- Stoko announced recently that it raised $6 million in seed funding from multiple sources. These are the details.
Stoko — a Vancouver-based startup that is changing the way athletes prevent and recover from injuries — announced recently that it raised $6 million in seed funding from multiple sources, including some of Canada’s top industry investors. Created by athletes for athletes, Stoko is known as being the first-to-market in creating a new category of professional knee brace support, called supportive apparel.
Stoko’s first product (the K1) is a designed compression tight with integrated joint support that mimics the body’s natural structures to give the support of a traditional knee brace with unparalleled comfort.
Stoko CEO Zack Eberwein (a mechanical engineer by training) co-founded the startup in 2017 after experiencing an acute knee injury from an extreme hike challenge. And on a whim, he decided to leave his rigid knee brace behind. This life-altering decision propelled him to find a better way to support athletes through injuries.
And Stoko’s leadership team includes some of Canada’s top-level athletes like Olympian gymnast Scott Morgan, a co-founder, and Olympian skier Allison Forsyth — who heads up brand and community. The high performance team is competing against an outdated 50-year-old brace industry.
Along with John Currie (the former CFO of lululemon and investor in Stoko), notable investors include Norm Francis (CEO of Boardwalk Ventures), Greg Malpass (CEO of Traction on Demand), Darrell Kopke (CEO of Adelhard), and Paul Geyer (CEO of Discovery Parks and Nimbus Synergies).
Unlike traditional competitors, Stoko has a strong direct-to-consumer and business-to-business model. And the K1 is eligible for medical coverage by some healthcare providers and in addition to its e-commerce platform (stokodesign.com), it is available for purchase at specialty stores including Myodetox, Paris Orthotics, and Kintec Footwear in Vancouver, Edmonton, LA, and Toronto.
KEY QUOTES:
“This funding will fuel our expansion efforts as we carve out a new category in retail, focused on supporting athletes in returning to play after an injury or preventing one altogether. Our product is revolutionary in that it gives athletes the confidence to do the sports and activities they love in comfortable apparel that’s as effective as a medical-grade knee brace.”
— Zack Eberwien, CEO of Stoko
“Stoko’s proprietary technology addresses a real need that exists and disrupts the competition that has long been stagnant. They are focused on building a company with the foundation and capabilities to efficiently scale the opportunity they have created.”
— John Currie, the former CFO of lululemon and investor in Stoko
