Genius intends to fund the purchase with cash and shares of its common stock, with the deal expected to close before the end of the second quarter of 2021.
Founded in 2013, Second Spectrum offers tracking, analytics and data visualisation services in the sports market, allowing clients to automatically index action on the court, pitch or field within seconds.
Genius said the acquisition will accelerate its convergence of sports, betting and media to power the fan experience, combining its streaming capabilities with Second Spectrum’s interactive broadcast solutions.
The combined offering, Genius said, will create richer and more valuable official sports data and drive fan engagement that combines real-time data and analytics with augmented video streaming and personalised content.
Second Spectrum already has partnerships place with a number of major sports properties, serving as the official tracking provider of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and Major League Soccer (MLS) in the US, as well as football’s English Premier League.
“This acquisition supports our long-term strategic vision of utilising AI tracking, enhanced data insights and transformative technology to revolutionise the sports data landscape for the fans, our customers and sports and media partners,” said Genius Sports CEO Mark Locke.
“Adding additional fan engagement technology to our already diverse and cutting-edge portfolio of products and services will create compelling, unique content, that will transform user experiences and create additional revenue streams for our customers. We are delighted to welcome Rajiv and his team to the Genius Sports family,” Locke added.
“We are thrilled to join the Genius Sports family. Mark and his incredible team have built the fastest growing sports data platform on the planet by better serving sports leagues, fans and their partners by leveraging technology in novel and compelling ways,” commented Second Spectrum CEO Rajiv Maheswaran.
“Second Spectrum’s mission to be at the forefront of innovation in the sports ecosystem in combination with the scale and drive of Genius Sports will rapidly accelerate how content is created and experienced and bring significant value for our partners and clients,” Maheswaran added.
On April 20, 2021, Genius Sports completed its previously announced business combination with dMY Technology Group, Inc. II. The Business Combination was approved at a special meeting of dMY II’s stockholders held Friday, April 16. Beginning on Wednesday, April 21, 2021, Genius Sports' ordinary shares and warrants began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbols “GENI” and “GENI WS”, respectively.
Source: GMB
