New technology from startup ventures is transforming the global sports industry. This Startup Series has introduced over 300 startup companies in the sports technology space to a broader audience by allowing Founders of promising new ventures to tell their story and pitch their idea. Feel free to submit your startup’s answers to the below questions or contact us if you know of a startup that should be considered for inclusion in this series.
Company name: 2020 Armor
Founder(s): Ali Ghafour, William Sexton, Tony Kook
Headquarters: Toronto, Canada
Website: http://2020armor.com
1. What is your elevator pitch?
20/20 Armor makes an electronic vest that brings the Street Fighter video game to life. The harder you hit your opponent, the more health they lose; perfect for any striking martial arts such as Taekwondo and Karate.
2. Problem & Solution
The founders of 20/20 Armor were competitive Olympic Taekwondo National team members. In 2009 (all the founders just recently retired from competition) the sport of Olympic Taekwondo changed from points awarded by human judges to points awarded by electronic sensors on athletes’ equipment.This change was made to remove the human error and bias that results from such a fast paced and high stakes game. Although the electronic systems have done much to removing human error and bias, they still receive strong criticism from athletes, coaches, referees and spectators alike.
Currently, the system of electronic scoring rewards a very limited body type (tall and lean) and limited techniques (cut kicks) and uses a point system that is difficult to understand. Players who are faster or stronger and who can throw a wider variety of kicks have far lower chance of winning.
Spectators are disengaged because they can not quickly understand what is going on. These limitations make Taekwondo less exciting to watch and less fun to play.
20/20 Armor is a system of equipment and new scoring rules that will drive athletes to perform in a way that keeps the athletes and spectators engaged in the sport. It will allow players of all body types fast, strong, lean and fighting techniques an equal chance to win and uses a scoring method similar to popular video games that is understood in less than 3 seconds by multiple generations – from ages 5 to 55.
The product was born from the need to fix Olympic Taekwondo, but the product has applications and benefits for day to day training for all striking martial arts such as Karate, MMA, Muay Thai, Kick Boxing, Wing Chun and Krav Maga.
Here is the Master Plan:
STEP 1 - Create a recreational version of the product and sell to Taekwondo clubs (currently in this step)
STEP 1a - Sell the product to other striking martial arts (Karate, Kickboxing, Boxing, etc)
STEP 2 - Get into the Olympics, save Taekwondo.
STEP 3 - Make taekwondo a professional sport (like soccer, basketball and hockey)
3. Market – your target market and the overall market
First is the Taekwondo market (80 million practitioners world wide). Then the other striking martial arts (Karate, Kickboxing, Boxing, etc).4. Business Model – how do you make money?
Sell our recreational model vestSell our professional model vest / head gear / motion tracking system and coach training software
Create a new professional sport (sales from ticket sales, media sponsorship, etc)
5. Management Team – with titles
Ali Ghafour - CEO & FounderWilliam Sexton - COO & Founder
Tony Kook - VP and Founder
6. Financial Needs: are you currently looking for investment? Have you raised investment already? If so, who are your investors?
We have been accepted into the LeAD program, founded by Adi Dassler (founder of Adidas) https://www.leadsportsaccelerator.com/startup/2020-armorAdditionally, we have raised money from private investors in sports.
We are currently looking for strategic investment.