Hello, and welcome to the first Power Up newsletter of 2026. Today’s dispatch highlights some of the news you may have missed during the holiday break. Hope you got some quality time with loved ones. — Ethan Joyce
In today’s edition of Power Up:
- Peripheral Labs looking to bring its volumetric video tech to sports
- European Athletics taps Camb.ai for language translations of website
- 49ers debut laser halftime show to spotlight Levi’s Stadium tech upgrades
A new startup founded by former classmates at the University of Toronto is seeking to broaden sports broadcasters’ access to volumetric video technology.
Canada-based Peripheral Labs, which emerged out of stealth and announced a $3.6M seed funding round led by Khosla Ventures last week, is using what its co-founders call “spatial intelligence” technology to turn data collected by sensor-embedded cameras into photorealistic 3D renderings. It’s a system similar to the technology that underpins self-driving cars and, in a sports context, can enable interactive, multifaceted views of game action, which company co-founders Kelvin Cui (CEO) and Mustafa Khan (CTO) believe will serve young fans looking for different ways to engage with sports broadcasts.
“When I was a kid, I never really understood why there wasn’t a closer gap between broadcast media and the interactive experience that we had from video games,” Cui recently told SBJ. “What we’re aiming to do is bring an interactive and immersive experience to fans so that especially we can target that younger audience that grew up playing [NBA] 2K, grew up playing [NHL] and grew up playing FIFA.”
Right now, according to Cui, the primary use cases for Peripheral Labs’ technology center on producing interactive replays, assisting referees with reviews and analyzing athlete’s biomechanical data (whether to improve performance or mitigate injury risk). He could not comment on specific partners, but said the company is working with multiple North American leagues and teams on projects ranging from proofs-of-concept to evaluating permanent or temporary installs. Eventually, the goal is for the system to produce live content too and potentially expand into other categories like general entertainment (e.g., concerts, fashion shows).
Among Peripheral Labs’ differentiators, Khan said, is the use of neural rendering technology that “takes sensor inputs and then tries to learn a 3D representation of the world that is photorealistic.” Peripheral Labs’ basketball and hockey arena installations, as of now, require at least 36 cameras, but continuing to bring that number down through technical development is a top priority.
In that vein, the recently raised seed capital will be put towards R&D and adding engineers (Peripheral Labs currently has a staff of 10). Khosla Ventures’ managing director, Vinod Khosla, is a limited partner in the 49ers, and the firm’s portfolio includes Somnee, Playback and Eight Sleep; Peripheral Labs’ seed round also included participation from Daybreak Capital, Entrepreneurs First and Transpose Platform.
Artificial intelligence-powered language translation startup Camb.ai has a new multiyear partnership with European Athletics, the governing body for sports on the continent.
The collaboration will see European Athletics use Camb.ai’s newly released publishing product, Camb.ai for Publishing, to translate its website into 12 different languages: English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Dutch, Portuguese, Polish, Croatian, Czech, Hungarian and Serbian. Included in that work are event coverage, athlete profiles and other digital content, underpinned by AI technology that Camb.ai says can facilitate translations in more than 150 languages.
Camb.ai, one of SBJ’s 10 Most Innovative Sports Tech Companies in 2025, has worked with MLS, NASCAR, the YES Network, Comcast/NBCUniversal and the Australian Open.
The 49ers debuted the franchise’s first laser-based halftime show during “Sunday Night Football,” using field-projected lasers, synchronized audio and LED wristbands to showcase Levi’s Stadium’s newly upgraded technology. The seven-minute “Bay Area Rock & Roll Laser Show” was presented by Cisco, which serves as the backbone of Levi’s Stadium’s IP-based production workflow following a $200M renovation completed this offseason. The partnership enabled the 49ers to integrate lasers, video boards and audio through a fully IP-based, 4K UHD control-room ecosystem, with Cisco providing the connectivity infrastructure required to execute the show. Cisco has been a 49ers partner since 2017. The show featured more than 30 moving laser images projected onto the field, supported by themed video boards and synchronized audio, while paying tribute to iconic moments in team and Bay Area history, including Dwight Clark’s famed “The Catch.” Bay Area rock band Journey also made a surprise halftime appearance, performing “Don’t Stop Believin’.”
49ers Senior Dir/Game Presentation & Live Events Laura Johnson said that the show was designed as a showcase for the franchise’s recent stadium investment and its shift toward deeper, tech-led partner activations, reflecting what she sees as the next phase of live sports entertainment. The concept had been in development since the spring and was executed by the 49ers’ in-house game presentation, stadium operations and technology teams, with Cisco enabling the IP-based connectivity required to integrate lasers, audio and video systems.
NBC did not air the full halftime show but incorporated elements of the experience as a scene-setter when returning from commercial breaks. Fans received light-up LED wristbands — powered by U.S. Bank — that synced with the show, creating a stadium-wide, 360-degree effect. Johnson said that the music selection was shaped by ongoing fan surveys the team uses to guide entertainment programming throughout the season.
Source link
