Sport AI company STATS has announced a partnership with Perform, owned by DAZN Group.
Enabled by an investment from Vista, the partnership will combine STATS’ AI expertise with both companies’ historical archives, creating “a treasure trove of sports data primed to be unlocked by AI.”
Machine learning will be deployed to improve team performance and projections of sporting outcomes. These innovations will extend across all of STATS and Perform, including Opta, RunningBall and Watch&Bet, allowing rights holders, leagues, media and gaming partners to derive maximum value.
STATS CEO Carl Mergele said: “Bringing Perform into the fold will create the most advanced AI company in sports, providing deeper, more robust data and insights, which is essential to our global partners.
“Not only will we be able to improve our offerings to existing customers, we now have the opportunity to expand our presence in global markets where Perform has paved inroads for years as a leader in digital sports content.”
DAZN Group CEO Simon Denyer added: “It’s great to welcome a new era for all our content products, B2B partners, and Perform colleagues. Over 12 years we created a leading global portfolio of content and clients, but the combination of STATS and Perform takes the service to a new level of potential for everyone.”
The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2019, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.
Meanwhile, Aser Group (parent company of Leeds United and Eleven Sports) has invested in Sports Data Labs (SDL), a technology provider for in-game capture, analysis and distribution of real-time human data. SDL plans to use the new funds to continue development of the company’s proprietary AI/machine learning platform.
