Emma Meehan at the KPMG Global Tech Innovator Ireland final. Image: KPMG
Founded in 2021, this start-up wants to take the weight off people’s shoulders when it comes to exercise technique.
As far as entrepreneurs go, Emma Meehan has a rather unique background. As well as being a software engineer and a computer scientist, Meehan is also a qualified personal trainer and a competitive Olympic weightlifter.
It was at the gym where Meehan first formulated her business idea, when she noticed her exercise technique was incorrect while looking in the mirror. While she knew how to fix issues due to her experience of personal training programmes, she realised that most people might not recognise when their technique is wrong without external guidance.
“They need to either have their coach come to supervise them, send videos to their coach, lose confidence in their exercise programme or worst-case scenario – actually injuring themselves,” she says. “I knew technology would be able to help with this.”
From here, Meehan began developing her start-up – and our latest Start-up of the Week – Precision Sports Technology, a platform that combines her love for tech and fitness.
Precision Sports Technology is a software platform that utilises AI and 3D technology in iOS devices to provide real-time feedback and analysis on exercise techniques. The Galway-based start-up hopes to reduce the risk of injuries, maximise outcomes and increase participation in strength and conditioning training and physiotherapy.
As well as being the founder, Meehan also holds the positions of CEO and CTO, supported by CCO and lead sport scientist Seán McVeigh, and COO Padraig Dennison.
Tech for technique
“Everyone needs movement – movement health is critical for the whole population,” says Meehan.
With Precision Sports Technology’s flagship product, KinetikIQ, the start-up wants to assist sports physiotherapists and strength and conditioning (S&C) coaches.
“Currently sports physiotherapists and S&C coaches can spend hours trying to manually assess movement quality by eye, using wearable sensors or even renting out bulky, expensive and time-consuming motion-capture labs,” she explains. “We help them to instantly, easily and accurately measure movement quality, so they can use their resources either scaling up their services or spending more hands-on time with their athletes.”
Meehan began work on KinetikIQ in 2017, during her final year of a degree in computer science and information technology at University of Galway. The software uses a combination of machine learning, AI and LiDAR (light detection and ranging) systems to provide feedback on exercise technique.
While she acknowledges that there is no shortage of body-tracking tools on the market, she says that her start-up’s technology is differentiated by a number of important factors.
As well as requiring no additional hardware other than an iPhone or iPad Pro, KinetikIQ uses a single-camera system that can either be used handheld or on a tripod. According to Meehan, the tech has demonstrated more than 95pc accuracy compared to laboratory-grade, motion-capture systems.
Going for gold
In terms of progress, Meehan says that 2024 has been a “massive” year, as the start-up achieved a number of milestones such as launching its product, making its first international hire, securing its first international customer and closing a pre-seed funding round.
The company also has a number of accolades under its belt, including winning Best New Sports Business of the Year at the Federation of Irish Sport Awards 2024 as well as being selected as one of six companies for the Adidas Breaking Barriers Program, which aims to improve equality in sport for women and girls across Europe.
Most recently, the start-up was victorious at the KPMG Global Tech Innovator Ireland final. The start-up will now represent Ireland at the global competition in Lisbon, which will be held in November, where it will compete with tech innovators from 23 other countries.
And to close off what has already been a significant year, the start-up is also officially launching a seed round in Q4 to fuel its expansion into the US.
“We already have clients over there,” says Meehan, “but it is going to require far more capital than we have already raised to establish a team there and maximise the opportunity.”
This expansion is of high importance to the start-up, which has identified the US professional sports and collegiate sectors as its largest potential market. However, the ambition doesn’t stop there, as Meehan describes the start-up’s future goals of expanding into digital healthcare and consumer fitness.
“Our ultimate goal is to be the back-end of the internet for mobile motion analysis,” she explains. “This can be applied across a whole range of industries – from sports we are aiming to tackle the digital healthcare market, in order to allow physiotherapists to treat patients remotely, without even needing to be present on a call.
“Additionally the consumer fitness market, allowing anyone to get real-time feedback and analysis on exercise to maximise their fitness goals while staying safe and injury free.”
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