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: RunnerPack
Founder(s): David Leshaw
Headquarters: Jerusalem, Israel
1. What is your elevator pitch?
We provide a platform for runners to catalog, rate, and review their running gear - from their sneakers to their earbuds to their jogging strollers. Your gear is likely the most expensive part of your running habit, and we aim to provide a way for you to take pride in the equipment that helps you excel, and to convey your passion for the things you love.
2. Problem & Solution
Runners track everything -- their daily miles, their race finish times, their thoughts on races, improvement over time, etc. However, there's no other service that allows runners to comprehensively catalog and review their gear with the same attention to detail and passion. And if "What are you wearing?" threads are any indication, it's obvious that most runners care deeply about the gear they invest in -- the things that help them perform at their peak. We aim to provide a home for that passion.
3. Market – your target market and the overall market
Our target market is anyone who runs regularly, (and wears, at least, sneakers while doing so!). We estimate that there are at least 150 million runners worldwide. We'd love to have each and every runner on our platform. Although our platform is currently only in English, we have users from all over the globe. We also have plans to produce multilingual versions that will allow runners who aren't fluent in English to enjoy our platform.
4. Business Model – how do you make money?
We currently utilize affiliate linking, which allows us to collect a commission on running gear purchased through our site, or on our popular blog, where we interview ultra-runners and do gear reviews. We are also exploring sponsored content on our blog (blog.runnerpack.co), or in our weekly newsletter (http://mailchi.mp/23cea7a588fa/black-fridays-greatest-deals-for-runners).
5. Management Team – with titles
David Leshaw, CEO
Ben Wiener, CFO & Chairman
Every member of our team (executive and non-executive) is a runner, and really lives and breathes (and runs!) our mission of bringing delight to runners.
6. Financial Needs: are you currently looking for investment? Have you raised investment already? If so, who are your investors?
We raised a seed round in 2016. (>$1mm) from Jumpspeed Venture Partners.
We are looking toward either a seed extension or Series A.
