Author: Rip Empson

Unless you’re reading this while using an inhaler, this fact may surprise you: According to the CDC, 26 million Americans currently have the chronic respiratory disease we know as asthma. Not only that, but the CDC tells us that the disease costs the U.S. $3,300 per person annually, and medical expenses associated with asthma have increased to about $56 billion (thanks to hospitalizations, emergency room visits and missed work), while over 10 percent of insured Americans are unable to afford their prescription medicines.

Asthmapolis launched in 2010 to help find a solution by leveraging the advances in sensor technology (and the reduced costs of producing said sensors) and mobile data monitoring to help people manage their asthma more effectively, in turn reducing the costs both for those suffering from asthma and for the U.S. healthcare system itself. And, today, the Wisconsin-based startup has announced that it has raised $5 million in Series A financing from The Social+Capital Partnership to build out a comprehensive solution and support system for those with the chronic respiratory disease.

Asthmapolis is one of a new generation of digital health startups attempting to hack the old software, devices and care systems that continue to prevail in today’s healthcare landscape. We recently wrote about Intersect ENT, for example, which is hacking stents (yes, stents) to help doctors more effectively treat the 31 million-plus people suffering from sinusitis.

Meanwhile, Glooko, Omada Health and a number of other startups are bringing mobile and digital technology to those with diabetes to help them manage the condition and, in Omada’s case, hopefully even prevent it.

Asthmapolis, on the other hand, is on a mission to hack your inhaler. The startup has designed snap-on, Bluetooth-enabled sensors that track how often people are using their inhalers (along with location and time-of-day), along with analytics and mobile apps for iOS and Android to help them visualize and understand their triggers and trends while receiving personalized feedback.

In turn, the data collected by the solution enables doctors to identify patients who are risk or need more help controlling its symptoms. This allows them to potentially prevent attacks before they happen, saving them the cost of hospitalization or a trip to the emergency room.

In fact, Asthmapolis’ early studies found that this access to realtime data was able to reduce the number of people with uncontrolled asthma (or those not regularly using inhalers) by 50 percent. Without realtime data and the ability to collect information on the context and situations in which people develop symptoms, doctors are groping around in the dark and waiting for attacks before they analyze context and begin treatment.

Many startups are beginning to recognize the opportunity both to create a sustainable businesses and affect real change by positioning themselves at the intersection of growing trends like mobile devices and mobile health initiatives, personalized medicine, big data and sensors. Asthmapolis co-founder and CEO David Van Sickle thinks that the startup can sit at that intersection, while differentiating from competitors by offering both a hardware and software solution.

Not only that, but Asthmapolis received approval from the FDA in July to market its asthma-tracking device and software solution to consumers, which puts it on a very short list. In turn, its software platform, which is available both in English and Spanish, allows users to keep a digital log on their use of medications, while receiving personalized feedback — both designed to improve their ability to successfully manage the disease.

In the big picture, the startup also wants to help public health institutions better evaluate the efficacy of their interventions and treatments and unlock insight into how asthma works and where it originates. And that’s where Asthmapolis is monetizing: By selling its hardware and software solution to payers and health plan providers. With more effective treatment solutions, insurance providers and health plans can save between $4,000 to $6,000 in annual healthcare costs — and, naturally, that’s money in the bank.

The company has formed a number of partnerships in the last year in this regard, which include programs with payers like Amerigroup Florida/WellPoint and providers like Wyckoff Heights Medical Center in New York and Dignity Health in California. Going forward, the startup will look to continue expanding its relationships with providers and payers, along with initiatives in retail pharmacy and the public sector.

“Asthmapolis is in a unique position in healthcare IT,” explains Social+Capital General Partner Ted Maidenberg, “where its technology can easily integrate with existing behaviors (like using your inhaler), while adding a huge amount of data (time, location, activity) that provides a much smarter package compared to your over-the-counter inhaler.”

If you’ve ever been in a sports bar with your friends to watch a big game, you’ve likely run into the “muting” problem. While the bar may have two dozen TVs, each might be playing a different game, and there’s either too much sound or none at all. At most local restaurants, bars, airports and health clubs, you’ll find TVs muted for this very reason.

Some have opted to, say, put speakers on tables in their bars to project sound more directly, but the problem is that this puts a damper on any socializing you planned to do with your friends and fellow bar mates. Might just be me, but repeatedly yelling “WHAT DID YOU SAY?!” over the audio can detract from the viewing experience. After all, you’re really there to enjoy some quality time with friends — the thrilling play-by-play isn’t the only attraction.

Durango, Colorado-based Airborne Media is hoping to offer another solution with a new product called Audioair, which aims to turn smartphones into your own personal listening device to help unlock sound from the tens of millions of muted TVs out there. Essentially, Airborne wants to put its audio solution anywhere an un-muted TV would add to the location’s overall noise pollution — every airport, hospital, sports bar, stadium or health club in the U.S.

But how does it work, you ask? Users download Audioair’s free mobile app, which taps into the sound system (via Wi-Fi) at any Audioair subscriber location, allowing you to determine which TV you want to listen to, projecting the audio through your smartphone so you can listen from your pocket or through headphones. Airborne is currently piloting its solution at 47 sites, including sports bars, restaurants, student health facilities and even a large resort casino, and plans to be in 800 locations by the end of the third quarter.

To help get Audioair off the ground, the startup has raised $3 million in seed funding, $1 million of which is convertible debt, from a handful of local investors. But, let’s be honest, creating a personal audio channel for muted TVs has some appeal, but it could be subject to a fairly limited use case. It’s not difficult to imagine significant others and friends the world over not being particularly pleased when, in the middle of a conversation, you throw in your headphones to hear the local play-by-play.

Plus, Airborne has to convince enough restaurants that it’s a good idea to invest in their on-premise hardware and buy another TV for their in-venue display. How does it hope to accomplish that tall order?

Airborne believes that its technology can help change the consumer experience within a multitude of these noisy environments and bridge the gap between mobile devices and customer engagement displays. So, not only does it want to provide a better audio experience for the end user, it wants to act as an interactive social networking experience and dedicated, location-based advertising network for bars, restaurants and any local venue.

The service allows users to chat with other people in the venue directly through the Audioair app, along with checking-in and adding content from their phones to the sports bar’s local network. This adds a social networking element to the end-user experience; in the meantime, Audioair allows venues to display local advertising on the user’s phone or on a 42-inch digital display that they install in the bar.

At the outset, the startup has been offering discounts on the cost of the TV (and the installations themselves) to reduce friction for early customer acquisition, but the idea is that — once/if this catches on, bars will be paying for the cost out of their own pockets.

Audioair charges a monthly fee, which will be an add-on to the fees bars are already paying to DirectTV and so on for cable, but the idea is that the product can help venues reduce the perceived (and actual cost) by helping them attract more customers who stay on the premises longer — because they can actually hear the sound of the game.

On top of that, bars can distribute on-site promotions through Audioair’s digital display and mobile app, facilitating increased spend, while engaging customers in an in-bar, interactive social and ad network.

Venues can then share in the ad revenue gained from their displays, while receiving analytics on how customers are interacting, what they’re sharing and so on. They can also disseminate the needed info publicly or privately as needed (think personalized hospital, airport alerts).

The Airborne Media founders said that they see revenue coming from three buckets — advertising, installation and licensing — with revenue initially coming from subscription and installation and advertising revenue becoming the main stream over time. As to the licensing piece, the team says that they’ve filed for eight patents on their system (which are currently pending), which could help them manufacture some defensibility for a model that could become vulnerable to competition from big players as prices on hardware continue to drop.

Audioair also tries to sweeten the deal by providing an optional on-site server to manage the local, network and cloud-based content and, by splitting a portion of the advertising revenue with the owner, the startup wants to help them cover the cost of the subscription fee and grow their own revenues over time.

The Audioair creators also believe they have a leg up on the competition because it has inked a partnership deal with one of the original commercial DirecTV installers, which has exclusive territory rights to a big chunk of real estate — from Florida to Washington, D.C. It provides DirecTV service and support to over 5,000 restaurants and will be helping Airborne make installations throughout its territory, which the founders believe will be critical to helping it expand its footprint.

Again, it seems like a niche play, but if something like this is going to work, it could be a multi-pronged approach that’s not only an audio helper but a local information and advertising system, complete with hardware support and revenue sharing. There are 38,000 sports bars and restaurants in the U.S., 28,000 health clubs and plenty of airports, casinos and college campuses where Audioair could potentially have some appeal.

If the startup is able to keep its prices from stifling those venues that are willing to give it a try — and surmount the potential “this is too complicated” reaction from local venues — while offering real value-add on the advertising side (and some better design of its mobile interface), there’s a chance Audioair could have some real legs.

“I have a tip that can take five strokes off anyone’s golf game: It’s called an eraser,” Arnold Palmer once remarked. Yes, Even brave enough to wear ridiculous clothes and hack a small white ball around a manicured lawn, golf is a difficult and sometimes humiliating, sport.

Luckily for golfers, John McGuire feels your pain and is on a mission to make the game just a little less painful for anyone daring (and ignorant) enough to pick up a club. His new company, Active Mind Technology, wants to give the golfing masses access to the same tools traditionally reserved for the pros by leveraging the same wearable sensor-based technologies found in health-tracking devices like Fitbit, Basis and Jawbone’s Up.

And who better to assist in that endeavor than the mastermind behind the design of products like Jambox, Jawbone and Jawbone Up? Joining McGuire and his team of twenty is Yves Behar, the design and branding guru (and Chief Creative Officer of Jawbone) known for helping to design the products mentioned above as well as those for PUMA, General Electric, Samsung, Prada and more.

While Behar hasn’t assumed a title in the company, McGuire tells us that he has not only led the design of the UI, UX, branding and packaging of Active Mind’s newest product, he’s also and investor and “thankfully, even acts like a founder,” he says.

This week, McGuire, Behar and team officially unveiled Game Golf, a wearable product that employs a combination of sensors, GPS and NFC technologies to provide golfers with a stream of data and feedback to help them improve their scores.

Essentially, the device, which includes transmitter tags that are inserted into clubs and a receiver that can be attached to your belt, track every shot a user takes during a round, as well as distance, club selection and so on. And, a la health and fitness trackers, Game Golf compiles this data and syncs it with the cloud, allowing users to then access their performance data via its mobile app on their mobile devices and personal computers.

Golfers can then share highlights of their round and their overall progress with friends by way of their social network(s) of choice, and see the percentage of shots that they hit in the fairway, greens in regulation, and putting performance. Backing its software, the team has designed Game Golf’s battery to accomodate two full rounds of data tracking before requiring a charge.

Though that all equates to a good start, one feature that’s conspicuously absent is that the device is not able to measure the velocity of one’s swing (or its relative accuracy). his could deter some early adopters, it’s not a flat-out deal breaker; however, adding this capability down the road could become a significant selling point for those sitting on the fence.

And, unfortunately for those looking for instant gratification, Game Golf isn’t yet available in stores. Instead, the company has launched a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo through which it hopes to raise $125,000 in an effort to finance its product development and distribution. In spite of (or perhaps because of) the fact that it will cost a hefty $249 when it does become publicly available in stores, McGuire tells us that Game Golf has become the fastest money-raising campaign in Indiegogo’s history, raising $63K in 12 hours.

Now, two days removed from launch, the campaign has raised over $108,000. At this rate, it should meet its goal within a week, which the founder takes as a promising sign of the potential demand for its golf tracker.

Based on its initial concept and after recruiting well-known pro golfers like Lee Westwood and Graeme McDowell to help with early testing (and invest), Active Mind was able to raise seed financing from a bevy of reputable investors, including Chamath Palihapitiya, Jerry Yang (of AME Cloud Ventures), Morado Venture Partners, Crosslink Capital and Ed Colligan (the Former CEO of Palm) — to name a few.

“Game Golf gives everyone access to crucial data that can dramatically improve your golf game and handicap,” McDowell says of its appeal to golfers. “[It’s] intuitive, doesn’t disrupt your game and is essential for any golfer looking to understand their game better and knock down their handicap.”

With its Indiegogo campaign acting as a proof of concept, the startup is currently in the process of raising what McGuire tells us will be a $4 million series A round. If Game Golf is able to sustain this early demand, it will eventually look to expand into other sports, like board and motor sports and soccer, for example.

While the near-term plan involves serious iterating around Game Golf, McGuire said that the platform is being architected in such a way that it will be able to eventually help users measure activity — and provide a gamification and social layer — across multiple sports.

As to Game Golf, the founder said that users can expect to see its public launch sometime this summer.

For more, find the startup’s Indiegogo campaign here, along with video demo below: