New technology from startup ventures is transforming the global sports industry. This Startup Series has introduced over 300 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 series is supported by Stadia Ventures. If you are a sports technology startup looking for strategic investors, we recommend checking out their upcoming accelerator programs.
Company name: OuiRun
Founder(s): Olivier HOUYVET ; Augustin BERNARD ; François COUCKE
Headquarters: Business Incubator le Tremplin, 75016 Paris, FRANCE
1. What is your elevator pitch?
Thanks to our app, runners can meet other runners near them, who run at the same pace as they do. They can meet users in one-to-one or join group sessions.
Our aim is to gather the biggest running community in France before expanding worldwide. OuiRun is also providing a new advertising communication & event organisation tool in order to foster and intensify running products and services consumption (on the 850M€ French running market).
2. Problem & Solution
Our vision is to make running more social and less competitive.
Most running apps put the emphasis on individual performance while none are aiming at uniting the running community or fostering interaction between its members. There is nonetheless a real need for such a tool. 7 runners out of 10 like running with a partner, but 77 % run alone.
3. Market – your target market and the overall market
The French running market is estimated around €850M (twice more than football), with running shoes totaling €500M. Some key figures regarding the running market :
๏ The running community grew threefold in the last 5 years, ballooning from 6 million runners in 2012 to 18 million in 2016 (around 25% of the French population)
๏ The customer basket value averages €433 per year.
๏ The gender imbalance is narrowing. In 2015, 42% of French runners were women.
๏ In 2015, 40% of French runners were beginners and started running less than one year before.
OuiRun targets 7% of French runners on the app in 5 years with a value of 1€ per month per user (in a conservative scenario).
4. Business Model – how do you make money?
OuiRun’s revenue model :
๏ Sponsored sessions: We provide advertisers a new tool to communicate to prospects : micro-events on our platform to try products, to announce a store/product launch, or just to showcase the brand on our app.
๏ Premium version: our Premium version will offer new functionalities (GPS Tracking) and a privileged access to our «Elite sessions » with our ambassadors. (launch planned after we reach 15k users).
๏ Data selling : Once we reach 100k users, we will use our data to provide insights and sell
reports to clients of the running ecosystem
5. Management Team – with titles
- Olivier HOUYVET
CEO & Co-founder / in charge of Partnerships and Ambassadors
Background : Sales Manager Junior Pernod Ricard Travel Retail Europe at London & Assistant Event Manager Meeting AREVA at Havas Sports & Entertainment
- Augustin BERNARD
Managing Director & Co-founder / incharge of Communication and Events
Background : Project Manager Junior 2016 Orange & Product Manager Garnier L’Oréal at London
- François COUCKE
COO & Co-founder / Head of Strategy and Competitive Intelligence
Background : Geopolitics Analyst at @Polarisk & Project Manager Event @LeClusterPolaireFrançais
- Joane AMER - Country Manager UK, Head of Design
- Marion LEVIGNEUX - Community Manager & OuiRangers support
- Antoine DELPORT - Growth Hacker and Technical Advisor (Intern)
6. Financial Needs: are you currently looking for investment? Have you raised investment already? If so, who are your investors?
We just received a 30K€ state subsidy from BPI.
We are looking for 300K€ to finance 3 main axises in order to become the reference for community running on the market in the next two years.
