KV Fund’s newest €300K investment in Darefore

Another Cypriot startup has received strategic investment and joined the KV Fund I portfolio.

Founded and operated by Marios and Panayiotis Kyriakou out of their offices in downtown Paphos, Darefore is a proprietary biometrics system combining wearable technology and smart data-driven methodologies, focused primarily on sports performance enhancement and injury prevention.

Darefore’s first commercially ready product focuses on back (spine) positioning for performance enhancement and injury prevention for cyclists. Their proprietary algorithms, methodology, and data-analysis functionality transform live data into critical visual displays and actionable alerts during practice or while competing. Darefore’s back positioning data can also be easily integrated and visually displayed in real-time on popular wearables and other devices already used by athletes, such as Garmin devices and smartphones. In many sports beyond cycling, proper posture and back positioning are critical variables that can affect performance and possibly prevent injuries. Proper back positioning can help prevent injuries not only to an athlete’s back but also to other parts of the body such as the knees, shoulders and neck.

“Darefore is a great addition to our portfolio,” said Andreas Panayi, Co-founder/Partner at Kinisis Ventures. “It has all the ingredients we know and love to work with: software, sensors, data, algorithms, for commercial applications that add measurable value, can scale and are relevant to multiple addressable markets for users that invest in and value technology. We are super excited and already preparing to support Darefore’s marketing and sales efforts with specific targeted US activities using Amazon and other marketplaces. But honestly, the most important reasons our team is excited about this new addition are Marios and Panayiotis. They are a perfect fit with the rest of our portfolio founders and our KV culture. The chemistry and willingness to work together was the initial big draw, which is a pivotal factor for all our investment decisions.”

While live data is critical to an athlete, historic data is just as important for long-term performance benchmarking, tracking goals and milestones, planning, and managing. Darefore’s online platform not only records, tracks, compares and visualizes data over time, but it also allows for uploading and integrating other important biometric data from other devices that athletes tend to use in practice and during live competition. The coaches tailored version of the Darefore platform is also available, with specific features and functionality addressing the needs for team performance management, monitoring, tracking, optimizing and reporting.

The Darefore performance system for cyclists is available for sale now, and the plans for strategic roll-out of custom systems for other sports like skiing, running, rowing, and swimming are being worked on in parallel. “Our goal right now is to expand our brand reach and sales traction within the sizable and important global cyclist market. “Our product is already used and endorsed by international and local professional and avid cyclists. This initial investment from KV Fund will fuel the testing, optimizing, and expansion of our marketing and sales channels across Europe. We have also started our planning for strategically exploring the vast e-commerce market in the US. For these and many other reasons, we are very excited to join the KV Fund portfolio and we look forward to becoming part of the team,” said Marios Kyriakou, Darefore co-founder and CEO.

By design, the KV Fund portfolio includes companies and teams that are excited to collaborate, explore and cross-pollinate. There are many examples where portfolio companies commercialized joint ideas and products. “One of the things that I am looking forward to is collaborating with other portfolio founders and tech teams to expand our ideas and come up with new ones,” suggested Panayiotis Kyriakou, Darefore’s co-founder and CTO. “For example, I am confident that once we connect with Evagoras Xydas and his IREROBOT team, we will think of many haptic and other sensory features that will add new dimensions and differentiation to our data-athlete interaction and user experience. The possibilities are endless and truly very exciting,” added Panayiotis.