Ofir Dagan from Movmenta: we measure the performance of the shoe, not the athlete

Ofir Dagan is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Movmenta, a UK-based sports technology start-up established in 2022, which has research and development operations in France. The start-up is developing “deep-tech IoT (internet of things) solutions designed to revolutionise athletic performance and equipment intelligence”.

“Our team brings together serial entrepreneurs, engineers, and industry veterans with deep roots in biomechanics, the footwear world, engineering, and deep technologies”, shares the CEO. The company also highlights external support and partnerships intended to help it engage with brands and the wider industry, including Joe Foster, the founder of Reebok, and Arkema, a global supplier of specialty materials.

According to Dagan, “Movmenta builds a holistic technology platform that connects the biomechanics of running and other sports activities to the real-world conditions of the footwear being used”. At the heart of the platform is SOLLO, one of the company's first product applications, a battery-free sensor designed to be embedded into running shoes during manufacturing, providing real-time insights without changing how the shoe feels in use. 

Described as lightweight and low-cost, the sensor makes “intelligent footwear” feasible for mainstream products rather than limited to elite performance. The technology is adaptable to the specific needs of each partner, and complies with anti-counterfeiting applications, digital product passports and supply chain traceability requirements.

The commercial push became more tangible in April 2026, when Movmenta announced the launch of KIPNEXT CONNECT with KIPRUN, Decathlon's running brand, which the company described as the first smart running shoe capable of measuring its own cushioning wear.

Dagan traces the origin of Movmenta to personal experience. “The inspiration is deeply personal”, he continues, “I have been a passionate runner for four decades, and at my age, I am facing the real negative side effects on my joints that are directly linked to the aggressive long-term training I have sustained since I was young, without ever having been aware of how the shoes I was using were affecting my body and the quality of my activities”.

“When I began experiencing repeated injuries in my knees and hips, I started asking a question I assumed would have an obvious answer: why is there no technology that can provide reliable, tangible data on the expiry point of a shoe based on my individual profile and actual usage?”. One of his key frustrations was the lack of reliable information on when a shoe stops providing adequate protection, particularly when it still looks usable from the outside.

Although the sports industry has invested heavily in measuring people (by tracking heart rate, pace, recovery and sleep), he identifies a gap in tracking the equipment that athletes rely on most directly. Movmenta’s stated approach is therefore to measure the shoe itself, producing data that complements existing athlete metrics rather than competing with them. “This is a distinction we consider fundamental at Movmenta. We measure the performance of the shoe, not the athlete”, the CEO emphasises.

“The numbers tell a compelling story about why this matters. Approximately 50% of runners are injured on an annual basis”, he argues, adding that a meaningful share of those injuries is linked not only to training load but also to footwear degradation that runners cannot objectively judge.

Movmenta aims to address this “blind spot” by giving athletes clearer safety insight so they can train consistently over the long term rather than pushing through without reliable feedback. This "blind spot" is central to Movmenta's positioning, which Dagan summarizes as "making the invisible visible" in footwear performance.

For Dagan, connected equipment data transforms product development by linking movement mechanics with the degradation of footwear in real-world use. “This is really the core of what Movmenta does, and it operates on two levels simultaneously”, he explains. At the individual level, the goal is to determine a personalised “expiry point” for a shoe based on a user’s profile and how the product is actually used. 

“Our platform correlates the real-time condition of a shoe measured by the SOLLO technologies with the big data we hold through our biomechanical research and lab expertise”. The intended outcome is to help runners and other users understand when functional performance has declined enough to raise injury risk. Dagan also links this concept to end-of-life guidance, suggesting that the data could steer users towards appropriate recycling options at replacement.

At the industry level, he argues that field data provides brands with a clearer picture of how products perform across different terrains, climates, body types and usage patterns, information that cannot be fully captured in controlled laboratory environments. “That intelligence feeds directly back into design and materials development, shortening innovation cycles and ensuring that product decisions are grounded in real-world evidence”, the CEO highlights.

“On sustainability, the implications are equally significant”, he notes. Connected footwear could support circularity by enabling brands and consumers to track shoes through end-of-life pathways. “Movmenta's ambition is to use data as the infrastructure for a genuinely circular footwear economy”.

Dagan expects connected footwear to shift brand-consumer relationships, turning them from one-off transactions into ongoing exchanges built around shared data. “The shift will be profound, and I think it will happen faster than many in the industry expect”. In his view, shoes become “live products” that can provide evolving guidance throughout their lifecycle, extending engagement beyond the point of sale.

He also emphasises that the same connected infrastructure can serve multiple brand priorities, such as product authentication, supply chain traceability and compliance with emerging product information requirements. “These are not separate investments; they are applications of the same core technology, deployable at mass-market cost. This is a fundamentally different commercial model for the industry”, the CEO highlights.

For consumers, he frames the promise as improved trust and safety, replacing guesswork and marketing-led claims with measurable insights into footwear condition. Over time, the CEO suggests that Movmenta should become visible to consumers as a recognisable indicator that the shoe is being monitored through independent, data-based performance alerts.

The long-term proposition is that a better understanding of equipment will encourage consistent participation in sport over time, rather than short bursts of performance followed by avoidable setbacks.

With testing already underway alongside major brands and early commercial roll-outs planned, connected footwear is moving from concept to reality rather than remaining a distant prospect. The deeper aspiration “Movmenta is built around is consistency over time. The ability to keep running, keep training, keep competing, not for a season, but for decades. For life”.