Technology

Marucci tech gives batters an edge in baseball ‘arms race’ | Innovation

Marucci Sports launched two decades ago with a secondhand lathe in a backyard shed, where one of its founders churned out perfectly balanced wooden baseball bats by hand. It’s about as old school an origin story as can be found in the $18 billion baseball equipment market. But the reason the Baton Rouge-based company is powering […]

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Marucci Sports launched two decades ago with a secondhand lathe in a backyard shed, where one of its founders churned out perfectly balanced wooden baseball bats by hand.

It’s about as old school an origin story as can be found in the $18 billion baseball equipment market.

But the reason the Baton Rouge-based company is powering top hitters from LSU and many other schools in this year’s College World Series — and was a key part, along with its sister brand, Victus, of the craze for pitch-crushing “torpedo bats” in the majors — is that Marucci is determined to remain on the cutting edge of innovation in the old ball game.

Earlier this year, Marucci and Victus became the official bats of Major League Baseball, replacing rival bat maker Louisville Slugger. One reason for the switch, Noah Garden, deputy commissioner for MLB, told The Athletic, was that Marucci had innovation in its DNA.

The company operates a baseball performance lab in Baton Rouge. Ballplayers come there to be fitted for a bat, or multiple bats, with custom weights and shapes for different hitters or hitting situations.

“For years, there hadn’t been a lot of changes to baseball equipment,” said Kurt Ainsworth, Marucci’s co-founder and CEO, in a phone interview. “Now it’s all very high-tech, and we’re on the forefront.”

NO.marucci.adv_9427 MJ.JPG — Baseball cards of players that use Marucci equipment line a wall with a few cards of CEO Kurt Ainsworth at the companies offices on Monday, June 16, 2025 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

STAFF PHOTO BY MICHAEL JOHNSON

This focus on highly engineered gear has helped Marucci become the most popular bat maker in professional baseball. According to Bat Digest, Marucci and Victus account for half of MLB bat market share. The company has also carved out a chunk of a much bigger market. Building on a close relationship with college baseball powerhouse LSU, it now sells aluminum and composite bats to collegiate athletes, high schoolers and little leaguers with major league dreams.

In addition to bats, Marucci now sells gloves, balls, helmets, apparel and footwear. And, since 2015, it has opened 14 Hitter’s Houses globally. These retail stores — with batting cages in the back — promote the brand and the game all at once.

All these offerings earned the company roughly $192 million in revenue in 2024, according to an annual report from its parent company.

“We’re going to do things that will shock some people,” Ainsworth said. “And we want to become a household name.”

Arms race

Early on a recent weekday morning, Marucci’s unassuming Baton Rouge headquarters was already buzzing with activity.

In the Hitter’s House at the front of the campus, employees were preparing for the days’ shoppers and sluggers to arrive.

A few buildings away, Marucci executives were meeting in a large, glass-walled conference room. Colorful bats, gloves, helmets and other gear covered the walls. And in the factory across the parking lot, a worker was operating a lathe that turns cylinders of unfinished maple – called billets – into usable, if unfinished, bats in seconds. A dozen or so co-workers were busy sanding, painting and stenciling.

The high-tech scene was a few doors down. In the performance lab, Micah Gibbs, the company’s director of player performance, was giving a tour of one of the most advanced batting cages in the world, equipped with cameras and other sensors to study every element of a batter’s swing.

Marucci opened the space in 2023 in partnership with The Golf Lab, a 16-year-old venture that provides golfers with quantitative data designed to help improve their game.

“Now, it’s like we’re bringing golf to baseball,” Gibbs said.

NO.marucci.adv_8857 MJ.JPG — A Marucci employee sands a bat on Monday, June 16, 2025 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

STAFF PHOTO BY MICHAEL JOHNSON

In the facility, Marucci helps batters gain insights and choose equipment aimed at improving their performance no matter what they’re facing on the field.

When the site is in use, techs attach wires and nodes to a batter’s body to track movement and speed. A 3-D motion capture system, ground plates and sensors attached to bats gather additional data.

“Players have had hitting coaches forever, but it’s hard to quickly retrain your body to change motion, especially when facing 100-mile-per-hour pitches,” said Gibbs, a former LSU player. “So, if a batter is having a slump, there might be an easier fix: just change the bat.”

NO.marucci.adv_9432 MJ.JPG — Signatures of some of the players that use Marucci bats line a special wall at the offices on Monday, June 16, 2025 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

STAFF PHOTO BY MICHAEL JOHNSON

Home run for hometown company

The origin of Marucci Sports is far from high tech. In fact, the company started in one backyard and moved to another before hitting the big time.

In the early 2000s, longtime LSU athletic trainer Jack Marucci set up shop in his backyard, next to his own wiffleball field, to make the perfect wood bat for his young son Gino. He continued to make bats of all sizes as a hobby, and his connection to college baseball — and, by extension, the pros — helped him show them off to influential players.

In 2004, Ainsworth and Joe Lawrence, both former LSU ballplayers that spent time in the majors, were rehabbing injuries at LSU. They recognized the potential in what Marucci was making and convinced him to partner with them to turn the hobby into a business. They invested in equipment and moved the operation to Ainsworth’s backyard.

The company’s quick ascent is now legendary.

NO.marucci.adv_9677 MJ.JPG — Micah Gibbs, Director of Player Performance and Master Bat Fitter, holds a bat while talking about bat balance at the Baseball Performance Lab on the Marruci campus on Monday, June 16, 2025 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

STAFF PHOTO BY MICHAEL JOHNSON

Marucci bats were officially approved by MLB for in-game use in 2005. Then, over the next two decades, Marucci gained more high-profile users and everyday fans. The company has acquired several competitors, including Victus, Lizard Skins and Baum. It’s been bought twice itself, first for $200 million in 2020 by Connecticut-based publicly traded holding company Compass Diversified, and for $572 million in 2023 by Georgia’s Fox Factory Holding Corp.

Today, Marucci has about 400 employees worldwide. Most work in Baton Rouge or in a fulfillment center in Geismar. Others are stationed throughout the United States, with outposts in Tokyo and the United Kingdom.

Jack Marucci and Joe Lawrence are no longer involved in the company’s day-to-day operations.

Playing catchup

Marucci Sports has expansion plans, including opening a public factory tour in Baton Rouge this summer. Florida-based training company The Stable, which operates a training facility on the Baton Rouge campus, will set up shop later this year at a Marucci facility in Scottsdale, Arizona, which will also house a Hitter’s House and performance lab.

But Ainsworth said staying on the cutting edge of tech is key to growth plans in a sport where cameras and computers are part of every pro practice and teams are hiring former NASA scientists and MIT grads.

Marucci is now helping teams design gear for different scenarios: batting against a left-handed pitcher vs. a right-handed pitcher, for instance. Or making lighter bats for players who are having an off day or are feeling under the weather.

“The game is changing,” Ainsworth said. “There used to be one bat for all situations, but now players may have a few dozen models. It’s like golfers using different clubs.”

New bat designs have become popular. The “torpedo” bat — with a bulge in the barrel that moves its center of gravity closer to the hitter’s hands — has been embraced by many pros, particularly after a jaw-dropping surge of homers by the New York Yankees early this season drew attention to the strangely shaped sticks.

The research and design extend to gloves, cleats and other gear.

“We’re designing and developing products that feel like an extension of your body,” Ainsworth said.

NO.marucci.adv_8802 MJ.JPG — A Marucci employee watches as a lave cuts a bat from a billet on Monday, June 16, 2025 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

STAFF PHOTO BY MICHAEL JOHNSON

Major leaguers are the company’s highest-profile customers. At its headquarters, there’s a wall of signatures from stars who have traveled to Baton Rouge to study their swing.

But the company’s most important market, by far, is everybody else, said Tulane University business professor Peter Ricchiuti, a big-time baseball fan whose office on campus is filled with MLB memorabilia.

“It’s amazing that Marucci was able to break into a business that was dominated by Louisville Slugger, which was to baseball bats what Q-tips are to cotton swabs,” Ricchiuti said. “When youngsters see big leaguers swinging a Marucci bat, they want one.”

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Fitness trackers for people with obesity miss the mark. This algorithm will fix that.: For Journalists

People with obesity exhibit differences in walking gait, speed, energy burn and more Research team created an open-source, dominant-wrist algorithm specifically tuned for people with obesity Scientist’s exercise class with mother-in-law with obesity motivated the research CHICAGO — For many, fitness trackers have become indispensable tools for monitoring how many calories they’ve burned in a […]

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People with obesity exhibit differences in walking gait, speed, energy burn and more
Research team created an open-source, dominant-wrist algorithm specifically tuned for people with obesity
Scientist’s exercise class with mother-in-law with obesity motivated the research

CHICAGO — For many, fitness trackers have become indispensable tools for monitoring how many calories they’ve burned in a day. But for those living with obesity, who are known to exhibit differences in walking gait, speed, energy burned and more, these devices often inaccurately measure activity — until now.

Scientists at Northwestern University have developed a new algorithm that enables smartwatches to more accurately monitor the calories burned by people with obesity during various physical activities.

The technology bridges a critical gap in fitness technology, said Nabil Alshurafa, whose Northwestern lab, HABits Lab, created and tested the open-source, dominant-wrist algorithm specifically tuned for people with obesity. It is transparent, rigorously testable and ready for other researchers to build upon. Their next step is to deploy an activity-monitoring app later this year that will be available for both iOS and Android use.

“People with obesity could gain major health insights from activity trackers, but most current devices miss the mark,” said Alshurafa, associate professor of behavioral medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

Current activity-monitoring algorithms that fitness trackers use were built for people without obesity. Hip-worn trackers often misread energy burn because of gait changes and device tilt in people with higher body weight, Alshurafa said. And lastly, wrist-worn models promise better comfort, adherence and accuracy across body types, but no one has rigorously tested or calibrated them for this group, he said.

“Without a validated algorithm for wrist devices, we’re still in the dark about exactly how much activity and energy people with obesity really get each day — slowing our ability to tailor interventions and improve health outcomes,” said Alshurafa, whose team tested his lab’s algorithm against 11 state-of-the-art algorithms designed by researchers using research-grade devices and used wearable cameras to catch every moment when wrist sensors missed the mark on calorie burn.

The findings will be published June 19 in Nature Scientific Reports.

The exercise class that motivated the research

Alshurafa was motivated to create the algorithm after attending an exercise class with his mother-in-law who has obesity.

“She worked harder than anyone else, yet when we glanced at the leaderboard, her numbers barely registered,” Alshurafa said. “That moment hit me: fitness shouldn’t feel like a trap for the people who need it most.”

Algorithm rivals gold-standard methods

By using data from commercial fitness trackers, the new model rivals gold-standard methods of measuring energy burn and can estimate how much energy someone with obesity is using every minute, achieving over 95% accuracy in real-world situations. This advancement makes it easier for more people with obesity to track their daily activities and energy use, Alshurafa said.

How the study measured energy burn

In one group, 27 study participants wore a fitness tracker and metabolic cart — a mask that measures the volume of oxygen the wearer inhales and the volume of carbon dioxide the wearer exhales to calculate their energy burn (in kilocalories/kCals) and resting metabolic rate. The study participants went through a set of physical activities to measure their energy burn during each task. The scientists then looked at the fitness tracker results to see how they compared to the metabolic cart results.

In another group, 25 study participants wore a fitness tracker and body camera while just living their lives. The body camera allowed the scientists to visually confirm when the algorithm over- or under-estimated kCals.

At times, Alshurafa said he would challenge study participants to do as many pushups as they could in five minutes.

“Many couldn’t drop to the floor, but each one crushed wall-pushups, their arms shaking with effort,” he said, “We celebrate ‘standard’ workouts as the ultimate test, but those standards leave out so many people. These experiences showed me we must rethink how gyms, trackers and exercise programs measure success — so no one’s hard work goes unseen.”

The study is titled, “Developing and comparing a new BMI inclusive energy burn algorithm on wrist-worn wearables.”

Other Northwestern authors include lead author Boyang Wei, and Christopher Romano and Bonnie Nolan. This work also was done in collaboration with Mahdi Pedram and Whitney A. Morelli, formerly of Northwestern.

Funding for the study was provided by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (grants K25DK113242-01A1 and R01DK129843-01), the National Science Foundation (grant 1915847), the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (grant R21EB030305-01) and the National Institutes of Health’s National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (grant UL1TR001422).

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L’Oréal Showcases New Frontiers of Beauty Powered by North Asia Open Innovation at Viva Tech

SHANGHAI, June 19, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — On June 12, L’Oréal showcased its fast-evolving North Asia open innovation ecosystem at Viva Technology in Paris, through a dedicated forum themed “New Frontiers of Beauty Powered by North Asia Open Innovation.” The event brought together top startups from China, Japan, and South Korea – standout performers from the […]

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SHANGHAI, June 19, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — On June 12, L’Oréal showcased its fast-evolving North Asia open innovation ecosystem at Viva Technology in Paris, through a dedicated forum themed “New Frontiers of Beauty Powered by North Asia Open Innovation.” The event brought together top startups from China, Japan, and South Korea – standout performers from the L’Oréal Big Bang Beauty Tech Innovation Program (Big Bang)- alongside ecosystem partners from government, media, industrial parks and innovation hubs. This marks a key milestone as L’Oréal’s regional collaboration model takes the global stage.

New Frontiers of Beauty Powered by North Asia Open Innovation at Viva Tech

The forum explored regional innovation trends and L’Oréal’s beauty tech strategy, highlighting how the Big Bang program is helping scale cross-border partnerships. With winning startups now co-developing next-generation solutions with L’Oréal, the North Asia open innovation model is quickly growing from a regional catalyst into a global innovation accelerator.

“L’Oréal is born from science, and to continue to push Beauty frontiers, we believe in the power of co-creation, collaboration and co-innovation with the external world,” said Barbara Lavernos, Deputy CEO in charge of Research, Innovation and Technology at L’Oréal Groupe. “Big Bang is at the heart of our open innovation strategy in North Asia. It connects us with dynamic startups, fostering cross-industry collaboration and accelerating the development of disruptive solutions. The success of this model has inspired its expansion across other regions, amplifying our open innovation impact globally.”

A key highlight of the forum was a roundtable discussion that explored real-world applications of open innovation, regional strengths, and emerging trends shaping the future of beauty tech. The session featured three top-performing startups from L’Oréal’s Big Bang program:

Veminsyn, a Chinese biotech startup, recently gained a strategic investment earlier this year. The co-founder Yufan Li pointed out : “L’Oréal brings not just capital, but scientific depth and global insight, it helped us turn a technical breakthrough into something with global potential.”
TheSEA, a Generative AI company in Japan, also the winner of 2024 Big Bang “Phygital Consumers Experience” track. “L’Oréal’s deep understanding of consumer needs has been instrumental in shaping our developments. We’ve found the ideal market where our technology can truly thrive,” said co-founder and CEO Yanjin Li.
ASLEEP, a South Korea-based AI sleep-tech firm, directly benefiting from Big Bang North Asia ecosystem. The company was introduced to L’Oréal at 2023 Viva Tech through Big Bang Korea Partner Ministry of SMEs and Startup, then gained the co-creation opportunity with L’Oréal Korea. “I’ve personally experienced and witnessed the impact of this open innovation ecosystem,” said Dongheon Lee, founder and CEO, “L’Oréal combines the robust resources of a beauty giant with the astonishing speed of a ‘Unicornus Rex’.“

“What I find particularly unique about the ecosystem in North Asia is the strong connection between innovation creation and its design for scaling. This interconnectedness is well demonstrated within this ecosystem. ” said Guive Balooch, Global Managing Director, Augmented Beauty & Open Innovation at L’Oréal Groupe. ” By merging these innovations with our beauty expertise, we can create significant disruptions in response to consumer demands for enhanced performance, not just in Asia but globally. “

With initiatives like Big Bang serving as a conduit, the open innovation ecosystem in North Asia leverages the complementary strengths of China, Japan, and South Korea – from technology and industrial supply chains to market reach. By linking regional capabilities to global platforms such as Viva Tech, L’Oréal is transforming local innovation into a launchpad for global impact. During the event, L’Oréal ingeniously utilized advanced AI-generated virtual host technology fueled by the rapid growth of China’s e-commerce, from Topview.ai-a sister company of the winner of 2023 Big Bang Tabcut. Successfully “exported” this technology from Chinese livestreaming room to a global stage.

“Our North Asia Open innovation ecosystem originated with the Big Bang program pilot back in 2020. Now it has grown into a robust open innovation ecosystem, continuously powering beauty innovation,” said Lan Zhenzhen, Chief CA&E Officer for L’Oréal North Asia and China. “The open innovation ecosystem that derived from Big Bang is now a strong engine that powers the new frontiers of beauty tech. We welcome more partners to join us and co-create the beauty that moves the world.”

About L’Oréal Groupe

For 115 years, L’Oréal, the world’s leading beauty player, has devoted itself to one thing only: fulfilling the beauty aspirations of consumers around the world. Our purpose, to create the beauty that moves the world, defines our approach to beauty as essential, inclusive, ethical, generous and committed to social and environmental sustainability. With our broad portfolio of 37 international brands and ambitious sustainability commitments in our L’Oréal for the Future programme, we offer each and every person around the world the best in terms of quality, efficacy, safety, sincerity and responsibility, while celebrating beauty in its infinite plurality.

With more than 90,000 committed employees, a balanced geographical footprint and sales across all distribution networks (e-commerce, mass market, department stores, pharmacies, perfumeries, hair salons, branded and travel retail), in 2023 the Group generated sales amounting to 41.18 billion euros. With 20 research centers across 11 countries around the world and a dedicated Research and Innovation team of over 4,000 scientists and 6,400 Digital talents, L’Oréal is focused on inventing the future of beauty and becoming a Beauty Tech powerhouse.

About L’Oréal North Asia Zone

L’Oréal North Asia Zone was established in 2021 as L’Oréal Groupe regrouped the geographical scope of its zones to give greater coherence to consumer behaviors and to create synergy within the region. The North Asia Zone comprises of five geographically and culturally connected markets of Mainland China, Hong Kong S.AR, Taiwan Region, Korea and Japan.

Situated in the most beauty intense region with more than one-third of the world’s total beauty consumers, L’Oréal North Asia shapes the future of beauty with its innovation centers in Shanghai, Tokyo and Seoul, while investing in beauty tech transformation as one of the three beauty tech hubs globally. Here, our mission is to strategize, create and activate a powerful ecosystem around the North Asia markets as a competitive edge to unleash sustainable growth for all and inspire the world.

About L’Oréal China

L’Oréal, the world’s largest beauty company, entered Chinese mainland in 1997. L’Oréal China is headquartered in Shanghai and has five offices across the country. L’Oréal China currently has 32 brands and one R&I center in China, as well as two factories in Suzhou and Yichang, owning more than 15,000 employees. After 28 years of high-quality, steady and sustainable growth, China has become the second-largest market in the world, the headquarter of the North Asia “Beauty Triangle”, and one of three Beauty Tech Hubs worldwide.

As a benchmark foreign enterprise in China, L’Oréal has continuously increased its investments in innovation, society, people, and ecosystem. It also collaborates with partners to explore innovative models, set industry standards, and integrate resources, driving high-quality development of China’s beauty industry. L’Oréal founded the Group’s first venture capital firm of regional markets in China, “Shanghai Meicifang Investment Co., Ltd”. L’Oréal Group’s first self-build smart fulfillment center has been officially opened in Suzhou. Meanwhile, as one of the best corporate citizens in China, L’Oréal China has always implemented and kept the “L’Oréal for the Future Sustainable Development Commitment 2030” in mind. China is L’Oréal’s first market to reach 100% renewable energies for its sites. L’Oréal China also actively contributes to the development of Chinese society through diverse CSR programs that empower women, youth, and vulnerable communities.

About Venminsyn

Winner of L’Oréal BIG BANG 2023, invested by L’Oréal in 2025.

Co-founded by multiple PhDs from Peking University (State Key Laboratory of Protein and Plant Gene Research) and Tsinghua University (Key Laboratory of Industrial Biocatalysis), Veminsyn is a biotechnology company rooted in synthetic biology and driven by cutting-edge scientific innovation. It utilizes AI and biotechnology to discover natural active ingredients, creating innovative raw materials that offer both excellent performance and environmental sustainability.

About TheSEA:

Winner of L’Oréal BIG BANG 2024, collaborating with L’Oréal China on Ecommerce product page.

TheSEA is a generative AI startup based in Tokyo, pioneering the world’s first fully AI-driven visual generation technology. Their technology enhances creative production efficiency and enables commercial-scale visual mass production, while maintaining high-quality output through fine-grained AI control. From generating entire scenes to auto-completing finished visuals, its AI autopilot system is designed to meet the unique needs of the beauty industry.

About Asleep

Winner of L’Oréal BIG BANG 2024, collaborating with L’Oréal’s brand LRP.

Asleep Co., Ltd. is a sleep AI company, transforming sleep tracking into a non-wearable solution with cutting-edge sound-based AI, achieving 94% of the performance of hospital-grade polysomnography tests. Asleep Track is the world’s first sleep tracking SaaS, seamlessly integrating advanced sleep tracking features into clients’ apps.

More information on https://www.loreal.com/en/mediaroom

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SportsVisio Secures $3.2M Additional Funding to Scale AI Sports Solution |

Investment fuels expansion across basketball and volleyball markets with funding from Sapphire Sport, Hyperplane, and new partners including Mighty Capital and Sony Innovation Fund BOSTON, June 18, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — SportsVisio, putting the power of advanced AI technology into the hands of every athlete, coach, and fan, today announced $3.2 million incremental funding, bringing its […]

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Investment fuels expansion across basketball and volleyball markets with funding from Sapphire Sport, Hyperplane, and new partners including Mighty Capital and Sony Innovation Fund

BOSTON, June 18, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — SportsVisio, putting the power of advanced AI technology into the hands of every athlete, coach, and fan, today announced $3.2 million incremental funding, bringing its total capital raised to $9M. The round includes continued support from existing investors Sapphire Sport, Hyperplane and Sovereign’s Capital, and welcomes Mighty Capital, Sony Innovation Fund, Alumni Ventures, Waterstone Impact Fund and new strategic angels.

The addition of Sony Innovation Fund is of particular importance. With their deep expertise at the intersection of content, entertainment, and emerging technology, Sony Innovation Fund brings a unique perspective that aligns with SportsVisio’s vision to reimagine how sports are captured, analyzed, and shared.

“At Sony Innovation Fund, we invest in technologies with the potential to reshape industries — and SportsVisio is a perfect example of that,” said Austin Noronha, Managing Director, Sony Ventures in the U.S. “Their AI-driven platform delivers professional-grade tools to youth and amateur athletes, transforming how sports moments are captured and shared. We’re excited to back a team that’s expanding access to high-quality sports content and empowering the next generation of athletes.”

“At Mighty Capital, we invest in products that people love — and SportsVisio is a perfect example. They’ve combined cutting-edge AI with an intuitive user experience to create a product that athletes, coaches, and leagues rely on. Their rapid adoption and deep engagement are clear signals of long-term value, and we’re thrilled to partner with them as they transform how sports are experienced and shared,” shared Jennifer Vancini, General Partner at Mighty Capital.

This funding will power sales and marketing growth initiatives, as SportsVisio scales its offerings across basketball and volleyball and new sports like baseball for amateur, youth and professional sports organizations around the world.

“We’re thrilled to have the continued backing of Sapphire Sport and Hyperplane, and to bring on these new partners,” said Jason Syversen, SportsVisio Founder and CEO. “This funding and strategic guidance will help us to expand on our mission to provide smarter, AI-driven solutions that help teams and players win—on and off the court.”

The announcement follows three major product milestones recently achieved: the launch of SportsVisio’s Coach Mode, designed to deliver deeper insights into player performance, team trends, and game flow for the coaching audience; the release of its fully featured volleyball platform, now providing AI-powered stats and automated highlights to one of the fastest-growing sports globally; and the addition of a 3×3 product to enable the fast growing and fast paced format. These innovations reinforce SportsVisio’s commitment to building sport-specific tools that empower coaches and players with actionable data and access to video.

SportsVisio is trusted by more than 150 leagues, clubs, and teams and 16,000 users throughout 16 countries, empowering coaches, athletes, and teams to elevate their game through data-driven decision-making and video highlights and content.

About SportsVisio

SportsVisio is revolutionizing sports analytics through its AI-powered platform that delivers real-time stats, video highlights, and performance insights. The platform supports basketball and volleyball, with plans to expand into additional sports. For more information, find SportsVisio online at www.sportsvisio.com or on social media at facebook.com/SportsVisioAI, instagram.com/sportsvisio/, tiktok.com/@sportsvisio, and linkedin.com/company/sportsvisio.

About Mighty Capital

Mighty Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm that capitalizes on the growing influence of product management in corporate success. Founded by SC Moatti, a former Facebook mobile tech expert, and Jennifer Vancini, a seasoned professional with over 20 years in tech investments and M&A, the firm taps into Moatti’s Products That Count network of over 600,000 product managers and CPOs to gain insights into startups and corporate needs. The real “Why now?” is the AI revolution, which has reshaped corporate power structures, accelerating the shift towards digital products and services, thereby elevating the role of product managers. As a result, Fortune 1000 companies with CPOs have increased 10x in 3 years and are outperforming their peers. Mighty Capital’s focus on this product management revolution has led to high returns and minimized risk. Notable investments include Amplitude, Groq, and Canela. Founders and institutional investors praise the firm for its exceptional value, rapid execution, and ability to spot trends early. Learn more at Mighty.Capital.

About Sony Ventures Corporation

Sony Ventures Corporation manages the Sony Innovation Fund (SIF), which invests in all stages of emerging technology companies, as well as in startups solving global environmental challenges. SIF engages with pioneering startups to help fuel the development of disruptive technologies, launch new businesses, and contribute to the environment while seeking return on investment. Sony Ventures Corporation is headquartered in Japan. Learn more at www.sonyinnovationfund.com.

About Waterstone Impact Fund

WaterStone Impact Fund is a venture capital fund dedicated to accelerating world-class companies that fuel and amplify faith, hope, and love. Targeting companies that utilize AI and robotics, the WaterStone Impact Fund seeks to support ventures that align with its mission of integrating faith-based values with technological innovation. The majority of the fund’s carried interest is directed to the Tim Tebow Foundation, supporting initiatives against human trafficking, child exploitation, orphan care, profound medical needs, and special needs ministry in over 100 countries worldwide. Learn more at waterstoneimpactfund.com.

About Alumni Ventures

Alumni Ventures is America’s largest venture capital firm for individual investors. The firm has raised over $1.4 billion from a community of more than 11,000 accredited investors and built a diversified portfolio of 1,600+ current and historical companies across sectors and stages. Alumni Ventures offers individuals unique access to professionally managed venture capital and backs innovative founders building the future. Learn more at www.av.vc.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sportsvisio-secures-3-2m-additional-funding-to-scale-ai-sports-solution-302484766.html

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An algorithm could fix that

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain For many, fitness trackers have become indispensable tools for monitoring how many calories they’ve burned in a day. But for those living with obesity, who are known to exhibit differences in walking gait, speed, energy burned and more, these devices often inaccurately measure activity—until now. Scientists at Northwestern University have developed […]

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For many, fitness trackers have become indispensable tools for monitoring how many calories they’ve burned in a day. But for those living with obesity, who are known to exhibit differences in walking gait, speed, energy burned and more, these devices often inaccurately measure activity—until now.

Scientists at Northwestern University have developed a new algorithm that enables smartwatches to more accurately monitor the calories burned by people with obesity during various physical activities.

The findings were published in Scientific Reports. The study is titled, “Developing and comparing a new BMI inclusive energy burn algorithm on wrist-worn wearables.”

The technology bridges a critical gap in fitness technology, said Nabil Alshurafa, whose Northwestern lab, HABits Lab, created and tested the open-source, dominant-wrist algorithm specifically tuned for people with obesity. It is transparent, rigorously testable and ready for other researchers to build upon. Their next step is to deploy an activity-monitoring app later this year that will be available for both iOS and Android use.

“People with obesity could gain major health insights from activity trackers, but most current devices miss the mark,” said Alshurafa, associate professor of behavioral medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

Current activity-monitoring algorithms that fitness trackers use were built for people without obesity. Hip-worn trackers often misread energy burn because of gait changes and device tilt in people with higher body weight, Alshurafa said. And lastly, wrist-worn models promise better comfort, adherence and accuracy across body types, but no one has rigorously tested or calibrated them for this group, he said.

“Without a validated algorithm for wrist devices, we’re still in the dark about exactly how much activity and energy people with obesity really get each day—slowing our ability to tailor interventions and improve health outcomes,” said Alshurafa, whose team tested his lab’s algorithm against 11 state-of-the-art algorithms designed by researchers using research-grade devices and used wearable cameras to catch every moment when wrist sensors missed the mark on calorie burn.

A mock study participant shows how the researchers measured calorie expenditure during the study. Credit: Northwestern University

The exercise class that motivated the research

Alshurafa was motivated to create the algorithm after attending an exercise class with his mother-in-law who has obesity.

“She worked harder than anyone else, yet when we glanced at the leaderboard, her numbers barely registered,” Alshurafa said. “That moment hit me: fitness shouldn’t feel like a trap for the people who need it most.”

By using data from commercial fitness trackers, the new model rivals gold-standard methods of measuring energy burn and can estimate how much energy someone with obesity is using every minute, achieving over 95% accuracy in real-world situations. This advancement makes it easier for more people with obesity to track their daily activities and energy use, Alshurafa said.

A mock study participant puts on equipment for the study. In one group, 27 study participants wore a fitness tracker and metabolic cart — a mask that measures the volume of oxygen the wearer inhales and the volume of carbon dioxide the wearer exhales to calculate their energy burn (in kilocalories/kCals) and resting metabolic rate. Credit: Northwestern

How the study measured energy burn

In one group, 27 study participants wore a fitness tracker and metabolic cart—a mask that measures the volume of oxygen the wearer inhales and the volume of carbon dioxide the wearer exhales to calculate their energy burn (in kilocalories/kCals) and resting metabolic rate. The study participants went through a set of physical activities to measure their energy burn during each task. The scientists then looked at the fitness tracker results to see how they compared to the metabolic cart results.

In another group, 25 study participants wore a fitness tracker and body camera while just living their lives. The body camera allowed the scientists to visually confirm when the algorithm over- or under-estimated kCals.

At times, Alshurafa said he would challenge study participants to do as many pushups as they could in five minutes.

“Many couldn’t drop to the floor, but each one crushed wall-pushups, their arms shaking with effort,” he said. “We celebrate ‘standard’ workouts as the ultimate test, but those standards leave out so many people. These experiences showed me we must rethink how gyms, trackers and exercise programs measure success—so no one’s hard work goes unseen.”

Other Northwestern authors include lead author Boyang Wei, and Christopher Romano and Bonnie Nolan. This work was also done in collaboration with Mahdi Pedram and Whitney A. Morelli, formerly of Northwestern.

More information:
Developing and comparing a new BMI inclusive energy burn algorithm on wrist-worn wearables, Scientific Reports (2025).

Provided by
Northwestern University

Citation:
Fitness trackers for people with obesity miss the mark: An algorithm could fix that (2025, June 19)
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from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-06-trackers-people-obesity-algorithm.html

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Blood-based Biomarker for Sports Medicine Market Trends

Blood-Based Biomarker for Sports Medicine Market InsightAce Analytic Pvt. Ltd. announces the release of a market assessment report on the “Global Blood-based Biomarker For Sports Medicine Market – By Type (CK, Myoglobin, Lactate, WBC, Urea, CRP, Lipid and Protein Hydroperoxides, IL-6), Trends, Industry Competition Analysis, Revenue And Forecast To 2034.” The global blood-based biomarker for […]

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Blood-Based Biomarker for Sports Medicine Market

InsightAce Analytic Pvt. Ltd. announces the release of a market assessment report on the “Global Blood-based Biomarker For Sports Medicine Market – By Type (CK, Myoglobin, Lactate, WBC, Urea, CRP, Lipid and Protein Hydroperoxides, IL-6), Trends, Industry Competition Analysis, Revenue And Forecast To 2034.”

The global blood-based biomarker for sports medicine market is estimated to reach over USD 1,423.8 Mn by 2034, exhibiting a CAGR of 7.8% during the forecast period.

Global Blood-based Biomarker for Sports Medicine Market 2025-2034 full Research Repot latest version is now available.

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Blood-based biomarkers are increasingly being recognized in sports medicine for their ability to provide objective, personalized insights into physical exertion, recovery, and overall health status. These biomarkers support the prevention of injuries and the enhancement of athletic performance by offering real-time data on an individual’s physiological condition, potential injury risks, and recuperation progress. The global market for blood-based biomarkers in sports medicine is experiencing robust growth, driven by advancements in diagnostic technologies and the rising demand for precise, individualized athlete care.

These biomarkers-which include amino acids, metabolites, and genetic indicators-offer a non-invasive and reliable method for monitoring various aspects of health and athletic performance. Innovations in nanotechnology and biomarker detection methods have significantly advanced the field, improving sensitivity and application efficiency. In addition, increased regulatory support and growing investments in sports healthcare infrastructure are further accelerating market expansion.

Governments and athletic organizations worldwide are actively promoting research initiatives focused on biomarker applications, recognizing their value in proactive health management. The growing emphasis on athlete wellness programs and the enforcement of anti-doping regulations are also contributing to the rising adoption of biomarker-based testing, thereby reinforcing the market’s upward trajectory.

List of Prominent Players in the Blood-based Biomarker for Sports Medicine Market:

• Abbott Laboratories

• BIOMÉRIEUX

• F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd.

• ARUP Laboratories Inc.

• Siemens Healthineers AG

• RayBiotech, Inc

• Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.

• Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc

• Beckman Coulter, Inc.

• Randox Laboratories Ltd

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Market Dynamics

Drivers:

The rising demand for personalized treatment strategies is a key factor propelling the growth of the blood-based biomarkers market in sports medicine. Precision medicine is transforming the way athletes approach training, performance, and recovery by enabling therapies tailored to individual physiological profiles. Blood-based biomarkers play a pivotal role in this paradigm shift, offering detailed insights into an athlete’s unique metabolic activity, inflammatory responses, muscle damage, and overall health status. This data facilitates the development of customized training regimens and recovery plans, enhancing athletic performance while reducing the risk of overtraining and injury. As a result, the adoption of targeted biomarker testing is gaining traction across the sports medicine field.

Challenges:

Despite their potential, the widespread adoption of blood-based biomarkers in sports medicine is hindered by high development and implementation costs. Significant financial resources are required to support research and development, secure regulatory approvals, and integrate advanced technologies. Furthermore, limited reimbursement coverage from insurance providers for biomarker-based diagnostics creates an additional barrier to accessibility. Many insurers do not consider performance monitoring medically essential, making it difficult for athletes and organizations to justify the expense associated with these advanced diagnostic tools.

Regional Trends:

North America is expected to dominate the global market for blood-based biomarkers in sports medicine, with a substantial revenue share and projected high compound annual growth rate (CAGR). This leadership is driven by high levels of sports participation, the presence of advanced healthcare infrastructure, and significant investment in research and development. The prevalence of sports-related injuries and the growing emphasis on personalized medicine further contribute to the region’s market growth. Established sports medicine institutions, state-of-the-art training facilities, and strategic collaborations between healthcare professionals and athletic organizations also support this expansion.

Europe follows closely with a considerable market share, bolstered by expanded laboratory capabilities and continued technological innovation. Advancements in biomarker sensitivity and precision have elevated their role in diagnosing and managing sports injuries. Ongoing research aimed at discovering new biomarkers and refining existing ones is expected to further increase their utilization in injury prevention and recovery monitoring.

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Recent Developments:

• In September 2024, Siemens started a new initiative called Siemens for firms to support engineering and production firms in their early stages. The initiative, which was unveiled at CES in Las Vegas, would lower the expense of using Siemens equipment and software while enabling new, creative businesses to speed up innovation, simplify development procedures, and grow more quickly by offering venture-related capabilities.

• In October 2024, Abbott, with a global presence, revealed the arrival of the XIENCE Sierra Everolimus, which also Released the cardiovascular organ system in India. One of the newest implants in the XIENCE relatives, XIENCE Sierra, is currently accessible to patients with clogged blood vessels. It provides the highest level of security for cardiac interventionists in even highly complicated circumstances.

Segmentation of Blood-based Biomarker for Sports Medicine Market-

By Type-

• CK

• Myoglobin

• Lactate

• WBC

• Urea

• CRP

• Lipid and Protein Hydroperoxides

• IL-6

• Others

By Region-

North America-

• The US

• Canada

• Mexico

Europe-

• Germany

• The UK

• France

• Italy

• Spain

• Rest of Europe

Asia-Pacific-

• China

• Japan

• India

• South Korea

• South East Asia

• Rest of Asia Pacific

Latin America-

• Brazil

• Argentina

• Rest of Latin America

Middle East & Africa-

• GCC Countries

• South Africa

• Rest of the Middle East and Africa

Read Overview Report- https://www.insightaceanalytic.com/report/blood-based-biomarker-for-sports-medicine-market/2940

About Us:

InsightAce Analytic is a market research and consulting firm that enables clients to make strategic decisions. Our qualitative and quantitative market intelligence solutions inform the need for market and competitive intelligence to expand businesses. We help clients gain competitive advantage by identifying untapped markets, exploring new and competing technologies, segmenting potential markets and repositioning products. Our expertise is in providing syndicated and custom market intelligence reports with an in-depth analysis with key market insights in a timely and cost-effective manner.

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InsightAce Analytic Pvt. Ltd.

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