Key Facts:
● Eleven Irish sports tech companies are touring Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland, meeting AFL and NRL teams, the Victorian Institute of Sport, Eden Park and High Performance Sport New Zealand.
● Irish nutrition technology company Hexis has announced that the South Australian Sports Institute is now using its AI-powered platform to deliver personalised, real-time fuelling strategies for elite athletes.
● Enterprise Ireland is Europe's #1 sports tech VC investor, recording 19 deals since 2024, more than triple that of the nearest investor.
● The mission aligns with Ireland's newly launched International Sports Diplomacy Strategy 2026–2030, unveiled at Marvel Stadium earlier this month.
Enterprise Ireland, the Irish government's innovation and trade agency and Europe's largest sports tech venture capital investor, today launched one of its most ambitious A/NZ missions, bringing eleven Irish sports technology companies to Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland across 18–27 May 2026.
The mission coincides with the announcement from the Irish nutrition technology company Hexis that the South Australian Sports Institute (SASI) is now fuelling its elite athletes using Hexis's AI-powered platform. This delivers personalised, periodised fuelling strategies that adapt in real-time to training demands through seamless integration with wearables and training planners.
Dr David Dunne, co-founder and CEO of Hexis, explains: "SASI's athletes now receive 24/7 personalised nutrition coaching, optimising fuelling, enhancing performance and accelerating recovery across one of Australia's most demanding high-performance environments. As Hexis continues to grow across elite sport, we're proud to support an institute with the history, expertise, and ambition to develop Australia's next generation of champions."
Olivia Warnes, Sports Dietitian, South Australian Sports Institute, adds: 'HEXIS provides an evidence-based, athlete-empowered approach that allows SASI Sports Dietitians to support personalised nutrition strategies aligned with training loads, performance goals and health outcomes.' Its ability to integrate meal planning, education and communication in one platform supports scalable nutrition support across a diverse high-performance athlete cohort."
This announcement adds to an already substantial Irish sports tech footprint across the region. Field of Vision's AI-powered tactile devices for visually impaired fans are live at Marvel Stadium and were deployed at the Australian Open. Tixserve developed the custom digital ticketing solution for the 2025 British and Irish Lions Tour in partnership with Rugby Australia. Output Sports counts the All Blacks and New Zealand Warriors among its customers. Orreco recently acquired Melbourne-based Data Driven Sports Analytics, whose clients include world tennis number one Aryna Sabalenka.
Europe's number one sports tech investor
According to data from global market research leader PitchBook, Enterprise Ireland is the leading European VC investor in sports tech by deal count, recording 19 investments since 2024, which is more than triple the number of the next most active firms. In 2024, Ireland's sports tech deal count grew 47.1% while the broader European deal count fell 15.5%, highlighting the quality and depth of Ireland's innovation pipeline. Since 2014, Irish sports tech start-ups have collectively raised over €224 million in VC funding across 181 transactions.
"For a small island nation with an outsized love of sport, Ireland has built a reputation for turning that passion into world-class innovation," explains Libby Ryan, sports tech Trade Development Executive, Enterprise Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.
"From performance technology and fan engagement to athlete wellbeing and operational systems, Irish companies are helping teams, venues and sporting organisations perform at their best both on and off the pitch. This region is genuinely one of the most exciting markets for Irish sports tech in the world, and our clients are here to build lasting partnerships with the teams, venues and high-performance programmes that will define sport in this part of the world for the next decade."
The delegation: on-pitch and off-pitch innovation
The mission brings together eleven companies across two distinct categories. On-Pitch, which optimises athlete performance, includes Hexis (AI-powered personalised nutrition); Kitman Labs (the sports analytics platform trusted by NFL, NBA, NHL, EPL, AFL and NRL teams); Orreco (biomarker analytics and sports science for elite athletes); Output Sports (end-to-end athlete testing and strength tracking); RYPT (athletic development platform for coaching teams); and Sports Impact Technologies (real-time concussion sensor wearable).
Off-Pitch, which maximises club, fan and community engagement, includes Clubforce (sports club automation, payments and communications); Field of Vision (AI-powered inclusion tech for visually impaired fans); Skippio (pre-order food and drinks app eliminating stadium queues); SportsKey (all-in-one sports facility management software trusted by 5,000+ venues worldwide); and Tixserve (dynamic digital ticket fulfilment and fan data platform).
The mission follows the recent launch of Ireland's International Sports Diplomacy Strategy 2026–2030, Raising the Bar on Ireland's Global Ambition, which was unveiled at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne earlier this month by Joe Hackett, Secretary General of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The strategy commits Ireland to positioning itself at the intersection of sport, technology and global business, with Enterprise Ireland explicitly tasked with ensuring Ireland remains at the forefront of sports technology internationally.
About us:
About Enterprise Ireland: Enterprise Ireland is the agency of the Irish government that supports Irish companies at every stage of their journey to develop, grow and scale and to achieve their global ambition. www.enterprise-ireland.com/
