SkillCorner 10th Anniversary

‍The SkillCorner story began like that of many a startup: two wide-eyed students convinced of the disruptive power of technology. But there is one key difference that sets our tale apart: one was 23 years old, an engineering undergraduate; the other, an experienced operator in the banking sector in search of a new challenge.

Hugo Bordigoni brought the technological expertise and the idea to use machine learning technology to automatically collect football data from broadcast footage; Charles Montmaneix combined commercial acumen with the drive and desire to create a business capable of making a genuine impact in sport.

Brought together by an entrepreneurial course at CentraleSupélec university, they made a unique but highly complementary pairing.

“I didn’t overthink the age difference or that we were at very different stages in our lives. It just worked. We connected in our first meetings and in the end, it was an easy decision to partner.” Hugo

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Brainstorming with friends yielded the name SkillCorner, and first around Charles’ kitchen table, then from a tiny office in Paris, they plotted the first steps of the company’s journey.

With a shared passion for football, the initial idea had been to take the technology directly to teams, but a harsh initial brush with that world suggested that neither us nor the sport were quite ready for each other at that point.

So the focus turned to producing live tracking-data animations for bookmakers. Backed by the arrival of the first full-time hire, machine-learning expert Timothe Collet, we developed a product used by one of the biggest bookmakers in France. But it soon became clear that it was unlikely to provide the necessary scale for a successful business.

Then came the 2018 World Cup, and a series of social posts that changed the entire course of the company. We started posting dynamic heatmaps from the tournament’s matches, and one of them caught the eye of Liverpool FC.

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“On our website contact form we had a submission from Ian Graham. He said: ‘It looks like you’re collecting tracking data, but I’m pretty sure you don’t have cameras installed in the stadium. If you are doing it from broadcast, we’re interested.’” Hugo

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The conversations that followed led to a shift in focus for our data collection and ultimately, the company. Liverpool didn’t want live data, didn’t care about low latency – they just wanted the highest-quality data possible. After a year of development and feedback loops, in the summer of 2019, they signed on as our first professional client.

That brought interest from other teams, but it quickly became clear that the complexity of working with raw tracking data put it beyond the reach of the large majority. We needed to simplify the possibilities it provided into a product suitable for wider consumption.

Internal brainstorming and conversations with teams brought us to the idea of extrapolating physical data points such as speed, acceleration and distance. Previously, this data was only available via expensive optical tracking solutions tied to specific leagues. We were able to provide it at scale across the competitions teams recruit from.

It was a hit. Launched in the summer of 2020, it really took off the following year, acting as the primary driver behind us quintupling our customer base from eight teams to 41.

“We knew we had something – that we had finally found product-market fit.” Charles

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Physical data was the cornerstone of our growth, and is an area in which we continue to innovate, but it only prodded at the edges of what was possible with tracking data. Customers were telling us that they wanted more. 

So we combined tracking data with events to develop Game Intelligence – a solution that goes beyond the static confines of traditional data to add an expansive layer of tactical and technical context to every action and movement.

Teams wanted that insight but lacked the internal expertise to derive it from the raw tracking data. Game Intelligence provided it to them at scale, first with a suite of In Possession metrics in 2023, and then, with the same for Out of Possession in 2025. Over time, more and more teams have seen the value in having access to this information.

“The release of Out of Possession metrics helped us to get to the point where over 50% of our customers use Game Intelligence.” Hugo

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With the football market progressing at a good pace, we decided to branch out into other sports in search of new opportunities and growth.

We quickly found a strong partner in American Football with the Jacksonville Jaguars, but basketball proved harder to penetrate. While our previous work in football gave us a headstart on technology, from a commercial standpoint, it was almost like starting from scratch.

That is why our acceptance into the NBA Launchpad innovation scheme in 2023 was so important. They recognised the huge potential of our product, and became not only a supportive partner and investor, but a way into the Orlando Magic, our first basketball customer, and many of the other NBA and college teams who have followed since.

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“It’s a bit of a dream story in a way. I’m not sure there are a lot of French companies that can say they have the NBA as a shareholder.” Charles

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The last 10 years at SkillCorner have been ones of consistent growth: from one customer to over 300, from one sport into three and from a handful of employees to over 100 and counting. With our recent injection of funding from Silversmith Capital Partners that growth can only be expected to continue.

There have clearly been technological challenges to overcome but the key to sustainable expansion has been in maintaining a strong company culture that places trust in people and provides them with pathways to grow and develop. We are proud to say that many of the earliest employees are still at the company today.

There is also a strong office camaraderie facilitated by an unexpected constant: darts. From the first tiny office, through to the dedicated five-storey building in the centre of Paris that we recently moved into, there has always been a dart board or two set up for a lunchtime game.

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“The smartest people aren’t always the nicest ones, and I think we’ve done a great job of finding people who are both smart and nice.” Charles

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SkillCorner were one of the first to commit to automated data collection and we have ridden the wave as the rapid development of machine learning technology has coincided with football’s data revolution and a more business-like approach to resource management.

From student project to a business trusted by elite teams in world sport, our journey is already a compelling tale, but there are still some further chapters to be told over the next 10 years and beyond.

It wasn’t long ago that we were simply known as the physical data provider for player recruitment in football, but we’ve expanded out from there to develop data that supports multiple workflows and sports. Now our goal is to become the primary data provider for physical, technical and tactical data across sports and departments, from recruitment through match analysis into academies.

“If I can use a French phrase, it would be fun to tickle our competitors a bit.” Charles

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