Intellectual Property: The Real Game in Sports Tech
Picture this: A startup builds a vision system that tracks a cricket ball's trajectory in real time, mapping its height against a batter's recorded stance to decide whether a delivery is legal.
In the Indian Premier League, technologies like Hawk-Eye already do exactly this, using ball-tracking and player-height databases to eliminate umpire subjectivity in wide-ball decisions.
Let’s look at broadcast innovation: Robotic camera systems, including a dog-mounted POV camera, capturing immersive, on-field moments for fans. They are reshaping how the game is experienced.
These are not ideas on paper. These are live systems. Deployed. Scaled.
Now imagine building one of these systems, the tracking algorithm, the sensing hardware, the data models, only to watch a competitor replicate it because you never protected the underlying IP.
This is the risk every Deep Tech sports founder in India is running right now.
A Market That Tells Two Stories
While the frontier of sports tech is being defined by deep, IP-heavy systems globally, the Indian market tells a very different story.
India ranks second globally in the number of sports tech startups. There are 2,007 sports tech ventures in India in 2025, and the market is projected to reach USD 5.70 billion by FY29 at a CAGR of 13%. Against a global sports technology market worth USD 34.25 billion in 2025, projected to reach USD 68.71 billion by 2030, India holds just 1.3% of that market today.
While India has emerged as one of the world's largest sports tech ecosystems by the number of startups, industry data suggests that a significant share of sector funding has been concentrated in fantasy sports and fan engagement platforms. Funding remains unevenly distributed across the ecosystem, with only a relatively small proportion of ventures having secured external capital. Consequently, Deep Tech domains such as computer vision, biometric performance wearables, AI-driven coaching platforms, and real-time injury prediction systems remain nascent and represent significant opportunities for research, commercialisation, and intellectual property creation.
These are also the technologies that command premium valuations globally. For founders building in these categories, intellectual property cannot be an afterthought revisited at Series B. Securing IP early can be critical to establishing defensible market leadership and preventing competitors from commercialising similar innovations first.
India's Patent Engine Is Running Hotter Than Ever
According to the Government of India’s IP India Dashboard, patent filings surged to a historic high of 1,43,729 in FY 2025-26, up from 1,10,375 in FY 2024-25.
And Tamil Nadu is leading that charge, recording a total of 60,952 patent filings between FY 2021-26, with annual applications growing more than fourfold in that period.
The Category Shift That Changes Everything
The direction of filings matters as much as the volume. Computer-related patent applications rose 262% between FY 2021-26, from 7,607 to 27,499, overtaking mechanical engineering as India's top patent category for the first time.
Filing Is Not the Same as Owning
This is where the story gets honest. Startups account for just 2.44% of total filings over the five-year period, with a grant success rate of 1.04%, compared to 81.22% of all grants going to large entities that hold only 47% of filings.
The disparity reflects a gap in claims strategy, patentability assessment, and prosecution rigour, the same craft knowledge that allows large entities to convert filings into defensible, enforceable IP, while startup applications stall or lapse.
Turning Ideas into Assets
At iTNT Hub, through the Tamil Nadu Technology Transfer Facilitation Centre (TNTTFC) for Deep Tech Innovations, we work with founders, researchers, and institutions like you who are building new technologies and solutions. Our focus is on helping you navigate intellectual property and technology transfer with clarity and confidence.
From early-stage IP awareness to protection and commercialization, we support you in turning your ideas into assets that can scale, attract investment, and create real market impact. Because what you build matters, but what you secure and take to market is what defines long-term value.
Patents protect the game. Write yours first.
