Scanadu is a company.
Scanadu has raised $35.0M across 1 funding round.
Key people at Scanadu.
Scanadu has raised $35.0M in total across 1 funding round.
Scanadu was a Silicon Valley-based consumer health technology company that developed portable medical devices and services to empower individuals to monitor their own vital signs and health data.[1][2][3] Its flagship product, the Scanadu Scout, was a handheld device measuring parameters like heart rate, blood oxygen, respiratory rate, ECG, blood pressure, and temperature, aimed at consumers—especially parents—to enable proactive health tracking and early detection.[1][2] The company sought to solve fragmented personal health monitoring by consolidating data for analysis, aspiring to create a real-world "Tricorder" inspired by Star Trek, and positioned itself as a contender for the $10 million Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE.[1][2][6] However, Scanadu ceased support for the Scout in December 2016, with operations ending by May 2017, marking the end of its active product phase.[1]
Scanadu was founded in early 2011 (sources cite January or February) by Walter De Brouwer (CEO) and Misha Chellam in Silicon Valley, initially setting up a lab at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California.[1][2] The idea stemmed from De Brouwer's personal tragedy in 2003, when his five-year-old son fell 40 feet, entered a coma for 11 weeks, and suffered from unconsolidated health data across providers—a "dinosaur age" gap De Brouwer, with his tech background, aimed to fix.[1] Early momentum included unveiling a Scout prototype in November 2012, securing $2 million in seed funding from investors like Sebastien De Halleux (Playfish co-founder), and gaining attention as a Tricorder XPRIZE frontrunner announced in May 2011.[1][2][5] The company relocated to Sunnyvale in 2016 before announcing device discontinuation.[1]
Scanadu rode the early 2010s wave of quantified self and digital health movements, capitalizing on smartphone integration, sensor miniaturization, and post-ACA demand for consumer-driven preventive care.[1][2][3] Timing aligned with the 2011 Tricorder XPRIZE, spurring innovation in at-home diagnostics amid rising chronic disease burdens and healthcare costs.[2][6] It influenced the ecosystem by pioneering portable multi-vital devices, paving the way for modern wearables (e.g., Apple Watch health features) and data-sharing platforms for AI-driven medicine, though regulatory hurdles (implied in its shutdown) highlighted challenges in FDA clearance for consumer medtech.[1] Market forces like investor enthusiasm for healthtech (evident in its funding) favored it initially, but competition from Big Tech and scalability issues shifted the landscape toward ecosystem-integrated solutions.[5]
Scanadu's arc exemplifies the high-risk, high-reward medtech startup era: bold vision met regulatory and execution realities, leading to its 2017 pivot or closure, with patents lingering as assets (e.g., blood pressure tech).[1][4] Post-shutdown, its IP appears tied to investors like Strike4, potentially licensing to ongoing digital health players amid trends like AI diagnostics and cuffless monitoring.[4][5] As consumer health evolves with wearables and telehealth dominance, Scanadu's legacy could resurface via acquisitions, influencing personalized medicine—echoing its founding quest to consolidate data from personal crises into collective empowerment.[1]
Scanadu has raised $35.0M in total across 1 funding round.
Scanadu's investors include Acequia Capital, CITG Capital, Jude Gomila Rolling Fund, Aayush Phumbhra, Adrian Aoun, Joshua Schachter, Ken Keller, Sachin Agarwal, Vishal Makhijani.
Key people at Scanadu.
Scanadu has raised $35.0M across 1 funding round. Most recently, it raised $35.0M Series B in April 2015.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 1, 2015 | $35.0M Series B | Acequia Capital, CITG Capital, Jude Gomila Rolling Fund, Aayush Phumbhra, Adrian Aoun, Joshua Schachter, Ken Keller, Sachin Agarwal, Vishal Makhijani |