India’s Persistent backs hand hygiene wearables start-up

Financial details were not disclosed but Persistent Venture Fund typically invests in increments of $100,000-250,000.

Hyginex develops products that monitor staff hygiene in healthcare facilities. Sensors mounted on wristbands register a proper hand hygiene event based on the amount of soap used and time spent scrubbing. Further sensors above a patient's bed alert staff if they approach without having first completed a hand hygiene event.

All data collected by the wristbands is uploaded to a server allowing management to track compliance.

The company was founded in 2008 by Efrat Raichman, an Israeli whose uncle passed away after contracting a hospital-acquired infection. She carried out further research into these infections and found that improper hand hygiene was a leading cause.

Shiva Swami, who has experience in the technology start-up space, came on board as CEO in 2013 to help the company expand in the US. His mother had suffered four blood infections while being treated in hospital as an end-stage renal disease patient.

Every year in the US there are 1.7 million healthcare-associated infections that result in close to 100,000 patient deaths.

"Hyginex's unique approach based on innovative wearable technology protects patients in hospitals and improves global healthcare," said Dr. Sridhar Jagannathan, chief innovation officer at Persistent Systems and head of the Persistent Venture Fund, in a statement. "To this investment in Hyginex, Persistent brings its expertise and focus on emerging medical technologies."

Persistent has a global team of more than 7,500 employees providing software and technology outsourcing services across analytics, big data and cloud computing for the telecom, life sciences, healthcare and financial services sectors.

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• Topics
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