MindMaze acquires Gait Up to add motion analysis to its VR platform

Two Lausanne based start-ups recently joined forces to transport human movement in all its dynamic range to virtual worlds: MindMaze, a company building next-generation human-machine interactions through neuro-virtual and augmented reality (AR) technology, announced a strategic investment to acquire Gait Up, makers of clinical-grade motion algorithms used in healthcare and by elite athletics. The investment pairs Gait Up’s miniaturised motion measurement and analysis technology and team with MindMaze’s neurotechnology platform to bring advanced movement classification and analysis to enhance human performance.

A spin-off of the University Hospital of Lausanne (CHUV) and the Swiss Institute of Technology of Lausanne (EPFL), Gait Up was generating revenue and had an interesting list of customers and partners, including Logitech, the Swatch group, Hitachi, Philips, Salomon, PIQ, BNP Paribas group, Jaguar Land Rover and Pomoca.

The company’s 10 or so employees will be joining MindMaze as part of the deal, and Gait Up will continue to serve its existing customers for the rest of this year before gradually working to integrate its technology with that of MindMaze’s to expand its platform to bring in more diagnostics and data.

“From the research we began 15 years ago, our vision has been to change the way we measure and make sense of human motion,” said Benoit Mariani, CEO and co-founder of Gait Up in a statement. “Adding our motion tracking technology to MindMaze’s suite of solutions creates exciting new possibilities for industries far beyond our healthcare roots.”

The acquisition comes at a time when MindMaze has seen some interesting developments of its own. Earlier this year, the company received FDA approval in the U.S. so that it can start to sell its technology to healthcare organisations in that country.

Founded in 2012, MindMaze created a proprietary computing platform that combines motion tracking, neural inputs and virtual reality (VR) using biosignals - like electrical impulses from the brain and face - to control computers. By infusing this technology with Gait Up’s movement analysis algorithms and hardware, MindMaze is poised to unlock new forms of human-computer action.

Tej Tadi, MindMaze’s CEO said: “For VR / AR to achieve mainstream adoption, having an immersive user experience powered by mobile devices is essential; we’ve solved one of the most complex aspects of virtual immersion, human emotion, when we launched MASK in early 2017”. He added: “Now with Gait Up’s unrivaled motion analysis technology, we’ll transport human movement in all its dynamic range to virtual worlds.”