About us

History

In 1997, after extensive research in image and video processing, SimulCam™ technology was created and developed at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Subsequent to enthusiastic response from TV producers and sports viewers alike, five international business and IT specialists founded Dartfish (then known as InMotion Technologies Ltd.) in December 1998 to commercially develop SimulCam™ and other digital imaging applications.

The small start-up quickly grew and became well known for its innovative digital image enhancements in the sports broadcast world. SimulCam™ technology was followed by StroMotion™ which was launched in January 2001.

History (suite)

Based on its technological know-how, Dartfish soon branched out into other growth areas such as interactive Internet content enhancements as well as developing cutting-edge sport training applications. Today, our technologies and know-how are widely recognized for exclusive televised broadcast footage and breakthrough training applications for sports, education, healthcare and more. Dartfish employs more than 50 people with headquarters in Fribourg, Switzerland and offices in Atlanta, USA; Sophia-Antipolis, France; Sydney, Australia; Tokyo, Japan and Seoul, Korea.

Milestones

January 1999
VideoFinish™ (now known as SimulCam™) world premier during the World Skiing Championships, Wengen, Switzerland and Vail, USA.

February 1999
Strategic alliance established with the Swiss National Television, SRG SSR.

August 1999
SimulCam™ broadcast debuts in athletics at the World Athletics Championships in Seville.

September 1999
InMotion Technologies is the only Swiss company announced as a winner of the 1999 European IST Prize – a prestigious award granted to Europe's top IT innovators.

October 1999
The SimulCam™ Trainer (today known as the Dartfish software) is launched. Head offices move to Fribourg to accommodate the ever-growing company.

November 1999
A strategic alliance is announced with Compaq to provide a variety of new media Internet applications for online sports entertainment.

January 2000
The real-time version of SimulCam™ Broadcast is launched and used by the Swiss national broadcaster, SRG SSR, at the Skiing World Cup Down Hill Races in Wengen. In conjunction with the event, an interactive SimulCam™ skiing Internet site is developed by InMotion for DSFR Swiss television.

April 2000
SimulCam™ is nominated by NBC in the Innovative Technical Achievement category for the Emmy awards. July 2000 Partnership with NBC Quokka Ventures for the Sydney Olympics 2000 is announced.

September 2000
Partnership with the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) to develop and implement video training solutions for their member associations.

October 2000
Second round of funding is closed with investment received from Intel Capital, Nomura and Venture Partners.

January 2001
StroMotion™ is successfully launched during the live broadcast of the Figure Skating US Championships in Boston in conjunction with ESPN and ABC.

February 2001
USA office opens in Atlanta, Georgia. April 2001 InMotion Technologies becomes Dartfish.

August 2001 – December 2001
Dartfish enters into strategic partnerships with several North American sports organizations such as Softball Canada, USA Bowling, USA Gymnastics, USA Luge, and USA Volleyball.

November 2001
SimulCam™ awarded U.S. Patent. Dartfish Korea offices open in Seoul.

February 2002
Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah – SimulCam™ images for all Alpine Skiing events for NBC, TSR, ARD and ZDF, ORF, NOTV, Televisa and EuroSport.

June 2002
Dartfish Korea creates StroMotion™ images during the FIFA World Cup for the Asian broadcast media and press.

July 2002
New round of private financing complete: CIMA Corporate Investment and Management Affentranger Holding SA, Venture Partners, Initiative Capital (BCV), INTEL Capital and Nomura International.

February 2003
SimulCam™ enhancements for several international broadcasters during the Alpine Ski World Championships held in St. Moritz, Switzerland. Television premier of 3D Visualization technology.

December 2003
Dartfish enters a distribution agreement in Japan. Dartfish Japan is created.

January 2004
Dartfish enters a distribution agreement for South-America. Dartfish South-America is created in Chile.

June 2004
Dartfish launches new effects for the broadcast. Fox TV buys the new "ball tail effect" which enables spectators to see the different throws made by the pitchers (StroMotion™ effect on the ball).

August 2004
Summer Olympics in Athens – Greece – not only are the SimulCam™ and StroMotion™ effects used by various broadcasters such as NBC, Eurosport, ARD/ZDF... but the Sports Analysis software for coaches and athletes is also now widely used. Dartfish makes excellent press and many athletes using the software all year long win medals. An estimated 30% of all athletes use Dartfish software to work out.

September 2004
In only three years Dartfish launches its third version (3.0) of Dartfish software. Dartfish now counts 7'000 users worldwide.

November 2004
A new subsidiary is created for the distribution of Dartfish software in France.

Milestones (suite)

January – February 2005
From 28th January 2005 to the 13th February 2005 SimulCam™ & StroMotion™ pictures were broadcasted from the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in Bormio – Italy.

March 2005
First Dartfish software sold in China to Chinese Olympic Team.

April 2005
Dartfish enters agreement with the Taekwondo World Federation to equip all national teams with Dartfish TeamPro software.

May 2005
Dartfish StroMotion™ takes home the Emmy for The George Wensel Outstanding Innovative Technical Achievement Award. Dartfish is the official Golf Video Analysis Software system at St-Andrews Links. TWI, the television division of IMG, and Dartfish join forces to expand the uses of SimulCam™ and StroMotion™ technologies for sports and entertainment broadcasts on television and the Internet.

June 2005
Dartfish launches version 4.0 of its software in several languages with a new multi-user license system edition. Dartfish now counts more than 10'000 users worldwide.

November 2005
Dartfish TeamPro is shortlisted as examplar product in the "Secondary Software, content and Tools" category for the BETT Awards 2006. The first Dartfish Academy opens. The Hayesbrook School, as well as two affiliated schools, has been nominated the Official Dartfish Academy, in order to continue to develop the expertise of using Dartfish across the curriculum.

February 2006
Dartfish users won 138 medals at the Torino Olympics Games 2006 in various events. Nearly 60% of all Olympic contenders used Dartfish in 2006! In addition to various athletes using Dartfish software in their preparation for the Games, Dartfish's SimulCam™ and StroMotion™ technologies have been featured by many TV stations covering the Olympics including BBC, NBC, CBC, ARD, ZDF, ORF and SSR-SRG. Dartfish has been present in Torino to prepare the images created with DartStudio™ to be used during and after the broadcasts of various sports including Skiing, Snowboard and Figure Skating.

March to April 2006
Dartfish partners with the English Institute of Sports, UK, for performance analysis and staff training, and with Boson, the Swedish National Sports Complex to be used for scientific sport studies for athletes and coaches in all sports’ venues in Sweden.

May 2006
The foundation for a complete collaboration between the Hesse Cultural Ministry and Dartfish Germany, commenced on May 8, 2006 – equipping 37 schools with the latest Dartfish software for movement analysis with focus on gifted athletes in sports’ colleges

July 2006
Dartfish launches its new website with emphasis on customer feedback, as well as the development of new fields of application creating a total video solution.

August 2006
Dartfish signs a partnership with the Little Dream Foundation of Switzerland.

October 2006
Another Dartfish subsidiary is created in the UK, overseeing the logistics and distribution for the UK market.

November 2006

• Dartfish collaborates with the Presbyterian Ladies' College in Australia to supply 400 copies of the Dartfish Classroom Version, the largest worldwide video analysis software rollout to date.
• A new partnership is forged with the Swedish Olympic Committee to provide Swedish Olympic athletes with the Dartfish advantage for training, coaching, and analyzing elite athletes for Olympic competition.
• Dartfish Korea wins the Korean Culture and Sports Ministry organized competition for identifying innovative, high-value added sports’ service businesses with its proposal, Customized Online Prescription of Physiotherapy.

December 2006
Dartfish is selected by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, USA, as an official video analysis software supplier for their association.

April 2007

• Victor Bergonzoli is appointed the new CEO of Dartfish. One of the founders of the company, Bergonzoli is also the President of Dartfish Inc. USA.
• Dartfish launches its 4.5 Version and the Dartfish Connect Plus, a newly streamlined tagging solution. Both are compatible with Microsoft Vista.
• Dartfish Deutschland GmbH comes into being. The newly founded company will be in charge of developing the German and Austrian markets.

June 2007
Dartfish enters distribution agreements for Russia (Moscow) and Czech Republic (Prague).

December 2007
Dartfish has successfully raised its capital by CHF 4’200’000 through a recent financing round comprised of the issuance of new shares from existing and new Swiss-based investors and a loan conversion. 2007 will be another strong year of growth for Dartfish in each of its three business lines of Broadcasting, Software and Services, with a year-end turnover of CHF 10 mio. Swiss francs.