Courtesy/KinoTek
The KinoTek team at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco last October, one of eight Maine companies that went with Startup Maine.
March 11, 2020
Portland software startup inks $100K strategic deal with Microsoft
File image courtesy/KinoTek
Digital health technology startup KinoTek, which develops software for movement clinicians, raised $600,000 in a pre-seed funding round that was oversubscribed.
KinoTek, a Portland-based startup that has pioneered technology for body movement analysis, has signed on with Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MFST), a deal valued at $100,000.
Under an agreement announced Wednesday, Microsoft will support KinoTek in accelerating the release date of the company’s beta launch. It will do so via the highly selective Microsoft for Startups accelerator program.
KinoTek, whose University of Maine student entrepreneurs won the 2019 "Greenlight Maine Collegiate Challenge," uses virtual reality and motion capture technology to see how people move and the muscles they use.
The company said the partnership provides it with a streamlined path to connect with the world's leading enterprise companies while capitalizing on Microsoft’s vast enterprise sales network.
With Microsoft's backing, KinoTek said it also will have the partner resources required to build an ever-growing development team and create technology jobs in Maine.
With a growing waitlist for its beta software, KinoTek — one of eight companies that Startup Maine took to the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco last October — aims to disrupt the sports-tech landscape by providing an objective human movement software that can be used on and off the field of play.
“With this partnership, Microsoft has not only invested in KinoTek, but helped contribute to the ever-growing tech ecosystem throughout the state of Maine," said Justin Hafner, KinoTek's co-founder and CEO. "This strategic partnership is a giant step forward to becoming the industry leader in movement analysis.”
"Having Microsoft’s technical, strategic, and financial support during our beta will be key to a successful launch in 2021," he added. "These next 6 months of testing and collaboration will help KinoTek successfully penetrate the sports-tech ecosystem and achieve national scale.”
Katie Shorey, president of Startup Maine, welcomed the news about the partnership.
"This is not only significant for KinoTek," she told Mainebiz, "but helps to elevate and inspire our entire startup community. This kind of success helps put Maine’s existing and growing tech scene on the map."
Hafner told Mainebiz that the company currently employs four full-time executive team members and plans to add three to five more once it raises the finance.
He said the company used its $25,000 winnings from "Greenlight Maine" to add to its software development team, hiring Dan Lesko as chief technology officer. It also used some funds to file an initial patent and start the process of building a robust intellectual property portfolio.
Asked how the Microsoft partnership came about, Hafner said KinoTek initiated the first contact by applying to its competitive Startup program.
"Once accepted into their startup program, we were offered the package worth up to $120,000 over the next 12 months," he explained. "From there, we were asked to join the Microsoft Partners Network.
"Initially we were planning to negotiate a deal for commercial distributing of their Motion capture cameras, but the opportunity grew much larger, and we are thrilled to be working with the Azure team over the next year."
He was referring to Microsoft Azure, a cloud computing service created by Microsoft for building, testing, deploying, and managing applications and services through Microsoft-managed data centers.
File image courtesy/KinoTek
Muscle memory in real time: An example of KinoTek's real-time risk injury report.
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