(upbeat music) >> Welcome back, everybody, Jeff Frick here with theCube. We are at Oracle Park, formerly AT&T Park, recently named Oracle Park. Right on the shores of McCovey Cove, in downtown San Francisco. We haven't been here since Sport's Data, I think 2014. I can't believe it's been five years. So maybe now the Giants' situation will turn as we make a run for the pennant. We're here at a really interesting event, it's called Sports Tech Tokyo World Demo Day. And we're here with kind of the master of ceremonies, if you will, he's Mike Proman, the Managing Director of Scrum Ventures. Mike, great to see you. >> Great to be here. Thanks again for the time. >> Absolutely. So what is this day all about? Give us the low down. >> Yeah so, start up frenzy, right? Sports tech community's just in it's infancy right now. There's a lot of fragmentation though, in this world. And how do we best connect start ups to best-in-class companies, right? Japanese companies, there's a lot of excitement in Japan right now. We have Rugby World Cup coming up next month, we have the Olympics next year. How do we enable the start up community to realize those opportunities from a partnership perspective? So, we set out on this journey about a year ago. Bringing together companies of all different stages, all different geographic regions, and all different areas of focus within sports tech. And our job was to connect them to opportunities in Japan. What we kind of uncovered along the journey right, is that this is a community. And that we're building a platform here that transcends Asia, right. We want to help this community, and whether it's connecting them with the venture audience, or otherwise, we feel this is a great reflection of innovation coming in to this industry. >> Now you took kind of an interesting tact. You've called them, before we turned the cameras on, kind of a cohort, kind of an incubator, not really an incubator. So how is this thing structured, how do people get involved? What are some of the benefits of being part of this group versus out there slogging it on your own? >> Well, absolutely, and I think everyone's first reaction is, oh, this is just another accelerator, right? And we've really made a point of not identifying ourselves as an accelerator, for a variety of reasons. Number one, it's a stage-agnostic cohorts, right. So a lot of the companies that are representative here today, the 159 in our cohort, they've raised 10, 20, 30, $40 million. In many respects, they're all grows up, right. They don't need a quote unquote, a traditional accelerator. But our reality is, everybody needs acceleration. And particularly in Asia, Japan in particular, right? You need allies, you need advocates, you need facilitators. And people who are going to help revenue optimization, as well as just breaking the door in some cases. There's a lot of high profile content coming to that region, and if we can help people, it all comes back to us, long term. >> Right, right. And then the other piece, obviously, is the investment piece. 'Cause you work with a number of Japanese investment firms, so that's really kind of part of the, you know, we're sitting in San Franscisco, the event's called Tokyo, the Olympics are a year way, and you're from the Mid-West. So, you're kind of bringing it all together here in San Franscisco. >> You know, sport is the great unifier, right. So this is a great opportunity for us to speak to other industries, and bring the venture community into this conversation. Because, as you know, it's about top-line growth for a lot of these startups, but in many cases, they need capital to be able to accelerate into that growth. And so, you know, it's a very exciting time, and we're here to help support everybody. Our DNA, we're investors, right. We're a venture capital firm. But at the end of the day, what ends up happening is, these companies needs advocacy and connections, and that's what we're here to provide. >> Right, so, you said 100 plus companies in cohort. So, there's a lot of things going on in sports tech, but what are some of the really oddball ones that you're seeing a little further out than maybe most people aren't thinking about. >> Yeah, you know, the trends to me that I'm really excited about personally, are those opportunities that transcend the industry, right. Where is there opportunity for us to democratize things, from just a lead athletes, right, into things that you and I both need. So look at athlete performance. Look at recovery health, as an industry focus, right. Hydration, you look at mental health, sleep health, dietary health, you know. Players of the Giants, they need that, right? But you and I need that too. So where are those technologies that are innovators or thought leaders and leading the way in those spaces? The nice thing about Sports Tech Tokyo is we focus in athlete performance, stadium experience, and fan engagement, right. And there are 13 sub-categories, so it's a very broad based cohort, a lot of different areas of expertise. But bringing them all together is what's most rewarding. >> What's your favorite piece of it? I mean, it's hard to pick your favorite kid, but a couple of interesting companies in the portfolio that you'd like to highlight. >> Everyone's always saying, oh, you put me on the spot. No, absolutely not, Jeff. But in reality, my background is, I've been an entrepreneur for 10 plus years before this. And I've worked with brands like Coca Cola, and the NBA. What excites me most-- >> So we framed you up with a Coke bottle, by the way. >> Thank you very much. That was a nice product placement there. The nice thing is, I'm seeing technology today that didn't fundamentally exist a year or two ago. So I could tell you my favorite right now, in 2 weeks that might be entirely different, right. You're going to meet somebody from Misapplied Sciences, and they are doing some of the most breakthrough, cutting edge tech that, it's mind boggling, in terms of what they can do. And what's great about a company like Misapplied, is that they're doing it in sports, but they're also doing it in retail, and other high-dense environments. And so to me, those are the winners in this cohort. The ones that can transcend sport, and add value to so many other places. >> Right, so, before I let you go, you got a busy day ahead. What's the run of the day, what should people expect who are coming through the gates here at Oracle today? >> Well I said this is not your traditional accelerator. Well, this is not your traditional demo day, by any means, right. Traditionally, demo day is a bunch of company pitches, and then there's maybe some conversation afterwards. To us, this is a celebration of a broader cohort, right. Our 100 plus mentors that make up the Sports Tech Tokyo community. And we wanted to celebrate those individuals, right. The 100 mentors, the 400 plus attendees we have here today. So, think of it as an extended cocktail party, right. We want people to connect, and connect at scale. And so that's the back half of the day. The front half of the day is more content oriented. We have a lot of industry experts, again, common theme is transcending the vertical. Looking at opportunities to bring the venture community into the conversation. >> All right, well Mike, good luck and have a great and very busy day. >> Yeah, thank you so much. Appreciate it Jeff. >> He's Mike, I'm Jeff, you're watching theCube. We're at Oracle Park in San Francisco on the shores of McCovey Cove, thanks for watching. We'll see you next time. (upbeat digital music)