Updated:
Fastbreak AI
John Stewart's team followed a Salesforce exit by building the scheduling engine now powering over 65 pro leagues worldwide.
Fastbreak AI
Fastbreak AI was founded in July 2022 by John Stewart, Chris Groer, and Tim Carnes. Stewart previously co-founded and led MapAnything, a field-service logistics software company acquired by Salesforce in 2019. Carnes and Groer are mathematicians whose optimization models underpinned MapAnything, and they brought the same combinatorial problem-solving to the scheduling constraints — travel equity, broadcast windows, rivalry placement — that bedevil professional leagues. The firm is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. The company has built a multi-product platform spanning professional schedule generation, amateur and youth tournament management, branded sponsorship activations, and sports-tourism analytics. Through its 2024 acquisition of Optimal Planning Solutions, Fastbreak absorbed one of the few incumbents in pro-sports scheduling, adding the NHL, MLS, and MiLB to its client base. The 2025 purchase of Barcelogic extended its footprint into European football, claiming LaLiga, Ligue 1, Serie A, and the Eredivisie. On the amateur side, Fastbreak AI for tournaments compresses pro-grade optimization into weekend-long events, handling registration, scheduling, scoring, ticketing, communications, travel, and sponsorship in a single connected system. Fastbreak added Ben Brantly, Stewart’s MapAnything co-founder, as Chief Technology Officer in 2025. The core AI team includes multiple PhDs in machine learning and optimization. In 2026, the firm acquired GroupHousing to launch Fastbreak Travel and appointed Maria Abernathy as General Manager of Payments to reduce electronic payment costs across youth sports. The firm was named a Top 10 Startup to Watch by NC Tech Awards and Best Place to Work in Sports by the Sports Business Journal. Fastbreak’s structural edge is mathematical rather than purely commercial. The firm’s co-founders solved routing and scheduling at scale for enterprises before entering sports, and no competitor combines that optimization rigor with an end-to-end operating platform across professional, amateur, and youth sports. The company also operates Fastbreak Impact, a non-profit foundation funding youth athletes, and runs the Fastbreak Connect experiential marketing program, which enables national brand activations at scale.
General information
Firm type
Asset Manager
Year founded
2022
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Charlotte
Corporate office
Charlotte, NC, United States
Principals
John Stewart
Co-Founder & CEO
Chris Groer
Co-Founder
Tim Carnes
Co-Founder
Ben Brantly
Chief Technology Officer
Maria Abernathy
General Manager of Payments
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs product and engineering at Fastbreak AI?
John Stewart is Co-Founder and CEO. Ben Brantly, Stewart’s co-founder from MapAnything, joined as Chief Technology Officer in 2025 to lead engineering and product. Co-founders Chris Groer and Tim Carnes, both PhDs in mathematical optimization, anchor the core AI team that designs the scheduling models.
How does Fastbreak AI's professional scheduling business make money?
The company generates revenue through an enterprise SaaS model, licensing its Pro Schedule product to professional leagues for fixture creation and optimization. Its platform also monetizes the amateur and youth sports segments through Fastbreak AI for tournaments, which bundles registration, scheduling, ticketing, travel, and sponsorship tools into a single paid platform for event operators.
How did Fastbreak AI scale its league client base so quickly?
Fastbreak made two targeted acquisitions. In 2024, it bought Optimal Planning Solutions, adding the NHL, MLS, and MiLB. In 2025, it acquired Barcelogic, the leading European sports scheduling provider, bringing LaLiga, Ligue 1, Serie A, and Eredivisie onto the platform. These roll-ups gave it immediate contract coverage across more than 65 professional leagues.
Does Fastbreak AI participate in fund commitments or is it an operating company?
Fastbreak AI is an operating company, not an investment firm. It builds and sells AI-powered sports operations software. The firm secured venture funding shortly after its 2022 launch and has since grown through acquisitions of complementary scheduling businesses.
What is Fastbreak AI's exposure to the youth and amateur sports market?
Fastbreak AI for tournaments provides an end-to-end platform for youth and amateur event operators. It also launched Fastbreak Travel via the acquisition of GroupHousing in 2026 to handle team hotel bookings, and Fastbreak Connect, an experiential marketing program that places national brands like Chobani into youth soccer activations.
How is Fastbreak AI's non-profit foundation structured relative to the company?
The firm operates Fastbreak Impact, a non-profit foundation that provides funding to youth athletes. The foundation is legally separate from the commercial software entity and focuses exclusively on breaking down financial barriers in youth sports.
Which sports leagues does Fastbreak AI explicitly count as clients?
On its website, the firm lists the NBA, NHL, MLS, MiLB, SEC, LaLiga, Ligue 1, Serie A, and Eredivisie among its professional league customers. In aggregate, it states its scheduling engine builds fixtures for over 65 professional leagues globally.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
Need institutional-grade insight on family offices?
Altss delivers:
Prefer a guided tour?
We’ll walk you through: