We're proud to announce that the ten companies comprising the third class of the Comcast NBCUniversal SportsTech Accelerator have secured 25 pilots, partnerships, and commercial deals from participating in our customized program. 

Today, during the Startup Spotlight event at the SBJ Drive conference in St. Louis, founders will showcase what they've been working on, discuss the product-market fit of their technologies, and chat about how leading sports organizations are applying these solutions to solve critical business challenges. 

"Each startup team selected was enterprise-ready and given unique access to decision-makers from some of the top sports brands in the world," said Jenna Kurath, Vice President, Startup Partnerships and Head of Comcast NBCUniversal SportsTech. 

"The relationships formed working one-on-one with sports leaders are invaluable, and our founders took every opportunity to test and refine their technologies to deliver business value. Seeing our founders use their learnings from the program to gain deep customer insights to scale their businesses and find sustainable product fit in the market has been exciting. We are proud of what these entrepreneurs will continue to accomplish as we bring fans closer to the sports moments that matter." – Jenna Kurath, Vice President, Startup Partnerships and Head of Comcast NBCUniversal SportsTech.

Let's recap some of the highlight moments during the accelerator that helped these companies advance their technologies:

• The program began with a week-long partner roadshow experience in Florida designed to deepen customer discovery, taking founders into behind-the-scenes experiences at Universal Studios Florida, NASCAR's Daytona International Speedway, and the WWE Athlete Performance Center while also showcasing how PGA TOUR and NBC Sports' GOLF produce professional sporting events, like the Arnold Palmer Invitational.  
• In Atlanta the partner consortium gathered with the 2023 class to present business results from proofs of concept and pilots underway. Additional experiences at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, NASCAR's Talladega Superspeedway, and The Atlanta Braves Truist Park provided real-world exposure for the teams to see how their products and technologies could add value.

SportsTech's Unique Curriculum Paves Way for Success

SportsTech participant companies participated in a custom curriculum focused on refining their product and improving their go-to-market strategies, fundraising, sales, marketing and branding, product design, personal growth, company culture, and tactics for working at an enterprise scale.

The ten startups were vetted and selected through a highly competitive process that evaluated over 920 applicants across 40 countries. The excitement behind the SportsTech program and the efficacy of its outcomes continues to fuel interest and demand, with more than 1,500 applications for SportsTech's fourth cohort launching in Q1 2024. Since the first class in 2021, SportsTech portfolio companies have achieved 112 pilot partnerships and commercial deals with consortium partners.

"We are focused on forming long-term partnerships with each of the founders who entrust us and our program with the opportunity to elevate their positioning and preparedness to make a significant and sustainable impact in the world of sports," said Chris Traeger, Executive Director at Boomtown for the Comcast SportsTech program. "Our 2023 class has thrived from the elongated program structure, and we're thrilled to be a continued part of their growth trajectories and appreciate the impact that their continued success has on our ability to continually attract the most innovative startups into our ecosystem."  

Highlighting Our Cohort's Accomplishments 

Here is a look at some of the business deals, pilots, and partnerships our cohort companies are already working on as they wrap up our accelerator.  

Aircast – Melbourne, Australia

Aircast provides sports fans direct access to near-zero-latency multiview video, audio, and data, making them the director of their own experience. 

• The company's unique in-venue video technology is being piloted by several live sports venues in conjunction with NBC Sports Regional Networks and Comcast Business to produce near-zero latency video feeds from the production truck to the event attendees, including live replays, multi-camera views, and English and Spanish language broadcast audio. 
• This is coming off Aircast's highly successful deployment with FIFA at the Women's World Cup in venues across Australia and New Zealand.

EINBLIQ.IO – Munich, Germany 

EINBLIQ.IO is an insights and automation platform that enables media companies to operate sophisticated, excellent, energy-efficient, and economic streaming services.  

• The company is working closely with Comcast network engineering and product teams, spanning Xumo, Xfinity Stream, and Peacock, to integrate their game-changing technology for highly advanced quality of service measurement of streaming video over standard internet connections.

FanFest – New York, New York 

FanFest is the easiest way for the biggest names in entertainment to empower superfans to grow their audience with interactive shows gated by digital memberships and tokens hosted live on their digital channels. 

• In a few weeks, FanFest moved from proof of concept to live customer pilot with SkySports for their Champions League Preview show: Football Daily. 
• FanFest reached over 275k Premier League fans with a live show from Mercedes-Benz Stadium during the Summer Series stop in Atlanta.

FanSaves – Ottawa, Canada 

FanSaves is a digital couponing platform that gives fans discounts and deals from sponsors of their favorite teams, increasing fan engagement and activation while tracking important customer analytics for teams and their partners. 

• FanSaves completed a live pilot with NASCAR for the inaugural Chicago Street Race over the Fourth of July weekend through embedding in the Chicago Resource Guide that led race fans to 35+ local Chicago businesses during race weekend. The pilot was immensely successful, with more than 90% of the race fans that accessed the guide redeeming at least one local offer.

GeoSnapShot – New South Wales, Australia & Denver, Colorado 

GeoSnapShot is a Powerful AI media distribution platform that allows users to instantly share photos from an event and organize them so they can be found quickly and easily. 

• The company completed a technical proof of concept with SportsEngine using advanced AI that allows parents and athletes to find, acquire, and download video and photographic imagery from sports events in a centralized and automated way. This success led to a joint referral opportunity program nationwide.

Quicc – Wichita, Kansas 

Quicc is a powerful video content management system that automates video transcription, captioning, searching, and clipping workflows. 

• During the accelerator, Quicc completed proof of concept opportunities highlighting their advanced captioning and search capabilities that offered upwards of a 10x improvement in accuracy and throughput for digital content for three major NBC News / RSN outlets nationwide.

Rivalry Tech – Houston, Texas 

Rivalry Tech is a food, beverage, and merchandise mobile ordering platform for high-volume settings, including stadiums, resorts, hospitals, and entertainment venues. 

• After completing multiple proofs of concept with partners, Rivalry Tech is working through contractual negotiations and reviews across multiple channels within Comcast Business sports venues, enterprise businesses, and the PGA Tour.

RIZZARR – Detroit, Michigan 

RIZZARR is a content marketplace that connects brands seeking purpose-driven digital media with vetted, talented creators worldwide. 

• The company has completed proofs of concept with multiple partners, including NBC Sports and NBC Sports Next throughout the accelerator. It is currently working on a long-term paid pilot supplying marketing content services for several GolfNow customers.

Tickets for Good – Sheffield, United Kingdom 

Tickets for Good helps event partners fill venues and increase revenues by giving free and discounted tickets to targeted & validated consumer groups that support the local community. 

• Tickets for Good's ticketing platform is now live, supplying discounted golf tee times to healthcare workers in Central Florida with NBC Sports Next and GolfNow. 
• Continued growth and expertise in the UK allowed them to successfully partner with Major League Baseball and the Chicago Cubs for the London Series this summer.

Learn more about the teams represented at DRIVE and the others in our portfolio here. 

-- The SportsTech Team