Hype Sports Innovation, the sports-industry incubator, is launching Hype Capital, a $75 million investment fund for sports-industry “unicorns,” or start-ups valued at over $1 billion, especially those with a focus on artificial intelligence, virtual reality and performance analytics. Two veterans of Adidas are taking part in the project. One is Bernd Wahler, the current chairman of Hype's board, who was formerly chief marketing officer and vice president of innovation at Adidas. Wahler was also president of VfB Stuttgart, the German sports club and football team, and founder and chief executive of Sportsgeist, the German sports-marketing company. The other is Uli Becker, who serves on Hype's advisory board and was formerly president and chief executive of Adidas' subsidiary Reebok. Hype Capital will be drawing on Hype Sports Innovation's existing network of 26,000 brands, sports clubs, federations, academies and universities. Among Hype's partners are the National Football League (NFL), Microsoft, Puma, Adidas, Asics, Spalding, the European Commission, Accenture and Amazon Launchpad. Hype Sports Innovation is headquartered in Israel with offices in London.

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