Having become the market leader in smart scales, Withings is currently designing the concept of connected home health stations. By planning to launch the Body Scan this year, the French company is positioning itself in a niche: to detect the first signs of disease.
And 2022 marks a turning point for this connected health specialist. On January 12, Withings acquired the French start-up Impeto Medical, which has developed technologies to detect and monitor chronic diseases, while February 2 marked the acquisition of the fitness and health application 8Fit, created in Germany and bringing together 40 million users.
Two consecutive financial operations which demonstrate the rise of French companies in the Tech sector, while President Emmanuel Macron underlined last January that there are now 25 unicorns (valued at more than one billion dollars) in France. .
A maturity of the French market
A sign of market maturity, while Withings (company created in 2008) has built a solid reputation in the field of health. With the acquisition of Impeto Medical and 8Fit, the company headquartered in Issy-les-Moulineaux (Hauts-de-Seine) intends to structure itself around the development of services that will support its ecosystem, as explained to CNEWS Mathieu Letombe, Managing Director of Withings: “We stick to everyday life products without being too invasive. The takeover of Impeto Medical notably makes it possible to move from a product integrated in the medical environment with a value of more than 10,000 euros to a product at 200 euros for the general public”.
In fact, the second half of the year should be marked by the launch of the Body Scan station. A tool presented on the basis of a connected scale at the beginning of January at the CES in Las Vegas. However, the device has a particularity, that of adding a retractable handle connected to the base that should be grasped with both hands. During the weighing, the Body Scan will not only display the weight of the person (to the nearest 50 grams) but will allow you to know “the distribution of muscle, bone and fat mass”. Above all, the tool incorporates “body composition by segmentation” technology by mapping both the trunk, each arm and each leg independently. A first for this type of device.
DETECTING THE EARLY SIGNS OF A DISEASE
A load of sensors would therefore be able to analyze your body and Withings advances the ability of its machine to detect certain neuropathies and to monitor cardiovascular health. So beyond a connected scale, the Body Scan should make it possible in particular, thanks to an in-house technology from Impeto Medical, to “stimulate the nerves and sweat glands of the feet with a slight current in order to test whether they react as waited for stimulation. Clues that can help detect early warning signs of worsening diabetes. This type of technology is already used by neurologists and diabetologists,” explains Mathieu Letombe.
With this project, the company is witnessing a new turning point by imagining the first devices capable of auscultating your body to detect symptoms or “abnormalities” using AI. “By analyzing the heart rate, we can detect, for example, clues indicating that we are falling ill or even determine fertility cycles in women. Other devices can track your sleep and determine if you have sleep apneas. With Impeto Medical, we will be able to analyze the largest neuropathy estimation database in the world. We even have data on day-to-day trends around illnesses that are supposed to evolve very slowly”, underlines Mathieu Letombe, who recalls that weight problems, in particular, are a warning sign in 30% of people who could have an illness. chronic.
From there to imagining the presence of a real connected domestic laboratory in homes in the coming years, there is only one step. Especially since it is already possible to transfer data to healthcare professionals in order to facilitate the monitoring of certain patients on a daily basis. Withings is also working with the State to propose the integration of certain data into Mon Espace Santé, the state platform which intends to offer a real digital health record for each French person. Still, these connected tools will not be the cure for all ills. “It is even better to treat the cause of a disease, as is the case for anti-smoking campaigns against cancer,” advises Mathieu Letombe.