Dundalk-based tech startup PlayerTek has secured a €476,000 investment for its wearable sports tracker, ahead of the product’s imminent launch in Ireland.

The company was founded by Ronan Mac Ruairi and Kevin McDaid, both of whom have worked in education and technology development for years.

The founders claim that PlayerTek is the world's first consumer wearable sports tracker designed to give aspiring amateur players the ability to optimise their training and matches – something previously available only to professional players.

The system measures more than 2,000 variables every second and uses algorithms to produce measurements and simple charts that help players improve their performance.

In Association with

Investment into PlayerTek has come from Danu Investment Partners (€376.000) and entrepreneur Brendan Gilmore (€100,000). The investment was effected in September 2014.

According to co-founder McDaid: “PlayerTek is a system that can give a player pinpoint accuracy.

It is much more sophisticated than the GPS in a jogger's watch because it has to be – football, rugby, GAA, and hockey players, for example, don't run in straight lines.”

The company is taking pre-orders for the PlayerTek device from its website, with an RRP of €249.

Its founders said that, following the Irish launch, PlayerTek will be launched in the UK to coincide with the start of the 2016 Premiership season.

Mac Ruairi added: “There has been huge interest in the product, as wearable tech is the area that so many brands are focusing in on at present.”