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Eat Sleep RIDE
DefunctTechstars '18Toronto, CA · Founded 2008 · 5 employees on LinkedIn · 1 known investors
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EatSleepRIDE is a community platform for motorcycle enthusiasts that combines social networking features with tools tailored to riders. The platform enables users to exchange information, ideas, and knowledge about motorcycles while making connections with other riders.
Also known as EatSleepRIDE · EatSleepRIDE Motorcycle GPS · ESR
Investors · 1
How we know: the Techstars portfolio · open dataset · Top 3000 Accelerator Startups (no YC) 2026-08 · Not right? Tell us
Company profile
researched Sep 2026EatSleepRIDE (ESR) operated a mobile app platform and website for motorcycle riders, combining community features with riding tools. The app let riders discover and share motorcycle roads and motorcycle-friendly points of interest, record and play back trips offline with distance, speed, lean angle and elevation data, share live tracking links with friends and family, and organise private group rides showing each participant's position on a map. Privacy controls allowed trips and locations to be kept private or shared selectively, and the company stated GDPR compliance.
Its safety product, CRASHLIGHT, used AI processing of built-in smartphone sensors to distinguish real crashes from false alarms and, on detection, notified a user-designated safety team with location and medical information; riders could cancel a false alarm. The company also built an ESR Safety Score layered on its crash-detection IP, intended to predict crashes and convert into an actuarial risk score riders could share with insurers, and a gamification engine with mapping, leaderboards and geo-caching used to run branded riding challenges in different countries.
The website described ESR as an open platform for the exchange of everything motorcycle, built by a team of motorcyclists, and stated the company was based at the DMZ at the Metropolitan University of Toronto and was developed in part with support from the Canadian Media Fund. Services were discontinued on 27 September 2024.
Business model
ESR offered a free mobile app with a paid upgrade: CRASHLIGHT crash detection was sold at US$49 per year. The company also ran sponsored challenges with motorcycle industry partners, earned monetary contributions on completed transactions via partner referrals, sold branded merchandise through an ESR shop, and solicited voluntary support through a Ko-fi page.
Annual subscription for CRASHLIGHT crash detection (US$49/year), partner/affiliate commissions on completed transactions, sponsored gamified challenges funded by motorcycle manufacturers and industry partners, and merchandise sales.
Traction
At the time of shutdown the company reported 250,000 app installs and 60,000 active members, more than 250,000 members over the company's lifetime, 650,000 saved motorcycle trips, over 400,000,000 motorcycle kilometres tracked and tens of thousands of motorcycle roads added to the platform.
Latest developments
ESR ceased services on 27 September 2024, pulling its mobile apps from app stores and shutting down servers; logged-in users could continue recording rides locally but server-dependent features became unavailable. The CEO said the company was 'going dark for a while' and hoped to reset and return in collaboration with partners, inviting users to join a mailing list.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history, risks & controversies
Market position
The company positioned itself as an independent technology company offering what it described as the most affordable smartphone-based motorcycle crash detection, and stated it had led in community, content, ride tracking and crash detection for motorcyclists. Its CEO stated that the market was not yet ready for connected motorcycle technology.
Smartphone-only crash detection requiring no additional hardware, combined with ride tracking, route discovery, group-ride coordination and a gamified challenge system in a single motorcycle-specific platform, plus a safety score derived from crash-detection IP intended for insurance risk pricing.
Technology
Mobile apps for iOS and Android backed by company servers. CRASHLIGHT applied AI to smartphone sensor data to detect and verify crashes without additional hardware, requiring GPS, cellular and data connectivity to send alerts. Additional technology included offline ride recording and playback with speed, lean angle and elevation data, GPX export from the website, live tracking, group-ride mapping, and a gamification engine with mapping layers, leaderboards and geo-caching.
Go-to-market
Direct consumer acquisition through free app downloads and an online community, amplified by sponsored challenges run with motorcycle brands (for example Ride Out UK presented by Guardian Bell and Manitoba by Motorcycle), social media channels, and distribution partnerships such as the Canada Safety Council bringing ESR to Canadian riding schools.
Motorcycle riders of all types, including solo touring riders and group-ride organisers; members were concentrated in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. Manufacturers, insurers and safety organisations were addressed as sponsors and prospective partners.
Geography
Headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, with a membership base concentrated in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia and challenges run in markets including the UK and the Canadian province of Manitoba.
History
The CEO's 2024 statement described 14 years of building mobile technology for motorcycle riders. The company was based at the DMZ, part of the Metropolitan University of Toronto, and received early support from the Canadian Media Fund. Over its life it worked with more than 50 alumni employees, many of them students and early-career developers, ran R&D collaborations with Honda Innovations and Bosch mySPIN, built a cross-Canada 100th anniversary road-trip gamification engine with Harley-Davidson Canada, and received support from Techstars AI, the Ontario Vehicle Innovation Fund, the Ontario Centre for Innovation, the Ontario Media Fund, the OMIDTC tax credit, SR&ED and IRAP. On 27 September 2024 it stopped services, removed its apps from the App Store and Google Play and took down its servers, while saying the pause was not necessarily permanent.
Risks & controversies
The company stated it did not have a functional business model able to support ongoing operational costs, citing the expense of operating a technology company and a market it judged not yet ready for connected motorcycle technology; these factors led to the suspension of services and removal of its apps.
Compiled by commissioned research from 8 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Timeline · 5
launches, deals, and filingsCEO Marina Mann announced that as of Friday 27 September 2024 the company would stop services, remove the EatSleepRIDE mobile apps from the App Store and Google Play and take down its servers, citing the absence of a functional business model to support operational costs.
The Canada Safety Council was credited with bringing ESR to riding schools across Canada.
ESR built a cross-Canada 100th anniversary road trip gamification engine with Harley-Davidson Canada to connect riders with dealerships nationwide.
The company conducted research and development collaborations with Honda Innovations and Bosch mySPIN.
ESR introduced a Safety Score built on its motorcycle crash-detection IP, intended to predict crashes and convert into an actuarial risk score that riders could share with insurance companies.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
▸Research sources · 8
primary sources listed
- Eat Sleep RIDEeatsleepride.com · web
8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Eat Sleep RIDE do?
- EatSleepRIDE (ESR) was a Toronto motorcycle app platform for route discovery, ride tracking and smartphone crash detection.
- Who are Eat Sleep RIDE's investors?
- Eat Sleep RIDE's investors include Techstars.
- Where is Eat Sleep RIDE headquartered?
- Eat Sleep RIDE is headquartered in Toronto, CA.