LiveHeats

LiveHeats is a sports technology company providing a comprehensive, cloud-based platform for managing action and adventure sports competitions. The firm was founded in Sydney, Australia, in 2016 by former professional surfer Chris Friend and software programmer Fernando Freire. The concept originated when the founders, connected through the Sydney surfing scene, observed the manual, paper-based inefficiencies of running a local surfing competition at Bondi Beach and decided to build a superior digital solution.

The company's platform is an end-to-end system designed for event organizers, covering the entire competition lifecycle. This includes tools for athlete registration and payment processing, automated creation of heat draws and schedules, live scoring accessible from any device with minimal hardware, and the automatic generation of rankings and leaderboards. For athletes and fans, the platform provides real-time access to scores, schedules, and performance data, replacing the uncertainty of traditional spreadsheet and paper-based methods. The business primarily serves a B2B market of sports organizations, from small local clubs to national federations like USA Surfing and Surf Life Saving Australia. Revenue is generated through a SaaS model where organizers purchase event credits, with pricing tiered based on the number of athletes per event. The company is also exploring new revenue models, including advertising and premium subscriptions.

Initially a self-funded project, LiveHeats has since secured seed funding to fuel its global expansion and product development. A seed round in May 2025 raised A$1.3 million (approximately US$838,000) from a group of investors that includes notable figures from the sports and tech industries, such as former world surfing champion Joel Parkinson and Investible co-founder Trevor Folsom. Having powered thousands of events for over 130,000 athletes globally, the company has surpassed A$2 million in revenue and is targeting A$10 million by 2028, with plans to expand into endurance sports and potentially power scoring for the Brisbane 2032 Olympics.

Keywords: action sports management, live scoring software, competition management, event registration platform, sports technology, surfing competitions, athlete rankings, heat draw generator, digital scoring, sports SaaS, skateboard competitions, snowboard events, Freeride World Tour, USA Surfing, Surf Life Saving Australia, sports event technology, athlete data, sports analytics, Joel Parkinson, Chris Friend, Fernando Freire