If there was ever a perfect example of a hidden champion, it's Carsten Koerl. Born in Bavaria, he got his start getting what's now online sports betting platform Bwin up and running in 1997, before founding Sportradar and creating a global sports data empire in 2001. From FIFA to the NBA, Sportradar is the official data partner of the biggest players in the sports industry and in turn makes its troves of data available to sports media and betting providers. In total, Sportradar covers almost one million events in over 90 sports every year from its HQ in St. Gallen, Switzerland. For his part, Koerl has primarily remained out of the spotlight during his entrepreneurial career. However, those days of anonymity came to an end by September 2021, when he and Sportradar made waves by having NBA GOAT Michael Jordan headline the company's IPO on Nasdaq. Jordan is among some very prominent investors in Sportradar, including Chelsea owner Todd Boehly and now former owner of the Dallas Mavericks. At the time of its IPO, the valuation of Sportsradar was a staggering USD 4.7b—and CEO Koerl heads a team of nearly 4000 in 20 different countries.
