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Wearable tech is, without a doubt, a white-hot market. A 50-page report released last week by Juniper Research entitled The Wearable Future predicts the shipment of around 130 million devices by 2018, grossing something in the neighborhood of $6B. One Austin-based startup is well-poised to take advantage of the trend.
Atlas Wearables, founded by Mike Kasparian and Peter Li in January 2013, emerged from TechStars and quickly set about taking the wearable fitness tech concept to the next natural level. While Fitbit, Jawbone and now the iWatch are known for tracking information like steps and heart rate, Atlas integrates a database called the Motion Genome Project, filled with exercise data to help users perfect their workouts by tracking their form, into its service offering.
"Atlas is smart enough to tell the difference between push-ups and triangle pushups," its website explains. "Our machine learning algorithms can intelligently detect exercises in 3D effortlessly." The goal is to help users maximize their workouts and reduce the incidence of injury.
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As the company puts the finishing touches on its prototype and prepares its first round of shipments, opportunities exist to align itself with health-centric brands to help grow its audience base quickly. According to a Fortune article published this week, Walgreens, for example, is an "emerging leader in this new, yet already hotly competitive space. The company is funneling wearable-sourced data from more than one million customers (using Fitbit, iHealth and Jawbone trackers) in exchange for points that can be used like cash in its stores and on its website. The big idea: Make healthy choices, give us your data and we'll give you rewards. So far, it's working."
Time will tell what other wearable tech companies get in on the game with smart co-branding promotions and partnerships.
As for Atlas, it raised $1.1M in seed funding in October 2014, building on its initial $160K round raised in 2013. As for its march toward the marketplace, "[The] first round will be this winter and our second will be spring 2015," Li said.
Though the winter round is sold out, spring orders are now available for purchase online.
