Tokyo (SCCIJ) – Idun Technologies, a start-up based in Zurich, has won Sony as a new funding partner after having participated in the Sony Startup Acceleration Program Europe. Idun develops and manufactures comfortable wearable sensors for the long-term monitoring of physical activities. Sony as a manufacturer of wearables such as headphones hopes to benefit from the new Swiss technology in its own future product line-up. The start-up did not disclose the amount of the seed funding round in which Sony participated.
The patented material of Idun allows for a long-term wearing of electrodes (© Idun Technologies).
Material breakthrough
Idun Technologies has found a solution for the biggest challenge of the wearable market: Its preparation-free and skin-conformal electrodes with excellent recording quality enable wearables for future healthcare needs and the Internet of Humans. The investment by Sony allows the Swiss startup to further explore the use of its technology in future products. “We can’t wait to scale our innovation,” said Simon Bachmann, CEO of Idun Technologies.
In general, the market for such wearable products is considered huge. The market researcher Grand View Research predicts global sales of 2 billion dollars in 2025. According to the Worldwide Wearable Shipment report of researcher IDC, the global market for wearables almost doubled year on year in the third quarter of 2019 with a shipment volume of 84.5 million dollars. Moreover, the sales of hearables, such as smart wireless headphones, more than tripled to 40.6 million dollars. Such devices now account for almost half of the entire wearable market.
However, biometric wearables monitoring and measuring heartbeat or brain activity face high entry barriers in the consumer mass market. To ensure accuracy and comfort, electrodes need to be highly conductive, as well as soft and skin-conformal. Currently, there is no scalable solution for complex applications, such as in-ear or through-hair brain monitoring that is accurate, as well as comfortable and unobtrusive for a longer time period.
Séverine Chardonnens, Co-founder & CTO and Simon Bachmann, Co-founder & CEO (© Idun Technologies).
Long-term wearing enabled
The technological answer to these challenges comes from Switzerland: According to Séverine Chardonnens, CTO and co-founder, the Idun electrodes are completely free of the gel material used in conventional electrodes. Instead, the design mimics the geometry of grasshoppers’ feet to achieve a self-adhesive surface. As a result, the new material enables long-term monitoring without irritating the skin and avoids the risk that the electrodes dry out and stop working. These sensors even work underwater in a depth of up to 40 meters.
Idun, a spin-off from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, aims to develop the best interface between the user’s skin and wearable devices to connect humans in everyday life. The material named Dryode is the first product in a development pipeline working towards continuous body monitoring for sports diagnostics, well-being, and brain-computer interfaces.
Since 2018, Idun Technologies has been supported by the Swiss incubator for young technological enterprise, Venturelab, and participated in its programs Venture Kick, Venture Leaders Life Sciences and Venture Leaders China programs. The startup also appeared in the TOP 100 Swiss Startup Award in 2018. 90% of Swiss startups have benefited from cooperating with Venturelab. Its alumni have collected more than 5 billion dollars seed money.
Text: SCCIJ based on material of Idun Technologies
