The story behind NUADA glove started with a minor hand injury with significant impact. A few years ago, Filipe Quinaz, CEO of this Portuguese company, suffered a sports accident that affected one of his hands. For almost 2 years he was unable to perform simple movements and routine tasks.
This situation got him to think about the importance of hand function in our lives. Later on, in 2015, NUADA was founded, a startup that came up with a revolutionary solution for anyone who suffers from hand weakness.
NUADA Glove: A simple solution for a serious problem
The NUADA device was developed with a focus on simplicity and effectiveness. It looks like a regular fabric glove used in combination with a smart bracelet. However, in its interior, there are artificial tendons and sensors.
The user of NUADA glove can hold up to 40 kg without having to exert any effort, with a fully relaxed hand. The system is also very light, comfortable and easy to use.
The simple ageing process, injuries or health related issues can cause pain, hand weakness or loss of hand function. Regardless of the causes, NUADA glove represents a solution to these kinds of problems.
NUADA: What distinguishes this UE project?
In addition to the less tangible, but highly relevant, benefits related to life quality, recovery of hand function and injury prevention, the NUADA glove also presents a very strong business case for our markets.
NUADA is currently protect by a Patent and owns trade secrets for materials and manufacturing processes. They also own algorithms that took a highly specialized team 5 years to build in order to interact with the NUADA system.
Finally, NUADA started working on future versions of the glove even before launching the first one, enabling the startup to have additional advantages when compared to bigger companies.
NUADA: Team and partnerships
NUADA company has established partnerships with:
- SOSV, a global venture capital firm providing multi-stage investment to develop and scale our founders' big ideas for positive change.
- HAX, a venture capital-based program dedicated to accelerating startups with a hardware element. NUADA participated in their program in Shenzhen, where they give founders the resources necessary to move with lightning speed.
- Microsoft
- AWS
- Supported by EU (PT2020)
The company is also represented in the United States, in an acceleration program called UTEN, with the University of Texas.
The NUADA team currently consists of people from several different fields: IT, Mechanical Engineering, Bioengineering and Electrical Engineering. All together, these professionals work to make NUADA accessible to everyone.
NUADA: From Portugal to the world
NUADA was one of the finalists in the worldwide Microsoft Imagine Cup competition, which rewards innovations by university students.
The main investors of the NUADA project are the SOSV fund and HAX, the world's largest accelerator dedicated to hardware.
Working together, the goal is to take this effective and innovative solution and place it in any hand that needs it.