Odell Beckham Jr. Invests in Kasheesh to Split Online Payments

2022-06-23 13:45:18 By : Mr. Teddy Liu

NFL star Odell Beckham Jr. has invested in digital payments splitting platform Kasheesh, which has announced $5.5 million in funding. Private equity firms Courtside Ventures, Tribe Capital and Anthemis also invested in Kasheesh, as well as former Stanford baseball pitcher turned entrepreneur Sahil Bloom.

Kasheesh lets consumers split online payments across a combination of credit, debit and gift cards — with the idea being that it prevents shoppers from maxing out one of their cards. Beckham’s investment in the online payment startup comes after he signed a deal with Cash App last November to convert his salary from the Los Angeles Rams into Bitcoin. He has also made previous investments in the investment app Titan, at-home climbing workout machine CLMBR, and is an Oura Ring ambassador.

Since its closed launch, Kasheesh has brokered more than $2.2 million in user transactions and purchases. The platform is currently only available to consumer in the U.S.

Ahead of Thursday’s NBA Draft at Barclays Center, SportTechie spoke with projected top picks Paolo Banchero, Chet Holmgren and Jaden Hardy at an event held Tuesday at the Smokey Vale barbershop in Brooklyn, NY. The prospects highlighted Catapult’s wearable devices and a playbook learning software from Virtual Repetitions as some of the performance technologies they’ve used during training.  

The event was hosted by electric shaver brand Phillips as part of its campaign to promote its Norelco OneBlade razor. While starring as a freshman at Duke last season, Banchero and his teammates wore Captault’s GPS tracking-device in a pouch under their jerseys during practices and games. Data from the device was reviewed by Duke’s sports science staff for player load management purposes.  

“We were able to see how fast you were running, outputs, stuff like that. After a loss you were able to see, these are our stats from Catapult, and after a win these are our stats and compare,” Banchero said Tuesday. “If a player is tired or playing extended minutes, you'll be able to see their decline or increase off the Catapult. It definitely gives you a good idea of how the player is performing.”  

Hardy skipped college to play for the NBA G League Ignite team this past season and recalls using a similar tracking wearable. “In practices and games, they used to put a tracker in our shorts to track the distance we were running. One time our trainer told me I ran almost five miles, I was like dang.”  

While Hardy is projected to be selected in the second-half of the first round, Banchero and Holmgren are both expected to be drafted within the top-three picks. Holmgren, the former Gonzaga star repped by WME Sports and BDA Sports , signed an NIL deal with online playbook software Virtual Repetitions ( VReps ).  

“There’s an app called VReps I’ve used that’s a pretty cool concept,” the 7-foot-1 Holmgren said. “You input plays onto the app and put on some VR goggles, and it’s almost like you’re playing [NBA] 2K except you’re going over plays.”  

In conjunction with the 50 th anniversary of Title IX, Phil Knight’s sport venture company Division Street is launching NFTs that will celebrate and benefit female student-athletes from the University of Oregon.

Labeled as "Visions of Flight," the NFTs were designed by the innovative artist Lili Tae in concert with 12 University of Oregon women athletes, including the influential 6-foot-7 basketball player Sedona Prince who has been outspoken about athletic equality.    

Knight’s Division Street—through its "Ducks of a Feather"  platform—has placed a priority on Web3 and NFTs while trying to create opportunities for University of Oregon athletes. The concept of the "Visions of Flight" series is to ensure that female athletes at the school can artistically express their voices.  The collection goes on sale on June 30, and 75% of the revenue will be equally shared by the participating athletes.

Also inspired by the activism of New York Liberty and former Ducks basketball star Sabrina Ionescu , Division Street and the digital artist Tae created personalized NFTs for Prince, Briana Chacon (golf), Jadyn Mays (track and field), Harper McClain (cross country), Terra McGowan (softball), Blessyn McMorris (acrobatics and tumbling), Allison Mulville (tennis), Gloria Mutiri (volleyball), Brooke Nunerviller (beach volleyball), Te -Hina Paopao (basketball), Croix Soto (soccer) and Alyssa Wright (lacrosse).  

Related: More on NFTs will be covered at SportTechie’s upcoming  Horizon Summit, July 12-13.

Dalet, a Parisian technology and media provider, will manage video highlights for the country’s governing body for soccer, Ligue de Football Professionnel .  

Leveraging its cloud-native logistics platform Data Flex, the company will create and distribute highlights for the two premier football leagues in France— Ligue 1 Uber Eats and Ligue 2 BKT—which includes 44 professional teams.  

Data Flex’s technology includes the automated ingestion, preparation and release of the football footage, which will allow the Ligue de Football Professionnel to seamlessly post highlights from more than 100 teams to YouTube and Dailymotion. The in-depth video will also be available on the governing body’s website through a premium subscription.

Aser Ventures has invested in Sponix Tech, an AI-powered sports broadcasting software startup based in Doha, Qatar. Broadcast cameras can leverage Sponix’s computer vision software to create immersive replays from the perspective of on-field players during matches.

Qatari broadcaster beIn Sports has used Sponix during soccer broadcasts. The startup also partnered with UEFA to share Champions League player’s view highlights to UEFA.TV and on social media. Networks and sponsors can also use Sponix’s software to add virtual ad placements to broadcasts.

Andrea Radrizzani’s Aser Ventures also has ownership stakes in English Premier League club Leeds United and international sports streaming network Eleven. Top soccer leagues to stream on Eleven include MLS, Bundesliga, Serie A, the Premier League, Champions League and Liga MX. Eleven’s deals outside of soccer include rights to stream the NFL in Belgium and Portugal.

BreakAway Data has partnered with Speedworks Training, a smartphone-based sprinting analysis tool, to integrate its technology. 

Speedworks analyzes 10-to-20 meters of an athlete’s sprinting using a slow-motion video and provides biomechanic feedback on form, classifying runners in one of four primary archetypes. The premise is to democratize access to this type of objective coaching for athletes in all sports, not just track and field. Speedworks founder Jonas Dodoo has trained elite athletes in MLB, the NFL, the English Premier League, the Olympics and pro rugby.

Founded by Steve Gera and Dave Anderson, BreakAway Data is an athlete-centric data app to provide easy access to data and recommendations. The app will ingest and organize Speedworks data into BreakAway’s coaching portal, called Stacks. BreakAway’s platform will help amplify Speedworks’ analysis and instruction.

The NHL has launched a digital augmented reality replica of its Stanley Cup for fans to view on their mobile device, desktop, or tablet. The experience was created in collaboration with Canadian 3D visualizations company Dynamic Vision. 

The digital trophy features engraved text of every Stanley Cup championship team from 1893 to 2021, with names of more than 2,000 players also engraved on the trophy. Fans can access the AR experience via the NHL’s website or by scanning a QR code with their phone. Engraved on the digital Stanley Cup includes replications of notorious errors, such as when the 1980-81 champions New York Islanders had their name misspelled as the “NEW YORK ILANDERS” on the real trophy. 

Fans can also access the digital Stanley Cup as a photo filter on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. Entering Wednesday, the  Colorado Avalanche lead the Tampa Bay Lightning, 2-1, in the best-of-seven series. Tonight's Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals will air on ABC and stream on ESPN+. Beyond replicating their championship trophy in AR, the NHL has also taken a shot at replicating the magic of Wordle with their own version of the game, dubbed Stanley Cupple.

Sparta Science, a movement performance company specializing in force plate data, has partnered with seven healthcare organizations. The most recent addition is Orlando Health, a Central Florida hospital network that is also the official medical provider for MLB’s Tampa Bay Rays, Orlando City SC of MLS and NWSL’s Orlando Pride. 

The cloud-based Sparta Science platform analyzes movement data and provides feedback to patients through a mobile app and to clinicians who can use the machine learning analysis as a second opinion to assess rehab protocols and plan treatment.

Among the other recent Sparta partners are Inflect Health, which has deployed Sparta in seven of its clinics, and Louisiana’s Ochsner Lafayette General. Founded by strength coach and physician Dr. Phil Wagner, Sparta’s roots are in elite athletics and tactical units.

Nielsen and LaLiga Tech, the technology subsidiary of Spain’s top soccer league, collaborated on a new study that found sports fans aged 34 and younger claimed to follow an average of 6.3 sports, a marginal increase compared to older generations. The survey is based on responses from 20,000 fans across the Gen Z, Millennial, Gen X and Baby boomer age groups.

The surveyed fans came from 15 countries across North America, Europe, Asia and Africa. Fans 34 and under listed a total of 65 different sports as being of interest. Nearly half (46%) of the younger fans (Gen Z and Millennial) prefer to watch sports on smartphones or tablets. The same group is 41% more likely than older fans to engage with fantasy sports while watching a game broadcast while 55% of Gen Z fans expect to see and interact with live statistics during a broadcast, according to the report.

Of the 20,000 fans surveyed, 41% watch some sporting events via a streaming platform. Roughly half of that audience (47%) say they also watch traditional television simultaneously while streaming sports. According to Nielsen, multi-screen consumption for Gen Z increased 10% globally over the past year compared to a 5% increase for all demographics.

“This report underlines trends that we have been monitoring for some time; digital audiences are being attracted to sport through gaming, streaming content or mobile apps, but their level of fandom has not changed, in fact it may even be increasing,” LaLiga Tech product lead Fabio Gallo said in a statement. “Now is the time for sports organizations to prepare for the change by creating owned digital platforms that allow their content to be discovered by a new generation, using data analytics to create stronger fan links than we have ever seen before.”

Through a partnership with the cloud-based platform Spiideo, the elite youth Gothia Cup soccer tournament will be livestreamed in its entirety.

Every match of the Gothia Cup, to be played July 17-23 in Gothenburg, Sweden with a pool of approximately 35,000 players, will be available via Spiideo’s automated fixed and portable SmartCam systems. The automated application allows 1,620 matches to be shown along with graphics, match analytics and commentary. Streams will be live and then available to be watched via replay.

Spiideo's  technology will also be used for handball’s Partille Cup, July 4 through 9th and for the Gothia Floorball Cup in January of 2023 – which means the company will livestream a total of 6,000 sporting events in three sports.

After three years of research and development, the tech company Altis is releasing its interactive AI personal trainer to the public.  

The company’s software engineers have constructed a Movement Operating System designed to create a gamified, mixed-reality training regimen for users. The sleek product is seamlessly attached to any home screen and can be personalize individual workouts without the use of wearables or sensors.  

Altis utilizes a trademarked BodyGPS , or motion capture system, that uses computer vision to identify a user’s limbs and joints within one centimeter of pinpoint accuracy. With 4D capability, the system is able to monitor a user’s fatigue in real time to determine what weight and how many reps should be lifted during training.  

AltisVision is another trademarked mixed-reality aspect of the unit that gamifies the workout by creating a real-time avatar of the user, along with graphics and visual cues to ensure the user has proper technique. Via artificial intelligence, the unit’s machine learning also creates individualized short and long term workout suggestions for the user.  

Software engineer Andrew Rabinovich, the former leader of AI at Magic leap and co-founder of Headroom , was among the developers.