Zug, Switzerland – Infront has entered into a strategic partnership with District Technologies, a Singapore-based company that is harnessing technology to redefine running and exploration.
District has developed an urban exploration app that powers District Race events in cities across Asia and Infront has agreed to acquire a minority stake of the company.
District Races have already enjoyed success in Asia, with the sold-out second edition of the Hong Kong race in 2019 welcoming over 6,000 participants and the 2018 Singapore race boasting over 3,500 runners. Additional races will take place in Singapore in October and Kuala Lumpur in November, completing the Asian calendar.
The District app is a first-of-its-kind running and urban exploration app designed to enable users to lead an active and social lifestyle. The app combines location-based tracking, augmented reality technology and gamification to motivate users to explore cities by completing a series of virtual challenges and checkpoints.
The agreement will see Infront act as the exclusive strategic partner of District Races in Europe, utilising the technology to organise events built around the app.
In addition, Infront will support District with its global sponsorship sales team. This has already seen success with the Singapore event, which Japan’s Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Group (MSIG) is sponsoring.
Two European events are already planned over the next 12 months, with races in Berlin and London organised by Infront subsidiaries XLETIX and Threshold Sports, respectively.
Hans-Peter Zurbruegg, Infront Vice President Personal & Corporate Fitness, said: "Our partnership with District amplifies our ongoing strategy to focus on events that not only encourage an active lifestyle, but also offer new experiences through exploration and technology. The collaboration among the team at District and our colleagues at both XLETIX and Threshold Sports illustrates the synergies across the personal and corporate fitness market."
Ben Pember, District CEO, said: "District has proven itself as a popular and successful model for runners in Asia and we are excited to expand our presence within Europe. Infront's experience and enthusiasm in active lifestyle events and technology matches our approach and we look forward to working with them over the coming months to bring a new and unique challenge to runners across Europe."
Infront is a leading sports marketing company managing a comprehensive portfolio of top properties. Infront covers all aspects of successful sporting events, including the distribution of media rights, sponsorship, media production, event operation and digital solutions. Headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, Infront has a team of around 1,000 staff working from 43 offices across more than 14 countries, delivering approximately 4,000 event days of top class sport around the world every year.
District Technologies is an innovative technology company that is redefining running and urban exploration through gamification. Founded in 2017, District Technologies was born from a desire to reignite the spirit of discovery in all of us, and enable everyone to lead an active and social lifestyle. District Technologies’ key offering is District, a first-of-its-kind experiential urban exploration app that combines ground-breaking location-based tracking and augmented reality technology to motivate people to rediscover their cities and level up their fitness by completing in-app challenges built around the urban environment. District Technologies also holds District Race events around the world that are built around the District app. District Technologies is headquartered in Singapore and has since established a global presence, with key markets in Asia-Pacific and Europe.