Kinematix Secures $2.15M Funding to Advance Footwear-Based Running Tracker Tune
Kinematix, a wearable technology company from Portugal, recently secured $2.15 million (€2 million) in funding from its existing investor, Portugal Ventures. To date, Portugal Ventures has invested a total of $9.66 million (€9 million) in the company.
Kinematix, founded in 2009, specializes in extracting detailed data from human movement. Headquartered in Porto, Portugal, the company also has branches in Austin, Texas, in the United States. One of Kinematix’s initial products, Movinsense, enables remote monitoring of activity levels in patients with chronic conditions such as stroke and arthritis. “The patient information received by healthcare professionals is often incomplete, yet they must make medical decisions based on this limited data. This device can simultaneously monitor the activity of 1,000 patients.” Subsequently, the company developed Walkinsense, a gait-tracking device placed inside shoes that measures stride length and dynamic pressure using eight sensors on the foot.
Last month, Kinematix launched a new product called “Tune,” a sports tracker designed for runners. The device takes the form of an ultra-thin pair of insoles embedded with motion sensors that capture every movement during running. These data can be viewed on a companion app linked to the tracker. The sensor-recorded data fall into two categories: one comprises foot-specific metrics, such as time spent in specific postures, force distribution, stride length, and gait symmetry; the other consists of GPS-derived data, including running cadence and speed.
Tune’s Insole-Style Activity Tracker and Multi-Data Analytics App
Tune has the following key features:
1. Simultaneously record the movement of both feet from the very beginning of the exercise.
2. After completing a run, an analysis is performed to display changes in the user’s running form throughout the session and compare them with data from previous runs.
3. Customized training plans are provided for runners, with exercises and targeted muscles specifically designed to enhance running technique. The Tune APP even offers detailed movement breakdowns, similar to certain fitness applications.
4. Measure body symmetry during running to assess the risk of injury.
The professional and comprehensive features of the Tune product offer a glimpse into Kinematix’s dedication to precise motion measurement. The company specializes in studying human movement and collecting motion data, backed by robust data analytics capabilities. Last month, Tune became available for purchase in North America and Europe through Amazon and Kinematix’s official website, priced at $200 or €200.
If Tune’s wearable technology can indeed capture precise data for various sports activities as claimed, it holds significant potential to help reduce sports-related injuries. Injuries among runners are quite common; factors such as overtraining and inadequate warm-ups before running can lead to injury. However, incorrect posture and techniques during running remain the primary causes of injury. By identifying and correcting these issues through the Tune app, such injuries are entirely preventable.
In addition, Tune’s coaching platform will launch by the end of this year, enabling coaches to guide athletes’ training remotely via parameters provided in the app, rather than requiring their physical presence at every session. For individual running enthusiasts, the Tune app also offers paid personal coaching services, providing them with access to professional guidance.
CEO Paulo dos Santos stated that their passion for studying foot movement stems from the fact that the feet are the only part of the body in contact with the ground, allowing a wealth of information to be derived from analyzing foot activity. He noted that in the specialized field of researching daily foot movements, their company is likely the best in the world.
Paulo dos Santos, Founder and CEO of Kinematix
“The wearable industry is at a critical juncture—people need meaningful and easily understandable data to provide them with actionable insights. This is exactly what we aim to achieve at Kinematix,” dos Santos stated in a press release. “The Tune fitness tracker offers several motion measurement metrics that are valuable for every personal fitness user, leveraging data to guide personalized workout plans.”
“Although Kinematix originated in Portugal, its disruptive innovative capabilities have propelled it onto the international stage,” said Celso Guedes de Carvalho, CEO of the investment firm Portugal Ventures, who spoke highly of Kinematix. “The consumer technology sector is a difficult market to penetrate, but we believe that Kinematix’s Tune product has the potential to transform how users interact with wearable devices—it is not merely a novel, stylish gadget, but also a tool that can effectively enhance people’s health over the long term.”