New technology from startup ventures is transforming the global sports industry. This Startup Series has introduced over 300 startup companies in the sports technology space to a broader audience by allowing Founders of promising new ventures to tell their story and pitch their idea. Feel free to submit your startup’s answers to the below questions or contact us if you know of a startup that should be considered for inclusion in this series.
This series is supported by Stadia Ventures. If you are a sports technology startup looking for strategic investors, we recommend checking out their upcoming accelerator programs.
Company name: Fanpictor AG
Founder(s): Stephan Schuerer, CEO
Headquarters: Zurich, Switzerland
1. What is your elevator pitch?
Major brands and rights holders are no longer concerned with brand awareness. They are focused on brand affinity. They don’t care about the sign on the side of the stadium, they care about delivering unique experiences to fans inside it, at home and at retail. Fanpictor provides innovative, experiential inventory to properties, allowing them to drive higher value sponsorship deals plus new revenue streams for themselves and their corporate partners. Our analytics package provides our clients with data driven fan insights broken down by location and demographics. These are the key components of determining the true ROI of sports sponsorship deals.
2. Problem & Solution
Old stadia, limited access to WiFi, 4G coverage and bluetooth are all road blocks many teams face as they try to upgrade their inventory to meet sponsors' demands. Fanpictor’s ’Acoustic Network’, based on sending data via non-audible sound waves, Fanpictor’s suite of digital solutions provides new targeted sponsorship opportunities and data analytics that can be sold to either properties or rights holders. Fanpictor charges a one time integration fee (this covers the integration of our technology into the team, venue or brand app and the audio testing in the arena) and monthly technology license fee. In Europe, we have also worked with properties and sponsors through revenue sharing agreements, consulting and project fees.
This flexible pricing enables Fanpictor to customize its payment terms to fit the different business models and budget constraints of its varied client base across a diverse range of industries, events and geographic locations.
Our highest profile clients include; the NHL, WME | IMG, the Carolina Panthers, UBS, Porsche, Roger Federer Foundation and the Spengler Cup. allows our clients to easily by-pass these difficulties. We can engage fans on their personal devices, even if they are on airplane mode or are in the most rural locations, using nothing more than the arena’s PA system. Our solutions are fully ‘white label.’ We seamlessly integrate our technology within team apps or other digital assets, allowing sponsors to engage fans with fully customizable, branded content that appears native to the smartphone application.
3. Market – your target market and the overall market
Global sponsorship spending was $57.5 billion in 2015. Sports and music properties accounted for $34.5 billion of the total.
1st Tier targets: Top 20 clubs worldwide in each sport with weekly games; Top 100 music acts worldwide with concert tours.
2nd Tier targets: Top 21 — 40 clubs worldwide in each sport with weekly games; Top 20 music acts in regional markets with concert tours.
3rd Tier targets: Attractive single events: world cups, tennis tournaments, music festivals.
Fanpictor is currently focused on the two largest sports and entertainment markets, North America and Europe.
4. Business Model – how do you make money?
Fanpictor’s suite of digital solutions provides new targeted sponsorship opportunities and data analytics that can be sold to either properties or rights holders. Fanpictor charges a one time integration fee (this covers the integration of our technology into the team, venue or brand app and the audio testing in the arena) and monthly technology license fee. In Europe, we have also worked with properties and sponsors through revenue sharing agreements, consulting and project fees.
This flexible pricing enables Fanpictor to customize its payment terms to fit the different business models and budget constraints of its varied client base across a diverse range of industries, events and geographic locations. Our highest profile clients include; the NHL, WME | IMG, the Carolina Panthers, UBS, Porsche, Roger Federer Foundation and the Spengler Cup.
5. Management Team – with titles
Stephan Schuerer, CEO
Gemma Nicolas, CTO
Chris Cheetham, Head of Sales & Marketing
6. Financial Needs: are you currently looking for investment? Have you raised investment already? If so, who are your investors?
Fanpictor has raised $2.8 million to date. We are planning a U.S. led Series B funding round for the first half of 2018.
