If you’ve ever played a sports video game—such as an entry in the long-running Madden NFL series, or one of the annual releases focused on the NHL, NBA, or MLB—you’re likely familiar with the ability to follow the action from every conceivable angle. It’s something that can’t quite be matched in an arena setting, even in buildings packed with cameras.
Until now.
Peripheral Labs, a Toronto-based AI research company, is introducing what it calls “spatial intelligence” to live sports media, which could lead to an entirely new way to watch live sports.
This approach allows viewers to watch replays or highlights in a fully three-dimensional environment, similar to a video game.
“We’re building models that understand the 3D world, and bringing machine learning and tech from autonomous vehicles to watching sports,” says Kelvin Cui, who cofounded Peripheral in 2024 with Mustafa Khan. “It’s a new, interactive, and immersive sports experience.”
A different kind of roadmap for self-driving car tech
As Cui explains, the technology utilizes technology and sensors used in driverless cars, which both Cui and Khan previously worked on.
Peripheral applies the tech and the concepts behind it to 3D video, volumetric video, and video reconstruction, allowing for a photorealistic, navigable video environment.
In effect, viewers can watch highlights or replays of an event from almost any angle, or track a single portion of the video, such as a basketball or individual player. Other companies are working on similar technologies, including Arcturus and Wild Capture.
Cui says Peripheral is applying the technology to sports to start, as it allows for similar actions to be tracked, analyzed, and reconstructed in controlled environments.
“We can track 65 points, all the way down to finger joints on individual players,” he says. “You’re watching what looks like a regular TV broadcast, but at any point you can change the camera angle at will, and you can fly to any angle through a video game controller or your phone.”
Cui also hopes that the video-game-like visuals and control options could help garner more interest in sports from Gen Z, which, as a generation, tends to watch live sports at lower rates than others.
8.7 million reasons to believe the hype
The thesis is gaining attention because Peripheral is also announcing that it’s raised $8.7 million in new seed funding from Inovia Capital, Deloitte Ventures, Khosla Ventures, and Entrepreneurs First.
Its total seed funding is now $12.3 million. Peripheral declined to share an estimated valuation for the company.
The sports world is taking notice, too.
Peripheral has already worked with pro sports teams, such as the NBA’s Toronto Raptors, to create highlights for social posts. It will continue to focus on its work with basketball teams in the months ahead.
The company also plans to debut a consumer-facing platform and browser-based replay system sometime this year.
“Our ambition is to work with different sports teams and leagues,” Cui says, noting the larger aims of integrating into live broadcasts. “The team is working on getting integrated into team social apps. . . . The ultimate ambition is to do it all in real time.”
