ViTRAK Systems Inc. closes $2 million funding round
Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island – (November 20, 2014) ViTRAK Systems Inc. (ViTRAK) announced today that it has raised up to $2 million in funding from a syndication of local PEI investors including the Regis Duffy Bioscience Fund and associated companies. ViTRAK will leverage the funds to continue enhancing its product and to support sales and marketing efforts in the U.S. and Canada.
The company’s core product, Stepscan® is a patented pressure sensitive electronic floor tile system combined with proprietary gait analysis software. The system is able to capture and analyze the patterns of mobility and balance in patients or research subjects as they move across the floor. The technology is able to measure under foot pressure distribution as well as many other movement parameters, such as a subject’s stride, sway, and speed of movement.
Stepscan® can be used by medical researchers and clinicians requiring objective measures of walking disability including balance. This includes work with patients whose walking impairments stem from neurodegenerative disease, musculoskeletal disorders, pain, arthritis, diabetes etc. Private physiotherapists involved in the rehabilitative therapy of patients can also benefit from its use.
ViTRAK CEO, Crystal Trevors, says that the Stepscan® technology provides a better understanding of gait, which can in turn lead to a number of positive developments in gait therapy.
“Our patented software can offer clinicians and patients the opportunity for early diagnosis and treatment by providing new clinical insights, thus permitting new developments in rehabilitative engineering for the future. This will ultimately benefit the patient population suffering from mobility impairing diseases.”
Ron Keefe, President of the Regis Duffy BioScience Fund, believes that ViTRAK is on track for commercial success.
“ViTRAK is an innovative company with great potential. The Regis Duffy Fund and the Duffy group of companies is pleased to provide financial and other support to Crystal and her team as they take the next steps to commercial success.”
Mr. Keefe, Dr. Regis Duffy and Earl Duffy will join the board of ViTRAK.
ViTRAK is also happy to announce the commissioning of its new facility on Walker Drive in Charlottetown, where the floor tiles will be manufactured.
About Stepscan
Stepscan Technologies (previously ViTRAK Systems Inc.) is a federally incorporated Research and Development company dedicated to the development and commercialization of its two patents in the field of movement tracking and analysis. The company’s pressure sensitive flooring system has many applications beyond medical research and clinical rehabilitation including sports training and clinical drug trials, and also military training/virtual simulation and security. With additional funding support through Innovation PEI and the Natural Science and Engineering Research council, Stepscan is also pursuing the development of a broader based subject tracking system and evaluating the technology’s suitability as a biometric identification tool. Stepscan holds patents for its sensor floor technology in North America and is patent pending internationally.