SporTech President: France Rallying To Boost Sports Innovation

The Olympics have jumpstarted activity around France's SportsTech sector, giving it the recognition that had been lacking for many years, according to Jacques D'Arrigo, President of SportTech FR. D'Arrigo spoke with me about how and why the potential of the SportsTech economy is finally being unlocked in France. 

Q: How did SporTech FR get started?

JDA: SporTech was founded five years ago. It was the idea of a bunch of entrepreneurs who were all working in the same industry, but there was no real representation for all of them. And they had the feeling that the movement was only going to get bigger. They started around a beer while watching the World Cup in 2018. In the last five years, the movement went from super tiny to quite significant.

Q: What is the mission?

JDA: We believe at this point that we can bring through innovation a bigger concept, which is the Sports Nation. France is definitely not a Sports Nation.

We are quite good when it comes to athletes at a high level who can compete in a lot of different sports. But when it comes to the public we have significant issues, especially on the health front where we need to do something. SporTech was created initially to increase the visibility of our startups. More and more, it became a mission to get public institutions to understand that without innovation, without all the positive ideas that we're bringing to the table with our companies, it will be difficult to bring the users back to the pitch. We are now ranked at the 119th position out of 146 nations when it comes to sports activity for teenagers. That's not acceptable.

It's starting to get to the point where people understand the urgency…More and more people are getting sicknesses way younger than before. We need to make sure that the kids are getting out of the couch to walk outside and sometimes to maybe ride a bike rather than being in a car.

Q: What are the main categories that you have defined in SportsTech?

JDA: We are actively working on three different areas. Number one is everything around grassroots sports and practice for all. Number two is giving athletes new ways to get better at their sports. It can be connected devices for better performance, which includes my company, Footbar that I've been working with for the last four years. It can use a connected device or artificial intelligence to increase the speed of recovery for athletes.

The third chapter is the fan experience. We believe that we can do a lot when it comes to visiting a stadium, before, during, and after the game. 

We represent a variety of companies. We will be close to 200 by the end of 2024, which is almost three times more than the year before. Of course, the Olympics play a huge role in this.

Q: What have been the main challenges in terms of developing the SportsTech sector in France?

JDA: If that question was asked a couple of years ago, I would probably have quoted the lack of support when it comes to financing the companies. People need to take risks and invest in a company where the ROI is not for sure. That’s one of the reasons why people always looked at sports and never thought that's a place where I can put my money. That is changing because now they can see that not only they can have an impact on society, to create a more inclusive and more diverse and balanced world, but on top of that, they can actually make money.

When (digital sports fantasy platform) Sorare made the $680 million fundraising two and a half years ago, they became a unicorn. And that was the first unicorn we had in our industry in France. So suddenly, people realize it's possible to have a $1 billion valued company in sports. 

When we spoke with the Minister of Sports about a year ago about tech, she saw an opportunity for the institution of sports to be in a better position. Thanks to a partnership with the Olympic Organizing Committee and the Fédération (Française d'Athlétisme, the nation’s governing sports body), they organized events where the Federation invites startups to a speed dating event where one startup can talk to 10 Federation sports when normally that would take six months to get one meeting.

Also, Bpifrance is making a huge effort to support what we do, not only by investing in companies but also by supporting through loans or credit and by creating some new programs. 

Q: Why do you think the momentum created by the Olympics around SportsTech in France will continue after the Games?

JDA: I not only believe it will continue, but I believe it will accelerate. When I was a kid watching the Olympics, I had super strong memories of sports that I would never have imagined playing or something. There will be a lot of people in France coming to visit different events, and they will start to play table tennis, basketball or some other kind of sports.

Also, I've been hearing a lot in the last few months about the troubles of a lot of companies when it comes to hiring. We don't have that issue at all. We have people lining up to get into our companies. The reason is because young people are looking for a purpose. We’re not offering the biggest salaries. If you want to get a big salary you can go to Nike or Disney or whatever.

We offer a professional life that is going to be balanced with your personal life. People getting into our industry are willing to change the world a bit. We are participating in a bigger thing. A lot of people every week tell me, ‘I was with McKinsey I was with Procter & Gamble, I was with whatever bank before and I want to change and do something meaningful.’

That's why my vision of what's coming next is really bright.