The most valuable data in healthcare is often the data you can't get. For a patient with a prosthetic limb or a diabetic foot ulcer, the critical metrics of fit, pressure, and gait happen out of the clinic, over weeks and months of daily use. Capturing that data requires sensors that are not just accurate, but soft, stretchable, and durable enough to live inside the product itself. Sendance, a 2021 spinout from Johannes Kepler University Linz, is betting that its patented conformable sensor grids and cloud platform are the missing layer to turn passive medical and sports devices into regulated data services.
A Wedge in Soft Materials
Sendance's core proposition is a B2B platform, not a consumer gadget. The company provides manufacturers of orthopedic braces, prosthetic sockets, smart insoles, and sports wearables with two integrated components: the 'sendance-grid' and the 'sendance-cloud' [Perplexity Sonar Pro Brief]. The grid is a thin, permeable sensor array that can be embedded into textiles, foam, or 3D-printed plastics. It is designed to stretch, conform to complex surfaces, and withstand the high pressures of daily use [OTWorld, 2026]. The cloud platform handles the data pipeline, from visualization to secure storage compliant with regulations like GDPR [OTWorld, 2026].
The wedge is time-to-market. For a device manufacturer, developing a reliable, medically-graded sensor system from scratch is a multi-year R&D project. Sendance claims its 'Smart Product-as-a-Service' offering can accelerate that process by a factor of six [Advantage Austria]. The company works with customers to iteratively develop prototypes until reaching product maturity, with automated production ready for launch [Medizintechnik-Cluster].
Who Is Behind the Company
| Role | Name | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Co-founder & CEO | Robert Koeppe | Leads business strategy and external partnerships [Spotify, 2026]. |
| Co-founder | Daniela Wirthl | Materials science expert from the JKU lab; featured in industry podcasts [Interview der Woche Podcast, 2026]. |
| Co-founder & CTO | Yana Vereshchaga | Leads technical development and product architecture [LinkedIn, 2026]. |
| Co-founder & CFO | Thomas Stockinger | Manages finance, operations, and grants [Prospeo]. |
Funding and the Path to Scale
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Pre-seed (Feb 2023) | 355.7 k USD |
| State Aid FFG (2024-2026) | 247 k EUR |
| Total Disclosed Capital | 2600 k EUR |
According to Dealroom, the company has raised a total of €2.6 million to date [Dealroom.co, 2026]. This includes a $355,729 pre-seed round in early 2023 [Crunchbase, Feb 2023] and a subsequent seed round led by Garage Angels in July 2023 [Trending Topics, July 2023]. A significant portion of its capital, €246,980, comes from a state aid grant through the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) for the 2024-2026 period [Northdata, 2024].
The Realistic Competitive Set
For a procurement officer at a mid-sized orthotics manufacturer evaluating Sendance, the competitive landscape isn't crowded with direct clones. The realistic alternatives tend to fall into distinct buckets: in-house development, specialized sensor startups, and generic IoT platforms. Sendance's ideal customer profile is a product manager or R&D lead at a manufacturer of assistive devices, orthopedic products, or high-end sports equipment who is feeling pressure to add digital and data-driven features to their physical products.
Where the Wheels Could Come Off
The bet is compelling, but the risks are inherent in the model. Hardware scaling is notoriously difficult, and yield rates for soft, stretchable electronics can make or destroy margins. The sales cycle in medical devices is long, often stretching 18-24 months from first contact to a paid pilot. Sendance's success depends on capturing specific, high-value niches within the €91 billion assistive devices market [F6S]. The next twelve months will be critical for transitioning from successful prototypes to announced commercial deployments with named device manufacturers.