Investments into physical and saas products have slowed in the sports tech space but one bet investors are jumping on are products that can cross from offline to online and vice versa. A recent example of this is a company out of Portugal, BHOUT. BHOUT announced a $10M seed round led by LINCE Capital and Explorer Investments. BHOUT is a gamified boxing bag that uses AI sensors and 3D computer vision to track punches and guide workouts. The bag itself is made from cactus leaves, foam, and a water core creating a human like sparring partner.

Investors are bullish about the Portuguese startup because they have created a strong offline to online strategy. BHOUT has a studio in Lisbon with 600 members using 16 BHOUT bags and they are pursing mixed reality with integrations into Meta Quest VR and MR fitness to go along with omni channel selling strategies. Strategies such as selling BHOUT Bags to other fitness operators and cultivating a strong ecosystem as users utilize the app with the ability to share information and earn rewards.

Why are offline to online so important in today’s world and for sports technologies startups looking for investments?

As the old adage says fish where the fish are. Getting customers to a physical location is one step in the journey and creating a product is another step. What enables the bridging and connectivity for businesses is digital transformation. VC’s and investors are going to bet big on a product that brings people to a location but can also be sold through various channels. This gives investors hopes that a return can be made; but also that growth is scalable and reachable.

As Google explains business that master both the online and offline aspects of the consumer journey as traditional marketing funnels evolve bring a real world magic to the online experience.