Hug Innovations Corp
At Hug Innovations, they constantly endeavour to bridge the gap between people and technology through their wearable products.
| Date | Investors | Amount | Round |
|---|---|---|---|
| investor | €0.0 | round | |
| investor investor | €0.0 | round | |
| N/A | N/A | Acquisition | |
| Total Funding | 000k | ||
Hug Innovations Corp, founded in 2014 by Raj Neravati, was a wearable technology company that specialized in smartwatches with gesture control. The founder's journey began after the 2012 Nirbhaya incident in India, which motivated Neravati to leave his position as COO at Cigniti Technologies in the US and return to India to create a technology-focused solution for women's safety. Initially considering a mobile app, he pivoted to a wearable device, believing it would be more convenient and readily accessible in times of distress. This led to the development of a smartwatch with an SOS button and gesture-activated alerts.
The company's core product was a smartwatch that enabled users to control applications, smart devices, and media playback through hand gestures, a technology for which it was awarded a US patent. This proprietary technology featured contextual intelligence, allowing the same gesture to perform different actions depending on the context. Beyond gesture control and safety alerts, the smartwatches offered standard features like call and message notifications, fitness tracking, and heart rate monitoring. The business model focused on direct-to-consumer sales online and B2B enterprise deals, offering its solutions across sectors like personal safety, healthcare, and home automation. Hug Innovations also developed other products, including 'My Buddy,' a child location tracker, and 'HUG Elan,' a fitness tracker.
In June 2017, the company secured $5 million in a Series A funding round. A significant milestone occurred in January 2020 when Titan Company Ltd, a Tata Group subsidiary, acqui-hired Hug Innovations to strengthen its position in the smart wearables market. The entire 23-person team, including the founder, was integrated into Titan to form a new Hyderabad Development Centre, with Neravati appointed as AVP and Head of Technology for Wearables. This strategic move provided Titan with in-house expertise in hardware, firmware, software, and cloud technology, along with access to Hug's consumer platform and intellectual property.
Keywords: gesture control, smartwatch, wearable technology, IoT, personal safety device, Raj Neravati, Titan acquisition, fitness tracker, contextual intelligence, gesture recognition, consumer electronics, connected devices, smart solutions, child tracking, women's safety technology, Hug Smartwatch, My Buddy, HUG Elan, IoT platform, home automation control