With fresh investor funding in the bank, newly established company Entalpi has gathered a team of entrepreneurs, coaches, and world champions to take… ‘revolutionary Norwegian sports technology out into the world.’
In recent years, the training methodology ‘The Norwegian method’ has become renowned through triathletes Kristian Blummenfelt and Gustav Iden‘s results – with Olympic gold, world champion titles and world records claimed at the Olympic triathlon distance and in long course racing.
Now the world champion method will be taken to market in the form of Entalpi’s app and analysis platform that will be made available to endurance athletes worldwide. The aim is for the initial version of the platform to be available by summer 2023, following a beta testing phase.
‘The goal is to fundamentally change the way athletes train through a unique and innovative algorithm and analysis platform.’
“We will use new technology and data analysis to push human limits for what is possible to achieve in endurance sports and chase world records,” said Olav Aleksander Bu – co-founder and R&D director at Entalpi, and coach to Kristian Blummenfelt and Gustav Iden.
“Both lactate measurement, sports sensors and intensity control will be vital parts of the product. The ambition is to take a leading position in sports technology globally.”
In the past, top Norwegian athletes have primarily asserted themselves in winter sports. Now top Norwegian athletes are constantly setting new records in summer sports – specifically endurance sport. Two of the world’s best triathletes, Kristian Blummenfelt and Gustav Iden, have broken records and milestones in the last 18 months.
Entalpi co-founder and CEO, Roger Holthe Olsen, said “By breaking both the IRONMAN world record, taking Olympic gold in triathlon and for the first time in history completing an iron distance in well under 7 hours, we have shown internationally how Norwegian training technology has become world leading.
“We look forward to digitizing ‘The Norwegian method’ and giving top athletes worldwide in triathlon, running, swimming, and cycling access to our unique training methodology.”
Olav Aleksander Bu added “By measuring and analyzing data such as hydration, calorie intake, lactate, pulse, glucose, watts, training volume and intensity, sleep and rest, etc., you can adjust and optimize in completely new ways, which in turn gives athletes completely new competitive advantages. We have only seen the start of this digital revolution.”
In addition to Roger Holthe Olsen, Olav Aleksander Bu, Kristian Blummenfelt and Gustav Iden, the Entalpi team has a strong track record.
Board members and investors include Erlend Drevdal Hausken and Njål Hansen from Voisey (which was recently sold to Snapchat) and Beat Technologies. Serial entrepreneurs Pål Wagtskjold Myran from Voisey and Carl-Erik Michalsen Moberg from TicketCo have also invested in the company and have joined the company’s advisory board.
Several leading professors and experts from top sports, health and business have also joined the board and advisory board. Among these are:
- Former Olympic swimmer and international top swimming coach Ørjan Madsen;
- Morten Kristoffersen who has a doctorate in sports science;
- Øyvind Sandbakk who, among other things, heads the Center for Top Sports Research at NTNU;
- Hans Kristian Skjold who is a partner in Inventura;
- Anette Susanne Bøe Wolf who is a professor in health and molecular biology; as well as
- Professor Hege Havstad Clemm, who has long worked closely with the Norwegian triathlon team and many of Norway’s best triathletes.
Former senior partner and CFO at PwC Norway, Geir Inge Lunde, is Chairman and co-founder of Entalpi. The company has also become part of Startup Lab’s incubator in Bergen, Norway.
To secure the company’s global ambitions, in June 2022, financing was obtained for the company in a combination of an issue totalling NOK 4.4 million and an innovation contract with Innovation Norway of approximately NOK 3.6 million. This took initial funding to NOK 8 million (US$800,000).
“We are very pleased to have secured the first round of financing for the company, and the funding round was fully subscribed in just a few weeks,” said Entalpi Chairman, Geir Inge Lunde.
“We are also very grateful that Innovation Norway is on the team, and we would like to thank them for supporting Entalpi in the important first phase.”
CEO Roger Holthe Olsen added “We are well on our way with the development work and have a provisional timeline with the launch of the first version of the app on the market before the summer of 2023.
“However, athletes can already now sign up on our webpage to be first in line to test the product when we go into beta testing. We are also already in the process of raising additional capital. Great ambitions must be combined with an optimal team and sufficient funding. So far, we are very satisfied with the development and will drive hard forward to realize the company’s ambitions.”
