Sportstech investment skyrocket in 2021

Society has been experiencing enormous changes and from a technological point of view the world is experiencing radical shifts. Digital consumption, entertainment and varied behaviors are shaped by the new digital age, hyper connected and accelerated by COVID-19.

Venture Capital (VC) investments found a wide growth space in the digital world. According to CB Insights, total VC investments in startups reached US$ 621 Bn in 2021 compared to US$ 294 Bn in 2020, a 111% increase. Since 2015, the total invested ws US$ 2 trillion.

Sportstech VC investments

The same happened in sport industry and sportstech VC investments skyrockets, too. According to data from SPORTSTECHX survey: Global Sportstech VC Report 2021, investments in sports startups reached US$ 12 Bn last year and in 2020 was US$ 3.5 Bn, a 243% increased.

Investments in Sportstech totalled US$ 27,3 Bn from 2007 to 2021. This represents 2% of all startup VC investent.

Venture Capital Investments in Sportstech -2017 to 2021- US$ Bn

 Source: Sportechx

 SPORTSTECHX´s framework

SPORTSTECHX created an interesting framework to sportstech, that analyses sectors and subsectors.

Sportstech unicorns

Pandemic boosted investments

A very impactful analysis of the report was the growth of VC investments in sport after the pandemic.

The digital transformation that has lived the world has hit the sports market. Sports equipment segment, which received US$ 566 M on average each year between 2017 and 2020, jumped to US$ 1.9 Bn invested in 2021.

Physical activity software went from an annual average of US$ 513 M at the same period to US$ 1.2 Bn in 2021.

Fan engagement skyrocket too, which also burst with the gigantic digital audience created. Average annual 4-year pre-pandemic VC investments were US$ 478 M and in 2021 reached US$ 2.5 Bn

All these figures show that well-managed businesses with good governance and business practices in sport receive large contributions from investors.

USA, China and India, big markets

The U.S. market has captured US$ 11.6 Bn of the US$27 billion moved in the last five years, 43% of the total. Following China with US$ 3.5 Bn, India US$ 1.9 Bn and Canada US$ 1.1 Bn.

The big sportstech cities are New York, Jacksonville, San Francisco, Bangalore and Paris.

Fitness, NFTs and fantasy & betting, the big business

In 2021, the segment that received the big part of VC investments was fan engagement, with US$ 4.1 Bn. Fan experiences represented US$ 2.5 Bn and Fantasy & Betting other US$ 1.2 Bn.

Another US$ 3.4 Bn came from the fitness market. Digital connected fitness is a huge trend nowadays. After pandemic impacts at home sports practices received all attention. Fitness hardware and software maximized sports practice experiences in B2C and B2B business models.

NFT´s fever skyrocket the companie and US$ 2.1 Bn was invested in NFT's companies.

Fanatics, Sorare, Dapper Labs big 2021´s names

Fanatics received US$ 900M in 2021 and throughout history, it has raised US$ 3 Bn.

The second of 2021 was French NFT ecosystem Sorare, with US$ 739 M founding and US$ 728M just in 2021.

Dapper Labs who created NBA Top Shot raised US$ 550 M last year.