Keeping hydrated is critical for so many reasons; health and safety concerns are preeminent among these, as is the ability to perform dangerous tasks effectively. Whether the person is a fighter pilot, a construction worker, an athlete or another person working in the heat, maintaining hydration is essential.

To help keep workers hydrated and safe, Epicore Biosystems developed its Connected Hydration platform, consisting of a sweat-sensing wearable patch and mobile app. It provides workers with personalized, real-time insights into sweat volume loss, electrolyte loss, body temperature and body movement.

The platform has earned honors, including the prestigious Red Dot Award for exceptional product design. Epicore has worked closely with major corporations, and has caught the eye of investors, recently raising $26 million in Series B funding with Steele Foundation for Hope (SFFH). Epicore announced a follow on round to the Steele Foundation Series B, making the total raised $32 million. The follow-on round includes new backing from a San Francisco-based investor and marquee angel investors, along with continued support from Alumni Ventures and Joyance Partners. 

Recently, Epicore announced a collaboration with DuPont Personal Protection with the goal of enhancing worker safety and well-being, by gathering new data and insights through biometrics and personal protective clothing. DuPont is an ideal partner, as it has a long history of developing protective clothing, including well-known brands such as Tyvek, Nomex and Kevlar; the latter two are flame-resistant.

“Our mission at DuPont is to protect workers and to help ensure their well-being in the workplace. Collaborating with Epicore Biosystems enables our team to explore advanced biometrics in tandem with our industry-leading personal protective solutions,” said Liz Briggs, global marketing manager at DuPont, in announcing the collaboration. 

Dr. Roozbeh Ghaffari, co-founder and CEO of Epicore, noted that Epicore and DuPont have complementary solutions at the intersection of personal protective garments and wearable biosensing devices.

“In tandem, these capabilities represent powerful tools to support workers’ safety and well-being,” Dr. Ghaffari said. “Rising temperatures and extreme climate conditions have been well-researched and shown to drive both cognitive and physical decline, particularly in physically demanding industries. These challenges facing the global workforce are now driving new strategies, as defined by the collaboration between Epicore and DuPont, to think about personal protection and real-time management at the hydration and physiology level.”

Dr. Ghaffari observed that Epicore’s Connected Hydration smart wearable platform is the first wearable in the market that enables workers and athletes to proactively manage their hydration and recovery using sweat and physiology-sensing technology. The smart wearable, worn on the arm, informs workers in real-time on how to proactively hydrate based on their measured sweat loss, sodium loss, skin temperature, and motion data.

“It is critical for workers to prehydrate and remain hydrated, as excessive heat exposure and dehydration could creep up and lead to cognitive deficits and severe chronic conditions over time,” Dr. Ghaffari said. “Epicore’s collaboration with DuPont is poised to heighten awareness and improve our understanding of what happens underneath protective garments for every individual worker.”

Connected Hydration has been deployed across North America, Asia, Australia, and the Middle East thus far.

“The primary focus has been on physically demanding work functions, in which protective garments and equipment are also required (e.g., energy sector, construction/engineering services, aviation/transportation, chemical, food, & manufacturing sectors),” said Dr. Ghaffari. “Both indoor and outdoor work types are susceptible to risks of overheating and the associated cognitive and physical impairments due to the effects of protective garments and clothing. In sports, our primary focus has been in North America to date, driven by our partnership with PepsiCo, Gatorade, and professional sports teams.”

“This is the first collaboration of its kind announced by Epicore, where we have combined the proven capabilities of Connected Hydration with one of the leading producers of protective garments and safety equipment,” Dr. Ghaffari added. “Protective garments have proven to be critical for personal safety, and understanding personal hydration and physiology underneath the protective layers is critical as we think about the future of work. We are kicking off several activities in this exciting area, but we cannot share a timeline as of yet.”