IMG ARENA launches Greenhouse, invests in first two businesses

Integrated innovation programme will develop and scale ideas, products and technology fuelled by important business challenges

IMG’s IMG ARENA, a leading sports betting and content hub, today announced the launch of Greenhouse, an exciting new innovation programme. More than a year in the making, IMG ARENA’s Greenhouse programme will fund and mentor innovative entrepreneurs and companies reimagining the betting and media industries.

The first businesses to receive support and backing via IMG ARENA’s Greenhouse programme are Sportsflare, an AI-powered, trading analytics tool that uses machine learning to improve sports betting decisions, and LinkmetrIQ, a web content intelligence and monitoring platform designed to understand and improve customer engagement.

The programme will support these companies via a range of unique benefits including access to IMG ARENA’s products and services as well as expert advice from key senior executives within the wider IMG network. Innovation streams are expected to last between three to six months.

The all-encompassing innovation hub will also support companies who are successful in the programme in developing commercial opportunities and partnerships with some of the world’s top sports organisations and events.

Brad van Wely, Vice President of Product at IMG ARENA, said: “The Greenhouse programme is at the heart of IMG ARENA. We want to boldly shape the future of sport by disrupting the status quo with next generation products that positively impact fans’ engagement with, and enjoyment of, their favourite sports.

“This is a unique formula. It is flexible, and there are no boundaries when it comes to submitting ideas for consideration by our dynamic innovation team. We want to connect with all manner of passionate entrepreneurs and start ups and offer a range of versatile streams that have been carefully structured to ensure they are mutually beneficial.”

Greenhouse is designed to revolutionise the fan experience by supercharging the growth of ideas, early stage products and cutting-edge technologies that have the potential to take fan engagement to the next level.

IMG ARENA is taking applications from entrepreneurs and companies of all sizes and stages of development, whether they are looking for co-founders, new challenges, mentoring, product validation, market fit, new clients or investment.

For more information, visit: https://www.imgarena.com/innovation.

Headquartered in London, IMG ARENA specializes in bringing sport and the sports betting industry closer together. IMG ARENA works with more than 250 leading sportsbook operators worldwide, providing always-on services including 24/7 live streaming and on-demand virtual sports products designed to evolve and inspire engagement by placing fans at the heart of the action. Its ground-breaking data collection system ensures that the fastest and most accurate sources of data are delivered live from the action to the end user in less than a second. IMG ARENA processes official data for more than 45,000 sporting events per year. In 2017, the business delivered more than 70 million hours of content and 39 million unique views.