Vital sign monitoring is critical for health care providers to gauge a patient’s health, well-being, and responsiveness to treatment. These vitals are also indicators of future illness in many cases. Technologies using video combined with ambient light monitoring, radar, and sound made possible by modern sensors allow vital sign monitoring to now happen without contact or even remotely. Norbert Health has developed a vital monitoring solution that provides continuous monitoring for a number of vitals including temperature, heart rate, heart rate variability, and pulse wave velocity (indicator of blood pressure) with readings for respiratory rate and oxygen levels coming soon. On the back end, the company offers a robust data platform to manage these readings whether it’s in a healthcare, workplace setting, or home setting, leading to an unprecedented understanding of health patterns and illness before the onset of any visible system. AlleyWatch caught up with CEO and Cofounder Alexandre Winter to learn more about how Norbert has built the technology to make contactless monitoring a reality, the company’s strategic plans, latest round of funding from investors that include Serena Capital, HCVC, Exor, C4 Ventures, LDV Capital, and Newlab.
Cool Tech
Aetion Raises Another $110M to Empower the Healthcare Industry with Data to Make Informed Decisions and Reduce the Time to Market
While the growth of big data and analytics help businesses understand their customers, serve better ads, and sell more, in healthcare, these same methodologies and technologies have a real enduring, profound societal impact. Real-world data (RW) and real-world evidence (RWE), made possible by technology, are being used by pharmaceutical companies and the healthcare ecosystem to develop, evaluate, implement, and optimize new treatment approaches. Aetion is the RWD and RWE platform that enables the healthcare system to harness the power of data to shape the future of medicine. The platform is designed to accelerate the time to market without compromising scientific rigor. For example, the company partnered with the FDA to develop real-world analytics related to COVID and vaccines. AlleyWatch caught up with CEO Carolyn Magill to learn more about Aetion’s approach to RWD is enabling the healthcare system to make informed decisions, the company’s strategic, plans, latest round of funding, and much, much more.
Kumospace Raises $3M for its Immersive Video Chatting Platform That Mimics Real World Interactions
Zoom fatigue is real; so much so that researchers at the Virtual Human Interaction Lab out of Stanford (yes, this is a real institute) have come up with Zoom Exhaustion and Fatigue Scale. A growing number of startups have entered the space with creative twists on how to make video chatting more engaging. Kumospace has built an immersive video chat platform that focuses on spatiality that traditional video chatting platforms do not offer. Taking elements inspired by the gaming industry, Kumospace offers a video chatting experience that is more reflective of real-world interactions where multiple conversations are going on in the same space simultaneously. This functionality serves groups wells and can be used for video calls, virtual happy hours, meetups, or even holiday parties. AlleyWatch caught up with Cofounder and CEO Brett Martin to learn more about the future of video calls, the inspiration for the venture, and latest round of funding led by Boldstart Ventures.
KUDO Raises $21M for its Multilingual Video Conferencing Platform That Provides Real-Time Translation
The pandemic and the massive transition to video-conferencing solutions have made the world flat but what happens when there are language barriers? KUDO is a video-conferencing platform that provides real-time language interpretation for live meetings and conferences. Attendees can listen and speak in their native languages, while expert interpreters translate so that everyone else in the audience is able to participate and understand. The platform currently supports 100+ languages and experiences a 3500% increase in demand since the lockdown began. The company has recently launched an on-demand marketplace for conference interpreters as the world opens up and enters a new era of hybrid meetings. AlleyWatch caught up with Cofounder and CEO Fardad Zabetian to learn more about the company’s impressive progress since we spoke after the company’s seed round last June, future strategic plans, latest round of funding from investors that include Felicis Ventures, Maverick Ventures, Elephant VC, FJ Labs, Global Founders Capital, and Bill Ackman.
Fi Raises Another $30M for is Smart Connected GPS Collar for Dogs
According to the American Pets Product Association, Americans spent $99B on their pets in 2020. With the growing popularity of IoT, Americans also spent ~$10B on wearables last year. Fi, the company behind a proprietary GPS-enabled smart collar for dogs, fuses the two. Aside from tracking location, the collars monitor the movement, activity, and sleep patterns of the dog and the company is increasingly focused on using machine learning to address potential health issues that may arise and be detected from the data it collects. Fi’s Series 2 collar, which has a battery life of 3 months without a charge, retails at $149 and the GPS tracking service is $99/yr. AlleyWatch caught up with Cofounder and CEO Jonathan Bensamoun to learn more about the inspiration for the business, the company’s future plans, experience managing its supply chain during the pandemic, and latest round of funding from investors that include Longview Asset Management, Advance Venture Partners (AVP), Gokul Rajaram RRE Ventures, Lerer Hippeau, and Freestyle.
Parsec Raises $25M to Ensure You Can Connect to Any Computer in the World Remotely
Remote working has become the new normal but for some professions, having access to the powerful computing systems found at the office is difficult to replicate. Parsec is a platform that allows users to remotely access virtual machines and their powerful PCs from any device without any noticeable latency. The company got its start in gaming, where it was popular with gamers that wanted to play on the go, but since the pandemic, the technology is being used by animators, game developers, engineers, or anyone that needs enhanced processing power remotely. AlleyWatch caught up with Cofounder and CEO Benjy Boxer to learn more about the impact the company’s technology has had on working remotely, the company’s expansion plans, and latest round of funding from investors that include Andreessen Horowitz, Makers Fund, Notation Capital, NextView Ventures, and Lerer Hippeau.
Actasys Raises $5M for its Sensor Cleaning Technology Necessary for a Future with Autonomous Vehicles
There are approximately 22 billion sensors used in the automotive industry per year according to a 2017 study and the average automobile has at least 60 individual sensors. The push towards autonomous vehicles will only increase the number of sensors used exponentially. Actasys has built a critical sensor-cleaning technology for vehicles and smart mobility systems ensuring that these sensors can be operated continuously safely. ActaJet™ is an electronically controlled array of actuator cartridges that generates strong jets of air without the need for mechanical pumps or compressors. The company is partnered with automotive companies like Volvo and the technology is also being deployed in other use-cases such as robots, camera systems, traffic monitors, and more. AlleyWatch caught up with CEO Miles Flamenbaum to learn more about the core technology, its practical uses, and the company’s recent funding round.
Augury Raises Another $55M for Its Predictive Maintenance Platform for Industrial Machinery
We often forget to listen more and talk less when dealing with problems. The same happens to be true for industrial machinery. Augury is the predictive maintenance platform that “listens to machines” to detect what is wrong using IoT sensors to understand acoustic signals to troubleshoot. Augury has compiled the largest library of machine fault data and uses this data to train its AI model. The company is on pace to triple its contracted revenue this year AlleyWatch caught up with Cofounder and CEO Saar Yoskovitz to learn more about Augury’s platform, impressive, growth in this trillion-dollar industry, and latest funding from investors that include Qumra Capital, Insight Venture Partners, Eclipse Ventures, Munich Re Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures, and Lerer Hippeau.
nTopology Raises $40M to be the Design Software of Choice for Engineers Working with 3D
Additive manufacturing has disrupted the entire manufacturing process paving the way for the rapid adoption of 3D printing to create stronger, lighter, more complex parts and systems. nTopology is the first engineering design software built natively for this shift. CEO Bradley Rothenberg offers some insight into how manufacturing has changed as a result of 3D printing, how the company raised 33% more than its target in less than weeks (all during the pandemic) from notable investors that include Insight Partners Root, Canaan, DCVC, and Haystack, and much, much more…
Smiling Robots Alleviate Human Anxieties with Expper Technologies
Loneliness and isolation are heightened in the midst of the pandemic. Can robots fill a void? Expper’s founder Karén Khachikyan says the company’s robot Robin changes a kid’s perception of medical treatments, where they will no longer feel isolated, lonely, and scared. The innovator explains how his whimsical four-foot robot employs digital facial expressions to form lasting bonds with its young users.
Cadence is the Ecofriendly Effective Solution to Organize Your On The Go Routine
Cadence is a cross-market brand that touches the lifestyle, beauty, wellness, fitness, and travel spheres. The mass-market potential comes from the fact that we aren’t asking consumers to change their existing habits: we’re providing a solution that fits into their daily lives. CEO and Cofounder Steph Hon shares how Cadence is taking plastic from beaches and turning into one of the most pragmatic purchases you’ll buy.