The last year has been busy for Denver’s Cipher Skin, as it launched its flagship product, the BioSleeve, landed a government contract and moved into a new office.
The BioSleeve is a smart compression sleeve designed as a digital tool for physical therapists, trainers and athletes in the rehab and return-to-play process. Users can visualize real-time complex motion of their knees and arms in three dimensions, along with key metrics such as range of motion and joint angular velocity.
In June, Cipher Skin was awarded a $1.5 million grant by the U.S. Department of Defense, as part of the second phase of the Small Business Innovation Research program. This program and grant will support the development and commercialization of Cipher Skin’s BioSleeve in partnership with the Air Force Special Operations Command.
Co-founders Phillip Bogdanovich and Shaka Bahadu sat down with Colorado Inno to discuss the past year and what’s next for Cipher Skin, winner of the Hardware/Physical Products category.
This Q&A was edited for style, clarity and brevity.
Tell us about a business bright spot you’ve seen during the pandemic. I think the first and most obvious bright spot is that we’ve seen telemed and telehealth propelled forward at least a decade in the last nine months. So, there’s a real opportunity to fulfill a need in bringing high-quality care and high-quality interactions between providers and any sort of an at-home population in a meaningful way.
What are the biggest lessons learned during the pandemic? Work the problem. Work the problem until its done. In a startup, everyday there’s a fire of some sort and I have to say 2020 has been on fire, quite literally. Not only in Brazil, California and Colorado, but just metaphorically for our business. Despite every challenge that we’ve had, we break apart complicated and complex problems down to simple problems and we solve each simple problem step by step.
As you look into 2021, what do you see for your business in terms of opportunities and challenges? I think for us the opportunities in the near term are expanding the relationships we have with the Department of Defense and Department of Defense contractors on the bio-performance and monitoring side. That incorporates telehealth, and we expect to quadruple revenue in 2021 in that space. We’re looking at $10 million to $11 million in revenue with our current projections, and some new product opportunities as well.
We’re still sticking with a product roadmap that is reasonable and intentional; external forces are not deterring us from the mission. One of the things that is not only an opportunity, but a challenge as well, is we’re finishing up a Series A raise and we’re growing the team. We’re going to be taking it from four folks a year-and-a-half ago, now with 16, and we’re probably going to go 20 to 25 in the next 12 months. This is a terrific opportunity to bring on some bright and talented folks to help us do a lot better. The challenge is bringing on new people and integrating them into our very specific culture.
Cipher Skin
Location: Denver
Top execs: Shaka Bahadu and Phillip Bogdanovich, co-founders
Category: Hardware/physical products
