The money was raised through Together Pharma's crowdfunding platform.
UPnRIDE, which has developed a special wheelchair enabling people with paralysis from the neck down to travel erectly, has raised NIS 2.2 million through Together Pharma's crowdfunding platform. The investors are from Together's club of eligible investors. UPnRIDE is now raising more money from the general public.
UPnRIDE was founded by Amit Goffer, a cofounder of ReWalk, which developed external skeletons enabling lower body paralytics to walk. ReWalk, a Nasdaq-listed company, has not succeeded in penetrating the market, but recently launched a new product - walking training for people suffering paralysis following a stroke.
Goffer himself is paralyzed from the neck down, and can therefore not use the product that he invented in ReWalk, which requires a healthy upper body. After realizing that ReWalk would not develop a product for people like him, he decided to found a new company.
UPnRIDE does not enable disabled people to walk; it transports them in an erect position. This enables them to view the rest of the world from the same height as other people and has health benefits - medical processes, such as digestion, are aided by gravity when the body is erect from time to time. Constant sitting is liable to have fatal effects on those who are totally unable to stand.
UPnRIDE's product features robotic capabilities enabling disabled people to travel erect over a range of field conditions, including slopes, without risking a fall.
The company said that it had already signed distribution agreements in the UK and Hong Kong. UPnRIDE's wheelchairs are currently being tested by the US army for use by disabled people.
According to UPnRIDE, 2,000 people are now interested in its product, some of whom invested in the financing round.