Founder Story: Marnus Coetsee on Building Pro’Tech Rugby
Thu Mar 5, 13:00 - Thu Mar 5, 14:30
Innovation City
ABOUT
Founder Story: Marnus Coetsee on Building Pro’Tech Rugby
5 March 2026 | 13:00–14:30 | Innovation City Cape Town
What does it take to build a hardware startup in one of the world’s toughest, most traditional sports?
Join Marnus Coetsee, founder of Pro’Tech Rugby, for a candid Founder Story unpacking the journey from a blank page to validated prototypes, patent filings, and a live funding round — all in pursuit of meaningfully reducing concussion risk in rugby.
This session goes inside the real work: deep engineering decisions, rigorous testing and validation, manufacturing realities, IP strategy, and what it means to push innovation in a sport that doesn’t tolerate compromise.
What you’ll take away:
- What it really takes to build and validate a physical product — beyond pitch decks
- How Pro’Tech Rugby approached testing, certification, and player adoption
- Lessons on scaling hardware, managing global partners, and protecting IP
- A firsthand view into raising capital for a mission-driven, impact-led company
Who it’s for:
- Founders and operators building hardware, sports tech, or deep-tech products
- Investors interested in defensible IP, impact, and performance-driven innovation
- Engineers, product leaders, and designers working in high-performance environments
- Anyone curious about the future of player safety and contact sport
Meet the founder!
After the conversation, stay for networking and connect directly with Marnus — ask questions, dig deeper into the technology, and learn what’s next for Pro’Tech Rugby as it heads toward Rugby World Cup 2027.
Seats are limited.
SPEAKER
Marnus Coetsee is the Founder and Prototype Engineer behind Pro’Tech Rugby, a Cape Town–based sports technology company focused on materially reducing concussion risk in rugby.
Combining a background in engineering with firsthand experience as a rugby player, Marnus set out to tackle a problem he believes has been underestimated for too long: the extreme forces involved in on-field collisions and their long-term impact on player health. Rather than iterating on existing foam-based designs, Pro’Tech Rugby was built from the ground up — reimagining what a scrum cap could be using advanced materials and energy dissipation technologies.
Since founding the company in 2024, Marnus has led the development of working prototypes that outperform incumbent products in laboratory testing, while progressing toward validation, certification, and global patent protection. His work sits at the intersection of engineering rigour, player-centred design, and entrepreneurial execution.
Driven by a belief that rugby can remain both competitive and sustainable, Marnus is focused on building technology that players will actually wear — without compromise — and on contributing to a broader shift toward meaningful innovation in contact sport safety.
EVENT ATTENDANCE
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