Since launching the Comcast NBCUniversal SportsTech Accelerator in 2021, the giant telecommunications and media company has cast a wide net in its search for startups that it could invest in, benefit from financially and operationally and help develop.
This year’s class of startups, announced on Thursday, shows how the program has grown. Eight of the ten companies selected to participate are based outside the U.S.: four in Canada, two in the United Kingdom and one apiece in Brazil and Switzerland. Comcast received applications from more than 1,500 companies from 52 countries, up from about 930 companies from 40 countries last year.
Jenna Kurath, vice president of its startups and responsible for the accelerator, attributes increased interest, specifically international, to the good fortune of corporations that participated in past SportStech accelerators. He also discussed the presence and influence of the Premier League, the big English football league that a spouse of the show last year.
Other partners in the are NBC Sports; Air sports; The NBC Sports Group Golf Department (including Golf Channel); Then NBC Sports; Comcast spectacor (owner of the Flyadelfia Flyers and the Wells Fargo Cinput wells in Philadelphia); PGA TOUR; Wwe; Nascar; Skiing and skiing in the United States; Cycling in the United States; and use swimming. This assistance of entities that new companies are accepted for the program, and their leaders serve as mentors and corporations advisors. They can also invest or enter the association agreements with corporations that are technologies that are probably to be suitable for their activities.
Each of the 10 startups obtains a general of $ 50,000 of Comcast and Boomtown, a company that works and identifies new companies and operates the accelerator. In return, Comcast and Boomtown obtain a participation of justice in startups.
“We have some skin in the game and their success,” Kurath said. “I do think it helps keep us accountable.”
Unlike other accelerators that target corporations that are still at the conceptual level and have a concept, all of the startups in this year’s Comcast program have evolved in the generation and have a product in the market.
Zoomph Inc. , for example, is a data analytics company in Reston, Virginia, that raised an investment circular last year and has worked with Comcast in the past. And Stellaralgo is a data analytics company founded in Calgary, Canada, that struck a deal with the NBA last year in which the league acquired an equity stake in the startup. The deal gave all 30 NBA franchises access to Stellaralgo’s platform.
Aquimo Inc. , in Mesa, Arizona, which develops mobile sports games, is the other U. S. company chosen for the accelerator. The other Canadian companies are FOBI AI, an artificial intelligence and data company; Mobii Systems, a video streaming company; And Plantiga, a company that has developed sensors placed on the inner soles of shoes to measure the workload and functionality of athletes.
The four remaining startups chosen are Dizplai, a United Kingdom company that offers live graphics for broadcasters and sports organizations; Kymira, a United Kingdom company that uses infrared technology in sportswear; Mantis AI, a Brazil-based firm that uses artificial intelligence to organize raw footage and data; and Zatap, a Switzerland-based firm that uses blockchain technology to allow people to authenticate and trade products via their smartphones.
The Comcast accelerator begins on March 4 in Florida, where during that week the startups’ founders will gain access to Universal Studio, Daytona International Speedway and the Arnold Palmer Invitational PGA Tour event. They will learn about how those venues and events operate and incorporate technology and hear from and interact with NBC and league executives.
Over the next six months, the startups will continue to work on their products and advertising strategies under the guidance of mentors from certain partner organizations. The program will conclude in Indianapolis on August 27-28 at the Rally Startups Conference, where founders will provide what they have learned and how their technologies have evolved and how corporations or leagues can operate more effectively, better interact with enthusiasts and consumers or generate greater income.
“(The program) is less based on the principle: ‘You’re going to come out of this program and be able to raise this much money,'” Kurath said. Let’s face the attitude that has the opportunity to make an industry agreement. It is a source of income that helps you build a sustainable business. See a true and lasting fit between products and the market. This reduces the dangers of our initial investment. This commercial agreement, which is much more aimed at creating a sustainable business that can prosper over time.
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