upLYFT

In Europe 40% of people who exercise injure themselves and 67% of these injuries cause long term physical complications. Most of these injuries are easily preventable with proper pre/post exercise preparation, however this is often skipped due to lack of time and expertise. Over time this results in an increasingly debilitated society where individuals fail to be as active as before the injury due to chronic pain, decreased mobility and increased risk of repeat injury. Being less active is directly linked to less graceful ageing with individuals becoming more dependent on external help. A product that effectively aids recovery and limits injuries is therefore needed to ensure everyone can enjoy a healthy and active life.

Moreover, people are spending increasingly more to improve their sports performance. Sport nutrition alone is valued at 19 billion dollars, despite the associated health risks, where up to 1 in 3 users experiences adverse side effects.

upLYFT's aim is developing a smart vibrating sleeve that prevents and protects against sport-related injuries, improves muscle performance and facilitates recovery. The company’s technology supports the user at all stages of exercising: warm-up, work-out and cool-down; it automatically adapts the frequency and strength of vibrations to optimise results and tailor the stimulation to each user’s individual needs through a controlled feedback loop.

upLYFT develops products which provide holistic support to the musculoskeletal system (MSK) by utilising localised vibrational therapy (LVT), a novel approach to muscle stimulation. Vibrational therapy is a heavily researched area amongst MSK academics with many well-established health benefits. However there is no practical consumer product that utilises this therapy. upLYFT is therefore miniaturising this technology with the advancement of resonant transducers to harvest the many benefits of LVT and make it accessible to all. upLYFT’s wearables safeguard and protect against injuries, facilitate recovery and increase physical performance.

The upLYFT sleeve works on three different levels: preventing muscle-related injuries, facilitating recovery and boosting muscle strength. The company has combined all three benefits into a single holistic solution, hence eliminating the need to possess multiple fitness products; upLYFT’s goal is to make a long active lifestyle easily accessible to all.

Furthermore, upLYFT has shortened warm-ups and cool-downs by making them more efficient. The upLYFT sleeve allows for passive stimulation; by wearing the sleeve during the commute to/from the gym, you can prepare your muscles on-the-go saving up to 20 minutes on every workout.

The upLYFT sleeve makes performance enhancement safe. Many individuals avoid gym supplements due to the associated risk of side effects. upLYFT does away with these worries. The sleeve is minimally invasive, non ingestible and so poses little risk upon use. At the same time, thanks to the use of localised vibrations it achieves almost three times better results than gym supplements in improving muscle performance.

upLYFT’s business model relies upon direct online sales, and the company’s affiliate program which is being developed with personal trainers and gyms. upLYFT is building a dedicated community of sports lovers through an engaged social media following and collaborations. The company’s strategy is heavily reliant on online marketing, their brand ambassador network and targeted advertising. In the future upLYFT will also expand their sales channels to include physical retailers. Globally, the smart fitness clothing segment is rapidly growing and projected to reach 2.5 billion dollars in two years, with many European countries taking the lead in consumption of wearables.

upLYFT has 2 co-founders, Aalok & Zuzanna. Aalok is a master’s student of Biomedical Engineering at Imperial College London. He has a strong technical background in electronics and product design of medical devices, which he developed working as the lead engineer at KnitRegen, a start-up specialising in stroke rehabilitation devices. He has also founded a sustainable home-decor brand and is an IET Scholar. Zuzanna is a Natural Sciences student, majoring in Physics and minoring in Physical Chemistry at University College London. She has worked for healthcare start-ups across a range of fields: cardiovascular health, sanitation, personalised genomics and has conducted research on medical nanostructures with Dr. Regoutz. Moreover, In her first year at university, she set up a project developing a method of non-invasive cholesterol measurement for which she secured funding and coordinated the R&D. Zuzanna is a Laidlaw Scholar and a Sigma Squared Fellow.