MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – Catapult Group International and XOS Digital, Inc. (108 Industrial Way, Wilmington) announced on Wednesday that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement under which Catapult will acquire Boston-based XOS Digital, a market leader in video-based technology, for $60 million.
Catapult has also announced the acquisition of Ireland-based PlayerTek, a GPS tracking technology engineered for amateur athletes, for $3.6 million.
Catapult’s mission to be the global standard for monitoring athletic performance at all levels, across all sports, is bolstered with the XOS acquisition bringing together leaders of wearable and video technology – the two key technology pillars in elite club environments. This will strengthen Catapult’s strategic positioning and operational platform to accelerate its expansion globally and generate significant synergies, and will also enable Catapult to pioneer the development of next-generation products for elite sports which integrates performance data with video analytics.
Founded in 1999, XOS specializes in designing custom digital video solutions to improve and optimize sports coaching operations as well as monetization and distribution of digital media assets. XOS’ team of nearly 100 employees and over 400 professional and college sport clients (including 24 NFL teams, over 100 NCAA Division 1 American football teams, 21 NHL teams, over 50 NCAA Division 1 ice hockey teams, and over 30 NCAA Division 1 basketball teams) join Catapult’s 115 staff and over 900 elite sports clients.
XOS has multiple products feeding a scalable technology platform offering integrated on-premise and cloud deployment. XOS also operates a licensing business in partnership with college sports teams to provide licensed video content to customers.
On the acquisition of XOS, Shaun Holthouse, Chief Executive Officer, said “This acquisition is highly complementary with Catapult’s strategic focus to cement its position as the global market leader for analytics solutions for elite sports. The addition of XOS will substantially enhance Catapult’s sales network and capabilities in the US, thereby significantly accelerating our strategy to increase penetration of our analytic solutions in the largest addressable market in the world for elite sports.
“Furthermore, the acquisition will provide a very exciting opportunity for Catapult to develop the next generation of technology solutions for elite sports that will integrate player performance data analytics with video analytics and provide a whole new level of insight for sports teams to reduce injuries and enhance performance.”
Catapult and XOS have had an existing strategic partnership since May 2015. Catapult views the acquisition of XOS as a logical next step in the partnership between the companies which will accelerate Catapult’s expansion strategy in the US market through a highly complementary product offering of both wearable and video technologies.
Catapult’s acquisition of PlayerTek is highly strategic, providing a proven commercialized solution and completing the platform to accelerate Catapult’s entry into the amateur markets.
On the acquisition of PlayerTek, Holthouse said “PlayerTek offers amateur athletes an excellent, low cost, simple ‘plug and play’ software solution which has already been heavily adopted around in Europe since the products were commercially launched in June 2015. Catapult’s acquisition of PlayerTek ts into our strategy to leverage the halo effect from our established leadership position in the elite sports market and expand into the prosumer markets, which will substantially enlarge our global addressable market opportunity.”
To finance the acquisitions and provide additional working capital, Catapult is today launching an underwritten institutional placement and entitlement offer to raise up to approximately A$100 million. This follows 5 July news that Catapult upgraded full year guidance for units ordered to 8354 and total contract value to $29.4 million.
About Catapult
Catapult enlightens sport with scientifically-validated analytics, obtained with the most advanced wearable technology in the world. With precision engineering at the intersection of sports science and sports analytics, Catapult works with over 900 elite teams worldwide to innovate how information shapes athletic performance. With over 250 performance metrics, Catapult’s powerful analytics engine enables personalised value in the mitigation of risk of injury, measuring readiness for competition, and quantifying return to play. Catapult is based in Melbourne, Chicago and Leeds. For more information, visit catapultsports.com.
About XOS Digital
Founded in 1999, XOS Digital provides more than 400 sports organizations at all levels a competitive advantage by unlocking insight and value from their digital media assets. XOS offers software, analytics and services that enable our partners to preserve and monetize their digital media assets and our coaches to better scout, recruit, teach and win. The ever-expanding portfolio of products and services including the XOS ThunderTMHD Coaching Platform, XOS ThunderCloud Suite, XOS Digital Licensing PortalTMand XOS VaultTMdigital asset management system re ect the XOS Digital commitment to continuing innovation. For more information, visit xosdigital.com.
About PlayerTek
PlayerTek is a plug-and-play GPS device and software platform that enables individual athletes to compare their data with professional players, as well as get a high-level view at their own volume and intensity. The technology was commercialized in mid-2015 and is already in use by dozens of football and rugby teams around Europe and the UK. The agile Dundalk, Ireland, team have extensive experience in the athlete tracking field having developed the underlying technology for another wearables company in the industry. For more information, visit shop.playertek.com.
(NOTE: The above press release is from Catapult.)
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