Belgium holds its twelve nuggets Sport Tech
The support program presented the twelve companies that will be supported for eight weeks. For this first, already more than fifty candidates had applied.
Proudly announced in early September, the Sport Tech program is launched. The project was initiated by the promoters of the Wallifornia Tech project which, for several years, has been participating in the search for new active nuggets within the music industry. The ambition here is to follow for eight weeks several young shoots who combine sport and technological innovation in their business. After two months of analyzing the applications, twelve start-ups were selected to follow the incubation. “The program is open to the whole world, but we also wanted to keep a Belgian anchorage“, explains Gérôme Vanherf, at the head of the new program. The wish would not be too complicated to exhaust since one in two candidates who applied was Belgian. Seventeen other nationalities were also represented.
After selection, the first cuvée finally has four Flemish projects, five French-speaking, one Canadian, one Australian and one Italian. “We got in total 53 applications, which is a very good feedback. For a first, we do not expect to attract so many “, explains Nicolas Bourdon, CMO of EVS and one of the promoters of the project via his cap of president of the Belgian sport club of Agoria.” Apart from one. or the other project that did not meet expectations at all, 95% of the candidates understood the target we were aiming for. The quality was at the rendezvous “, confirms Gérôme Vanherf. Among the projects selected, we find in particular a company which is developing a system of virtual coaching for running, a company that develops sports equipments, capable of measuring lactate levels, and a start-up developing a portable system to simulate training at altitude. All of them have already gone beyond the idea of a simple idea. Being already active in the market was also one of the criteria for applying for the program.
Eight weeks of follow-up
In order to make the selection, the jury also used three other major criteria: the quality innovation, the ability toexecution and traction customer. Starting Monday, November 15 and for eight weeks, young companies begin their intensive coaching program. “There will be workshops every working day. They will not last all day, because they are already real companies who must continue to operate their business. “
Each of the projects will also have its own coach. At the end of the adventure, no capital inflows are planned. “But companies are going to come into contact with a lot of resources and will soon come in coaching on how to find investors. not to exclude that contacts are made between the different players “, we assure you at Sport Tech.
“Ultimately, the Union Belge training center in Tubize could become a real hub of tech sport in Belgium.”
For this first, the program will be carried out exclusively remotely, pandemic obliges. “The longer-term will, however, is to mix with face-to-face. We also want to create a real hub. We are thinking in particular of the center of the national football team in Tubize. We are partners with the Football Union. Ultimately, this could become a real hub of sport tech in Belgium with start-ups that could set up headquarters there, “explains Gérôme Vanherf.” But we will always keep a part at a distance which allows us to save money on certain items. aspects. It also gives us the opportunity to be able to work with international sizes who can more easily free up an hour for a videoconference. “
The twelve start-ups monitored:
- AppiMonkey (Belgium): an application that reinvents digital advertising by creating your own immersive and unique storytelling.
- Athlete (Belgium): a web and mobile application whose objective is to provide tools for agile monitoring of the well-being of the athlete.
- D-event (Belgium): a cashless ticketing system using blockchain technology.
- Equity (Belgium) offers innovative digital management solutions for equestrian companies.
- FAN + (Australia) is a marketplace connecting sports fans with their favorite athletes and clubs.
- FORMYFIT SRL (Belgium): offer a virtual assistant dedicated to running.
- HYPO-X (Canada): is the first portable altitude training simulator.
- IDRO (Bel / PB) is the first garment that measures your lactate level.
- Proxy 42 (Italy): builds a bridge between the physical world and the digital world and makes it universally accessible thanks to AI and augmented reality.
- Tropos-AR (Belgium) combines augmented reality and gamification to offer live sporting events the same user experiences as in the world of video games.
- Venly (Belgium) offers easy-to-use Wallet services, NFT tools and an NFT market for your users.
- YUVOX ESPORTS SRL / HYPR (Belgium): Connect, follow and compare yourself to other esports players and professionals with HYPR.