Leading international law firm Herbert Smith Freehills has advised Omniscope on the agreement for FC Barcelona’s Barça Innovation Hub (BIHUB) to join its shareholding. This partnership will combine cutting-edge immunology technology with first-class sports science to develop new applications for monitoring health and optimising athlete performance.

Omniscope is a tech-bio company that uses artificial intelligence (AI) applied to data generated from high-resolution immune cell characterisation to drive new products designed to improve athlete resilience and recovery. BIHUB collaborates with brands, universities, research centres, startups, entrepreneurs, students, athletes, investors and visionaries around the world to help generate more knowledge and create new products and services that can benefit the club’s athletes, partners, fans and society as a whole.

The Herbert Smith Freehills team was led by Financial Sponsors senior associate Gregor Gordon and partners Eleanor Shanks and David D’Souza. They were supported by UK and Europe head of TMT and Digital Nick Pantlin, senior associate William Garton and associates Joshua Avis and Georgie Green in London, and partner James Robinson in New York.

Senior associate Gregor Gordon commented, “We are proud to have advised new client Omniscope on this transformative arrangement which demonstrates our cross-border expertise in, and deep understanding of, the sports, biotech and venture capital industries and delivering on our model of assisting early-stage companies achieve significant milestones.”

Vijay, co-founder & CEO, at Omniscope commented: “Omniscope is excited to join forces with Barça Innovation Hub as a strategic partner. We value the Herbert Smith Freehills team’s expert guidance and cross-sector experience in navigating this milestone collaboration, allowing us to focus on our core mission of harnessing cutting-edge immunology and AI to enhance athlete performance and well-being.”