Science-led sports-tech company Orreco will double its international team to support further development of its athlete performance platforms.
Up to 30 new positions will be created across Orreco’s offices in Ireland, the UK and the US on the back of a €3m investment led by True Ventures.
This recruitment drive represents a doubling of the Irish company’s workforce and will focus on expanding its product, engineering, data science and commercial teams.
Many of these new roles will be based at Orreco’s headquarters in Galway and its performance centre in Los Angeles.
Orreco provides sports science and data-led tools for professional sports teams and athletes. English Premier League (EPL) and women’s football teams such as Newcastle United and Chelsea FC Women are among its clients, as well as teams spanning basketball, baseball, hockey and American football in the US. The company has also supported individual athletes competing in Olympic sports, Formula 1 and golf.
“This investment will help us accelerate our growth and further develop our position in the EPL and NBA, working with leading teams, athletes and their agents. We have ambitious growth and recruitment plans for talented teammates to join us,” said Orreco CEO Dr Brian Moore.
“Our strategic investments over the past 10 years in applied data science and machine learning and our dedicated focus on women’s sport, in particular, is now compounding in value. We look forward to exciting times ahead.”
‘We have ambitious growth and recruitment plans for talented teammates to join us’
– DR BRIAN MOORE
The current Orreco team includes 16 PhDs who have worked with Olympic medallists and published more than 300 peer-reviewed scientific papers between them.
The company was founded by sport scientist Moore and haematologist Dr Andrew Hodgson in 2010.
Its team of scientists develop platforms that can analyse athlete data and deliver evidence-based, personalised strategies to improve recovery rates, optimise training response and protect against excessive fatigue and under-recovery.
As well as supporting new jobs at the company, the new investment round will help to scale Orreco’s products, Athlete and FitrWoman.
Athlete is a platform for elite athletes that uses machine learning to aggregate multiple data sources and offer users real-time, actionable insights based on their biomarker results. Users can sync their performance data, playing schedule, travel schedule and sleep data to the app.
FitrWoman is a performance platform focused on women athletes. It has the ability to track periods and symptoms, along with added guidance for training and nutrition based around the menstrual cycle.
‘A compelling use of data science’
Silicon Valley-based VC firm True Ventures was the first institutional investor in consumer electronics and fitness company Fitbit as well as the at-home fitness brand Peloton.
Orreco also counts Irishman Des Traynor, co-founder of Intercom, among its investors, as well as golfers Pádraig Harrington and Graeme McDowell. Enterprise Ireland and serial Irish investor Pa Nolan also provided early-stage support.
“Brian and his team have created best-in-class bio-analytics for athletes and have the customer roster to show for it,” said True Ventures co-founder Phil Black.
“It’s our pleasure to continue to support Orreco’s growth as the team expands its offerings nationally and globally. It’s such a compelling use of data science.”
