Kfar Saba-based cardiac monitoring clothing HealthWatch, raises $20 million from Chinese company Yiling, who will also market HealthWatch’s product in China.

By Israel Hayom Staff

Israeli startup HealthWatch Technologies, which develops cardiac monitoring garments, announced Monday a $20 million investment by Chinese company Yiling, which specializes in Chinese medicine and is now in the process of branching out into conventional medicine.

According to the financial daily Globes, the investment puts HealthWatch’s value at $65 million.

HealthWatch describes itself as “a pioneer in harnessing textile technology to produce fashionable, smart-digital garments with interwoven sensors unobtrusively measuring vital signs of hospital-grade quality.”

According to the agreement, $15 million of the investment will give Yiling a 23% stake in HealthWatch. The additional $5 million are licensing fees, allowing Yiling to market HealthWatch’s product in China. The financial daily Calcalist reported that Yiling also plans to invest several million dollars in setting up a subsidiary in China to market the product.

Kfar Saba-based HealthWatch was founded in 2012 by CEO Yoram Romem and CFO Amos Shattner.

“The product is designed to provide peace of mind for people at risk, but we’re all at some risk all the time, of course. We’re all somewhere on the risk continuum,” Romen said Monday.

“We are excited about the deal with Yiling. This is a significant investment that will considerably contribute to the development of groundbreaking technology,” he said. “Heart disease is the leading cause of death today, and we are sure the product we developed will help in early detection of heart disease, and help patients monitor their medical condition in a comfortable, friendly and more effective environment. We also believe our technology will help medical institutions to reduce hospitalization durations, as well as the number of heart patient readmissions.”

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