Two Vancouver-based tech companies have secured business deals as part of the Comcast NBCUniversal SportsTech program.
The program consists of mentoring and connecting tech businesses with some of NBCUniversal’s partners, including NBC Sports, NASCAR, PGA TOUR, Premier League and Sky Sports.
Plantiga Technologies Inc. and Fobi AI Inc. were a part of the fourth class of the program, a cohort of 10 companies from around North America that managed to secure 15 business deals, according to an Aug. 27 release.
Over the last six months, the Vancouver-based pair has been working closely with sports organizations on pilots, partnerships and commercial deals.
Plantiga develops flat sensor pods for shoe insoles to measure an athlete’s ground contact and length of strides, facilitating analytics and preventing lower-limb injuries.
The company has been working with Premier League soccer clubs and has secured a sports performance pilot with the University of Notre Dame and NASCAR, bringing more data to the field, court and track.
It took around three years and a few million dollars to develop the technology, and was initially focused on serving practitioners like physiotherapists or strength coaches, CEO Quin Sandler told BIV in 2020.
“Most of the time, people are analyzing their patients or athletes literally with their naked eye,” he said. “There’s very few objective measures that they use to drive decision-making, which is why injury/reinjury rates are astoundingly high.”
In 2021, the company was being tapped by teams in the NHL, NBA and NFL, and closed a $1.2-million funding round with investors ranging from professional athletes to the founder of Wind Mobile (now Freedom Mobile).
Tech firm Fobi AI was also a member of the cohort, showcasing its Mobile Wallet Pass and data intelligence capabilities.
The company’s platform helps organizations open marketing channels, manage events and engage their customers by improving mobile wallets on smartphones.
This is done via what CEO Rob Anson describes as “pass bundling” through users’ smartphone wallets.
“If you have a digital boarding pass, you get your seat assignment and your credentials,” he said. “With our pass bundle, I can tie my parking voucher, my Aeroplan loyalty [program], my Nexus fast-track, Maple Leaf lounge access and duty free purchases through one platform.”
The data from all these different areas is then consolidated and can provide real-time analytics of business activities.
In partnership with Comcast Spectacor, Fobi AI is supporting the 2024 Philadelphia Flyers Community Caravan with mobile wallet credentialing. The NHL team’s caravan runs from July to September 2024.
Via the Mobile Wallet Pass, Fobi can analyze season ticket holder data, food and beverage, parking, merchandising, gaming and e-commerce for sporting events.
The company was founded in 2017 and serves as one of the biggest mobile wallet providers worldwide, serving 152 countries and 140 million users.
Comcast NBCUniversal SportsTech has been connecting organizations with major brands since their first cohort in 2021. More than 150 pilots, partnerships and commercial deals have been signed so far.
—With files from Tyler Orton