UCD’s SeamlessCare raises €700,000 for assistive care technology

SeamlessCare has built two products, Empathic and Focus, which aim to care for patients who have difficulty communicating.

Digital health startup SeamlessCare has raised €700,000 in seed funding to accelerate the rollout of its assistive care technologies.

A University College Dublin (UCD) spin-out, SeamlessCare is developing technology focused on improving communication and support for people with a wide range of disabilities, including autism, acquired brain injury , dementia, intellectual disability, among others.

It was founded last year by Dr Aviva Cohen, Ian Kennedy and Dr Çağrı Çubukçu with support from NovaUCD and Enterprise Ireland. It was also one of 11 high-potential research-based start-ups supported by Enterprise Ireland last year.

The seed funding round was backed by angel investor and former HSE Chairman Dr Frank Dolphin, as well as Enterprise Ireland. Dolphin is the co-founder of RelateCare and previously invested in Irish homecare technology company PacSana.

empathic focus

Empathic, SeamlessCare’s first product, helps non-verbal people communicate their emotions to caregivers. Empathic records a patient’s vocalizations for up to 10 seconds and uses artificial intelligence to identify up to 10 emotions, such as joy, sadness, excitement and frustration.

“We are currently running a closed beta test and welcome new participants to sign up. Feedback from testers so far has been fantastic and we are moving quickly towards an open beta,” said Cohen, who has previously been interviewed by SiliconRepublic.com.

Empathic will be available as an app for Apple and Android devices later this year, which can be used by caregivers and family members with a “low-cost” subscription. The app can be used and shared by anyone who acts as a caregiver for the patient.

Focus, a video-based care planning app that allows caregivers of people who cannot easily communicate to record short videos of daily activities, take notes, send alerts, and update written care plans from any device.

“The SeamlessCare team is ambitious for their business while sincerely wanting their technology to improve outcomes for others,” Dolphin said.

Next year, the company plans to launch new products that “promote compliance, safety and efficiency” in chronic care settings.

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