NBA Launchpad announces new cohort of emerging tech companies

NBA Launchpad Fifth Cohort

NBA Launchpad Unveils Its Fifth Cohort Amid Accelerating Innovations in Sports Technology

The landscape of sports innovation continues to evolve at a breathtaking pace, driven by breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, immersive media, athlete monetization, and operational efficiency. At the forefront of this transformation, the NBA’s Launchpad program has once again demonstrated its leadership by unveiling its fifth cohort of emerging startups—a carefully curated group poised to redefine the future of sports. This milestone not only reflects the league’s commitment to fostering cutting-edge solutions but also highlights the rapid proliferation of technologies that are shaping every facet of the sporting ecosystem.

A Strategic, Impact-Driven Selection Process Empowers Next-Gen Innovations

The NBA Launchpad upholds a reputation for rigorous selection, prioritizing startups with high scalability, impactful potential, and integrity. The newest cohort comprises companies actively developing solutions across five key domains:

Fan Engagement Platforms: Personalized apps, interactive experiences, and community tools that deepen emotional bonds.
Performance Analytics: Real-time insights to optimize athlete training, injury prevention, and strategic decisions.
Immersive Media: Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) tools transforming how fans view and participate in games.
Content Creation & Media Innovation: Dynamic storytelling, enhanced broadcasting, and social media tools to extend reach and engagement.
Sports Betting Technologies: Advanced interfaces, compliance solutions, and real-time wagering platforms revolutionizing the betting experience.

Participants benefit from funding, mentorship, and live pilot opportunities within NBA arenas, team facilities, and digital platforms. These pilots serve as vital validation steps, ensuring solutions meet performance, integrity, and fan satisfaction standards before scaling broadly.

Industry Breakthroughs Reinforce the Trajectory of Sports Tech

Recent developments across the industry underscore the transformative potential of these innovations, reinforcing the trends championed by the NBA Launchpad.

Digital Collectibles and Generative AI: Fanatics + Adobe

Fanatics Collectibles has integrated Adobe’s Generative AI (GenAI) to streamline the creation of digital trading cards. Previously, transforming live game highlights into digital assets was manual and time-consuming. Now, Fanatics can generate dynamic, engaging collectibles in near real-time, significantly boosting fan interaction and opening new revenue streams.

Fanatics CEO remarked:
"Using Adobe’s GenAI allows us to bring live moments to fans instantly, creating a richer, more interactive experience while reducing turnaround times. It’s a game-changer for digital collectibles."

This innovation exemplifies a core trend: digital media transformation, turning fleeting game moments into lasting assets that foster deeper emotional connections and monetization opportunities.

Sponsorship Activation & Targeted Content: WSC Sports + Partnerbrite

WSC Sports, a leader in AI-powered sports video content, announced its acquisition of Partnerbrite, a London-based sponsorship campaign management firm. This strategic move enhances targeted content distribution, performance measurement, and activation strategies, enabling more effective ROI for sponsors and data-driven marketing approaches amid fierce digital competition.

Interactive Engagement & Advertising: AdArcade & the European Super League

AdArcade’s AI-powered Creative-as-a-Service (CaaS) platform expanded its influence with the European Super League, embedding dynamic mini-games and interactive ads into broadcasts and online channels. These initiatives aim to boost viewer interaction, personalize experiences, and maximize advertising effectiveness, setting new standards for fan engagement and commercial value.

Social Media Analytics & Data Privacy: Ripple Analytics + Global Media Consult

Ripple Analytics (formerly Videocites) continues refining its social media measurement tools, allowing sports organizations to monitor, analyze, and optimize audience engagement across platforms. Its analytics help brands understand fan sentiment, improve content performance, and enhance monetization strategies.

Global Media Consult has curated rights-cleared international audiovisual datasets, crucial for training AI models while ensuring legal compliance—a key enabler for lawful and scalable AI deployment in sports media.

Athlete Monetization & Digital Asset Markets: Datavault AI + Sports Illustrated

A landmark partnership between Datavault AI and Sports Illustrated launched the Athlete NIL Digital Asset Exchange, creating a marketplace where athletes can monetize personal brands via creation, trading, and licensing of NFTs and digital collectibles linked directly to their identities.

Implications include:

Diversification of athlete income streams beyond endorsement deals
Increased fan engagement through athlete-branded digital assets
Transparent, liquid NIL markets setting new standards for athlete monetization

AI in Operations, Broadcasting, and Betting

Arkero, a Seattle-based startup, recently raised $6 million to develop AI solutions for streamlining team operations, including automating scheduling and logistics. Concurrently, top leagues like La Liga analyze over 3.5 million data points per match for tactical insights, broadcast optimization, and gameplay enhancement—highlighting AI’s expanding role at elite levels.

In sports betting, AI tools are transforming prediction models, personalization, and fraud detection. Industry events like ICE Barcelona showcased AI-driven analytics for precise odds generation and dynamic marketing, creating more engaging and secure betting environments.

Kambi, a leading sportsbook provider, has recently announced plans to capitalize on AI trading enhancements in anticipation of the upcoming FIFA World Cup. Following a year of mixed earnings in 2025, Kambi aims to boost its AI-driven trading algorithms to optimize odds, manage risk, and enhance user engagement during the global tournament.

NBCUniversal is experimenting with AI-powered ad sales automation during live NFL broadcasts, aiming to optimize commercial placements and target audiences more effectively—pioneering a new era of automated revenue management.

SSTrader, in partnership with 365Scores, offers real-time forecasts of game outcomes and player performance, further fueling fan engagement and monetization opportunities in digital sports betting.

AI as a Strategic Partner: Williams F1 & Anthropic’s Claude

Williams F1 leverages Anthropic’s Claude, an advanced AI language model, to assist in race strategy, engineering decisions, and tactical insights—demonstrating AI’s capacity to support high-stakes, real-time operational decisions in competitive motorsport.

Infrastructure & Broadcast Innovation: Milano Cortina 2026

NBC Sports is investing heavily in AI-driven networking infrastructure for the 2026 Winter Olympics, deploying AI-powered network management that enables real-time data transfer, adaptive streaming, and remote production, setting new standards for global broadcast quality and immersive fan experiences.

International Collaborations and Global Growth

AI’s influence extends worldwide through partnerships such as:

FIFA’s collaboration with Globant for tactical analysis and fan engagement
Alibaba Cloud’s support for Milan-Cortina 2026, providing real-time data insights and intelligent scheduling
Lenovo’s AI-powered match analysis tools for the FIFA World Cup

These collaborations foster a globally interconnected, data-driven sports ecosystem.

New Development: Chelsea FC + IFS — Industrial AI Meets Elite Sport

Expanding beyond media and fan engagement, Chelsea FC has partnered with IFS, a global enterprise software firm specializing in industrial AI. This collaboration aims to transform the club into a living lab for AI-driven operational excellence.

Chelsea’s partnership with IFS focuses on applying industrial AI solutions to optimize stadium management, maintenance, supply chain logistics, and facility operations. This initiative provides a blueprint for modern sports organizations seeking predictive maintenance, resource management, and sustainable operations.

Chelsea management emphasizes that this approach enhances fan experience through more reliable facilities, while also reducing environmental impact and operational costs—setting a new standard for sustainable, technologically advanced sports venues.

Broader Context: Making Sports More Accessible and Engaging for Future Fans

Alongside digital and operational innovations, a significant focus is being placed on broadening access and enhancing the fan journey, especially among younger audiences. Recent initiatives include:

AI-powered content tailored for Gen Z and Gen Alpha, simplifying complex sports like cricket with AI-driven highlights and tactical analysis to make the sport more approachable.
Platforms leveraging native content, such as memes, social media influencers, and immersive storytelling, are designed to capture the attention of younger demographics and foster long-term loyalty.

These efforts are complemented by personalization tools—interactive apps, AR/VR viewing experiences, and game-day engagement platforms—aiming to make attending or watching sports more immersive and accessible.

The Future of Sports Tech: Integration, Trust, and Global Collaboration

The rapid expansion of AI across media, operations, athlete branding, and betting signals a holistic transformation of the sports ecosystem. Key themes shaping this future include:

Enhanced fan experiences via immersive media, personalized content, and interactive platforms.
Diversification of athlete income, facilitated by digital assets and NIL marketplaces.
Operational excellence enabled by predictive maintenance, smart infrastructure, and automated logistics.
Trust and compliance are paramount, emphasizing data privacy, legal frameworks, and integrity safeguards to maintain fan confidence.
Global collaboration fosters standardized AI applications and ethical governance, ensuring responsible innovation across borders.

The upcoming “Future of AI in Sports, Media, and Entertainment” conference in Milan (February 15, 2026) will gather startups, industry leaders, regulators, and broadcasters to shape ethical standards, governance, and emerging technologies.

Current Status and Implications

The startups within the fifth cohort are actively engaged in pilots, partnerships, and product launches:

WSC Sports expanding sponsorship activation through Partnerbrite.
Ripple Analytics providing deep social media insights to brands.
Prediction models from SSTrader and NBCUniversal becoming central to live engagement.
PlayerProps.ai earning recognition as 2025 Sports Betting Business of the Year, reflecting industry maturity.
Chelsea FC’s partnership with IFS demonstrating a groundbreaking application of industrial AI in elite sports.

Furthermore, Kambi is positioning itself to capitalize on AI-driven trading enhancements for the World Cup, aiming to manage risk and optimize odds during this global event. These developments underscore how AI is becoming integral to betting, media, and operational strategies, reinforcing the industry’s trajectory toward more intelligent, transparent, and engaging sports experiences.

Conclusion

The fifth cohort of the NBA Launchpad exemplifies a comprehensive approach—merging digital media, AI analytics, immersive experiences, and integrity tools—to redefine the sports landscape. Supported by strategic pilots, industry collaborations, and industry recognition, these startups are poised to set new standards and accelerate innovation across the global sports ecosystem.

The league’s leadership in nurturing these advancements not only enhances the game but also redefines every aspect of the sporting experience—from live gameplay and broadcasting to fan interaction, athlete branding, and responsible betting. All these efforts are steering sports toward a future where trust, engagement, and sustainability are central.

Engaging the Next Generation of Fans

To secure long-term growth, leagues are leveraging AI-enabled cultural strategies—including memes, social media influencers, and novel content formats—to connect with Gen Z and Gen Alpha. These initiatives aim to foster loyalty and expand viewership in an increasingly competitive entertainment environment.

Looking Ahead

The upcoming “Future of AI in Sports, Media, and Entertainment” conference in Milan will serve as a pivotal forum to discuss emerging AI technologies, ethical governance, and industry standards, ensuring responsible and innovative growth.

In summary, the fifth cohort and recent breakthroughs showcase a transformative era—where AI, immersive media, athlete digital assets, and integrity safeguards converge to reshape the sports universe. These advancements promise to enhance fan experiences, support athlete monetization, and drive global growth, propelling sports into a future defined by data-driven intelligence, storytelling, and trust.