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FouAnalytics Announces Global Availability of FouAnalytics for Publishers, Decisioning Container

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FouAnalytics for Publishers is a collection of features that helps publishers demonstrate “humanness” — human audience quality, to drive more direct demand and higher CPM prices, and a decisioning container which helps publishers defend against unsupported clawback claims, and report on viewability and brand safety.

NEW YORK, Aug. 17, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — FouAnalytics today announced the global availability of FouAnalytics for Publishers, a suite of features specifically for publishers/sellers of digital ad inventory.

Background: when everyone was called “high quality”

For too long, reputable publishers have been lumped together with fraudulent sites and mobile apps because legacy brand safety and fraud-verification vendors reported 1% invalid-traffic (IVT) rates across everything. While legitimate publishers actually had low IVT, fraudulent sellers’ low IVT numbers were due to the failure of legacy verification vendors to detect not just bot traffic, but many other forms of ad fraud like ad stacking, pixel stuffing, apps loading webpages, aggressive ad slot refreshing, extreme ad load, to name a few.

The result was a marketplace in which virtually everyone, including fraudsters, could call their inventory “high quality.” FouAnalytics for Publishers gives reputable publishers a way to show, rather than merely say, the humanness of their ad inventory, through independent analytics. In FouAnalytics, blue denotes observed human and good traffic, while red denotes bot and fraudulent traffic. This visual, evidence-based distinction, along with detailed supporting data, enables publishers to demonstrate the real human quality of their advertising inventory to support more direct buys and higher CPMs.

“Fraudsters would never deploy FouAnalytics on their sites and in their mobile apps, because they know I will catch them,” said Dr. Augustine Fou, creator of FouAnalytics.

“The commercial value for publishers is straightforward: good publishers should be rewarded for transparent, authenticated, human-quality inventory,” said Fou. “Publishers need more than another opaque IVT number. They need evidence, as in the slide above, that they can use in sales materials and buyer conversations to show why their audiences deserve more direct demand and higher CPMs. Blue means humans, and red means bots and fraud. The quality difference is dramatic and visually apparent.”

Clawback protection and AI crawler defense

Further, publishers are often confronted with clawbacks, make-good demands, or refund requests after an ad buyer or a third-party verification provider alleges elevated invalid traffic (IVT) or bot activity. These claims can materially reduce publisher revenue, damage buyer relationships, and force publishers into disputes even where they have limited visibility into the evidence behind the accusation.

AI and agentic crawler surges can create a particularly unfair double-whammy. Many publishers do not want AI crawlers harvesting their content or generating ad-bearing page loads. Even where a publisher uses robots.txt to signal that crawler access is unwelcome, a crawler may ignore that request and continue to access the site. The publisher can then face an after-the-fact buyer complaint or refund demand for a non-human traffic surge it neither wanted nor intentionally acquired.

FouAnalytics on-site measurement gives publishers visibility into these events, that are not visible in typical site analytics like Google Analytics. FouAnalytics shows detailed supporting data that helps identify, the AI crawler or automated source, including declared user agent, infrastructure or data-center origin, IP address, device or platform signals, screen and browser attributes, referring URL, and the page-request pattern. That enables a publisher to separate a real audience spike, such as a ticket sale or major news event, from a bot or AI-crawler spike that should not be counted as human traffic.

Preventing monetization of G-IVT

FouAnalytics for Publishers includes a decisioning container, which automatically filters general invalid traffic (G-IVT), including identifiable bot and AI-crawler traffic, before an ad call is made without needing any further technical development from the publisher. Rather than serving an ad first and debating non-human delivery later, publishers can use the container to avoid monetizing traffic is G-IVT.

Implementation is designed to be simple:

The publisher copies and pastes the FouAnalytics decisioning-container code into an ad slot.

The publisher copies and pastes its usual ad call into the decisioning container.

FouAnalytics automatically evaluates the visitor and decides whether the ad call should be made.

The ad call is made only when the visitor is identified as NOT G-IVT. By preventing ad delivery to identifiable bots and AI crawlers, the decisioning container reduces publisher exposure to non-human ad delivery and subsequent clawback claims.

This is a preventive control as well as an evidentiary one. On-site measurement can document an AI crawler surge and support a publisher’s response after a buyer raises concerns. The decisioning container adds an earlier control point: it can stop the normal ad call for detected G-IVT, so the publisher is less exposed to claims tied to ads served into bot or crawler traffic in the first place.

Supporting direct and curated demand

The platform is designed to help publishers support several revenue strategies:

Direct-sold campaigns where advertisers want a documented view of human audience quality, viewability, and brand safety.

Private marketplace and programmatic guaranteed deals that reward authenticated, measurable inventory.

Curated supply paths and inclusion lists for buyers seeking more transparent media environments.

Premium pricing conversations grounded in demonstrated human activity, viewability, and appropriate brand-safety reporting, rather than unsupported “high quality” assertions.

Clawback-defense discussions supported by documented, on-site evidence of human behavior and identified bot or AI-crawler surges.

G-IVT prevention through the FouAnalytics decisioning container before an ad call is made.

Publisher authentication signals that help buyers distinguish legitimate supply from domain spoofing or misrepresented bid requests.

FouAnalytics also supports a more transparent standard for verification. Publishers should not lose revenue because of unexplained negative labels, broad domain-level exclusions, or simplistic keyword-based suitability tools that confuse legitimate reporting with unsafe content. Quality measurement must be capable of recognizing the difference between a trusted publisher reporting on a difficult subject and genuinely harmful or fraudulent inventory.

“News, professional journalism, and reputable publishers have too often been caught in blunt automated brand safety filters which are based on keywords in the page url, not even in the content of the page itself,” explained Dr. Fou. “The detailed data that FouAnalytics provides was wholly unavailable by all the legacy fraud verification and brand safety vendors. This data allows both buyers and sellers to “see Fou themselves” why a single ad impression was good quality, viewable, and brand safe. Ad buyers no longer need to rely on numbers, without any evidentiary support.”

FouAnlaytics for Publishers is available to publishers seeking to validate human audience quality, document viewability and brand-safety results, equip sales teams with evidence-based materials, build a record for responding to IVT-related clawback claims, limit ad exposure to detectable G-IVT and AI crawler traffic, and create a stronger foundation for direct demand and higher CPMs.

About FouAnalytics

Created by Dr. Augustine Fou, FouAnalytics is the most trusted, and the only truly independent analytics platform for digital ads, websites, and mobile apps. The platform provides detailed analytical data so practitioners can “see Fou themselves”™ why something is “high humanness,” and troubleshoot what is not good quality. Today FouAnalytics is used globally by advertisers like Microsoft, Beiersdorf and Georgia Pacific, independent agencies and every agency holding company, as well as more than 10,000 SMBs and site owners. More details at www.fouanalytics.com.

Media Contact

Dr. Augustine Fou, CEO, FouAnalytics
augustine.fou@fouanalytics.com | (212) 203-7239

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CCTV+: From the Sea, Toward the Future

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November 12, 2026

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— Yancheng Radio and Television Releases the Six‑Episode Micro‑documentary Homeland on the Tidal Flats

YANCHENG, China, Nov. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Ten thousand years ago, this land was nothing but sea. Today, 520,000 hectares of wetlands have risen from the tides, providing shelter for more than 4,700 species of life, where 467 kinds of birds arrive as promised. This land born out of the ocean holds an entire vibrant world.

Along China’s eastern coast stretches a 582‑kilometer coastline. Yancheng, home to 6.7 million people, lies next to one of the most densely populated regions on Earth, yet it has reserved vast “undeveloped” spaces for nature. Nearly one‑third of the world’s spoon‑billed sandpipers stop here to refuel; the world’s largest wild elk population thrives here; and four out of every ten offshore wind turbines worldwide are manufactured right here. At China’s first coastal World Natural Heritage Site — Yancheng — protection does not mean sealing nature off, nor does development mean pushing the wetlands aside. Instead, the city chooses to live in harmony with nature and grow along its rhythms: leaving ample room for nature amid development, and building better lives while safeguarding the ecosystem.

The six‑episode eco‑humanistic micro‑documentary Homeland on the Tidal Flats uses the camera as a pen to write a love letter between the sea and the land. Episode One, The Tidal Forest, reveals the intricate, hidden web of life in the intertidal zones. Episode Two, Return to the Wild, chronicles the rebirth of the elk population from just 39 to over 8,800. Episode Three, Beneath the Wings, records the visits of spoon‑billed sandpipers and red‑crowned cranes. Episode Four, New Life on Salty Soil, shows how rice waves and green granaries emerge from saline‑alkali soil. Episode Five, Light on the Wind, explores the pulse of offshore wind power and the zero‑carbon city. Episode Six, Wetland Life, captures the everyday rhythm of a city breathing in tune with its wetlands.

Prioritizing ecology and pursuing green development is the answer this beautiful city of harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature has written for Chinese‑style modernization.

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Over 100 Delegates and 16 Startups: Taiwan Sends Largest-Ever Fintech Delegation to SFF 2026 as FinTechSpace Debuts “Taiwan Fintech Fleet” Collaboration Model

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TAIPEI, Nov. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — FinTechSpace, Taiwan’s premier one-stop fintech innovation acceleration hub – guided by the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) and founded by the Taiwan Financial Services Roundtable (TFSR) — is making its eighth consecutive appearance at the Singapore FinTech Festival (SFF). This year, FinTechSpace has mobilized innovation energy from both northern and southern Taiwan to curate the island’s largest-ever delegation, bringing over 100 fintech leaders, representatives, and 16 selected startups at the Taiwan Pavilion (Booth #5B33, Hall 5).

The Taiwan Pavilion showcases 16 international pitch sessions anchored around three core pillars: Resilience Forward: Operational Defense & Compliance; New Asset Horizons: Digital & Sustainable Finance; and Ignite Growth: Enterprise & Integrated Solutions. Crucially, FinTechSpace is debuting its groundbreaking “Theme-Based Fleet Pilot Program,” an initiative designed to integrate multi-team technologies and services to capitalize on complementary strengths, demonstrating the versatility, depth, and international competitiveness of Taiwan’s fintech ecosystem. The delegation will also host two high-level international networking events to deepen cross-border collaboration and unlock commercial opportunities.

Maiden Flagship Initiative: “Trustworthy FinTech” Fleet Hits the Global Stage

The newly launched “Taiwan Fintech Fleet” serves as a collaborative mechanism that connects the specialized capabilities of different startups into cohesive, scenario-based enterprise solutions. By replacing standalone tools with integrated offerings, the fleet model enables international financial institutions and enterprise clients to seamlessly adopt multi-faceted services that directly address operational pain points.

The inaugural rollout focuses on “Trust in FinTech,” bringing together six FinTechSpace portfolio companies – IHH, TOPPAN Security, KDAN, AIFT, FANO, and wiAdvance – to form two strategic theme fleets: “Digital Trust Chain” and “Trustworthy AI Guardrails”. The initiative propels startups to transition from “single-point services” to “full-scenario application” solutions, while taking a “fleet goes global” model to lead teams in jointly expanding into international markets and demonstrating the integration and collaborative strength driving Taiwan’s fintech industry.

Two Signature Events: Canada Meets Taiwan Forum and Taiwan–Korea Happy Hour Deepen Global Ties

During SFF, the Taiwan Pavilion will host “Canada Meets Taiwan: AI, Fintech, and New Opportunities for Financial Innovation” on Wednesday, November 18, 2026, from 2:30 to 3:15 PM (Singapore time). The session brings together government, industry, and academic representatives from Taiwan and Canada to discuss how artificial intelligence is reshaping fintech innovation, and to exchange insights on ecosystem development and collaboration opportunities, further strengthening bilateral fintech ties.

The Taiwan Pavilion is also teaming up with the Korea Pavilion to host a “Happy Hour” networking mixer, featuring Taiwanese and Korean snacks in a relaxed, social setting. The event is designed to spark connections between fintech startups, financial institutions, and industry partners from both countries, opening the door to future technical collaboration and market expansion.

An Open Invitation: Join Taiwan in Building the Next Wave of FinTech Opportunity

FinTechSpace warmly invites financial institutions, investors, and industry partners from around the world to visit the Taiwan Pavilion (Booth #5B33, Hall 5) during SFF, November 18–20, 2026, to engage with participating teams and explore opportunities for technical collaboration, business partnerships, and investment.

About FinTechSpace

Established in 2018, FinTechSpace is Taiwan’s first one-stop fintech innovation acceleration hub. Guided by the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) and initiated by the Taiwan Financial Services Roundtable (TFSR), the program is operated by the Institute for Information Industry (III). FinTechSpace is dedicated to creating a co-creation ecosystem that fosters FinTech development by integrating physical space, mentorship, and technical resources. It aims to drive FinTech innovation in Taiwan and promote international collaboration. For more information, please visit: www.fintechspace.com.tw.

2026 Taiwan Pavilion Exhibitor List

FinTechSpace (Taipei)

Resilience Forward: Operational Defense & Compliance

CoCoTree
Technology

CoCoTree Technology provides a nature-risk and TNFD-aligned decision platform that helps financial institutions and enterprises assess the nature sensitivity, biodiversity exposure,
and environmental risk of their operating sites and supply chains. The platform turns these insights into risk scores, monitoring alerts, and compliance summaries, supporting credit
underwriting, post-loan monitoring, supply chain engagement, and ESG/TNFD disclosure.

HiTRUST

HiTRUST is a fintech company specializing in digital security, identity verification, and fraud prevention that help financial institutions strengthen transaction security while improving
the user experience. Headquartered in Taiwan with seven offices worldwide, HiTRUST serves more than 10,000 institutions globally. In 2025, the company received a government
grant for Digital Service Innovation and won gold at the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Smart Innovation Award.

IHH Co., Ltd.

IHH is dedicated to building “secure, anti-counterfeiting, and highly flexible commercial video solutions.”  Providing enterprises with a “secure and trusted mechanism to seamlessly
leverage integrated AI capabilities before, during, and after video conferencing to conduct business, yielding highly non-repudiable results.”

IHH ensures every interaction is secure and trustworthy and generates highly non-repudiable digital evidence. Its solutions have been successfully deployed by several major,
market-leading enterprises.

TOPPAN
Security Co.,
Ltd.

TOPPAN Security focuses on advanced digital identity and authentication solutions, offering a one-stop solution spanning eKYC facial recognition, SoftToken, multi-factor authentication
(MFA), and device rebinding to help financial institutions strengthen the security of their digital services. Founded in 2013, the company joined the TOPPAN Group in 2020 and has been
expanding into global markets under the TOPPAN Security brand since 2025.

Woodpecker
Technology
Inc.

Woodpecker Technology specializes in enterprise security monitoring, threat detection, and incident response. Its flagship platform, Woodpecker XVR, delivers a unified SOC view
by integrating data from endpoints, networks, security logs, and user activities. Combined with an on-premises AI security assistant, the platform accelerates incident investigation,
improves alert prioritization, and enables more effective response while ensuring that sensitive data remains fully under the customer’s control. Woodpecker serves financial institutions,
government agencies, critical infrastructure operators, and high-tech manufacturers through partnerships with MDR providers, MSSPs, and system integrators.

Ignite Growth: Enterprise & Integrated Solutions

HOYA BIT
Digital
Technology

HOYA BIT Digital Asset Exchange has secured business compliance approvals from the Taiwan FSC as an exchanger, trading platform, transferor, and custodian, while co-creating
a 24/7 fiat exchange withdrawal service with Taishin Bank and becoming the world’s first ISO 14068-1 carbon-neutral exchange. In partnership with Taishin Bank, it offers round-the-
clock fiat withdrawal services and is the world’s first ISO 14068-1 carbon-neutral certified exchange. Powered by Agentic AI trading technology, HOYA BIT offers virtual asset and
multi-strategy investment services, and its AI Native Exchange OS helps financial institutions and enterprises integrate virtual assets and stablecoin payments and settlement.

Light
Momentum
Technology

Founded in 2021, Light Momentum Technology (LMT) combines expertise in IC design, ICT, and finance to develop fintech, AIoT, and custom ASIC/SoC chip applications, delivering
financial AI and high-frequency trading solutions. LMT was named to EE Times’ Silicon 100 in both 2022 and 2023, established a subsidiary in the Czech Republic in 2024, and has
exhibited at the Singapore FinTech Festival for four consecutive years as it continues to expand into overseas markets and technical partnerships.

On-us Co.,
Ltd.

On-us combines AI with years of accumulated consumer-engagement data through its Smart E-Voucher and On-us Intelligence platforms, turning behavioral signals from how consumers
claim, engage with, and redeem offers into actionable business insights. This helps enterprises optimize membership management, customer acquisition, loyalty programs, and marketing
performance, driving greater customer engagement value and revenue growth.

ThinkCloud
Technology

ThinkCloud Technology specializes in digital identity verification and e-signature solutions. Its flagship innovation, SelfieSign, utilizes patented SVS (Signing Video Stream) technology to
capture real-time video and audio recording during the signing process, timestamps, and verification data in compliance with the EU’s XAdES electronic document standard. ThinkCloud
also offers eStamp digital seals and FaceOTP AI liveness detection. The platform processes more than 3 million signatures a month and holds a 90% share of Taiwan’s medical e-signature
market.

TradingValley
Co., Ltd.

One of Taiwan’s earliest robo-advisory fintech, TradingValley helps financial institutions build digital wealth-management services and, after obtaining a U.S. investment advisor license,
launched its own B2C business. In 2025, the company introduced WinwinGPT, a personalized AI investment assistant that has been a finalist in multiple international fintech competitions
and has been successfully deployed at a major domestic financial holding company to boost the productivity of relationship managers and investment research teams.

Vulcan

Vulcan is an international AI security brand focused on generative and agentic AI security, providing AI red-teaming and real-time runtime protection to help enterprises identify risks
such as prompt injection and data leakage. Vulcan has expanded across Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, and the Middle East, serving 10+ major domestic and international
commercial banks and financial holding companies, Global high-tech manufacturers, and government agencies. Its solutions are recognized in the OWASP Agentic AI Security Landscape
and hold Panel Tester status with Singapore’s AI Verify Foundation, helping financial, insurance, manufacturing, and government organizations build trustworthy, governable, compliance-
ready AI environments.

FINNOVATION HUB (Kaohsiung)

New Asset Horizons: Digital & Sustainable Finance

AI PASS LINE

Founded in 2024, AI Pass Line focuses on AI, avatars, voice tech, and AR/MR/XR applications. Built on an “AI × MR” core, the company delivers comprehensive smart solutions spanning
healthcare, education, customer service, AI agents, and digital-twin training. Leveraging AI knowledge management, its enterprise AI Agent platform, and Azure cloud technology, AI Pass
Line helps clients integrate systems and data to boost operational efficiency. With proven experience across medical, financial, retail, and education sectors, it delivers efficient, secure,
and human-centric intelligent services.

CyCatena
Technology

CyCatena Technology provides secure digital asset infrastructure for financial institutions and enterprises. Its core product, CyCatena Vault, enables secure and self-controlled management
of digital assets and stablecoins. With HSM-based key protection, multi-level approval, access control, transaction risk monitoring, and comprehensive audit trails, CyCatena Vault meets
institutional security and compliance requirements. Supporting both on-premises and private cloud deployment, it allows institutions to retain control of their private keys, transaction data,
and infrastructure while integrating seamlessly with existing banking and enterprise systems.

Eureka
FinTech TW
Limited

Eureka aims to be a pioneer in providing innovative market & credit analysis, KYC and ESG solutions to manufacturers and financial institutions across Asia via its comprehensive AI
services platform and bespoke consulting services. Eureka’s comprehensive platform integrates into one single platform big data, vendor databases and customers’ internal data by
utilizing AI and graph technologies. Eureka’s AI services platform provides users with information including market analysis, industry analysis, meeting minutes, credit report, ESG report
and compliance & sanction report systems to assist them in analyzing supply chains, green energy and business relationships.

Root
Intelligent
Tech

Root Intelligent Tech is dedicated to making professional financial planning more accessible through AI. Its services include intelligent financial health assessments, wealth succession and
estate and gift tax planning, AI-powered advisory tools for financial professionals, and green consumption applications. By combining data visualization, scenario simulation, and professional

knowledge retrieval, Root Intelligent Tech helps financial institutions, advisors, and individuals identify financial risks, evaluate planning options, and make informed decisions. 

Synstream
Pte Limited

Shinchuan Technology offers an enterprise-grade AI data orchestration platform for financial institutions, enabling rapid AI adoption without replacing existing core systems. The platform
integrates data orchestration, AI vision computing, on-premises small language models (SLMs), and multimodal RAG technology to support KYC/AML compliance monitoring, automated
regulatory reporting, wealth management, and enterprise AI agents, all backed by bank-grade governance, access control, and auditability to improve operational efficiency and data security.

Synstream is an enterprise AI data orchestration platform designed for financial institutions, enabling rapid AI adoption without replacing legacy systems. Powered by three core engines –
Data Orchestration, Visual Intelligence, and Enterprise On-Prem SLM & RAG – Synstream delivers specialized FinTech modules including KYC/AML automation, regulatory reporting,
and wealth management modernization. Featuring banking-grade data governance, full auditability, and hybrid/on-prem deployment, Synstream reduces false positives by ~85% and cuts
case resolution times by ~90%.

 

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IBM Announces Winner of Sports Tech Startup Prize Challenge at Web Summit Lisbon 2026

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November 12, 2026

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LivXP has been selected from a global field of innovators advancing the future of sports through AI.

LISBON, Portugal, Nov. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced LivXP as the winner of the IBM Sports Tech Startup Prize Challenge at Web Summit Lisbon, recognizing the company for its innovative use of agentic AI to transform how fans engage with their favorite teams, organizations, and leagues.

The challenge marks the culmination of the IBM Sports Tech Startup Challenge, a year-long global initiative created to identify and evaluate growth-stage startups building enterprise-ready technologies for sports organizations, teams, media companies, and fans. Launched at Web Summit Lisbon 2025, IBM has engaged founders through showcases at Web Summits in Vancouver, Rio de Janeiro, and Lisbon, alongside a16z Tech Weeks in New York and San Francisco, and in virtual forums. These showcase activities were designed to provide visibility and engagement opportunities and did not confer eligibility, ranking, priority, or advancement in the invitation-only Prize Challenge held this week. The invite-only challenge featured seven finalists selected from a broad field of sports technology innovators. Finalists pitched their solutions before a distinguished judging panel that included Sarah Meron, Chief Communications and Brand Officer, IBM; Marc Gené, Ferrari Ambassador, Scuderia Ferrari HP; Brad Smith, Headlines Anchor at CNN; and Frederico Gil, founder and CEO of FREDGIL Academy. 

LivXP, a Swiss-American company accelerated at the Harvard Innovation Labs, is an AI-powered impulse commerce infrastructure for sports: auctions, experiences, and sponsor activations that land at the fan’s emotional high. From the Tour de Suisse to Boston College Athletics, federations, clubs, international events, and U.S. college sports programs use its white-label platform to reach fans in 150 countries.

“We were incredibly impressed by both the technical innovation and practical application of LivXp’s solution,” said IBM Chief Communications and Brand officer Sarah Meron. “At IBM, we’re always looking for new ways AI can help our clients create more engaging, personalized experiences, and we see exciting potential for technologies like this to enhance the work we do alongside our global sports and entertainment partners.”

Upon being announced the winner, LivXP CEO and Co-Founder Ashima Saxena stated, “Every emotional moment in sport revenue is waiting to happen, and AI finally lets sports organizations capture it at scale, without adding staff. We’re proud to have won the IBM Sports Tech Startup Challenge, and we look forward to working with IBM’s Sports & Entertainment Partnerships Team to bring impulse commerce to more clubs, sponsors, and fans worldwide.”

The Lisbon finale capped a year-long series of startup showcases and judging sessions bringing together influential voices from sports, media, and venture capital, including Maria Sharapova, and representatives from a16z, USTA Ventures, Sony Ventures, Comcast Ventures, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE), FIFA, and Powerhouse Capital.

Finalists

The seven startups participating in the 2026 IBM Sports Tech Startup Prize Challenge were:

Fanory – Fan intelligence platform transforming live sports experiences into memories, assets, and behavioral data.Neuron Systems – Multi agent AI platform for live sports and entertainment that generates real-time commentary, insights, and content for sports fans and creators.LivXP – Fan engagement marketplace that connects sports fans with exclusive experiences, auctions, and interactions with teams, athletes, and sports organizations.PressBox – AI-powered content platform that enables sports leagues, teams, and media organizations to create and personalize content and marketing.NTangible – Verbal cognitive assessment platform that measures how athletes perform under pressure.Proximity Works Inc. – AI engineering company that builds real-time intelligence and fan engagement systems for sports, media, and entertainment organizations.Noiz – Sports-matching platform making it easier to find courts, try new sports, and build player connections.

The Prize Challenge Grand Prize includes up to $100,000 to support an eligible proof-of-concept project with IBM’s Sports and Entertainment Partnership Team, subject to separate review and agreement requirements, up to $20,000 in IBM credits to be applied toward services and technology, mentorship opportunities, and evaluation opportunities described in the Official Rules.

About the IBM Sports Tech Startup Challenge

Launched in partnership with Web Summit, the IBM Sports Tech Startup Challenge is a global initiative designed to spotlight startups applying AI and other emerging technologies to solve challenges across the sports industry. Building on IBM Ventures’ mission to connect cutting-edge innovation with enterprise clients, the Challenge extends this approach to IBM’s sports portfolio, using our sports partnerships as a proving ground to showcase technologies with real-world potential for both the sports landscape and broader business applications. The 2026 program included startup showcases at Web Summit Vancouver, Rio, and Lisbon, events during a16z Tech Weeks in New York and San Francisco, and in virtual forms, culminating with the invite-only Prize Challenge at Web Summit Lisbon. These showcase activities provided opportunities for visibility and engagement but did not confer eligibility, ranking, priority, or advancement in the Prize Challenge.

About IBM in Sports

For more than 30 years, IBM has partnered with some of the world’s most iconic sports organizations, including Wimbledon, the US Open, the Masters Tournament, Scuderia Ferrari HP, and UFC. Together, IBM and its partners create AI-powered experiences designed to deliver deeper insights, smarter engagement, and richer digital experiences for sports fans around the globe.

About IBM Ventures

As the corporate venture capital arm of IBM, IBM Ventures invests in startups across enterprise AI and quantum software. A strategic investor, IBM Ventures works closely with startups and founders to bring innovative technologies into IBM and help drive value for IBM clients. Through IBM’s technology, expertise and global client network, IBM Ventures helps portfolio companies build strategic relationships and accelerate their growth.

Media Contact:

Rebeccah Propp

IBM

Rebeccah.Propp@ibm.com

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