Sportsman Tracker nabs $950K

Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Sportsman Tracker, which provides communications and tracking platforms for hunters and anglers, has raised $950,000 in funding. Huron River Ventures and Start Garden led the round with participation from Detroit Innovate, Muskegon Angels and Karis Capital Partners.

PRESS RELEASE

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., January 29, 2015 – Sportsman Tracker, a suite of mobile applications for hunters and anglers, today announced it has closed a $950,000 financing round, which will help launch the startup’s next-generation mobile platform and expand its reach into the $90 billion hunting and fishing industry.

Sportsmen use the Hunting and Fishing Trackers to view maps, chart hunting and fishing locations, and record their results in the field. Sportsman Tracker analyzes user data along with weather and other proprietary sources, to provide by the most advanced prediction algorithm in the industry to forecast time, location, and probability of success for each individual hunter. Sportsman Tracker is like having a personalized professional guide every time a sportsman enters the field, providing the right tip and advice to match the environment and conditions.

Fueled by its functionality and rapid pace of growth, Sportsman Tracker’s early stage investment was led by venture capital funds Huron River Ventures and Start Garden, with additional investment from Detroit Innovate, Muskegon Angels and Karis Capital Partners.

“Sportsman Tracker focuses on tools which allow hunters and anglers to master their sport and enhance their experience,” said Jeff Courter, founder and CEO of Sportsman Tracker. “With early investments from Start Garden, we were able to have some great success with developing apps showing exponential user adaptation month-to-month during its first 14 months on the market. With this new investment, the intelligence we can build into the next release, will guarantee Sportsman Tracker as a must-have addition to a hunting or fishing trip.”

Sportsman Tracker wants to transform the hunting and fishing experience to make it more personal, enjoyable and successful for outdoors enthusiasts. Its apps are driven by the company’s proprietary adaptive algorithm that analyzes a user’s location and hunting species to predict animal behavior, and produce an accurate forecast of where and when to hunt or fish. While the prediction is a feature of the apps, it is one of many features on the Sportsman Tracker platform.

“We are very excited about Sportsman Tracker and how their platform can become an outdoor sports destination for sportsman of any background. They have put together a great technology with an extremely scalable platform,” said Tim Streit, partner at Huron River Ventures. “Sportsman Tracker is perfectly positioned to break into the hunting and fishing industry to establish an entirely new brand. Huron River Ventures and our co-investors recognize the value Sportsman Tracker brings to this market and looks forward to assisting Jeff and his team with scaling and market adoption.”

About Sportsman Tracker

Sportsman Tracker is a leader in outdoor sports analytics and mobile technology, providing hunters and anglers with communications and tracking platforms to create an accurate forecast of where and when to hunt or fish. The company launched in 2013 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and has a team of five employees. Both Hunt Predictor and Fish Predictor have been available for free in the iTunes App Store and Google Android Market since 2013. For more information about Sportsman Tracker visit www.sportsmantracker.com.

About Huron River Ventures

Huron River Ventures is an early-stage venture fund that invests in exceptional companies developing disruptive technologies and business models in agriculture, energy, transportation and other sectors. The fund backs great people with big ideas and prides itself on adding value and help entrepreneurs succeed. For more information, please visit www.huronrivervc.com.

About Start Garden

Start Garden is an unconventional venture capital fund that invests in more than a hundred ideas a year in small increments. The program brings financial, intellectual and social capital to ideas at the earliest stage by connecting them to the resources of an entire region. Located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, it is founded by Rick DeVos who’s past projects included ArtPrize, 5×5 Night, Momentum and Spout.com.