Motoklik has raised seed funding to support the creation of 10 jobs in Kilkenny.
Irish motorsport tech start-up Motoklik has raised €300,000 in seed funding, which will be used to expand the company and bring its product to market.
Motoklik has announced 10 new jobs on the back of this investment. The roles are predominantly in software development, sales and marketing. According to the company, initial focus will be on recruiting salespeople.
The company expects to start filling these positions this year and interested candidates can send CVs directly to CEO and co-founder Jens Köpke. Full job specifications will be made available on the Motoklik website.
Köpke, a former research and development engineer with Bausch and Lomb, founded Motoklik in Kilkenny in 2018 along with CFO Valerie Chong. A keen off-road motorcycle racer, Köpke was injured in a crash caused by an incorrect suspension set-up. This gave him the idea to create Motoklik.
Motoklik is an electronic device that uses artificial intelligence to inform motorcycle racers of the best suspension set-up for current track conditions. The device links to Motoklik’s motorcycle suspension position monitoring system via a mobile app.
The company has received backing from the European Space Agency as a client of its Irish Business Incubation Centre, based at Tyndall National Institute. With this support, Motoklik has been able to use Earth observation data to enhance its product.
“Motoklik is a groundbreaking product in motorsports,” said Köpke. “Where previously data acquisition and management was only for top-end race teams, now our AI and machine learning system can help teams and racers at every level to find the best set-up, letting them concentrate on one thing: winning!”
Köpke was recognised in 2019 in the Best Start-up Business category at the Kilkenny finals of Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur competition. His company was also selected as a participant in the New Frontiers programme at Waterford Institute of Technology in 2018.
Competitive Start funding from Enterprise Ireland in 2018 supported the development of the Motoklik prototype.
‘We are proud to support Motoklik’s fundraising round to create 10 high-value-add jobs in Kilkenny’
– NIALL MCEVOY
The new investment is led by a number of local investors and Enterprise Ireland, along with additional funding from the European Space Agency.
“We are proud to support Motoklik’s fundraising round to create 10 high-value-add jobs in Kilkenny over the next couple of years,” said Enterprise Ireland high-potential start-ups manager Niall McEvoy.
“Jens Köpke is passionate about motor racing and his own experience drove him to use cutting-edge technology to ensure that the sport is safer. This is a significant development for Motoklik and we look forward to working with Jens and his team in internationalising this innovative offer on this exciting venture.”
As well as creating 10 new jobs at Motoklik, the seed funding will also be used to complete the commercial design of the product and bring it to market.
