NBA Launchpad Unveils Fifth Cohort of Tech Innovators

The NBA has announced the fifth cohort of companies joining its NBA Launchpad programme, a multi-year initiative designed to identify, support and pilot emerging technologies that can meaningfully impact the sport, its business and its global community.

The 2026 Launchpad cohort, officially unveiled by the league on 21st January, features five companies from around the world whose technologies span cognitive readiness, predictive sponsorship intelligence, shoppable media, spatial sports tracking and AI-enhanced basketball training. After evaluating more than 200 applicants, the NBA selected this group for its potential to advance both on-court performance and off-court engagement in ways that align with the league’s strategic priorities.

Tom Ryan, NBA Senior Vice President and Head of Basketball Research and Development, emphasised the importance of collaboration between the league and startup ecosystem, saying the fifth cohort builds on Launchpad’s track record of fostering solutions that elevate the sport and the experience of its rapidly expanding global fan base. The initiative allows selected companies to work closely with NBA and WNBA properties through a six-month pilot phase, with results showcased during Demo Day at the upcoming 2026 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.

Among the companies chosen for the 2026 cohort is Atlas, a San Francisco-based developer of brain-sensing wearable technology designed to quantify cognitive readiness, an emerging dimension of athlete performance that could inform coaching decisions, training load management and referee focus.CRED, also from San Francisco, brings a predictive intelligence platform for sponsorship lead generation, combining internal business data and external market signals to uncover new commercial opportunities.

Diddo, headquartered in Los Angeles, offers an API that enables rights holders and publishers to integrate shoppable moments directly within media platforms, creating new fan-centric monetisation channels.Canada’s Peripheral Labs introduces a spatial intelligence platform that adapts autonomous vehicle-inspired tech to create photorealistic 3D reconstructions of live sports action, including advanced player and ball tracking.Rounding out the cohort is Swish Basket of Tel Aviv, an AI-powered training and gaming platform that bridges real-world basketball with digital analytics and gamification to enhance skill development and engagement.

The NBA Launchpad programme, now in its fifth year, reflects the league’s commitment to innovation and their broader strategy to stay at the forefront of technological advancements that can drive meaningful change across basketball’s competitive, commercial and community landscapes. Selected companies will gain access to NBA expertise, resources and potential integration pathways that could accelerate their growth and establish NBA-validated use cases for their technologies.

As the sports industry continues to evolve with data analytics, immersive media and AI-infused experiences becoming central to fan engagement and athletic performance, the Launchpad initiative underscores the NBA’s ambition to lead that transformation both on and off the hardwood.