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An Irish firm is changing how athletes train

Orreco, the Galway and now Los Angeles-based sports data and science company, has raised $2m in n...



An Irish firm is changing how...
Golf

An Irish firm is changing how athletes train

Orreco, the Galway and now Los Angeles-based sports data and science company, has raised $2m in new funding, to power the next phase of its growth.

True Ventures, a Californian capital fund which helped to fuel the growth of Fitbit and Peloton is among its new backers.

Brian Moore, Orreco Chief Executive and founder joined Newstalk this morning to discuss the company's growth.

"Significant milestone for us as a business in terms of getting Silicon Valley-based venture backing," he said, commenting on True Ventures investment.

The company analyses athletes performance levels through methods like using GPS trackers during training against their biological data to design training programmes to optimise individual performance, accelerate recovery, and ultimately prolong careers.

He told Breakfast Business that the company is hoping to find the smartest ways of using the masses of data which we can now track.

Mr Moore believes that there will be a trickle down from the products that the company is developing for top athletes to consumer goods that everyone can use. He adds that now that we have a wide range of devices that can measure how many steps we take in a day, but the new challenge is to ask, "What does that [data] mean for me today or tomorrow?"

Some 80% of the company's business is now in the US - its clients include the NBA's Dallas Mavericks and Nike Running, as well as Padrig Harrington and Graeme McDowell.

Working with elite performers and organisations means that the company is constantly under pressure to deliver results, "If you don't add value - you're not kept around for very long" Mr Moore told Newstalk's Vincent Wall.

When asked about the company's long-term goals and whether a public offering will be considered the CEO said that (like a top athlete) it is, "not going to be putting limits on what we think we can achieve."

Orreco will create 30 jobs following yesterday's investment.

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