Greg Norman Venture Fund Feeds Sport Tech Boom

THE surging global interest in sports analytics was confirmed this week with Greg Normans Great White Shark Opportunity Fund taking part in a $US21 million funding round for sports video start-up Playsight.

Playsight uses computer vision as a tool for analysing the performance of athletes and believes they have developed the world’s first all-in-one video and analytics, SmartCourt.

A SmartCourt uses connected cameras to analyse, index, store and stream on-court activity without any player sensors during the match or training. Playsight claims to be able to track, identify and capture the motion of players and objects in real time.

Playsight technology has since evolved from being Tennis focused to now including basketball, football, baseball, volleyball and ice hockey. In Australia, the company wants to target rugby league and cricket.

Each SmartCourt video set up costs about $US30,000 to install. This high cost of installation could inhibit its take up among amateurs and the company’s goal of bringing elite technology to a recreational level.

We have already seen a similar company Catapult make headways in Australian sport through their wearable sports technology suggesting their is a $450 million to $550 million addressable market for the use of wearables by elite athletes.

2017 was a big year for the company, seeing Catapult’s technology used in the 2017 NRL State of Origin, the 2017 AFL Finals Series, the 2017 NBL seasons and in the England v Australia 2017/18 cricket series.

Wearable technology is causing a sea change in the management of the careers of elite athletes. It has allowed players to extend their careers through targeted management of injuries.