FRISCO, Texas — A North Texas technology startup has made the cut for a list of the top 50 programs in sports innovation. The startup, Most Valuable Recruit (MVR) is included in the HYPE Foundation’s 2017 TOP 50 program, which designates the most innovative startups in the world of sports. A jury of sports executives, professional coaches, athletes and technology visionaries vote on submissions for the list. The program assists the most exciting sports-related ventures in gaining global exposure to leading sports stakeholders and brands. The HYPE Foundation is an international organization backed by an investment fund.
As a participant in the TOP 50 program, MVR will be able to use the HYPE Foundation’s network and resources to accelerate its partnership development with sports brands, clubs, and league directors. This includes access to the foundation’s exclusive network of sports-focused investors for future capital raises, and the opportunity to share its sports analytics platform at major domestic and international sporting events such as the NFL Draft, the Boston Marathon, and the U.S. Open.
MVR is a sports-focused technology company that uses mathematically and psychometrically validated tests to determine a player’s visual-spatial cognitive abilities and level of self-monitoring. Self-monitoring strongly predicts organizational commitment, leadership, and individual performance in strength, speed, and coordination. High visual-spatial intelligence predicts scoring, defensive success, and other measures of game success.
“The HYPE foundation is thrilled to include Most Valuable Recruit (MVR) in our elite TOP 50 Program for 2017, that features the top most innovative startups in the world of sports,” said Amir Raveh, HYPE Foundations’ CEO.
“MVR brings a unique personal and collective transformative message to the world of professional sports as it developed powerful assessment and analytic tools to evaluate athletes abilities, allowing them to shine based on their true capabilities, and for teams and leagues to understand and manage their players for maximum results,” Raveh said. As an organization that is dedicated to make an impact on the world of sports and innovation we are honored to be able to contribute to MVR’s path and looking forward to working with them.”
“We are excited to be working with the team at the HYPE Foundation on ways to grow our reach in global sports,” said Larry Davis, Jr. Ph.D., co-founder of MVR.
Davis, who leads the team’s research and development work and holds a doctorate in engineering, co-founded the company with Damon Bryant, Ph.D., who is an industrial psychologist specializing in assessments and sports analytics.
“A good test helps unearth hidden gems,” Bryant said. “It tells us who has abilities that poverty and lack of access may have hidden and identifies areas where an athlete might need additional support. The MVR approach reveals where we might most readily engage players at their level of skill and understanding.”
