Singapore-based engineers help golfers around the world improve their swing

[SINGAPORE] From Japanese golfers to US baseball teams, athletes around the world are improving their game with the help of data trackers developed in Singapore.

Fifteen years ago, engineer Batuhan Okur saw a niche in sports technology that was not being filled: accessible, affordable data-tracking tools for athletes.

So he brought together five other engineers through a job posting and started Rapsodo, aiming to level the playing field for coaches and players.

“We wanted to democratise access to data in sports,” he told The Business Times.

Matthew Rigby, Rapsodo’s director for international markets, said: “The professional-grade launch monitors back then cost upwards of US$35,000. That just wasn’t realistic for the average athlete or coach.”

With its more affordable monitors, the Singapore-headquartered company has grown into a global player, offering performance-analytics tools for practitioners of golf, baseball and softball.

Its products are available in more than 55 countries, and the company has offices in the United States, Japan and Turkey.

From golf to baseball

The team started out in Nanyang Technological University’s incubation centre, which offers space to early-stage technology ventures.

After about three months, they sought a more central location in the National University of Singapore’s Block71 incubator in Ayer Rajah. Being at the heart of Singapore’s entrepreneurial ecosystem accelerated Rapsodo’s development, said Okur.

The company’s first product, SkyTrak, was a launch monitor for golf that tracks ball speed, launch angle, swing and other key metrics.

It took two years and around US$1.5 million to develop, through a mix of self-funding and investor funding.

SkyTrak has been in the market for over 10 years and continues to be a great success, said Okur.

The monitor was originally meant to be launched under the Rapsodo brand. However, after receiving an offer from sports monitor company SportTrak, the team decided to license the distribution rights to it. SportTrak was later acquired by golf company Golftec. 

Golfers take Rapsodo’s compact monitors with them while playing a round. “In simple terms, you place the monitor about eight feet behind you before you start playing,” said Rigby. “It has a built-in camera that captures your swing. Once you begin your session, the app provides instant feedback on your performance, shot by shot.”

He added: “It’s not designed to replace coaches, but it makes coaching more efficient.”

Users can also track their performance over time. “If you play regularly and use the tool over, say, 100 days, you can see how your metrics evolve. That data can be shared with coaches anywhere in the world.”

Rapsodo kept the intellectual property rights to SkyTrak, and did not license out its core technology. The sales then helped the company fund the development of its next products.

It expanded into baseball and softball in 2016, developing a ball-flight monitor that tracks a batter’s pitch.

Unlike golf, in which individual golfers are the main market, Rapsodo’s approach in baseball is more business-to-business (B2B), focusing on clubs, leagues and coaches. 

Last year, the company scored a major marketing milestone by securing a partnership with Shohei Ohtani, a Japanese baseball star known for being both a pitcher and a hitter – a rarity in the sport.

“It was a credibility boost for us,” said Rigby. 

Today, Rapsodo’s revenue is split evenly between its B2B and business-to-consumer segments, with sales made through its online store, e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, and more than 1,000 retail stores in the US.

With an average annual revenue growth of 28 per cent over the past five years, the company is now targeting further international growth.

It entered the US in 2016, Turkey in 2018, Japan in 2021, the Nordic region in 2022, and Australia and the UK in 2023. 

It now plans to expand into South-east Asia, having entered Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia in the last two years.

“South-east Asia is an underserved market, especially for golf. The climate here allows people to play it all year round, and there’s growing interest,” said Rigby.

Added Okur: “Performance analytics shouldn’t be reserved for professionals only.”

Amendment note: An earlier version of the story incorrectly stated that Rapsodo entered Australia and the UK in 2020. It entered those markets in 2023.