Sony invests in Swiss wearable sensor start-up

IDUN Technologies is addressing the huge potential in the wearable device market. According to IDC’s Worldwide Wearable Shipment report, the global market for wearables showed a YoY growth of 94.6%, for Q32019, with a shipment volume of 84.5M. However, biometric wearables (ECG, EEG, EMG) in the consumer mass market face high entry barriers. 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. Complex 3D structures and a challenging skin-electrode interface also pose profound technical challenges for biosensing.

IDUN Technologies has found a solution. The proprietary Dryode material and physiology know-how deliver customized, comfortable electrodes with unparalleled signal quality for brain and vital sign monitoring in hearables, as well as in gaming and VR headsets.

IDUN Technologies participated in the Sony Startup Acceleration Program Europe, which now has resulted in an investment from Sony. Th e seed investment allows IDUN Technologies to further explore how its technology can be used in future products. “We are proud to welcome Sony as one of our investors and can’t wait to scale our innovation” said Simon Bachmann, CEO of IDUN Technologies.

In total, IDUN has raised CHF1.5 million in its seed round. The round is not definitly closed and the company is open for talks with further investors. 

IDUN’s preparation-free and skin-conformal biopotential electrodes with excellent recording quality enable wearables for future healthcare needs and the Internet of Humans. The spin-off from Swiss ETH (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) aims to be the best interface between the user’s skin and wearable devices to connect humans in everyday life. The Dryode is the first product in a development pipeline working towards continuous body monitoring for sports diagnostics, well-being and brain-computer interfaces.