After raising $9 million in venture funding from Norwest Venture Partners and Doll Capital Management earlier this year, Basis Science has been able to continue their year-long research and design development of a new affordable heart and health monitor that can be worn all the live-long day right on your wrist. In anticipation of its showcase at Health 2.0, the startup is today revealing the design and features of its so-called “B1 Basis Band” that will launch in the market later this year.
While there are a number of health-tracking devices on the market today, the Basis Band seems poised to be a disruptive product in the health space. Priced at $199, the Band is on the expensive side but not unreasonable considering the heart and health tracker boasts multiple sensors that measure heart rate continuously, along with calories burned, sleep patterns, and other physiological metrics. What’s more, the device boasts an LCD touchscreen interface that allows for easy navigation and displays the date and time — potentially making it a pretty great replacement for your measly old wrist watch.
Of course, what makes this new health product so cool is that it is connected to a (free) web-based personal dashboard that allows users to view comprehensive data pulled from the device’s monitoring of your heart rate, sleep, and more. The dashboard then helps you further keep track of your overall health and wellness by offering push notifications, suggestions, and a game-ified experience that encourages you to set goals and monitor your progress, or blast health dates to friend and family over social networks.
The data that Basis aggregates is also easily exportable, so that you’ll be able to send your health information to your personal trainer or your physician. Obviously, with the state of the health as it is today, along with the rising costs of healthcare, many people are looking to maintain a more active and healthy lifestyle to avoid those high medical bills and trips to the doctor’s office.
As most health devices on the market today attempt to calculate heart rate through footsteps or by using a smartphone’s accelerometer or GPS, said Basis CEO Jef Holove, the Basis Band offers an evolved alternative, as it uses a series of monitors to decipher health data directly from your wrist and the bloodflow underneath. This optical engine tracks heart rate by directing light into the skin to “see” the user’s blood flow and is complemented by several other sensors, including a heat sensor that tracks skin and ambient temperature changes, a 3-axis accelerometer that records movement and activity, and galvanic skin response sensors.
The device then uses a series of algorithms to cut through the noise and make a number of calculations that result in a precise picture of how many calories you’ve burned, the total amount of physical exertion, sleep patterns, and so on. That data is then served to Basis’ cloud infrastructure and presented to the user in that easy-to-navigate web interface. Pretty cool.
What’s more, as the Basis Band has multiple-day battery life and is composed of polycarbonate (and is water-resistant), it’s lightweight, doesn’t get in the way, and can be worn day and night without any maintenance. It’s also modular, which means that you can change straps, both in color and style, to meet your award-winning sense of fashion. All in all, this makes for a welcome change from cumbersome chest-strap EKGs, or arm-band monitors that only offer basic functionality and that you can really only wear while running.
Basis is also announcing today that it is appointing an advisory board that includes some medical, social, and gaming big whigs to help oversee the impending launch of the Basis Band. The new advisory team will boast long-time Facebook executive (and early employee) Kevin Colleran, along with Charles and Kai Huang, the co-founders of RedOctane and creators of Guitar Hero, as well as Patrick McGill, Daniel Kraft, a Stanford and Harvard trained physician, and Jeff Rosenthal, who will be bringing his co-founders of the Summit Series along for the ride.
Chris Verplaetse, who is being added as vice president of device development, was most recently at Cisco Systems, where he was a key engineer in the development of Flip Video.
The addition of these experts to its advisory team is a big strategic win both for Basis and the health industry, and is a sign that these smart, integrated devices like the Basis Band are attracting attention from experts across the board. With a sizable team in place and a sharp new product ready for launch, Basis could just be at the front of a game-changing shift in consumer health products.
It’s pretty amazing stuff. Check out Basis at home for more information.
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