Olympic champion Matt Richards launches athlete marketing platform Sponza

Double Olympic gold medallist Matt Richards (pictured) has launched sports-tech platform Sponza to modernise how brands discover, connect with and work with athletes.

Richards says Sponza streamlines everything from talent discovery and campaign creation to activation management without the operational overhead associated with traditional approaches.

He adds that currently activity is often spread across agencies, internal teams, spreadsheets and inboxes, slowing campaigns and limiting access to emerging or non-obvious talent.

Sponza instead centralises the athlete marketing workflow into a single platform.

It enables brands to move faster, execute smarter campaigns and maintain transparency and control over athlete partnerships while enabling more direct collaboration with athletes.

Rather than focusing solely on follower counts or top-tier names, Richards says Sponza helps brands unlock value across a wider athlete ecosystem, surfacing relevant talent based on performance, audience alignment and campaign objectives.

“Despite competing at the highest level, accessing brand opportunities wasn’t straightforward,” said Richards. “The process was often manual, unclear and limited to a small group of athletes. At the same time, brands want authentic partnerships without inflated costs or unnecessary friction. That disconnect is what led me to build Sponza.

“The market’s response to that solution has been immediate. During a brief pre-launch window, Sponza has already seen more than 5,000 athletes and brands from over 50 different sports join the waitlist to be part of the platform’s ecosystem.

“At its core, Sponza is infrastructure. We’ve built a system that allows brands to scale athlete marketing programmes without increasing headcount, agency fees or operational complexity. It’s about making athlete partnerships work with the efficiency and accountability of any modern marketing channel.”