GoRout, the wearable technology company that won a Super Bowl startup competition, believes that the real prize would be selling its products to the pros.
GoRout, which makes small, wearable screens that allow coaches to wirelessly send plays and information to players on the practice field, is already working with about 50 prep and college teams, and wants the NFL to be next.
CEO Mike Rolih said GoRout has since pitched its products to at least six NFL teams, and is using the grant to add an engineer to its 10 person staff. During his pitch at 1st and Future, he said the company met with the teams at the Senior Bowl and that two committed to buy products on the spot.
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The company, based in Rochester, Minn., was one of three winners at the NFL’s “1st and Future” event last month at the site of the Super Bowl in Houston, where startup companies competed for $50,000 grants based on commercial viability, innovation and how they would improve the game of football.
“The NFL event provided assurance our product is ready to be used,” Rolih, who founded the company in 2014. “To actually win our category was a milestone.”
GoRout has also launched another round of fundraising, finding interest from investors has spiked after the 1st and Future presentation and the ensuing win.
Rolih said he’s also looking at other ways to use GoRout technology, noting at 1st and Future that he was talking to those in lacrosse and motorsports about products.