Seatback
Seatback has developed an interactive, patent-protected sensor system, relying on advanced Big Data analysis, which helps to prevent health injuries. The company is a leader of an innovative niche within a market valued at over $75B a year.
104% of funding target
Highlights
Highlights
Innovative technology for an age-old problem
We spend about 13 hours a day sitting, including about 8.5 hours spent facing a screen, which contributes in the long term to—among other issues—back pain, neck pain, headaches, obesity, and more. Seatback solves this familiar, common problem using an advanced set of sensors which monitor users' sitting habits in real-time and provides them with feedback on their sitting quality. Over time, by gathering information regarding sitting patterns, the system provides the user with personalized stretching and exercise recommendations to help them avoid health problems resulting from prolonged and incorrect sitting.
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An ergonomic breakthrough in the office market
The system, developed by Seatback, is expected to be particularly attractive in the office furniture and smart office market, which has seen extensive activity in recent years, including huge players such as Microsoft and Garmin, which are taking their first steps in establishing themselves in the field. This is in addition to companies that already produce various monitoring products sold in the market—including Samsung, Garmin, Fitbit, and others, which are advancing towards FDA-approved smart devices. According to the Zion Market Research report, the global furniture market was valued at $331 billion in 2017 alone and is expected to grow to a remarkable $472 billion by 2024. Seatback is expected to attract one of the market's giants, whether from the office furniture/medical segments, or large manufacturers of tech products for monitoring purposes, such as Apple and Samsung.
Clinically proven and patented product
The company has successfully completed several rounds of clinical trials and research, demonstrating that its technology is mature and ready to dramatically change the ergonomics market.
Seatback has already filed one patent, which is in the National Phase of registration, along with two provisional patents in the auto and healthcare fields, as part of the company's IP.
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A leading team of engineers, physiotherapists, ergonomic and orthopedic experts
Seatback is led by an experienced and diverse engineering team, coming from the realms of defense industry and data science, along with an extended medical staff including physiotherapists, orthopedic and ergonomic specialists. This combination of capabilities and expertise enables the company to develop a smart and durable technology product, that provides great value to its users.
Join the success just before takeoff
Investing in Seatback means selecting a company that has already completed most of its product development and already started marketing and generating interest among office furniture companies worldwide, including orders for hundreds of units. The company has a first agreement signed with Global Israel, the largest office furniture manufacturer in the country, which includes an initial order of units and is in negotiation with several international companies for the distribution of the portable device in Canada, as well as with office furniture companies in Germany, the US, and China.
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Pitch
Pitch
The Idea
The problem
In the Middle Ages, a common punishment for small crimes was to have someone sit in a chair in the same position for long hours. Today, without doing anything wrong, as is common practice, we are "sentenced" to spend about 12 hours a day sitting, including about 8.5 hours spent in front of a screen. Of course, this basic activity has a health-related cost that nearly everyone knows of and suffers: back pain, neck pain, headaches, obesity, and other problems.
At work, during driving hours, and on our time off—in fact, for most of the hours in which we are awake—we sit. The screen-based world we live in only extends our average sitting time, with a high cost to our health. Besides back pain and other musculoskeletal symptoms, which many employees suffer from in today's technological world, long-term sitting has even been associated with general sickness rates, such as disc herniation or prolapsed disc, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and metabolic syndrome.
The human body is designed for movement, but while in a sitting position, pressure is created on our spines, along with a slowdown in all body activities. Using an ergonomic chair can help us sit in a more dynamic and healthy way, but most employees do not know how to operate the various tuning functions in these products, and are unaware of the best and healthiest way to use their chairs, in order to not end the day with musculoskeletal pain.
The solution
This strain on the spine while sitting in a non-neutral position and the associated health damage related to "sedentariness," have led Seatback's team to look for the ideal solution, which has led them to create the sensor system embedded in a chair (or portable seat cushion) that operates and monitors the user's sitting quality.
The sensors provide information about the best sitting position, which is defined as one that does not significantly overload the spine. The system alerts the user during a non-neutral sitting position, or during continuous and prolonged sitting. The alerts are expressed by various types of vibrations, or through a dedicated app, allowing the user to move in real-sitting-time, as a reminder to change positions, get up for a walk and short stretch, and "refresh" from the strained sitting position, before too much pressure is placed on the body.
How does it work?
Seatback has developed an interactive system that monitors and checks the user's sitting quality: a multi-sensor surface, embedded in the chair or in a cushion "worn" by the chair. The sensor system detects the user and is able to identify various sitting attributes, monitor relevant physiological data, and perform real-time analysis of the pressure rates on the user's body.
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Over time, thanks to the expertise of Seatback's medical staff and based on each user's personal data, the system provides recommendations for stretching, sports activities, and even how to arrange the work environment in order to prevent health issues caused by prolonged and incorrect sitting.
The system alerts the user, in real time, about prolonged or impaired sitting with the help of biofeedback or a dedicated app, phone, or computer.
In addition, Seatback is developing another product designed for organizations and large companies. This product incorporates information gathered from all offices and provides ergonomic guidance for each user, with general guidance at the level of the entire firm, as well as for the work environment itself.
This system includes a dashboard that gathers all accumulated ergonomic data, which may improve employees' health.
Research has shown that a healthy employee is also a better and more productive worker, so today, more and more organizations are taking care of employees' health. For example, tech companies employ an ergonomist on a regular basis to help their employees. The Seatback system can provide data to managers of safety and ergonomics or chiropractors to more accurately help employees who are more likely to suffer from musculoskeletal disorders.
The Technology
Seatback has successfully developed a patented, multi-sensor system in the form of a smart slim surface, embedded in a chair or seat cushion. The sensors, partially built in the company's labs, can be embedded in any chair, regardless of its layout or design.
The system allows the ability to gain a full understanding of the user's way of sitting in real time. The system's software can identify the pressure distributions, angles, and distances of the user, analyze the loads the body puts on itself, and understand the sitting posture, as well as identify unwanted loads on the body and future medical issues that may result.
The smart device is part of the world of IoT (Internet of Things) and accordingly transmits all data collected in the "cloud", where additional analysis is performed by the company's medical staff to provide greater value for clients.
Seatback's development team focuses on data analysis and, therefore, implements many models in the product's development to gather useful information based on the various data collected, to supply users with a smarter and better product.
In the near future, Seatback will expand its operations into the automotive and aviation sectors, along with additional monitoring products from the office and business sectors.
Seatback In Media
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Click above for the interview in i24 channel
Click above for the interview in Keshet (12) channel
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Article in Siliconwadi Magazine
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Business model
Seatback's model of business activity is based on three main streams:
1. Portable Device Marketing:
The portable version of Seatback's system, marketed via e-commerce (online sales) and through local distributors.
2. OEM Product:
The version of the company's product designed for embedment in chairs, aimed at the medium and large-scale office market.
3. Digital Health Market:
Following FDA approval, the company will enter this market in cooperation with insurance companies.
The company has a step-by-step action plan in three stages:
1. Step I – Conversion and marketing of the portable device
1.1. The conversion of the system into a portable device, with an innovative product design that will compete with products currently available in the market.
1.2. Beta experiment of the portable device.
1.3. Building the Seatback brand as the leading, safe and trust-worthy solution for better posture.
1.4. A presale campaign, through crowdfunding platforms or independently.
1.5.Beginning of sales, focusing mainly on e-commerce and "guerrilla" marketing, social networking, and sales through partners and small/medium B2B2C distributors.
1.6. Sales target: 2,000-5,000 systems within the first year.
1.7. Continued cooperation with relevant office furniture companies (OEM).
2. Step II – Gradual sales growth for the portable device and OEM entry
2.1. Expanding the portable device sales via collaborations with major distributors, including marketing networks.
2.2. Distribution agreement of the OEM product with 1-2 office furniture companies.
2.3. Beginning of work on the medical claims document for the FDA and CE.
2.4. Sales target: 10,000-15,000 systems in the second year.
Step III – Continued sales, regulation of FDA approved product
3.1. Clinical Trials
3.2. Pre-submission to the FDA
3.3 The adoption of Seatback's technology by public organizations, governmental health offices, public health agencies (HMO), and insurance companies
Production costs and product prices:
- Production cost – $10-15 per unit
- Portable device price – $120
- OEM product price – about $90
- Dashboard (enterprise) product price – $2 per month for each user
Existing cooperation (OEM product):
- Global Israel – 500 units in 2019 and 2000 units in 2020
- Pilot with a German chair manufacturing company
- Pilot with an American chair manufacturer (one of the world's leading companies)
Portable device:
- Pre-sale campaign
- Canadian distributor of the portable device for marketing in Canada and the US – orders from BEST BUY Canada
- A major Chinese electronics company to distribute the portable device
Team
Team
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Biography
A programmer with expertise in data analysis, Nitzan was involved in building the first search engine in Israel ("Pagaz") that was sold to Netvision over 20 years ago. After that, he led data analysis operations at leading Japanese banks for 7 years. Upon returning to Israel, he served as engineering director of communications and electronics in a company developing defense industry products. For the past 18 months , Nitzan has been leading Seatback‘s engineering team to new frontiers, bringing in depth technological value with his experience in product development, while using out-of-the-box thinking and integrating various technologies. |
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Biography
Inbar is an expert in ergonomics with a bachelor‘s degree in occupational therapy and a master‘s degree in public health from the University of Haifa. She has worked as a chief ergonomist at Intel, as well as at the Israel Institute for Occupational Safety and Hygiene (OSH). Today she serves as a consultant to many high-tech companies leading the economy. At Seatback, Inbar leads the company‘s medical team, the research team, and the ergonomic side of the product. |
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Biography
Chaim is an entrepreneur with a strong sense of business, he owns "Via Maris," a large distribution company which operates in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East and generates millions of shekels in sales each year. At Seatback, he is responsible for all business relationships with European companies, as well as for the marketing strategy and market entry plan. Chaim leads the company‘s business development, which is expected to grow considerably in the coming year. |
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Biography
Sigal, in cooperation with Or, is the founder of the company. She has a B.pt in Physical Therapy and an MHM in Health Systems Management from the University of Haifa and works part-time with the largest health organization in Israel, where she leads and manages a physical therapy institute. Sigal has extensive experience in the rehabilitation and treatment of musculoskeletal disorders. Her contribution to the company is also in conducting user load analysis, adjusting data to suggest sports and stretching activities, and reaching conclusions based on the information gathered in the Seatback system. |
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Biography
Professor Yair Lifshitz of the Technion is one of the leaders in the field of ergonomics in Israel. He graduated from the University of Michigan, US, majoring in industry and management and specializing in ergonomics. Prof. Lifshitz has been leading the field of ergonomics at the Technion for over 20 years and works with many large companies, such as Mercedes, Audi, Volvo, Johnson and Johnson, Bundy Tubing, Senco Products, IBM, Ford Motor Company, Domino‘s Pizza, GM, I-Logix, and Microsoft. Professor Lifshitz contributes greatly to Seatback‘s product development. With his extensive experience, the company has developed a product which is able to recognize various postures, give feedback suited to the user‘s work environment accordingly, and create greater value for users.
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Biography
Eilam is an electrical engineer who has served in the military in an elite technology unit. He leads the development of electronics and software embedded in Seatback‘s product. |
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A graduate of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Nur is a talented software engineer. She handles the development of the Seatback cloud platform and manages its data, as well as managing the work process with programmers employed as subcontractors. |
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Yuval, a talented and experienced artist, graduated from the WIZO College of Design. In Seatback, he leads creative processes and helps the company fulfill the potential of the product. |
