New technology from startup ventures is transforming the global sports industry. This Startup Series has introduced over 200 startup companies in the sports technology space to a broader audience by allowing Founders of promising new ventures to tell their story and pitch their idea. Feel free to submit your startup’s answers to the below questions or contact us if you know of a startup that should be considered for inclusion in this series. This particular startup is a part of HYPE Foundation’s “Top 50” Program. HYPE created a global platform which aims to accelerate and invest in sports innovation.
Founder(s): Daniel Vale & Peter Lazou
Headquarters: Singapore
R&D: Cyprus
1. What is your elevator pitch?
A technology company that houses a global eco-system of coaches, scouts, amateur and professional leagues linked to grassroots players of all ages and backgrounds through a value network. Using real time data capture and predictive analytics, we monitor and improve injury prevention through weight distribution, gait and energy expenditure parameters in football through a smart insole.
2. Problem & Solution
Youth development is a key issue globally and could certainly benefit from a more coordinated approach, in particular in the areas of coaching and player performance. But how much do we really know about youth development and would not a better understanding of its current reality, historical data of every player be beneficial to enhancing the overall game?
The idea of capturing data during a sporting event is not new but the richness of the data now available and the speed at which it is gathered certainly is. SportScientia is layering these different technologies together by changing coaching, scouting, the way fans view sports and even how sports clubs are run. It now means we can see not just how a team performed but which players were most influential in the game.
Our Smart Insole, is new technology that uses highly advanced sensor and motion arrays encapsulated within the sport boot with proven algorithms for performance/injury management. Calibrated for minute fluctuations in weight distribution, it is designed using high tensile strength encapsulation material, ruggedized for all applications and customizable form factor for football boots of different types and sizes.
3. Market – your target market and the overall market
The innovations of smart wearable technologies have quickly moved into a wide variety of sports. By 2020 there will be approximately 26 billion objects that will be linked together in the internet and nearly $6 trillion spent on IoT solutions of which the smart footwear market alone will account for $87 billion.
The opportunity is huge with a potential global target reach across academies (players – all ages), academy coaches, scouts and professional agents. Our target market is football with a targeted global expansion across Asia, Europe, UAE and US over the next 3 years.
4. Business Model – how do you make money?
Based on 3 revenue streams from the smart insole, the data analytics dashboard and from advertising and sponsorship:
1) Smart insole – a one-off purchase by players. When a player requires a new size and or upgrade, the returned insole will be refurbished and shipped to the emerging countries as our contribution to helping to develop the world of football in those regions.
2) Data analytic dashboard – an annual subscription model for academy coaches, scouts and agents.
3) Advertising & Sponsorship
5. Management Team – with titles
A handpicked team comprising an entrepreneurial UEFA B licence football coach, a creative venture builder and serial entrepreneur, an enterprise and blockchain architecture business leader and a European scout and football copy editor with passion, drive and knowledge to take grassroots football and their revolutionary smart insole to another level.
Daniel Vale – Co-founder | CEO
Peter Lazou – Co-founder | Innovation & Design
Gaetano Caruna – CTO
Andrew Vou – Global Technical Sports Director
6. Anything else you want readers to know about your venture?
Although our current target focus is football, our objective is to deploy our smart insole for use in all other sport, fitness and medical applications.