StartCup

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And the finalists for the 2020 WFS StartCup by GSIC are…
And the finalists for the 2020 WFS StartCup by GSIC are… 2048 1021 WFS Live

4D Sight (USA), BBox Sports (Netherlands), Beyond Sports BV (Netherlands), IDOVEN (Spain), Immersiv.io (France), iSPORTiSTiCS (Brazil), Pico-Get Personal (Israel) and Sport Buff (United Kingdom) are the eight finalists of the 2020 WFS StartCup by GSIC, the startup competition that aims to locate the best ‘sportech’ projects and/or startups with innovative solutions that can impact the sports industry in general, and football in particular.

These eight startups were selected after an online pitch that took place on Thursday July 9th during Day 4 of WFS Live powered by Ronaldo, a virtual event that gathered 158 industry leaders and over 3,400 attendees from 120 countries. They will all take the stage again in the next edition of WFS Live for a final pitch after which the jury will decide the winner.

The eight finalists come from seven countries (two of them are from the Netherlands) and three different continents. The majority of them are focused on providing fan engagement solutions for football properties through AI, AR, VR, Machine Learning and other technology tools.

The winning project will receive one year of free membership to the Global Sports Innovation Center powered by Microsoft and a scholarship to the GSIC Institute’s Master in Digital Transformation. All the selected finalists will receive two complimentary passes for the next edition of WFS Live, which will take place in Q4 of 2020.

This is the fifth edition of the WFS StartCup. Thermohuman, 3D Digital Venue,  YBVR and GameReady, winners of the four previous editions respectively, have since gained great notoriety in the sportech ecosystem. The 2020 WFS StartCup by GSIC registered 90 candidacies from 30 countries. The jury shortlisted 16 pre-finalists that had the chance to pitch during WFS Live powered by Ronaldo.

The jury of the 2020 WFS StartCup by GSIC is composed by relevant industry professionals such as Paul Bragiel, Managing Partner at Bragiel Brothers, Iris Córdoba, General Manager at GSIC, Danny Cortenraede, President & Business Owner at Wannahaves, Edson Crevecoeur, Vice President, Strategy & Data Analytics at 601 Analytics, Andrew Gilligan, Head of Research & Insights at City Football Group, Aaron Gourley, Editor at FC Business Magazine, Charlie Greenwood, Founder and CEO at Sports Loft, Samuel Jackman, Chief Development Officer at VenueNext Europe, Mathieu Lacome, Head of Research & Development at Paris Saint-Germain, Sebastián Lancestrémere, WW DT Partnerships & Sports Industry Managing Director at Microsoft, Sam Li, Head of International at Sina Sports, Thomas Lim, Deputy Chief at Sport Singapore, Massimo Marinelli, CEO at Aser Ventures, Rohn Malhotra, Co-founder at SportsTechX, Unmish Parthasarathi, Founder & Executive Director at Picture Board Partners, Fredda Rodríguez, Head of Digital and Emerging Technologies at CONCACAF, Minerva Santana, Director of Innovation and Global Development at LaLiga and Luis Vicente, Group CEO at Eleven Sports.

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90 startups from 32 countries have registered for the WFS StartCup
90 startups from 32 countries have registered for the WFS StartCup 2048 1365 WFS Live

90 startups from up to 32 different countries across the globe have submitted their candidacy for the WFS StartCup by GSIC, the international startup competition that aims to locate the best sportech projects and/or startups with innovative solutions that can impact the sports industry in general, and football in particular. 

Spain, the UK and the USA are the countries that have submitted most candidacies this year, while Fan Engagement & Experience has been the most popular category. 23 percent of the startups are offering solutions focused on this area.

In the coming days, the jury will deliberate and decide the 16 projects that will be awarded the right to pitch their projects during WFS Live on July 9th. The eight finalists will be announced on July 27th and will have the chance to pitch in the next WFS online summit, in which the winner will be announced.

The jury members of the 2020 WFS StartCup by GSIC

This will be the fifth edition of the WFS StartCup. In its four previous editions this competition received over 800 applications from startups around all the world. 30 of them had the opportunity to present their solutions to the world’s industry leaders at World Football Summit events. 

Thermohuman, 3D Digital Venue,  YBVR and GameReady, winners of the four previous editions respectively, have since gained great notoriety in the sportech ecosystem.  All four of them are currently working with top international sports entities such as LaLiga, NBA, Ligue 1, Australia Open, MLB, MLS, Mutua Madrid Open, Davis Cup, Manchester City, FC Barcelona, Wembley Stadium or Atlético de Madrid, among others. 

“Having had the fortune to participate and win the StartCup has been an immense help for us. It is difficult to measure the impact, but it has certainly helped us improve our positioning and brand image, and that is something very valuable in a project like ours,” said ThermoHuman founder Ismael Fernández in a recent interview.

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Ismael Fernández (ThermoHuman): “Technology is going to be crucial to make things feel normal”
Ismael Fernández (ThermoHuman): “Technology is going to be crucial to make things feel normal” 1840 1209 WFS Live

Ismael Fernández is the co-founder of ThermoHuman, a pioneer company specialized in the use of Infrared Thermography to prevent injuries. We met Casado two years ago, when ThermoHuman became the second winner of the WFS StartCup by GSIC. We recently caught up with him to talk about the challenges that the sports industry will have to face in the “new normal” as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and how technology can help overcome these challenges.

Q. First of all, tell us briefly about your company, what solutions does it provide and what partners are you currently working with with in the sports industry?

A. ThermoHuman is a pioneer company specialized in the use of Infrared Thermography to prevent injuries, to monitor them and to improve performance in humans. During the last 10 years we have been researching (8 PhD and more that 40 scientific articles published) and working with health, research and sport institutions (LaLiga, PSG, Everton FC, Houston Rockets, etc.). The results showed up to a 70% reduction of muscle injuries. The system is based on a camera that takes thermal images from subjects and a software that uses computer vision algorithms to let us know in a matter of seconds which body regions might have any potential risk of injury: fast, non-invasive and objective. Our main added value is focused in creating artificial intelligence based on machine learning and computer vision algorithms to identify automatically body regions in thermal images from humans, and also neural networks to create prediction features associated with thermal patterns and pathologies/injuries. In addition to that, we have now developed a specific application for COVID-19 based on elevated temperature face detection in real time.

Q. Why did you decide to participate in the WFS StartCup competition? What goals were you aiming to achieve?

A. We know very well the reputation of such an event and we considered that our technology fits perfectly in the approach of WFS StartCup by GSIC Our goals were to test if experts on the field and the audience might think the same, to show and explain our technology and benefits (which are unknown for almost everyone) and obviously to gain visibility and strength our brand in the sector.

 

Ismael Fernández receives the WFS StartCup award from Iris Cordoba in 2017.

Q. What impact did winning the WFS StartCup competition have on your project?

A. World Football Summit has become a reference event at a national and international level in a very short time. Having had the fortune to participate and win the StartCup has been an immense help in our great objective of publicizing the application of thermography for the prevention and monitoring of injuries in sports and health sector. It is difficult to measure the impact, but it has certainly helped us improve our positioning and brand image, and that is something very valuable in a project like ours.

Q. Technology has been playing a crucial role in sports for quite some time now, but its importance will still be increasing in the upcoming years. In which areas would you say we can expect more impact in the coming years?

A. No doubt we are going to undergo a long process to what we knew as “normality”. In our opinion, technology is going to play a crucial role in making everything seem as “normal” as possible: fan engagement, stadiums, television, sharing experiences, health control, etc.

 

Q. COVID-19 is going to present new and unprecedented challenges for the sports industry once competitions resume. How do you think technology can help overcome these challenges? What new developments do you eye?

A. As I mentioned before, technology is going the help us feel we are closer to what we know as “normality”. Reducing the COVID-19 risk and making the football experience as much real as possible are the main challenges. From our side, we can help mitigating the risk of infection using our technology in sport venues and stadiums by screening fans and players to detect body elevated temperature.

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Francis Casado (MMC) on how to guarantee revenue with venues at 30% capacity
Francis Casado (MMC) on how to guarantee revenue with venues at 30% capacity 1794 907 WFS Live

Francis Casado is the Head of Business Development of Mobile Media Content, a company providing virtual visualisation technology for major sport venues across the world. We met Casado four years ago, when MMC became the first winner of the WFS StartCup by GSIC. We recently caught up with him to talk about the challenges that the sports industry will have to face in the “new normal” as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and how technology can help overcome these challenges.

Q. First of all, Mr. Casado, tell us briefly about your company, what solutions does it provide and what partners are you currently working with with in the sports industry?

A. MMC has developed a platform called 3D Digital Venue. 3DDV is a B2B SaaS company delivering the world’s most accurate 3D-VR venue digitalization technology for the Sports and Performing Arts industries. The company has developed 3D Digital Venue, a unique scalable API-based technology platform, providing 360-degree seat views of every single seat to any ticketing system worldwide.

Q. Why did you decide to participate in the WFS StartCup competition? What goals were you aiming to achieve?

A. MMC with its 3DDV has been growing at a global scale thanks to its technology and the partners that have decided to work with us. 3D Digital Venue platform has become a de facto standard for vast majority of ticketing platforms. Although the platform has been quite successful in the foreign countries, we have been struggling to land national clients. We believe the Spanish league has a lot of potential and interesting clients.

Q. What impact did winning the WFS StartCup competition have on your startup?

A. We were promoted in several newspapers and especially in social media. We received some calls from local companies and a couple of clubs interested in exploring synergies.

Q. Technology has been playing a crucial role in sports for quite some time now, but its importance will still be increasing in the upcoming years. In which areas would you say we can expect more impact in the coming years?

A. We believe that premium sales are going to increase in the following years, especially due to the influence of Covid-19. Social Distancing tools are also technologies that have risen the interest of clubs and venue managers. Last but not least, being able to attend events remotely or interact with fans that are not part of the live event physically is also a trend. In a nutshell, security, safety, staying connected and interacting with people are key areas.

Q. Covid-19 is going to present new and unprecedented challenges for the sports industry once competitions resume. How do you think technology can help overcome these challenges? What new developments do you eye?

A. Social Distancing algorithms for creating new venue layouts. Planning tools for managing fans, adapting existing services such as Food and Beverage, merchandising or premium experiences to the “new normal” will be a challenge. In addition, guarantee revenue for clubs and venue owners is also a challenge understanding they can manage 30% of their venue capacity, best case escenario.

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The 2020 WFS StartCup by GSIC kicks off!
The 2020 WFS StartCup by GSIC kicks off! 1707 1217 WFS Live

World Football Summit (WFS), in partnership with Global Sports Innovation Center powered by Microsoft (GSIC), are launching the StartCup 2020, an international competition that aims to locate the best sportech projects and/or startups with innovative solutions that can impact the sports industry in general, and football in particular. 

In its four previous editions – three in Madrid and one WFS Asia edition in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) – this competition received more than 800 applications from startups around the world. 30 of them had the opportunity to present their solutions to the world’s industry leaders at World Football Summit, the international reference event of the industry. 

The winners of the first four editions, 3D Digital Venue, Thermohuman, GameReady and YBVR, respectively, have since gained great notoriety in the sportech ecosystem.  They are currently working with top international sports entities such as LaLiga, NBA, Ligue 1, Australia Open, MLB, MLS, Mutua Madrid Open, Davis Cup, Manchester City, FC Barcelona, Wembley Stadium or Atlético de Madrid, among others. 

The jury members of the 2020 WFS StartCup by GSIC.

The call is for projects and/or startups that offer solutions that impact the football particularly and/or sports industry in general in any of the following areas:   

  • Team & player performance
  • Business insights & analytics
  • Smart & immersive facilities 
  • Fan engagement & experience 
  • Media platforms
  • Generation of sponsorship 
  • eSports, emerging sports, virtual currencies & betting
  • Mitigation of pandemics & public health

The call aims to showcase, support, nurture, and train entrepreneurs to transform their projects into successful companies, while improving their projection, growth, and scalability. In addition, this year there is a new feature, as startups are invited to present innovative initiatives aimed at responding to the crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, which will have multiple and important consequences for the sports industry in the upcoming months. . 

Héctor Prieto, CEO of YBVR, receives the award during WFS18.

“From the GSIC we have created a catalogue of solutions, which is constant update, to help sports entities to mitigate the COVID-19 crisis, but we are convinced that the current situation is a learning experience for everyone and we must have identified the solutions that will help us to be better prepared for this kind of emergencies in the future“, says Iris Córdoba, General Manager at GSIC.  

“Technology plays an essential role in football. In recent years, solutions have been implemented to allow improvements in all areas of sport and industry, some of which have come out of this StartCup. But football must still benefit from technology, especially in the light of the coronavirus crisis. In the upcoming months, sport will have to face some challenges that can only be overcome through technological innovation. At WFS we are proud to be able to contribute by acting as a link between entrepreneurs and industry,” agrees Jan Alessie, Director of WFS. 

The call will be open from May 14 to June 21. The 16 top-ranked proposals will have the opportunity to present their solution to the jury during WFS Live powered by Octagon, a new virtual congress with a global reach that will gather the most important international industry leaders from July 6-9. It will be then when the eight finalists will be selected to make the live pitch at WFS20 (September 23 and 24 in Madrid), where the final winner will be chosen.

CALENDAR 

  • Application opens: May 14, 2020 
  • Application closes: June 21, 2020
  • Selection announcement: June 29, 2020
  • Online pitch at WFS Live: July 9, 2020
  • Finalists announcement: July 27, 2020
  • Live pitch at WFS20: September 23 & 24, 2020 

Click HERE to apply

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