Lapetus Solutions, a Wilmington-based startup, combines analysis of facial aging with other factors to help industries that rely on life event prediction – such as insurance companies – to get fast accurate results in real time. And the technology continues to draw interest from investors.
The startup has raised $3.4 million in a private equity offering, according to a filing Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Lapetus raised the money from four investors. It earlier raised $1.2 million in April 2015.
Lapetus was the Greek God of mortality.
Founded in 2014, the company was introduced toTriangle area investors and tech followers at the NCTA State of Technology Conference last year.
Cofounder and chief technologist is Karl Ricanek Jr. Its first product is called “Chronos.”
Facial analytics is a key component in LSI’s scientific approach. Unlike facial recognition, which is simply mechanisms of identification, it is an emerging, technology-based science that uses a digital image to examine an individual’s facial features to indicate longevity and health. For instance signs of smoking and physiological aging and a person’s body mass index can be accurately estimated.
It then uses what is called biodemography, a combination of biological and demographic research on human longevity, combined with dynamic questioning tailored to an individual to generate what it says are the most accurate survival and healthy lifespan estimates obtainable. The company says that means its Chronos lifespan score that healthcare industries and health insurers can use to assess risk and determine pricing.
Ricanek said the company’s marketing tagline is “from prospect to insurance policyholder in five minutes.”
