You wait years for a urinalysis company, and then they all get going at once. One of the notable trends at CES in Las Vegas this year was that the quantified self movement is going deeper. No longer satisfied with just measuring your heart rate, step count and ECG on your wrist, a new generation of startups is slowly moving towards a complete medical analysis of its users.
Here are a few to keep an eye out for:
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Measurements
Withings U scan. Image credit: Measurements.
Health hardware company Measurements this week released the U-Scan in Europe and announced it is working with the FDA to secure a US launch as well. The product uses a hands-free system that can last up to three months of measurements with a single cartridge.
Olive
Once you get over the nervousness of having so many cameras around your mess, Olive can get down to business and analyze your pee as you go. Image credit: Haje Kamps/businessroundups.org
Israeli startup Olive recently raised one $10 million funding round, and promises to only use optics to analyze urine. The company uses a special toilet seat, no strips or extra accessories needed. It is initially aimed at care homes and vulnerable populations, but hopes to find a user base in a number of healthcare sectors.
Vivoo
The Vivoo solution dispenses a strip and slurps it back in for optical analysis. Touching is not necessary. Image credit: Haje Kamps / businessroundups.org
Vivoo has been making urine test strips for home use for some time and showed off the next iteration of its company, featuring a smart toilet. It is aimed at residential care, elderly and healthcare markets. It is a convenient alternative for users who have difficulty performing urine tests with portable urine strips.
We can only imagine it felt a little uneasy about its “world first” marketing messages on its stand. Especially considering that the Vivoo booth was right next to Withing’s, where it showed how it beat the “world first” in the market.
The product is a prototype, with a wider rollout in the not-too-distant future. The company raised a $6 million Series A fundraiser in June 2021. The round was led by Draper Associates.
Special zone master
Well, that’s reassuring. Image credit: SZM
Don’t worry, it wasn’t all urine at CES this year. We also found SZM – Special Zone Master – who promises to do ‘visual analysis’ of you other favorite body waste – poop. The company promises to analyze the shape and color of stool, record the time and frequency of your bowel movements, and also detect the presence of blood.
“Just by taking a closer look at the stool, we can spot the first signs of a health problem and take action before it’s too late,” the company said in its marketing materials. We were curious to find out more, but the company’s founders were nowhere to be found – presumably taking a well-deserved toilet break. It wasn’t entirely clear how far along the Korean start-up was in its journey to bring its technology to a toilet seat near you.
