Elanation | Techstars SportsTech Melbourne 2020

Founded by Katherine Maree Pace and Aimee Atkins, Elanation is the largest e-learning sports app for children where they learn, share, and compete in fun physical activity skills each day. The Australian startup is on a mission to build the #1 health and fitness app for kids, empowering any child or family with 24/7 access to daily sports inspiration, fun challenges, and safe socialisation. The company is currently part of the Techstars SportsTech Melbourne Accelerator.

Keeping modern kids healthy and happy — both online and offline — is a continual challenge. 

Keeping Kids Healthy & Happy

Today, one in three internet users is a child, and 170,000 new kids are coming onto the internet for the first time every day. Elanation is on a mission to create the healthiest social network for a world of young digital natives. 

The Australian e-learning sports app helps children to learn, share, and compete in fun physical activity skills. The app offers exclusive access to hundreds of inspirational sports skill tutorials and professional videos produced by Elanation’s elite team of athletes and coaches, including football, tennis, dance, gymnastics, parkour, and more.

Elanation’s cofounders Aimee Atkins, COO, and Katherine Maree Pace, CEO, used their collective background in entertainment, industrial design, and competitive sport to launch the startup in 2016. Katherine says daily physical exercise was an important contributor to her own academic success, and cites a study which found that children who took P.E. before they took their math class saw double the improvement of kids who had P.E. afterwards.

“I want to make sure all children have that same opportunity to learn and play with a range of sports, whenever or wherever they like,” Katherine says.

Kids, also known as ‘Elanators’ in the app, are watching three lesson videos a week, inspired by content spanning more than 15 sports, as well participating in fitness competitions, sports-watch integrations, weekly leaderboards, social video sharing, health data and analytics, e-shopping and more.

Apps like this only take on added importance as children around the world are forced to stay indoors or maintain social distance from others due to COVID-19. The startup expanded its services so that any child stuck at home without access to regular sports classes could simply download the app, pick a sporting skill they’d like to learn and start challenging their friends for just $5 per family, per month.

Innovation in Sports Education

Elanation is taking part in the inaugural Techstars SportsTech Melbourne Accelerator. “We just started the accelerator and have already been introduced to a range of national sports associations to discuss partnerships, which is great because Elanation is a fantastic complement to traditional grassroots sporting programs,” Katherine says.

“Right now, we are actively learning about the importance of founders supporting other founders. It is wonderful to be connected weekly with a group of highly motivated and successful founders, helping and supporting one another during COVID-19,” Katherine adds.

While the start of the accelerator was delayed until June 1 due to COVID-19, Katherine says the cohort banded together during this time of uncertainty, and the community the program provides is important to all of them.

In the meantime, Elantion will continue with its plans to grow its team and launch in the United States. The startup has raised funds from angel investors and seed-stage investment groups and is currently meeting with investors who have had success in leading e-learning startups through growth stages,” Katherine says.

“Diversity is a key driver for innovation — and the kids sports education industry is in desperate need of innovation,” she says. “My business partner and I had a vision and regardless of gender, age or race, we are determined to bring that vision to fruition.”

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