Adi Founder Williams Joins Supponor Board

Supponor, an augmented reality technology company, has welcomed ADI founder and CEO Geraint Williams on board as a new strategic investor.

Williams has previously worked with Supponor, participating in an internal funding round completed earlier this year. Williams will now join Supponor’s board of directors to support Supponor’s ambitions to further develop industry partnerships.

The €3.2m funding round completed in January 2017 led by existing investors, including Sports Investment Partners, Conor Venture Partners and Supponor’s CEO.

Supponor and ADI – a supporting partner of the BT Sport Industry Awards – partnered in 2015 to develop and launch virtual-enabled LED perimeter signage system, which first deployed during the 2016/17 football season at English Premier League club Watford FC, and was also showcased at Eintracht Frankfurt’s Commerzbank-Arena (pictured below) in the Bundesliga earlier this year. 

Matthew Wheeler, Supponor’s chairman, commented: “We are delighted to welcome Geraint more closely into the Supponor fold. He is an established investor and commercial leader in the sports technology marketplace. He will be a valuable addition to delivering on Supponor’s continuing strategy to drive augmented reality into the heart of digital sports marketing working with key industry partners.”

Jay Gambrell, Supponor’s CEO, added: “Our ongoing and award winning partnership with ADI has demonstrated how the next generation of high value virtual advertising is delivered with first rate quality assurance and end-to-end security for clients. Bolstered by our growing financial resources and strategic expertise, Supponor has been leveraging its combined strength with ADI and will now replicate this strategy with other industry partners, including other leading LED partners, to help drive broader adoption of our market leading virtual technology in global sport.”

Williams said: “I have lived and breathed sports venue and broadcasting technology for the past 25 years, from the early days pioneering LED technology in stadiums to today’s technology-driven market for end-to-end digital content delivery.

“My investment in Supponor follows over two years of close partnership that has set new benchmarks in the development of virtual advertising in sport. In that time we’ve seen virtual hybrid LED become a tangible product with the development of remote virtual content insertion and successful integration with broadcast workflows.”

Williams continued: “Monitoring the market thoroughly and working closely with Supponor, it is clear that Supponor’s technology and extensive experience make it the only deployable solution for virtual replacement because broadcast quality and reliability is of paramount importance. For me, this investment represents an opportunity to participate in Supponor’s market leadership and growth – whether it is in partnership with ADI or with other partners in signage, rights management or broadcast services.

“I am hugely excited to be taking everything that we have learned together and using it to accelerate Supponor’s expansion into new markets and commercial opportunities.”