Ex-Team Canada Support Team Raises $1.3M for High-Level Corporate Team Building

Halifax-based SaaS startup Innerlogic has successfully secured $1.3 million in seed financing, marking a significant step in its mission to leverage the founders' extensive experience in Olympic team-building to revolutionize company culture using artificial intelligence (AI). The funding round was spearheaded by Halifax-based Concrete Ventures, with additional participation from Tidal Venture Partners, Techstars, and Toronto-based Middle Cove Capital.

Innerlogic’s co-founders, CEO Bryce Tully and President and COO Mike Bawol, bring a wealth of experience from their roles with Team Canada during four different Olympic Games events. Tully, a mental performance consultant, and Bawol, a performance data analyst, have translated their expertise in fostering high-performance athletic teams into a platform designed to accelerate the development of high-performance culture within corporate environments. This venture, founded in 2020, aims to apply the principles and strategies of elite team-building to the corporate world, demonstrating that the methods used to create winning sports teams can be universally applied to business settings.

Tully articulates the crossover between sports and business, stating, “While a locker room at the Olympics may seem like a stark contrast to a corporate boardroom, the key principles and strategies of building high-performance teams are universal and pervasive.” This insight underscores the foundational philosophy of Innerlogic: the principles of high-performance teams, whether in sports or business, are fundamentally the same.

Innerlogic's platform addresses a common problem faced by many companies: the collection and utilization of employee data. Traditional methods of gathering data through surveys often result in valuable insights being lost in a "black box," where the data remains unanalyzed and unused. Innerlogic seeks to transform this data into actionable insights, providing businesses with analysis and reporting, behavior-based coaching actions, and mechanisms for company alignment and accountability.

The platform employs AI to tailor its content to the specific needs of each company, utilizing the unique people operations data collected. This approach allows businesses to implement immediate changes to improve their culture, fostering a high-performance environment. Innerlogic’s use of AI in this context is innovative, as it enables the platform to deliver customized, data-driven strategies that are designed to enhance organizational performance and culture.

The startup currently boasts a client base of 40, split evenly between sports teams and businesses. This dual focus reflects the founders' background in sports, which served as an initial market entry point. However, Innerlogic’s primary target is businesses with 500 to 5,000 employees, as these organizations stand to benefit significantly from the platform’s capabilities.

Innerlogic’s participation in the spring 2024 cohort of Techstars Boston has been instrumental in its recent progress. The startup completed the accelerator program’s demo day in May, which provided valuable exposure and growth opportunities. With the new seed funding, Innerlogic plans to scale its sales and marketing efforts, enhance its go-to-market strategies, and further develop its product. The company has also enlisted the help of a growth consultancy to drive these initiatives forward.

Patrick Hankinson, General Partner at Concrete Ventures, highlighted the importance of company culture in business success, stating, “We’ve seen how culture can make or break a company. We are blown away by the team’s technical knowledge and their innovative incorporation of AI to address this massive challenge and opportunity to high-performance culture.” This endorsement from Concrete Ventures underscores the potential impact of Innerlogic’s platform on the corporate world.

Innerlogic’s focus on transforming corporate culture is timely and relevant, given the increasing emphasis on employee engagement and organizational performance in today’s business landscape. The integration of AI into their platform not only differentiates Innerlogic from traditional HR solutions but also provides a scalable and adaptable approach to fostering high-performance cultures.

In summary, Innerlogic is poised to make a significant impact on the way companies approach culture and performance. By leveraging the founders’ Olympic team-building expertise and incorporating advanced AI technology, the startup aims to provide businesses with the tools they need to cultivate high-performance environments. The recent $1.3 million seed funding will support Innerlogic’s efforts to expand its market presence, enhance its product offerings, and ultimately, transform the corporate landscape with a focus on data-driven, high-performance culture.