Sources inform ''Globes'' that Israeli start-up Hisense, the inventor of the Babysense monitor for monitoring breathing rate in babies, and preventing cot deaths, has signed an exclusive five-year distribution agreement with US company Babysafe USA, which is owned by Israeli businessman, Sagi Ben-Dov. The company expects the deal will yield revenue of at least $8.6 million.
The Babysense monitor is a system composed of two sensors that are located under the baby’s mattress and monitor his/her breath. The system will activate an alarm in the event of breathing cessation or irregular breathing patterns. The system is patented and is marketed as a medical product throughout the world, save for the US, where it is marketed as non-medical product.
The main competitor to the Babysense system is a product named Angel Care, which is manufactured by a Canadian company. “Both companies have similar sales worldwide,” says Hisense business development manager Yaniv Shtalryd. The company said that in the three years prior to the signing of the agreement with Babysafe, sales increased by 250%, while net profit for 2005 increased by 29%. The company’s sales currently total a few million dollars.
Hisense was founded in 1991 by CEO Haim Shtalryd (75% share), father of Yaniv and a former engineer at Tadiran, and Victor Yotam. The two men originally worked on the development of a product for monitoring the breathing of patients in operating theaters, but soon discovered there was a market for the product for infants, and adapted their invention accordingly.
The company received an initial investment of several hundred thousand dollars, and has since expanded to additional markets. The agreement with Babysafe USA represents Hisense’s first foothold in the US market. The company’s annual sales in Israel, a market with 140,000 births a year, have reached 10,000 units. It is currently developing additional products for infants under the “Babysense” brand.
Globes: There is another company in Israel called EarlySense Ltd., which had developed a product similar to yours, but for monitoring asthma in children. Can your product also be adapted for this purpose?
Shtalryd:”Our product is suited for monitoring breathing in babies up to the age of one year. An adult breathes at a lower rate with more disruptions and noise than that made by an infant, therefore it would not be easy to convert our product for use on older people. We did, however, once convert it at the request of several veterinary surgeons who wanted to monitor breathing rate in dogs.”
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on July 16, 2006
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