With massive sporting events such as the upcoming 2022 World Cup in Qatar in the spotlight this year, The Recursive takes a look at which sports tech startups in the SEE region are worth watching in 2022 for sports professionals , clubs, enthusiasts and fans. look alike.
Sporty is a Serbia-based sports startup that aims to create an online community for those building their sports careers. The startup describes itself as a social network for aspiring footballers, coaches and athletes, where they can discuss potential opportunities in the world of sports. Users of the networks can also share their past experiences, as well as showcase their abilities and post statistics of their performance when searching for testing gaming opportunities for clubs and teams. Since 2017, the network has more than 13,000 registered users throughout the SEE region.
Sporty is an advanced messaging app based in Croatia with AI-driven content for sports fans, delivering content via chatbots supported by “super fans” of various teams. According to the company’s founder, Ivan Klaric, the total funding available to the company received so far the amount spent on working on their products is almost 4 million euros and also opens offices in the United States and the Netherlands.
Rollaa startup based in Bosnia and Herzegovina, creates apps that help users track, compete and have fun while training, both outdoors and indoors. The company monitors and tracks the physical activities and health segments of its users, allowing them to take their activities to the virtual world and motivating them to live healthier lives by participating and creating various challenges. The main aim of this startup is aimed at students from all over Bosnia and Herzegovina who want to regularly jog or run indoors, and not only in the gym, but also in their house or apartment.
Second coach is an application based on gamification and made in Slovenia, to motivate children to train in sports. The app allows its users to train faster and more efficiently, motivates kids to get higher scores and become more engaged as training becomes a game, and makes training an experience through to which children are less likely to drop out of sport. The coach and parents can track their child’s progress and development in training and compare their statistics with those of their competitors. Created at the end of 2016, the company was supported by an angel investor.
Ubitrack is a Bulgaria-based football performance data company that extracts raw tracking and event data using a proprietary optical tracking system and AI. The data is used by football clubs to power the analytics tools they use. In the case of clubs that have never used such tools before, as well as agents, broadcasters and fan engagement services, Ubitrack also provides statistical reports. Like recursive reported Earlier, the startup hopes that the use of technology will help Balkan football clubs make smarter investments. Ubitrack benefits from pre-seed investment from angel fund Overkill Ventures.
Ensk.ai is a sports analytics company based in Bulgaria, focused on reducing bias in football transfers worldwide, using advanced statistical models and artificial intelligence. Combined with a deep understanding of the football club’s individual needs, philosophies and team dynamics, the startup aims to reduce transfer waste and identify the right talent through objective, data-driven methods. The company recently secured an undisclosed investment from Bulgarian venture capital fund Morningside Hill, which invested more than €3 million in four Bulgarian startups.
Sponsor.Online is a data-driven digital marketplace for sports sponsorship, providing professional football clubs, rights holders and global brands with a single platform to connect and create sponsorship and advertising deals directly without agencies or traditional intermediaries are involved in the process. Founded in 2017 and based in the UK, Sponsor.Online offers an advanced, user-friendly digital platform for the sports sponsorship market for football clubs and brands with access to a wide range of sponsorship assets and information comparable.
Sponsor.Online already works with many Balkan football clubs, such as Pirin FC, Lokomotiv Plovdiv and Botev Plovdiv from Bulgaria, NK Celje and NS Mura from Slovenia, Hajduk Split, HNK Sibenik, Osijek and Lokomotiv Zagreb from Croatia, and Radnicki Nis and Red Star Belgrade from Serbia.
