Ireland-based startup to establish U.S. HQ in Indianapolis
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Ireland-based sports-tech startup Wiistream plans to establish its U.S. headquarters in Indianapolis, with the goal of having up to 20 people based here within the next few years.
Wiistream is a software company that offers a customizable streaming platform for sports organizations to live-stream their games. The company’s target market includes youth leagues, club sports and tournament organizers.
“Our target really is the sporting associations that may not have the budget or the resources available to be able to build their own streaming application,” said Patrick Magee, who co-founded Wiistream along with Fionn Herlihy and Mike Price in 2020. “Our whole ethos is just to make streaming more accessible.”
Fans pay for access to watch the live-streamed games, and that money flows to Wiistream, which shares some of that revenue with the sports organization that’s live-streaming the event.
Magee and his co-founders launched the company as PaircTV, a direct-to-consumer platform where fans could watch live-streamed games of two Irish sports—hurling and Gaelic football. After seeing some early success, the three decided to widen their focus, rename the company as Wiistream and go after international customers.
Current Wiistream clients include the Switzerland-based World Baseball Softball Confederation, British Ice Skating, and BIG3, the Los Angeles-based three-on-three basketball league founded by actor and hip-hop star Ice Cube and entertainment executive Jeff Kwatinetz.
Conversations with several potential U.S. customers are ongoing, Magee said.
Wiistream earned nearly $400,000 in revenue last year and is targeting $2.5 million in revenue by the end of this year, Magee said. The company currently has six full-time employees and another 10 part-timers.
Wiistream is working to set up a U.S. office in Indianapolis at the Emerging Manufacturing Collaboration Center, or EMC2, on the campus of the 16 Tech Innovation District. The company’s first Indianapolis-based hire will be a sales director, followed by a marketing director, with plans to add to that team as the company’s revenue grows.
“At the moment, given our recent traction, we could have up to 20 people within Indianapolis by 2027,” Magee said.
Wiistream’s introduction to Indianapolis came last year via One-Zero, a sports tech conference that takes place twice a year: in Dublin, Ireland, in the spring and in Indianapolis in the fall.
Jeff Hintz, executive director of Indianapolis-based not-for-profit Sports Tech HQ, met Magee and Herlihy at last year’s One-Zero conference in Dublin. Jordan Fliegel, the managing director of the Indianapolis-based Techstars Sports Accelerator Powered by Indy program, was at the conference as well, Hintz said.
That meeting, Hintz said, led to Wiistream applying for the Techstars Sports Accelerator, being accepted and coming to Indianapolis last summer to participate in the program.
“I got to spend some time with Patrick and Fionn when they were going through the accelerator program last summer,” Hintz said. “I got to know them a little bit and really started talking about Indy and the benefits of Indy and how we can help them.”
Wiistream also received an investment from Indianapolis-based Elevate Ventures.
For his part, Magee said he and his co-founders liked Indianapolis’ strong sports culture, its lower labor costs relative to the U.S. East and West coasts, and its overall vibe. Herlihy also had lived in Indianapolis for a few months while he was working for Eli Lilly and Co.
“We really like the city. It reminds us a lot of Ireland,” Magee said.