CALGARY⁠ — On Wednesday, the National Basketball Association announced it had taken an equity stake in StellarAlgo, a Calgary-based data company that helps professional sports teams better understand and predict the spending habits of fans. 

The NBA’s investment is a major vote of confidence for the startup, whose early backers include Vancouver-based venture capital fund Yaletown Partners and Calgary’s InterGen and Thin Air Labs. In an interview with The Logic, StellarAlgo co-founder Vincent Ircandia declined to specify the size of the NBA’s stake, but said it was “significant.”