butlr Technologies Raises $7.9M Seed Round for Anonymous People Sensors

Butlr Technologies Secures $7.9 Million Seed Funding for Spatial Sensing Expansion

Butlr Technologies has received a new $7.9 million seed round investment. This funding will enhance the company’s capacity to deploy its real-time people-sensing technology to new sectors. These include monitoring for potential falls and movement patterns among active seniors aging in place.

Investment Details and Participants

Hyperplane spearheaded the funding round. Additional participation came from Founder Collective, Union Labs, 500 Startups, SOSV, E14 Fund, Tectonic Ventures, Scott Belsky, Chad Laurans, and Sunny Vu.

This new capital builds upon a previous $1.2 million raise in convertible notes from the prior year, which is included within the total $7.9 million. Butlr is focused on developing a comprehensive platform alongside its Heatic sensors.

How Butlr’s Technology Works

The Heatic sensors anonymously detect body heat to ascertain occupancy, headcount, and activity levels. Co-founders Honghao Deng and Jiani Zeng, who launched Butlr from the MIT Media Lab in 2019, describe their innovation as “Alexa for spatial.”

These wireless sensors capture thermal body heat data at a rate of five frames per second. This data includes posture, sleep quality, and temperature. The system then transforms this information into actionable insights for customers.

Key Advantages of Butlr’s Approach

Deng emphasizes that Butlr is unique in its combination of accuracy and wireless functionality. The sensors, small enough to fit in the palm of a hand, offer simple placement, a one-time setup, and a two-year battery life.

Privacy is a core tenet of Butlr’s design. The system doesn’t record faces, instead visualizing people as “heat” signatures moving throughout a space.

“The sensors are designed for seamless integration into any environment,” Deng stated. “They should be unobtrusive and require minimal user attention. We aim to restore dignity to technology while simultaneously addressing user needs.”

Product Availability and Pricing

Basic kits are available for purchase on the company’s website, starting at $880. These kits include space-designing software to optimize sensor placement for maximum coverage.

Future Plans and Market Expansion

The funding will support continued market expansion and further technology development. This includes creating a more advanced API to meet the growing demand for spatial intelligence.

Butlr is currently fulfilling orders for hundreds of thousands of sensors and experienced nearly a tenfold increase in revenue last year. Deng anticipates continued growth as companies refine their return-to-work strategies post-COVID-19.

Expanding Beyond Initial Markets

While initially focused on real estate and retail, Butlr envisions applications in diverse areas. These include monitoring car traffic patterns and providing support in assisted living facilities.

In assisted living, the technology can enable early diagnostics and cognitive function monitoring, potentially preventing incidents like falls.

Enhanced Fall Detection Capabilities

“The assisted living market presents a significant opportunity,” Deng explained. “A key benefit of our monitoring system is the ability to understand a person’s location and predict potential frailty.”

By transmitting heat signatures in real-time, Butlr can detect unusual movements or behaviors indicative of a fall. This contrasts with existing technologies that Deng claims “miss critical minutes” in image transmission.

Advantages Over Existing Solutions

Current solutions often rely on wearables or health bands, which require frequent charging and can be inconvenient for seniors or those in home health settings. Furthermore, using sensors instead of cameras preserves individual dignity, according to Zeng.

Industry Validation

Eric Paley, a partner at Founder Collective, praised Butlr’s “incredible simplicity,” calling it “the holy grail of indoor sensing.”

He noted that many startups attempting similar solutions have failed due to complex setup processes or the need for professional installation. Paley highlighted the value of sensors that can be easily fixed in place for years.

“What they’ve achieved at this early stage is remarkable,” Paley added. “Numerous industries are exploring applications for Butlr’s technology. Our API-first approach allows us to serve a wide range of customers.”