Hello, all! After a month of paternity leave, I’m back and happy to be here. Please forgive me should I slip into baby talk or start breaking down the subtle nuances of dirty diaper origami during an upcoming phone call.
I’ve mentioned this here before -- this writer is a proud Appalachian State graduate and lover of its home, Boone, N.C. Both were hit extremely hard by Hurricane Helene, and the western side of my home state is reeling.
Please consider giving to the American Red Cross and/or the Appalachian State Disaster Relief Fund to help those who need it. Recovery will be a long-haul effort in places like Boone, and I hope that you try to get involved in any way you can.
A look at the Q3 sports tech market
Welcome to the latest installment of the SBJ Tech Funding Round(up).
The third quarter saw 12 investments that we covered at SBJ. The offerings were particularly wide-ranging, such as hydration aids and AI production. Here’s the breakdown of the funding rounds in the last three months:
Three takeaways on the money movement
No. 1: Cosm’s big haul
Could Q3 have been any better for Cosm ? The lion’s share of that success stems from its recent $250 million funding round . That also came with the opening of its second location (in Dallas) and the announcement of plans for a third venue ( in Atlanta ). The shared reality company also secured a multiyear deal with Fox Sports , adding to its connections with networks such as ESPN, NBC and TNT. Recently, Cosm has shown NFL broadcasts through the Fox Sports and NBC connections.
Watching this play out, I kept thinking back to a column that our boss Abe Madkour wrote in April from his experience of seeing the L.A. venue for the first time. As he left, two questions remained: Would a sports fan become a repeat customer, and how would it scale? Those are long-term questions for Cosm, but the traction keeps trending in the right direction.
Another good sign: Cosm has become social media catnip. It’s been entertaining to see the online masses become enamored with a technology we’ve covered for years at SBJ.
No. 2: Baseball entertainment spaces ramping up
Let the battle for baseball-themed venues begin! Two Topgolf-inspired baseball simulator brands announced funding rounds this quarter: Batbox for $7.3 million and Home Run Dugout for $22.5 million . Both rounds came with plans for further U.S. expansion, looking to marry playable formats like home run derbies with the bar scene.
I find some of Home Run Dugout’s existing and future locations to be quite strategic -- they’re paired with minor and major league baseball cities. One of its venues is in Round Rock, Texas, home of the Rangers’ Triple-A affiliate, and it has plans to add a new location at Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale, Ariz., which is the spring training home of the D-backs and Rockies.
No. 3: More media-related investment
Different forms of media continue to attract investment. In Q3, niche sport broadcaster Pro League Network secured a $4.2 million seed round, and new Dallas media outlet AllCity raised $12 million .
This was a continuation of a trend we noticed in Q2, which featured the creation of Greg Olsen’s Youth Inc . and also investments for film production/talent rep firm Range Media and newsletter publisher beehiv . The interest in media makes sense as content continues to become more customizable and with more creators in specific spaces.
For all other funding rounds from Q3, you can check out our stories below (presented in chronological order):
- Pelotero
- Lumi
- Maurten
- Shot Scope
- SportAI
- FluidLogic
- OxeFit
Status check: How AI is faring in the SBJ Tech fantasy league
This week roughly marks the quarter point of the 2024 NFL season, which is a great opportunity for Rob Schaefer to check in with the automated team running roughshod over SBJ Tech’s fantasy football league: the Tech Titans of the Gridiron.
Since we introduced our AI-powered friend in early September , it has won three of four games and stacked 505.82 fantasy points, tops in the league. Only fellow tech reporter Joe Lemire, with an undefeated 4-0 record, sits above TTotG in the standings.
More interesting is TTotG’s transaction history. It has made four waiver adds so far, one per week and clearing our leaguewide average of 2.7. Its first pickup was motivated by an injury to its starting quarterback, the Packers’ Jordan Love, but it’s since cycled between the Rams’ Matthew Stafford, Saints’ Derek Carr and 49ers’ Brock Purdy due to underperformance.
Last week, TTotG made its first non-QB starting lineup change by -- regrettably -- sitting Week 4’s leading scorer, Derrick Henry, in favor of Chargers RB J.K. Dobbins. This may have been a case of reading short-term projections too literally. Dobbins (15.4) was projected for 0.1 more points than Henry (15.3), but Henry ended up posting 35.9 points compared to Dobbins’ 9.2.
TTotG is sticking with Purdy in the starting lineup, and this week made its first non-QB waiver acquisition, dropping Ravens TE Mark Andrews for the Rams’ Colby Parkinson, whose 10.2 projected points this week nearly double Andrews’ 5.6. It’s another indication of the premium the statistical models powering the automated team place on short-term projections, but it’s clearly doing something right.
Stay tuned for another update at the halfway point.
A final note from Ethan -- I just want to point out that after a season-opening loss, I’m on a three-game win streak and plan to take down this AI general manager .
Speed reads
- WSC Sports’ integrated its vertical video product, In-App Stories, into the WMT Digital tech stack, letting WMT clients use the scrollable video format in their team websites and apps. BYU will be the first WMT client to use the feature.
- The MLS Innovation Lab is launching its second six-startup cohort of four performance-based companies, reports SBJ's Joe Lemire.
- MLS also becomes the first soccer league to invest in OneFootball, a digital media platform for soccer content based in Germany, joining a group of shareholders that includes Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich, notes SBJ's Alex Silverman.
- The Browns expanded their use of frictionless technology ahead of the 2024 NFL season, writes SBJ's Rob Schaefer, remaking their Express Beer facial authentication concessions pilot under a new name: Express Access.
- The first iteration of the NBA Africa Triple Double Accelerator, which the NBA launched in April in partnership with ALX Ventures, concluded with a demo day at the league’s Manhattan HQ last week, reports Schaefer.
- Drew Brees is investing an undisclosed amount in World Champion Fantasy’s PlayerX, which is setting up a platform for fantasy esports, notes SBJ's Jason Wilson. This marks the first investment in gaming/interactive media for the retired NFL QB, and he'll also be the brand voice for the venture.