Cornell-based startup CareTech Human has secured $500,000 in pre-seed equity funding to advance clinical trials of its innovative urological monitoring technology. The company is now collaborating with major healthcare institutions, including Weill Cornell Medicine and Cayuga Health, to evaluate applications for patients suffering from overactive bladder and benign prostatic hyperplasia.
The funding round was led by Buffalo-based venture capital fund Launch NY, with additional investments from Red Bear Angels and several practicing urologists who recognize the technology's potential to transform urological care.
Revolutionary Passive Monitoring Technology
CareTech Human's solution centers around a cloud-connected device that fits inside a standard toilet bowl. The system passively measures critical indicators of urological health—including frequency, volume, and flow of urination—using infrared sensing technology coupled with a proprietary AI platform. This approach automates health tracking without requiring active user participation.
"There are very low requirements from the user end, and this data goes through our secure cloud infrastructure where we apply our major AI, math-based algorithm," explained Dan Matsui, founder and CEO of CareTech Human. "The advantage of our algorithms is that they do very complicated things, but we were able to develop them in a very low power-demanding way. Thus, the operational cost for our solution is very, very low."
This innovation addresses a significant healthcare need, as millions of Americans suffer from urological conditions that require consistent monitoring but have traditionally relied on cumbersome manual tracking methods.
Clinical Trials Targeting Major Urological Conditions
The company's clinical partnerships are exploring two primary applications. At Weill Cornell Medicine, researchers are evaluating the device's ability to replace manual bladder diaries with automated, objective tracking for patients with overactive bladder—a condition affecting approximately 33 million Americans.
Meanwhile, the trial with Cayuga Health focuses on monitoring patients receiving treatment for benign prostatic hyperplasia, a common condition affecting about 50% of men over age 50 and up to 90% of men over 80.
"The goal is to make data collection effortless and much more accurate," Matsui said. "We're focusing first on overactive bladder and benign prostatic hyperplasia, but our technology has the potential to address other conditions as well."
From Ukraine to Ithaca: A Startup Journey
CareTech Human originated from the eō Business Incubators in Ukraine, a program founded by Charles K. Whitehead '83. After relocating to Ithaca and joining Cornell's Center for Life Science Ventures in 2022, the company has achieved significant milestones, including FDA registration and developing manufacturing capacity for 30 devices per month.
"The Center for Life Science Ventures treats their portfolio companies as clients, and it makes a huge difference," Matsui noted, crediting the incubator with providing crucial mentorship, R&D resources, and valuable connections within the Cornell network.
The company's ability to attract investment from practicing urologists signals strong clinical validation. "We're proud that four urologists invested in us as angels," Matsui said. "That shows we're really on track with our product-market fit and our product vision."
Future Vision: Personalized Medicine
Looking ahead, CareTech Human plans to leverage its recent funding and clinical trial momentum to prepare for a larger fundraising round. The additional capital would support expanded manufacturing capabilities and help bring the device to broader clinical and consumer markets.
Matsui envisions a future where the technology evolves beyond its current applications: "We want our solution fully automated, maintenance-free, no consumables, to make it very convenient. On the other hand, my end goal is to make our solution configurable based on disease history and predisposition of a person to certain diseases. Then we can open the era of really personalized medicine."
The company's approach represents a significant advancement in passive health monitoring technology, potentially transforming how urological conditions are managed by providing continuous, objective data without disrupting patients' daily routines.
