CHENNAI: Muse Wearables, an IIT Madras incubated startup which is developing a wearable wrist tracker that will measure body vitals and help in early detection of COVID-19 symptoms, is planning to launch the product in the market in August.
The startup has received a fresh funding of Rs 22 crore which has given a boost to its ambitious project.
This round of funding has come from their existing investors and new ones led by Bhaskar Rao Bollineni, managing director of Kims Hospitals. The wristband tracker is equipped with sensors to track skin temperature, heart rate and SpO2 (blood oxygen saturation). The device can continuously track these body vitals remotely and will help in early diagnosis of COVID-19 symptoms.
The tracker is Bluetooth-enabled and can be connected to the mobile phone via an app called the Muse Health App. The user vitals and activity data are stored in the phone as well as a remote server and administrative access can also be provided for centralised monitoring of people in containment areas for COVID-19 symptoms. The tracker can get notifications from the Arogya Setu app also.
“The investors believe in our innovations and believe that we can create a huge difference in the consumer tech space. This funding round helps us to scale faster and establish a strong brand in the market with shorter production cycles,” said K L N Sai Prasanth, co-founder of the startup. With the new funding round, Muse Wearables aims to increase its production cycles and scale up sales. The startup is targeting 200,000 product sales this year and aims to reach 10 lakh by 2022.
Currently, Muse Wearables sells payment-enabled hybrid smartwatches across 70 countries with its wearable payments service live in 29 countries. The startup has plans to launch the COVID-19 tracker wrist band in 70 countries where it has a presence. The startup also plans to establish its brand by entering the retail space.
K Prathyusha, another co-founder, said, “We are coming up with a new offline retail strategy and will establish our retail presence by the end of 2021 in 1,000 stores across the 70 countries we operate in.”