SportIQ’s smart basketball technology chosen for the NBA Launchpad program for emerging sports technologies
The NBA Launchpad program is the league’s initiative to pilot emerging technologies to progress the sport and the NBA’s business priorities. SportIQ’s smart basketball, already sold in tens of thousands directly to consumers, accurately tracks every shot a player makes, giving insights that inform training programs and individual player development.
Los Angeles, USA (February 3rd, 2025) Sports tech startup SportIQ, the producer of smart basketballs and shooting data software, today announces its selection for the NBA Launchpad program for 2025. The program is a six-month process where SportIQ will have hands-on support and access to the NBA's resources to develop its technology further. Each year, the NBA selects five emerging technology companies for the program, culminating in SportIQ presenting its developments to NBA executives, partners, and investors during the NBA Summer League 2025.
The NBA Launchpad program creates an opportunity for SportIQ to improve the on-court product by using technology to automate objective calls, allowing officials to focus on the more challenging calls requiring expert judgment.
The NBA Launchpad program sets the standard for innovation in basketball technology and provides a platform to work with the premier basketball league - an organization with unmatched global influence. Being selected for this program is a tremendous honor for our team. It not only connects us with industry leaders but also enables us to demonstrate a groundbreaking use case for our technology. This opens the door to exciting new business model opportunities and impact in the basketball world.
says Erik Anderson, CEO of SportIQ.
The NBA is seeking technologies that can improve call accuracy, streamline the viewing experience, and increase decision-making transparency with an emphasis on finding new sensing modalities (e.g., cameras, IMU, LiDAR, radar, depth sensors, ultrasonic sensors) and AI/ML software tools to assist with model development, and 3D visualization engines to recreate plays from the data.
SportIQ aims to expand its product lines and technological capabilities to increase the possible revenue streams and usage cases. Basketball is just a starting point, as SportIQ’s sensor technology can be fitted into any kind of ball used in recreational and professional sports.
The patented smart basketball has a sensor in the ball’s valve that tracks a player’s shooting performance. The ball feeds data about shooting position, power, angle, and technique, amongst other things, to the mobile app, which then uses AI technology to analyze the data and give players direct feedback on how to improve their performance.
To date, SportIQ has already tracked over 20 million shots, helps players improve their shooting accuracy by 15% with regular use, and the company holds over 25 patents on its technology. SportIQ’s smart basketballs are available online, and already today, the company sells tens of thousands of smart basketballs to consumers annually.
We’ve had an incredible journey so far, and now, being selected for the NBA Launchpad program, we show that the future of basketball is in having the right technology available for players of all ages and abilities. If all goes well, we are soon ready to expand to new markets and sports.
Anderson concludes.