with
SportsTech advisors as part of the program’s custom curriculum
focusing on go-to-market strategies, fundraising, sales, marketing
and branding, product design, personal growth, company culture, and
working at enterprise scale.
Additionally, this year founders gained exclusive,
behind-the-scenes access to three major sports partner events in
Texas: NASCAR’s Circuit of Americas, PGA TOUR’s Valero Texas Open,
and WWE’s Wrestlemania. Over eight days, startups met with leaders
from NASCAR operations, race teams and pit crews, and then learned
how the PGA TOUR executes on its ‘every shot live’ vision,
including a deep dive on the broadcasting technology utilized by
NBC Sports. Founders were able to gain real-world exposure and see
how their products and technologies could help bring these kinds of
moments to life for presenters, fans, audiences, athletes, and
sponsors alike. This enhanced visibility also allowed founders to
network and engage face to face with senior decision-makers at
partner organizations to advance business traction on current
proofs of concept and pilots, while exploring future opportunities
to earn commercial deals.
“One of Comcast NBCUniversal SportsTech’s differentiators is the
incredible collaboration, engagement, and shared innovation between
startups and partners. These founders developing game-changing
technologies have unique opportunities to work directly with senior
decision-makers at some of the top brands in sports around the
world,” said Jenna Kurath, Vice President, Startup Partnerships and
Head of Comcast NBCUniversal SportsTech. “This teamwork mentality
delivers tangible value to advisors and founders alike, as they
build on each other’s insights and needs to create transformational
businesses. We are so proud of what has been accomplished by these
entrepreneurs over the past three months and know that it is just
the beginning for these companies.”
Since the program’s launch in 2021, the first class of
accelerator alumni have participated in 30 pilots and partnerships
with SportsTech partners, including 9 commercial deals to date.
Some of these alumni were able to join founders, advisors, and
mentors as part of this year’s Demo Day celebration during a
‘Startup Spotlight’ event for investors and ecosystem partners.
The 2022 class and special guest speakers will discuss the
outcomes, learnings, and their ideas during this afternoon’s Demo
Day presentation which is broadcasting at 12 pm ET here.
Applications are also now open for the 2023 accelerator class.
For those interested in applying to join the next Comcast
NBCUniversal SportsTech accelerator and to learn more about the
program’s eight focus 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, visit www.comcastsportstech.com.
SportsTech is a key part of Comcast NBCUniversal’s Startup
Engagement initiative, a comprehensive approach to partner with
startups to create and elevate innovative technologies that benefit
the company’s customers and communities.
Meet the 2022 class of the Comcast NBCUniversal SportsTech
Accelerator, powered by Boomtown:
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.
The company’s unique white label technology is being piloted by
the GolfPass team at NBC Sports Next to automate the booking of
golf, hotel, and airline packages in a single itinerary, for the
first time.
HeadVantage, Arlington, Virginia HeadVantage
visually captures the “impossible” moments and insights in sports,
fused with biometric and performance data, from the athlete’s
vantagepoint.
In just a few short weeks, HeadVantage moved from proof of
concept to pilot to live content on the GolfPass Instructional
network showing the point of view of the renowned instructor Martin
Hall, host of the Golf Channel’s School of Golf. HeadVantage is
also scoping opportunities with other SportsTech partners,
including the PGA TOUR and Sky Sports.
Ice Cream Social, Newport Beach, California Ice
Cream Social is a widget that can easily bolt onto any website or
checkout flow, rewarding word of mouth marketing for the digital
world we live in today - essentially turning all your customers
into advocates for your brand.
The company has worked closely with NBC Sports, NBCUniversal
Local, NBC News Group, NBC Golf, and other founders within the
program to show integration paths to put their one-of-a-kind
technology as an embedded part of an event, media, or merchandising
workflow.
LetzChat, Westlake Village, California LetzChat
translates customer interactions in real-time into the viewer’s
language. This includes video (VOD subtitling), websites, mobile
apps, text messages, chat support, and even Live Subtitling. The
tech offers 100+ languages, with 94.5% - 98.7% translation
accuracy, according to the company.
The team has completed or is executing 11 proofs of concepts,
pilots, and business deals with many Comcast NBCUniversal
SportsTech partners. Their approach, simplicity, and speed has
helped them build a ‘home run’ technology and the team is in the
final stages of security validation before going live in a
commercial setting.
Local Sports Network, Austin, Texas Local Sports
Network is a digital community that strengthens ties between sports
fans, high schools, and athletes.
The company is completing a technical proof of concept with
SportsEngine and is moving toward a commercial relationship while
also exploring possibilities with several other partners.
Meetlete, San Diego, California Meetlete is a fan
engagement platform that allows fans to experience a four-minute
meet-and-greet with their favorite athletes, coaches, and sports
personalities.
During the accelerator, Meetlete has been exploring
opportunities with NASCAR and the Xfinity Marketing team to quickly
and easily facilitate short virtual experiences between Xfinity
Racing Series drivers and Xfinity Rewards participants.
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.
The company is in the final stages of an NBC Sports proof of
concept created to align with the NBA Finals and exercise the
unique Moneyline customer acquisition and retention techniques in
the real money betting ecosystem.
Movrs, Los Angeles, California Movrs empowers the
next generation of sports content experiences by utilizing machine
learning to generate biomechanically accurate motion data – live
and in real-time.
After completing a live demonstration, the company is now
working with the Sky Sports team to scope a paid pilot (in
combination with some of the Sky award winning in-house
technology), with potential sports analysis growth in areas such as
Cricket, Golf, Boxing and other sports markets.
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.
The company has completed proofs of concept with multiple
partners including the PGA TOUR, WWE, NASCAR, NBC Golf and several
sports foundations throughout the accelerator and is currently
working to finalize long term deals with several partners.
Uru Sports, Traverse City, Michigan Uru Sports is
the global professional network helping elite athletes answer
"what's next" by providing high-value opportunities, insights, and
connections.
The company has completed a proof of concept and is now scoping
a pilot with athletes from U.S. Ski & Snowboard while
simultaneously working on opportunities with other partners to
uncover new talent using the Uru platform.
About Comcast Corporation Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq:
CMCSA) is a global media and technology company that connects
people to moments that matter. We are principally focused on
connectivity, aggregation, and streaming with 57 million customer
relationships across the United States and Europe. We deliver
broadband, wireless, and video through our Xfinity, Comcast
Business, and Sky brands; create, distribute, and stream leading
entertainment, sports, and news through Universal Filmed
Entertainment Group, Universal Studio Group, Sky Studios, the NBC
and Telemundo broadcast networks, multiple cable networks, Peacock,
NBCUniversal News Group, NBC Sports, Sky News, and Sky Sports; and
provide memorable experiences at Universal Parks and Resorts in the
United States and Asia. Visit www.comcastcorporation.com for more
information.
About Comcast NBCUniversal SportsTech Comcast
NBCUniversal invests in the best sports tech startups in the world.
We back this investment by providing our startups with a rigorous,
custom curriculum, and we surround our entrepreneurs with a dream
team of sports industry advisors and experts who are passionately
dedicated to helping them succeed. Comcast SportsTech features a
partnership of four of Comcast NBCUniversal’s sports brands - NBC
Sports, Sky Sports, Comcast Spectacor and Golf – alongside NASCAR,
WWE, and PGA TOUR, and three US Olympic sports organizations: U.S.
Ski & Snowboard, USA Swimming, and USA Cycling. This network of
partnerships brings an early lens into innovation solutions,
exclusive access to research and business insights, and
differentiated value to Comcast’s media rights relationships. The
program brings creative solutions to the partner consortium and to
market through the lens of eight core investment categories: Media
& Entertainment; Fan/Player Engagement; Athlete/Player
Performance; Team & Coach Success; Venue & Event
Innovation; Fantasy Sports & Betting; esports; and the Business
of Sports. Visit www.comcastsportstech.com to learn more.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220526005102/en/
Media Contact: Louise Eich Comcast 202-839-2659,
Louise_eich@comcast.com
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