2020 Armor Announces Funding for a Total of 2.5M
TORONTO — 2020 Armor, the company transforming martial arts into a mainstream professional sport, announced the closing of the third successful investment of $1M round. This round was championed by leAD Sports, the premier sports venture ecosystem inspired by Adi Dassler, founder of Adidas.
2020 Armor’s total funding has now reached $2.5 million.
Ali Ghafour, founder and CEO of 2020 Armor, said the follow-on investment by leAD gave the company the capital and board members to shape the future of martial arts.
“We are generating great revenues and have zero product returns. We are growing the overall martial arts market by merging video games into it. In doing so, we are also laying the foundation for a massive future opportunity by creating a professional martial art league for the masses, that anyone can watch and understand,” says Ghafour. “We are very well positioned for this with our team and IP. This funding round will be used to create more inventory to keep up with the overwhelming customer demand.”
2020 Armor is extremely happy to announce that they are bringing on former race car driver Harold Primat as a Board Member. Harold is a world-class investor, one of the shareholders for leAD sports, and an avid supporter of 2020 Armor’s vision. His experience, network, and passion for sports will be a great addition to the board.
Christoph Sonnen, Co-Founder & CEO of leAD Sports, and Partner of ADvantage Sports Tech Fund said he was thrilled about leAD’s investment in 2020 Armor and listed the reasons.
“It’s a pleasure to work with the 2020 Armor. Their vision is in line with leAD’s mission to invest in companies that are truly shaping the future of sports,” says Sonnen. “The decades of experience and their passion for martial arts make the 20/20 Armor team unstoppable. They have shown great sales traction and organic growth since their inception three years ago. We’re excited to see what’s in store for them!”
Sonnen said that 2020 Armor has the potential to become a leader in fan engagement and training enhancements because of the company’s IoT devices and mobile apps with new data points and gaming options, which are unavailable today.
“The launch of their mobile app is an industry game-changer,” says Sonnen. “Their whole new approach called ‘In-Game Reality’ puts the player inside their very own video game. And they can share this experience with their friends on social media, creating brand awareness and valuable engagement. With this feature, they take another step towards making martial arts become a mainstream phenomenon. This can impact the lives of millions of people that already practice martial arts and millions that are yet to start practicing and will discover the sport because of 2020 Armor.”
About leAD
leAD, the premier sports venture ecosystem, is inspired by Adi Dassler, the founding father of the modern sports industry. leAD works with the most promising early-stage sports tech startups from around the world, aiming to propel their growth through smart investment, premier network access, and expert mentorship. leAD consists of the leAD SPORT1 Accelerator, targeting pre-seed startups, the leAD Business Builder, focused on the gap between seed and growth, and the Series A ADvantage Sports Tech Fund.
About 2020 Armor
2020 Armor is a sports technology company that develops martial art scoring equipment and software, transforming martial arts into a mainstream professional sport like soccer. The company’s flagship product tracks impacts through a vest that shows the score on the vest itself using scoring from popular video games. Customers include the largest martial art clubs in the world. Founders & investors of 2020 Armor are former professional martial art athletes. leAD Sports, founded by the family members of Adidas is a major investor.
2020 Armor’s vision is to be the standard of impact measurement for all martial arts and to be the foundation technology and creators of a new spectator friendly professional martial art league.
