A wellness technology startup will establish a Central Florida presence after a Lake Nona-based fund led its recent investment round.
Portland, Maine-based KinoTek Inc. will open an office in southeast Orlando's Lake Nona community following a $2.1 million seed round announced on Oct. 6 and led by the Lake Nona Sports & Health Tech Fund, co-founder and CEO Justin Hafner told Orlando Inno. KinoTek’s Florida operations will operate out of the Lead Sports Accelerator in Lake Nona as it searches for an office, Hafner said. “We want to stay in the core Lake Nona or downtown area.”
The 3-year-old firm’s technology lets therapists, chiropractors and strength/conditioning coaches capture and document movement data in as little as 5-10 seconds. It then can easily share the data with clients as part of the recovery or training process.
The company’s founders discovered Lake Nona through the Lead Sports Accelerator, operated by German sports tech accelerator Lead Sports, which KinoTek joined last year. A big factor in attracting the firm to Lake Nona was its sports and health tech resources cluster, which include the Johnson & Johnson Human Performance Institute and the U.S. Tennis Association's USTA National Campus.
The potential size of KinoTek’s Central Florida team still is “up in the air,” Hafner said. However, its local focus will be sales positions, along with a few engineer roles, he said. The company’s wait list is growing weekly, and it’s expanding in Maine and Florida to meet the inbound demand, Hafner said. In fact, the company’s full-time staff grew from six at the beginning of the summer to 13. “We’re on both sides of the East Coast … and [will] work our way to the West Coast.”
The investment in KinoTek was the Lake Nona Sports & Health Tech Fund's first. Tavistock Group, parent company of Lake Nona master developer Tavistock Development Co. LLC, and Lead Sports partnered to launch the fund in September. The fund, which aims to raise $30 million, will make between six and eight investments each year, principal Thomas Rudy previously told Orlando Inno.
Maine Venture Fund and Bridge Angel Investors invested alongside the Lake Nona Sports & Health Tech Fund. "The company's team and technology are highly impressive and well-positioned to be a major player in movement analysis,” Rudy said in a prepared statement.
The growth and relocation of early-stage businesses is important for Central Florida, as those firms can add local jobs and create economic impact as they scale. Startups also create innovative solutions for businesses, help develop a community and make it easier for other new companies to form in the future.
The accelerator and investment fund are likely to draw more early-stage tech companies to Lake Nona, Hafner said. “We’re one company of many that’ll come in the next few years.”
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