INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana Economic Development Corporation and Indiana Sports Corp have partnered to launch a new nonprofit organization, SportsTech HQ. The purpose of SportsTech HQ is to create impact in Indiana through investments in sports tech, maximize existing investments in sports tech through sports community collaboration and partnerships, cultivate a sports tech ecosystem which inspires and facilitates innovation, and builds Indiana’s brand as a sports tech destination of choice.
The launch and success of Techstars Sports Accelerator Powered by Indy in 2019 demonstrated that Indiana has a unique set of sports and technology assets to attract top performing international venture startups to the state. SportsTech HQ was formed in an effort to capitalize on this successful attraction of venture startups and to further build Indiana’s sportstech business ecosystem.
"Indiana has developed an international reputation for amateur and professional sports over the last four decades,” said Brad Chambers, Indiana Secretary of Commerce. “By focusing on the future of sports technology, we are taking intentional strategic steps to ensure Indiana is the hub for sports technology companies for the next four decades and beyond."
As one of the first investments made by SportsTech HQ, One-Zero, the sports and entertainment summit, will relaunch this year in Indianapolis. The event will bring together some of the leading minds in sports business at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Headquarters from July 6th - 8th, 2022.
The One-Zero summit established itself in Dublin, Ireland over a three-year period culminating in 1,000 attendees from 16 different countries gathering for the last edition of the event in 2019. Previous organizations who have spoken at the event include executives from the Premier League, the NFL, Formula1, and leading global brands such as Nike and Microsoft.
Indianapolis is known as the “city where champions are crowned” and hosts events such as the Indy 500, as well as having various professional sports teams including the Indiana Pacers, Indiana Fever, and Indianapolis Colts. The city is also home to the Techstars Sports Accelerator Powered by Indy, the top sports accelerator in the world. This year’s summit will also include the fourth annual Techstars Sports 2022 Demo Day featuring 13 of the top early stage sportstech companies in the world.
“We are thrilled to partner with One-Zero to create a truly unique event, focused specifically around venture capital and high growth startups in sports and entertainment. We’ve collectively been able to pull together a great lineup of high-profile founders as speakers, and dedicated panels moderated by experienced VCs investing in the space. And of course we are excited for our 4th Techstars Sports Demo Day to take place as part of the official programming of the summit, exposing our current class of founders to the wider community coming to Indy,” said Jordan Fliegel, Managing Director of the Techstars Sports Accelerator and Co-Chair of the One-Zero Summit.
“Indy is the perfect fit for us, they share our vision to exponentially grow the overall One-Zero ecosystem and in doing that launch the Indy Summit this year” said Ross O’Dwyer, Co-Chair of One-Zero. “This combines perfectly with the return of our Dublin Summit (post COVID) later this year. Overall, the support from the local team and access to the largest sports market in the world, the United States, made it an easy decision for our first venture outside of Europe.”
“SportsTech HQ and Indy are thrilled to partner with One-Zero to host this international summit in our city,” said Ryan Vaughn, Indiana Sports Corp President. “One-Zero provided the perfect opportunity to continue Indy’s platform of a global sports tech hub. We are excited to see what this partnership will bring to our city and the greater sports tech ecosystem.”
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About Indiana Sports Corp
Founded in 1979 as the nation’s first sports commission, Indiana Sports Corp is a not-for-profit organization focused on bringing premier sporting events to Indiana to drive economic vitality, facilitate a vibrant community with civic pride and garner positive media attention. Because of this, Indiana Sports Corp is able to provide positive, sports-related opportunities for youth in the community. For more information, please visit IndianaSportsCorp.org.
About One-Zero
One-Zero is a Dublin-based sports technology summit founded by prominent members of the sports, media, and events sector in Ireland. The gathering aims to bring the sharpest minds in the world of sport, business, and technology together to share insight and ideas. The summit will host its fourth event in the City of Indianapolis, establishing a North American summit in addition to its Dublin event.
About Techstars
Techstars is the global platform for investment and innovation. Founded in 2006, Techstars began with three simple ideas—entrepreneurs create the future, collaboration drives innovation, and great ideas can come from anywhere. Today our mission is to make innovation accessible to everyone, everywhere. We do this by connecting startups, investors, corporations, and cities to create a more sustainable and inclusive world. Since 2006, Techstars has invested in more than 2,200 companies and today has a market cap of $27 Billion. www.techstars.com