Ruley, the E-Referee

What Ruley, the E-Referee does

Ruley, operated as a commercial brand under Firsthand Research and Consulting, is a private AI company that provides a RAG-powered API for real-time interpretation of sports rules. The platform accepts natural-language rule questions via a REST endpoint (/chat/{sport}) and returns grounded answers with citations to official rulebooks across eight sports: Pickleball, Padel, Tennis, Intennse, Golf, FlingGolf, Soccer, and Kickball. Production infrastructure includes stable schemas, API-key authentication, request tracing, rate limiting, and observability.

The product surface consists of the Ruley API as the core platform, a suite of embeddable widgets (Is That a Penalty?, Chat Interface, Sports Quiz, Voice Referee, Rule Lookup), and a Custom Development service for tailored integrations. Voice interaction is supported via the Web Speech API. Distribution is API-first, combining self-serve onboarding with a five-tier pricing ladder (Free, $499 Starter, $1,999 Professional, $6,999 Growth, $19,999 Enterprise) plus usage-based overage at $0.03-$0.05 per call.

The go-to-market motion targets three primary segments — sports app developers, federations, and broadcasters — plus enterprise customers requiring custom integrations and SLAs. Marketing is documentation- and demo-led, with a self-serve signup funnel for developers and a 'Request a Demo' CTA for enterprise sales. The company has not disclosed revenue, headcount, funding, named customers, partnerships, or geographic footprint; the available evidence is limited to first-party web material.

Name

Ruley, the E-Referee

Legal name

Firsthand Research and Consulting

Website

https://ruley.ai

Company type

Private

Founded year

2023

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Ruley is a private API-first platform that uses a RAG engine to deliver real-time, citation-grounded interpretations of sports rules. It serves sports app developers, federations, broadcasters, and enterprise customers across eight sports.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Sports AI API

NAICS

Spectator Sports (71121)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)

akta.pro primary industry

Sports Compliance, Governance & Integrity Services (Safeguarding, Anti-Doping, Match Integrity) (MPAKAKAM)

Keywords

• Sports rule interpretation
• AI referee API
• Rulebook AI engine
• Sports developer API
• RAG sports platform

Headquarters

HQ city

Rehoboth Beach

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. API Subscription Tiers: Monthly subscription plans (Free, Starter, Professional, Growth, Enterprise) that include a base number of API calls with overage charges for additional usage. Revenue is primarily recurring (monthly subscriptions) with usage-based overage additions.
2. API Usage Overage: Usage-based overage charges when API calls exceed the included tier limit ($0.03-$0.05 per call depending on plan)

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Ruley provides a RAG-powered REST API that delivers real-time, citation-grounded interpretations of official rulebooks for Pickleball, Padel, Tennis, Intennse, Golf, FlingGolf, Soccer, and Kickball. The API is sold via tiered monthly subscriptions and is also distributed through pre-built embeddable widgets (chat, quiz, rule lookup, voice referee, penalty checker) that customers can drop into their own sports applications. Authentication uses an X-API-KEY header and responses are grounded on the latest official rulebook sources with verifiable citations.

Product overview

Ruley offers a unified product portfolio centered on the Ruley API—a RAG-powered engine providing real-time rule interpretation for sports applications. The API serves as the foundational platform that powers a suite of pre-built embeddable Widgets (Is That a Penalty?, Chat Interface, Sports Quiz, Voice Referee, and Rule Lookup). Additional customization is available through Custom Development services for tailored AI widgets. The offering is distributed through tiered subscription plans (Free, Starter, Professional, Growth, Enterprise) that scale API call limits and support levels, enabling sports federations, broadcasters, and developers to integrate professional-grade rule knowledge into their applications.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Ruley API

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability5 records

Feature5 records

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Others

• Catapult Sports: Catapult provides wearable athlete-tracking and performance analytics for professional teams — adjacent sports-technology vendor serving similar elite sports customers but focused on athlete data rather than rule interpretation.

Broad incumbents

• Genius Sports: Genius Sports provides official sports data feeds, technology, and AI tools for leagues, sportsbooks, and media — sharing Ruley's federation and broadcaster buyer base across a much broader portfolio.
• Stats Perform: Stats Perform delivers AI-powered sports data and analytics to broadcasters, federations, and media companies — comparable in using AI to enhance real-time sports content and officiating-adjacent decisions.
• Sportradar: Sportradar is a global sports data and content company serving sportsbooks, federations, and broadcasters with real-time feeds — overlapping with Ruley's broadcaster and federation targets at much larger scale.

Direct peers

• WSC Sports: WSC Sports uses AI to automate sports content creation for broadcasters and leagues — comparable technology stack and broadcaster customer profile to Ruley's AI sports interpretation API.
• Pixellot: Pixellot offers AI-automated sports video production and analysis for federations, broadcasters, and clubs — a comparable AI sports technology provider serving similar buyer segments.
• PlaySight Interactive: PlaySight delivers AI-driven sports video and analytics for federations, broadcasters, and clubs — comparable as a sports AI platform integrating with federations, broadcasters, and end-user apps.
• Hudl: Hudl provides sports video analysis and performance tools used by teams, federations, and app developers, with API-driven integrations into sports workflows — comparable to Ruley's developer- and federation-facing AI sports tooling.
• Second Spectrum: Second Spectrum provides real-time AI tracking and analytics for sports leagues and broadcasters — directly comparable as an AI sports technology layer for officiating, broadcast, and fan engagement.

Emerging players

• Veo Technologies: Veo Technologies builds AI-powered sports cameras and analysis tools for clubs and federations — an emerging AI sports platform with overlapping federation/amateur-sport positioning to Ruley.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/RuleytheEreferee
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ruleyai

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Ruley, the E-Referee