Start-up Companies from Seven Countries Land in Hartford’s Urban Hub, Seek to Advance by Working with Local, National Industries

Upward Labs, Connecticut’s first pilot lab for tech companies creating the future of smart buildings and aged care, is hosting an interactive demonstration of its inaugural cohort’s technologies on October 22, 2019. Upward Labs Demo Day: The Experience invites the public to participate in a live exhibition of the first cohort’s tech solutions in action, allowing attendees to experience a tech-enabled urban hub in which to live, work, and play.

“We are excited to shine a spotlight on our startups and the important role they play in the future of homes, spaces and cities,” says Upward CEO Shana Schlossberg about the interactive presentation. “We have designed a unique demo day that will allow participants to experience how it feels to live in a smart city.”

Companies from the first cohort have already started hiring local employees as they develop satellite offices in downtown Hartford and continue partnerships with the Labs’ 27 corporate partners with whom they have collaborated over the past 6 months of the program, officials said.

“Because of our participation in Upward Labs and the tremendous support of Hartford’s ecosystem, we are excited to announce that we have moved our business from Germany and will be headquartering and manufacturing in Hartford, CT,” said Soner Haci, CEO of BEAD - a company that uses smart sensors to monitor and manage building energy systems.

“Our innovation ecosystem is growing quickly, and Upward Labs Demo Day is one more good step forward,” said Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin. “To see a company like BEAD move its business from Germany to Hartford is one more demonstration that Hartford can compete and win when it comes to attracting innovators, startups and growing companies.”

 “Upward Labs has done a fantastic job with the first cohort of companies, attracting exciting companies from around the world, and showing them what Connecticut has to offer,” said Matt McCooe, CEO of Connecticut Innovations.  “We’re even more excited about this next round of companies. Upward Labs is a lighthouse, showing the way some of the largest companies can go to market with some of the smallest, most innovative companies across the globe. Connecticut Innovations is proud to be an investor and partner to Shana and her team.”

The Labs’ second cohort of 10 startups will participate in Demo Day and begin their 6-month journey in Hartford the next day, October 23. The participating companies - AuraAir, Family Eye, Naboso Technology, Well Beat, Softhard, Sniffy, Sensara, Saya Life, Vaango, and OSD - will build custom pilots and refine their technologies for the U.S. market under the purview of close to 30 corporate partners throughout the USA.

“All of the companies at Upward Labs are trying to make everyday life easier, smarter, and more efficient, and we’re thrilled to have them in our city,” Bronin added.  “I want to thank Upward and Connecticut Innovations for their belief in Hartford and for bringing Upward Labs to life.”

Participating companies, and their nations of origin, are:

·         AuraAir (Israel) is a 3-in-1 air quality device that detects indoor & outdoor air quality and monitors user behavior in real-time. The air quality data collected from the circulation is processed in their predictive model and notifies users of high-risk scenarios in real-time through the app and voice assistant, Heidy, which adapts the app to the user's specific needs and health necessities. Lastly, Aura entirely disinfects and purifies the air through 4 unique purification stages.

·         FamilyEye (Belgium) - Family Eye is an automatic fall detection system and preventive alerting system with pattern-changing detection and alerts. With Family Eye, you can connect your medical devices and use the portal to send all medical alarms without having to wear any device or press a button in an emergency situation. Family Eye can also be utilized as a centralized platform for other medical devices.

·         Naboso Technology (New York) provides the first and only commercially available textured insoles designed to help improve balance, posture and gait. Backed by texture research and surface science, their patent-pending insoles are uniquely designed to stimulate the nerve in the bottom of the feet and help individuals reconnect to their foundation.

·         Well-Beat (Israel) is a SaaS company and technology using AI to improve the relationships, communications and adherence between an aging patient and a healthcare provider with their Personalized Behavior Navigator which tracks, monitors and analyzes behaviors, habits and ultimately lifestyles.

·         Softhard.IO (Hong Kong) is a data courier company, the missing ingredient in IoT and smart city planning with its battery-operated complex wireless infrastructure and LPWAN technology that will create the potential to collect data from anywhere at any time and reduce time to market for virtually anything.  

·         Sniffy (France) brings us EaaS (Emotion as a Service) and a whole new approach to communication and data collection with olfactory inputs and outputs with their multisensory IoT network built around a patented, connected and smart scent/savor diffuser capturing consumer responses providing consumption data. 

·         Sensara (Netherlands) is beyond a mature remote patient monitoring system: it is aged care technology designed for assisted living, memory care and skilled nursing communities proven to decrease alarms, falls and intrusion promoting better quality of life for both the patient and the caregiver/staff.  

·         Saya Life (California) is the only certified submetering AI platform that prevents catastrophic loss and measures water performance, delivering the “knowledge of water” with integrate flood sensing that mines data in multi-dwelling residential and commercial buildings and aggregates onto the corresponding smart water management platform.  

·         Vaango (India) is a facial recognition solution using AI/ML with two different products: SMART desk which manages front desks tracking enters and exits for security and FaceCheck which tracks attendance both using facial recognition technology with ZERO compromise on security and is compliance-adherent.

·         OSD (South Korea) provides a remote health monitoring solution that measures, analyzes and stores accurate health data using proprietary handheld sensor technology.

The Upward Labs Demo Day begins at 1:45 pm.  More information and registration is available via Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/upward-labs-demo-day-the-experience-tickets-69905708857 .