SportAI has successfully closed an oversubscribed $3 million funding round to bring professional-grade performance analysis to the mass market. The B2B sports technology company secured participation from Norwegian investment fund Altitude Capital and former world number two tennis player Casper Ruud. This latest injection of capital signals strong confidence in the company's ability to automate coaching insights using artificial intelligence.
In a significant move for its corporate governance, Endre Holen has invested in the round and joined SportAI as Chairman. Holen brings substantial experience to the table as the former Head of McKinsey's Global Tech & Media sector. Perhaps most relevant to this new role is his seven-year tenure on the board of Hudl, the dominant sports video analysis platform currently used by more than 315,000 teams worldwide. His expertise bridges the gap between high-level strategy and practical sports technology application.
The market for sports analytics is undergoing a major transition. Historically, deep technical analysis required manual tagging by human coaches. This process was expensive, slow, and generally reserved for professional athletes with significant budgets. However, the landscape is changing as mounted cameras and mobile recording become standard at local facilities. SportAI capitalizes on this hardware availability by layering intelligence on top of the video feed.
Casper Ruud, currently a top 20-ranked men’s tennis player, explains why this access matters.
“As someone who has competed at the highest level, I know that winning margins often come down to tiny details. SportAI's technology is bringing elite-level insights - the kind of analysis that top players have access to - to everyone around the world. Whether you're at your local club or training for tournaments, players at all levels can now get the data they need to improve their game.”
The company plans to use the fresh $3 million to accelerate its global rollout and deepen its technical capabilities. Rather than building a standalone consumer app, SportAI operates as a B2B SaaS platform. It provides an API that integrates directly with existing court camera solutions and streaming providers. This allows facilities to upgrade their current hardware with AI capabilities instantly.
Current partnerships illustrate this strategy in action. SportAI works with MATCHi, a massive racket sports network with over one million users across 30 countries. They also collaborate with Save My Play, a prominent US court camera system, and Shark, which provides AI coaching for pickleball players across four continents. These collaborations allow the startup to reach thousands of courts without needing to install new physical infrastructure.
Headquartered in Oslo, SportAI moves with the speed of a much older company despite being founded in late 2023. The leadership team combines athletic experience with software expertise. CEO Lauren Pedersen is a former NCAA tennis player, while Board Chairman Andreas Thome previously served as CEO of Play Magnus. They are joined by CTO Felipe Longé and commercial lead Trond Kittelsen. This unique mix of skills recently helped the company earn a Special Mention in TIME Magazine's Best Inventions of 2025.
The company also leverages a high-profile advisory network. This includes Magnus Carlsen, the highest-ranked chess player in history and an investor in the company. On the technical tennis side, they work with Øivind Sørvald, who has served as Casper Ruud's technical coach for over 15 years.
The total capital raised by SportAI now stands at $5.7 million. Beyond the lead investors, this round attracted support from US professional soccer player Alejandro Bedoya and TRK Group Founder Trond Riiber Knudsen. These investors are betting on a sports AI market projected to reach $28.2 billion by 2030.
Endre Holen believes the timing is right for this specific approach.
“SportAI is addressing a genuine gap in the market for accessible, AI-driven performance analysis in racket sports. Having spent seven years on the board of Hudl, I’ve seen firsthand how video analysis technology can transform coaching and player development. The expert team’s determined focus on court camera solutions and the successful application of their proprietary AI technology so far convinced me of the opportunity to make SportAI the definitive platform in this space. Clubs and players worldwide will benefit hugely from this high-quality technology.”
