Welcome

Northridge TRACK Quarterly Update: Q1 2022

Welcome to the first Northridge TRACK newsletter of 2022 – bringing you a showcase of recent news about our members and highlights from recent months.

Northridge TRACK was launched in 2019 to bring together a community of growth businesses and industry participants focused on the application of technology to sport and entertainment. It is run by us (Northridge), one of Europe’s leading sports law practices, and seeks to combine core legal excellence, market expertise, and a network of established rights holders, brands and investors on the one hand and the ‘sports tech’ sector’s hottest prospects on the other, who might not otherwise be in dialogue.

Since our last newsletter, we are proud to have cemented our partnership with the leading Global sports innovation hub, Stadia Ventures, coinciding with their European expansion. We have begun hosting a Virtual European Speaker Series with them and have included in this newsletter a recording of the recent session which focussed on innovation in the health and wellness market, including speakers from Under Armour and PUMA. We have continued to be involved in pioneering athlete investment deals, including advising Thierry Henry on his investment in virtual training platform, Rezzil, and Patrick Bamford on his investment in sustainable performance trainer brand, Hylo. Read more on both of these inside.

Particular thanks goes to TRACK members dmg ventures and Teamworks for contributing to the newsletter. We’re sure you’ll find dmg ventures’ insights into investment in sport and physical wellbeing an enjoyable read and it’s great to cast a spotlight tracking Teamworks’ rapid expansion into Europe. Alongside these pieces, this newsletter features articles from the Northridge team on key themes from 2021 in relation to both investment in sports tech, and the web of regulatory developments impacting the international transfer of personal data from the UK.

There is much more on some of the above in our newsletter so please do delve in. As ever, please let us have your thoughts, comments and feedback!