HYPE Sports Innovation, a global network of zero-equity and virtual sports-technology startup accelerators, announced the exclusive group of 10 early-stage startups that will be pitching in front of blockchain and sports industry investors and VCs at the prestigious demo-day, which will be held at NYU, on September 18, 2019. The demos and pitches mark the culmination of the intensive three-month-long HYPE Blockchain Accelerator program, which was launched in collaboration with the Preston Robert Tisch Institute for Global Sport of the NYU School of Professional Studies (NYUSPS), TON Labs, Sportradar and ISDE. The startups were rigorously selected by HYPE and its partners in June of this year, and they represent the top 9% of applications from around the world in this space.
“With our specific focus on sports technology, we see that blockchain is an ideal enabling technology for the full gamut of emerging sports transformations,” said Vince Gennaro, associate dean at the NYUSPS Preston Robert Tisch Institute for Global Sport. "Our relationship with HYPE Sports Innovation, a global leader in capital for sports tech and innovation, represents a perfect match for our industry-centric approach coupled with academic excellence.”
Led by Dr. Nir Ben Lavi, the CEO of HYPE US, and through its global network of accelerators, HYPE Sports Innovation identifies the world’s highest-impact, highest-potential sports-technology startups, and helps them to successfully launch, grow, and secure funding. HYPE’s sport-blockchain accelerator is the organization’s twelfth unique accelerator program and is designed to identify the most promising companies working on blockchain applications that aim to improve the world of sports. The program includes an intensive, two-day bootcamp, personalized mentoring processes, weekly remote classes from top experts, and access to an unrivaled ecosystem all culminating in the demo-day in front of partners, investors, and sports clubs. Previous HYPE accelerator programs have partnered with leading sports brands such as FC Cologne and Shakhtar Donetsk, as well as with leading universities from around the world such as the University of Queensland and Loughborough University.
As part of HYPE’s 2019 cohort, the selected startups will continue to have unrivaled access to expert mentorship from top sports and blockchain executives, thought leaders, and corporate partners. The startups will also continue to engage in HYPE’s virtual curriculum, which has been designed to address key challenges throughout each phase of the early-stage lifecycle, including discovery, development, deployment, and distribution.
HYPE expects dozens of sports-technology and blockchain focused investors to attend the event in order to consider the startups’ pitches.
2019 HYPE Sports-Blockchain Cohort
Bethereum (Hong Kong): Bethereum combines Blockchain and gamification to deliver the most innovative and engaging betting platform on the market. Offering betting on sports, eSports, and third-party games, it delivers unique social elements and maximum simplicity for a truly rewarding experience. The platform also has an important B2B angle, including white-label offerings and revenue share from third-party developer integration.
Instant Sponsor (United States): Instant Sponsor is a blockchain-powered global sports sponsorship marketplace. Our platform provides an integrated solution to seamlessly connect sponsors and rights holders across sports, eSports, entertainment, business, and lifestyle via a blockchain and smart contract powered P2P platform. Our integrated system incorporates industry-leading tools and ROI metrics into a vast catalog of available inventory.
Lympo (United States): Lympo is a health and fitness app that uses an incentivization model and rewards people for living healthy lifestyles. Behind that, they are building blockchain based user-generated user-owned data sharing marketplace uniting various health apps, wearables, smart gyms, and data-driven companies.
Vanywhere (Israel): Vanywhere is a brand new platform that incentivizes brand advocates to work on behalf of the brand. These aren’t mere employees. Their trustworthy power comes from the fact that they are unofficial brand ambassadors - they’re actual people who love and live sports. Vanywhere provides new customer experiences by creating a dialog via live video, voice, or chat.
PUML (Australia): PUML - Personal Units and Movement Levels, is a new HealthTech platform that helps incentivize active movement through a sophisticated rewards protocol based on blockchain technology. It includes a secure digital health record specializing in wearable data to help with early diagnosis of lifestyle diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and obesity.
SportZblock (Australia): SportZblock is a blockchain powered private social network for clubs fusing the proven trio of betting, social media, and e-commerce (marketing, sales, and advertising) that captures, attributes, and distributes digital rights to clubs via securing ownership of data at the source. It offers the world’s first architecture for monetization of member social media and collective data with crypto incentives for sustained fan engagement and an open portal for third-party digital rights capture incorporating digital betting and incentivized advertising.
IQONIQ (Monaco): IQONIQ is a revolutionary fan engagement and social media ecosystem that exclusively targets the sports, media, and entertainment industry. A best-of-breed social engagement platform that enables leagues, clubs, and athletes to better manage and monetize the value of their global fragmented fan base and social media assets. The platform uses blockchain to record fan behavior including incentives, engagement, rewards, and redemption.
Peerspoint (Switzerland): A non-profit + for-profit market blockchain platform core for supporting athletes, and sport federations; securing performance data, health/drug data, promoting gender and socioeconomic equality, and AI/ML data-driven governance to tackle widespread malpractice.
Globatalent (Spain): Globaltalent blockchain Sports Exchange. A global marketplace for the sport industry. We developed a tool that can be used by clubs and athletes to finance themselves and improve their fan engagement. Giving fans the opportunity to contribute and have a participation in their favorite athletes, sports idols, clubs, and more. Athletes can obtain funds to focus on developing their career. Clubs can obtain financing in exchange for a percentage of their future incomes from tickets, sponsorship, television rights and more, in a secure and transparent way.
Tixico (Latvia): Tixico is an EOS blockchain-based ticketing service designed for both the primary and secondary market.
About the NYU School of Professional Studies Preston Robert Tisch Institute for Global Sport: Recent innovations in global sports consumption, the use of online and social media to engage and to build a fan base, and the implementation of redesigned sports business models, have resulted in a range of issues and opportunities for individuals working in the sports industry. Successful professionals in this field now need to understand strategic business principles as they apply to different aspects of the global sports industry.
Through interdisciplinary curricula, field internships, alumni-student mentorship, applied research, individualized degree advisement, a dedicated and accomplished advisory board, and faculty members who are experts in their fields, the NYU School of Professional Studies Preston Robert Tisch Institute for Global Sport provides the pathway to help students meet their professional goals in the sports business industry.
The Tisch Institute's graduate and undergraduate programs provide a top-notch education and the opportunity to meet and to network with industry leaders. Its location in New York, home to more sports teams, leagues, and media outlets than any other metro area in the country, offers the perfect setting for gaining a comprehensive overview of the complexities of the business. The Institute’s renowned, highly attended professional conferences and events provide an unparalleled opportunity to learn from leaders in their fields. For more information, visit sps.nyu.edu/tisch.
About the NYU School of Professional Studies: For 85 years, the NYU School of Professional Studies has been a deeply respected institution of higher education that is grounded in applied learning. From its early years, training returning World War II veterans to fulfill the nation’s urgent need for skilled technical workers, it has evolved into a professional education powerhouse that offers 19 graduate degrees, 13 bachelor’s degrees, four associate’s degrees, and a plethora of non-degree courses and credentials.
NYUSPS is a thought leader and serves as an incubator for new ideas in industries that are constantly changing including real estate; hospitality, tourism, and travel; global affairs; sports management; publishing; marketing; public relations; project management; human capital management; systems management; translation; and professional writing. It is focused on building skills that open doors to opportunities in emerging fields and global markets. NYUSPS faculty members are leading experts in their areas of discipline, with a hands-on approach that encourages students to push beyond their limits and to break new ground.
Home to some of the largest and most prestigious industry conferences in the world, including the Schack Institute of Real Estate’s Capital Markets Conference and REIT Symposium, and the Jonathan M. Tisch Center’s International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference, the School’s invaluable connections to industry leaders is a truly distinguishing factor in the education that it provides. Through guest lecturers, site visits, participation in numerous conferences and events, and Global Field intensives, students benefit from unparalleled access to the top minds in their areas of specialization. In addition, they have the opportunity to learn from and network with more than 25,000 NYUSPS alumni who live and work around the world.
About HYPE Sports Innovation: HYPE has built the largest global ecosystem in sports innovation. With over 40,000 members, including retail brands, athletic clubs, federations, and academia, together with more than 11,000 startups, HYPE has an unrivaled capacity for outreach to global partners across all sectors in this highly diverse field. HYPE currently operates twelve sports tech accelerators on four continents in partnership with top athletic clubs, such as 1.FC Köln, and academic institutions, such as Loughborough University and NYU. HYPE's business model is to leverage this platform to grow from the surging needs of the sports industry to innovate and convert sports innovation into business success.For more information, contact Mr. Tomer Sagi at Tomer@Hypesportsinnovation.com
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