icholas Conn’s obsession with toilet seats began in 2014, when he was an engineering PhD student at the Rochester Institute of Technology applying for funding to develop in-home medical monitoring devices. “The biggest challenge was folks not taking their measurements, not using devices, not wanting to make these massive behavioral changes that are required,” Conn recalls. He kicked around ideas with his advisor, ranging from a car steering wheel to a computer mouse.
McChord, who came onboard as Casana’s CEO in August, is also participating in the round through Outsiders Fund, the venture capital firm he cofounded. He helped attract other investors to the series A, including General Catalyst and Vertex Pharmaceuticals executive chairman Jeffrey Leiden. Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin-based Bemis Manufacturing Company, a privately-held plastics company and one of the world’s largest toilet seat producers, is a returning investor.
This is where founder and chief scientific officer Conn’s years of research come in. He developed algorithms that separate out medical measurements from the background noise, details of which have beenin the Journal of Medical Internet Research mHealth and uHealth.
. Casana’s first target is heart failure, which affects more than 6.2 million Americans. Aside from a heart transplant, there’s no cure for this condition—it can only be managed. Patients suffering from heart failure cycle in and out of the hospital as fluid starts to build up in the lungs, causing shortness of breath and a decrease in oxygen levels. While the patient’s heart function will inevitably decline, the hope is that regular monitoring can help slow that downward spiral.
Casana is hoping that additional clinical studies will be able to demonstrate consistent use of the toilet seat could result in fewer hospital readmissions. The main customer targets are healthcare payors or hospitals that don’t want to get dinged on readmissions penalties and would have an incentive to pay for a hardware installation and monthly subscription fee in order to help prevent higher costs down the line, which could run tens of thousands of dollars per hospitalization.
Talk about having your home wired! They’ve invaded my bathroom, and to think I was concerned when I realized they were listening to my every word. Please, no cameras!
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