RALEIGH – Valencell, with a new CEO, is seeking to capitalize on shift in the wearables market, and other North Carolina startups are hoping to capitalize on changes in their own areas of foucs as they participate in the Consumer Electronics Show this week in Las Vegas.

Based in Raleigh, Valencell is set to launch new biometric sensor hardware and software, with fully-operational technology on display at their booth.

The company, which recently announced that it hired former Texas Instruments executive Kent Novak as its new CEO, will showcase more than 30 commercially available products that use the biometric sensor technology it has developed.

Kent Novak

“There are a lot of different ways we can impact people’s lives,” said Novak in an interview.  “That is very exciting.”

Valencell’s technology is fueling the growth of a new era of wearable devices, said Novak, including hearing aids, sleep therapy devices, biometric patches for heat-related injuries, and cuff-less blood pressure monitoring.

The wearables industry is expected to continue to grow in 2019.  IDC forecasts worldwide wearable shipments to reach 214.6 million next year, dominated by wristwatch wearables, which are expected to represent more than 80 percent of all devices shipped for consumer use, even if the growth of the industry slows.

“Most people think of the wearables market as fitness trackers and watches,” said Ryan Kraudel, a spokesperson for Valencell.  “People like to wear things on their wrist, and are accustomed to wearing things on their wrist.”

The market is expected to grow to a total size of at least $5.5 billion by 2025, according to IDTechEx.  The company is itself projecting the future expansion of consumer wearables, even if overall growth slows, said Kraudel,  “But we’re putting our sensor technology into a broad range of devices, and form factors, and use cases,” said Kraudel.

“We see a lot of opportunities is in consumer wearables,” said Novak, “and being able to add new applications.”

Other NC firms at CES

Five North Carolina startups and two NC business organizations are featured at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, NV, January 8-11, 2019 highlighting some of North Carolina’s entrepreneurs and thought leaders at the world’s largest consumer electronics event, as part of the North Carolina Startup Pavilion and podcast series.

“CES is the go-to event for companies and investors looking for the latest new tech,” says Elaine Rideout, CEO of WISER Systems, one of the featured North Carolina startups. “Eureka Park, where the NC Startup Pavilion is located, is the place they all start. It’s a great way to kick off the year–whether you’re looking to network with sales prospects, partners, and investors–or just want to get an idea of what’s new and upcoming.”

NC startups and organizations participating include:

Each participant is a featured guest on a pre-show podcast to highlight their participation as well as
having the opportunity for an on-site interview broadcast live from the show floor. Exhibitors and guest
speakers discuss their company and goals for CES as well as their role in the North Carolina startup ecosystem.

Source: TradeShow Manager

Next in wearable tech: hearables

In June, Valencell announced a deal with Sonion, a company with leading research in deploying micro-acoustic technologies in consumer hearing instruments,  with the goal of making accurate biometric data universal in hearing health and consumer markets.  In a few months, the companies have made progress in this mission, said Jesper Ahlmann Funding Andersen, president and CEO of Sonion.

“We look forward to demonstrating how Sonion technology can deliver incredible audio experiences for consumer hearables and hearing health devices,” said Andersen.  The companies will partner at CES to demonstrate the latest biometric sensors embedded in Receiver-in-Canal (RIC) hearing aids for health monitoring and vital sign tracking as well as new technology enabling accurate, cuff-less blood pressure monitoring and measurement in an earbud.

A Valencell sensor in a wearable

Valencell president and co-founder Dr. Steven LeBoeuf is giving a presentation, Hearables: The Era of Smart and Augmented Hearing, on the main stage at the Digital Health Summit 2019.  Dr. LeBoeuf will discuss the convergence of consumer wearables and medical devices using the latest market trends at the ear as a case study.  It’s a large market opportunity, projected to be worth at least $20 billion.

There’s a convergence underway in consumer hearable devices and traditional hearing aids, typically more defined as a medical device, said Kraudel.  Hearing aids are already incorporating voice assistants, mobile applications, and accelerometers, said Kraudel, and that will continue in 2019.

The convergence of wearables and medical devices

At CES, Valencell will demonstrate the latest advancements in its PPG-based, cuff-less blood pressure sensing technology, which enables accurate blood pressure estimations in multiple form-factors, including mobile phones, earbuds and hearing aids.

Picture a family member that suffers from hypertension, or high blood pressure, said Novak.  Traditionally, that person must monitor their blood pressure at fairly regular, rigid intervals throughout the day, as much as seven or eight times.

That can be quite onerous and disrupting, said Novak.  But imagine if that person didn’t need to lug around a blood pressure machine that included a cuff, the traditional device used to gauge systolic and diastolic levels, and instead, could monitor, measure, and record blood pressure while listening to their favorite songs.  Deploying the technology into wearable, comfortable, and well-designed earbuds will absolutely change that experience, said Novak, and likely have a supplemental result of patients better following and charting their data.

“What’s going on in the broader market is that there is a convergence of consumer wearables and health and medical devices,” said Kraudel.  According to Kraudel, Apple, Fitbit, Garmin, and even Samsung are all rapidly moving to build and release personal health devices or medical devices.  And medical device companies are moving toward making devices that can and are going to be worn outside of medical facilities, he said.

“The first phase was all about activity tracking,” said Kraudel, including step counts, calorie counts, sleep monitoring, and other interesting data.  While interesting, said Kraudel, it wasn’t all that insightful.

“The second phase of wearables growth is hinged on how you provide more insightful metrics to help a person achieve a meaningful goal,” said Kraudel.  “The way you do that is with biometric sensors because biometric sensors can tell you how your body is responding at any given time.”

That’s the technology that Valencell is developing, and that’s the technology that they’ll be showcasing at CES.

“As these markets start to merge,” said Novak, “accuracy is going to be key.”