Exclusive: Olympian Matt Richards launches sports-tech platform Sponza
Double Olympic champion swimmer Matt Richards has launched a new business that will help thousands of athletes find commercial backers.
Sponza, Richards told City PM, has raised a six-figure sum at a seven-figure valuation ahead of its launch this week.
The sports tech platform will allow athletes to connect with brands, with the aim of bridging the shortfall Olympians and sportspeople often have between required and actual funding.
It follows the creation of the likes of fan and athlete platform Fayder, and comes after canoeist Kurts Adams Rozentals joined OnlyFans to generate income.
“So far the investment we’ve brought on has purely been through a close network of people that have either experienced this themselves or people that are within the industry and within my close network,” said Richards.
“In total we’ve got 12 Olympic medals between everybody that’s invested and then plenty of other accolades in the business world. It is quite a tight group at the moment.”
Richards’ Sponza dream
Richards, who won back-to-back 4x200m freestyle relay golds in Tokyo and Paris, says that there are already 5,000 athletes signed up to Sponza from across 50 sports.
“On the athlete side,” the 23-year-old added, “you can download the app completely for free, create your account and then begin applying to opportunities. It is somewhat limited, so you can only apply for one [opportunity] per month – or you can pay £10 a month as an athlete, and you’ll be able to buy into everything, get access to all the other bits and pieces.
“And then on the other side of the platform, the brands pay an annual access fee and then a very small commission gets paid out of the brand side, so it’s paid on top of the campaign, rather than through the athletes. The athletes aren’t losing any further commission on that.”
Sponza describes itself as a sports-tech platform helping brands discover and activate athletes more efficiently, adding that it allows for “direct access to relevant athletes and the tools to scale partnerships without increased overhead or complexity”.
Richards stated that the site will launch in the UK only to ensure that the systems work correctly, but there are plans to expand to the United States.
“That’ll be a target for us,” he said. “And the ultimate goal is to be the go-to place for athletes and brands all around the world when they’re looking to work with each other.”