Model Health Lands $1M To Turn Smartphones Into Lab-Grade Movement Analysis Tools
Startups like Model Health are pushing into prevention and optimization, using everyday tech to deliver advanced performance insights
Model Health has raised €800,000 ($1 million) in pre-seed funding to turn any smartphone into a lab-grade movement analysis tool, using AI and biomechanics to provide clinics and trainers with insights that it says were once only possible with €100,000 worth of equipment.
Apex Capital, a sports-focused investment firm backed by professional athletes, led the round with participation from Syndicate One, LeanSquare, imec.istart and several angel investors, including tech entrepreneurs, physical therapists and an undisclosed international European soccer player. The startup says the capital will support product development, adoption in sports clinics and organizations and three foundational hires.
Launched in 2024, the Belgian-American startup was founded by Stanford researchers Antoine Falisse and Scott Uhlrich, later joined by former McKinsey director Nicolas Bellemans. A dozen sports clinics and rehab centers in the U.S. and Europe already use Model Health’s technology, along with global sports brand Decathlon through its SportsLab R&D center.
Put simply, Model Health shrinks complex lab setups into two iOS devices and an app. Practitioners record video through the app, which calibrates the devices and uploads footage to the cloud. From there, computer vision, AI and biomechanics algorithms generate a 3D model within minutes, producing time-series data like joint angles, center-of-mass trajectories and angular velocities. The system then translates those numbers into metrics tied to injury risk and performance, giving trainers and clinicians lab-grade insights.
“Every athlete and patient deserves world-class movement analysis, and every practitioner should have affordable, lab-grade tools that fit seamlessly into their workflow,” Model Health CEO Falisse said. “With smartphones only, we can now unlock insights that once required €100,000+ equipment, making high-performance movement analysis truly scalable.”
Pricing starts at $129 a month for the Starter plan, which includes lab-grade motion capture, automated analysis modules and 10 sessions per month. The Pro plan at $199 expands that to 25 sessions, while Pro Plus, a custom-priced tier, offers 50 to unlimited sessions, multi-user access and API integrations for larger organizations.
Koen Bosma, partner at Apex Capital, noted that the appeal lies in how Model Health takes a process once confined to labs and puts it directly in the hands of athletes and clinicians.
“They make the lab go to the athletes,” Bosma said. “Their technology has the potential to become the global standard for how professionals measure, analyze and improve movement. We are very excited for the journey ahead.”
Model Health’s raise also reflects another shift in fitness and wellness, where gyms and clinics are converging and data and analysis are becoming as essential as dumbbells and treadmills. Maxiom and DNAthlete, meanwhile, are experimenting with genetics and AI to personalize training and recovery for elite athletes. Fit:match is pushing in a similar direction with its Reflect 3D body scanning system, recently deployed at the Penn Relays to study correlations between body composition, performance and injury risk.