Throne is an Austin-based company working on an AI-powered toilet device for consumers. It uses computer vision (cameras pointing in the bowl plus AI software) to monitor gut health conditions. It just raised $4 million in seed financing led by Moxxie Ventures' founder Katie Jacobs Stanton, with a bunch of other VCs participating and several famous angels like Lance Armstrong, Rupa Health co-founder Tara Viswanathan, and TrueMed founder Justin Mares (maker of brands like Kettle & Fire), the startup says. Throne isn't a toilet, but a device that mounts onto the bowl of one. The device, combined with software, analyzes indicators of certain chronic conditions, as well as hydration and urological function ' all in the privacy of the home. The software has added privacy controls such as anonymizing the images sent to researchers. The wild tale of how Hickle, a mechanical engineer, and Throne CTO Tim Blumberg, a full-stack software engineer, became smart toilet founders began in 2021...
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