Start up Gets €650k for Concussion Tech

The funding has been awarded to Sports Impact Technologies, an Irish start-up which has developed a compact sports wearable that detects head impacts in real-time to enhance player safety and performance by eliminating undetected concussions.

The investment round was led by private investors with the support of Enterprise Ireland High-Potential Start-Up (HPSU) funding and will be used by the company to accelerate the roll-out of its beta product.

The wearable sensor is sport and player agnostic and sits behind the ear to monitor head impacts during a game by recording head accelerations. Data and alerts are transmitted in real-time via an app to coaches, medical staff, or safety officials who can then make an informed decision to take a player off the pitch to be assessed for concussion.

Eóin Tuohy, CEO and founder, Sports Impact Technologies said: “It is estimated that between 5 per cent and 10 per cent of players experience a concussion in any given sports season, with 5 in 10 concussions going unreported or undetected, leading to players experiencing long-term health implications. Using our smart sensor technology to monitor head impacts in real-time, our goal is to make unrecognised concussions a thing of the past, protecting athletes, optimising their performance, and enabling participation.”

He added: “The investment will support the final stages of product development and help us bring our beta wearable to market. We are launching beta-testing programmes with pilot customers in sports ranging from American football to rugby to soccer, hockey and GAA football this September, which will provide valuable real-world data and position us for a full product launch early next year.”

Sports Impact Technologies was founded in 2022 and is headquartered at NovaUCD in Dublin. The company previously completed the Enterprise Ireland-funded New Frontiers Programme at TU Dublin and secured €100k in Enterprise Ireland PSSF funding.