Last week Raccoon.world, a Ukrainian-founded, US-based medtech company, announced that it received a €50,000 grant from the EU Horizon 2020 program.
The money will be spent on developing the startup’s new offer, Raccoon.Recovery. Aimed “to help people after a trauma or a stroke restore the functionality of their hands, as well as to give an opportunity to play video games for those with cerebral palsy or quadriplegia,” the solution targets patients, doctors and hospitals.
The startup claims to help patients and doctors save money and time, improve the quality of diagnostics, and make “rehab treatment effective and engaging,” among other advantages.
Its software will help doctors to build comparative graphs, give recommendations for a better rehabilitation strategy, among others.
Presented as “an interactive therapy and analyzing tool for hand rehabilitation,” Raccoon.Recovery consists of “a controller for collecting data and training, software for diagnostics and analysis, which is enabled by machine learning and AI algorithms, and a smartphone app to see the dynamics.
The app will be available for both iOS and Android users.
At the moment, the product is at the beta stage, with a ready controller prototype and the software MVP. The company has launched pilot projects in three clinics and one rehabilitation center in Ukraine, as well as in two rehabilitation centres in the USA.
In addition to its newest offer, the startup is designing a variety of gadgets for hands, including Raccoon.Clip, “a universal controller for mobile VR and video games,” and Raccoon.Glove, “a multifunctional device for operating and interacting with virtual reality and remote objects.”
In half a year, Raccoon is planning to apply for the second stage of the Horizon 2020 program to benefit from €500,000 to €2.5 million as additional funding.
Currently the startup’s team consists of 12 people. To date, the company has raised the total of $280 000, and is looking for additional € 430,000 to finish the development of its new offer by the mid 2019. It has its R&D center in Kyiv (Kiev).
Founded in 2015, the startup has enjoyed many accolades. It was named one of the Top 10 Startups of 2017 in Robotics and VR by Techstars Boston, and recognized the Best Project 2017 at Vernadsky Challenge, an international engineering startup competition held each year in Kyiv (Kiev).
