Ryerson and MLSE Launch a Sport Innovation Lab and Announce its First Cohort of Startups

Ryerson University and Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment (“MLSE”) have teamed up to launch the Future of Sport Lab (“FSL”) which is a research and innovation lab dedicated to sports tech. The goal is to create a sport business environment anchored by innovation and entrepreneurship. The FSL will connect Canadian sport properties, industry partners, entrepreneurs, experts, faculty and students with the hope of generating innovative sport business solutions and technologies.

On January 17, 2019, the FSL announced its first cohort of start-ups to join the FSL incubator. The FSL’s first cohort was selected from a pool of applicants from across North America. The incubator was seeking businesses that were in the early seed stage and had a product that could be pilot tested within the following four months. Further, the incubator wanted businesses that were seeking to raise between $500k and $5M in the next 12 months.

Here are the six businesses that were selected to be part of the first cohort of the FSL:

1. Performance Phenomics – a sports analytics company utilizing brain imaging assessments to quantify an athlete’s performance potential;
2. Rival.ai – an eSports company providing scouting reports for teams;
3. SkillShark – a company offering an integrated coaching platform to evaluate athletes across multiple sports;
4. Spalk – a business providing customers with hundreds of different commentators on every live game;
5. Stakes – a platform permitting real-time sports wagering between friends; and,
6. The Gist – providing sports news, experiences and a community created by women, for women.