GoWild Hunting App Selected as a Top Sports Company for Business Accelerator

St. Louis, MO–After receiving applications from across the U.S. and more than 40 countries, Stadia Ventures announced its Spring 2019 cohort for its sports and esports business accelerator.

And a hunting company made the cut.

GoWild, a social media and activity tracking platform built for outdoors enthusiasts, was among the finalists. In addition to mentorship and being introduced to Stadia's expansive network, GoWild will receive an equity investment of $100,000.

Stadia Ventures is an early-stage, sports- and esports-focused venture capital firm with an accelerator program. Since 2015, Stadia Ventures has invested in 30 portfolio companies and has 3 exits to Ticketmaster, FLIR Systems and Blast Motion. It is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri and has a second operation in Frisco, TX.

Global Competition & the Stadia Process

After applications closed in January, the field was narrowed to 10 early stage companies. These companies flew into St. Louis, MO at the end of January to pitch to more than 130 sports, esports and business executives at Stadia’s Finalist Pitch Day. From the Finalist Pitch Day, these aforementioned companies emerged.

“Every 6 months, we begin our search yet again for the best sports and esports startups in the world, and this spring, we were simply blown away by the breadth and depth of quality in the applicants,” says co-founder and Managing Director of Stadia Ventures, Tim Hayden. “Because of that, we had the most competitive selection process yet. So, the fact that these 6 remain today truly speaks to their previous traction and future potential.”

On March 13th, the 14-week business development accelerator program kicks off. As a part of the program, the cohort will fly to St. Louis, MO every other week for three-day sessions. These 7 live sessions will consist of executive-level mentoring, top tier guest speakers from across the sports and esports industries, and networking with the St. Louis business, investor, sports and esports communities.

“The investment from Stadia is great, but you can't put a monetary value on the mentorship and network of this group,” said GoWild Co-Founder, CEO Brad Luttrell. “We have been blown away by the reach and high caliber team at Stadia. While we’re proud of this for what it means for our company, I’m also excited to see such a renowned organization choosing a hunting company among its top talent. It speaks to the health and future of our industry.”

The Stadia Ventures Sports Accelerator helps sports and esports startups get to the next level through the combination of equity investment, intensive mentoring, and connections to the top sports and esports business executives in the country. This is the 8th accelerator cohort.

The other Spring 2019 Stadia Accelerator cohort members:

ACE/Applied Cognitive Engineering (Hod HaSharon, Israel) – Software-based cognitive training platform called Game-IQ for athletes, which is scientifically proven to enhance on-field and on-ice decision making.

Boost Technology (Seattle, WA) – Skills and decision-making assessment platform for grassroots sports using machine learning and proprietary algorithms to generate verified ratings and reports that power scouting, recruiting, and training.

Fancam (Cape Town, South Africa) – Crowd analytics platform utilizing ultra-resolution imagery and computer vision, allowing teams to use demographic data from the pictures to improve sponsorship retention and the in-stadium fan experience.

Pledge It (Harrisburg, PA) – A sports crowdfunding platform that empowers professional athletes, nonprofits, high school teams & fitness enthusiasts to raise money based on their performance.

Wearable.X (New York City, NY) – A fashion technology company developing smart textiles for fitness and recovery. Nadi X is the most sophisticated version of their haptic platform. Nadi X is the premium yoga experience that is washable and tumble dryable. The product is paired with software that provides feedback on the body’s orientation, and the haptic sensors guide the user where to focus.