Hykso is a company launching out of our Winter 2016 class that helps boxers throw better, stronger punches — and makes the sport more engaging for people watching at home.

With some 35 million people worldwide training in boxing, kickboxing, and mixed martial arts (MMA), Hykso brings a new level of data and technology to an increasingly popular sport. Hykso’s wrist sensors track how fast and frequent punches are, allowing the fighter to improve his or her form and also providing data to broadcasters that can help engage viewers — much like tracking a baseball’s pitch velocity.

VentureBeat’s Ken Yeung wrote about Hykso in a story published recently:

“Khalil Zahar started Hykso while he was a graduate student at the
University of Toronto, where he studied micro-electro mechanical
systems. As a boxer, he found the instruction to be ‘extremely
subjective’ and decided to explore the use of a performance-tracking
sensor he hoped would provide ‘concrete, quantifiable feedback.’ Working
alongside cofounders Alexander Marcotte, Alexander Lapointe, Tommy
Duquette, and Charles Lampert, Zahar wants to one day own the combat
sports market.

‘Our ultimate vision is to leverage our expertise in embedded system
gesture recognition, motion tracking, and data analysis to move into
other sports that are starving for better sports-specific metrics,’ Duquette told VentureBeat in an email.

With Hykso’s mobile app, coaches and athletes are able to monitor punch output as it happens.”

Read the story on VentureBeat here, and check out Hykso’s pre-order campaign, which is selling the wrist sensor product for $131.95, 40 percent off of list price.