The young start-up company VALETUDOO aims to advance the digitalization of physiotherapy, rehabilitation, and fitness through the development of modern training equipment. Therefore, in 2022, the idea for developing an innovative cable pull tower (VIS) emerged.
The intelligent cable pull tower VIS is a combination of reimagined hardware and intuitive software at the highest technical level.
The team behind VALETUDOO is a five-member young, dynamic, and ambitious team that met and came to appreciate each other at the Technical University OWL in 2022. Each member brings individual soft and hard skills to the start-up and optimally complements the team.
The journey began with Finn Wiesmann’s idea. During his training as a sports and fitness merchant in Hamburg, he recognized the problem that while experienced athletes were familiar with the equipment, pure health-oriented athletes often had no access to it. They simply didn’t know that they could train their entire body with a single piece of equipment, or they were afraid of doing something wrong and injuring themselves during training.
Furthermore, it became clear that the crucial factor for not exercising is self-motivation. These insights, combined with expert opinions, led to five dedicated young people passionately coming together months later to develop the first market-ready prototype to solve these problems.
In November 2021, two team members (Finn & Benny) began to ponder the development of an innovative cable pull tower for the first time together during their Master’s degree in Applied Entrepreneurship.
In December 2021, the enthusiastically collected potential functionalities of the innovative cable pull tower, then still under a different project name, were meticulously examined and structured over two intensive weeks.
In a clandestine operation in February 2022, they built the first version of a prototype, then still made of cardboard.
Subsequently, the concept was presented in fitness studios, physiotherapy practices, and rehabilitation centers in the area. This led to a considerable amount of feedback and valuable insights.
Thanks to the Kickstart@TH OWL funding from our university, VALETUDOO’s plan to secure funding for a prototype came to fruition at the end of February 2022. This also created the opportunity to work in the SmartFactoryOWL, where they could work more intensively on the development of their device.
In March 2022, the cable pull tower was further developed with renowned companies from Lemgo (Buenea Vista, Rehaktiv Rügge, Körperbau). In the following month, the logo and the name VALETUDOO were agreed upon.
For the presentation of their research status, they were able to create their first functional 2nd prototype version in May 2022 at the Power Up – Network Night OWL and present it at the fair. The registration of the 1st patent followed in the very next month.
VALETUDOO continued to work tirelessly to improve their product, and their strong commitment was particularly rewarded in November 2022. Successes were achieved in automatic height adjustment, where every height position at 2.10 m could be precisely controlled within a few tenths of a second, and shortly thereafter, the time had finally come. They secured the Gründungsstipendium.NRW (Start-up Grant.NRW).
In December 2023, the team continued to grow; they were now a five-member team.
Only a short time later, in collaboration with their development partner Krüger GmbH & Co.KG, their first 3D model of a potentially production-ready VIS was created. Thus, in January 2023, their vision seemed theoretically feasible.
The software team continued to improve the design to make it clearer and easier to understand, and soon after, the patent process entered its next round in May 2023.
At the beginning of June 2023, VALETUDOO achieved 2nd place at the Pitch Event of the Campus Foundery OWL opening in Lemgo, which was a great success, especially locally, and at the end of June 2023, the website “valetudoo.de” went online.
Another milestone occurred in August 2023, when VALETUDOO received the twelve-month funding of the nationwide EXIST Start-up Grant. As a result, the team was to receive financial support from the BMWK for research and development work starting November 1, 2023.
At that time, the team had developed the hardware and software separately, but by mid-October 2023, both components had reached a usable level of maturity and were linked together. From that point on, they communicated successfully with each other.
To continue raising awareness for their start-up project and to quickly and precisely present their VIS to interested parties and potential customers, VALETUDOO created a short 3D video of their VIS in November 2023.
At the end of the year, the first office was moved into InnovationSPIN in Lemgo.
At the beginning of 2024, the development of their tracking software continued. This represented the best of two worlds: motion tracking based on Movenet for precise 2D tracking and the integration of a LiDAR sensor for highly accurate depth data. This combination enables unprecedented accuracy and reliability in motion capture.
In March 2024, the first tests of their tracking software could be carried out. The results of these tests were a springboard into the future for them. The VALETUDOO team was thus able to work on the identified weaknesses and continuously improve their software to offer their customers the best possible experience.
The Team Behind VALETUDOO
