21-Year-Old Boxing Phenom to Showcase Datavault AI Brand in Manchester Showdown Against Jermaine Franklin
PHILADELPHIA, PA / ACCESS Newswire / March 25, 2026 / Datavault AI Inc. ("Datavault AI" or the "Company") (NASDAQ:DVLT), a provider of data monetization, credentialing, digital engagement, and real-world asset ("RWA") tokenization technologies, today announced that it has entered into a partnership agreement with undefeated British heavyweight boxing sensation Moses Itauma. The 21-year-old Commonwealth champion's highly anticipated bout against Jermaine Franklin will be on March 28, 2026, at the Co-op Live Arena in Manchester, England, and will be broadcast globally on DAZN. The partnership reflects Datavault AI's strategic focus on elite combat sports talent as the Company builds out its athlete name, image, and likeness ("NIL") digital asset exchange platform, being developed in exploratory collaboration with Sports Illustrated.
Itauma (13-0, 11 KOs) is widely regarded as one of boxing's most explosive young talents. The Commonwealth heavyweight champion has demolished every opponent in his professional career, including a stunning first-round knockout of former world title challenger Dillian Whyte in August 2025. Named The Ring's 2024 Prospect of the Year, Itauma represents the next generation of heavyweight boxing excellence - the caliber of athlete Datavault AI envisions partnering with as its NIL platform advances.
"Moses Itauma represents the future of heavyweight boxing - the exact caliber of athlete we envision working with as we build out our NIL platform," said Nathaniel Bradley, CEO of Datavault AI. We're proud to support him at this pivotal moment in his career, and we look forward to exploring how Datavault AI's technology can serve elite athletes like Moses as they build and protect their digital legacies. His March 28 fight in Manchester gives us a global platform to showcase our commitment to the next generation of athletic excellence."
"When I saw Datavault AI's commitment in this space of combat sports, I became very excited about this partnership. They did some great things with the WBC, and I'm excited to replicate and maybe even go one step better," said Moses Itauma. "My team and family business, Tunnel Culture, are in the perfect position to help execute and bring this to life."
The parties are exploring the potential expansion of the partnership beyond the March 28 fight to include potential participation in Datavault AI's forthcoming NIL digital asset exchange platform. As Datavault AI advances its platform, targeting a commercial launch in the second half of 2026, the Company sees athletes like Itauma as ideal partners to demonstrate how emerging technologies can empower athletes to control and monetize their name, image, and likeness rights in innovative ways. The collaboration could extend to training camp content, behind-the-scenes access, and fan engagement opportunities that leverage Datavault AI's proprietary technology.
The Itauma partnership builds on Datavault AI's January 28, 2026 announcement of its exploratory partnership with Sports Illustrated to develop a proprietary, sports-focused digital asset exchange platform. That collaboration, targeting a commercial launch in the second half of 2026, aims to create the definitive destination for NIL monetization - powered by Datavault AI's patented Data Vault®, DataScore®, and DataValue® artificial intelligence ("AI") agents, smart contracts, and Nasdaq Financial Framework-compatible Information Data Exchange® ("IDE").
With the U.S. collegiate NIL market projected to reach $2.55 billion in 2026¹ and the global sports sponsorship and endorsement market forecasted to surge to $195.5 billion by 2032², Datavault AI is positioning itself at the forefront of athlete representation and digital asset innovation. The Company's quantum-secure technology platform enables transparent, efficient, and globally scalable NIL trading across borders.
This announcement follows hot on the heels of Datavault AI's recent definitive agreement to acquire NYIAX, merging institutional-grade infrastructure with AI-powered data monetization for tokenized assets - including NIL rights.
Sources:
1 Opendorse market projection, as cited in CNBC's Official College Sports Valuations 2025 (December 19, 2025). https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/19/cnbc-official-college-sports-valuations-2025-top-75-athletic-programs.html
2 ResearchAndMarkets.com, "Sports Sponsorship Market - Global Forecast 2025-2032 https://www.researchandmarkets.com/report/sports-sponsorship
About Datavault AI Inc.
Datavault AI TM (NASDAQ:DVLT) is leading the way in AI-driven data experiences, valuation, and monetization of assets in the Web 3.0 environment. The Company's cloud-based platform provides comprehensive solutions with a collaborative focus in its Acoustic Sciences and Data Sciences divisions. Datavault AI's Acoustic Sciences division features WiSA®, ADIO®, and Sumerian® patented technologies and industry-first foundational spatial and multichannel wireless, high-definition sound transmission technologies with intellectual property covering audio timing, synchronization, and multi-channel interference cancellation. The Data Science Division leverages the power of Web 3.0 and high-performance computing to provide solutions for experiential data perception, valuation, and secure monetization. Datavault AI's cloud-based platform provides comprehensive solutions serving multiple industries, including high-performance computing software licensing for sports & entertainment, events & venues, biotech, education, fintech, real estate, healthcare, energy, and more. The Information Data Exchange® enables Digital Twins, licensing of name, image, and likeness by securely attaching physical real-world objects to immutable metadata objects, fostering responsible AI with integrity. Datavault AI's technology suite is completely customizable and offers AI and machine learning automation, third-party integration, detailed analytics and data, marketing automation, and advertising monitoring. The Company is headquartered in Philadelphia, PA. Learn more about Datavault AI at www.dvlt.ai.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" (within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended, and other securities laws) about Datavault AI Inc. ("Datavault AI," the "Company," "us," "our," or "we") and our industry that involve risks and uncertainties. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements because they contain words, such as "may," "might," "will," "shall," "should," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "could," "intends," "target," "projects," "contemplates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," "potential," "goal," "objective," "seeks," "likely" or "continue" or the negative of these words or other similar terms or expressions that concern our expectations, strategy, plans or intentions. The absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. Such forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, statements regarding future events, the anticipated timing of the closing of the acquisition of NYIAX and whether such transaction will be consummated at all, the expected operational, technical and commercial outcomes of the Company's commercial strategy, including the potential launch of products and tools in 2026 as a result of our acquisition of NYIAX, exploratory partnership with Sports Illustrated and partnership with Moses Itauma, projections of future market growth and adoption of digital technologies in the global NIL and athlete monetization markets, the potential for Datavault AI to successfully deploy its technologies and gain market share in such markets, the potential for Datavault AI to anticipate market trends, exploit business opportunities and create value for athletes, agencies, brands and investors, and the projected direction and market impacts of regulatory changes with respect to digital assets, are necessarily based upon estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by the Company and its management, are inherently uncertain.
Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these and other forward-looking statements contained herein.
Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of various risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, the following: the risk that the conditions to the closing of the NYIAX acquisition will not be satisfied or waived, and that the transaction will not close at all; risks related to our ability to deploy our technologies and gain market share in the global NIL and athlete monetization markets; the risk that Datavault AI will incorrectly anticipate market trends and/or fail to successfully exploit business opportunities; the risk that regulatory changes with respect to digital assets may negatively impact the markets in which Datavault AI operates, or fail to drive revenue growth to anticipated levels; changes in market demand for Datavault AI's services and products; changes in economic, market, or regulatory conditions; risks relating to evolving regulatory frameworks applicable to tokenized assets; risks associated with technological development and integration; and other risks and uncertainties as more fully described in Datavault AI's filings with the SEC, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025 and other filings that Datavault AI makes from time to time with the SEC, which are available on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov, and could cause actual results to vary from expectations.
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SOURCE: Datavault AI Inc
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