MaxOne Powers up Sports Technology to Transform Coach-to-Athlete Communications
MaxOne is breaking new ground in sports technology at home and abroad.
In early April, the Grand Rapids, Michigan-based startup was invited to Tokyo to make a presentation on its all-in-one online coaching platform to the organizers, sponsors and teams involved in the 2020 Olympic Games. The three-day whirlwind of activities included numerous pitches and meetings – as well as plenty of sushi, Ramen noodles and karaoke.
“The Japanese are ahead of America in some aspects of technology but they lag behind us in putting technology into sports,” says Jason Mejeur, the CEO and founder of MaxOne. “We realized there is a large opportunity in the Asia-Pacific region as a whole for our company to expand. Now we are looking for a sponsor that’s either a brand or an investor to help us overcome the financial hurdles of customizing our platform for an Asia-Pacific market.”
Mejeur will be presenting to investors at the 2019 Midwest Growth Capital Symposium in hopes of raising a $3 to $5 million seed round of financing to fund MaxOne’s expansion in its current market, which includes the U.S. and English-speaking countries. The money would enable the startup to scale its app-based network for connecting athletes to coaches and add artificial intelligence-driven smart coaching tools.
The idea for MaxOne arose from Mejeur’s own frustration as a high school and college basketball coach who relied on low-tech ways to communicate with his team.
“I saw my athletes spending six hours a day on their phones while I was still handing them paper and pencils,” he recalls. “If I was going to be successful, I knew I had to show up on their phones.” MaxOne’s mobile app enables coaches to deliver training instructions and communicate with students and parents. It also allows athletes to compete on live leader boards and track their progress.
Mejeur launched the startup in 2016, and its technology platform is now being utilized by 2,700 sports teams and 60,000 users. Last year, MaxOne generated nearly $200,000 in revenue, and its projection for 2019 is $800,000 to $1.1 million.
“I want to tell our compelling story at the Symposium and present investors with an opportunity to make a return on their investment and impact the lives of young people,” Mejeur says.
