Nix Biosensors hydration monitors are available in the UK from today. Recently approved by the Union Cycliste Internationale’s (UCI) for use in competition, the Nix Biosensor brings a wearable sweat sensor, and an accompanying app to allow you to manage hydration and electrolyte needs in real time.

Currently used by firefighters, labourers, athletes and health conscious individuals, in the US and Canada, this is the first time the sensors have been available to buy here. The device, which monitors both rate of sweating, hydration and electrolyte needs, uses AI-enabled sensors to quantify both fluid and electrolyte losses, giving athletes what it calls “critical decision-support data on fluid needs and intake during training and competition”, through the Nix app.

The App then produces personalised hydration recommendations based on real-time data, unique to each user, taking into account their physiology, activity intensity, and environmental conditions. With benefits that are useful for performance, recovery, and safety.

The AI technology it utilises is claimed to use real-time sweat analysis and a proprietary algorithm to “generate actionable insights”. The result, they say, is tailored guidance, adapted to the user, whether you’re training for a marathon or managing heat risk in high performance settings, as well being suited to people working “long shifts in hot environments”.

With its launch in the UK, Nix says it “aims to support a new

community of users seeking smarter, safer hydration strategies”.

Commenting on the UK launch, Meredith Cass, CEO and Founder of Nix said:

“Our mission has always been to make hydration measurable, personalised, and accessible. Since launching two years ago, we’ve consistently heard from athletes, coaches, and professionals across the UK who were eager to get their hands on our technology. That early interest helped us understand both the demand and the need to expand direct-to-consumer availability in the region. We’re thrilled to now offer Nix to customers in the UK, where there’s a strong culture of endurance sport, occupational safety, and innovation in human performance.”

AI seems to have an application in everything these days, and wearable tech has already proven itself, with less obvious insights like recovery based on heart rate and sleep monitoring, now an important part of the data sets many athletes use for training.

Companies like Precision Hydration, already here in the UK and well established, offer a popular sweat testing and custom hydration solution, which has already helped to establish the benefits of personalised monitoring of your electrolyte intake for greater performance, so it will be interesting to see if Nix sensors can add another layer of more personal insight to endurance athlete programmes.

We have a Nix Sensor in for testing, which we will review over the next few weeks.

For more information or to purchase Nix in the UK, visit nixbiosensors.com. The Nix Biosensors Starter Kit will sell online in the UK for £149.

East Bay technology and staffing company Epik Solutions — a federal contractor certified as a “small disadvantaged business” — has agreed to pay a $72,000 fine after allegedly getting caught advertising jobs open only to foreign workers on the controversial H-1B visa.

“A top priority of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division is protecting American workers from unlawful discrimination in favor of foreign visa workers,” said the department’s civil rights chief, former San Francisco lawyer Harmeet Dhillon, who was nominated for her position by President Donald Trump.

Epik said it cooperated with the department’s investigation into the matter, and does not acknowledge any wrongdoing, according to the settlement signed Tuesday.

The Pleasant Hill company “stated in numerous job advertisements that certain employment positions for which (it) was recruiting were restricted based on citizenship status, including restricting hiring to only applicants with H-1B visas, without legal justification,” the agreement said.

The H-1B has become a flashpoint in America’s immigration debates. Silicon Valley technology giants rely heavily on the visa to secure top global talent. But critics argue that the H-1B is used to undercut wages and in some cases, replace U.S. workers with H-1B holders. Major tech firms also employ many lower-skill H-1B workers indirectly through staffing companies.

Last year, Google received approval for some 5,300 new and continuing H-1Bs, according to federal government data. Meta received nearly 5,000 approvals, Apple close to 4,000, Intel about 2,500 and Oracle more than 2,000.

The visa was at the center of a furor in January just before Trump took office, after high-profile conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer attacked immigration to the U.S. by Indians, who hold the bulk of H-1B visas.

One of the top salespeople at Gallagher is a former pro rugby player.

Nathan Hines, who played internationally for Scotland in the early aughts, joined Gallagher as business development director for its rugby clients in 2020, translating his leadership skills from pitch to pitchdeck, according to Gallagher CMO Chris Mead. The insurance brand is betting Hines isn’t the only athlete who can thrive in the corporate world—with a little bit of help, of course.

“You can’t just sell to a client tomorrow,” Mead told Marketing Brew. “It’s no different than you can’t hit a 98-mile-an-hour fastball or shoot a 3-point shot in one day. They’ve got that training. They just need some professional structure.”

The insurance broker, which represents a range of clients, including many sports teams, venues, and athletes, has taken a somewhat unorthodox approach to the sports sponsorship world since it began pushing into marketing around eight years ago.

Gallagher sponsors several of its sports clients that it buys insurance for, ranging from regional to international deals, and unlike a more typical buy that could focus on naming rights or jersey patches, the brand is focused on building out experiences for potential customers. Recently, it’s also expanded into serving athletes, like through an internship program for active players who might end up following in Hines’s footsteps.

Go your own way

For many brands that ink sports deals, boosting brand awareness by tapping into large, engaged audiences is key. But Mead says Gallagher didn’t get into the sports sponsorship game for name recognition. “It was much more community-based,” he said.

One of the company’s earliest partnerships was with Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs. Outside the stadium sits Gallagher Way; the space is open to ticket holders on game days, and also hosts broader community events like concerts, movie nights, and fitness classes. Similarly, Gallagher Square at Petco Park in San Diego offers a playground, dog park, and pickleball courts even when the Padres aren’t playing. With the Houston Astros, Gallagher serves as the presenting partner of the team’s Astros Foundation Volunteer Corps.

“It’s about the community and…these experiences that people can go to,” Mead said. “Where are the fans when they’re not staring at that one sign that someone has in right field? They’re interfacing within community events that we like to have our name attached to.”

The company’s sports partnerships extend beyond baseball, spanning football, soccer, basketball, golf, hockey, rugby, IndyCar, and the Special Olympics. Properties like World Rugby and the Special Olympics help give Gallagher global reach across men’s and women’s sports, while team partnerships add a local component, Mead said. In addition to evaluating those opportunities based on the potential for community activation, he said his team also seeks to sponsor properties for which Gallagher already serves as the risk manager.

Suit up

One of Gallagher’s earliest sports partnerships was with Premiership Rugby, the English pro rugby league for which Gallagher is the presenting partner. It was through conversations with those players that the idea for the Gallagher Partnership Internship Program was born, Mead said.

“It started with injured rugby players,” he said. “They blow out their shoulder, and sometimes they don’t have a plan. Sometimes they have a really great plan, and things just happen sooner than they thought, or they’re approaching retirement, and they’ve got all the skills we all want—leadership skills, teamwork skills.”

Since Gallagher already had a large internship program, it was just a matter of fitting athletes into that framework, Mead said. Last year, the company introduced a pilot program of the athlete internship with a handful of players from the Atlanta Falcons in the NFL, and this year extended it to include several players from the Chicago Stars in the NWSL. Mead said the plan is to eventually expand the program to the Special Olympics, too.

While the Gallagher team works to build out the internship program to include more athletes, it’s also focused on continuing to grow the company’s presence across the sports ecosystem, particularly right where it started: in rugby. Earlier this month, Gallagher announced a partnership with New Zealand Rugby, and given that the Women’s Rugby World Cup takes place this summer, women’s rugby is of particular interest as another potential growth area, Mead said.

“We’re on a pretty good clip, but I think I can see it continuing to grow, signing new teams and new leagues to partnerships,” he said.

AURORA, Colo. — The Children’s Hospital Colorado is not just a place for medical treatment; it has become a hub of innovation, particularly through its Gaming Technology Department. Established with the mission of making hospital visits less daunting for children, the program has grown to harness the power of virtual reality (VR) and other gaming technologies to enhance the healthcare experience.

In the vibrant, fun-filled Gaming Tech Department, Abe Homer, the gaming technology supervisor, remembers the early stages of the department. “I started here about six and a half years ago, and I was one of five people total in the whole world doing this kind of work,” he said. Today, gaming technology in the hospital setting is catching on. “It’s growing exponentially across the world, and I can only see it growing further and further,” Homer said.

A cornerstone of their approach is VR technology. In its usage, children like Jackson, who requires monthly IV transfusions, can immerse themselves in engaging virtual experiences that help distract them from pain. “When you do VR, your brain is actually incapable of feeling the same amount of pain signals in VR than it is outside of VR,” Homer said. This phenomenon allows the team to utilize VR as a non-pharmacological alternative that can sometimes rival traditional opioids without the associated side effects.

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Children’s Hospital Colorado stands out as one of only two hospitals creating its own custom VR games to address specific medical needs, including physical therapy and mindfulness.

The Gaming Tech Department doesn’t just focus on developing therapies; it also serves as an engaging space for young patients. “When kids come in, they are almost immediately drawn to printers. They look cool,” said Austin Harvey, a gaming specialist in the department. “They do love just watching how it’s built.” The space features 3D printers, video game consoles, and even a music studio. This environment is crafted to inspire creativity and curiosity among children who might not have access to such things at home.

“This place is where kids can kind of feel like they’re not in the hospital anymore,” Homer said. Kids can enjoy games, crafts, and other activities that allow them to express themselves and take a break from their medical treatments. “We wanted to create a space where kids could come in as a patient and leave as a designer, an engineer, an artist,” he added.

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The department’s commitment extends beyond mere play. It also aims to build skills and knowledge. “We can teach kiddos basic engineering skills,” said Kevin MacFarlane, a gaming and technology specialist. MacFarlane says that this approach not only helps therapy but could also inspire future careers in technology and engineering.

As the department continues to evolve, Homer says it’s important to continue to evolve the work being done at Children’s Hospital Colorado. “We can kind of bridge the gap, the philosophical gap between, yes, it’s a game, but it’s a therapeutic application,” he said.

At Children’s Hospital Colorado, the Gaming Technology Department is not just changing how children engage with their medical care; it is redefining the pediatric healthcare experience altogether.

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Denver7 | Your Voice: Get in touch with Colin Riley

Denver7’s Colin Riley is a multimedia journalist who tells stories impacting all of Colorado’s communities, but specializes in reporting on transportation and our state’s senior population. If you’d like to get in touch with Colin, fill out the form below to send him an email.

Stack Sports CEO Jeff Young (left) and Michael Doernberg, CEO of PlayMetrics [Photos: LinkedIn/PlayMetrics]

Plano-based global sports tech provider Stack Sports and North Carolina-based PlayMetrics, a provider of operations management software for youth sports organizations, have merged, creating what the companies call “a best-in-class platform in the sports management technology ecosystem.”

The merger unites two highly complementary brands, augmenting PlayMetrics’ modern technology platform with the scale, reach, and capabilities of Stack Sports “to better serve the evolving needs of sports organizations worldwide,” the companies said. Financial terms of the merger were not disclosed.

San Francisco private equity firm Genstar Capital supported the merger and will be the majority owner of the combined company. As part of the deal, Genstar acquired PlayMetrics from Frisco-based Blue Star Innovation Partners, which had been the company’s lead investor since 2023.

Playmetrics CEO Michael Doernberg will lead the combined organization as CEO, and Stack Sports CEO Jeff Young will transition to a strategic role as advisor to the board of directors.

“This merger marks an exciting new chapter for the sports technology industry,” Young said in a statement. “We have long admired the PlayMetrics brand, and by combining our strengths, we will accelerate the speed at which new products are released, customer service is delivered, and industry relationships are forged.”

Software to manage sports

PlayMetrics said it helps customers streamline and modernize every facet of their operations, serving over 2,700 youth sports organizations across a variety of sports.

“Sports organizations are increasingly seeking a single, cohesive platform to manage their daily operations and complex business needs,” Doernberg said. “PlayMetrics has been transformational in delivering a one-stop solution for members, coaches, directors, and administrators. By joining forces with Stack Sports, we further enhance our ability to serve our customers with innovative, reliable, and intuitive software.”

Following a successful expansion beyond its flagship club operating system into governing bodies, leagues, and tournaments—including the acquisition of Crossbar in 2023—PlayMetrics has experienced what it said are unprecedented levels of growth and customer retention over the last few years.

“We’re incredibly proud of what the PlayMetrics team has accomplished under Mike’s visionary leadership,” Dan Wechsler, CEO of Dallas-based Blue Star Innovation Partners, said in a statement. “Together, we transformed PlayMetrics from a promising software platform into a market leader in sports management technology, delivering significant value for our investors and customers. Mike and his team’s dedication to innovation and customer success were key drivers, and we wish them all the best as they embark on their next chapter.”

Stack Sports is a global technology leader in SaaS platform offerings for the sports industry. Founded in 2016, it serves over 50 million users in 35 countries through its SaaS platform offerings serving customers like the U.S. Soccer Federation, Little League Baseball, and USA Lacrosse.