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Hudl Announces Incatec Acquisition, Bolsters Smart Camera Technology for 2019 and Beyond

Jan 23, 2019

3 min Read

We’ve joined forces with Netherlands-based Incatec, a smart camera technology company, to help teams streamline their recording process and secure the best views in the house. See what’s in store for 2019 and beyond.

In today’s deeply competitive analysis environment, ensuring all the video you share with your team is meaningful and timely is vital to success.

That’s why we’re excited to announce we’ve added Incatec, a leader in smart camera technology development, to the Hudl family. The acquisition, finalized in 2018, was instrumental in streamlining our current collection of recording solutions and sets us up to effectively innovate on cutting-edge products that automatically capture and distribute the moments that matter most to teams.

“When we first learned of Incatec, we were immediately impressed,” said Brian Kaiser, Hudl CTO. “They were innovating quicker and meeting customer demand faster than everybody else. It was clear that they brought something unique to the table and we absolutely had to team up with them.”

"They were innovating quicker and meeting customer demand faster than everybody else." Brian Kaiser, Hudl CTO

Thanks to the team at Incatec, we’re rolling out state-of-the-art record and upload solutions as part of The Future of Sportscode on January 31. The event will focus on the newest version of Sportscode and discuss the biggest challenges facing teams today, like coaches and analysts needing the ability to translate analysis into bite-sized stories that resonate with athletes. The Incatec acquisition was instrumental in developing a smart camera system at the very center of the connected platform we'll be unveiling.

The smart camera system captures high-quality tactical, zoom and panoramic views that can be fed into Sportscode for live coding.

Highlights of the smart camera system include the ability to:

Capture high-quality tactical, zoom and panoramic views
Combine angles and automate custom views
Send feeds into Sportscode for live coding
Automatically record and upload video into Hudl

“Combining Incatec’s camera expertise and algorithms with our video and data distribution know-how allows us to swiftly innovate on recording technology that syncs within an integrated platform,” said Kaiser. “The impact their talent has made in such a short period of time cannot be overstated.”

Case in point: the collaboration with Incatec has enabled us to accelerate our expansion into hardware and further our vision to capture and bring value to every moment in sports. Hudl Focus, a camera that automatically records and uploads games to teams’ Hudl accounts—all without a human touch—went from conception to being successfully beta tested in just eight months.

Hudl’s newest smart camera technology, Hudl Focus, went from conception to being successfully beta tested within eight months.

“It was a whirlwind,” said Martijn Berger, former Incatec CTO and founder and current engineering director at Hudl. “But because we’re so passionate about making high-quality video that’s connected to a fully-integrated analysis platform available to coaches everywhere, we wouldn’t have it any other way.

"To go from an idea to successfully testing Focus with more than 200 schools across the U.S. in a matter of months is something we’re proud of because it means we’re meeting customer demand at a rapid pace. We’ve only scratched the surface, and we can’t wait to bring even more innovations to market in 2019 and beyond.”

"The analysis process starts and ends with video, so the sky is really the limit to what we can do with smart camera technology paired with the connectivity Hudl’s platform provides." Martijn Berger, former Incatec CTO and founder and current engineering director at Hudl

The nine-member Incatec team not only expedited our efforts to make smart camera technology accessible at all levels of play, but their shared understanding of video's role throughout the entire analysis process will ensure we root our future innovations in ways that drive real action.

“Hudl took us in with open arms and we couldn’t be more excited to join a company that aligns to our mission of helping teams secure the best views in the house in the most efficient way possible,” said Thomas Berger, former Incatec CEO and founder and current director of camera hardware at Hudl.

“The analysis process starts and ends with video, so the sky is really the limit to what we can do with smart camera technology paired with the connectivity Hudl’s platform provides.”

To learn more about the Incatec acquisition, our record and upload solutions, and our vision for the future of performance analysis, join us on January 31 for The Future of Sportscode.