New wave of global innovation supporting Victoria’s sports and major events to bounce back from pandemic

After an unprecedented year, the Victorian sports and major event industries are primed to bounce back in a big way with the second cohort of Startupbootcamp’s Sport & EventTech Accelerator beginning May 2021 in Melbourne.

As Victoria re-opens, fans are rushing back to the litany of stadiums that surround Melbourne’s CBD. Major sporting events are once again the tapestry that binds Victorians. Startupbootcamp, supported by Victoria’s startup agency LaunchVic, strongly believes now is the time to support innovative technologies to better engage fans, digitise coaching and participation, distribute virtual and immersive sports media, implement new StadiumTech, sport administration management and improve commercialisation of sponsorship and sporting assets.

Startupbootcamp will run the accelerator program from Melbourne Australia, the heart of the sporting capital of the world, using their world-class digital platform to deliver virtual content to the cohort. The cohort of global startups will bring powerful new capabilities which will change the way we consume, engage, participate in and attend sports & major events.

The 10 top global startups were selected to join the 2021 cohort by over 80 industry experts at the vigorous SBC Virtual Selection Days held earlier this week. Meet them below:

• Atlas Coaching provides celebrity and expert coaching for online sports feedback and analysis.
• CityGuyd uses Augmented Reality technology to augment real life guides and figures at travel destinations and events across the globe.
• Famecast is an all-in-one platform to help influencers make money, better connect with their audiences, and create better content.
• Full Venue is an AI Platform that predicts the exact likelihood of a fan to make a purchase, such as buying a ticket or a piece of merchandise.
• Homefans is the Airbnb for sports experiences. Homefans connects you with hundreds of trusted sports fans from across the world, hosting unique sports experiences. All waiting to take you to the biggest sporting events or show you their local culture from the inside.
• Promoshare is a closed marketplace that helps sports brands discover, engage, increase loyalty and generate revenue through hyper-local fan communities.
• refbook is a multi-sport platform that allows administrators to easily connect, manage, appoint and track sports officials with less manual workload and improved accuracy.
• Row Nation is the digital home for the Indoor Rowing community, enabling users to interact, train and compete in a virtual world.
• SportMatch is a digital talent ID platform that uses AI predictive analytics of sports suitability, to find future stars today.
• Sportvot provides a platform for sport bodies to stream their games online, local sports talent to show their skills, make them more marketable and helps them get discovered by a network of scouts/coaches as well as connect the fans to their local heroes.

These ground-breaking technologies and solutions are just a snapshot of the future partnership between technology, sport and events. The cohort will join the Sports & EventTech accelerator commencing at the end of May.

“Through adversity there can be opportunity and the current situation is no exception. Now more than ever startups need to get the right support to help them realise their ambitions and grow globally. Startupbootcamp has had some great results to date so I look forward to following the journeys of the participating startups,” says CEO of LaunchVic Dr Kate Cornick.

“As we rebound from the disruptive pandemic, the sporting & major events industry is turning to innovation and technology more than ever. New opportunities are around every corner. We are really proud to support 10 of the best global SportsTech & EventTech startups to develop and scale innovative solutions addressing real industry issues and opportunities, which will drive the sports industry forward and keep Melbourne at the forefront of the global sporting scene.” says SBC Sports & EventTech Managing Director, Oliver Howard.

SBC will work with these 10 world leading startups alongside a partnership group made up of Victoria’s startup agency LaunchVic, leading sporting bodies Cricket Australia, the Australian Grand Prix Corporation, the Victoria Racing Club, the Melbourne Racing Club, Netball Australia, Rowing Australia and our corporate and supporting partners; Australian Sports Technologies Network, University of Melbourne, Lucidica, City of Melbourne, KHQ Lawyers, Adventum, Pitcher Partners, AWS and Stripe.

For more information on the Sports & EventTech program, visit the SBC website.

For more information, contact:
Oliver Howard, Managing Director Sports & EventTech

oliver@startupbootcamp.com.au