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Ai.io, a British sports-tech startup that was named to Fast Company’s 2025 list of the most innovative sports companies, plans to establish a presence in Indiana, the company announced Wednesday.
The London-based company made its announcement at the Global Entrepreneurship Congress, a four-day event which has brought about 3,500 entrepreneurs, investors, government officials and others from around the world to Indianapolis.
Ai.io said it plans to establish a presence for operations and research and development in Indiana as the company’s home base for North American expansion. The company’s chief operating officer, Richard Felton-Thomas, told IBJ that Ai.io intends to be in the Indianapolis area, but it has not yet selected a specific location.
Felton-Thomas said the company expects to close on a funding round this month. Once that happens, Ai.io will have the necessary resources to move forward with its Indiana plans this year.
Currently, Ai.io has 34 employees, four of whom are in the U.S. By the end of 2026, Felton-Thomas said, he expects the company will have about 80 employees between the United Kingdom, U.S. and the Middle East, where it is also working to expand its presence.
Felton-Thomas said Indiana’s sports-focused culture, its availability of talent and university resources all played a part in Ai.io’s decision to establish a presence here.
The state’s central U.S. location was also appealing, Felton-Thomas said. “It’s quite well-connected to get to lots of places really quickly.”
In expanding to Indiana, the company will also join the SportsTech HQ Collective, a group of 40 sports-tech organizations working within the state’s sports infrastructure.
Sports Tech HQ Executive Director Jeffrey Hintz called Ai.io’s selection of Indiana “a game-changing win” for the state’s sports tech industry.
Founded in 2017 and based in London, ai.io is a sports analytics company whose platform allows athletic scouts to discover new talent. The company’s mobile app, aiScout, allows athletes to submit performance videos that teams can evaluate.
In Fast Company’s Top 10 list, the publication said that aiScout is “creating opportunities for players who might otherwise go unnoticed while providing clubs with an efficient, data-driven approach to discovering tomorrow’s stars.”
Ai.io also offers the aiLab, a portable athletic performance center at which teams can invite their most promising online prospects for further evaluation. It currently has a partnership with the England-based soccer team Chelsea FC, which includes an onsite aiLab in which ai.io’s team works alongside coaches to evaluate talent and integrate its performance data into the team’s recruitment strategies.
Ai.io’s main sports focus so far has been soccer. From 2021 to 2022, the company participated in the FIFA Innovation Programme, which is run by soccer’s global governing body.
And in 2023, Ai.io formed a partnership with New York City-based Major League Soccer, enabling athletes to use aiScout to be scouted by the league at no cost to the athlete.
But Felton-Thomas said the company’s technology can be used in a range of other sports, and Ai.io has already been in conversation with parties about using the tool for sports like American football, track and field, basketball and cricket.
“It’s actually ready to deploy in different verticals of sport. It just comes down to who wants it,” Felton-Thomas said of the company’s technology.
The Global Entrepreneurship Congress, which features talks, programming and other entrepreneurship-focused activities, is taking place at the Indiana Convention Center, began Monday and wraps up Thursday. Entrepreneur, investor and Indiana University alumnus Mark Cuban is set to take the stage for a keynote speech Wednesday afternoon.
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Go wejo LOL