Planega techniquesThe Vancouver-based motion analytics company wants to help people improve rehabilitation and reduce injury risks with an AI-powered monitoring sensor that can be integrated into shoes, orthotics or insoles to analyze users’ movement patterns.
Plantiga is participating in the Startup Battlefield at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023, and although it has been around for a while, it has launched the The fifth generation of its sensor pod, Arc5in June of this year, also had minimal exposure and funding, with only about $5.2 million so far.
Quinn Sandler, co-founder and CEO of Planega, started the company as a side project with his father, Norman McKay, in 2017. But his father died suddenly of aggressive prostate cancer two weeks after Planega acquired the Seattle Mariners and Los Angeles Lakers. In a proof-of-concept pilot project, while the company was going through Creative Destruction Lab Accelerator As part of the 2017 collection.
His late father spent years in gait labs and knew that if they could create a walking lab in a shoe, it would change how people’s health, movement and well-being are monitored, which would have a “blue-sky opportunity for a diverse population.” Sandler says.
Sandler adds that Plantega’s AI is a movement coach named Norman, named after his late father.
Arc5 can collect movement data for up to 12 hours, and the data enables health experts, whether a podiatrist or a specialist connected to a sports team, to gain insights into how the subject moves. “Mobility is a vital marker of human health,” the company describes it, because it can “predict rehabilitation outcomes, injury/fall risk, disease progression and improved performance.”
“We have developed models that will learn how a person moves over four to five sessions, and then predict when they move differently from their baseline,” Sandler said. “Our AI learns how a person moves, and then it can monitor them [that] To make changes, suggest areas that need strengthening, assess the strength of parties and more.
The core challenge that Plantega is solving is one that has been going on for a long time, even in the age of quantum self-technology. Simply put, it can be difficult to measure people’s biomechanics in real-world environments. Unlike other motion analytics or wearable devices like watches and rings that measure parts of your body like your lungs or heart, Plantiga’s monitoring sensor pod, an Internet of Things (IoT) system, can be integrated into “any type of shoe” to capture motion data, Sandler explains. “environmentally relevant” human biomechanics anywhere – in the gym, on the field, or in between – without a camera, cable, or additional sensors.
Plantiga currently has approximately 90 clients, including elite athletes on sports teams across the NBA, MLB, MLS, NFL, NHL and NCAA, as well as physical therapists, trainers, surgeons, athletic trainers, the Canadian Armed Forces and many other militaries.
Sandler added that she intends to move into the broader consumer market, which is already a big opportunity. Global sports technology market It is expected to rise to $55.14 billion by 2030, up from $14.72 billion in 2023; The global wearable technology market is expected to grow $186.14 billion by 2030An increase of 14.6% compound annual growth rate as of 2023.
Moreover, it cooperates with a number of major shoe brands in joint development, licensing and distribution, Sandler added.
Its investors include Radical Ventures, Vanedge Capital, and angel investors like Haig Farris (founder of D-Wave) and Barney Bell.
Sandler said it is not surprising that Planega is in the process of raising another round of funding, without providing the exact amount of funding. The company, which employs nine employees, expects to reach profitability in the next six months.