SportTechie attended several major sports technology and analytics conferences in the first half of 2018, including the San Francisco 49ers’ Innovation and Business Strategy Conference in May and Hashtag Sports in June. While venture capitalists tended to have varying opinions regarding the investment landscape, a few key themes consistently popped up: esports, gambling and streaming—all rapidly-evolving and growing markets in sports tech. Youth sports and digital fitness rounded out the top five. Here we summarize some of the conversations from those meetings, detailing the key areas of growth where investors are focusing their interest.
At the 49ers’ Innovation and Business Strategy Conference at Levi’s Stadium, Sapphire Ventures Managing Director Doug Higgins said that his company’s first investment of 2018 was not only in esports, but marked Sapphire’s first-ever investment in gaming.