The 2018 PyeongChang Olympics were "the beginning of a series of huge sports events in Asia," according to Seth Everett of FORBES. Japan will host the 2020 Olympics and the 2019 Rugby World Cup. China will host the 2019 FIBA World Cup and Beijing will host the 2022 Winter Games. Sports "will be huge in Asian nations," so it is "natural that sports technology will be centering on these countries." With that thinking, San Francisco-based Scrum Ventures and Japanese advertising firm Dentsu partnered to form Sports Tech Tokyo. The group launched in November. Sports Tech Tokyo on Monday announced the first 14 companies that have been accepted into its program. It is an "initial wave of companies to apply and potentially benefit from new funding opportunities and exposure in the Asian region." Sports Tech Tokyo Managing Dir Michael Proman said, "We're starting in Japan for some obvious reasons. No. 1, the density of the space there, and they're our program partner. No. 2, you have some very high-profile content coming to that particular region." Plans "call for additional announcements" immediately after this week’s CES-Sports Zone conference in Las Vegas, while the bulk of accepted companies will be announced after a Jan. 31 deadline (FORBES, 1/7).
