CES 2018: best of British
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It’s that time of year again – CES is back. The annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas draws techies and journalists from all over the world, and the UK’s showing in 2018 is impressive: up to 76 exhibitors from 57 last year.
We’ve trimmed down the cohort to include only companies which meet Beauhurst’s indicators of high growth – those we’re likely to see flying high in the future. Of those 26 companies, one has already exited: Fing, which develops an app that provides security for IoT devices, was acquired by cybersecurity firm Domotz.
As you’d expect, most of these firms are tech-based, and they’ve raised £142m in equity investment between them. At least five of these companies – ROLI, Audio Analytic, Ultrahaptics, Kino-mo, and 3-Legged Thing – also attended CES last year. For more detail on each take a look at 2017’s post on the show. In the meantime – here’s our pick of the newcomers.
Teslasuit
VR is set to be big at CES, and Teslasuit has created a full-body, haptic virtual reality suit. Designed for use with VR kits, its suit can allegedly mimic temperatures from 20-40°C, and stimulate different muscle groups simultaneously.
Teslasuit is not yet five years old, and it remains to be seen if the gear can live up to predictions. Tesla Studios’ previous projects include Toothscan, a dental product for home diagnostics which launched (but failed to secure funding) on IndieGoGo.
Mous
Always wanted to throw your phone off a building? Now you can. Mous has created a patent-pending phone case that can withstand drops from more than 45 feet (onto concrete). It’s shock-, throw-, and child-proof, and currently on sale: prices range from £29.99 to £44.99.
Mous has raised just £150k via equity investment, which it did through Angels Den in 2015. The rest of its cash comes from almost $2.5m of non-equity crowdfunding, with over 50,000 backers contributing. Mous is now looking further afield for inspiration, with other tech accessories reportedly in the offing for this year.
Neurovalens
Created by Dr. Jason McKeown, Neurovalens‘ Modius is designed to help consumers lose weight by stimulating the hypothalamus with a small electrical pulse. This signals increased physical activity to the rest of the brain, which in turn tells the body to lose fat, as carrying it around whilst exercising is inefficient. Modius is available without a prescription, and is intended for long-term use. The device currently retails at £369.
Neurovalens was worth £1.81m as of July 2017, when it was backed by equity investment from Angel CoFund, Beltrae Partners, and Techstart NI.
Sensio AIR
Sensio by White Lab is a smart home device, but it’s also an app connected to devices around the world. Its function is to monitor air pollutants, including allergens, which can then be mapped alongside individuals’ symptoms to identify high-pollution areas.
Accelerated by MassChallenge, Sensio AIR was founded by Eve Tamraz as recently as 2016. Tamraz has a PhD in neurosciences, and is profiled in the Guardian amongst other Middle Eastern women in tech. The app is already downloadable for both iPhone and Android, with smart devices likely to retail in the near future.
doppel
Another startup in the wearables space, doppel is a wristband designed to calm its users. The premise is simple: the band creates a silent vibration on the inside of a user’s wrist, intended to feel like a heartbeat. But the science is compelling, at least on the face of it: human heartbeats synchronise in certain conditions of high empathy; from joint activities like singing, to intimate moments like those shared between a mother and her child.
doppel itself has been tested in publicly-available studies, which purport to show that the wristband has positive effects on both stress relief and concentration.