BrakeAce is a braking analytics platform designed to enhance mountain bike performance and safety. Photo / Chris Wellhausen
BrakeAce is a braking analytics platform designed to enhance mountain bike performance and safety. Photo / Chris Wellhausen
A Rotorua-based mountain biking tech business is making tracks in biking technology globally.
BrakeAce, a braking analytics platform designed to enhance mountain bike performance and safety, has been selected for the Arkansas Global Cycling Accelerator programme (AGCA), which connects high-potential cycling start-ups with mentorship, funding opportunities and industry-leading brands.
Members come from all over the world, including the United Kingdom, Germany, the Czech Republic, Italy and the United States.
BrakeAce founder Matt Miller said it “means the world to us” that an international accelerator was taking notice of the company.
He described the Arkansas Global Cycling Accelerator programme as a “global mountain biking hub” that was “changing the future of cycling”.
“The AGCA puts us in front of the right people in the bike industry – mentors, VCs [venture capital] and other similar start-ups – but the fact that the AGCA focuses on cycling start-ups means we’ll make the right connections,” Miller said.
Matt Miller founded BrakeAce in 2019 as part of a PhD university project. Photo / Supplied
“We have proven we can create a product that has never existed before and ship it to customers around the world, but they [AGCA] can probably see that we have a lot to learn when it comes to developing the market and scaling to our full potential.”
Miller said he was looking forward to meeting other founders and being inspired by them.
He established BrakeAce in Rotorua in 2019 as his PhD research project at Massey University. He designed sensors that measured riders’ braking and created an app that used this data to give actionable insights for going faster on downhills.
“A big part of what I have to do is to get people to think about braking for the first time,” Miller said.
BrakeAce sensors measure riders’ braking and the app gives insights to go faster on downhills. Photo / Chris Wellhausen
His tech company had grown from a successful Kickstarter campaign into a performance tool that helped riders and teams identify where they lost speed, wasted energy and disrupted flow.
“We turn data into something the user can actually take action on,” he said.
“I was coaching top American enduro mountain biking racers at the time and this is the product I wish we had.
“We would have been able to get those racers to the tippy top of the world stage if we had BrakeAce.”
Miller said he was excited to showcase his product in Arkansas.
“We have already learned a ton about developing a product, but if we want to meet our ultimate goal of helping every rider at every level improve the way we ride, we need to get our tech in front of them.
“I hope to learn more about developing the business.”
Kaitlyn Morrell is a multimedia journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post. She has lived in the region for several years and studied journalism at Massey University.
