1 MINUTE READ
Catapult: A Melbourne startup successfully commercialising world-class sport technology research and exporting it to the world
(AUSTRALIA 2019)
The perfect melting pot of microtechnology research and development and strong sports credentials, supported by commercialisation capability saw the global success of Catapult.
Catapult was born out of a collaboration between the Australian Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) Program and the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) in 1999.
Today it is an ASX listed sports analytics company valued at around $200 million, employing over 300 people across 25 countries, with 1800 elite team clients. It provides elite sporting organisations and athletes with detailed real time data and analytics to monitor and measure athletes. Its hardware and software solutions have been used by more than 500 sports teams and organisations worldwide. It has come a long way in a short time and is radically changing the way elite athletes are coached and managed.
A recent global success moment was when Catapult sought approval for in game use of its wearable tracking devices from the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and as a result partnered with 15 of the 32 teams that competed in the World Cup 2018.
Key success factors of a Melbourne location include:
- A supportive government that values innovation research and industry led collaborations
- Strong engineering capability coupled with strong sports and fitness capability
- Melbourne's obsession with sport participation and fitness helped to support initial product demand.
In 2018, Catapult was crowned the Digital Technologies Award winner for the 2018 Governor of Victoria Export Awards and has participated in a number of Victorian Government trade programs.
