A Startup That Fits the Gym in Your Bag and Puts a Coach in Your Pocket: CatchPad

Sports technologies are rapidly emerging as a fast-growing industry. As sensor technologies, data analytics, and AI-powered systems transform training methods, the sports experience is evolving into something increasingly measurable and personalized. In our conversation with CatchPad’s founder, Ahmet Sancaktutan, we discussed the origin story of this technology that turns training into data, as well as the engineering approach behind it.

The Sports Technology Market Is Growing

The sports technology sector is rapidly expanding on a global scale.

• Global sports tech market: $20+ billion
• Annual growth rate: around 20%
• Fastest-growing segments:

Performance analytics
Fitness technologies
Sports data platforms
Wearable technologies

This growth highlights how sports are increasingly merging with data and technology.

New Players in Sports Technology

At first glance, CatchPad may seem like a piece of sports equipment, but its founders position it very differently: as a performance technology platform.

According to Sancaktutan, sports are just the starting point.

He explains that human movement extends beyond sports, intersecting with fields such as education, rehabilitation, health, and cognitive development. CatchPad is positioned precisely at this intersection. Their goal is not just to build a training device, but to transform movement into measurable and meaningful data.

“When people see their own progress, they become motivated again. Pushing limits and discovering potential becomes inevitable.”

From a Gym to Portable Technology

CatchPad’s story began with a surprisingly simple idea. Sancaktutan and his team initially envisioned creating a space that would encourage people to engage more with sports—offering a more interactive and distinctive training experience.

However, as technology advanced rapidly, they realized that the sports industry wasn’t benefiting from these developments as much as other sectors. This gap pointed to a significant opportunity within sports technology.

At first, the system was being developed for their own gym. But they soon recognized that this model wasn’t scalable. Instead of continuously building new physical spaces, they concluded it would be far more effective to make the experience portable.

Over time, the idea of an interactive gym evolved into a product that fits inside a bag.

“The idea of an interactive gym gradually evolved into a technology that fits into a bag.”

Not Just Human Movement, but the Mind Becomes Data

CatchPad positions itself at the intersection of performance technology, human movement analytics, and interactive training systems. As Sancaktutan describes it, CatchPad doesn’t just train the body—it engages the mind and even activates emotions through a unique experience.

Although the system is supported by hardware, its core lies in software. Movements are tracked through sensors, data is analyzed, and users receive feedback on their performance and progress.

The platform can now also function independently of hardware, delivering interactive and gamified training experiences through mobile devices.

For this reason, CatchPad is not just a product, but a human performance platform that can operate across different hardware levels—or entirely through software.

Sensors, AI, and Real-Time Data

CatchPad’s technological infrastructure is not built around a single device, but a multi-layered system.

The platform operates with high-precision touch, motion, balance, and force sensors, combined with computer vision technologies and AI-powered data analytics. Thanks to wireless communication, data is processed in milliseconds and transferred via mobile applications to cloud servers.

This is where AI comes into play: data is analyzed, and personalized performance reports and training recommendations are generated.

But according to Sancaktutan, the real difference lies not in generating data—but in making sense of it.

“Every movement turns into data, and every piece of data turns into progress.”

The Era of the Digital Coach

CatchPad doesn’t just display scores.

The system analyzes metrics such as reaction time, agility, attention, and decision-making performance at the millisecond level. It identifies users’ strengths and weaknesses, reveals progress trends, and provides personalized training recommendations.

Over time, the system learns about the user and adapts training accordingly. In a way, athletes begin to train with their own digital coach.

“In the future, every athlete will have their own digital coach.”

A Hybrid Business Model

CatchPad’s revenue model is built on a hybrid structure.

Hardware sales, digital platform subscriptions, enterprise solutions, and experience spaces form the core components of this model.

While hardware serves as the entry point to the market, the real value is created on the platform side. With a subscription-based software model, the system evolves into a scalable and sustainable revenue structure.

A SportsTech Product Made in Türkiye

CatchPad is fully developed and manufactured in Türkiye.

Electronic design, software development, and product engineering processes are all handled by the company’s in-house team.

One of the biggest challenges in hardware production has not only been building the device itself, but managing a multidisciplinary process—requiring simultaneous hardware and software development—under limited resources and time pressure.

According to Sancaktutan, when they look back today, their greatest achievement is not just the product itself, but the hard-to-replicate engineering know-how, team culture, and experience they have built along the way.

Global Sahne

Today, CatchPad has reached users in more than 46 countries.

Its global growth strategy is driven by distributor networks, experience zones, and partnerships across sports and education sectors.

Taking part in major international tech stages such as CES, Web Summit, MWC, and VivaTech has also been a key factor in increasing the startup’s global visibility.

“It’s great to be applauded on global stages. But the real motivation is the thanks you receive from a coach—or especially from a parent.”

The Future of Performance Technologies

According to Sancaktutan, sports technologies will expand into a much broader domain in the coming years.

Training will no longer be limited to physical performance; cognitive performance will become an integral part of sports.

In the future, every athlete will have their own AI-powered coach, and sports technology will increasingly evolve into human performance technology.

For CatchPad, sports are just the beginning.

In the long term, the goal is to build a human performance ecosystem that can be used anywhere movement and thinking exist.

“In the future, every athlete will have their own digital coach.”

CatchPad’s Areas of Use

CatchPad is not a technology developed solely for gyms.

Today, it can be used across a wide range of fields:

Sports clubs, coaches, and athletes
Youth teams, academies, and sports schools
Fitness centers, personal trainers, and fitness enthusiasts
Physiotherapy, rehabilitation, and special education (occupational therapy)
Schools, teachers, and movement education programs

This wide range of applications significantly increases the platform’s scalability.

Ahmet Sancaktutan’s Philosophy of Entrepreneurship

For me, entrepreneurship is the journey of combining what you’ve learned to create value. Hardware, software, data… Developing all of them together isn’t easy, but with patience and vision, it’s possible. Ultimately, technology exists not to replace humans, but to unlock their potential.”

The Future of Sports Technology According to Ahmet Sancaktutan

According to Sancaktutan, three major transformations will shape the future of sports technology:

• Data-driven training systems
• AI-powered personal coaches
• Cognitive performance measurement

Sports technology is increasingly evolving into human performance technology.

Ahmet Sancaktutan’s Perspective

Motivation:
To unlock and develop the potential within people through a unique experience.

Biggest Challenge:
Competing with advanced technologies while racing against time and limited resources.

Long-Term Vision:
Transforming CatchPad from a sports product into a human performance platform focused on talent discovery and development.