Warsaw-based ReSpo.Vision, a DeepTech sports startup innovating AI-powered tracking and visualisation solutions, has raised €4.2 million in its latest funding round to reshape how fans experience football and how broadcasters, leagues, and federations deliver it.
The investment round was led by VC funds Vinci and Smartlink, with participation from Premier League defender Jan Bednarek. Other high-profile angel investors include Snowflake Co-founder Marcin Zukowski and Wayve Co-Founder Amar Shah.
“The way we watch football hasn’t fundamentally changed since the 1960s,” said Paweł Osterreicher, CEO and Co-founder of ReSpo.Vision. “We’re using AI to break that barrier – putting fans on the pitch, giving broadcasters next-gen storytelling tools, while providing clubs and federations with elite tactical insight. This funding is a strong endorsement of our vision to bring sport into a more interactive, intelligent era.
“Whether powering enhanced broadcasts, highlight reels, or second-screen experiences, we are helping rights-holders to deliver richer, more interactive content without costly production overheads. This funding round will help make this a reality for more competitions that have historically lacked access to the latest data and analysis innovations.”
Founded in 2020, ReSpo.Vision is innovating sports with the help of AI & Computer Vision. Their single camera 3D tracking system enables them to create immersive 3D experiences for fans and provide data & insights to sports organisations.
At the heart of ReSpo.Vision’s technology is the use of computer vision and deep learning to extract 3D tracking data from single-camera video feeds, such as standard sports TV broadcasts. The system reportedly detects over 50 body points per player in 3D space with centimeter-level accuracy, without the need for wearables or camera setups.
This reduces the cost of data capture, making analysis possible for more clubs and federations across the sporting world and at more levels of the football pyramid, including across more women’s and youth team games. ReSpo.Vision transforms this data into tactical insights and performance analytics.
“As a player, I know how much of a difference the right data can make – in preparation, in performance, in understanding the game at a deeper level,” said Bednarek. “What stood out to me with ReSpo.Vision is that they’re making this kind of insight available not just to top clubs, but to leagues and teams everywhere. That’s something I really believe in, because better data means better football, at every level.”
The fresh investment will be used to expand ReSpo.Vision’s offer to broadcasters, rights-holders, and digital platforms.
At the heart of this is ReSpo.Vision’s Digital Twin Technology, hyper-realistic recreations of real-life matches that allow fans to relive key match moments from a unique player’s first-person perspective. Digital Twin Technology is designed to give viewers a new way of engaging with sport, enabling fans to experience a mazy dribble and goal through the eyes of a striker, or a brilliant attacking move from the view of one of the defenders left behind.
Shah added: “Any sports fan would cherish the experience of reliving iconic moments of a match from the perspective of a player right at the heart of the action. ReSpo.Vision makes this dream come true by combining cutting-edge computer vision, virtual reality, and graphics technologies.”
ReSpo.Vision’s other media tools include automated visual overlays, such as contextual in-game graphics, match stats, and branded elements, as well as natural language interfaces that make complex analytics accessible through simple prompts.
“ReSpo.Vision confirms that technologies with global potential can be created in Poland,” says Bartosz Drabikowski, President of the Management Board of Vinci S.A. “We support companies that create innovations and, on top of that, can successfully develop and export them. We consider this project to be very promising, both in terms of technology as well as investment. We also acknowledge the potential this solution has in the future. For instance, the possibility of future implementation of this technology in other industries, such as defense or medicine.”
Recently certified by FIFA for data quality, the company’s clients include global football stakeholders – from major international competitions like CONMEBOL Copa America 2024, to national associations such as the Polish FA and Danish FA, as well as a stable of individual clubs that include UEFA Champions League winners, and Serie A’s Parma Calcio.
“Our investment in ReSpo.Vision is in line with BGK’s strategic goals of supporting innovative, scalable Polish technologies and building a strong knowledge-based economy. We are pleased that through the Vinci Fund, we can support the development of a company that has the potential to become a global ambassador of Polish technological thought and, at the same time, support key areas for public security,” added Miroslaw Czekaj, President of the Management Board of Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego.