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§ Private Profile · Brighton, MI, USA
SaaS platform automating compliance, training, and credential management for youth sports organizations, ensuring safety and regulatory compliance.
Ankored is a Chicago, Illinois-based software company that provides a cloud-based compliance, credential management, and training automation platform for youth sports organizations. The business-to-business software-as-a-service platform helps municipalities, schools, parks and recreation departments, and non-profits automate the onboarding process for staff, coaches, and volunteers. By tracking background checks, required training, and certifications, the system assists sports leagues in managing risk and ensuring regulatory compliance with mandates like the SAFESPORT Act of 2017. To date, the early-stage startup has raised $4 million in seed funding, with the investment round led by venture capital firm Rally Ventures. Under the leadership of executive Evan Hunt, Ankored maintains a strategic partnership with the Positive Coach Alliance to integrate coach education directly into its compliance ecosystem. The software company was founded in 2021 by Ilan Gofman and Seth Lieberman.
Ankored has raised $4.0M across 1 funding round.
Ankored has raised $4.0M in total across 1 funding round.
Ankored has raised $4.0M in total across 1 funding round.
Ankored's investors include Rally Ventures, HC9 Ventures, IA Capital Group, SixThirty, Netalie Nadivi.
Ankored has raised $4.0M across 1 funding round. Most recently, it raised $4.0M Seed in September 2025.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 1, 2025 | $4M Seed | Rally Ventures | HC9 Ventures, IA Capital Group, SixThirty, Netalie Nadivi | Announced |
Ankored is a SaaS platform that automates compliance management for youth sports organizations, handling background checks, certifications, training, and paperwork to ensure safety and 100% compliance.[1][2][4] It serves sports leagues, teams, and administrators by replacing spreadsheets, emails, and manual tracking with a centralized, customizable hub that streamlines onboarding for coaches, volunteers, and staff, saving time and reducing risk.[1][2] The platform solves the chaos of chasing incomplete paperwork and human errors, enabling focus on core activities like coaching and games, with features like transferable compliance passports for portable staff records.[1][2]
User testimonials highlight strong growth momentum, including achieving 100% compliance for head coaches and 98% for assistants, alongside exceptional interest in the software industry per market trackers.[1][3]
Ankored emerged to address the widespread pain of manual compliance in youth sports, where administrators waste hours on spreadsheets, email chases, and paperwork for background checks, trainings, and certifications.[2] While specific founders and founding year details are not detailed in available sources, the company built its platform around real-world frustrations voiced by sports directors, evolving from a basic automation tool into a comprehensive ecosystem for safety and compliance management.[1][2][4] Early traction is evident in customer stories, such as transforming coaching education programs and automating processes that previously relied on paper forms and manual input.[1][2]
Ankored rides the wave of SaaS automation in niche verticals, particularly youth sports where safety regulations and liability risks are intensifying amid growing participation and scrutiny.[1][2][4] Timing aligns with post-pandemic sports recovery, rising demands for vetting amid abuse prevention efforts, and market forces favoring easy-to-adopt tools that mitigate human error in volunteer-heavy ecosystems.[2][3] By simplifying compliance, it influences the ecosystem positively, enabling safer programs, scalable operations for leagues, and indirectly supporting talent pipelines in amateur sports.[1][4]
Ankored is poised for expansion as youth sports digitize, potentially integrating AI for predictive compliance risks or expanding to adjacent sectors like camps and schools.[3][4] Trends like stricter safety mandates and portable digital credentials will propel growth, evolving its role from paperwork solver to essential safety infrastructure. With strong market buzz, expect deeper penetration in sports tech, amplifying its impact on safer, more efficient youth athletics—transforming compliance from a burden back to the speed of sport.[1][2][3]