You may think your smart watch or activity tracker can help you keep tabs on your health, but don’t be shocked if your doctor is more skeptical.
Wearable producers such as Apple, Fitbit, and Pebble will ship more than 76 million of the devices by the end of the year, according to market research firm IDC. Some doctors and researchers, however, remain unimpressed, They question the value of the particular metrics tracked, as well as the validity of the deluge of data these gadgets produce.
Vector Watch, a London-headquartered company that makes smartwatches that last for up to 30 days on a single charge, has raised a fresh $5 million in funding.
The round was led by Bucharest-based investor GECAD Group, with participation from Catalyst Romania and “a group of high net worth individuals.” The company had previously raised a $2 million seed round from GECAD Group in 2014.
Wearables startups have attracted over $2.2B in funding over the past five years, as noted in our wearables industry funding overview. Corporate investors are taking note, and names like Comcast Ventures and Samsung Ventures are placing significant bets in the space. The semiconductor industry in particular has driven corporate investment in wearables, as we’ll see below.
The Internet of Things is the next major phase in computing, following on the heels of the PC and mobile eras. According to one estimate, the IoT will encompass between 20 and 30 billion connected devices by 2020.
Using CB Insights data, we examined investments in IoT startups, including deals and funding, investments by stage, most well-funded companies, and active investors.
Fitbit is to fitness trackers as Band-Aids are to adhesive bandages. If you see someone wearing a rubbery wristband that takes his vitals and records his sleep patterns, you might automatically refer to the device as a Fitbit--even if it's a different brand.
Through emphasizing software as much as physical products and staying focused on a clear mission, Fitbit has managed to corner a crowded market in which it competes with the likes of Garmin, Jawbone, and Apple.
2015 was a slow year for venture deals for wearable computing startups, but there are still wearables companies out there with significant momentum, including new product launches and announcements, as well as funding news. Using CB Insights’ Mosaic algorithm, which combines public data and predictive analytics to assess the health of private companies, we identified some of the hottest wearables startups.
Right off the launch of Lumo Run, Lumo Bodytech, a smart sensors and software platform, has raised $10 million in Series B financing.
Lumo came onto the scene a few years back with Lumo Lift, a wearable device that buzzed users when they slouched to help them improve posture. It has since branched out with Lumo Back, for lower back posture improvement.
How much blood is running through your veins, arteries, and capillaries? To find out, you’d typically need to be motionless. Now a new wearable device may soon be able to give you that information even while you’re moving around, doing normal activities. The flexible patch, which conforms to the skin and uses tiny heat sensors to precisely map the blood flow beneath the surface, could give doctors a high-resolution view of this important indicator of health.
The wearables industry has cooled off in 2015, with deals and funding down from last year, but a few dozen startups have carved out a place for themselves in certain industries and are taking on established players. We used CB Insights data to identify 42 startups attacking fitness, apparel, healthcare, to name just a few of the areas. We mapped out the startups — one-fourth of them early-stage companies — in the graphic shown below.
Wearables startups continue to attract funding from technology’s top investors. With big bets being made in the space, we used CB Insights’ database to identify a few up-and-coming startups that are worth keeping an eye on.
