St. John's, NL — trophi.ai has received funding through the Government of Canada's AI Compute Access Fund, part of a national initiative supporting 44 Canadian companies working to scale artificial intelligence products. The fund, delivered under Canada's Sovereign AI Compute Strategy, helps small and medium-sized businesses offset the cost of high-performance computing needed to build and commercialize AI technology.
The support will help trophi.ai power the compute-intensive AI and machine learning workloads behind its coaching platform, including cloud infrastructure, GPU access, and data processing needed to deliver real-time, personalized coaching feedback to gamers. The funding aligns with trophi.ai's ongoing work extending its AI coaching technology from sim racing into Rocket League, where the platform analyzes gameplay data in real time to help players improve core mechanical and tactical skills.
The AI Compute Access Fund was announced by the Honourable Evan Solomon, Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation, at Web Summit Vancouver. The fund is designed to help Canadian companies overcome the high cost of AI compute, one of the biggest barriers to building and scaling AI products domestically.
"AI is not just a technology of the future — it's already helping Canadian companies solve real problems and compete globally," said Minister Solomon. "Through the AI Compute Access Fund, we're helping Canadian businesses get the processing power they need to scale, create jobs, and keep more of the value they create here in Canada."
trophi.ai, based in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, has grown rapidly since launching its AI coaching platform, expanding from sim racing into Rocket League and building toward future gaming and real-world training applications. The compute support will help the company continue that growth while keeping its AI development rooted in Canada.
About trophi.ai
trophi.ai builds AI-driven coaching software that delivers real-time, personalized feedback to esports players and traditional athletes, with a focus on sim racing and skill-development technology. Headquartered in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, trophi.ai has been supported by both provincial and federal innovation funding as it scales its platform.
St. John's, NL — March 3, 2026 — trophi.ai has received a $950,000 repayable contribution from the Government of Canada, delivered through the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency's (ACOA) Regional Artificial Intelligence Initiative (RAII). The funding will support trophi.ai's marketing and product development as the company scales its AI-driven coaching platform for gaming and simulation.
The announcement was part of a broader $8.5 million federal investment across 40 AI projects in Atlantic Canada, unveiled by AI Minister Evan Solomon at Halifax's Volta Labs. The funding — delivered through RAII and the Regional Economic Growth through Innovation (REGI) program — is aimed at accelerating AI adoption across sectors including fish processing, manufacturing, healthcare, and education throughout the region.
Of the 40 projects announced, trophi.ai received the largest repayable contribution under RAII, reflecting the scale of the company's growth plans. RAII is a five-year, $200-million program born out of the 2024 federal budget, delivered by Canada's regional development agencies to help small businesses and nonprofits adopt and commercialize new AI technologies; ACOA administers $15.7 million of that funding across Atlantic Canada.
"By accelerating responsible adoption across the country, we are strengthening Canada's competitiveness and positioning Atlantic Canadian firms to lead in the global digital economy," said Evan Solomon, Minister of Artificial Intelligence.
The investment builds on trophi.ai's momentum as a St. John's-based AI company, following prior provincial support for its coaching technology, and will help fund continued expansion of its product and go-to-market efforts.
About trophi.ai
trophi.ai builds AI-driven coaching software that provides real-time, interactive feedback to esports players and traditional athletes, with a focus on sim racing and skill development technology. Headquartered in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, trophi.ai is backed by both provincial and federal innovation funding as it scales its platform.
St. John's, NL — trophi.ai has been named the winner of the Business Builder Award at the 2025 St. John's Board of Trade Business Awards, presented by RBC. The award recognizes local businesses that achieved outstanding growth in sales, market presence, and team size between September 2024 and September 2025.
The Business Builder category celebrates companies that have built real momentum over the past year, strengthening their foundations and making a meaningful impact within the local business community. trophi.ai was recognized alongside a strong field of nominees for the growth and traction it has built across its AI-driven coaching platform.
trophi.ai was one of ten category winners honoured at this year's Business Awards gala, joining a group that included Icewater Seafoods, named 2025 Business of the Year.
"We're incredibly proud of how far we've come, and even more excited for what's ahead," said the trophi.ai team. "It's an honour to be recognized for our growth and impact within the business community here in St. John's."
About trophi.ai
trophi.ai builds AI-driven coaching software that provides real-time, interactive feedback to esports players and traditional athletes, with a focus on sim racing and skill development technology. Headquartered in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, the company has grown its team significantly over the past year while expanding its product and market presence.
St. John's, NL — March 26, 2025 — trophi.ai, a Newfoundland and Labrador-based AI software company, today announced it has received an investment of $605,567 from the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to build on its existing AI-based coaching software for esports players.
The funding, delivered through the province's Business Growth Program, will support a research and development project to add new capabilities to trophi.ai's platform — including a real-time, voice-based coaching system for eRacing. The team will tackle complex technical challenges such as translating live data into spoken feedback and training AI to recognize player mistakes as they happen.
trophi.ai's platform delivers tailored, interactive coaching in real time to gamers and traditional athletes alike, and the company sees long-term potential for the technology to extend skill development beyond gaming and simulation into other fields. Since incorporation, trophi.ai has grown from a team of two to sixteen, with plans to add four new technical roles specific to this project.
The provincial investment leverages a further $956,092 from trophi.ai and $325,000 from other sources, bringing the total project value to $1,886,659.
"With this support, we're pushing the boundaries of AI-driven coaching, shaping the future of skill development in gaming and beyond," said Mike Winter, CEO of trophi.ai. "The momentum we're building today will define how AI transforms learning across industries, and we're proud to be leading that charge from right here in Newfoundland and Labrador."
The Honourable Andrew Parsons, KC, Minister of Industry, Energy and Technology, noted the province's investment reflects its interest in building homegrown AI capability and preparing local talent for the sector's growth.
About trophi.ai
trophi.ai builds AI-driven coaching software that provides real-time, interactive feedback to esports players and traditional athletes, with a focus on sim racing and skill development technology.
St. John’s, NL, Canada — St. John’s-based, trophi.ai, has become one of only a few Canadian tech companies to be accepted into SPEEDRUN, A16Z GAMES’ startup program. The intensive 12-week program provides access to capital, expert guidance, and an influential community. The program concludes with a Demo Day, where trophi.ai will pitch to leading global investors.
“It's a tremendous moment in trophi.ai’s journey,” explains Co-Founder and CEO, Mike Winter, who launched the startup in December 2021. “The magnitude of this opportunity is difficult to describe - only 1% of applicants are accepted into the SPEEDRUN startup program.”
trophi.ai’s acceptance in the program is tied to its artificial intelligence (AI)-driven platform that provides tailored, interactive, one-to-one, coaching in real time to gamers and traditional athletes. It is turning heads in the tech world; trophi.ai estimates the software provided the equivalent volume of 125 years of elite-coaching in just 6 months.
Today, that coaching is focused on video games and simulation, but it has the potential to revolutionize the way skills are honed and goals are pursued across any field.
“Our AI-driven platform is not just an enhancement—it's a complete reinvention of the coaching experience. There is no doubt the successful application of our platform to-date was a critical factor in our acceptance into the program,” Winter added. “But we believe the biggest factor is our vision for the future – we have every intention of expanding this technology beyond virtual environments to tangible settings like real-world sports, industrial environments, and military applications.”
Winter, who moved back to St. John’s to launch trophi.ai, praises the supportive environment for tech startups in Newfoundland and Labrador as an important contributor to the company’s success to-date. trophi.ai has received funding and support from the provincial government department of Industry, Energy and Technology (IET), as well as federal government departments Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) and National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program.
More details on A16Z GAMES is available on its website. Information specific to the SPEEDRUN startup program Winter 2025 cohort is available here.
Media Contact
Sarah Fleming
sarah@covepublicaffairs.ca I 709-725-5830
About trophi.ai
trophi.ai is bringing artificial intelligence-powered elite-level coaching to gamers, traditional athletes, industrial activities and more around the world. trophi.ai estimates the volume of real-time coaching provided by the platform in a 6-month period would take over 125 years for a human coach to provide.
Headquartered in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, trophi.ai has a team of 22 experts in artificial intelligence and start-up tech, including, software programming, data science, and marketing, with a plan to double its team by the end of 2025.
St. John's, NL — Artificial intelligence coaching startup trophi.ai is on track to triple its talent team after raising $3.3Million in venture capital funding for its platform, which uses AI to bring elite personal coaching to virtual motorsportracers and gamers around the world.
“Our platform has the potential to give gamers and athletes a competitive edge at every level, by providing personal, AI-based coaching to weekend warriors, high performance gamers and real-world elite athletes,” said trophi.ai founder Mike Winter. “Together, we are building a new model for coaching that will change how the world thinks about sports. We expect the next generation of champions will be trained on our platform.”
The investment is among the largest ever seed financing rounds for a St. John’s-based tech firm, and comes only 16 months after Winter returned to Newfoundland to launch the company in December 2021.
The funding was led by venture capital fund Build Ventures, supported by Concrete Ventures, and an international collection of angel investors.
The startup expects to hire 10-15 staff for its new downtown office by Summer 2023, including software developers, data scientists, product managers, game designers and marketing talent with plans to expand to a full staff complement of 40 in 2025.
The trophi.ai platform, built by a team of local software developers from its office in St. John’s, rapidly attracted 10,000 users following its alpha launch and is on a path to 100,000 users by 2024.
Build Ventures’ General Partner Patrick Keefe says the investment reflects his firm’s confidence in trophi.ai’s strong leadership team and technical expertise.
“In a short period of time, trophi.ai has made impressive progress with their technology. We see AI coaching as a rapidly growing high potential market and we are excited to support trophi.ai as they expand their team in Newfoundland,” Keefe said.
Winter was born and raised in St. John’s, and graduated from Memorial University of Newfoundland before working intech startups in Ontario, the United States, and Vancouver. He returned home to Newfoundland in 2021 to establish trophi.ai with co-founder Scott Mansell, a UK-based former professional racing driver and top youtube Formula 1 influencer who operates the successful coaching and driver training company Driver61.
Winter says that experience helped him see the potential for AI coaching for everyone, leading him to launch trophi.ai and create opportunities for local talent in his hometown.
“We’re building a world class team here in St. John’s,” he said. “AI is an exciting and rapidly evolving field of innovation and we are thrilled to help Newfoundland become a leader in this space.”
Headquartered in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, trophi.ai is bringing artificial intelligence-powered elite-level coaching to gamers and traditional athletes around the world. Find out more and join our team at trophi.ai.
Media Enquiries: Mike Winter
Co-founder and CEO
trophi.ai mike@trophi.ai
