Christiano Ronaldo, Andres Iniesta, Michael Owen and Louis Saha are a few of the high profile names to enter the technology scene.
Real Madrid forward Christiano Ronaldo, one of the greatest players in soccer history, has invested an undisclosed amount of money into Mobbito. Mobbito is a Portugese app that allows users to create teams and get awarded by interacting with local businesses, similar to the popular app Foursquare.
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“It’s a lot like becoming the mayor on Foursquare, but a Mobitto ambassador has to do more than just check in: he has to be a paying customer or refer paying customers, said Jose Simons, CEO of Mobito. “We don’t want to overuse him [Ronaldo]. We don’t want people to use Mobitto because he’s involved in it.”
Users of the app collect points by inviting friends, sharing via social media, and recommending and buying items from a business.
Andres Iniesta has been one of most consistent players for Real’s rival Barcelona for over a decade. Iniesta has invested in FirstV1sion, a body mounted video camera. The camera was created to enhance broadcasting by provide viewers an angle from the point of view of the players.
The company posted video demonstrations on their site and on Youtube so you can see how the footage looks.
Michael Owen, former England national team player, is backing the sports social media platform Sportlobster. The site supports 32 different sports and was created so sports fans could visit one site to get all of their highlights, scores and videos. Fans from all over the world can read blogs, rumors, news and chat with other fans.
Sportlobster launched in 2013 and is available online and on iOS and Android. It has over 1.4 million users. Christiano Ronaldo has also been involved in its marketing.
Retired French soccer player Louis Saha, who played for a number of English Premiere League teams, created his own technology startup called Axis Stars. It is an online platform designed to help young athletes match-up with agents and sponsors.
Saha told Techworld he believes that having players, agents, clubs and sponsors on the same platform will result in increased transparency and less corruption – something the industry is desperate for, according to Saha.
None of these startups have broken into the mainstream, but it will help to have the backing of some of the greatest players of all time.