Sports tech unicorn Whoop laid off 15% of its corporate staff late last week amid departmental reorganization, citing “new challenges and uncertainty” in the current macro environment and the need to build “a durable business that is able to withstand whatever economic climate we find ourselves in.”
A human performance data company, Whoop collects and analyzes key physiological metrics such as sleep and heart rate and computes its proprietary strain and recovery scores to guide fitness and wellness. The company has raised more than $400 million since its founding in 2012, including a $100 million Series E round in Oct. 2020 and a $200 million Series F in Aug. 2021, which gave the company a $3.6 billion valuation.
Whoop now has 550 current employees, suggesting it had employed about 630 prior to the downsizing. Among its most high-profile partners are the NFLPA, PGA Tour, LPGA Tour and WTA.
“Whoop is experiencing record-levels of engagement in our app this year and has more members than ever before,” a Whoop spokesperson said in a statement.
“Although this difficult decision impacted employees across all departments and all levels, we still expect to continue hiring to support key company initiatives in the coming months. We are as committed as ever to delivering the best membership experience and innovating on the most advanced health monitoring technology.”
Usain Bolt is sprinting into the metaverse with Step App, a move-to-earn startup that rewards users with in-game NFTs and cryptocurrency for completing physical activities such as walking their dog or going for a jog in real life. Bolt will serve as the company’s core brand ambassador ahead of Step App’s launch later this summer.
Step App says it has more than 20 million pre-signed users and that its app will be available for iOS and Android devices. Users will earn Step App’s KCAL crypto token for steps and fitness goals they complete in real life. The blockchain-based move-to- earn app will also let users buy, sell and trade digital sneakers that their characters can wear in the game. Bolt, an eight-time Olympic gold medalist considered the greatest sprinter of all time, is also an investor in endurance events booking app Let’s Do This.
“Our mandate is to inspire people to exercise daily so they feel better physically & mentally and feel we will achieve this by incentivizing their exercise by paying them in crypto,” Step App CEO Kirill Volgin said in a statement.
The Baltimore Ravens have hired Imagine AR to help create an augmented reality mobile platform for its fanbase.
As part of the two-year revenue-sharing partnership, the Ravens will leverage Imagine AR’s signature SDK Platform to drive metaverse-focused experiences for fans via their mobile phones. The deal is Imagine AR’s first with an NFL team. The company already has a deal with the La Liga club Valencia.
Imagine AR will collaborate with YinzCam, the Ravens’ app developer, to release the platform in time for the upcoming season. The team’s fans can aim their mobile devices at logos, signs, products, buildings and landmarks to activate videos, ads, coupons, 3D holograms and other team content that is housed in Imagine AR’s cloud. The Ravens have previously made mixed reality part of their game day experience, with a virtual Raven produced by The Famous Group.
Fans attending Minnesota Twins’ home games next month will be able to access a new pop-up gaming lounge to play video games at Target Field. The “Twins Gaming Dugout” will be available at 13 home games beginning on August 15 through the end of the month, in partnership with Minnesota-based esports company Wisdom Gaming.
The pop-up lounge will consist of 10 gaming stations located inside Town Ball Tavern at Target Field. All fans with a ticket to that day’s game can stop by gaming dugout from the time the stadium’s gates open through the end of the Twins game to play a variety of video games such as MLB The Show 22, Rocket League and Minecraft. Winners from MLB The Show tournaments held at the gaming lounge will be displayed on the main videoboard at Target Field.
Wisdom Gaming recently opened a new 18,000 square-foot gaming studio inside the Mall of America in Minnesota. The Twins also sponsor the Minnesota Varsity League organized by Wisdom Gaming, which is an esports league for high school students in the state.
Orreco , a sports performance company based in Ireland, debuted a new data analytics and risk management platform for teams at the recent NBA Tech Expo in Las Vegas.
The new app, [email protected] , is the coaching staff’s counterpart to @thlete , a data passport for athletes that Orreco launched in April. [email protected] collects data from a wide number of sources and uses artificial intelligence to help coaches plan what the company calls the four T’s: training, tactics, talent (recruitment and management) and tokens (Web3 enabled).
Among the features and types of analysis included in [email protected] are:
FIFA is conducting research with Fitrcoach on female soccer players, and the GPS tool was a finalist at the Barça innovation summit .
Vietnamese automotive brand VinFast has signed a global sponsorship deal with The Ironman Group to become the exclusive electric vehicle partner of Ironman and Ironman 70.3 Series events in U.S., Europe, and Asia through 2025. The agreement covers several Ironman triathlon events, as VinFast is now the first-ever naming rights partner for the Ironman U.S. Series, and the new title partner for both the 2022 Ironman World Championship and the 2023 Ironman 70.3 World Championship.
VinFast’s sponsorship of Ironman’s world championship events will run through 2025. Ironman events around the world will see VinFast host on-site activations to let fans test-drive its electric cars. The company’s electric scooters and electric vehicles will also be visible at Ironman races for consumer-facing transportation experiences and programming.
The sponsorship category for electric vehicles has heated up in sports over the past year, with automakers such as General Motors, Chevy, BMW, Kia and Polestar also airing commercials to promote their EVs during Super Bowl LVI. MLS club NYCFC also partnered in March with EV charging station company FLO. Electric vehicle leader Tesla provides its electric batteries and hardware to Formula SAE , a college student racing competition .
Note: The Ironman Group is owned by Advance Publications, the same company that owns Sports Business Journal and SportTechie.
The Drew League, Los Angeles’ iconic 50-year-old summer basketball league, will for the first time have selected games streamed on the NBA app and NBA.com starting Saturday. The summer games will stream on NBA platforms on select weekends from July 23 through the championship game on August 21.
This summer’s league features NBA stars LeBron James and L.A. native DeMar DeRozan, among others, and the NBA’s digital platforms will livestream various games (schedule still to be released on NBA.com) that feature marquee players. The NBA will produce the broadcasts and disseminate notable highlights and celebrity-driven content.
Founded in 1973, the Drew League has, over the years, drawn players such as the late Kobe Bryant, James Harden, Baron Davis, Kevin Durant and Paul Pierce.
TendedBar , the automated cocktail machine that uses facial recognition to process drink orders, will be implemented at Empower Field at Mile High for Denver Broncos homes games this upcoming NFL season. The stadium began using TendedBar at concerts earlier this summer in partnership with Aramark Sports + Entertainment and will debut TendedBar’s new digital age verification tool for Saturday’s Red Hot Chili Peppers concert at Mile High.
Concerts at Mile High this summer have offered three TendedBar stations —each 10-feet long—at locations such as Section 110 on the lower level, Section 517 on the upper level, and the West Club. The typical beverage-dispensing station includes four touchscreen units that fans can operate to select cocktail combinations across 10 liquors and 18 mixers at a time. Fans scan a QR code on TendedBar’s screen to begin the enrollment process on their mobile devices, which includes uploading a selfie , photo of their driver’s license and credit card information. The new digital age verification tool compares a fan’s selfie with their driver’s license to confirm their age before ordering alcohol.
TendedBar made its NFL debut last season during Jacksonville Jaguars home games at TIAA Bank Field, and it was also deployed at Allegiant Stadium during the Pro Bowl in Las Vegas. The PGA Tour also begun offering TendedBar at tournaments starting with January’s Farmers Insurance Open . TendedBar is not the first automated concessions service to reach Mile High, as the stadium also debuted Zippin’s autonomous checkout-free stores during the 2020 season.
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum has entered the digital collectible world. The Hall of Fame has selected Candy Digital as its official licensee of digital collectibles under a new product line called the Baseball Legends Series . Fanatics-owned Candy Digital is already the official digital collectible partner of MLB, MLBPA and WWE, among others.
Candy Digital CEO Scott Lawin spoke at SportTechie's Horizon Summit. You can read more here.
The first iteration of the Baseball Legends Series is the 2022 Hall of Fame ICON Series. On sale beginning August 2, there will be two digital packs available. There will be 1,500 available 10-packs selling for $249 apiece, with each guaranteed to have at least one digital ICON with a rarity of at least Rare (the third tier of out of five). There also will be 5,000 packs with four ICONs apiece selling for $99 each with at least one collectible graded as Uncommon (second tier). In all, there are 30 Hall of Famers included in the ICON series, including Ken Griffey Jr., Tom Seaver, Johnny Bench, and Ryne Sandberg.
Candy Digital will offer free digital collectibles to all attendees of this weekend’s Induction Weekend in Cooperstown, NY . Each blockchain-minted keepsake will include names and photos of all 2022 inductees: Gil Hodges, Jim Kaat, Minnie Miñoso and Tony Oliva, Bud Fowler, Buck O'Neil, and David Ortiz.
Future plans for the Baseball Legends Series include the use of 3D scanning technology to capture treasured baseball artifacts from the museum’s archives in digital form.
FIFA 23, the most recent and also final installment in the successful EA Sports video game series, features not only a female athlete on the cover and women’s club teams for the first time but also implemented its HyperMotion2 technology to improve the graphics and gameplay of matches between women’s teams.
HyperMotion2 animation is the product of latest iteration of the XSens -powered motion capture data . Prior to FIFA 22 , two Spanish pro men’s teams played an entire match in mocap suits to help EA Sports animators better render the athletes’ fluid motions and technical skill. In preparation for FIFA 23 , EA Sports commissioned similar exhibitions featuring motion capture technology—this time for one men’s match and one women’s match.
These new data sources helped provide more than 6,000 distinct animations taken directly from real-world, on-field gameplay. Machine learning algorithms ingested 9.2 million frames of motion capture data, taken from the 11 vs 11 matches as well as some 5 vs 5 drills.
UK-based data capture and analysis company Skylab is partnering with Lexington Sporting Club to provide player performance analysis for the USL expansion club. The company’s software will analyze video of matches and practices across Lexington’s senior teams, academies and potential recruitment targets to generate performance evaluation feedback on those players.
The club will also rely on Skylab to conduct playing style reviews and trends from other teams across USL League One, which is the third tier of men’s soccer in the U.S. behind MLS and the USL Championship. Kentucky-based Lexington SC is slated to play its inaugural season in 2023.
Skylab’s website says it previously provided performance analysis services to an English Premier League club and a professional cycling team.