Hoomanely develops AI platform and smart bowl to detect dog illness

Hoomanely, a startup based in Palo Alto, is developing an AI-powered platform and a smart feeding bowl called the EverBowl to help pet owners detect potential health issues in their dogs earlier.

The EverBowl is equipped with sensors to measure food and water consumption, eating speed, chewing and swallowing sounds, facial thermals, and oral motions. This data is fed into Hoomanely's AI platform, which establishes a baseline for each dog's normal behavior.

When prolonged deviations from this baseline are detected, the platform alerts the owner via a mobile app and provides long-term reports. The company suggests that appetite and hydration changes are often early indicators of various health problems, including dental issues, gastrointestinal problems, and systemic illnesses.

During an 18-month beta testing phase, Hoomanely collected approximately 5 million data points from over 80 dogs. The platform successfully identified early signs of a chipped tooth and tick fever in some test subjects. The service is currently available through a $29 monthly subscription.

Hoomanely acknowledges that the beta cohort was small and that further validation is needed. The company is not positioning the EverBowl as a replacement for veterinary diagnosis but as a tool to aid in faster detection. Formal veterinary studies are underway to measure the system's sensitivity, specificity, and false-positive rates across different alert categories.

Future plans include developing a wearable device called EverSense for movement and rest tracking, and an EverHub to integrate data from third-party devices. Hoomanely aims to become an animal health data company, potentially expanding its technology to other animals like cats, livestock, and horses. The startup has secured $1.8 million in pre-seed funding and is initiating discussions for a seed round.