Uni.Fund completes its first investment in Ireland; Output Sports closes $4.8M to Make Elite Sports Science Simple and Scalable
Technology is utilized by Olympians, Premier League football teams, NBA and more Company opened Boston office as it targets further US expansion
January 30, 2024 (Dublin, Ireland) – Output Sports, an Irish sports technology company focused on making elite-level sports science simple and scalable, today announced that it has closed a $4.8 million (€4.47 million) pre-A funding round. The investment round brings in new support from, athlete-led, Apex Capital, European deep tech investor Uni.Fund, and Dopamine Sports. The financing also included existing investors Elkstone, Atlantic Bridge and Enterprise Ireland. The financing also features a number of angel investors, including Jim Kelliher (Drift, LogMeIn).
Output Sports, a spin out company from UCD, was co-founded in 2020 by Dr Martin O’Reilly, Dr Darragh Whelan, Julian Eberle and Professor Brian Caulfield, and currently provides more than 800 sports organizations, including over half of all English Premier League clubs, with the insights needed to make more informed, data-backed decisions to improve athletic performance.
The company’s technology enables strength and conditioning coaches, sport scientists and rehab professionals to capture and analyze athletic data using a single wearable sensor system. It can be, and is, used across multiple sports including both amateur and professional football, swimming, basketball and golf for velocity-based training, reactive strength, and power development to optimize athletes’ performance on the local and global stage.
In 2024, Output Sport’s technology captured 30M measurements from athletes around the globe, and it also played a pivotal role in multiple medal-winning performances at the 2024 Olympic Games including Daniel Wiffen’s record-breaking gold in swimming for Ireland and China’s Zheng Qinwen’s historic tennis gold. Output Sports has worked with multiple championship-winning teams across the US major sports leagues and the national teams in soccer and rugby sevens.
“Output Sports is committed to developing data-driven insights that support coaches and athletes,” said Dr Martin O’Reilly, Co-founder and CEO of Output Sports. “Our team has worked hard to build a platform that meets the needs of some of the world’s leading sports teams such as New Zealand’s All Blacks, England’s national soccer team and the Colorado Buffaloes and delivers meaningful value through data. This investment will help us support our growth in the US, deepen our technology capabilities, and grow our team to support our increasing customer base.”
The sport technology industry is worth €13.1BN and is expected to grow 20.5% by 2030 driven by Increased demand for biometric tracking and analysis tools, virtual and augmented reality, and AI integration. In an effort to serve this growing demand, Output Sports recently opened a US office based in Boston. The company currently works with professional US sports leagues such as the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, MLS and the WNBA, and aims to support even more organizations from professional leagues to high school and college sports programs.
Speaking about Output Sport, award-winning performance coach Spencer Tatum, who works with leading professional golfer Jon Rahm, said: “In sports performance, only a handful of companies truly excel in addressing issues. Output Sports is among these select few. With their cutting-edge technology, they have successfully translated the science of sports into practical applications for the field.”
This new capital will be used to accelerate US expansion and hiring across sales, marketing, product development, data science, and customer support.
“At Apex, we invest in the future of sport,” said Koen Bosma, Head of Venture Capital at Apex Capital. “Off-field measurement and driving competition in the gym are key to success for sports organisations and Output Sports is best in class in this crucial part of the sports tech stack.”
Speaking on the announcement Dora Trachana, Partner at Uni.Fund. “Rooted in cutting-edge research, Output Sports is redefining performance analytics in sports and fitness. Their innovative approach to simplifying and enhancing athletic training aligns perfectly with our vision of empowering transformative technology. We look forward to supporting their journey to revolutionize the industry.”
“Since Elkstone first invested in Output Sports at seed stage, we have seen the founders build an incredible roster of well-known customers across the sports world.” said Niall McEvoy, Head of Venture at Elkstone. “As the team continues to put data-driven insights at the centre of athlete development, we are proud to reaffirm our support alongside strong international co-investors.”
Dr Helen McBreen, Board Director and Partner at Atlantic Bridge said “Output Sports is an excellent example of the research based deep tech businesses we invest in at Atlantic Bridge. Since first investing in 2020 we have worked together to provide access to international markets, institutional co-investors and talent. I am optimistic about future growth as the company continues to scale rapidly in key markets, improving performance for all athletes.”
Output Sports aims to become a widely used resource for strength, power, and movement assessment with a goal of reaching 100 million recorded exercise repetitions in 2025.
