Every year over 340 million workers are estimated to suffer a workplace injury such as slips and falls, strains and sprains, vehicle collisions and crashes resulting in musculoskeletal injuries. In the US, manufacturing, logistics, and physical operations are the lifeblood of the economy, with over 25 million individuals at the frontlines, contributing to 40% of the nation’s GDP. However, with massive output comes the persistent challenge of workplace injuries and operational inefficiencies.
This is where AI comes into the picture as it reduces risk at the workplace. Already, companies such as Voxel and Buddywise use AI to prevent this risk. Yet another company in this sector is TuMeKe, which works with the mission to eliminate workplace musculoskeletal injuries.
Now, this San Francisco-based AI computer vision startup has netted $10M in a Series A funding round led by Intel Capital, which backed Suger and AI21 Labs recently. With this funding, TuMeKe plans to expand and scale its team of engineers, ergonomists, and academics. It also intends to expand operations and launch new features that enhance the capabilities of EHS (environment, health and safety) teams and the safety of their colleagues.
AI-powered workplace risk analysis platform
Founded in 2021 by Zach Noland, Riley Noland, and Diwakar Ganesan in San Francisco, TuMeke believes keeping workers safe should be easy and cost-effective. Earlier, safety staff were required to spend hours filling out tedious forms. However, with TuMeke, they can take a video on their smartphone to reduce the identified risk of a job in minutes.
Its AI system combines the best in computer vision and ergonomics to help its users redesign jobs or retrain workers. The software is packaged within a phone app, so users never need to purchase equipment, cameras, or exoskeletons. Using advanced computer vision, all this is be done without stopping production, making TuMeke to the standard tool in the US workers’ compensation insurance industry and among the world’s largest industrial firms.
Its suite of products helps companies assess ergonomic risk twelve times faster than traditional techniques, driving forward its mission of eliminating workplace musculoskeletal injury as the company continues to build the next-generation ergonomic risk assessment platform.
“Workplace musculoskeletal injuries are commonplace across industries, but keeping your workers safe should be a non-negotiable,” said Riley Noland, co-founder of TuMeke. “We created TuMeke to arm businesses with a tool that efficiently, affordably and ethically improves the safety of employees”
“TuMeke launched its offering in 2021 and in less than two years they’ve introduced a comprehensive solution that sustains workplace productivity and reduces employee injuries,” said Mark Rostick, Vice President and Senior Managing Director at Intel Capital. “Their digitally precise technology helps organisations maximise the ROI of safety investments and has proven its ability to make occupational environments safer and more efficient.”
“Tumeke’s platform is an outstanding tool for conducting ergonomic assessments in a timely and accurate manner,“ said Colin Welch, EHS Director, Governance, Quality and Reporting of Chemtrade Logistics, “It has not only improved our health and safety program by helping us identify and reduce ergonomic hazards, but also increased employee engagement by creating a positive and supportive work culture.”
“At TuMeke, we believe in leveraging AI for good – improving employee safety with consent and human-in-the-loop AI technology,” said Diwakar Ganesan, co-founder of TuMeke, “Our users say that employees for the first time are excited about safety training sessions and actively want to see how they can improve long term health outcomes.”
