Kitman Labs, a Co Dublin-based start-up that is fusing sports with technology, has raised €475,000 in a combined funding round from Enterprise Ireland and private investors, such as Irish rugby captain Jamie Heaslip. The company will be seeking 24 high-tech hires.
Kitman Labs will have three job postings on its website by this evening, co-founder and CEO Iarfhlaith Kelly confirmed to Siliconrepublic.com
The €475,000 investment round involved Enterprise Ireland matching private equity investment via its iHPSU fund
The company itself was set up in late 2012 and is based in the Media Cube space for start-ups on the campus of the Institute of Art, Design and Technology (IADT) in Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin.
Kitman Labs’ speciality is in delivering athlete management solutions to elite sports organisations. It has a focus on highlighting and predicting injury risk in professional athletes, according to Kelly.
The two other co-founders are Stephen Smith and Jason Cowman.
While both Cowman and Smith have vast experience in the area of sports science and injury rehabilitation (they have both worked at the highest levels of professional rugby), Kelly’s background is in software development.
The trio has also been collaborating with the School of Statistics at Trinity College Dublin, and their goal is to develop sports science software for professional sports clubs.
Their main product is Injury Profiler, Kitman Labs, a system that aims to manage and reduce injuries in professional sport.
As well as Heaslip, other investors include the two-time Heineken Cup winner Kevin McLaughlin, plus Barry Maloney, founding partner at the European venture investor Balderton Capital.
The jobs are set to be created over the next three years, as Kitman Labs eyes up the UK. Kelly said the investment round is giving the company the “perfect opportunity” to launch its athlete management system into the UK marketplace.
“We will be seeking more people by January,” Kelly said, adding that the jobs will be centred round both front-end and back-end software developers, plus sports scientists and systems administrators.
As the company grows, it will also be creating roles in statistics and customer relations, he added.
Kelly said Heaslip was “very excited” to be getting involved with the company as he is passionate about improving sports through the medium of technology.
Kelly added that due to the start-up’s success in the Irish market, the additional funds raised through private investors and Enterprise Ireland will pave the way for the company to develop new technologies and create more products for what he described as the “most challenging areas of professional sport”.
