Technology

Sports tech leaders display business-minded problem solving, ever-growing impact

When Bill Schlough became the San Francisco Giants’ chief information officer in 1999, he looked around for peers. There were none. He determined that he was the first CIO in sports at the team or league level, occupying a foreign position in the landscape. It’s a fact he shares modestly even now, hoping to not […]

Published

1 month ago

June 23, 2025

Your Sports Nation

When Bill Schlough became the San Francisco Giants’ chief information officer in 1999, he looked around for peers. There were none.

He determined that he was the first CIO in sports at the team or league level, occupying a foreign position in the landscape. It’s a fact he shares modestly even now, hoping to not aggrandize but simply highlight the rarity. “Here in Silicon Valley, where technology reigns supreme, the consultants that they brought in said, ‘You’re building a new ballpark, you need a CIO,’” he said. “The leaders were like, ‘What’s a CIO?’”

Schlough has spent 27 seasons with the organization, reporting to the CFO during his first few seasons before getting a direct line to the CEO over the last two-plus decades. While Schlough’s role was initially outside of the norm, it did help in trailblazing the growth of tech’s presence in the boardroom — be that by CIO, chief technology officer, chief innovation officer, senior vice president of technology or similar — that’s taking hold today.

Tech leaders have kicked through the server-room doors en route to the C-suite, occupying seats with growing impact on team and league bottom lines. They’re looked to as the go-to problem solver in an industry full of emerging brain teasers and ever-hastened deadlines. They’re handed some of the most difficult problems: making the fan experience more frictionless; boosting cybersecurity in a data-intensive world; and determining just what to do with artificial intelligence, to name a few of many.

“Here in Silicon Valley, where technology reigns supreme, the consultants that they brought in said, ‘You’re building a new ballpark, you need a CIO,’” he said. “The leaders were like ‘What’s a CIO?’”

— Bill Schlough, CIO, San Francisco Giants

It’s a job description that continues growing and looks different from one gig to another, but one that also grows in impact across all verticals. Sports Business Journal spoke to 22 lead tech executives from a range of teams, leagues and governing bodies. Their collective insights demonstrated how drastically their responsibilities have changed, the profound nature of their potential impact and the solutions they’re chasing for forward-leaning issues.

“A few years ago, CTOs, CIOs — whatever you want to call us — we were behind the scenes. We were basically viewed as we did infrastructures,” said NHL CTO Peter DelGiacco, who has led tech at the league since 1996. “That’s what the job was way back then. Not so much now. Now, it’s a much more exciting time. There are two things that we do that make my day, actually. We co-architect business strategy. We align technical road maps and revenue targets for fan experiences and market priorities.”

It’s what MLS CTO John Nicastro describes as “marrying technology as an enabler but also as an innovator.” NBA CTO Krishna Bhagavathula offers his own hypothesis about a three-phased evolution of tech leadership. A decade ago, the predominant requirement was as a service provider offering IT support. Over time, CTOs were offered a seat at the table as a business partner — involved, but not proactive.

“The ultimate nirvana, in my book,” he said, “is what I call ‘trusted adviser,’ and I differentiate between business partner and trusted adviser the following way: As a trusted adviser, business units come to you, not just for tech problems, but for advice or brainstorming on anything. As a business partner, you have a seat at the table. As a trusted adviser, you have the option to make the table.”

Technology is now interwoven across so many business units that the dynamic Bhagavathula speaks of has become table stakes for success.

SailGP CTO Warren Jones said when he was hired in 2017, founders Larry Ellison and Russell Coutts gave him a “blank sheet of paper,” so he built the league’s entire data and broadcast infrastructure in the cloud. That infrastructure now underpins insights that improve performance and the award-winning LiveLine augmented reality graphics package that helps educate new fans of the sport.

The infrastructure SailGP CTO Warren Jones built now powers the sport’s LiveLine graphics during its races around the world. Sail GP

Monumental Sports & Entertainment CTO Charlie Myers said that when he was hired, Ted and Zach Leonsis similarly told him to make the multiproperty ownership group and media company into a technology company. Myers’ purview now touches the entire enterprise, including venue infrastructure, broadcast, data systems and cybersecurity — all of which will figure into MSE’s ongoing $800 million transformation of Capital One Arena, and represent a remit that is not atypical for the modern sports tech head. (Note: SBJ and Monumental are partners on a monthly television show, “SBJ: Inside the Industry,” that airs on the Monumental Sports Network.)

“I am an agent of change,” Myers said of his role. “And I am going to thrust myself and my team into conversations to help drive that.”

The job of a sports tech leader is a big one, and with big jobs come big opportunities.

Artificial intelligence, of course, is a hot topic. Sports tech leaders see the opportunity to use AI to streamline internal processes and accelerate fan personalization, but many preached a cautious, practical approach to implementation. Multiple executives, including USTA CTO Paul Maya, have established AI working groups within their organizations to investigate use-cases and manage training and implementation with cross-departmental support, particularly from legal.

Charlie Myers’ position at Monumental now touches everything from venue infrastructure to broadcast to cybersecurity. Larry French

“We started with some very specific training and then continued to add prompt training and others to get more folks into that,” Maya said. “We’re seeing adoption within our legal space, technology space, in our customer care using bots and agents — and seeing real change in how we do business.”

Perhaps no organization, for sure at the team level, has figured out AI deployment as effectively as the Portland Trail Blazers. Christa Stout, chief strategy and innovation officer, received a nudge to figure out how generative AI could affect the entire franchise. That started a dive into every department that’s spanned a year-plus, progressing from fact-finding to impactful deployments of technology: custom GPTs that can comb budget codes in seconds, provide branding guidelines and even filter fan feedback for quick customer service response.

Problem solving, especially when affecting the entire workforce, requires a foundation of trust. Stout builds that by leaning on vulnerability and curiosity to produce buy-in. “I don’t know the best solution to a problem until I get more people involved,” Stout said. “I don’t even know what the problem is until I talk to the people closest to it.”

External expertise is sought, too. MLB Chief Operations and Strategy Officer Chris Marinak, the league’s de facto tech lead, pointed to partners Google Cloud, Adobe and Apple. A huge priority for MLB is harnessing AI to personalize the fan experience at home and at the ballpark.

“We have a lot of resources — engineers and smart people that are doing great work — but at the end of the day, the scale that we can generate in baseball is less than the scale that some of the world’s best technology companies can deliver, just given the scope of their businesses, the size of their operations,” Marinak said.

Saving employee time isn’t the only potential bottom-line benefit, as CTOs are playing an active role in driving revenue. Oscar Fernandez, New York Mets senior vice president of technology, pointed to a recent digital transformation with Samsung at Citi Field. By installing not only a larger video board but also ribbon LEDs, the club is now offering sponsors a more compelling package with synchronized messaging.

“It changed the way we did the business side, and how we did ‘digital domination,’” Fernandez said. “Instead of selling static signs, we’re selling a whole experience where you own the moment.”

The tech installation of a Citi Field’s video board
and LED ribbon boards changed how the Mets sold that inventory on the business side. Samsung / New York Mets

There is also a broad impetus to modernize data systems. One of the biggest items on ATP Tour CTO Christopher Dix’s plate, for example, is the upcoming launch of a comprehensive identity management solution, which he says will help the tour know its fans better and thus connect with them more directly.

“It’s not about giving everybody the same information,” Dix said. “It’s giving you the right information at the right time, and making sure that tennis is relevant and relatable to your experience.”

John Martin, vice president and CTO at NASCAR, meanwhile, highlighted an initiative that might affect how his sport is viewed. He said that precise car location is communicated by as many as five systems during a given race, and that tracking info creates compelling possibilities. “That data is just so rich, if I can use that term,” Martin said. “We’ve got a lot of AR/VR applications that people may not be able to even fathom just yet.”

More leagues are also formalizing research and development through accelerators and pilots, which can lead to equity stakes in startups and jointly created products. There’s NBA Launchpad and Investments, MLS Innovation Lab and Emerging Ventures and the NFL Innovation Hub.

Scott Harniman, UFL senior vice president of technology, said one goal of the league’s FAST (Football Advancement through Sports Technology) program is to investigate: “Can we create our own IP out of this? Are there rev-share opportunities with some of these partners?”

UFC technology head Alon Cohen, whose title is senior vice president of research and development, added that his league’s R&D arm views it as important that their work “not be seen as doing something innovative, but to be doing something innovative in the service of the business.” The computer vision-derived metrics UFC uses on its broadcasts, for instance, took nearly a decade to trial and develop, but Cohen sees no need to crow on that.

“Where [a statistic] came from doesn’t actually matter to you [as a fan], in the same way that we don’t think about the yellow line in football or the strike zone in baseball,” he said. “You don’t sit around going, ‘Man, it’s so cool that they do that.’ It just becomes part of the furniture of the sport.”

There is, however, a balance to be struck between diving full-bore into innovation and ensuring one’s organization is equipped to do so safely and effectively.

“They’re kind of opposing ends of the world,” said Sasha Puric, Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment CTO. “One is growth. ‘Hey, let’s go forward with new ideas and trying new things.’ And the other is, ‘Whoa, hold back. We really have to be focused on security and all the audits we have to go through and everything else.’

“That’s the yin and the yang. The two shoulders. The devil and the angel.”

David Michael has served in top tech roles for the former XFL and the Madison Square Garden Company. Now, as the CIO for LA28, he’s riding a three-year on-ramp to one of the largest events in the sporting world. Not surprisingly, the protection of data and infrastructure is the predominant concern for Michael in planning an international event with 40-plus venues and an expected 15 million fans.

“Top of my list of worries is cybersecurity, by far and away,” Michael said. “And the challenge of being in the sports industry is that you have a spotlight on you — and we have a very big spotlight on us — and so that attracts all sorts of people.”

“I am an agent of change. And I am going to thrust myself and my team into conversations to help drive that.”

— Charlie Myers, CTO, Monumental Sports & Entertainment

Michael is not alone, as cybersecurity serves as a steady drumbeat of anxiety for tech leaders when considering their day-to-day lives. Multiple leaders cited cybersecurity standards developed by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology as guiding their strategy. Some lean on partners for critical response systems, such as Monumental with Verizon, or private networks, such as SailGP with Oracle.

But the consistent theme was the importance of staff training and education. Even the most airtight cybersecurity framework, from a systems standpoint, is not immune to employee error, particularly as phishing campaigns become more scalable, realistic and multimodal.

“Everybody thinks it’s malware. It’s the people that are the risk,” said Myers, adding that Monumental conducts internal ethical hacking sessions through a third party every year to test their cyberawareness. “I worry about a wire transfer or something like that through a high-level exec. … Those are the pieces where I get concerned with people having fatigue about keeping their guard up.”

Tech leaders also mentioned keeping up with the pace of innovation and fan expectations, fan accessibility and the health of their respective sports properties as key issues that keep them up at night. It’s a list as long as the sports CTO/CIO’s list of responsibilities, putting them under an ever-growing magnifying glass of attention.

“The world knows when I have a bad day,” said Kimberly Rometo, Hawks/State Farm Arena chief technology and innovations officer. “And I’m very fortunate I don’t have bad days very often. But that was something I just didn’t expect at all.”

When Michael Conley first stepped into the Cleveland Cavaliers’ CIO role in 2017, an industry colleague asked if he knew what the abbreviation actually stood for. The answer? “Career is over,” the person deadpanned, because there is no way to meet the expectations of the job.

“I scratched my head a little bit,” Conley said. “Now I realize, you’re wearing many hats and trying to do many things, which is really, really good.”

While it’s a joke about potential workload, it can also be a tongue-in-cheek acknowledgement about the possibilities of ascending past the tech label and into higher organizational roles. Conley highlighted the start of a shift in that aspect of the job, too, saying that he sees the CTO role becoming more transferable to COO responsibilities because “the entire operation now is running on a foundation of complex technology.”

It’s not just an aspirational thought either, as teams and leagues have looked to their tech leaders for more responsibilities. Schlough once served a year as the interim president of the Class A San Jose Giants, working 10 more as chairman of the team’s board. On top of her strategy and innovation role, Stout oversees the Blazers’ G League affiliate, the Rip City Remix. LPGA Chief Legal and Technology Officer Liz Moore is leading the organization as interim commissioner until Craig Kessler takes over full time on July 15.

In addition to her strategy and innovation role with the Trail Blazers, Christa Stout also oversees the team’s G League club. Marc Bryan-Brown

Schlough contends that the team level still has work to do regarding tech’s seat at the top table. Since he started, he’s kept a running list of MLB counterparts, and approximately a third of the teams have a C-suite-level tech representative. “Many teams don’t feel that technology warrants a C-level role,” said Schlough.

It’s a sentiment that Kari Escobedo, former Seattle Mariners senior vice president and CIO who is now serving as a tech adviser (fractional CIO/CTO) for the Sounders and Reign, aligns with. There’s still a need for long-standing industry figures to see the real value that a tech-infused mind can bring. “There’s not enough appreciation or understanding of all of the complexities that we have to deal with from a lot of our business partners,” Escobedo said. “Especially ones that have maybe been in their roles a long time, and maybe not in multiple organizations, to really recognize that the impact can be huge if allowed to be just another business group, not a support firm.”

The purview is massive, and the margin for error at times nonexistent — it has to work — and yet tech can’t be a roadblock to corporate progress.

Soon after joining the NBA in 2017, Bhagavathula crystallized the role. “It’s a one-sentence mission statement,” he said, “but I think it captures everything that I strive to do within the organization: It’s to drive innovation through tech to empower our colleagues, delight our fans and safeguard the brand.”

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Technology

Top Market Shifts Transforming the Sports Broadcasting

Sports Broadcasting Technology Market Use code ONLINE30 to get 30% off on global market reports and stay ahead of tariff changes, macro trends, and global economic shifts What Is the Expected CAGR for the Sports Broadcasting Technology Market Through 2025? The size of the sports broadcasting technology market has significantly expanded in the past few […]

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38 minutes ago

July 31, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Sports Broadcasting Technology Market

Use code ONLINE30 to get 30% off on global market reports and stay ahead of tariff changes, macro trends, and global economic shifts

What Is the Expected CAGR for the Sports Broadcasting Technology Market Through 2025?

The size of the sports broadcasting technology market has significantly expanded in the past few years. The anticipated growth from $76.17 billion in 2024 to $81.95 billion in 2025, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.6%, reflects this. Factors such as internet and digital streaming, camera technology advancements, the advent of satellite broadcasting, the inclusion of augmented reality (AR), mobile viewing, and secondary screen experiences have all contributed to this growth during the historical period.

What’s the Projected Size of the Global Sports Broadcasting Technology Market by 2029?

The market size of sports broadcasting technology is predicted to experience substantial growth in the coming years, reaching $108.33 billion in 2029 with a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 7.2%. Factors contributing to this growth during the forecasted period include the advent of 5G technology, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR), personalized and interactive content, and the incorporation of wearable technology. The forecasted period will also see significant trends such as immersive viewing experiences, broadcasting powered by 5G, the application of AI in production, data analytics and visualization, and the use of cloud-based workflows.

View the full report here:

https://www.thebusinessresearchcompany.com/report/sports-broadcasting-technology-global-market-report

Top Growth Drivers in the Sports Broadcasting Technology Industry: What’s Accelerating the Market?

The anticipated exponential growth of the sports broadcasting technology market is being driven by the surging popularity of on-demand streaming services. These platforms, also referred to as video-on-demand services, provide a vast selection of multimedia content like movies, TV series, documentaries, and exclusive programs that can be accessed and viewed at users’ leisure. The appeal of such streaming platforms is escalating due to their cost-saving advantage over traditional television, ease of access, diverse exclusive content, and user-friendly nature. They utilise sports broadcasting technology to stream live sports events, recaps, and analysis contemporaneously, transmitting premium quality video streams over the internet for flawless playback and minimal buffering. For example, the Digital Entertainment and Retail Association ERA, based in the US, reported that in the UK, spending on music streaming services, vinyl, and CDs in January 2024 rose by 9.6% in 2023, almost doubling the rate of growth seen in 2022 (+5%). Furthermore, the UK’s entertainment industry saw a 7% growth in 2023. Consequently, the proliferation of on-demand streaming services is a significant driver in the expansion of the sports broadcasting technology market.

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What Trends Will Shape the Sports Broadcasting Technology Market Through 2029 and Beyond?

Prominent firms in the sports broadcast technology market are pioneering advanced solutions such as sports cloud platforms, in an effort to solidify their market standing. The Sports Cloud Platform offers a compelling and interactive setting for sports enthusiasts, courtesy of technologies that amplify the thrill and engagement in sports events. For instance, Tech Mahindra, an IT services and consulting firm based in India, introduced the Sports Cloud Platform in November 2023 to improve the fan experience. The platform, developed in cooperation with Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), a US cloud computing firm, infuses real-time analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR), and Web 3.0 technologies into its operations. It aims at amplifying the digital abilities of sports leagues, franchises, and organizations and crafting a more engrossing and custom-tailored experience for sports fans.

What Are the Main Segments in the Sports Broadcasting Technology Market?

The sports broadcasting technology market covered in this report is segmented –

1) By Component: Solutions, Services

2) By Technology: Analog, Digital

3) By Platform: OTT (Over-The-Top), Radio, Television

4) By End User: Broadcaster, Studios And Content Developer, Distributors

Subsegments:

1) By Solutions: Software, Hardware, Cloud Solutions, Data Analytics And Visualization Tools

2) By Services: Consulting Services, Integration And Installation Services, Maintenance And Support Services, Managed Services

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Which Top Companies are Driving Growth in the Sports Broadcasting Technology Market?

Major companies operating in the sports broadcasting technology market are IBM Corporation, Orange S.A., NBC Universal Media LLC, Warner Bros. Discovery Inc., NEC Corporation, ESPN Sports Media Ltd., Fox Corporation, Rohde & Schwarz GmbH & Co KG, Belden Inc., NEP Group Inc., AvL Technologies Inc., Viaplay Group AB, Sportradar AG, SKY Network Television Ltd., Evertz Microsystems Ltd., Deltatre Limited, beIN MEDIA GROUP, Supersport, Global Invacom Group, VSN Video Stream Networks S.L., Muvi One, Staige GmbH, OMB Broadcast, Hangzhou HAOXUN Technologies Co. Ltd., EasyBroadcast

Which Regions Will Dominate the Sports Broadcasting Technology Market Through 2029?

North America was the largest region in the sports broadcasting technology market in 2024. Asia-Pacific is expected to be the fastest-growing region in the forecast period. The regions covered in the sports broadcasting technology market report are Asia-Pacific, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, South America, Middle East and Africa.

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Technology

Tech job postings down 36% since 2020. But is AI a factor?

Entry-level tech jobs have been hit hardest, especially in areas overlapping with AI’s strengths. WASHINGTON — If you read the typical 2025 mass layoff notice from a tech industry CEO, you might think that artificial intelligence cost workers their jobs. The reality is more complicated, with companies trying to signal to Wall Street that they’re making […]

Published

4 hours ago

July 31, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Entry-level tech jobs have been hit hardest, especially in areas overlapping with AI’s strengths.

WASHINGTON — If you read the typical 2025 mass layoff notice from a tech industry CEO, you might think that artificial intelligence cost workers their jobs.

The reality is more complicated, with companies trying to signal to Wall Street that they’re making themselves more efficient as they prepare for broader changes wrought by AI.

A new report Wednesday from career website Indeed says tech job postings in July were down 36% from their early 2020 levels, with AI one but not the most obvious factor in stalling a rebound.

ChatGPT’s debut in late 2022 also corresponded with the end of a pandemic-era hiring binge, making it hard to isolate AI’s role in the hiring doldrums that followed.

“We’re kind of in this period where the tech job market is weak, but other areas of the job market have also cooled at a similar pace,” said Brendon Bernard, an economist at the Indeed Hiring Lab. “Tech job postings have actually evolved pretty similarly to the rest of the economy, including relative to job postings where there really isn’t that much exposure to AI.”

The template for tech CEO layoff notices in 2025 includes an AI pivot

That nuance is not always clear from the last six months of tech layoff emails, which often include a nod to AI in addition to expressions of sympathy.

When he announced mass layoffs earlier this year, Workday CEO Carl Eschenbach invited employees to consider the bigger picture: “Companies everywhere are reimagining how work gets done, and the increasing demand for AI has the potential to drive a new era of growth for Workday.”

Autodesk CEO Andrew Anagnost explained that a need to shift resources to “accelerate investments” in AI was one of the reasons the company had to cut 1,350, or about 9%, of workers.

The “Why We’re Doing This” section of CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz’s announcement of 5% job cuts said the cybersecurity company needed to double down on AI investments to “accelerate execution and efficiency.”

“AI flattens our hiring curve, and helps us innovate from idea to product faster,” Kurtz wrote.

It’s not just U.S. companies. In India, tech giant Tata Consultancy Services recently characterized its 12,000 layoffs, or 2% of its workforce, as part of a shift to a “Future-Ready organization” that would be realigning its workforce and “deploying AI at scale for our clients and ourselves.”

Even the Japanese parent company of Indeed and Glassdoor has cited an AI shift in its notice of 1,300 layoffs at the job search and workplace review sites.

AI spending, not replacement, is a more common factor

Microsoft, which is scheduled to release its fourth-quarter earnings Wednesday, has announced layoffs of about 15,000 workers this year even as its profits have soared.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told employees last week the layoffs were “weighing heavily” on him but also positioned them as an opportunity to reimagine the company’s mission for an AI era.

Promises of a leaner approach have been welcomed on Wall Street, especially from tech giants that are trying to justify huge amounts of capital spending to pay for the data centers, chips and other components required to power AI technology.

“It’s this sort of double-edged sword restructuring that I think a lot of tech giants are encountering in this age of AI, where they have to find the right balance between maintaining an appropriate headcount, but also allowing artificial intelligence to come to the forefront,” said Bryan Hayes, a strategist at Zacks Investment Research.

Google said last week it would raise its budget for capital expenditures by an additional $10 billion to $85 billion. Microsoft is expected to outline similar guidance soon.

The role of AI in job replacement is hard to track

One thing is clear to Hayes: Microsoft’s job cuts improve its profit margin outlook for the 2026 fiscal year that started in July.

But what these broader tech industry layoffs mean for the employment prospects of tech workers can be harder to gauge.

“Will AI replace some of these jobs? Absolutely,” said Hayes. “But it’s also going to create a lot of jobs. Employees that are able to leverage artificial intelligence and help the companies innovate, and create new products and services, are going to be the ones that are in high demand.”

He pointed to Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, which is on a spree of offering lucrative packages to recruit elite AI scientists from competitors such as OpenAI.

The reports published by Indeed on Wednesday show that AI specialists are faring better than standard software engineers, but even those jobs are not where they have been.

“Machine-learning engineers — which is kind of the canonical AI job — those job postings are still noticeably above where they were pre-pandemic, though they’ve actually come down compared to their 2022 peak,” said Bernard, the Indeed economist. “They’ve also been impacted by the cyclical ups and downs of the sector.”

Economists are watching for AI’s effects on entry-level tech jobs

Tech hiring has particularly plunged in AI hubs such as the San Francisco Bay Area, as well as Boston and Seattle, according to Indeed.

But in looking more closely at which tech workers were least likely to get hired, Indeed found the deepest impact on entry-level jobs in the tech industry, with those with at least five years of experience faring better.

The hiring declines were sharpest in entry-level tech industry jobs that involve marketing, administrative assistance and human resources, which all involve tasks that overlap with the strength of the latest generative AI tools that can help create documents and images.

“The plunge in tech hiring started before the new AI age, but the shifting experience requirements is something that happened a bit more recently,” Bernard said.

Microsoft, which is staking its future on AI in the workplace, has also had its own researchers look into the jobs most vulnerable to the current strengths of AI technology. At the top of the list are knowledge work jobs such as language interpreters or translators, as well as historians, passenger attendants, sales representatives, writers and customer service representatives, according to Microsoft’s working paper.

On the other end, leading in work more immune to AI changes were phlebotomists, or healthcare workers who draw blood, followed by nursing assistants, workers who remove hazardous materials, painters and embalmers.

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Technology

GV Bets Big On ‘AI Magic’ — Even When It Competes With Alphabet

Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing series in which Crunchbase News interviews active investors in artificial intelligence. Read previous interviews with Felicis, Battery Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Scale Venture Partners, Costanoa, Citi Ventures, Sierra Ventures and Andrew Ng of AI Fund, as well as highlights from more interviews done in […]

Published

5 hours ago

July 31, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Most corporate venture firms steer clear of investing in rivals. But GV (formerly Google Ventures) isn’t most firms. Not only did it back Slack while Google had a competing product, it’s now investing in AI companies that go head-to-head with parent company Alphabet’s own efforts in the artificial intelligence race.

GV’s model — single LP, independent decisions — has allowed it to stay fast and nimble during AI’s most explosive moment. Managing partners Dave Munichiello and Tom Hulme are backing companies across chips, compilers and applications, and making early and late bets alike. GV’s wager is clear: The AI age rewards those who move fast, trust founders and don’t flinch at eye-watering valuations.

We recently spoke with Munichiello, based in Silicon Valley, and Hulme, based in London, who co-lead the digital investment practice globally, about GV’s AI investment approach.

Tom Hulme, GV managing partner and head of Europe

Munichiello was previously at Kiva Systems, which became Amazon Robotics. Hulme has a background in physics and was the design director at Ideo in Europe and an active angel investor before joining then-Google Ventures in 2014.

A frenzied AI gold rush on the West

“It’s an absolutely wild time on the West Coast, in San Francisco. Every weekend is five or six long walks with founders that are getting inundated with AI term sheets,” said Munichiello. “Founders are in houses filled with other AI founders. The buzz is heavy of people getting poached by the Metas or the OpenAIs of the world, while simultaneously fending off those offers and starting their own thing,” he said.

Munichiello and Hulme said they both have middle- and high-school aged children who are using the technology in their everyday lives, to write, digest and summarize complex ideas.

From widespread consumer adoption, there is a drastic push from enterprises to spend to capture this “AI magic.”

Talent competition heats up

“We think about the stack as low as chips and infrastructure, and as high as the application level, and all the different industries that application-level investments are blossoming in,” said Munichiello.

Early GV investments in AI include Lattice Data, which was bought by Apple to power Siri in 2017, video-generation company Synthesia, and data labeling company Snorkel AI. More recently, it was an investor in Thinking Machines Lab’s record $2 billion seed round at a $12 billion valuation.

GV invests independently of Alphabet, its parent and sole investor. That means it sometimes backs companies that could be seen as competitors to Alphabet-owned products. For example, GV invested in Slack, when Google had a competitive internal product, and Thinking Machines Lab competes with Alphabet’s Gemini.

As to why they invested, Munichiello said they heard from their internal recruiting team that Thinking Machines CEO and co-founder Mira Murati, formerly OpenAI’s CTO, is one of the best recruiters of deeply technical AI talent. “Amazing companies sometimes are at prices that feel very uncomfortable, and that was certainly the case with Thinking Machines,” he added.

Competition for AI research talent is intense, and model performance is quantifiable. That means “for the first time, many of the big companies are competing in the same game. So if you look at Meta, Alphabet or OpenAI, they’re all competing on having cutting-edge foundation models,” Hulme said.

“We’ve never seen companies scale as quickly as the AI-native companies we see today,” he said. “We have not seen talent move as frequently at the foundation model as the amount we’re seeing at the moment.”

The team pays attention to where the smartest researchers are going to work. “They’re not going to Big Tech. They’re going to startups, and they’re all going to San Francisco,” said Munichiello.

App layer

“We’ve been slower to invest in application-layer companies, until we know there’s real traction,” said Munichiello. “If you look at Harvey or OpenEvidence, we didn’t lead the Series A. We led a later-stage round.”

Munichiello said the question they seek to address: “Are these dollars seeking a use case, seeking an application that could be interesting in their company? Or are they locked in production, creating actual value for the company?”

To assess whether revenue is experimental or not, the team spends time understanding customers’ use — is the product beyond proof of concept, is it used daily, does it save millions of dollars in headcount while creating actual value?

In 2024, the firm led the Series C in AI legal tech startup Harvey at a $1.5 billion valuation. The company has since raised two rounds and now has a valuation of $5 billion.

More recently, GV co-led, along with Kleiner Perkins, the Series B in OpenEvidence, an AI-powered platform that helps doctors and other healthcare professionals more easily aggregate and process peer-reviewed medical literature, at a $3.5 billion valuation.

GV also co-led a $40 million Series A investment with New York-based TQ Ventures in London-based online legal platform Lawhive.

“When we look at companies that are coming in to raise, the revenue run rate is insane. These companies are growing incredibly fast, faster than ever before,” said Munichiello. “And it’s very hard to spend a lot of time looking at AI applications companies, and then go back to looking at other companies.”

“We have businesses in our portfolio like Bolt.new [a product of StackBlitz] — they built out the technology and then turned on monetization and went from zero to $40 million ARR in 12 weeks,” said Hulme “We think that’s the new normal.” GV was a co-lead in the startup’s seed round in 2022. The company was not growing meaningfully until October 2024, when it launched bolt.new to code with text prompts in a web browser, which took off.

The invest strategy at the infrastructure level

For the infrastructure layer, the firm’s calculus is different, said Munichiello. “We start to do deep technical work, and see there needs to exist a compiler that is universal, and the company needs a lot of money to get there, and really patient capital. We’re going to lead the first round. We’ll probably lead multiple rounds over time, but this will pay off 100x over time if it’s right — that’s worth deep investment from us.”

To that end, GV led the $30 million seed round in Modular, which seeks to build a unified compute layer to interface with AI hardware. The company has created a universal compiler that is a competitor to Cuda, which enables AMD‘s GPUs to run just as fast as those from Nvidia, said Munichiello. Modular has since raised a $100 million Series B led by General Catalyst.

Multistage, multisector, multigeo investors

GV has been investing for 15 years and has $10 billion in assets under management. The firm is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts, New York and London. Its largest exits over time include Uber, Nest Labs, Slack and GitLab, among others.

CEO and managing partner David Krane heads up the team of 21 partners. Alongside Krane, Munichiello and Hulme, the fourth managing partner is Krishna Yeshwant, who is based in Cambridge, and co-leads its life sciences practice with general partner David Schenkein.

Companies meet at least one other partner through the investment process and then usually pitch the entire partnership. Partners share ideas and thoughts with the lead, who then can make an investment decision. The team can move quickly and has been able to close a deal in a week from the first meeting with a founder.

“A and B are the sweet spot,” said Munichiello. “Our job, when we find an area that we’re excited about, is to look at the A and the B. And then to say, ‘Is this the very best way to invest in this category?’”

If the right company is at Series D or seed, the team will do that investment. Team members are not limited by locale, and can invest in the best companies across the world.

Hulme thinks more in terms of cities than countries. “For every great founder you need great operators, maybe five or 10 great operators, and the global pockets of those remain, in my opinion, in San Francisco, New York and London. Those are the cities that we’re most excited about. But we also invest in places like Tel Aviv, which are growing quickly.”

An analog business

“We’re a venture capital business, but we think of this as a human capital business. We’re as good or as bad as the people on the GV team. And interestingly, they are as good or bad or as bad as the humans they’re investing in. It’s a very analog business in that way. It’s just super-powered with technology,” said Hulme.

Munichiello said the firm’s diverse approach and flexibility is key.

“GV is a place where we can have 30 people going in 30 different directions, investing in 30 different things. And we’re not trying to drive consensus,” said Munichiello.

Related Crunchbase list:

Illustration: Dom Guzman

Clarification: This story has changed since its original publication to update the firm’s life sciences practice information.

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Yale University Alum Michelle Alozie Juggles A Career In The National Women’s Soccer League While Working As A Cancer Research Technician

Houston Dash athlete Michelle Alozie is an inspiration. Higher Learning Journey The Nigerian is marrying her passion for sports with a career in medicine. As a former Yale University student, she obtained a bachelor’s degree in molecular, cellular, and developmental biology in 2019, according to her LinkedIn. She also played for the Ivy League’s soccer team, […]

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6 hours ago

July 31, 2025

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Houston Dash athlete Michelle Alozie is an inspiration.

Higher Learning Journey

The Nigerian is marrying her passion for sports with a career in medicine. As a former Yale University student, she obtained a bachelor’s degree in molecular, cellular, and developmental biology in 2019, according to her LinkedIn. She also played for the Ivy League’s soccer team, Yale Bulldogs, scoring 19 goals and logging 13 assists across her three seasons, per information shared by the Houston Dash News. Her accolades on the team included Ivy League Co-Offensive Player of the Year honors and first-team All-Conference recognition. When she transitioned to the University of Tennessee to pursue a master’s degree in sports psychology and motor behavior, she played for one year with the Tennessee Volunteers, ESPN mentions.

Going Pro

In 2021, she signed on to join the Houston Dash (National Women’s Soccer League). According to the team website, Alozie was awarded a two-year contract extension beginning on Jan. 1, 2025.

“Houston will always hold a special place in my heart; this is where I began my professional career and earned so many opportunities to grow on-and-off the field,” Alozie said. “I’m optimistic about the future of the organization and want to contribute to this club’s success. I am cognizant of the work ahead and I’m thrilled to be a part of this team for years to come.”

Alozie recently played in the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON), representing Nigeria. According to the South African Broadcasting Corp., the team won its 10th title on July 26.

Simultaneously Working As A Cancer Research Technician

While Alozie spends most of her days on the field, she is working as a cancer research technician at Texas Children’s Hospital at night and between matches. She told the Olympics she hopes to inspire younger generations and show them that they do not have to choose one linear path.

“Many times you think you have to do one or the other, but if you’re passionate about both, you’re young and driven and you want to continue your football career, it doesn’t mean your academic career has to end. If anything, they can just co-exist and align with each other. It’s an inspiration to know that you can have more than one career,” she expressed.

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Technology

Pakistan moves to draft first esports policy to boost digital economy

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has taken a step towards formalising its growing esports industry, as government officials and international partners agreed to develop the country’s first national esports policy. The decision followed a high-level meeting between the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoITT), the Commonwealth Secretariat, and the British Esports Federation. The goal is to craft […]

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6 hours ago

July 31, 2025

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The decision followed a high-level meeting between the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoITT), the Commonwealth Secretariat, and the British Esports Federation. The goal is to craft a policy that supports economic growth, creates job opportunities for young people, and aligns with global standards.

Federal Minister for IT and Telecommunication, Shaza Fatima Khawaja, who chaired the meeting, said the policy aims to turn Pakistan’s emerging game development talent into a competitive global force. “Our youth are already creating games for platforms like SEGA and Nintendo,” she said. “What we lack is commercial access. We need international support to bridge this gap and help our developers scale up.”

The government is proposing a three-pronged strategy: introducing game-tech education and training, supporting youth-led innovation, and promoting the commercialisation of locally developed games.

The meeting also included Chairman of the Prime Minister’s Youth Programme (PMYP), Rana Mashood Ahmed Khan, who called the move a “strategic push” to unlock digital employment potential. “This is a great opportunity to collaborate on game technology and create new economic pathways for our young population,” he said.

Representatives from both the Commonwealth Secretariat and British Esports Federation pledged their support. Layne Robinson, Head of Social Policy, Youth and Gender Development at the Commonwealth, and British Esports Vice President Thomas Dore, were among those present.

The parties agreed to move forward with the creation of a national esports federation and a policy framework that reflects international best practices.

The initiative is seen as part of Pakistan’s wider digital transformation agenda and an attempt to tap into the fast-growing global gaming industry.

Read next: Pakistan’s Systems to acquire British American Tobacco SAA Services

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Technology

Apple iSports to acquire Lucky Bet operator LBC Enterprises

Entertainment technology company Apple iSports Group has agreed to acquire Australia-based gaming and fintech platform provider LBC Enterprises, operator of the Lucky Bet brand. According to Apple iSports’ website, the company “delivers advanced infrastructure and immersive sports and gaming platforms — powered by strategic tech partnerships. The business says it is “strategically positioned at the […]

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7 hours ago

July 30, 2025

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Entertainment technology company Apple iSports Group has agreed to acquire Australia-based gaming and fintech platform provider LBC Enterprises, operator of the Lucky Bet brand.

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According to Apple iSports’ website, the company “delivers advanced infrastructure and immersive sports and gaming platforms — powered by strategic tech partnerships.

The business says it is “strategically positioned at the intersection of technology, media, and entertainment — where sports and entertainment are rapidly converging,” and is “tackling today’s digital infrastructure gaps with focused, strategic acquisitions.”

Apple iSports was founded by Australia-based entrepreneur Marino Sussich, and is led by Joe Martinez as chairman and CEO.

Martinez is described by the company as “a key contributor to multiple companies’ funding and IPOs”, who has “served as CEO of several public companies, leading them from startup through management, public offering, and successful sale to private equity firms.”

Apple iSports’ management team is further bolstered by technology veteran Jeremy Samuel as president and director, and seasoned online betting expert Lee Saltzer as COO.

LBC management to remain in place

Meanwhile, Lucky Bet operator LBC Enterprises is led by CEO Ian Parke, who will continue to run the business post-acquistion.

Both Parke and James Tennant will join the board of Apple iSports as directors following completion of the deal, which is expected to close during Q3.

“The proposed acquisition of our company by Apple iSports validates the global opportunity we see in regulated, tech-driven gaming,” Parke commented on the agreement.

“By combining LBC’s platform and operational expertise with Apple iSports’ capital markets presence and distribution network, we are primed to accelerate our expansion into new markets and scale our white label programme. This partnership represents a major step forward for Lucky Bet and the broader LBC ecosystem.”

Apple iSports CEO Martinez added: “The board of directors is excited to continue rolling out our stated objectives with our proposed acquisition of LBC. Our service offerings to B2B and B2C will now be significantly enhanced in a rapidly growing sector.

“Combined with our exceptional team, this transaction catapults us into the US and international gaming markets.”

Media reports suggest the deal is valued at $125m.

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