Redefining Health Tracking Without Compromising Style
If you’re a watch enthusiast, the thought of swapping your elegant timepiece for a bulky fitness tracker might seem unappealing. Fortunately, Salah Batroukh, founder of Hiyd, believes that people shouldn’t have to sacrifice fashion for function when it comes to health technology.
“We don’t think that health tracking needs to be this overly conscious decision where you have to change something about the way you look,” Batroukh shared with TechCrunch. “That’s the ethos of the entire company. Our plan is to build out this product ecosystem of invisible health tracking.”
A Seamless Sensor That Respects Your Watch’s Integrity
Hiyd’s flagship product is a small, slim disc designed to attach discreetly to the back of your watch using microsuction technology. This innovative material allows the sensor to sit flush beneath your watch without using magnets or adhesives, thereby avoiding any residue or interference with magnetic watch mechanisms.
Batroukh explains, “Microsuction is essentially a textured silicone, with hundreds of tiny pockets per square inch molded into a pliable sheet. So when you press on it, it pushes air out of all those pockets, and you end up with a vacuum — just like traditional suction cups but scaled down incredibly. It works incredibly at stopping shear forces, but a little bit of prying allows it to pop right off, which is ideal for us. It’s also incredibly thin at just 0.3 mm with our manufacturing processes.”
Advanced Biometrics in a Tiny Package
The sensor measures only 2.7 mm thick and weighs 7 grams, yet it collects a comprehensive set of biometrics comparable to those tracked by leading wearable devices. This includes heart rate, heart rate variability, sleep staging, movement, calories burned, and VO2 max estimations. The collected data seamlessly syncs with an iOS or Android app, providing users with detailed health insights.
To enhance accuracy, Hiyd’s team is actively collecting and labeling data by recording themselves performing various activities. “We go for a walk and say, ‘This is somebody walking, this is somebody jogging, this is somebody running,’” Batroukh explained. “The one thing that AI is really good at is data analysis, so we can basically fit a lot of heuristic analysis into our sets really quickly.”
Nutrition and Lifestyle Insights Beyond Basic Tracking
Hiyd is also developing app features that incorporate nutrition tracking, not to obsessively count calories but to help users understand how their eating patterns influence their sleep quality and exercise performance. This personalized approach aims to provide actionable insights tailored to individual habits.
“What we will do is say like, ‘Hey, on days where you work out at 10 p.m. instead of 10 a.m., your sleep quality is actually worse,’ and that’ll be specific to you,” Batroukh said. “Or it’ll say, ‘Hey, we think you had a less deep sleep last night because you had a slice of cake before you went to bed, and the sugar affected it.’”
From Apple Engineer to Startup Innovator
Before founding Hiyd, Salah Batroukh spent approximately seven years as a manufacturing design engineer at Apple, a company renowned for its cutting-edge hardware. His departure stemmed from a desire to create products centered more on customer needs than brand identity.
“One of the reasons I left Apple was a lot of the products became a little bit more about being an Apple product, rather than being something for the customer,” Batroukh said. “[Hiyd] gives me the opportunity to do the exact opposite.”
Batroukh is supported by co-founders Omar Shakir, an experienced mechanical engineer serving as CTO, and Mahamad Charawi, head of software, who previously co-led the Y Combinator-backed startup Laudspeaker through its sale.
Looking Ahead: Launch and Market Reception
Hiyd is showcasing its innovative sensor at TechCrunch Disrupt, competing as one of the top 20 startups in the prestigious Startup Battlefield. The company plans to launch a Kickstarter campaign in November, and enthusiasm is already strong, with over 16,000 people placing deposits to reserve the first units.
This promising fusion of sleek design and advanced health tracking technology could redefine how watch lovers engage with wearable health devices, making vital biometric monitoring nearly invisible yet profoundly impactful.
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