Arkero, a new AI-driven operations platform for professional sports organizations, has raised a $6 million pre-seed round and announced early partnerships with teams across Major League Soccer, the National Women’s Soccer League, and England’s Football League.
The round was led by Roger Ehrenberg at Game Changers Ventures, with participation from Alexis Ohanian (776), David Tisch (BoxGroup), Garuda Ventures, Founders’ Co-op, and strategic investors including Seattle Sounders and Seattle Reign majority owner Adrian Hanauer.
Arkero said it centralizes operational data, workflows, and decisions in a single system that helps business teams plan and execute in real time without adding headcount. Initial deployments focus on AI-enabled matchday planning and season-ticket renewals to reduce manual work and improve coordination across disconnected tools.
The company’s first partners include the Seattle Sounders, Seattle Reign, San Diego FC, and Bolton Wanderers FC. Arkero said early deployments with the Sounders and Reign are projected to deliver more than 50% efficiency gains in matchday planning in 2026, driven by faster decision-making and fewer operational errors.
Arkero is led by CEO Shivaas Gulati alongside Vamsi Narla, who leads product and engineering, and Daniel Shi, who oversees business operations. The founders previously worked together at Remitly, where Arkero said the team spent nearly a decade before Remitly’s $8 billion IPO. Gulati also joined the ownership group of Southend United FC after departing Remitly, and Arkero positions its product as built by operators familiar with the constraints of sports business operations.
The company describes its product as an “AI executive partner” that layers on top of existing systems rather than replacing them, integrating with common tools such as Slack, email, ticketing platforms, CRMs, and data warehouses to automate planning, post-game insights, and operational workflows.
KEY QUOTES
“I own a football club. I’ve sat in the meetings, lived the chaos, and felt the cost of running a business on Excel and email,” said Shivaas Gulati, CEO of Arkero, “ The opportunity exists because this is broken from the inside.”
Shivaas Gulati, CEO, Arkero
“On and off the pitch, our business is about constantly looking ahead to identify what we can do better and how we can use technology and the right partners to gain a competitive edge. Our investment in Arkero is aligned with this approach, accounting for not just where we are as an organization today, but where we need to be going forward.”
Adrian Hanauer, Majority Owner, Sounders FC
“We made intentional decisions to prioritize how our teams could be optimized through AI. Partnering with Shivaas and the Arkero team allowed us to embed AI into our operating system rather than layering on software which has made the technology a durable part of our culture.”
Hugh Weber, President and Chief Business Officer, Sounders FC
““We look for companies that have a clear grasp of where both sports and business are headed, near term and long term. While many are still debating how AI fits into real business solutions, Arkero is delivering tangible results. They’ve already demonstrated real impact with partners like the Sounders and the Reign, and we’re proud to support them as they scale.”
Roger Ehrenberg, Game Changers Ventures
“My biggest surprising launching Angel City FC was how devoid of tech the industry of sports was – all of my teams and my league are now supported by an operating system I’ve designed – but I know this isn’t an option for every owner and Arkero is building the must-have software teams need. If you’re hesitating to adopt AI, you’re already falling behind.”
Alexis Ohanian, 776
