PLAYBACK Named in the Onstage W26 Demo Day Top 20
PLAYBACK has been selected as one of the Top 20 companies at Onstage W26 Demo Day, run with Sifted. The final 20 were chosen from more than 1,300 applicants, with Onstage's VC partners voting first on a Top 100 and then on the companies invited to pitch.
Demo Day took place on 21 October 2026 at Underbelly Boulevard in Soho, London. Each founder had two minutes and no slides, with three key points projected behind them, in front of more than 200 European investors and a Sifted livestream. W26 is supported by Revolut Business, Cooley, MongoDB, Google Cloud and Novabook.
PLAYBACK brings the technology used by professional clubs to grassroots and academy sport. Partner clubs receive AI cameras, auto-follow video, highlights and analysis at zero upfront cost, and players and families get access to every match they play. Since launch, the platform has served 75,000+ players across 25+ partner clubs and academies in 14 countries, delivered an estimated £750,000+ in savings to those partners, recorded 1,300+ matches, and supported 20+ players into professional contracts. All of it self-funded.
The selection follows an autumn of recognition for the company: Best Growth Strategy, sponsored by Deloitte, at the World Football Summit Awards 2026, the national Rising Star Award at the UK StartUp Awards 2026, and a place on the Game Changer shortlist at the SeedLegals Startup Awards 2026.
"Two minutes, no slides, two hundred investors. That format leaves nowhere to hide, which is exactly why we wanted to be on that stage. We have built the orchestration layer that turns every match into player data and revenue, using the same tools elite clubs rely on, and we have done it without raising a round. Being picked from more than 1,300 companies tells us the room is ready to hear it," said Karim Fawaz, Founder and CEO of PLAYBACK.
Our thanks to the Onstage and Sifted teams, the VC partners who voted, and the other 19 founders who shared the stage.