WE-Hub Incubated Product Research Startup Startoon Labs Raises First Round Equity Funding

Secunderabad, Telangana-based product research and development startup, Startoon Labs, has raised the first round of equity funding for its operations.

Startoon Labs designs and develops industrial-grade IoT products and smart electronics systems in the embedded systems and robotics fields. The startup was incubated at WE-Hub, a women-exclusive incubator led by Telangana state government, launched this year on Women`s Day.

Founders in 2017, by husband-wife duo - Mythreyi Kondapi and Susurla V.S. Suresh, Startoon Labs is essentially a private research laboratory that is into product Development, Teaching and Engineering consultation along with world class R&D services in the field of Electronics, Embedded systems, Automation and Robotics.

Mythreyi Kondapi is an alumnus of Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad and Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, wihle her husband Susurla V S Suresh, is ab alumnus of Indian Institute of Management-Kolkata and Indian Institute of Technology-Madras in November 2017.



The startup will use the freshly raised funds to build Pheezee, a smart physiotherapy tool kit. The device is being designed to monitor and report patients’ rehabilitation and recovery by tracking their mobility and muscle strength.

With Pheezee, one can remotely perform the exercises and let his/her physiotherapist give suggestion over phone about the progress, making the patient's recovery process fast and easy.

Besides, the startup is also developing an open source, Arduino compatible IOT board called SLabs 32 that allows to develop prototypes in the fields of wireless data acquisition, data logging, visualization, remote monitoring/ control of machines with ease.

Startoon Labs is part of the first cohort of 26 women-led startups selected for incubation at WE Hub, a Government of Telangana initiative to promote and foster women’s entrepreneurship from all sectors including IoT, AR, VR, Edutech, Healthtech and FMCG.

“Hardware development is time consuming and capital intensive. Biomedical hardware is much more so, given the stringent compliance, clinical validation and trials required. Finding investors is always challenging,” Ms. Kondapi said, adding that they had found an investor who believed in the product and the team.

Stating that hardware is an integral part of any device or machine, Mr. Suresh said, “When we started off, a lot of software was being built indigenously but hardware was still at a nascent stage. Startoon Labs is building indigenous systems in the field of IoT and healthcare”. Assuring that WE Hub would enable market linkages for the commercial adoption of Startoon Labs’ physiotherapy device Pheezee, CEO of WE Hub Deepthi Ravula said: “The team at Startoon Labs represents inclusive workforce, progressive talent and innovative mindset that we are championing at WE Hub.”

“WE Hub has been working diligently in connecting women-led startups to financing and in catalysing their growth through strategic partnerships,” Principal Secretary Jayesh Ranjan said.


Source - The Hindu

Developed By An Indian Startup, Smart shoes Is A Next-big thing In Wearable Industry

Ever thought of a Smartshoe? Well, Secunderabad, India based startup Ducere Technologies has come up with one.

The Smartshoe is called Lechal shoes and is expected to cost more than $100 (approx Rs.6000). Lechal in Hindi literally translates to "take me along", (lay-ch-al), in Hindi is developed with the vision to offer products that are intuitive and unobtrusive, facilitating every user to evolve to higher lifestyles, reaping the benefits of making technology work for them. It is the world’s first interactive haptic footwear, innovated in India and designed for every one.

The shoes are Bluetooth enabled and will hit the market in September this year. The shoes work by syncing with a smartphone app that makes use of Google maps and vibrate to communicate to the users when and where to turn in order to reach their destination.

The user just needs to feed in his or her destination in their Smartphone and then leave it in their pocket because the buzzing in their left or right Smart-shoes will take them safely to their destination.

This wonder product has been invented by an Indian startup called Ducere Technologies Pvt. Ltd which was started by two US educated Indian engineers in 2011. The company now has around 50 employees and is situated in the Secunderabad city of Telengana.

According to Krispian Lawrence, co-founder and chief executive of Ducere, these Smartshoes will work as a natural extension of the human body. A person can forget his wallet, his watch while leaving the house but he can never forget wearing shoes.

The shoes were initially developed to help the blind. The cane which is currently used by many blind people helps them only in detecting obstacles but these shoes will tell them which direction to face or turn in order to reach their destination.  While testing the smart shoes, the company realized that they can be equally useful for the sighted as well.

Features of Lechal Smart-Shoes -

Navigation:
The user simply needs to set a destination in the app, which then uses GPS to determine the best route.As the user walks, the shoes indicate upcoming directions via direct tactile sensations: vibrating on the left side of the soles to indicate an upcoming left turn, for example. The shoes can also sense and communicate other information, such as obstacles in the way.

Fitness:
'LECHAL' footwear counts your steps, and tracks your calories burnt. Through the App the user can set goals, create custom workout sessions and much more. It can help count the steps taken, calories burned and monitor your fitness goals.

Interaction:
'LECHAL' footwear allows you to tag locations, set destinations, start/stop/pause navigation, and much more, all by executing simple foot gestures.



The shoes can also be used to record the distance travelled and the amount of calories burnt.

The shoes and its removable insoles have been developed and designed in India but manufactured in China. The shoes and inserts will be available in red and black color options.

According to Mr. Lawrence, the company has already received orders for some 25,000 pairs and is expected to sell 100,000 pairs by March next year. The company is also planning on tying up with eye institutes and non-profit organisations to sell the Smartshoes to the blind at an affordable price.

Developed By An Indian Startup, Smart shoes Is A Next-big thing In Wearable Industry

Ever thought of a Smartshoe? Well, Secunderabad, India based startup Ducere Technologies has come up with one.

The Smartshoe is called Lechal shoes and is expected to cost more than $100 (approx Rs.6000). Lechal in Hindi literally translates to "take me along", (lay-ch-al), in Hindi is developed with the vision to offer products that are intuitive and unobtrusive, facilitating every user to evolve to higher lifestyles, reaping the benefits of making technology work for them. It is the world’s first interactive haptic footwear, innovated in India and designed for every one.

The shoes are Bluetooth enabled and will hit the market in September this year. The shoes work by syncing with a smartphone app that makes use of Google maps and vibrate to communicate to the users when and where to turn in order to reach their destination.

The user just needs to feed in his or her destination in their Smartphone and then leave it in their pocket because the buzzing in their left or right Smart-shoes will take them safely to their destination.

This wonder product has been invented by an Indian startup called Ducere Technologies Pvt. Ltd which was started by two US educated Indian engineers in 2011. The company now has around 50 employees and is situated in the Secunderabad city of Telengana.

According to Krispian Lawrence, co-founder and chief executive of Ducere, these Smartshoes will work as a natural extension of the human body. A person can forget his wallet, his watch while leaving the house but he can never forget wearing shoes.

The shoes were initially developed to help the blind. The cane which is currently used by many blind people helps them only in detecting obstacles but these shoes will tell them which direction to face or turn in order to reach their destination.  While testing the smart shoes, the company realized that they can be equally useful for the sighted as well.

Features of Lechal Smart-Shoes -

Navigation:
The user simply needs to set a destination in the app, which then uses GPS to determine the best route.As the user walks, the shoes indicate upcoming directions via direct tactile sensations: vibrating on the left side of the soles to indicate an upcoming left turn, for example. The shoes can also sense and communicate other information, such as obstacles in the way.

Fitness:
'LECHAL' footwear counts your steps, and tracks your calories burnt. Through the App the user can set goals, create custom workout sessions and much more. It can help count the steps taken, calories burned and monitor your fitness goals.

Interaction:
'LECHAL' footwear allows you to tag locations, set destinations, start/stop/pause navigation, and much more, all by executing simple foot gestures.



The shoes can also be used to record the distance travelled and the amount of calories burnt.

The shoes and its removable insoles have been developed and designed in India but manufactured in China. The shoes and inserts will be available in red and black color options.

According to Mr. Lawrence, the company has already received orders for some 25,000 pairs and is expected to sell 100,000 pairs by March next year. The company is also planning on tying up with eye institutes and non-profit organisations to sell the Smartshoes to the blind at an affordable price.