PlaySight Interactive is a connected camera and artificial intelligence sports technology company, offering its Smart sports video platform for over 25 sports and across 20 countries, including basketball, tennis, ice hockey and soccer. There are over 1000 SmartCourts installed around the world, including with the NBA's Golden State Warriors, Toronto Raptors, Detroit Pistons and Phoenix Suns and over 70 NCAA sports programs, including Harvard University, the University of Southern California, Indiana University, Claremont Colleges, Fairleigh Dickinson University and Princeton University. The United States Tennis Association installed PlaySight's SmartCourt technology on 32 courts at its new national campus in Lake Nona, Florida. PlaySight was named one of Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies for consecutive years in both 2017 and 2018.
Company history
In 2010, PlaySight was founded in Kfar Saba, Israel, using technology with roots in the Israeli military. After years developing weaponry and war simulators for the Israeli army and other defense clients, the three partners looked to apply their skills and knowledge to a new challenge. After one of the partners, Evgeni Khazanov, observed his daughter’s tennis practice, he wondered why a sport with so much money did not have any advanced technology to help players improve their game. It was from that idea that PlaySight was born.
PlaySight has continued to grow through partnerships and investment from players in the tennis industry including Billie Jean King, Ana Ivanovic, Chris Evert, Pete Sampras, Novak Djokovic, Tommy Haas, Paul Annacone, Darren Cahill, and Mark Ein. Since the technology was commercialized in 2013, the technology has been adapted for numerous other sports including soccer, martial arts, volleyball, squash, handball, gymnastics, dancing, hockey and wrestling. So far, PlaySight has raised over $20 million and now has offices in Kfar Saba, New Jersey and Los Angeles.
In June 2017, Verizon Ventures and golfer Greg Norman announced an $11 million investment in PlaySight to further SmartCourt expansion in tennis, basketball and other sports and to also introduce the technology to golf.
PlaySight installed its first SmartSchool in 2017. A SmartSchool is a fully connected high school, college or university campus (including Trinity-Pawling School, Oaks Christian School and Sierra Canyon School with PlaySight technology across several sports and venues – basketball, ice hockey, soccer and more. To date, there are over 20 SmartSchools across the country at the prep school level alone.
In 2018, PlaySight added new strategic investors, including SoftBank Group's Asia Ventures investment arm, CE Ventures, and Naver Corporation, an Internet content service company headquartered in Seongnam, South Korea that operates the Korean search engine Naver. "PlaySight’s vision is to become the technology platform of choice used by the mass market of youth, amateur and professional sports," Jay Choi of SoftBank Ventures Korea said in the press release.
Method of operation
PlaySight was the first company to develop advanced artificial intelligence (AI) software for sports that has enabled a pro-level platform to be brought to all levels of athletics. PlaySight makes courts, gyms, fields and rinks 'Smart' by installing its software and connected camera technology. Once set up, SmartCourts provide several benefits to athletes, coaches, teams and fans, from automated HD broadcast live streaming and advanced coaching tools to instant replay video, VAR, and a content platform to store, manage and share video quickly and seamlessly. For tennis, the technology uses image processing and analytical algorithms to track strokes, ball trajectory, player movement and shot speed and spin. PlaySight's SmartCourt system provides players and coaches instant multi-angle video and detailed statistics through the court side kiosk and on tablets and mobile devices. The cloud-based platform allows teams to live stream matches and stores all video from SmartCourt sessions for coaches and players to review later from any web enabled device. In 2017, PlaySight unveiled its SmartField technology for soccer and also released its SmartTracker technology - an autonomous 4K camera that follows all on-court action automatically.
Automatic Production
PlaySight provides each of its clients with automatic production capabilities: automated live streaming and production tools, scoreboard integration and graphic overlays, as well as full tracking of games without the need for a cameraman or operator.