If you’ve ever been frustrated by the limitations of textbook diagrams, this startup’s got you covered.
Newton-based Visible Body produces 3D, digital models of the human body. The models are available on an app and an interactive website and have optional AR functionality. Visible Body’s products are like living diagrams. In the company’s flagship app, the Human Anatomy Atlas, users can examine and interact with a model of the human body, getting detailed information about the names and functions of each part you select.
“The textbook is on the way out,” said Andrew Bowditch, the company's CEO and co-founder.
Currently, the company has five apps available for purchase. The Human Anatomy Atlas, at $24.99, offers 3D models that cover 11 systems of the body, with a dissection function, lists of common pathologies and quizzes. Another one of Visible Body’s apps, My Incredible Body, is an anatomy learning tool for children, also priced at $24.99. Each of the startup's apps requires a one-time payment; after that, they can be used indefinitely. Visible Body also offers a free website called the Learn site that has an overview of all of the basic systems of the body.
Visible Body’s main clients are students, from elementary to graduate school, as well as doctors and professors.
“Students end up getting better grades with it," Bowditch said. "We’ve talked to professors who’ve said that with our products, they’ve seen full letter grades move up by one whole point across the board."
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Recently, the company worked with Google to create 100 AR models, which are now built into Google’s search engine. The models were presented in May as a part of Google’s I/O 2019 keynote. When visiting Visible Body's learn site on an AR-compatible phone or tablet, users can use AR to rotate and zoom in on structures in real space. Visible Body’s Human Anatomy Atlas was ranked one of Apple’s Best Apps in 2017 and one of Google Play’s Best Apps in 2018.
The startup was founded in 2007, when identical twin brothers Andrew and Matthew Bowditch were inspired to create an app that would change the way people learned about the human body. Neither one had a background in medicine or science: Andrew, for instance, has a bachelor's degree in sociology, while his brother has a finance degree.
“My brother is analytical, he did a lot on the finance side of things, and I'm creative so I deal with more of the creative side, the development, marketing and sales, that kind of stuff,” said Andrew Bowditch. “It’s been a really good collaboration: we only fight once in a while but we work it out.”
Visible Body uses a team of experts in biomedical visualization to create its models, as well as a team of professors to review the content for accuracy. In recent years, its expanded its product to work on as many platforms as possible, as well as in seven countries. At its founding, Visible Body was completely bootstrapped, and in late 2018, the company received a strategic investment from Capitala Group and Lineage Capital.
In the future, Visible Body plans to grow by continually introducing new products to its market by looking into the different anatomy courses taught at various levels of schooling. At the end of October, the company is releasing a Pathology and Physiology app, which will allow users to see how diseases interact with the body through interacting with 3D models.
“Our mission is better health education for all,” said Bowditch. “That’s the goal.”
