Through digital media, events, data and more, American Inno is building the largest network of local innovation, cultivating engaged startup, tech and entrepreneurial communities in 12 (and counting) markets across the country. In a new bi-weekly series, Inno’s writers will collectively select an industry or theme and highlight a local startup operating in the space.
In case you missed it, there's a certain (big) game this weekend.
To celebrate, our 12 market writers and editors decided to dive into the $60.5 billion North American sports market (projected to hit the $73.5 billion mark by this year) to examine athletically focused startups are making waves in each of their respective ecosystems. It's an eclectic bunch; some entities work with athletes, some promote wellness; others help customers get the right gear they need to play. Regardless, these entities are often considered the hottest and fastest-growing startups in their respective ecosystem — and you don't have to be a sports junkie to appreciate that.
MADISON // ATLANTA INNO
Hydeouts Adventures creates outdoor recreation and a “home base” of sorts for runners, hikers, rock climbers and yogis, according to founder and CEO Bridgette Hyde. “It’s like we’re building that home base for the outdoor enthusiast and urban active family, because we know it’s not just important to have a trail to run on … but a community to connect with and a place where they can experience the balance of recreation and relaxation,” she said. Active citizens are looking for a challenge outdoors, in an open environment with places to eat healthy food, change clothes and relax after their workout. Hydeouts Adventures is all that and more, Hyde said.
Read more here.
BRENT // AUSTIN INNO
Austin is home to some really cool sports tech, including Under Armour’s Connected Fitness division. One of the most interesting startups in the sports space is FloSports. The live-streaming company is bringing hundreds of cool sporting events to new audiences. While they do stream the big name sports — football, basketball, baseball — they are perhaps most notable for bringing new coverage and content to wrestling, cycling, track and field and several other lesser-known leagues. The startup seems to nab a new broadcasting contract every other week, and last year they added a former programming and acquisitions manager from ESPN to their team.
LUCY AND SRI // BOSTINNO
Who could possibly run a sport tech startup better than a four-time Olympian and gold-medal winner? Hockey Hall of Famer Angela Ruggiero is CEO and co-founder (with Joshua Walker) of Boston-based Sports Innovation Lab, a market-intelligence company focused on the sports technology market. Established in 2016, Sports Innovation Lab recently launched the "Athlete Data Leadership Board," which aims at creating standards for athlete data measurement to benefit athletes, teams, leagues and sports-tech companies. “Sports is a trillion-dollar market. It’s a massive industry. We may be relatively small in the marketplace right now, but ... there is enormous potential for growth. We've had talks with companies like Google and the NFL and the NBA and Canadian Olympic Committee,” Ruggiero, who played in her first Olympic Game in 1998, told BBJ.
KATHERINE // CHICAGO INNO
Founded by Mike Doyle, Chicago startup Rent Like a Champion offers vacation home rentals to college football fans traveling into town for a game. During their Shark Tank episode, which aired in 2015, Chris Sacca and Mark Cuban agreed to invest a total of $200,000 for 10 percent equity in the startup. After the episode aired, Rent Like a Champion expanded beyond football to other sports, including golf and NASCAR. The year before appearing on the show, Rent Like a Champion made $2.3 million in revenue. Two years afterwards, revenue had jumped to $13 million.
COURTNEY // CINCY INNO
Picture one of your favorite athletes. Now, imagine that athlete teaching the ins and outs of the sport, making you a better player in return.
Apex Sports wants to make that vision more of a reality for any amateur athlete, connecting the interested user to professional coaching for a low cost.
It works like this: Buyers purchase a course for $30. The course includes an hour of video content and written curriculum, and stars professional athletes as the viewer’s coach. While the courses offered currently only focus on football (with a forthcoming foray into lacrosse), there are plans to majorly increase the type of sports coaching the site offers.
Developed by three recent Miami University grads, the startup (which also just graduated from the UpTech accelerator in Covington, Ky.), shows a lot of promise. In September, for example, Apex announced a new partnership with Under Armour lacrosse.
Read more here.
P.S. And, of course, I'd be remiss to mention ActionStreamer, the huge startup that allows viewers to watch games from the perspective of those playing in them. Read up on them here.
NICK // COLORADO INNO
While they may not be considered a startup, former Olympian Scott Shipley’s engineering firm S2O Design is changing the way whitewater parks are built around the world. The 13-year old Lyons, Colorado-based company’s services have been in high demand in the whitewater park industry, thanks to a technological advancement Shipley designed and implemented at the 2012 London Olympics. He created RapidBlocs, a three-dimensional movable obstacle system that allow for the creation of any shape, at any angle, at any point within the channel system.
Read more here.
KIERAN // DC INNO
You don’t have to watch a sporting event long to understand how vision and reaction time play key roles. Now, with startups like Bethesda-based RightEye, we have more data and analytics than ever to help understand how small changes in vision can impact the play on the field. RightEye, which also has other health care-oriented eye-tracking solutions, measures vision skills, focus and reaction time. And its metric-driven methods help providers assess concussions, reading, vision and other performance issues.
Read more here.
MADDY // MINNE INNO
I'm definitely keeping an eye on TackleBar. The St. Paul-based startup is addressing safety concerns in youth football with its unique harness, which teaches players how to tackle properly. By doing so, the company's founders hope to reduce injuries commonly associated with the sport.
Over the past few years, TackleBar has been quietly expanding throughout the Midwest and across the country. And this week, the company announced that it was selected compete in the Super Bowl's startup showcase in Atlanta. If they win, the founders will receive $50,000 and two tickets to the big game. Even if they don't walk away with the big prize, TackleBar will have received national exposure and connections with big players in the sports industry.
COURTNEY // RHODE ISLAND INNO
SquadLocker is already making a huge name for itself. It’s a sort of jack-of-all trades company that ultimately streamlines youth athletic apparel design and purchase via an instantly created online store, using popular athletic brands like Nike and Under Armour; it then produces and fulfills orders from its Warwick, Rhode Island facility.
It works like this: said coach or parent logs onto the SquadLocker site, and creates a store based on sport or type of clothing he or she is looking to buy. They customize the materials with a logo of their own, and then share the store with teammates via social media or email. Players then order their clothes from the store, which the SquadLocker team in Rhode Island fulfills and ships right to the players’ home. The company raised $7 million in 2017.
Read more here.
KIERAN // RICHMOND INNO
One of Richmond’s most promising sports startups is making each step a little more natural. You may have heard that super soft shoes aren’t necessarily the best for your workout, even though they may feel super cozy. Vincent Vu’s barefoot training startup, Kinis, recently dropped its latest minimalistic shoe for indoor exercise. Called the Nomad 804, it’s about as close to a natural feel you can get without grossing out your gym mates with bare feet.
Read more here.
LAUREN // TAMPA BAY INNO
Peerfit is a Tampa-based company that serves as a conduit between employers and carriers with "innovative fitness experiences" in an effort to "redefine their benefits programs by giving employees access to a network of fitness studios and gyms." It's all done via workplace "wellness dollars." The 2011-born company has raised $19.9 million over seven rounds.
JIM // WISCONSIN INNO
Milwaukee startup Nobo, founded in 2015, is developing a wearable device called B60, which reports hydration levels to athletes and their trainers in real time. The device measures for both dehydration and over-hydration, synching with the B60 app to give athletes more data about their body as they perform.
Nobo’s product is primarily designed for elite athletes, but the startup says the wearable device could also be used by doctors who want to measure the fluid levels of patients, safety workers such as firefighters and police officers, and recreational athletes who want to make sure they’re hydrating correctly.
