Arkero, a Seattle startup that builds an AI operations platform for sports organisations, raised a $6m pre-seed round announced on 29 January 2026. Roger Ehrenberg of Game Changers Ventures led the round, according to Built In Seattle and Pulse 2.0.
Other investors named were Alexis Ohanian's 776, David Tisch of BoxGroup, Garuda Ventures and Founders' Co-op. Strategic investors include Adrian Hanauer, majority owner of the Seattle Sounders and Seattle Reign. No valuation was disclosed.
“The opportunity exists because this is broken from the inside.”Shivaas Gulati, CEO, Arkero
What Arkero does
Arkero describes its product as an AI executive partner for teams. It sits on top of the tools a club already uses rather than replacing them, and Pulse 2.0 listed Slack, email, ticketing platforms, customer relationship systems and data warehouses. The aim is to consolidate operational data, workflows and decisions into one system.
The first deployments focus on matchday planning and season-ticket renewals. Arkero says its initial partners are the Seattle Sounders, Seattle Reign, San Diego FC and Bolton Wanderers FC. Built In reported that it has also announced partnerships with Major League Soccer, the National Women's Soccer League and the English Football League.
According to the company, the Sounders and Reign expect an improvement of more than 50% in matchday planning efficiency during the 2026 season. That figure is a projection supplied by the company and its partners, not an independent result.
The team
Shivaas Gulati is chief executive. Pulse 2.0 and Sports Media Report named Vamsi Narla, who leads product and engineering, and Daniel Shi, who oversees business operations, as the other founders. The three worked together at the money-transfer company Remitly for nearly a decade.
Pulse 2.0 added that Gulati joined the ownership group of Southend United FC after leaving Remitly. The sources do not state when Arkero was founded or how many people it employs.
Gulati said the opportunity exists because the problem is broken from the inside. The sources do not describe in detail what that means in practice.
What investors said
Ehrenberg said Arkero is delivering tangible results. Ohanian said that if you are hesitating to adopt AI, you are already falling behind.
Hugh Weber, president and chief business officer of Sounders FC, said the club made intentional decisions to prioritise how its teams could be optimised through AI, and Hanauer said his investment in Arkero is aligned with that approach.
Sports Media Report quoted Weber as saying the club wants to embed AI into its operating system rather than layering on software.
None of the three sources states how Arkero plans to spend the $6m, or whether earlier funding preceded the round. The named partners are all soccer clubs in the United States and the United Kingdom.