SILVER SPRING, Md. – Ten finalists have been selected by the Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA) selection committee to present their start-up at the 2021 SFIA Start-Up Challenge.
To date, previous finalists have raised more than $150 million in funding.
All finalists will present a five-minute pitch video, created in partnership with Spark Inc., to judges that will be evaluating each company in terms of relevancy, creativity, and potential.
The contestants are competing for a grand prize package including a cash prize and online
brand protection security, both provided by OpSec Security, as well as a consultation day with the Under Armour Innovation Team, an exclusive media package provided by Spark Inc, and more. The winner will be announced following a live virtual event on May 4th.
The finalists include:
- Bisu: A home health lab that provides personalized nutrition and lifestyle advice, using
microfluidic technology to take update urine and saliva testing to today’s standards.
- HitCheck: A quick cognitive traumatic brain injury (TBI) assessment using a mobile smartphone
app for early detection through technology that compares personal baselines to post-injury
to provide unique data for medical experts to make critical brain health decisions.
- Kayezen: Resistance bands and tubes that can deliver a wide variety of exercises, either indoors
or outside.
- Metric Mate: Cost-effective way to autonomously track, store, analyze, and share strength
training workout data any time, from any place, allowing people to directly share with a
professional trainer, strength coach, or physical therapist.
- Readout: A digital biomarker start-up providing a breath technology platform allowing
development and commercialization of handheld diagnostic devices for consumers and clinical
use cases. These non-invasive, unlimited, and highly accurate measurements provide insights into
human metabolism, specifically fat burn in the ‘repair’ state after a metabolic switch.
- Realplay: Delivers video of every swing, pitch, and catch any player makes on a baseball or
softball field to help players improve, share their highlights with anybody, and hold on to
memories.
- Reflexion: A cognitive sports training company specialized in training visual and mental abilities
in athletes, including reaction time, decision making speed under pressure, focus, moving object
tracking, spacial awareness, peripheral vision, and more using a touchscreen connected fitness
platform and cloud-based data analytics.
- RooSense: Non-woven fabric materials that collect and analyze data from sweat to provide
insights to athletes allowing them to improve training and avoid injury. RooSense is
developing integrated sensing materials using functionalized carbon nanotubes which are
selective to sweat sodium, to provide real-time feedback about health and performance.
- VAY: Software built to analyze human posture and motion in real-time to provide feedback on
how exercises are performed, count correct/incorrect repetitions, and provide progress tracking.
- Workforce Athletics: Providing turnkey solutions for intercompany sports and operating corporate sports leagues and tournaments that promote employee retention, inclusion, teamwork and wellness.
“We have seen time and time again, sports bring people together,” said Tom Cove, SFIA president and CEO. “Now, more than ever, our country is focused on coming together again, as well as maintaining good physical health. Many of the innovative companies presenting this year highlight that message in their purpose, and we are proud to highlight next generation innovation that grows and enhances sports and fitness as we know it. The SFIA Start-Up Challenge has served as a major steppingstone to several new business in our industry. The level of competition is unmatched, and we are excited to see what’s in store this year.”
