Impressio, RecoverX and Curv.ai received $50,000 grants in annual NFL’s Super Bowl startup competition

Three young startup companies, Impressio, RecoverX and Curv.ai, received $50,000 grants in NFL’s Super Bowl startup competition designed to encourage new advancements in athlete safety and performance. In the lead up to Super Bowl LII, the National Football League teamed with Comcast-NBCUniversal and Mayo Clinic to host the third annual 1st & Future startup pitch competition and invited innovators to share their solutions for advancing player health, safety, and performance of its players.

Nine startups participated in the official pitch competition called:”NFL 1st & Future.”  The goal of the competition is to advance sports technology and the game of football. The startups presented their game-changing technologies to an exclusive audience and panel of judges at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis on February 3, 2018.

“Innovation and what we can do to protect our players is obviously a huge priority for us,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said during a panel discussion at the event. “I think we’d like to advance technology in a lot of areas of our business, including the media business, with our partners, and there is no bigger stage to bring everyone together and convene everyone than the Super Bowl.”

Seattle Seahawks quarterback, Russell Wilson, said the NFL’s willingness to put money toward innovation was aided by the league’s Head Health Initiative and will make football safer for the next generation. “It actually doesn’t stop with football, we’re actually doing a lot with other sports as well,” he said. “And the even cooler part is we’re going to be doing stuff with the military potentially. That’s high-level information so I can’t say too much.”

Yesterday, the NFL and its partners awarded $50,000 prizes and Super Bowl tickets to three winners in the categories of Advancements in Protective Equipment, New Therapies to Speed Recovery, and Technology to Improve Athletic Performance. This year’s winners won in three c

Advancements in Protective Equipment: Impressio, Inc., which utilizes liquid-crystal elastomers (LCEs) to design equipment that can help absorb energy from hits. The group hopes it can one day replace the foam padding in helmets with their product. Impressio, Inc. is a Denver Colorado-based startup.

New Therapies to Speed Recovery: RecoverX, which designed a hot-cold therapy device that allows athletes to better control their recovery. The current model on display Saturday specifically targeted knee physical therapy.  RecoverX is a Mountain View, California-based startup.

Technology to Improve Athletic Performance: Curv.ai, which developed an augmented reality application that utilizes the camera on any mobile device to capture human motion, measure athletic ability, and evaluate injury risk. Curv.ai is based in Toronto Canada.