Athletes Unlimited Innovation Collective Summit set for Aug. 24-25 in Chicago

Athletes Unlimited, in collaboration with underdog venture team, will host its Innovation Collective Summit on August 24-25 in Rosemont, Ill., coinciding with the final week of its 2023 Softball Championship Season. The only event dedicated to technology and innovation in women’s pro sports, the Athletes Unlimited Innovation Collective Summit brings together athletes, emerging and established technology companies and venture investors while highlighting the founders and companies in Athletes Unlimited’s Innovation Collective and creating a valuable thought leadership and networking opportunity for Athletes Unlimited athletes, business partners and other key stakeholders. 

The Athletes Unlimited Innovation Collective is a year-round engagement platform for companies that serve to bring cutting-edge advancements in sport performance, recovery and training products and services to ensure that Athletes Unlimited athletes are competing at the highest level, and to enhance the fan experience through broadcast and multimedia engagements. The innovative program, which was established in 2022, involves Athletes Unlimited strategically developing partnerships with these pioneering, high-growth companies to deliver value to the league, its athletes, and its partners. 

As part of the event, there will be a series of panel discussions featuring speakers including: 

• Sameer Ahuja, President, GameChanger, SVP DICK’S Sporting Goods 
• Kathleen Francis, President, WISE (Women in Sports & Entertainment)
• Sharla Grass, Principal, Greycroft 
• Nancy Hensley, Chief Product and Marketing Officer, Stats Perform 
• Tiffany Kelly, Founder and CEO, Curastory 
• Rich Kleiman, Co-Founder, 35 Ventures 
• Danette Leighton, CEO, Women’s Sports Foundation 
• Jenny Nguyen, Owner, The Sports Bra
• Elizabeth O’Brien, Program Director, WW Sports & Entertainment, IBM 
• Nate Schnader, SVP and Chief Information Officer, Big Ten Conference
• Howard Wright, VP Global Head of StartUps, Amazon Web Services

Current partners of the Innovation Collective include weThink (Supporting Team Awareness Partner of Athletes Unlimited, BreakAway Data (Supporting Athlete Performance Data Partner of Athletes Unlimited), Curastory (Supporting Content Creator Platform Partner of Athletes Unlimited, HitTrax (Supporting Softball Training Partner of Athletes Unlimited), Uplift Labs (Supporting Motion Capture Training Partner of Athletes Unlimited) and Ice Cream Social (Supporting Social Sharing Partner of Athletes Unlimited). 

underdog venture team, serve as Athletes Unlimited’s strategic partner on this project, identifying and activating the integrated partnerships with these ahead-of-the-trend startups.  

The event will be invitation-only.  Anyone interested in attending or partnering can reach out to Nick Twomey at [email protected] for details on registering. 

“The Athletes Unlimited Innovation Collective Summit is an incredible opportunity for all of our key stakeholders to come together and for pro women athletes to network with leaders in the sports industry and some of the most cutting-edge companies focused on technology and performance,” said Jon Patricof, Athletes Unlimited CEO and Co-Founder. “We are thrilled to host the only innovation forum exclusively focused on women’s pro sports.” 

“The Athletes Unlimited Innovation Collective stands as a dynamic force, sparking collaboration among diverse startups, tech trailblazers, and wellness pioneers,” said Nicole Jeter West, CEO, underdog venture team. “Together with underdog venture team, this powerhouse alliance revolutionizes the athlete experience, propels women’s professional sports to new frontiers, and redefines the future of fan engagement. Athletes Unlimited’s unwavering commitment to championing innovation makes them true game-changers in the realm of sports and technology.”