With the help of AI, two student entrepreneurs plan to help coaches and parents of injured junior athletes assess whether it is safe to let a player back in the game.

Isaac Hierlihy and Morgan MacKinnon, both 19, and second-year university students (Hierlihy at St. Francis Xavier and MacKinnon at Saint Mary’s), are building a company called Athlete Aid, which includes an AI-supported triage system for assessing injuries.

The fledgling business has competitors but competitors do not incorporate triage tools and they focus on professional sports and Division One teams in the U.S, CFO Hierlihy told Entrevestor.

“But we are looking at highly funded amateur sports teams…and we are looking to integrate triage and tracking into one solution,” he said. “We make it clear we are not doctors. This is just advice backed by medical research.”

Over the last year, the founders have raised $28,000 in non-dilutive funding and are approaching a pre-seed funding round of $250,000 prior to a full launch in late 2025. They intend to use the $250,000 to expand the software development team and for customer acquisition.

“We are designing a tool to allow coaches and parents to make more medically insightful decisions at the field and rink,” said Hierlihy, a business student, during a break from preparing for mid-terms.

“The product will also allow coaches to track players’ recovery status and determine which players are at greatest risk of injury, as well as how they recover.”  

He said the two co-founders were sportsmen in high school and had lots of injuries.

“Our coaches didn’t know what was wrong. I was in hockey aged 12 and had a broken wrist. No one knew and I was sent back on the ice.”

Hierlihy said users of the product will click on the injured area on a map of the body and answer a series of questions, then the AI will give recommendations.

“A lot of times, the player will have to go to the hospital. We are an intermediary. Users get advice on the spot. Plus, coaches can see all the analytics of the team’s injuries at the end of the season. This last point is based on the 50 plus calls we have done with potential clients.”  

Hierlihy said the data could help coaches make decisions on how to prevent injuries. It will also be able to identify high-risk players by showing the relationships between all the variables.

The co-founders are working with a 21-year-old product development lead who attends UNB Fredericton and a board of advisors with an emergency room doctor and a corporate lawyer.

The $28,000 in non-dilutive funding acquired in the last 12 months comes from wins at contests such as University of New Brunswick’s Apex Business Plan Competition, and the Collide Launch Program through Dal Innovates.

Both founders are from Saint John, NB and also benefitted from ConnexionWorks co-working space, that supplied a young entrepreneur grant that is paying for development of the pilot MVP.

Hierlihy said he has always enjoyed solving problems. As co-founder of Valley Pressure Washing, he launched a house-washing business that generated $45,000 in sales during its first year.

He has high praise for all the assistance he has received along the way.

“In high school, I attended the IDEA Centre in Saint John, an entrepreneurship space, where the teacher, Mr. Van Beek, had an impact on every student. He cares about each student. I don’t want to give all the credit to him but he’s been a huge driver. Atlantic Canada has a ton of resources for young entrepreneurs like us.”