Lumo Raises $10 Million Series B, Starts Building Wearables Partnerships

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.

The startup launched its first fitness wearable for runners recently called Lumo Run. This is a device added to specialized clothing, accompanied by an app that tracks runs and movement to help avid runners improve their workout.

…we can deliver a wearables platform that will ultimately help people address significant health, wellness and performance issues. Monisha Perkash
New investor Wuxi Healthcare Ventures led the latest round, along with previous investors Madrona Venture Group, Innovation Endeavors, AME Cloud Ventures, and Innovalue Capital Ltd. MAS Holdings Ltd., and SanDisk founder Eli Harari also join as strategic partners and new investors.

Lumo plans to use the new funds to build out a platform for those in the apparel, fitness, health business that will work with data from Lumo devices. The plan is to expand the tech platform for apparel and footwear outside of the products Lumo currently offers.

As implied by the name, Wuxi Healthcare Ventures holds a strategic portfolio of possible partners for Lumo’s plan to embed Lumo Run and other products with fitness and healthcare providers.

“We’re now entering the next phase of the wearable industry,” Lumo CEO Monisha Perkash said. “With the support of our new investors including WuXi, a leader in research and development in healthcare applications, we can deliver a wearables platform that will ultimately help people address significant health, wellness and performance issues.”

This is a somewhat similar marketing play to Fitbit, which partners with bigger brands to embed its software and use the data. However, Fitbit chose to focus on fashion instead of fitness brands such as Nike or Under Armour. The fitness wearable company cozied up with Tory Burch for a fashion collection last year.

Meanwhile, fitness brands are also starting to gobble up and embed their own technology into their clothing. Adidas bought Runtastic this summer and Apple has partnered with Nike.

Perkash couldn’t name certain partners she was talking to at this time but said those talks were on the table and that we’d hear about them soon enough.

“Wearable technology will fundamentally change the traditional healthcare industry and address a number of previously unmet wellness needs,” WuXi CEO Ge Li said of the new investment.