🔊 The $60M Bet On The Most Powerful Asset In Sports

This week, SkillCorner, a leading AI-driven sports tracking and data company, announced a $60 million growth investment from Silversmith Capital Partners.

Silversmith is a Boston-based growth equity firm known for backing founder-led technology and healthcare companies with long-term ambitions.

The capital will be used to expand SkillCorner’s data engineering and product teams, deepen its footprint in North America, and roll out new metrics and products designed to improve scouting, recruitment, tactical analysis, and player development across professional and collegiate sports.

Why Does This Matter?

Data is one of the most important assets in sports.

And this $60 million investment might be the biggest sign yet of what’s to come.

Over the past few months alone, we’ve seen a wave of consolidation across sports data and performance technology:

Yet SkillCorner is one of the most notable players in the entire ecosystem.

The company leverages AI and computer vision to generate advanced player and team tracking data directly from broadcast video for sports such as soccer, basketball, and football.

That data powers everything from scouting and recruitment to opposition analysis, player movement, and physical performance.

As AI continues to mature, it becomes a greater competitive edge.

The clubs and teams that win won’t just have better players or bigger budgets.

They’ll have better inputs.

Better inputs lead to better decisions across strategy, operations, roster construction, and long-term planning.

These companies are becoming the new infrastructure.

It’s no longer a nice-to-have.

Which is why consolidation will continue, and why even more capital will flood into this space in 2026.

Data is the new gold and will drastically transform sports over the next several years.

• Orreco Raises $4M. Orreco, an AI-powered performance science company based in Ireland, has raised a $4 million Series A extension from Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban, Enterprise Ireland, several pro athletes, and other existing investors. The funding will be geared towards Orreco’s Motion Signal platform. Motion Signal combines various data streams to identify potential injury risks. It also examines external workload through tools such as GPS wearables and video-based movement analysis, while factoring in internal signals pulled from the company’s own biomarker testing (more here).

• Peripheral Labs Raises $3.6M. Peripheral Labs, a science and technology company, has raised a $3.6 million Seed round to bring spatial intelligence to media, starting with live sports. Their tech produces photorealistic 3D replays and interactive angles, allowing viewers to freeze the play, swivel around, and follow any athlete on the field as though they had been inside the action. Khosa Ventures led the round with support from Daybreak Capital. The fresh funds will help them boost engineering, decrease hardware costs, and partner with broadcasters and sports teams (more here).

• Arctos Invests In Prospector Baseball Group. Arctos Partners, a notable sports-focused private equity firm, is investing in Minor League Baseball holding company Prospector Baseball Group (PBG). Arctos will serve as PBG’s lead financial and strategic partner. PBG, led by longtime sports executive John Abbamondi and tech investor Ben Boyer, has three teams in its portfolio: the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (Triple-A Marlins), Akron RubberDucks (Double-A Guardians), and Lancaster Barnstormers of the Atlantic League (MLB Partner League). Financial details were not disclosed (more here).

• Arctos & Qatar Sovereign Wealth Fund Acquire Minority Stake In Monumental Sports & Entertainment. Arctos Partners has acquired a minority stake in Monumental Sports & Entertainment, the owner of the Washington Wizards, Mystics, and Capitals, from Lauren Powell Jobs, Steve Jobs’s former wife. Meanwhile, the Qatar Investment Authority, a state-backed fund, has increased its shareholding in the sports team ownership group. Arctos is the only investment firm approved to own equity across all five major North American professional sports leagues. Financial details were not disclosed (more here).

• Hoffman Family Acquires Pittsburgh Penguins From Fenway Sports Group. Fenway Sports Group (FSG), a prominent sports ownership group, has agreed to the sale of the Pittsburgh Penguins to the Chicago-based Hoffmann family, first reported by NHL insider Frank Seravalli. FSG, led by co-founder John Henry, purchased the Penguins back in 2021 when it struck a deal with the former ownership group led by franchise legend Mario Lemieux. The sale price is around $1.7 billion, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet (more here).

• Sound Growth Partners Acquires Sports Attack. Sounds Growth Partners, a Seattle-based private equity firm, has acquired Sports Attack, a Nevada-based manufacturer of sports equipment. The investment is focused on expanding operations and development efforts. Sports Attack was founded in 1995 and has been a pioneer in the design of advanced pitching machines for baseball and softball, machines for volleyball, and passing/kicking machines for football. Financial details were not disclosed (more here).

• Win Reality Acquires Yakkertech. Win Reality, a VR baseball & softball training platform, has acquired Yakkertech, a leading optical pitch-tracking company. Simultaneously, Win Reality has launched SmartPark, an automated performance capture system. Yakkertech’s camera technology will power SmartPark’s data capture system, forming the foundation of WIN Reality’s connected athlete development ecosystem. Financial details were not disclosed (more here).

• Teamworks Acquires Opteamal. Teamworks, a leading sports tech company and operating system for collegiate sports, announced the acquisition of Opteamal, a Belgium-based athlete-monitoring platform. Opteamal has been a trusted sports tech provider across global soccer, specializing in athlete data, performance integration, and club workflow management. The acquisition helps Teamworks expand into Europe. Financial details were not disclosed (more here).

• Charlotte Hornets & Honeywell Announce Partnership. The Charlotte Hornets announced a new multi-year strategic partnership with Honeywell, an IoT platform delivering AI-enabled applications and services, making Honeywell the organization’s Official Building Automation Partner. The focus of this partnership is on deploying an innovative, AI-driven solution to enhance the safety and efficiency for all the guests, players, and employees who utilize HSE’s facilities. Honeywell will also be a Foundational Partner of the new Novant Health Performance Center, scheduled for completion in 2027 (more here).

• Netflix & Barstool Sports Announce Partnership. Netflix and Barstool Sports have agreed to a multi-year partnership, which brings some of Barstool’s top shows to the streaming platform. Under the agreement, Netflix has exclusive rights to video versions of the popular podcasts: “Pardon My Take,” “The Ryen Russillo Podcast,” and Spittin’ Chiclets.” The video versions of the three Barstool Sports shows will be available on Netflix starting in early 2026. Full video episodes of the podcasts will no longer be available on YouTube as of next year (more here).

• Kalshi & Baller League Announce Partnership. Kalshi, one of the world’s prediction markets, has signed on as the front-of-kit sponsor for all 10 teams in Baller League USA, which will launch in February 2026 in Miami. The deal makes Kalshi the first corporate partner announced for the US version of the six-on-six, influencer-led soccer league. In October, the NHL named Kalshi and competitor Polymarket as its official prediction markets, making the league the first major North American sports property to enter the emerging prediction market space (more here).

• Nick Saban Acquires Minority Stake In Nashville Predators. Dream Sports Ventures LLC, a company controlled by Nick Saban and Joe Agresti, recently closed on the purchase of a minority stake in the Nashville Predators, franchise chairman and majority owner Bill Haslam announced this week. Saban and Agresti are partners in several business ventures, most notably Dream Motor Group, one of the most successful and fastest-growing dealer groups in the southeastern US. Its portfolio includes 10 dealerships, including two in Nashville, Mercedes-Benz of Music City and Prancing Horse of Nashville, both among the top-performing luxury car dealerships in Tennessee (more here).

• Ja Morant Acquires Stake In Levallois Metropolitans Basketball Club. Catch12, the media and investment company founded by Ja Morant and his family, has announced a strategic investment in EuroStep Ventures, parent company of the Levallois Metropolitans Basketball Club, one of Europe’s most recognized basketball clubs. Levallois Metropolitans Basketball Club has produced NBA players such as Victor Wembanyama, Boris Diaw, and Bilal Coulibaly. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed, but Morant is the only current NBA athlete who has an ownership stake in a European basketball team (more here).

• The World’s 50 Most Valuable Sports Teams 2025. There is no shortage of data points to chart the spectacular growth in sports franchise valuations in recent years. Together, the 50 top teams are worth more than $353 billion, or an average of $7.1 billion each, up 22% from 2024 and more than double the mark from just four years ago. Eight franchises in the top 50 posted year-over-year increases of at least 30%, and that number doesn’t include Formula 1’s Ferrari and Mercedes, which are both up 58% since 2023 but were not valued by Forbes last year (more here).

• DraftKings Launches Predictions Market. DraftKings, one of the leading sportsbooks in the US, is entering the prediction markets business by launching DraftKings Predictions, a mobile app and web product that lets users trade contracts linked to sporting and financial events. The company stated that event contracts will be available for trading in 38 states and will eventually expand beyond sports and finance into other markets, such as entertainment and culture (more here).

• LOVB Announces San Francisco Expansion Team. League One Volleyball announced this week that it will expand to San Francisco with a women’s team debuting in January 2027. The league, which launched this year with six teams, has announced three expansion franchises; Los Angeles and Minneapolis also debut in 2027. The San Francisco team is backed by a women-led ownership group with local ties, including three-time Olympic volleyball medalist Kelsey Robinson Cook, and Bay FC founders Brandi Chastain, Danielle Slaton, and Leslie Osborne, as well as other Olympians-turned-investors (more here).

• Auburn University Launches War Eagle Mobile. Auburn University announced this week that it is launching a phone service catered toward students, fans, and alumni called “War Eagle Mobile.” The service is by Collegiate Mobile on the T-Mobile 5G Network, and each monthly payment will go toward Auburn athletics, scholarships, or student funds from War Eagle Mobile. Rates are as low as $15 per month, and include perks such as free charging stations at Jordan-Hare Stadium and Neville Arena, and the ability to win experiences such as facility tours and field access during games (more here).

This week’s guest on the Vetted Sports podcast is John Stewart.

John Stewart is the CEO & Co-founder at Fastbreak.ai.

Fastbreak.ai is a SaaS company transforming how the world of sports operates. Its AI-powered platforms deliver the intelligence behind scheduling, tournament management, and sponsor activation for professional, amateur, and youth sports organizations worldwide.

John is a serial entrepreneur who founded his first company, an engineering services firm, in 2003.

After successfully exiting that business in 2009, he co-founded Saber Business Solutions, which evolved into MapAnything, a geospatial mapping and scheduling software company, acquired by Salesforce in 2019.

In this episode, we discuss:
‣ Why John decided to start Fastbreak.ai after selling his previous company
‣ How Fastbreak.ai is looking to modernize the youth sports space
‣ The biggest long-term drivers in the future of youth sports

Check out the full episode here: Apple | Spotify | YouTube