Date: Apr 25, 2012 Source: bizjournals (
click here to go to the source)
A company which has developed a way for bedridden patients to move from bed to wheelchair and back again, Next Health LLC. of Rowayton, Conn. has received $100,000 of a $1.2 million round of funding, according to federal filings.
CEO Robert Jacobs said the latest round, from a single investor, comes after a previous, $3 million round which came in 2010. Both rounds came from undisclosed angel investors, he said.
The technology, called AgileLife, which is demonstrated in a video on the company's website, is a combination medical bed and attached wheelchair. Jacobs said there are about 3.3 million people nationwide in wheelchairs, about half of which need assistance getting to and from the chair. The annual cost of aides to help bed-ridden people in and out of wheelchairs is $50 billion, he said.
Jacobs said his company has been developing the system since he founded the company in 2009, and plans to make it available to people in Connecticut who need them through the state's Department of Social Services in August of this year.
The product will be available for sale in October, and Jacobs said the company will focus first on sales to the Northeast and the military.
