Sportradar to Boost Presence in Cricket, Asia With Latest Acquisition
Sportradar has reached an agreement to buy InteractSport, an Australian tech platform and data provider with deep expertise in cricket.
The acquisition, expected to close in the second quarter, should increase Sportradar’s capabilities in one of the world’s most popular sports. InteractSport has partnerships with Cricket Australia and the England & Wales Cricket Board, offering products that range from electronic scoring to data collection and live-streaming production.
The deal will also strengthen Sportradar’s position across Asia and Oceania, an area of focus for the data giant. Cricket has more than 1 billion fans and 300 million participants globally, according to a 2018 study conducted for the sport’s governing body. A majority of those people live in those two regions.
“This acquisition provides Sportradar with the opportunity to widen its data and content offering,” Sportradar CEO Carsten Koerl said in a statement. “With cricket being one of the most popular sports in the world, we see this as a growth opportunity for the company, especially given the significance of the sport in the Asian region.”
Terms of the acquisition weren’t released.
As data becomes more important for sports betting and media consumption, providers like Sportradar are in an arms race to build faster, more reliable feeds. That’s resulted in more competition for league partnerships, and a rush of new M&A activity. This is Sportradar’s third acquisition of 2021: It previously purchased gambling messaging platform Fresh Eight and video/data analytics provider Synergy Sports.
The agreement comes as Sportradar continues its negotiations to go public through a SPAC led by Los Angeles Dodgers co-owner Todd Boehly. The two sides recently extended their negotiating window on a deal that would value the firm at $10 billion, and are currently courting institutional investors.
Based in Melbourne, InteractSport’s other partners include Netball Australia, Oceania Rugby, Swimming Australia and the governing body for soccer in Australia.
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