Two industry start-ups, SharpSports and Pine Sports, have merged, creating a single entity that blends SharpSports’ B2B infrastructure with Pine Sports’ growing consumer-facing platform.

The deal marks a strategic move to combine professional-grade analytics with direct consumer engagement, according to comments made exclusively during a recent BettingStartups Podcast.

SharpSports, founded by Ryan Murphy, provides bet-tracking and data services for companies such as OddsJam, RotoWire, and Covers.

Meanwhile Pine Sports, led by Vijay Dewan, is best known for jaXon, a sports-focused large language model designed to function as a personal betting analyst.

The companies said the merger aligns technical infrastructure with an active user base, allowing for faster product testing and refinement.

Murphy explained that SharpSports often faced delays in validating new tools due to the sales cycle required to secure clients and gather downstream customer feedback.

He said: “We couldn’t always validate new tools that we wanted to build directly. It would take a sales cycle to get a new customer to use it, implement it, and then get feedback from their customers before we could iterate. We wanted to have that B2C exposure for quicker iteration.”

By integrating with Pine’s consumer-facing platform, SharpSports can now test and iterate directly with end users. For Pine Sports, Dewan emphasised that the partnership provides its jaXon product with reliable, controlled data to improve the platform’s accuracy and scalability.

Under the combined strategy, SharpSports will continue to operate its B2B business while Pine Sports will act as the first user of newly developed products.

New services to enhance platform

Advanced NFL metrics and a white-labelled version of Pine’s AI chat interface are currently in development. Murphy said this approach ensures tools are vetted before being rolled out to additional partners.

SharpSports also brings athlete investors and advisors into the mix, including Marshawn Lynch, Jonathan Stewart, Ryan Leaf, and Steve Smith Sr.

Murphy noted that these athletes approach their media and entrepreneurial pursuits with the same competitiveness they displayed during their playing careers.

For Pine Sports, the merger accelerates plans to position jaXon as an all-in-one sports companion. The platform has around 10,000 users in its Discord community and a newsletter reaching 60,000 subscribers.

Dewan described the upcoming NFL season as jaXon’s “coming out party,” supported by athlete partnerships and a subscription model expected to scale with increased betting activity.

The merger reflects a broader industry shift as sports betting tools move toward AI-driven interfaces, subscription revenue streams, and consumer-friendly experiences.

By combining SharpSports’ infrastructure with Pine’s distribution, the companies aim to capture both professional and casual bettors.

The companies added that the NFL season will serve as the proving ground for the merged strategy, with longer-term goals including the rollout of additional tools, new strategic investors, and expanded B2B offerings once the season concludes.