Highlights from the Smash Sport event in Helsinki (Day 2)
Health Pitching Final
After an exciting Day 1 the second day of the Smash Sport event was kicked off with the health pitching final, in which four startups competed against eachother:
- Diske: Lifestyle guidance dynamic AI
- Emfit: Heart rate variability sleep tracker
- Fibion: Device that monitors sitting and helps us move more
- Laturi: Digital wellness test service for preventive health
The award went to Diske. Here’s some info on what they do.
Nordic Sports Tech Challenge
Second part of the day was the long awaited Nordic Sports Tech challenge, in which the two best companies in five categories out of more than 100 applications pitched on stage.
AR/VR
- Vulcam from Finland
- Zero Parallax Technologies from Sweden
eSports
- Challengermode from Sweden
- Playpulse from Norway
AI
- Racefox from Sweden
- Captimax Sports Media from Sweden
Fan experience
- Wiral Technologies from Norway
- SportsWik from Sweden
Wearable Tech
The jury selected one winning startup in every category, which will have an exclusive trip to Silicon Valley next year. Here are the five winners:
Zero Parallax Technologies
Challengermode
Captimax Sports Media
Wiral Technologies
Sweetzpot
Afternoon program
The afternoon was full of interesting speeches on improving performance with technology and how to inspire a healthy lifestyle through technology. Here are my (subjective) highlights.
Barca Innovation Hub
Albert Mundet from FC Barcelona took us on a journey about how the club is using the power of knowledge to compete not only with investor backed clubs but also the entertaining industry as a new competitor. If you wanna read more about how FC Barcelona is connecting with the innovation ecosystem: I published some key insights from their Sports Technology Symposium which took place two weeks before Smash.
Getting your app in shape
Mary Liz McCurdy from Google talked about Fitness Fundamentals, the Fitspiration of the Future, how to get your app in shape and finished with some conversation starters.
The human factor
Natalia Karbasova from FitTech Meetup talked about the power of human connections and the importance of community building in sports & fitness in order to achieve the results we’re actually looking for.
From pro sports to population management
Michael Quarshie from Meallogger spoke about how Artificial Intelligence is transforming and scaling nutrition coaching, for athletes as well as the society in general.
That was the end of two great days in Helsinki. I would like to thank Anu Haapalainen, Tommi Kolehmainen, Miikka Neuvonen and the rest of the fabulous Smash team for making this event possible. Looking forward to the next one in London (March 2018), as Smash is expanding their playground!
Benjamin Penkert is the Founder of SportsTechX and Head of Consulting at the leAD Sports Accelerator in Berlin. You can get in touch via Linkedin, Twitter or email.
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