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Genetrainer
Techstars '19London, GB · Founded 2013 · 5 employees on LinkedIn · 1 known investors
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UK company offering a customisable athlete performance platform that combines training, wellness and genetic data for sports teams.
Also known as Genetrainer Elite
Founders & leadership
Genetrainer was founded in 2013 by Patrick Dura.
Investors · 1
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Company profile
researched Sep 2026Genetrainer, founded in 2013 and based in the United Kingdom, builds software that personalises training using genetic and physiological data. Its original consumer-oriented product generated online training plans, exercises and advice derived from a user's DNA, working with a range of commercial genetic tests: users selected fitness goals and received a plan computed against their genetic profile. The system connected to popular devices and apps so that heart rate, sleep and weight could be tracked and training plans automatically adjusted to current body condition and fitness level.
The company's current offering, Genetrainer Elite, is a high-performance and individualisation platform sold to sports teams. Modules cover wellness management, RPE and subjective load questionnaires, gym and strength-and-conditioning session creation and distribution, custom questionnaires, medical and injury/recovery tracking with protocols, lifestyle and body metrics from third-party devices, and correlation analysis to identify performance peaks, optimal zones and risk. The platform ingests GPS and video files in standard formats, supports bespoke actions triggered by data upload, and lets teams control what data is shared with athletes. Genetics, age and training stress are combined into individual load models intended to improve predictive accuracy. Additional features include natural-language querying of team data, detection of workload spikes and sleep or movement anomalies, automated reporting and outlier flagging, role-specific dashboards, mobile input and sync, encryption, two-factor authentication and tiered staff access levels.
The company is categorised across biotechnology research, fitness, health care, sports and training, and is a small organisation of roughly 1-10 people.
Founding story
Genetrainer was built on University of Bristol research by its founders, Bristol PhD graduate Ralph Pethica and Julian Gough, Professor of Bioinformatics in the university's Department of Computer Science, and was described as the world's first computer-guided fitness training system using a person's DNA. A university representative framed it as a translation of research spanning bioscience and computer science.
Business model
Genetrainer licenses its performance platform to sports teams under contracts that include hands-on engineering support. It states that every contract comes with custom development work built around the client's workflow and priorities, with white-label options allowing teams to use the tools under their own brand and host on their own servers, and direct access to engineers rather than a ticketed support layer.
Latest developments
The company's website presents Genetrainer Elite, an AI-assisted team performance platform with natural-language data querying, predictive risk detection, automated reporting and role-specific dashboards, alongside GPS and video analysis support and genetic calibration of load models.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history
Market position
A small UK company (1-10 employees, seed stage) positioned at the intersection of genetics, biotechnology research and sports performance software, differentiating from generic athlete management systems by offering customisation rather than a fixed feature scope.
Genetrainer emphasises full customisation of calculations, metrics, displays and dashboards instead of a fixed feature set; genetic calibration of individual load models; white-labelled and self-hosted deployment options; and direct engineer access with a stated average response time under two hours.
Technology
The platform combines genetic data, age and training stress into individual athlete load models, and aggregates data from hundreds of third-party devices and apps, GPS systems and video in standard formats. It applies AI and natural-language interfaces for querying team data, anomaly detection on workload, sleep and movement patterns, automated reporting, outlier flagging and correlation analysis. Security features include encryption, two-factor authentication and role-based access. Its public web stack includes Cloudflare, Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, Amazon SES, Google Workspace, Google Tag Manager, reCAPTCHA, jQuery, Modernizr and Retina.js.
Go-to-market
Genetrainer markets directly to sports teams through its website, inviting prospects to request a demo or arrange a call, and emphasises a partnership model in which its engineering team continually customises the platform to each team's requirements. It has also used accelerator programmes and startup competitions for visibility, including LeWeb'13 London and MassChallenge Switzerland.
Sports teams and their performance, coaching, strength-and-conditioning and medical staff; the earlier product targeted individual consumers seeking personalised fitness plans based on their own DNA.
Geography
Headquartered in the United Kingdom, with locations listed including Kings Cross and other parts of London, Bristol, and Harrow in the UK, and Colombes / La Garenne-Colombes in France. The company participated in an accelerator programme based in Renens, Switzerland.
History
The company was founded in 2013 on University of Bristol research by Bristol PhD graduate Ralph Pethica and Julian Gough, Professor of Bioinformatics in the university's Department of Computer Science. In June 2013 it was selected from over 350 startups as one of 16 finalists and then one of three winners of the LeWeb'13 London Startup Competition, receiving its prize on the plenary stage on 6 June 2013. In 2019 Genetrainer was selected into the fourth MassChallenge Switzerland accelerator cohort, listed under the High Tech category as a United Kingdom company. Its product positioning has since moved from consumer DNA-based fitness plans to a team-level athlete performance and individualisation platform.
Compiled by commissioned research from 6 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 · 2
launches, deals, and filingsGenetrainer (United Kingdom) was named among the 76 startups accepted into MassChallenge Switzerland's fourth accelerator cohort, listed in the High Tech category. The cohort represented the top 8% of applicants across 34 countries, with access to mentoring, corporate partners and up to CHF 1M in zero-equity prize money.
Genetrainer was selected from over 350 startups as one of 16 finalists and named one of three winners of the LeWeb'13 London Startup Competition, receiving its prize on the plenary stage on 6 June 2013.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
Legal entities · 1
corporate structureCompanies House · registry record
View on Companies House ↗- Registered name
- GENETRAINER LIMITED
- Company number
- 08376918
- Status
- Active
- Company type
- Private limited company
- Incorporated
- 28 Jan 2013
- Registered office
- 27 Old Gloucester Street, London, WC1N 3AX
- Nature of business (SIC)
- 74909 — Other professional, scientific and technical activities n.e.c.
- Accounts
- last made up to 31 Jan 2025 · next due 31 Oct 2026
- Confirmation statement
- last made up to 28 Jan 2026 · next due 11 Feb 2027
Current officers · 3
- Pierre-Olivier Carles — director, appointed 1 Jan 2015
- Patrick Dura — director, appointed 20 Jan 2017
- Ralph Brian Pethica — director, appointed 28 Jan 2013
Source: Companies House public register · retrieved 3 Aug 2026. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
▸Research sources · 6
primary sources listed
- MassChallenge Switzerland Announces its 4th Startup Cohort - MassChallengemasschallenge.org · web
6 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Genetrainer do?
- UK company offering a customisable athlete performance platform that combines training, wellness and genetic data for sports teams.
- Who founded Genetrainer?
- Genetrainer was founded by Patrick Dura in 2013.
- Who are Genetrainer's investors?
- Genetrainer's investors include Techstars.
- Where is Genetrainer headquartered?
- Genetrainer is headquartered in London, GB.