Meet the CEO behind Catapult's stunning 260% rise in the last year

With Livewire's inaugural Growth Series upon us, it was fortunate timing to have one of the more exciting growth companies on the ASX release its full-year results recently. Even better was that I was able to have a conversation with the CEO about them. 

The company that I speak of is Catapult (ASX: CAT), and the CEO is Will Lopes. And whilst the share price rally seen below speaks volumes, I was keen to learn what’s behind the company's performance, how it’s evolving into a SaaS-focused business, and what lies ahead for the ASX-listed global sports technology leader.

Rule of 40

Lopes began our chat by outlining the core financial philosophy guiding Catapult’s performance.

“We always start thinking from a Rule of 40,” he explained, which looks for a combined revenue growth and profit market of 40% or more. It's a key metric for Software as a Service (SaaS) companies. 

“This year we finished at 31, made up of 18% growth on our subscription business and 13% on our profit margin.”

That focus has translated into impressive financial outcomes. FY24 revenue climbed 19% year-on-year to US$116 million, while free cash flow swung to a positive US$8.6 million — a $30 million turnaround in just two years.

Three levers for sustainable profitability

The results may be impressive, but Lopes is clear-eyed about the road ahead. He identified three levers to drive sustained profitability:

Catapult's SaaS transformation

The biggest shift, however, is strategic. Catapult is no longer just a wearable GPS device company — and hasn’t been for some time.

“When I joined five years ago, all the value was on the hardware side,” said Lopes. “Today we’re a multi-solution platform… Most of the value is in the software.”

That shift matters. Software comes with vastly better gross margins (95% vs 84% for wearables) and scalability.

“It means we can bring new features to market faster, expand horizontally across more sports, and ultimately improve profitability.”

High-margin software and the AI edge

Catapult is also riding the wave of AI. Lopes shared several real-world use cases, including work with Formula One to speed up track limit reviews from 30 minutes to seconds using computer vision.

“Our future is about simplifying insights. Division One teams can afford a team of analysts. Division Two and Three can’t. So we’re using AI to make our data useful for smaller teams with leaner staffs.”

Global growth, local wins

Growth is coming from all corners. In Europe, the UK, Germany, and France are leading the way, while in the U.S., college sports and baseball are standout performers. 

Lopes also noted promising traction in Latin America, the Middle East, and with women’s sports programs.

And yes, Brazil is finally on board. 

“It took us a while, but we’ve signed the national football team,” said Lopes, who is of Brazilian heritage. “That was a proud moment for me.”

What the market gets wrong

Despite strong results, Lopes believes two key misconceptions persist.

“First, we’re no longer a hardware company. 95-96% of our revenue is now recurring. 

Second, people thought we’d never scale profitably. Well, we’ve proven we can.”

Aiming for a billion

So, what does the future hold? Lopes was bold but measured in his ambition.

“We serve about 3,600 of the world’s 20,000 pro teams. We’d love to double that. Our average revenue per customer is around $26-27k — we believe we can lift that to $150k with new products.”

The ultimate goal? 

“We feel confident we’ll be a billion-dollar recurring revenue business. It’s now about getting there as quickly as possible.”

The insider view of elite sport

As a self-confessed sports fanatic, to wrap things up I asked Lopes to share some of the moments that have stuck with him from working with the world’s best teams.

He spoke fondly of watching the Brazilian national team train, sideline access to the NBA's Boston Celtics post-championship, and the precision of Formula One teams.

But one moment stood out: “At Silverstone, I was blown away by how much data F1 teams are managing in real time. That level of professionalism and the role we play in that ecosystem — it’s incredibly rewarding.”

Watch the full interview with Will Lopes to hear more about Catapult’s roadmap, its AI ambitions, and what it takes to win in the data-driven future of sport.