Henkaus makes remote vital signs tracking possible
Abhishek Jayaprakash, Henkaus Oy’s CEO and co-founder, explains that the Finnish, Lappeenranta-based startup develops, sells and markets medical-grade solutions for remote vital signs tracking and remote patient care.
“Our solutions gather accurate and objective data to serve as a pre-diagnostic aid and to help optimise treatment pathways,” he says.
The company’s radar-based technology is capable of measuring the patient’s respiratory rate from a distance of 1-3 meters.
“The device can detect through bedding, linen and clothes,” Jayaprakash says, adding that the data collected by the device is transferred to the company’s proprietary cloud for presentation. A simple interface on a web browser or a smart device allows the healthcare professionals to view patient’s health information at a glance.
“We have a vision to predict illness even before it takes place,” Jayaprakash says.
Abhishek Jayaprakash, Soumyajit Chatterjee and Ajesh Kumar.
Measuring vital signs – in the background
Henkaus is targeting Telemedicine, Home Care and Assisted Living with its solution. While conducting home measurements, for example, the company provides hassle-free tools and a centralised view to vital information of the home care customers.
“When measurement is contactless, it’s just something in the background and you’re not even consciously thinking about it,” Jayaprakash describes the experience.
Founded in August 2019, Henkaus came to existence as a group of innovation technology management students at Lappeenranta University of Technology (LUT) got together as a result of a 2017 innovation competition.
“The competition got us thinking that we have a worthwhile business idea here and once we graduated, we launched our company within six months,” Jayaprakash looks back.
CE marking guarantees safety and effectiveness
In June 2021, Henkaus reached a major milestone as it obtained the medical CE certification for its solution. Jayaprakash comments that obtaining the medical CE marking can be cumbersome, time consuming and expensive for companies, but, at the same time, it guarantees the safety and effectiveness of the devices on the European markets.
“The CE marking certifies that our product is compliant with the relevant EU legislation and we are all set to commercialise our solutions anywhere in the European Economic Area,” he says.
Presently, Henkaus is making its devices in-house, but it’s starting to talk to contract manufacturers about larger scale production.
“What we have now is basically a Minimum Viable Product capable of being sold in the market,” says Soumyajit Chatterjee, CTO & co-founder of the company.
“At this point, we want to educate the market and find as many early adopters as possible, first in the telemedicine market.”
Team members of Henkaus (left to right): Jukka Niiranen, Antti Pellinen, Abhishek Jayaprakash, Soumyajit Chatterjee and Ajesh Kumar.
International pilots in healthcare
So far, Henkaus healthcare pilots have been performed in Finland (Pori and Lahti), and also internationally:
“We’ve commenced pilots in Finland, UK and India. We will soon be piloting in Sweden and Spain. We’re focused on ramping up our piloting efforts even more”, Chatterjee says.
Talking about their involvement in the Health Incubator Helsinki program that started in April 2021, Jayaprakash and Chatterjee say that they’ve enjoyed the experience a great deal.
“In addition to the business aspects, the program is making you self-reflect and ask yourself all the relevant questions,” Jayaprakash says.
Name: Henkaus
Product: medical-grade, contactless device for remote vital signs tracking and remote patient care
Founded: 2019
Team size: 9
Target customer/market: Telemedicine, Home Care, Assisted Living
Text: Sami J. Anteroinen
Photos: Henkaus
