Arkero teams up with Bolton Wanderers and MLS clubs as AI startup seals pre-seed funding
Arkero raised $6 million and signed early partnerships with MLS, NWSL and EFL teams.
Readers of a certain age won't know this, but Bolton Wanderers pretty much invented sports science - during an early-oughties Premier League feverdream led by Sam Allardyce and also starring Jay-Jay Okocha and Fernando Hierro (and Kevin Davies). And, evidently, the now League One EPL club is again looking at technology for the cutting edge.
On Thursday, a long way away from Bolton's Toughsheet (nee Reebok) Stadium, American AI startup Arkero announced it had entered partnerships with professional sports teams in the EPL and the MLS, alongside a $6 million funding round.
Akero, in its funding announcement, said it had secured early partnerships with Bolton Wanderers FC, Seattle Sounders, Seattle Reign, San Diego FC.
Arkero is led by co-founders Shivaas Gulati, Vamsi Narla and Daniel Shi, a founding squad that spent nearly a decade together at Remitly, a fintech that made an $8 billion IPO on the Nasdaq in 2021.
Early deployments are focused on integrating AI into matchday planning and season-ticket renewals, Arkero said. At the Sounders and Reign projects, the AI firm cited over 50% improvement in efficiency savings around matchday planning in 2026 so far.
“On and off the pitch, our business is about constantly looking ahead to identify what we can do better and how we can use technology and the right partners to gain a competitive edge,” said Sounders FC majority owner Adrian Hanauer.
The funding round was led by Roger Ehrenberg at Game Changers Ventures, and also included strategic investors such as Adrian Hanauer, owner of Seattle Sounders and Seattle Reign.
For another English football tie, meanwhile, Gulati is notably part of the ownership group of National League club Southend United FC.
“I own a football club. I’ve sat in the meetings, lived the chaos, and felt the cost of running a business on Excel and email,” Arkero CEO and Gulati said. “The opportunity exists because this is broken from the inside.”
Arkero, meanwhile, cited research suggesting the global sports market is worth over $500 billion annually, as the firm aims to position its AI systems as a means to 'centralize operational data, workflows and decisions for business teams'.
The Recap
- Arkero raised $6 million in pre-seed funding.
- Investors include Roger Ehrenberg, Alexis Ohanian, David Tisch and Adrian Hanauer.
- Partners expect efficiency gains around matchday planning in 2026.
