Data intelligence firm 601 Analytics is hitting a new business stride. Co-founder Matthew Jafarian shared that the company saw a record financial year, coming in part through a growing client base with a hearty boost from its work around the FIFA 2026 Men’s World Cup.
601 (part of SBJ’s recent Power Players: Ticketing package) and FIFA built the centralized FIFA Venue Intelligence Hub, a tool to monitor everything on the ground (tickets, F&B and merch) for the sprawling tournament and its 16 stadiums. Jafarian said the platform, which was a finalist for the Best Tech Collaboration at SBA: Tech earlier this year, thrived while navigating every game in lockstep with FIFA counterparts.
“It was the most challenging and most rewarding thing that we’ve ever done,” Jafarian said of working with FIFA around the tournament. “We were in the trenches together.”
Jafarian — also the EVP/Business Strategy for the Heat (which 601 spun out of six years ago) and the Kaseya Center — described the overall effort as one featuring constant video calls and emails while they collectively watched games and the hub simultaneously to see how the data was flowing in. 601 was able to provide FIFA and its corporate sponsors with near real-time data on how their respective products were doing.
601 has piled up some client wins, adding the Toronto Tempo ahead of the WNBA season (the company’s first team in the league) and more recently, the Rockies. Jafarian shared that the company is up to more than 30 clients across teams, leagues and major events. He also expects another MLB team to come on board in the near future. 601 is receiving more inbound interest from college athletics and Europe as well.
For a new club, or even new ownership from outside of sports, Jafarian said that 601’s strength comes down to setting up those execs with people who have navigated the problems faced in the early days of operation.
“Can they get the same level of professional data that other more mature teams are doing at a fraction of the cost and a fraction of the time? Yes. And that’s why folks choose us.”
