Trax founder Joel Bar-El Swish Basket bags funding for AI sports technology firm Swish Basket
A computer vision company selected into NBA Launchpad 2026 has announced $3.2 million in pre-seed funding and opened its seed round. Swish Basket was founded by Joel Bar-El, who built Trax, a Singapore born startup valued at over $3 billion at its peak.
The pre-seed was led by Aristagora VC, which holds a board seat, with participation from Peter Kadas, Nika Capital, and RGE Group. The funding will support Swish's first commercial installations internationally, expand its sensor and AI engineering team, and launch its US marketing and community building.
Swish's AI sensor mounts above the basketball hoop and uses cameras and lidar to track every shot for accuracy, arc, and mechanics, with instant feedback, no wearables, and no setup. At the heart of the platform is Swish's computer vision technology, enabling facial recognition and real-time player identification. Players download an app, which connects them to their Digital Player Profile and brings every on-court session into one connected experience.
Any number of players can shoot at one hoop at once, as the proprietary AI identifies each one and automatically syncs every shot to that profile. The model is now live. In a recent US deployment, Swish powered a multi-hoop tournament, with teams competing head to head in real-time, each shooting on its own hoop while their results ranked on a single live leaderboard.
"We are building the connected layer basketball has never had," says Bar-El. "Technology has finally reached the point where every court, anywhere, can play as one. This funding lets us put Swish on courts across the world and give every player a way to measure, compete, and be seen. Because all of Swish's processing runs on the sensor rather than in the cloud, the platform is built to reach tens of thousands of courts at low cost."
"We backed Swish because it brings proven computer vision expertise to a corner of sport that has never had a connected data layer," says Anat Tila Cherni, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Aristagora VC. "This team has built category defining technology before, and the early traction across multiple markets shows the same pattern taking shape. We are proud to lead this round and back Swish as it scales."
2026 RTIH Innovation Awards
AI will be a key focus area at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards.
The awards are now open for entries and celebrate global retail technology innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.
Our winners will be revealed at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards Ceremony, taking place at The HAC in Central London on Wednesday, 4th November.
Check out our 2025 winners here.
Our 2025 hall of fame entrants were revealed during a sold out event which took place at The HAC on 16th October and consisted of a drinks reception, three course meal, and awards ceremony presided over by award winning comedian, actress and writer Tiff Stevenson.
In his welcome speech, Scott Thompson, Founder and Editor, RTIH, said: “This is the awards’ fifth year as a physical event. We started off with just 30 people at the South Place Hotel not far from here, then moved to London Bridge Hotel, then The Barbican, and last year RIBA’s HQ in the West End.”
“But I’m conscious of the fact that, to quote the legend that is Taylor Swift, You’re only as hot as your last hit, baby. So, this year we’ve moved to our biggest venue yet, and also pulled in our largest number of entries to date and broken attendance records.”
He added: “This year’s submissions have without doubt been our best yet. To quote one of the judges: The examples of innovative developments across both traditional and digital retail spaces were truly remarkable.”
Congratulations to our winners, and a big thank you to our sponsors, judging panel, the legend that is Tiff Stevenson, and all those who attended our 2025 gathering.
