Digital physiotherapy company Sword Health has brought in $4.6 million in a seed funding round led by Green Innovation, Vesalius Biocapital III, and other unnamed US and European investors.
Sword Phoenix is a platform that uses artificial intelligence to understand each patient's needs, and provide responsive feedback during treatment and remote guidance from clinical teams, according to its webpage.
The technology has several different components. Users are given a motion tracker, which a patient wears and connects to AI “Digital Therapists.” The AI platform then gives patients feedback and makes sure they are exercising correctly. Lastly, the platform has a clinical portal where care teams can get an in-depth analysis of every patient's evolution and adaption rehabilitation remotely.
The Portuguese company was founded in 2014 by Virgilio Bento and Marcio Colunas, according to Crunch base.
“From an early personal experience, I watched firsthand the challenges that we face when we need to deliver an efficient, high-quality, physical therapy to our loved ones,” Bento, CEO and founder of Sword Health, wrote in an email to MobiHealthNews. “This is why I've focused my PhD — in Electronics Engineering — in the development of this novel concept that we call [a] 'digital physical therapist.' After my PhD, I launched Sword Health to bring this technology into market. And here we are.”
The team plans to use the newest funding to extend clinical validation of its digital therapies, expand sales and market efforts, and develop novel digital therapeutics in the physical therapy area.
“Patients use Phoenix independently at home, receiving real-time feedback on performance during their rehabilitation session,” Bento wrote. “Clinical teams are able to prescribe new rehabilitation programs and evaluate in deep detail the recovery of their patients through the Phoenix Portal.”
Home physical therapy platforms are becoming popular in the digital health space. Key players in the field include UK-based Physitrack and Reflexion Health. Physitrack has announced major partnering with EHR company drchrono and global insurer QBE. In October the company announced it would seek public listing on the alternative stock exchange Nasdaq First North during the first quarter of 2018.
