In a recent insight, we highlighted some impressive growth for the Austin-based start-up Ballogy. They recently secured $6 million in Series A funding from an impressive list of athletes and sports executives. But this growth in size is not matched by growth in their IP portfolio: they only own three (3) patent assets within the Sport Analytics Patent Forecast®  sector, all of which are patent applications still pending. So, Ballogy has no enforceable rights to exclude competitors.

Similarly, Ballogy continues to release new features having limited disclosure in their assigned applications. Its most recent feature, an official shooting skills assessment targeted towards amateur players for use in applications such as college recruiting, appears to be disclosed in a 2019 application (U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 20190111317), but the claims of this patent seem to be fairly narrow and likely wouldn’t offer the protection necessary for such a game-changing invention. 

Considering this, Patent Forecast® has one recommendation for Ballogy: use some of your most recent funding round to invest in IP. Time and time again, start-ups with great ideas get squeezed out of their markets by bigger companies due to lack of protection surrounding their product. Ballogy has a great product as evidenced by both its rapid growth in users and its recent funding round, but it is crucial to make sure that you protect your product. However, it is not all bad news, as the generally early priority dates of Ballogy’s standing applications could provide great building blocks for a strong portfolio, it’s just a question of whether or not Ballogy will prioritize this in their next growth stage.