Podcast with Luke Bogus: Y-Combinator Sports-Tech CEO Raises $1.6M for NIL Software Suite Startup
A few weeks ago, we had a chance to record a 30-minute podcast with Luke Bogus, the Co-Founder and CEO of Dropback. This unique startup just raised $1.6M from Y Combinator, Reach Capital, Twenty Two Ventures, among others.
Luke and Nick are building a suite of software tools for university athletic directors and GMs. The product suite will allow GMs to manage rosters & NIL salary caps.
🎙️Check out our ~30 min podcast here
➕Connect with Luke or feel free to reach out to us for an intro
💻More information on Dropback
Sports-Tech Market Activity: Investors & Deals
Venture Capital
FanUp, a mobile gaming app focused on fantasy sports and pop culture for women, Gen Z, and casual gamers, raised a strategic financing round (Mar. 4th)
Funds to fuel growth, partnerships, influencers, and new gaming features
Investors include Tru Skye Ventures and 9.58 Ventures [FinSMEs]
Welevel, a Munich-based game studio that develops survival and city-builder titles, raised $5.7M in funding to streamline development and personalized gameplay (Mar. 6th)
Expanding team and accelerating creation of a triple-A sandbox survival game
Investment led by Bitkraft Ventures; other investors include top figures from Roblox, Shopify, and Crunchyroll among others [GamesBeat]
StepOut, a video-based performance analytics platform for coaches, analysts, and players, raised $500K in Seed funding (Mar. 3rd)
Driving expansion in the US, Australia, Middle East, and Spain
Future broadening of tech to additional sports beyond football (soccer)
Investment led by Rainmatter; other investors include Misfits Capital and IndigoEdge among others [FinSMEs]
M&A and Investments
PE firm CVC Capital eyes $1B takeover of Tennis’ Madrid and Miami Open tournaments (Mar. 4th)
Competing with Endeavor’s CEO Ariel Emanuel and other possible bidders
Raine Group, to handle sale process; Goldman retained to advise Emanuel’s bid
Interest from EQT and Providence Equity, although bids have yet to be confirmed
PIF-backed SURJ reportedly in talks to acquire a stake in World Athletics’ new commercial entity at potential £500M ($644M) valuation (Mar. 6th)
Investment could accelerate the sport’s commercialization, supporting new events and financial distribution
SURJ has invested $1B in DAZN, $100M in the PFL, with additional stakes in EuroLeague and €250M ($270M) for new cycling league [SportsPro]
TKO Group closes deal to acquire IMG, On Location, and Professional Bull Riders (PBR) from Endeavor (Feb. 28th)
IMG's licensing, modeling, and golf/tennis businesses to remain under Endeavor
Morgan Stanley advised TKO; Raine, Latham & Watkins represented Endeavor [SBJ]
US Consortium reaches non-binding deal for 51% stake in Scottish Rangers FC ahead of 2025-26 Scottish Premiership (Mar. 3rd)
Group led by Paraag Marathe (49ers) and Andrew Cavenagh (ParetoHealth)
51% stake, rumored, could be an initial step to wider investment from consortium
Scottish ownership rules may initially cap individual stakes at 24.9%, though changes could be coming [Sportcal]
Guild Esports, a pro esports organization with teams competing in Apex Legends, COD, and Valorant among others, acquires fan engagement platform Encore (Mar. 6th)
Encore’s Fan ID tech to enhance Guild’s fan insights and engagement strategies
Strengthening Guild’s offerings for teams, influencers, publishers, and brands
Guild Esports investors include soccer legend David Beckham [Sport Industry Group]
Serena Williams to join ownership group of first Canadian WNBA franchise, Toronto Tempo (Mar. 3rd)
Investment is currently awaiting final league approval
Debuting in 2026 at the Coca-Cola Coliseum, hosting games across Canada
Williams to actively contribute to team’s visual branding, including jersey designs and merch collabs [WNBA]
TickPick, an online ticket marketplace, acquires fellow small/mid-sized venue ticketing platform Fanimal to expand into primary ticketing (Mar. 6th)
Following a $250M growth investment from PE firm Brighton Park Capital
Fanimal, founded in 2019, boasts over 250K users, serving hundreds of venues
Enhances TickPick’s partnership with LaLiga N.A. for watch parties and events [FinSMEs]
Mohegan Tribe, a Connecticut-based Native American tribal nation, explores investments for WNBA’s Connecticut Sun amid debt troubles (Mar. 5th)
Tribe's total debt reaches $3.1B, with $470M maturing in FY 2025
Minority stakes in franchise may be sold to fund new practice facility [SBJ]
Photo Creds: IndyCar - Chip Ganassi Racing partners with OpenAI to to optimize performance for racing strategies and front office efforts.
Strategic Ventures
TKO Group confirms launch of new boxing league backed by Saudi support, spearheaded by Dana White (Mar. 6th)
Fanatics partners with Ticketmaster to launch new ‘Fanatics Ticket Marketplace’ (Mar. 5th)
Integrating Ticketmaster’s ticketing services into its app to expand offerings
Focused on growing Fanatics' ticket and merch sales, with plans for future growth [Sportico]
Chip Ganassi Racing collaborates with OpenAI for ‘strategic research’ partnership (Feb. 28th)
Marking OpenAI’s first venture into motorsports
Optimizing performance for racing strategy and front office efforts
OpenAI branding to be featured on all CGR race cars in the INDYCAR and INDY NXT Series for the full season [Chip Ganassi Racing]
Coldplay to offer first-ever World Cup Final halftime show at 2026 MetLife final (Mar. 6th)
Show will be produced in partnership with advocacy group Global Citizen
Coldplay's Chris Martin and manager to help curate event, but may not perform [Inside World Football]
FIFAe, FIFA’s esports division, launches ‘innovation challenge’ for esports tech firms to enhance biometric tracking for live broadcasts (Feb. 27th)
Aims to expand features like heartbeat tracking, eye movement, brain waves, and reaction time
Proposals must be self-funded, with goal of improving broadcasts and fan engagement [Esports Insider]
NFL and AWS unveil Combine IQ, a fan-accessible Next Gen Stats dashboard (Feb. 27th)
Tracks 40-yard split, acceleration, and positional benchmarks
Built with Amazon QuickSight, designed to make scouting data more digestible
Using RFID data from Zebra Tech. and historical combine stats since 2003 to create predictive draft scores [SBJ]
Formula 1 partners with emerging-sports betting data supplier, ALT Sports Data, to drive fan engagement via new markets (Feb. 28th)
ALT Sports Data named ‘official betting data provider’ for F1
Generating real-time predictive analytics and proprietary odds solutions [Insider Sport]
Big 12 teams up with sports content tech company, WSC Sports, to create AI-powered video content for social media and FAST channel (Mar. 4th)
Focusing on custom highlights for football and men’s /women’s basketball
WSC works with La Liga, NASCAR, and the Cleveland Cavaliers among others [Big12]
USL expands partnerships with automated video recording startup, Spiideo, and youth/amateur streaming service, SportsEngine Play (Mar. 5th)
All USL League 2 & W League matches to stream exclusively on SportsEngine
Pro USL clubs gain direct access to scouting video for talent identification
Spiideo’s ‘League Exchange’ to centralize video analysis, box scores, & player data [USL]
Lawsuits
DraftKings settles 2023 NFT Marketplace lawsuit for $10M (Feb. 28th)
Agreed to settle over claims it sold unregistered securities via NFT Marketplace
Funds to compensate impacted users, investors, and cover legal fees
Lawsuit, filed in 2023, targeted company and key execs, citing SEC registration violations [InsiderSport]
Job Board & Opportunities: Week of March 7th
Here are some cool roles we found and personally curated this week - enjoy!