WIN Reality, a virtual reality sports performance tool, raised a $45 million investment from Spectrum Equity, a firm specializing in internet and software. Ancestry.com, Bitly , Grubhub , Headspace Health and SurveyMonkey are among the dozens of companies in Spectrum Equity’s existing portfolio.   

Austin-based WIN Reality includes training tools on Meta Quest for baseball and softball hitters . A majority of MLB organizations and more than 100 NCAA baseball and softball teams are among the existing users. The digital library includes some 7,000 real-life pitchers and almost two million individual pitches. The company more than tripled its revenue and customer base in 2021, with users facing almost 40 million pitches over the year.   

According to a joint study between MLB and WIN Reality, MLB hitters improved their batting averages by 19% and their on-base percentages by 12% when using WIN’s VR product for game prep.    

Topgolf, which has plans to expand to 81 locations world-wide, has broken ground on its latest facility in the greater Boston area.

Located in Canton, Mass., roughly 20 miles southwest of Boston, the venue is slated to open in late 2023 and will be the Topgolf’s first foray into the state of Massachusetts. The facility will have 90 separate hitting bays that each contain heaters, fans and Topgolf’s standard Toptracer technology that tracks ball speed, distance and powers gamification by inserting RFID chips into the golf ball.

Customers, for instance, will be able to play an AR golf version of Angry Birds or a new digital spinoff called Shankstars where mythical characters such as a T-Rex skeleton play metaverse-styled courses that have unorthodox hazards.

The Callaway-owned company currently has 70 sites up and operating, with others coming soon in locations such as San Diego. Its marquee facilities in the U.S. are likely a four-floor, 120-bay venue just outside of Las Vegas and a relatively new spot in West Los Angeles that includes a renovated adjacent 10-hole, par-3 green grass course called the Lakes at El Segundo.

The 10th hole at the West Los Angeles location includes the same ball tracking technology used during PGA Tour broadcasts and can be downloaded to golfers’ smartphones through a QR code at the course.

Topgolf first trialed in the Boston area during its Topgolf Live Stadium Tour, when Fenway Park was converted into a temporary course. Players were able to hit tee shots from the stands in the direction of targets strategically placed on the field. Starting today through Nov. 9th, Topgolf will reprise the Fenway Park experience.

Because Boston — along with Minneapolis’ Brooklyn Center — is one of Topgolf’s cold-weather sites, the company is Topgolf is potentially developing AI and machine learning that can enhance the experience in inclement weather.

"Our golfers do come out and play during a blizzard with friends and family," Topgolf’s vice president of technology Scott Lovejoy told SportTechie in June. "So, I think AI and machine learning are going to help stitch things together if the ball gets lost in view or the snow."

Dick’s Sporting Goods has dedicated $50 million to form DSG Ventures, a new fund to invest in sports startups focused on retail operations, artificial intelligence, youth athlete training, and other areas to improve the customer experience. DSG Ventures will work with advisory firm VentureFuel on a Retail Innovation Program to identify startups focused on e-commerce, in-store experiences, and AI.

DSG Ventures has made initial investments in five startups:

Courtside Ventures is backed by Cleveland Cavalier owner Dan Gilbert and is focused on funding startups within sports, gaming and wellness. Its previous investments include athlete stock market Mojo, Nifty Games, and sports betting geolocation provider Xpoint.

EL1 Sports has partnerships with MLB and the Los Angeles Dodgers to host camps and tournaments for youth baseball and softball players. Previous efforts from Dick’s to innovate its retail offerings include its virtual storefront launched earlier this year on Roblox.

Web3 gaming platform LootMogul has partnered with Metaverse Sports Group to create NFTs and other blockchain opportunities for 17 former NFL players.

Co-founded by Washington’s two-time Super Bowl champion wide receiver Gary Clark, Metaverse Sports Group has enlisted LootMogul to develop digital and physical tokens for retired players such as Super Bowl XXII MVP Doug Williams, former all-pro defensive end Dexter Manley, former Hogs Raleigh McKenzie and Rick Walker and former 1,000-yard receivers Ricky Sanders and Santana Moss, among others.

LootMogul, which bills itself as an athlete-led sports metaverse with an interest in creating digital sports arenas, named former WNBA and Olympic star Lisa Leslie as a brand ambassador in March. Other former athletes who have sold their NFTs on LootMogul include ex-NBA players Carlos Boozer and Mario Chalmers.

The company, whose platform mainly focuses on blockchain gaming, raised $200 million in funding this September from investment firm Global Emerging Markets Group to help support a platform where fans can play trivia games, collect NFTs for real-life benefits and interact with virtual stadiums or other digital properties from brands.

Hoop Culture and DKS Apparel are two other brands to have joined with LootMogul, which also partnered in March with the Sandbox virtual world platform. As part of its deal with Metaverse Sports Group, LoopMogul has recently staged player-fan events at FedEx Field, the homefield of the Commanders.

Hospital for Special Surgery has raised a $21 million Series A funding round to launch RightMove, a musculoskeletal physical therapy program expected to begin treating patients by the second quarter of 2023. New York-based HSS is renowned as the top-ranked orthopedic hospital in the U.S and its specialists serve as team doctors for the Nets, Mets, Giants, Knicks, Liberty, and Red Bulls, among other NY/NJ sports teams.

The funding, which was led by Flare Capital and HSS, will be used to build out the technology platform needed to conduct live physical therapy sessions between patients and physical therapists from across the U.S. HSS says that more than $380 billion per year is spent in the U.S. to treat musculoskeletal-related issues, and that access to physical therapy can reduce high-cost surgeries, injections, emergency room visits, and imaging.

RightMove is the latest effort from HSS to make injury prevention resources more affordable and accessible, following the hospital’s Move Better Play Better virtual training program that is working with 50 U.S. high schools. The hospital is also a longtime partner of the TCS New York City Marathon and owns naming rights for the Brooklyn Nets HSS Training Center. Biomechanics analysis though AI strength training machine Proteus Motion and motion caption camera system Dari Motion are among the premium injury prevention technologies offered by HSS.

The TCS New York City Marathon App has added a new Course Camera feature for spectators to livestream the progress individual runners during parts of the race. This year’s event will also be the first major marathon to provide mobile app livestreams of the professional men’s and women’s wheelchair and open division races from start to finish.

ESPN and ABC will domestically broadcast the 51st NYC Marathon on Sunday, Nov. 6, while the app will share second screen experiences for fans. The new Course Camera feature lets app users select the specific runner they want to livestream at five key points: at the start, mile 8 in Brooklyn, mile 17 in the Upper East Side, mile 20 in the Bronx, and at the finish. Runners will again wear RFID chips in their bibs provided by Chronotrack so that fans can track their progress on the app, alongside live leaderboards, estimated arrival times, recommended course viewing locations, and social media cheer cards.

Mumbai-based Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has sponsored the NYC Marathon since 2012. New York Road Runners, the event’s organizer, says its mobile app is typically downloaded a half-million times every year.

Asics is continuing its digital growth with the release of new running shoes in partnership with blockchain provider Solana and Web3 lifestyle app Step’N.

The new Asics GT-2000 11 sneakers are only available for pre-order between Nov. 4 and 8 and can only be purchased with USDC, a crypto coin pegged to the US dollar, via Solana Pay at ui.asics.com. The shoes’ two color schemes — light mode and dark mode — are inspired by Solana’s user interface options and are supposed to represent the balance between screen time and physical activity. The Step’N move-and-earn app encourages exercise by enabling users to earn more rewards by walking and running.

All purchasers receive an Asics Badge NFT and have the opportunity to be selected for a small quantity of Asics x Step’N GT-2000 NFTs. Asics first minted an NFT in July 2021 with its Sunrise Red collection and previously partnered with Step’N in April 2022.

Formula 1 has renewed its partnership with Amazon Web Services and will expand its use of the company’s machine learning and cloud software to iterate future track designs, deliver regionalized media offerings, and develop new gaming experiences for fans around live events. The expanded deal will also support F1’s goal of being Net Zero Carbon by 2030 through helping the racing league reduce freight and personnel travel through remote production capabilities provided by AWS.

AWS has worked with F1 since 2018 but has now been named a global partner of the league. F1 has leveraged AWS machine learning to launch 20 new statistics since 2018 related to car performance, such as broadcast graphics for full throttle, heavy braking, and cornering percentages for drivers during races.

Design for the 2022 F1 car was also done in part through AWS’s high performance computing (HPC) enabled complex two-car Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) aerodynamic simulations. The renewed partnership will also focus Increase focus on offering F1-themed AWS Deep Racer and AWS Gameday programs to fans as part of online STEM learning to develop ML and AI skills.

Wearable soccer device Playermaker and Manchester City have partnered on the release of CityPlay, educational and training content developed by the Premier League powerhouse club. 

Man City academy athletes are users of the Playermaker tracker, a shoeworn sensor that can collect data on the user’s physical, tactical and technical performance. The CityPlay membership includes video and feedback based on the playing philosophy of the reigning EPL champions. Among the learnings to be imparted are context for the importance of certain skills and insights specific to each position. All CityPlay members will also have access to connect in a social community.

This club-branded product follows a recent pairing of Arsenal and STATSports, as one example. Man City launched its digital CoachingHub last year as another initiative to democratize the club’s training education.

The Professional Fighters League has debuted a 24-hour streaming TV channel in conjunction with the Xumo, Local Now, Sports.TV and SportsTribal platforms.

The FAST distribution channel features video from the MMA league’s event library, PFL Vault episodes, archived shows, behind-the-scenes footage, weigh-ins and news conferences. Already live on Xumo and Local Now, the streams are scheduled to launch on Sports.TV and Europe-based SportsTribal sometime ahead of the PFL World Championship on Nov. 25.

Throughout November, the PFL FAST channel will show past PFL title fights and features on former PFL champions. Other programming will preview the upcoming World Championship at Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theatre.

Considered the No. 2 MMA company, PFL events air on ESPN and ESPN+ in the U.S. and are streamed to 160 countries via Channel 4, RMC Sport, Eurosport, Sky Sports and others. The league — which has raised up to $175 million in funding —  features SmartCage, a proprietary data and analytics platform that enables real-time wagers and next-gen statistics. PFL had previously launched its own streaming service though the league’s app that offered similar behind-the-scenes footage, classic fights and fighter interviews.

Whoop has named Jaime Waydo as its new chief technology officer and Dr. Patrick Carroll as the human performance company’s first chief medical officer. 

Waydo’s extensive experience includes 14 years at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where she worked on the Mars Curiosity Rover, among other projects. She also spent nearly three years as a senior director at Apple and five years as a systems engineer at Waymo, working on autonomous-driving cars. Whoop’s previous CTO was co-founder John Capodilupo, who stepped down in April after 10 years with the Boston-based startup.

Carroll previously held the same title of chief medical officer at Walgreens, Vida Health, Hims & Hers, Integrated Care Partners and Granite Medical Group. He is charged with advising on health-related product features and helping expand the enterprise unit, Whoop Unite.

“We are thrilled to welcome these two leaders who will supercharge our efforts developing the world’s most advanced health monitoring technology,” Whoop founder and CEO Will Ahmed said in a statement. “Jaime has worked on some of the 21st century’s most ambitious projects from the Mars Curiosity Rover to vascular heart surgery robots to autonomous vehicles. Dr. Carroll has had an extraordinary career at the nexus of primary care and medical innovation. They will help us scale our business even further in the coming years.”