Their clients include Arsenal F.C., the Baltimore Ravens, Cerner Corporation, Google, Intel, The Walt Disney Company, and more. Their board of directors features high profile names from high profile industries. They have approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). With more than $21 million raised in private and venture capital, their future is bright.
Meet DARI Motion, a company that provides an FDA-cleared human motion capture system that delivers full-body motion analysis and reporting in less than 10 minutes.
To put it another way, DARI Motion helps people move better.
That’s what Greg Giefer, DARI’s Chief Sales Officer, will tell you. A University of Notre Dame graduate, Giefer started his career selling medical equipment for Apria Healthcare, Medtronic, and General Electric. He was familiar with the healthcare industry; so when the opportunity to invest in DARI Motion presented itself, he understood the value of their technology, data, and algorithms.
From a certain point of view, Giefer has spent his professional career around products that help people. You can see why when you meet him. He’s humble, unassuming.
“I just got off the phone with [insert name of huge tech company] earlier,” Giefer said in his office at Groover Labs. “They have this fascinating idea about how to use our technology. How cool is it that I get to talk to people like this?”
You can often find Giefer in his private office at Groover Labs.
“When I first learned about Groover Labs, I knew that’s exactly where I wanted to be. I wanted to work around other entrepreneurs who are trying to do the same thing I’m doing,” Giefer said. “Since I’ve been here, I’ve met so many founders whose experiences have just really helped me keep pushing hard.”
$21 Million Capital Raise
When Giefer set out to raise capital for DARI Motion, he opened a pre-seed round with family and close friends, as well as former clients in the healthcare industry - a field where he had relationships and expertise. Giefer raised $6 million in the first three weeks. He then received interest from a group of investors in Florida who wanted to invest $5 million, so Giefer raised the company’s valuation.
Over the next few years, the total raised grew to $15 million. Most recently, Giefer initiated another $5 million raise to acquire a software company in Germany; but, during the raise, he oversubscribed and ended with $6 million, bringing the total amount to $21 million.
Giefer says he’s now focused on sales. DARI Motion has seen a more than 600% increase in sales over the first half of 2021 compared to the same period last year, with considerable interest coming from the healthcare industry.
About DARI Motion
Most motion capture companies place up to 30 sensors, or “markers”, on their subjects to capture how they move. The results don’t come through in real-time; and, depending on the moves, the markers can shift out of place, which corrupts the data.
DARI Motion uses a constellation of high-speed, high-definition cameras instead of markers, therefore “markerless”, to record their subjects' movements. The data feeds into proprietary software in real-time, which compares their moves against a vast trove of human movement data. The software generates a report that shows how the subject’s movement compares against the field.
One DARI Motion capture system can easily collect up to 75 subjects in an 8-hour day, which makes the process scalable. It used to take six months to collect biomechanical data like this; DARI does it in minutes.
For a high school athlete, a DARI Motion report may reveal the way a subject moves that, when measured against similar athletes, demonstrates their ability to play at the Division I level. Rehabilitation clinics may measure how a knee replacement is on track compared to other patients. Corporate wellness advocates may inform an employee that, based on their report, their 50-year-old body may be operating like a 62-year-old body.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
DARI Sports, Move, and Health - their three product offerings - each play unique and specific roles in how to improve the lives of athletes, patients, and employees. With FDA approval, motion capture sessions ordered by physicians are reimbursable through Medicare and Medicaid, which reduces the cost of the procedures.
DARI Motion’s Board of Directors
DARI Motion has a strong board of directors who help Giefer and the team solve problems quickly. They include Blackrock Managing Director Pat Eilers; UFC Vice President of Performance at the UFC Performance Institute Duncan French; former President of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons John J. Callaghan, MD; Board-certified Orthopedic Surgeon and University of Notre Dame Football Physician Brian Ratigan, MD; and more.
“We’re just so lucky to have them,” Giefer will say. “They don’t hesitate to pick up the phone and connect us with someone who’s an expert in an area where we need help.”
What’s next?
When asked what’s next, Giefer said they’re working on a number of partnerships, one of which includes one of the largest professional sports leagues in the world. When asked who, Giefer smiles and says stay tuned.