The 4th Quarter: Latest In Sports Tech This Week, February 14th, 2025

Immersive Reality Startup hits $1B Valuation, Saudi’s Back New NBA Rival League, New Job Board

Sid Balaga & Suraj Peramanu

Feb 14, 2025

Creds: Kriston Capps | Bloomberg - Check out a tour of Cosm Los Angeles

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I. Unicorn Startup Changing-up the Experience Economy: Cosm

II. Sports-Tech Market Activity: IPOs, VC, M&A, Deals, Strategic Ventures

III. Weekly Job Board: Sports, Media, Entertainment, Technology

Disrupting the $1T Experience-Economy: Cosm

If you asked us right now what the next big breakthrough in sports content would be, we’d probably say “some sort of VR tech that makes it feel like you’re at the stadium.” While not exactly VR, there’s a startup right now that is building for “shared reality.”

Since 2020, Cosm has been building immersive shared-reality venues that transport fans like they are at live games, but without the poor, sardine-packed, stadium experience. Currently live in Dallas and LA, these 65K+ square-foot venues boast 12K+ curved screens, state-of-the-art sound systems, and multiple vantage points, creating an unparalleled immersive experience.

At Cosm, you can watch the game in three locations:

The Dome - Feels like you’re courtside at the big game
The Hall - Ultimate sports bar with wall-to-wall LED displays
The Deck - Outdoor terrace with city views

After raising $250M at a $1B valuation, the immersive-tech company is poised to disrupt the entire experience economy. Movie theaters and sports bars might not exist as we know them.

Why We’re Bullish

Broad Content Catalog: CEO Jeb Terry, a former NFL lineman, is leveraging his sports network to secure rights of marquee leagues (NBA, NFL, MLB) plus unique events like NASCAR’s Daytona 500.

Emerging leagues like Overtime Elite have inked deals with Cosm to showcase an unparalleled experience for the playoffs, while non-sports content (art display and performing arts) broadens the target audience.

Revenue Diversification: Beyond venue ticket & concessions, Cosm benefits from a few key acquisitions:

E&S / LiveLike VR - Leads licensing of projector & CGI tech for planetariums around the world
C360 - Captures, enhances, and facilitates live game footage for broadcasters
Official partnerships with the NBA, ESPN, and Cirque du Soleil

Growing Market: The global experience economy is expected to grow from ~$740B to $2.5T from ‘21 - ‘35, and digital transformation is the driving force of the market’s rapid growth.

What Are Our Concerns?

Substantial Overhead: Cosm is inherently an entertainment venue - meaning venue-related overhead costs like real estate, maintenance, and labor put pressure on profits: just look at its closest comparable, the Sphere Las Vegas, which suffered a $341M operating loss in FY2024.

Screen Time Switching Costs: Fans still have many viewing options, including home theaters, local sports bars, and stadiums. With venue ticket prices rivaling in-stadium seats (e.g, Knicks @ Lakers Dome seating on 3/6), some fans may view Cosm as a one-time novelty rather than a weekly destination.

If the company can get the economics & fan experience just right, entertainment consumption will be changed forever. And when they launch in ATL in 2026, you can bet we’ll make the flight down there for the premier.

Sports-Tech Market Activity: Investors & Deals

Venture Capital

Enhanced Games, a Thiel-backed Olympics-style event allowing PEDs, secures funding from Donald Trump Jr. among other investors (Feb. 13th)
- Enhanced aims to host its first games in late 2025 or 2026
- 1789 Capital, led by Donald Trump Jr., Omeed Malik, and Chris Buskirk
- Investment co-led by Karatage, a U.K. hedge fund focused on crypto and AI, and Apeiron Investment Group [Sportico]
ScorePlay, a media asset management platform that automates content organization for sports organizations raised $13M in Series A Funding (Feb. 11th)
- Funding expansion through platform geared towards sports roles and organizations including media, broadcast, IT, teams and leagues focus
- Total funding reaches $20M, following a $5M seed round back in 2023
- Investment led by 20VC; other investors Apex Capital, Seven Seven Six, BYL Ventures, and Trybe Ventures among others [Sportico]
Epicore Biosystems, a digital health company that provides sweat-sensing wearables for personalized hydration and health insights raised $26M in Series B funding (Feb. 10th)
- Expanding globally, targeting new biomarkers for kidney & women’s health, malnutrition and toxin exposure
- Currently partnered with PepsiCo, Gatorade for fluid and electrolyte analysis insights
- Customer base reportedly grew 24x since its $10M Series A round in 2022, serving energy, construction, manufacturing and aviation sectors
- Investment led by Steele Foundation for Hope [Athletech]
PHȲND, a cloud gaming platform built for smart TVs, raised an oversubscribed $10M in Seed funding (Feb. 11th)
- Funding subscription-free platform’s beta launch 2025
- Led by Wellington Management; other investors include Bessemer Venture Partners and Connecticut Innovations Fund among others [GamesBeat]
Lingopal, a real-time sports broadcasting translator raised $14M in Series A funding (Feb. 12th)
- Expanding into Asia & Europe, growing its no-code plug-and-play solution, and translating audio of any live stream into over 120 languages within seconds
- Investment led by DCM Ventures; other investors include Scrum Ventures and Marquee Ventures among others [SBJ]
Greyson Clothiers, a golf performance apparel brand for sport, secures $20M in Series A funding to scale international expansion (Feb. 10th)
- Scaling brick-and-mortar retail, DTC channels, and wholesale partnerships
- Celebrity investors include Justin Timberlake, Larry Fitzgerald, and hockey player Dylan Larkin among others
- Investment led by NewBound Ventures and New Era CEO Chris Koch; other investors include Kendra Scott CEO Tom Nolan and Nautica founder David Chu [FinSMEs]

M&A and Investments

Saudi SWF’s Sela, Singapore back $5B international basketball league as investment partners (Feb. 10th)
- Joined by Galaxy Entertainment; previously announced backers include SC Holdings, Geoff Prentice, and Grady Burn among others
- League to feature six men’s and six women’s teams, rotating across eight global cities; players to be offered equity in the league [SportsPro]
MLB extends partnership with sports data provider Sportradar through 2032, acquiring an equity stake in the company (Feb. 7th)
- New in-game betting products to launch for 2025 season
- Sportradar to distribute official MLB data, including Statcast, to 800 sportsbook clients and 900 media companies
- MLB to receive up to 1.856M Sportradar Class A shares and receive annual license fees from Sportradar [SBJ]
Formula E team CUPRA KIRO secures investment from actor Idris Elba and major sports team owners, expanding ‘Powerhouse Investment Group’ (Feb. 11th)
- Following Kiro Race’s acquisition by US investment firm ‘The Forest Road Company’ in October 2024 and backing from Spanish car brand Cupra
- Other backers include ATL Hawks’ Tony Ressler, LAFC’s Larry Berg, and media executives Steve Bornstein and Rick Hess among others [FIA]
Tom Brady buys into sports memorabilia retailer, CardVault, in 50% stake acquisition (Feb. 12th)
- CardVault to rebrand as "CardVault by Tom Brady" following the deal
- Expansion plans include new locations near major sports venues
- Company aims to grow digital content presence to attract collectors and investors [SBJ]
Bertelsmann, a German media conglomerate acquires a minority stake in Kings League Germany through ‘multimillion-euro investment’ (Feb. 10th)
- Kings League Germany set to launch 2025; Kosmos retains operational control while Bertelsmann subsidiary ‘We Are Era’ secures a 20% stake
- Becoming the 5th international spinoff; Kosmos reportedly plans to expand leagues into North America, the Middle East, and Asia by 2026 [Inside World Football]
Hornets ownership submit bid to revive Charlotte Sting WNBA franchise (Feb. 12th)
- Competing against Philadelphia, Nashville, and Detroit for the 16th spot
- Aiming for 2028 launch, bid was submitted to bring team back to Charlotte
- Bid led by Erica Berman, alongside Hornets owners Gabe Plotkin and Rick Schnall among others [Axios]
Cain International, an alternative asset manager acquires 49% Stake in Hundred franchise ‘Trent Rockets’ for £40M (Feb. 12th)
- Acquiring 49% stake in Trent Rockets, valuing club at a £79M valuation
- Todd Boehly, founder of Cain, partially owns Chelsea FC and LA Dodgers
- Combined valuation of all ‘Hundred’ teams reaches approximately £820M [SportsPro]
NASCAR President Steve Phelps discusses openness to private equity ownership and global expansion ambitions (Feb. 10th)
- Under the France family ownership since inception in 1948
- Goldman Sachs was retained to explore potential opportunities
- PE involvement already increasing in NASCAR, with teams like Legacy Motor Club backed by Knighthood Capital Management [SBJ]

Idris Elba joins expanded Powerhouse Investment Group at Kiro Race Co

Photo Creds: FIA Formula E - Actor, Idris Elba, joins juggernaut investment group into Formula E Team.

Strategic Ventures

NASCAR partners with shared reality venue company Cosm to bring Daytona 500 to its 87-foot LED domes (Feb. 11th)
- Set to broadcast in LA and Dallas venues; marking the first time Cosm features a Nascar Cup Series event
- In collaboration with Fox Sports to deliver real-time footage from multiple vantage points
- Follows similar broadcasts of UFC, NFL, and EFL matches previously featured at Cosm venues [BlackBook]
British semiconductor company Arm, enters first sports deal with Aston Martin Aramco F1 as ‘Official AI Compute Platform Partner’ (Feb. 13th)
- Pushing AI innovation, improving car performance and predictive models
- Reportedly, 94% of automakers use ARM’s tech for newest car models, globally
- Partnership to promote diversity in motorsport, supporting STEM initiatives and the F1 Academy [SBJ]
NASCAR partners with top Roblox developer Voldex for yearlong content drops expansion on the platform (Feb. 11th)
- New ‘NASCAR World’ launches Friday, featuring a dealership for Cup Series cars, AI-driven races, and a social hub for fan engagement [SBJ]
Overtime teams up with Victory+, a free ad-supported streaming service for non-exclusive games (Feb. 13th)
- Victory+ will broadcast non-exclusive games from Overtime Elite, Overtime Select, Overtime's 7x7 football league, and Overtime Boxing (OTX) [ACCESS]