Announcing our investment in HiPR
On behalf of Genesis, I’m excited to announce our investment in HiPR. HiPR is a smart cushion that seeks to prevent pressure ulcers in wheelchair-bound patients by using mobile application software to identify areas of high pressure and dynamically alleviate those areas.
The Problem
Pressure ulcers affect 2.5M Americans annually, take over 29,000 lives a year, and cost hospitals $11.7B in treatment cost and legal settlements. Prevention is key: up to 95% of pressure ulcers can be averted with proactive care and contemporary technology. The prevalence of these ulcers shows a significant unmet need in the pressure ulcer prevention space.
HiPR has invented the first one-size-fits-all reactive air pressure cushion, which leverages an intrinsic algorithm to effectively eliminate areas of ulcer-causing pressure. It will serve as a crucial lifeline to the many patients living in pain.
The Founders
Krishan and Koushalya Sachdev found their passion for this topic when their first cousin was adapting to life in a wheelchair. Their cousin developed his first pressure ulcer within three months of being in a wheelchair. They witnessed how physically and mentally exhausting recovery was for him. After their cousin made several fairly extreme lifestyle changes (exercise, diet, etc.), he went on to develop a second pressure ulcer and developed a third shortly thereafter. The siblings reached out to their cousin’s team of medical professionals to find out what treatments were available and the doctors simply stated that this was a problem that was a part of life for a paraplegic. This was all they needed to hear to start working diligently on finding an alternative solution.
Krishan Sachdev (Health and Society ’19) — Krishan serves as the CEO of HiPR. He is also a clinical researcher at Dell Children’s Medical Center Foundation. He has previous experience as the COO of an organization called Start Your Era and has served as a legislative assistant for healthcare issues at the Texas House of of Representatives.
Koushalya Sachdev (Supply Chain Management ’20) — Koushalya serves as the Director of Operations for HiPR. Koushalya is also currently an Undergraduate Research Fellow at Dell Medical School.
How’re They Doing?
The team has done an excellent job at pitch competitions, winning over $11K from the UT Austin ECE Engineering Fund and the Selig Pitch Competition. Even though it is not required for them to do any sort of clinical trial, they have continually shown a strong understanding of the moral and ethical due diligence necessary when introducing a medical device into the market. HiPR conducted a feasibility study in 2018 and will continue this progress, establishing safety and efficacy with a clinical trial in late 2019 or early 2020. They have taken an idea and created a unique, working prototype and will continue to grow as a company with the goal of safe, efficient care to the future users of their product.
Why I Led This Deal by Courtney O’Donnell, Venture Partner
I have been thoroughly impressed by HiPR since day one. They have approached every conversation and line of questioning with humility and gratitude. The world of healthcare startups is tough and we firmly believe they are going to do great things. It is always exciting to fund a healthcare startup and even more rewarding to fund two siblings who pursue their ambition with unrelenting vigor. At Genesis, we enjoy investing in founders first and ideas second. It is very telling of the founders’ character to start a company based on a personal hardship of a family member. That type of empathy is much needed in the field of medicine and offers a strong testament for the longevity of their company. We are very excited and look forward to our partnership with HiPR!
