Blue Label Ventures, the venture capital and private equity arm of JSE-listed Blue Label Telecoms, has invested in Cape Town-based technology startup Mobii Systems.
As part of the deal, Blue Label will take up 26% of Mobii, giving the company’s team of highly skilled developers of sports data applications the funding needed for new and ongoing product development, as well as access to a wider customer base and increased market share.
Mobii built the timing platform on which Blue Label Telecom’s popular timed fitness events company MyRun operates. Activity data is collected from various wearable Mobii transponders and synchronised to microservices architecture for real-time processing. The technology platform comprises a range of custom-designed electronic hardware, handles large scale applications and can be adapted for similar markets to collect IoT datasets.
Its developers built the backbone for rugby match analysis on the Stratus platform, which gives teams, managers, coaches, medical personnel and referees the data, tools and insights to help them plan their strategy and perform at their best. Stratus collects and processes billions of data points to create simplified reporting and predictive analysis tools. “Our long-standing relationship with the Springboks and SARU provided us with the insights to build this truly world-class platform,” says Rodney Barrett Co-founder of Mobii Systems.
“Blue Label Ventures identifies and invests in disruptive businesses that have the potential to reach new markets and achieve global commercial success,” says Tallies Taljaard, co-founder of Blue Label Ventures.
“Mobii’s team of engineers have, with very little funding, built two exciting and truly innovative applications that have a massive potential to go global. Through our investment, we will enable the business to grow and take advantage of opportunities for expansion into new markets. High-performance sporting technology is a global multi-billion-dollar industry that is still fragmented and underserved.”
Mobii recently launched “Time of Flight”, a geo-location service that tracks players in action on the sports field, assisting them and their coaching staff with positioning in real-time and in-play. The Time of Flight system is far more accurate than Global Positioning Systems (GPS) because it functions within a small, focused arena, rather than via satellite communications.
“Blue Label Ventures’ investment will enable us to take our performance enhancement technology to a much broader market, to open doors, and to engage with much bigger players around the world,” said Mobii co-founder Roderick Barrett.
“Mobii’s latest timing technology is now operational in France, Switzerland, Australia and the United Kingdom, to name a few countries, but we still have a path to travel before we can call ourselves a truly global company,” says Barrett.
Mobii was founded by brothers Roderick and Brendan Barrett with the desire to make sports-analysis a true science and take the emotion out of decisions.
