A brand new activity-tracking platform is launching out of stealth at the moment with $1 million in pre-seed funding, with a view towards serving to these affected by Lengthy COVID monitor and handle their signs.
Seen, as the corporate known as, is the brainchild of Harry Leeming, a London-based engineer who says he has suffered from Lengthy COVID for the previous two years, and Luke Martin-Fuller.
The worldwide pandemic’s finish could also be inside eyeshot for a lot of, however thousands and thousands of individuals globally nonetheless undergo long-term results from COVID-19, with research suggesting that anyplace between 20% and 40% of those that have contracted COVID-19 expertise ongoing signs similar to gentle fatigue, ‘mind fog,’ complications, illness, weak spot and respiratory issues.
The World Well being Group (WHO) estimates that “no less than” 17 million folks in Europe alone skilled Lengthy COVID within the first two years of the pandemic, a determine that rises to as excessive as 145 million globally. However with a lot of the healthcare realm nonetheless attempting to piece collectively the Lengthy COVID puzzle, Seen goes to market to assist victims handle what’s extensively thought-about to be the primary Lengthy COVID symptom. Put up-exertional malaise (PEM) describes the worsening of a situation’s signs following even minor bodily exertion, and it’s additionally frequent in ME / Power Fatigue Syndrome (CFS).
One option to counter the consequences of PEM is to undertake a “pacing” technique, which includes performing a fragile balancing act between relaxation and exercise. By a shopper wearable and smartphone app, Seen desires to assist thousands and thousands of individuals just do that, and it’s launching the primary a part of its product in open beta at the moment.
Seen cofounders: CEO Harry Leeming (left) with COO Luke Martin-Fuller
Making the invisible seen
In its preliminary guise, Seen is out there as a free cell app, with plans to introduce a premium subscription within the U.S. and U.Ok. within the coming months. It will embrace a Polar Verity Sense heart-rate monitor (HRM), designed to be worn on the higher arm to seize the mandatory information passively all through the day.
For now, although, Seen works fully via handbook information inputs by way of morning and night check-ins. This contains measuring heart-rate variability (HRV) — the time in between every heartbeat — which may be an indicator of an individual’s well being and wellbeing. So how can Seen monitor this when it’s not actively supporting a hear-rate monitor but? Properly smartphone cameras may also help by way of a way referred to as photoplethysmography (PPG), which has been proven to be a considerably efficient various to ECG by way of analyzing HRV in people.
Basically, Seen makes use of PPG to detect small modifications in an individual’s pores and skin colour, with the consumer putting their finger over the lens of their digicam for a sixty second interval every morning.
“These modifications permit us to measure the time between heartbeats and calculate coronary heart charge and coronary heart charge variability,” Leeming defined to TechCrunch.
Over time, Seen helps customers monitor their signs and spot developments.
Seen app in motion
Steady monitoring
With steady monitoring by way of a bodily HRM, nevertheless, Seen guarantees to be far simpler by way of serving to customers undertake an efficient pacing technique, be sure that they don’t over-exert themselves, and permit their our bodies extra time to get better.
It will embrace real-time information and notifications when it detects that the consumer is doing an excessive amount of exercise which might make their present signs worse and curtail restoration.
“This method is per revealed analysis which reveals that alerts of this sort can enhance useful outcomes for folks residing with post-viral sickness,” Leeming mentioned. “This works as a result of post-viral sickness results in a compromised cardio power system. By maintaining your exercise ranges beneath a sure threshold, you’ll be able to keep away from a damaged power metabolism response which ends up in exacerbated signs.”
Seen Plus subscription offers customers with insights and prompts
Utilizing information garnered passively from a wearable permits Seen to generate illness-specific metrics, or digital biomarkers as they’re recognized, which permits folks to make choices primarily based on “laborious numbers” slightly than subjective estimates of the severity of their situation.
For instance, those that pay for a Seen Plus subscription and use the accompanying wearable will profit from accelerometer and gyroscope information from the Polar Verity Sense. This enables Seen to find out issues like “orthostatic intolerance,” or the physique’s organic response from transferring into an upright place from mendacity down. This will present the influence that altering one’s posture has on a change in coronary heart charge.
By way of pricing, this has but to be finalized, however Leeming mentioned that it is going to be within the tough ballpark of different shopper subscription companies à la Netflix or Spotify. So we’re most likely speaking within the area of round $10 monthly, give or take. If somebody already has their very own Polar Verity Sense armband, Seen says it would supply the subscription at a reduction charge, and there could possibly be scope to increase assist to gadgets from different producers.
“We anticipate that we’ll assist a wider vary of wearable gadgets in future,” Leeming mentioned.
Startups vs. Lengthy COVID
Seen isn’t alone in attempting to expedite Lengthy COVID remedies and analysis, as we’ve seen a lot of new ventures arrive on the scene over the previous couple of years. A type of is a non-profit startup referred to as the Lengthy Covid Analysis Initiative (LCRI) which just lately launched with $15 million in funding from Ethereum co-creator Vitalik Buterin to review and develop remedies for Lengthy COVID. The LCRI was kickstarted by a Googler and Lengthy COVID sufferer who determined to take issues into his personal fingers after changing into pissed off on the lack of urgency in most of the government-led applications. And there are clear comparisons with Seen’s path to launch at the moment.
“Lengthy COVID has turned my life the wrong way up — thousands and thousands, like me, have nonetheless not recovered from COVID and are struggling every single day,” Leeming mentioned. “There isn’t any clear analysis, no pharmaceutical remedy, and little recognition from the federal government as to how widespread and the way life-changing these situations are. Sufferers like myself have little choice however to construct the illness administration instruments which are badly wanted – instruments particularly designed for folks residing with Lengthy COVID, but additionally these with equally dismissed persistent situations like ME/CFS, Power Lyme and Fibromyalgia.”
It’s additionally value noting right here that Seen customers can choose in to contribute their symptom and biometric information to third-party researchers learning Lengthy COVID. By means of instance, Leeming mentioned that it has a analysis partnership in place with Imperial School London, and it’s working with a staff of teachers who’re at the moment researching the influence of the menstrual cycle on Lengthy COVID signs. Seen additionally has an advisory board of specialists in post-viral situations, together with Dr. David Putrino who’s director of rehabilitation innovation at Mount Sinai, and Dr. David Pressure, medical advisor at ActionForME, U.Ok.
“Lengthy Covid and ME/CFS are extremely debilitating and widespread illnesses that we urgently want to higher perceive, and assist sufferers to handle,” Pressure mentioned in an announcement issued to TechCrunch. “Seen is the primary instrument to actually assist sufferers to measure and handle their very own illness utilizing solely their smartphone. Simply as importantly, it is going to be instrumental in serving to clinicians and researchers advance our data of the illnesses too.”
Seen’s pre-seed spherical of funding was co-led by Octopus Ventures, Calm/Storm and Hustle Fund, with participation from a lot of angel backers.
Leeming mentioned that greater than 4,500 folks had been on the waitlist for the Seen app, a quantity it hopes will enhance now that it’s formally accessible on Android and iOS.
