Looking to accelerate digital and business growth, Eintracht Frankfurt partners with start-up hub
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21 January 2018 – In an increasingly digitalised business environment, Eintracht Frankfurt is the first Bundesliga club to seek a long-term cooperation in the start-up field: The club has recently joined forces with Frankfurt-based start-up community TechQuartier. The new partnership shows Eintracht’s commitment to strengthening and expanding its digital presence and to ensuring continued business growth in this area.
The first milestone of this new cooperation is the inception of a visionary program, aptly named “Money Meets Idea – Sport,” or MMI SportsTech, that is directed at local, national, and international sportstech start-ups in the early stages of their development. MMI SportsTech’s goal is to implement a one-week boot camp that gets budding scalable sportstech newcomers whose ideas support the athletic, medical, match, management, training, or fan experience fields ready to ace their first round of investor pitches.
The technology-based growth potential in professional football is remarkable. With audiences staying increasingly connected throughout their day, expanding on information and communications technologies is a logical step, and year-round multichannel fan relationship management, along with in-stadium experience-enhancement or data collection, has become a new focus. But technology-induced growth reaches far beyond connecting with passionate supporters.
Match and training technology innovations could improve analytics, game tactics, or player performance assessment, new management tools might give a club an edge in scouting for new talent or could define new areas of business expansion. Medical analytics tools might help improve nutrition, therapy, or injury prevention and support injury recovery. The possibilities seem endless, so it’s obvious why Eintracht Frankfurt is excited about this new partnership.
“TechQuartier is the region’s most important start-up and tech hub, which makes them a strong partner for a long-term cooperation,” said Axel Hellmann, board member of Eintracht Frankfurt Fussball AG. “The implementation and execution of a joint start-up program in the SportsTech field will create added value both for TechQuartier and for Eintracht Frankfurt, and it serves as a significant step in strengthening the Frankfurt/Rhein/Main area’s position as a relevant hub for the digital industry.”
Dr. Thomas Funke, co-director at TechQuartier, is equally euphoric about the new joint venture. “We’re very excited to have partnered with Eintracht Frankfurt; a reputable partner combining global charisma, expansive digital reach, and long-standing tradition. We’re considering this cooperation a kick-off for a long-term supplementary collaboration across various fields, that will create fruitful synergies as it traverses between a variety of industries and disciplines. Eintracht Frankfurt’s digital strategy also strongly appealed to us.”
Based in Europe’s finance hot spot, Frankfurt, TechQuartier acts as an access hub to the start-up and FinTech communities and prides itself in successfully connecting members many different industries with academia. Offering fully-equipped workspaces, along with a broad variety of events that are specifically tailored to the needs of the local, domestic, and international start-up scene, TechQuartier provides a collaborative environment for dynamic up-and-comers to exchange visions, develop future-forward technologies, and grow their businesses. Currently, the TechQuartier community comprises of 80 start-up companies along with 30 partners in various industries and academic institutions.
As part of MMI SportsTech, Eintracht Frankfurt will be able to provide valuable insights into professional sports business operations to up to ten participating SportsTech start-ups, that will also be able to benefit from Eintracht’s extensive network of experts within the global sports industry and beyond. Along with exclusive access to an international network of mentors and specialists, interactive workshops and individual personalised coaching sessions, including in-depth reviews of their existing business plans, will form the core of the one-week boot camp, held April 23rd through April 27th 2018, at TechQuartier’s location.
Interested start-ups in the SportsTech field are invited to apply via https://www.techquartier.com/mmi-sportstech/.