The story of how the smart toilet startup Throne has removed its seeds, so it is so full that anyone can almost be convinced that it was or -by -handed by the Roman goddess of Providance, Fortona.
Throne An Austin -based company is working on an AI -powered toilet device for consumers. It uses a computer vision (Bowl Plus AI Software Camera) to monitor gut health conditions. He collected 4 million in financing the seeds led by Maxi Ventures founder Katie Jacobs Steanton, with others participating in the VCS, and Lance Armstrong, co -founder of Rupa Health, Tara Veswanathan, and Trimed founder Justin Mars (Catal and Catal and Fire Fire Brand).
The throne is not a toilet, but there is a device that climbs a bowl. This device, combined with the software, analyzes some chronic conditions as well as hydration and urological function – all of this is in the privacy of home. The software has added to the control of privacy, such as making images sent to researchers.
The device is currently in a pre -production working prototype form, with the date of the January, 2026 planned launch, co -founder’s CEO Scott Temple told Tech Crunch.
In addition to the seed financing, Thron also announced that he had hired John Capodelopo as his chief product officer. Capodelopo is known as co -founder and former CTO of Hope Smart Watch Device.
Temple, a mechanical engineer, and CTO of the throne, Tim Bilberg, a full stack software engineer, the wild story of the smart toilet founders began in 2021 when they were playing poker with friends in Austin.
The players began to get access to start -up ideas they wanted to do but would not want to be associated with it. “And everyone’s deputy industry (Ideas); Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll. Tim said, ‘Smart toilets.” I was like this, ‘It’s hilarious, you will name this company.’
By 2023, fast -forward when the software start -up temples and Bulburg failed.
He collected some funds for him and he was calling his investors to tell them that they either need a new idea or they were going to withdraw the funds. Of the blue, one of his investors said, “Did you guys think of a smart toilet? We were like: You know, we have named this company! This is the throne.”
They took it as a symbol. The pair started researching and turned to the Temple’s mother, who specializes in a doctor’s Jeronatology. He asked him if he would have any medical benefit in “seeing people’s waste” and he began to regularly make the pictures of such things regularly with the stories that his patients liked to send.
Short Answer: Yes. Waste can be analyzed for health information. They learned that it can be helpful in monitoring or monitoring the various types of chronic conditions such as irritating bowel syndrome (IBS), ultraviolet colitis, various colon cancer detection, chronic kidney disease, extended prostate as well as other waste, such as menstruation.
The Temple says, as the son of two doctors (the father of the temple also cheated on medical devices), knowing that it may be possible to turn a chronic attack, or to predict a deadly cancer, “was really encouraging to me.”
Not everyone shared this enthusiasm. The co -founders knew they lacked hardware products experience. One of his current investors was very opposed to the idea, he wanted his money back. The temple described not only for the loss of capital but also for the loss of confidence, “It was brutal.”
Still, after returning the money, they ran into more and more people who liked the idea of ​​who left them for him.
Lance stands outside the door of the bathroom of Armstrong
His Austin contacts resulted in the introduction of Lance Armstrong’s Business Manager, which made him directly for Armstrong. The former motorcycle racer was famously a cancer.
The temple stated that waiting for his decision, after installing a prototype, was attracted to a “unrealistic” moment standing outside the racers’ bathroom door. Armstrong wrote a check.
Not every introduction was checked, but many people led to further introduction, including Capodelopo, who wrote the angel check. Was a public about Capodelopo Ulttero is suffering from colitis And was in the Board of Trustee of the Croat and Colitis Foundation. Capodelopo had a device manufacturing experience he needed. It took months not only to persuade the founders to invest in Capodelopo, but also as the founder.
The introduction of well -known badge investor Jacobs Steanton was also immense. Temple has been a friend of Vishwanathan of Health since the Temple High School and intended to introduce.
Further coordination with researchers at the University of Washington and Chicago University, who is working to confirm that the software of this product works according to the advertisement. These partnerships are the key to its potential success. He landed at the University of Washington when a friend of the Temple collectively sat on the airplane researcher and talked about the throne, then put it in contact.
He got a Chicago University when a friend of the Temple introduced him to his stomach expert. Uncle was one of the world’s largest gastrointestinal researchers who were also sitting on the board of the Crohn and Collitus Foundation and knew Capodelopo.
The temple said that with a pleasant introduction after each other, the internal jokes in the founders are that “it is better to be fortunate to be good, and we are just so dumb, all the time,” the temple said. But they also believe that tail winds have been so strong, they feel like “the world wants to do this to us.”
Other seed round investors include fellow, long travel projects, V1.VC, Night Capital, Return VC, and Myeline Ventures.
Correction: This story was updated to correct the type of Cancer Lance Armstrong.