DSO

What DSO does

DSO, Inc. is a US-based sports technology company founded in Charlotte, North Carolina, operating a blockchain-based platform that maps real stadium seats to unique digital seats (Digital Seat Ownerships, or DSOs) on a blockchain via 1:1 non-fungible tokens. The platform is intended to create an authentic, finite supply of digital seat assets tied to physical stadium inventory, enabling what the company describes as unprecedented alignment between fans and team owners. The technology is patent pending, and customer data is secured using Clevver blockchain infrastructure.

The company operates a two-sided go-to-market model. On the demand side, sports fans are acquired through a mailing list and the DSO Marketplace at market.dso.co, where buyers can purchase DSOs and access exclusive content, experiences, digital drops, collectibles, memorabilia, and team deals. On the supply side, DSO conducts direct sales outreach to sports organizations across European football, American sports, and globally touring sports, positioning DSOs as a new asset class for fan engagement and revenue generation. Revenue is intended to be generated through marketplace transactions (sales of DSOs) and licensing/royalty arrangements with sports organizations, though no pricing, transaction volume, or paying customers are publicly disclosed.

The company is in pre-launch/planning mode as of the most recent self-description, with headquarters in Charlotte, 11-50 employees, no announced funding rounds, and no disclosed revenue. The leadership team comprises Founder & CEO Mac Lackey (a 25-year serial sports technology entrepreneur), Co-Founder Niraj Shah (a web3 investor), and Co-Founder Rhett Barney (an IP attorney and branding strategist), supported by a sports-industry advisory bench that includes Joe Elsmore (30+ years at Nike Soccer), Benjamin Wilson (architect of the PSL Platform for 14 NFL teams), Mitesh Velani (former pro sports club CEO/COO/CFO), and Eric Porper (Co-Chair of the North Carolina Blockchain Initiative).

Name

DSO

Legal name

DSO, Inc

Website

https://dso.co

Company type

Private

Founded year

2021

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

DSO is a blockchain-based sports technology platform that maps real stadium seats to unique digital seat ownership tokens (DSOs), serving sports fans via a marketplace and sports organizations via direct B2B partnerships. The company is pre-launch and has no disclosed paying customers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Sports Technology / Digital Collectibles

NAICS

Lessors of Nonfinancial Intangible Assets (except Copyrighted Works) (53311)

SIC

Security & Commodity Brokers, Dealers, Exchanges & Services (6200)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYFSADANAH

Sports NFTs & Collectibles Marketplaces

Financial & Insurance/Crypto & Digital Assets/Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT) Marketplaces

SECONDARYCRAMAOAK

Digital Sports Collectibles Retail (NFTs)

Consumer Products & Retail/Sporting Goods & Outdoor Retail/Sports Collectibles, Fan Gear & Licensed Merchandise Retail

Keywords

• Digital seat ownership
• Blockchain sports platform
• Sports fan engagement
• Digital collectibles marketplace
• Web3 sports technology

Headquarters

HQ city

Charlotte

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. DSO Sales/Marketplace: Revenue generated from the sale of Digital Seat Ownerships (DSOs) to fans through the DSO marketplace. Each DSO represents a unique digital seat linked to a real stadium seat.
2. Team/Club Licensing: DSOs are offered to sports organizations as a new asset to drive fan engagement and grow relationships with existing fans, with associated revenue arrangements.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

DSO creates blockchain-based Digital Seat Ownerships (DSOs), which are non-fungible tokens that map real stadium seats to unique digital seats on a blockchain, enabling an authentic, finite supply for fan ownership. The company operates a two-sided marketplace (market.dso.co) for fans to purchase DSOs and receive exclusive content, experiences, events, and digital drops, while licensing the platform to sports organizations to drive fan engagement and create new revenue streams.

Product overview

DSO (Digital Seat Ownership) is a single unified product that provides blockchain-based digital seat ownership for sports fans. The core offering, DSO, maps real stadium seats to unique digital seats on a blockchain, creating an authentic, finite supply for fan engagement. The DSO Marketplace enables fans to buy, sell, and trade these digital assets. DSO serves sports organizations seeking to attract new fans and transform relationships with existing fans worldwide.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• DSO (Digital Seat Ownership) A blockchain-based digital asset (Digital Seat Ownership) that maps real stadium seats to unique digital seats on a blockchain, creating an authentic, finite supply for fan ownership and participation in sports organizations. Each DSO is uniquely linked 1:1 with a seat in a real stadium and acts as a gateway to exclusive content, experiences, events, and digital drops from teams.
• DSO Marketplace An online marketplace platform where fans can purchase, sell, and trade Digital Seat Ownerships and access exclusive content, experiences, and digital drops tied to those seats. It serves as the direct-to-consumer sales channel for DSOs and as the destination for the company's two-sided marketplace offering.

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• ClevvercoreTechnology or IntegrationClevver provides blockchain technology for securing DSO customer data. The partnership ensures that customer data on the DSO platform is protected using Clevver's blockchain infrastructure.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Socios.com (Chiliz): Socios issues fan tokens that grant voting rights and engagement perks for major sports teams including FC Barcelona, PSG, and Juventus. It directly competes with DSO for sports-organization partnerships and fan engagement budgets, though via fungible tokens rather than NFTs.
• Sorare: Sorare is a blockchain-based fantasy sports platform issuing NFT player cards licensed from 300+ football clubs. It is the most analogous peer to DSO in European football, monetizing digital ownership of sports assets via a marketplace and targeting the same fan-engagement use case.
• Autograph (Autograph.io): Autograph, co-founded by Tom Brady, partners with athletes and sports leagues to issue officially licensed NFTs. It competes with DSO for sports-IP-driven digital collectible wallet share and team engagement deals.
• Candy Digital: Candy Digital is a sports-focused NFT platform with deals across MLB, Netflix, and other sports IP holders, offering digital collectibles and fan engagement assets. It targets the same B2B sports-organization customers as DSO with comparable marketplace infrastructure.
• Dapper Labs (NBA Top Shot / NFL All Day): Dapper Labs operates NBA Top Shot and NFL All Day, the most established sports NFT and digital collectibles marketplaces with league-level rights. DSO competes directly for the same wallet share and team/league partnerships, but with a different scarcity primitive (real stadium seats vs. video highlights).
• FIFA Collect: FIFA Collect is FIFA's official NFT platform offering digital collectibles tied to World Cup and women's football moments. It is a league-issued sports NFT venue competing for global football fan engagement budgets.

Emerging players

• Ethernity Chain: Ethernity Chain is a community-focused NFT platform that has issued sports-related authenticated collectibles with athlete partnerships. It overlaps with DSO in using NFTs for fan engagement with verified sports IP.
• Kickoff (SportsIcon): SportsIcon is a sports-NFT platform offering officially licensed collectibles across multiple sports and athletes. It is comparable to DSO as a smaller, emerging sports-NFT player seeking team/athlete partnerships.

Others

• Rarible: Rarible is a general-purpose NFT marketplace infrastructure provider. It is comparable to DSO as enabling technology for digital sports collectibles trading, though it does not specialize in sports IP licensing.

Broad incumbents

• Fanatics Collect: Fanatics Collect is the digital collectibles arm of Fanatics, a sports commerce incumbent with league-wide licensing across MLB, NFL, NBA, and MLS. It competes for the same sports-organization partnerships but with substantially broader resources and established retail distribution.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/digitalseatowner

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

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 DSO