Second Spectrum
AcquiredLos Angeles, US · Delaware corporation · 4 known investors
Sports tracking and analytics software company, owned by Genius Sports, serving leagues, teams and broadcasters.
Also known as Second Spectrum, Inc.
Founders & leadership
Board
Investors · 4
Reported raises · per SEC filings
Form D private placements$20.1M disclosed across 1 round · 2018
▶$20.1MraisedMar 2018 · 7 investors · Other TechnologyRule 506(b)
- Rajiv MaheswaranExecutive Officer, Director
- Yu-Han ChangExecutive Officer, Director
- Mark StevensDirector
- David HornikDirector
- Steve BornsteinDirector
- Offering amount
- $25M
- Amount sold
- $20.1M
- First sale
- Feb 2018
- Incorporated
- Corporation, Delaware
- Federal exemptions
- 06b
Source: SEC EDGAR Form D. Amounts as filed; amended filings shown once at their latest values.
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Second Spectrum is a sports technology and analytics company that develops software for tracking, analyzing and presenting live sport. Its products serve coaches, players, leagues, broadcasters and fans, spanning data analytics, video query, augmented-reality video streaming and interactive applications delivered across mobile apps, large touchscreens, smart TVs and VR/AR devices.
The company's clients include top leagues such as the National Basketball Association and the English Premier League, and media partners including ESPN, FOX and Turner. With the NBA, Second Spectrum is developing "Dragon", a next-generation platform designed to track "mesh" data and synthesize millions of on-court data points into new insights, alongside work integrating tracking analytics into NBA League Pass. It also provides optical tracking analytics to the WNBA.
Second Spectrum has been a Genius Sports company since the acquisition closed in June 2021. It is classified under software publishing (NAICS 5112) and software development, with staff across North America, Europe and Asia.
Founding story
Before founding Second Spectrum, CEO and co-founder Rajiv Maheswaran was a Research Assistant Professor in the University of Southern California's Department of Computer Science, where he and co-founder and COO Yu-Han Chang co-directed the Computational Behavior Group. Their sports work at USC preceded the company, which was founded in 2013.
Business model
Second Spectrum licenses tracking, analytics and broadcast-augmentation technology to sports leagues, teams, broadcasters and media platforms, typically under multi-year agreements such as its arrangements with the NBA, the WNBA and the English Premier League. Since 2021 it has operated as part of Genius Sports, which supplies official data and analytics services to leagues and media partners.
Revenue derives from licensing and service contracts with leagues, teams, broadcasters and media platforms for official data, analytics and broadcast-integration products.
Traction
Clients span the NBA, WNBA and English Premier League as well as media partners ESPN, FOX and Turner. Estimated annual revenue was $100M-$250M as of July 2026, with roughly 94 employees reported at that time across four continents.
Latest developments
In June 2026, Second Spectrum and the NBA announced a multi-year partnership expansion naming the company an Official NBA League Pass Augmentation Provider and an Official NBA Team Basketball Analytics Provider, alongside continued joint research and development of the "Dragon" mesh-data platform. Earlier, in March 2024, the WNBA partnered with the company for optical tracking analytics.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history
Market position
Second Spectrum operates in the sports tracking and analytics software market alongside companies such as Trackman, KINEXON, SPORTLOGiQ, Zebra Technologies, Synergy Sports, Hudl and Stats Perform. Its estimated annual revenue was placed in the $100M-$250M range as of July 2026.
The company's approach originates in academic research on spatiotemporal pattern recognition and machine understanding of sport; its co-founders received the USC Viterbi School of Engineering Use-Inspired Research Award and are the only two-time winners of the Alpha Award for Best Research Paper at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. Official provider designations with the NBA, combined with cross-sport coverage including football, distinguish its position among tracking and analytics vendors.
Technology
The platform combines machine learning, computer vision, big data processing and AR/VR to interpret sport and generate analytics and augmented viewing experiences. Reported technologies in use include Apache Pulsar, Framer, Zendesk, Next.js, React Native, three.js, Clojure and Perl. The company maintains an Artificial Intelligence group developing machine-learning-based sports data products, and is building the "Dragon" mesh-data platform with the NBA.
Go-to-market
Sales are made through direct, multi-year enterprise agreements and official-provider designations with leagues (NBA, WNBA, English Premier League), teams and broadcast/media partners such as ESPN, FOX and Turner, with distribution reinforced by parent company Genius Sports' league relationships.
Professional sports leagues, teams, coaches and players, broadcasters and media companies, and fans consuming augmented viewing products.
Geography
Headquartered in California, United States, with employees spread across North America, Europe and Asia.
History
Founded in 2013 and based in California, the company grew out of research at the University of Southern California, where co-founders Rajiv Maheswaran and Yu-Han Chang co-directed the Computational Behavior Group. It built a client base spanning the NBA, the English Premier League and media companies including ESPN, FOX and Turner. In June 2021, Genius Sports closed its acquisition of the company for $200 million in cash and shares. Under Genius Sports ownership, Second Spectrum signed a multi-year NBA agreement in March 2023 covering a next-generation tracking platform and League Pass integration, added a WNBA optical tracking partnership in March 2024, and in June 2026 announced a multi-year NBA partnership expansion naming it an Official NBA League Pass Augmentation Provider and Official NBA Team Basketball Analytics Provider.
Compiled by commissioned research from 4 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Founder mafia
2 people who came through Second Spectrum went on to found or lead other companies.
Competitors · 4
by search overlap
Companies competing with Second Spectrum for the same Google search keywords, organic and paid, via search-intersection analysis.
Timeline · 4
launches, deals, and filingsSecond Spectrum, a Genius Sports company, and the NBA announced a multi-year partnership expansion designating Second Spectrum as an Official NBA League Pass Augmentation Provider and an Official NBA Team Basketball Analytics Provider.
The WNBA partnered with Second Spectrum for optical tracking analytics.
The NBA entered a multi-year agreement with Second Spectrum to develop a next-generation technology platform for tracking basketball analytics and to integrate them into NBA League Pass. As part of the agreement, the league and Second Spectrum are jointly researching and developing 'Dragon', a platform using mesh data capabilities to synthesize millions of on-court data points into new insights.
Genius Sports completed its purchase of Second Spectrum in a deal reported at $200 million in cash and stock.
$200M source ↗
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
Legal entities · 1
corporate structureIn the news
▸Research sources · 4
primary sources listed
4 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Second Spectrum do?
- Sports tracking and analytics software company, owned by Genius Sports, serving leagues, teams and broadcasters.
- Who founded Second Spectrum?
- Second Spectrum was founded by Rajiv Maheswaran, Yu-Han Chang.
- Who are Second Spectrum's investors?
- Second Spectrum's investors include August Capital, Evolution VC Partners, TenOneTen Ventures, The Chernin Group (TCG Crypto).
- How much funding has Second Spectrum raised?
- Second Spectrum has disclosed $20.1M raised across 1 round.
- Where is Second Spectrum headquartered?
- Second Spectrum is headquartered in Los Angeles, US.