Don’t call it a wheelchair. It is an “omnidirectional four-wheel-drive mobility device” designed and built by veterans of the automotive industry.
The company behind it, Whill Inc., has just raised an $11 million Series A round to ramp up production of the high-tech device, which cannot only roll uphill over rough terrain but can also turn on a dime, Chief Executive Satoshi Sugie said.
The high-performance vehicle is meant to give wheelchair users a sleek alternative to standard chairs, which many believe reinforce stereotypes of weakness or helplessness. ...continue reading ...
WSJ 9/2/2014 [en]
memo
- Whill is based in San Francisco, but founders are Japanese who worked at Nissan, Sony or others. So, some Japanese investors such as Docomo Ventures or Innovation Network Corp are included in the round. Since the founders see much bigger market in the US than Japan, they relocated.
- http://whill.us/
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