Israeli Startup Can Check Your Health With 40-Second Selfie

From nutrition to home appliances to cars to insurance, Binah.ai’s technology has endless use cases

From cameras in smartphones to smartwatch sensors to microphones in tablets, a growing number of tech companies are developing and repurposing our everyday digital devices to be used as diagnostic tools to better monitor and improve our health.

Binah.ai, the Ramat Gan-based health and wellness check software provider, hit the headlines twice in the last six weeks for its software solution that is changing – and will change — how we monitor personal wellbeing.

The company uses artificial intelligence (AI) and sensors to monitor individuals’ vital signs and biomarkers remotely. 

“The core focus of Binah is [to provide] the most basic ability of a basic observation. [While in Israel] we live in a very advanced world in terms of medical services – 2.9 doctors for 1,000 people — there are countries in which people still need to drive eight hours in order to see a physician. So, even though telemedicine has been exploding in the past few years, it is still almost impossible to deliver multiple types of medical devices and multiple types of lab work in order to get the basic observation. And that is what we’ve created at Binah,” co-founder and CEO David Maman tells NoCamels.

Binah.ai was founded in 2016 by Maman, Konstantin Gedalin, and Michael Markzon. With over $30 million in investments to date, the company is carving a name for itself in the health monitoring sector. It is not a technology meant to replace doctors, says Maman. Rather, Binah.ai’s technology uses a combination of signal processing, AI and photoplethysmography (PPG) – a non-invasive technology that uses a light source and a photodetector at the surface of skin to measure changes to the blood – to provide vital signs measurements with medical-grade accuracy through the use of our everyday digital devices — smartphone, tablet, or laptop.

Indeed, our devices have been turned into health and wellbeing tools alongside their everyday uses. Our smartwatches can check our oxygen saturation, our phones can help us track our heart rate, and measure stress, sleep quality and a whole range of other health indicators.

Binah’s technology can measure multiple types of biomarkers. To name a few, the company can monitor heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure, heart rate variability, and even hemoglobin levels. All it requires is one 40-second selfie. Maman says his company is constantly adding new types of biomarkers. And noted that Binah’s technology can identify these biomarkers regardless of skin tone, age, sex, or ethnicity. 

Maman says there are 20-or-so companies working in this space — using cameras built into our devices to continuously monitor our health. What sets Binah apart is that the company’s business model is to license its pioneering technology and let other companies bring it to market. Binah, which in Hebrew translates to ‘wisdom’ or ‘intelligence’, enables anyone to measure a wide range of biomarkers and apply it to a specific solution.

Binah.ai’s technology does not record or keep track of information of its users. It is up to the company that integrates the solution to decide what information it shares with its users. 

Health data in other sectors

“When we think about healthcare, we usually think about pure healthcare services. Like a clinic, hospitals, and maybe, remote care. But health data has become a commodity. Organizations need health data to make better decisions,” says Maman, referring to some of the collaborations his company has with global entities.

Such as the strategic partnership with Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT East). The companies joined forces in January to advance employee safety and health management in the manufacturing and construction sector. Their joint goal is to ease monitoring employee health and safety and provide peace of mind.  

Earlier this month, Binah announced a partnership with Sapiens to improve risk management in the insurance sector.

“Binah.ai’s groundbreaking health monitoring technology is a game-changer in our insurance solutions,” Amanda Ingram, Sapiens Proposition & Ecosystem Manager, said in a press statement. Her company offers a cloud-based SaaS insurance platform that empowers insurers to innovate and adopt digital solutions.

The insurance and construction sectors are just two examples of where Maman envisions Binah making an impact.

“This technology will be embedded in everything. From nutrition to home appliances to cars to insurance, our goal is to make this tech available for endless use cases. Binah will be running on 500 million devices,” Maman tells NoCamels. “We’re providing the ability to help people.”

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