London-based Carv, world-renowned AI ski instructor wearable has recently raised a £1.8 million Series A capital. The investment was led by Sydney and Shanghai-based Artesian Investments.
Further, New York SOS Venture’s, Europe’s FastVentures and a wide network of angel investors also participated in the round.
Reportedly, the British company will be using the latest funds to accelerate further, the digitisation of skiing instruction services.
Jamie Grant, co-founder and CEO, said: “This investment represents an incredibly exciting step towards our vision to become the de facto product to improve skiing technique. We are proud to welcome back our existing investors and see their continued support for our vision to deliver digital sports coaching. This is just the start for Carv, and we look forward to the next stage of growth and innovation.”
So, how does it work?
Basically, Carv turns any ski boot into a personal coach, giving you access to professional audio coaching any time you ski. The digital ski coach utilises motion and pressure sensing hardware to drive real-time audio coaching and detailed in-app analysis.
Like many startups, Carv was born out of an education project, namely a PhD thesis. CEO and founder Jamie Grant completed a Master of Physics at the University of Oxford before undertaking a PhD in Financial Economics at Imperial College London. He then applied both these disciplines to his passion for skiing.
Grants said, “Skiing is a difficult sport to learn, and 88% of skiers stop lessons after less than one week. Carv offers a convenient and fun experience to continue learning. ”
Founded in 2013, the startup grew the team from 15 to 30 within a year. Headquartered in London, Carv also has operations in Innsbruck, Austria and Shenzhen, China. After its successful Kickstarter campaign in 2016, which broke all the records of sports wearables on the platform, Carv has witnessed a rapid growth in both the United States and Europe.
Commenting on the pandemic impact, Grant added, “The pandemic has only accelerated the adoption of Carv’s digital ski instruction with us seeing over a 100% year-on-year growth for Q4. We are excited to be rapidly expanding our user base as the additional data helps us build an even better coaching system.”
Also known as the ‘Alexa for the Alps,’ Carv’s instruction AI learns from millions of skiing turns and feedback events generated by its users to create more useful teaching experience, giving consumers a chance to develop their skiing technique.
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