Geek Locker Roundup #9
May 3rd, 2024
Geek Locker
Welcome back to the Geek Locker Roundup— your bi-weekly collection of the latest sports innovation news, product releases, and design resources!
Last week, I wrote about sports technology trends at the 2024 Boston Marathon. It was a beautiful weekend to spectate the race, and I had a blast catching up on the newest running products, the latest gear colors, and more! I highly recommend you run or spectate the Boston Marathon if you get a chance in the future.
Next week, I’ll be writing about the power law in sports— how it shows up in everything from television ratings to all-time points leaders. I’ll also discuss areas where the power law doesn’t show up, particularly in team sports. Is the article mainly an excuse to tour around the modern sports record books? Possibly, but hopefully it ends up being informative as well!
As always, I appreciate your engagement and please share with others who might be interested in reading about sports innovation. On to the news!
Company Cable
Company Cable highlights major and minor updates from companies around the sports innovation space.
Gemini Sports Analytics raised $3.1MM from Will Ventures after its seed funding round in 2023. The company provides teams with roster management and data analytics services, that it hopes to expand across a wider variety of sports and to leverage AI-driven insights with its new funding.
The long-tenured hockey equipment CCM is reportedly up for sale, so if you are a billionaire hockey fan, now might be the time to break in to the hockey gear market! The company has gone through several sales and acquisitions since 2000, but seems to have stabilized its business in recent years.
India-based Hudle raised ~$850k in a pre-Series A round of funding. The company has created an app that connects users with local sporting events and groups, and already has over 500,000 active athletes on its platform. This is definitely a company that I could see breaking into the US market eventually, especially if it continues to gain momentum in India.
Metabolism-testing startup Calorify closed a $500k pre-seed round, as the company looks to continue testing its energy-expenditure tracking products with new clients and further its clinical trials. Overall energy expenditure tracking for athletes is a tantalizing prospect, and it will be interesting to see how this technology progresses from asynchronous lab testing into a product capable of providing live insights.
ForActive raised a $1.5MM pre-seed round, with the Polish company aiming to make an app that makes it easier for independent sports and fitness instructors to connect with, and take payments from, potential customers.
The NBA launched the “Triple-Double: NBA Africa Startup Accelerator,” focused on investment and incubation of startups in Africa. The move highlights the NBA’s international growth strategy (not dissimilar from the NFL), and marks a further plunge into the world of Venture Capital for the league. Applications for the first class of startups in the program close at the end of May.
Ski goggle and sunglass company Zirkel Optics came out of stealth. The company is based in Steamboat Springs, and is seeking to create eco-friendly, high-end ski goggles for consumers, using 3D-printing for its frames. I’m sketpical of the environmentally-friendly claims, but am excited to see a new entrant in the performance eyewear space!
New Releases
New Releases shows off new products and features that are hitting the market.
Sea Otter 2024 (a mountain bike race) was the demo ground for dozens of new cycling products. If you love looking at beautiful mountain bikes and nerding out about new cycling tech, I highly recommend you scroll through the article linked above. Some day I’d love to attend one of these types of events in person.
SKLZ launched its first wearable device, the Hyper Speed. The screen-less Hyper Speed (a la Whoop) focuses on athlete movement tracking, providing insights into running speed and agility by measuring jumps and athlete acceleration. The device is $200, which feels somewhat expensive for such a basic device, but I could see it satisfying an agility-tracking market that is typically limited to higher-end products.
Decathlon launched a virtual shopping app for the Vision Pro, continuing the seemingly slow creation of virtual reality experiences for consumers. Vision Pro recently had its production and projected shipments for 2024 cut nearly in half after low demand, and in general it still feels like AR and VR technology remains firmly on the periphery of every day technology.
Black Crows launched a revamped version of its popular Corvus ski to strong reviews. Black Crows has really exploded onto the ski gear scene since its founding in Chamonix in the mid-2000’s, driven by a rapid expansion in the US market and the overall growth of backcountry skiing.
Goodr is slowly releasing 9 new styles of sunglasses this year, as the eyewear company seeks to build on its broad success in marketing and selling <$50 pairs of sunglasses. The new releases will almost certainly maintain Goodr’s whacky color schemes and minimalist form factor.
Some News
Some News shares select news stories from across the sports and design world.
The NFL announced that players can wear Guardian Caps during games this year, a somewhat surprising move that it hopes will reduce head injuries for players like linemen experiencing constant head contact. I’ve written previously about the Guardian Cap— I’m extremely excited the NFL is furthering its injury prevention products and protocols, but think that the product itself could use a facelift.
Amazon Prime Video has made moves to secure more live sports broadcasts. First, Prime will stream non-national Seattle Kraken games (in the pacific northwest only), and second Prime seems close to finalizing a deal to broadcast some NBA games exclusively. Both announcements show how live event streaming is becoming more stove-piped and more regionally-restricted, both concerning trends for fans looking to cut costs and simplify their sports access.
The World Anti-doping Agency (WADA) is embroiled in a scandal over Chinese swimmers testing positive for banned substances ahead of the Tokyo Olympics. This latest controversy highlights the seemingly vast “gray areas” in doping control in sports, and shines an unwanted spotlight on the incentives and outcomes of international sports governance.
The Esports World Cup Foundation has organized a $60MM Prize Pool for its inaugural World Cup, taking place in Saudi Arabia later this year. The large prize pool and scale of the event stands in direct contrast to a contracting esports market, which has receded in recent years, and is seeking to find a more sustainable path forward.
Hoka has become the new title sponsor for UTMB, the somewhat controversial trail running race organizer that was recently acquired by the IRONMAN Group. Hoka has become a staple of the trail running gear scene, and its partnership with the world’s largest trail race organizer is a move to cement its place there for the near future.
The US will be hosting Cricket World Cup matches for the first time this year. I am pretty convinced that Cricket has the opportunity to grow rapidly in the US, with the MLB seeming to have somewhat plateaued in its viewership resurgence of recent. The average value of teams in the India Premier League (IPL) exceeded $1B this year, and if cricket is like other sports and attracts investment from major private equity groups and individual investors, it will have a strong forcing function for growth, particularly in market like the US. It will be fun to watch unfold!
Grab Bag
Grab Bag features interesting or useful sports innovation and product design resources, ranging from books and websites to individual graphics.
A team of six runners claim to have set the “Caterpillar Marathon” world record at the Manchester Marathon. They ran the marathon in under 3 hours, connected by the same 6-in-1 caterpillar costume, and honestly, the images of their race are a sight to behold. This should be an Olympic event, but for Triathlon.
Researchers recently published their findings on the public returns on taxpayer-fronted sports stadiums. In a surprise to no one, most publicly-funding sports stadiums do not actually reach the returns they promise citizens paying for them. This topic continues to gain heat with the Chiefs and Bears recently struggling to grow public support for their new stadiums.
Have you ever wondered how they pack sleeping bags into the tight bags for sale? Well, wonder no longer! Now I understand why I give up halfway when I am packing down my sleeping bag for a camping trip.
Powder.com got a behind-the-scenes tour of the DPS ski factory. It always surprises me how lean the manufacturing and assembly of action sports products like skis, skateboards, and even some bikes are. Likely, it’s part of the reason so many small brands exist in these spaces!
What's driving all the mergers and acquisitions in the sports gear industry? This is a question I’ve asked myself a couple dozen times this year, and Modern Retail took a stab at answering the question for sports retailers in particular. The topic definitely deserves a deeper dive.