Vay’s journey started in 2018 with the goal of creating a fully digital personal coach in the form of a B2C Fitness App. In 2019, the company launched the VAY Fitness Coach as the first end consumer product that showcased the possibilities of computer vision technology for motion analysis. The smartphone app achieved over 20’000 downloads worldwide. Upon further analysis the company learned that the B2B market would be promising for its technology, resulting in the change of course.
Currently, VAY is addressing the B2B market focusing on computer vision and biomechanical movement science. The company trains computers to perfectly perceive and predict human motion using just a regular camera allowing for developing products that are tailored to clients’ need. The current solution is applicable in a wide range of products such as Mobile apps on smartphones or tablets, browser-based applications (fitness streaming platforms) and hardware-enabled solutions (smart home gyms and mirror products) for fitness and therapeutic purposes.
Since re-pivoting, VAY has made great progress: the company has over 10 partners on its non-commercial license, which is required for integration during the time until market launch (usually around 3-6 months). In the meantime, the company is regularly onboarding new clients including market leaders that are integrating the solution into their existing applications. Thanks to the size of their customers, VAY’s technology is envisioned to reach the hands of millions of users already this year. While the majority of its clients stem from the US, VAY is also service customers from Europe and Asia.
New motion analysis based products to launch in the market
Two partners are making VAY’s technology available to their users in May. One of the products is a classical fitness app, the other is a novelty in the digital therapeutics space. In the center of the application, enabling this novel therapy form: VAY’s motion analysis! While the products are not yet announced publicly, VAY hints that multiple customer success stories will be made available in the upcoming months. Finally, fitness enthusiasts using connected fitness products are not unlikely to have come across VAY before the year is out.
The company has grown to 13 full-time employees with more to be added in the next months. In addition to its investment from DART Labs, private investors, Hasler Stiftung, and through the Venture Kick program, VAY is currently concluding a new financing round. Proceeds from the new round will allow for expanding the team to serve the surging client interest while working further on our core technology. The capital will also help in growing the customer base – there are several committed rollouts with industry leaders in the connected fitness space under development. Scaling the product to include applications such as physiotherapy, telerehabilitation and other medical products is also part of the next plan.
A rich future plan to grow the company
The journey ahead looks promising for the company based on trend predictions in the digital fitness space; “The digital fitness space moves fast, and we believe that the next 18 months will be very decisive. By 2022 it will be established that VAY’s motion analysis stands for best quality in the market and that VAY is the go-to option for any digital fitness product that is serious about delivering fantastic user experiences”, said Joel Roos, CEO and founder of VAY.
(RAN)