NCTA will host six start-ups in the consumer technology industry as part of our Thought Leaders event with Walt Mossberg on January 17, 2013 at the Umstead Hotel.

NCTA asked Ann Revell-Pechar to interview these companies’ CEOs to whet your appetite about some very cool companies located here in N.C.

The latest interview is with Valencell.

The companies to be featured include Sqord, Vallencell, INRFOOD, Spoonflower, Reverb Nation and Gema Touch.

Visit with these companies at the Thought Leaders event.

Interview: Valencell – Your Mobile Fitness Ingredient

There’s a movement afoot in movement. With any luck, 2013 will see Valencell’s brand become a key component of greater physical fitness success. Specifically, the nascent mobile fitness industry will this year begin to embrace “PerformTek” the way the PC industry embraced “Intel Inside.”

I spoke with Dr. Steven LeBoeuf, CEO of Valencell, to get some insight into his company. He is happy to report that there are a growing number of fantastic products available to those who take fitness seriously – Polar chest straps, Jawbone’s Up band, Nike’s Fuel band, and Fitbit and Fitbug activity trackers to name a few.

Valencell’s approach is different: it is the only biometrics ingredient brand in the world. It’s an ‘ingredient’ that makes products actually measure what is going on inside your body, not just track what you have done.

“We are launching a technology, as opposed to a product,” said Dr. LeBoeuf. “This way, we can be in multiple products – all of which are certified to assure the biometric efficacy of the results. There have been a lot of market failures in the fitness industry, mostly due to quality control. But if a device says PerformTek, you can be sure it is a product that will measure your body’s response to fitness activities.”

Apparently, audio earbuds have been the first major application for PerformTek because the ear is a good place for biometric measurement. Heart rate, respiration rate, body temperature, and even blood pressure can be measured from the ear region. PerformTek sensor technology gathers information such as heart rate, VO2max, calories, distance, speed, and cadence through your ears, and the data is sent directly to your smart phone. New applications are coming in 2013. Think of form factors like wristbands and armbands… and perhaps other lifestyle devices. Dr. LeBoeuf suggests that you’ll be amazed at how your workout information – and what your body is doing with that work – can be tied into just about anything you wear.

At CES, Valencell will showcase how people use their technology to provide meaningful fitness assessments. Their booth featured attendee competitions, using the training, coaching and guidance that PerformTek provides. The prizes will be quite the incentive… if the bragging rights aren’t enough!

Valencell is proud to be in North Carolina, and looks forward to becoming an NC signature company. “Almost all the other new mobile fitness products on the market have come from the West Coast. We are a very different company, and that is, in part, because we come out of a very different environment. What we do requires a strong, diverse multidiscipline approach with insight from experts in sensors, mobility, hardware and product management. All of those skill sets are here, along with bountiful resources in biomedicine and exercise physiology. We couldn’t ask for more technical expertise.”

What does Dr. LeBoeuf wish NC had more of? “I wish we had more venture capital here. We made an effort to raise venture capital for our Series B round, but we had better opportunities outside the state.”

If Valencell is the success it is positioned to be, perhaps it will influence North Carolina investors to focus more on North Carolina companies.