Biped: The Venture Leader Medtech developing the world's first AI copilot for blind and visually impaired people

18.09.2023 09:55, Rita Longobardi

Meet Maël Fabien, CEO of biped. Using autonomous driving technology, the Vaud-based startup aims to enhance the independence, safety, and overall quality of life for people with low vision.

Name: Maël Fabien
Location: Lausanne
Nationality: French
Graduated from: HEC Lausanne, EPFL
Job title: Co-founder & CEO
Number of employees: 6
Money raised: CHF 2M
First touchpoint with Venturelab: Venture Kick 2021



 

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Can you tell us who your product or solution helps, and how?
Biped is a smart harness, worn on the shoulders, that can help blind, visually impaired & elderly people avoid obstacles and walk stress-free. It uses cameras and AI to help prevent collisions and generates audio feedback with short “beeps” in case of a collision risk.

What market are you addressing and what is the potential of your startup in that market?
Biped is addressing the growing market of safe mobility for visually impaired and elderly people. There are close to 270 million visually impaired people in the world, and 250 million 75yo+. We truly believe that biped can become a standard solution when it comes to safe navigation. A small clip-on camera can help detect surrounding obstacles and prevent collisions.

How and where did you come up with the idea for your startup?
Mid-2020, I crossed the street and noticed a blind person who holding a white cane while making a video call with his phone. It turns out he was getting help from a relative to avoid electric scooters, holes and street signs. That’s the moment I realized I could build something that could help him.

What do you expect from the Venture Leaders Medtech roadshow, and how will it help you achieve your vision?
Biped has 3 main goals in the next few months: serve customers in the best way possible, expand our operations in the US and raise our next round. We believe that Venture Leaders Medtech is the right place to move forward with this. We’re extremely excited to join the adventure.
 
What are your team’s key achievements to date?
Definitely launching our hardware extremely fast. We built our entire software and hardware stacks in less than 24 months. We pushed internally to make that happen and just got awarded the “Prix de la Canne Blanche”, which highlights the best innovations for blind and visually impaired people in Switzerland every year.

What is the most challenging and rewarding aspect of being a founder?
Most challenging is definitely the balance between short-term tasks, and keeping the long-term vision of the company. The sprint vs. the marathon. But it’s also the most rewarding aspect: seeing what you can achieve in the long run, how you take a small idea, and build a whole team around it.

What is the most important lesson you have learned as a founder?
I learned the importance of building a strong network: advisors, investors, founders… It’s the best shortcut and the best support I found.

What is your favourite productivity hack/tool and why?
Talking to other founders. It might seem counterintuitive because you first lose time, but this is for me the best way to get answers to some of the things you’re going through.

What was your dream job when you were a child?
I wanted to be an architect. I enjoyed a lot the idea of building something from scratch, seeing it come to life, and people using it. I guess tech startups are a way of achieving that too.

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ABOUT THE PROGRAM
The Venture Leaders Medtech 2023 were chosen from over 80 applications by an expert jury. The roadshow in Boston provides a unique opportunity for entrepreneurs to accelerate their startups' expansion in the US while expanding their professional network and profiting from workshops with investors and industry leaders. This year's Venture Leaders Medtech program is organized by Venturelab in collaboration with Swissnex Boston and is supported by EPFL Lausanne, ETH Zurich, Hansjörg Wyss, Kellerhals Carrard, Swissnex Boston, and the Canton of Vaud.