biped: The Venture Leader Mobile providing smart navigation for the blind and visually impaired

26.01.2023 07:00, Morgane Ghilardi

Meet Mael Fabien, CEO of biped and Venture Leader Mobile 2023. biped's technology helps blind and visually impaired people avoid obstacles and anticipate collisions, ultimately bringing them stress-free daily navigation. Fabien and the other members of the Swiss National Mobile Team will head to the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona at the end of February.

Name: Mael Fabien 
Location: Lausanne 
Nationality: French
Education: MSc, Telecom Paris, 2018 
Job title: CEO 
Number of employees: 5 
Money raised: CHF 2 million
First touchpoint with Venturelab: Venture Kick in 2021 

What does your startup do?
biped is a smart navigation copilot for blind and visually impaired people. The smart harness is worn around the shoulders and uses self-driving technology to guide people with short sounds. It complements the use of a white cane or guide dog.

How did you come up with the idea for your startup? 
Mid-2020, I crossed the street and noticed a blind person 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 roadshow, and how do you think it help you achieve your vision? 
biped is ready to be known and distributed around the world. We hope to get connections, knowledge, and exposure to fulfill this goal.

What market are you addressing and what is the potential of your startup in that market?  
Biped develops a novel solution for the outdoor mobility of blind people. Apart from white canes and guide dogs, there are no standard solutions on the market that use technology. We hope to change this. 

What are you most excited about at work right now? 
Getting our device in the hands of new testers every day. 

How did you go about building your team?
We have the chance to work on a high-impact project, and to find people motivated by the same goal. I originally met my co-founder at a hackathon.

What are your company's and team's key achievements to date? 
We incorporated in early 2021, raised a pre-seed round, were four full-time employees by early 2022, and launch our first batch of units end of 2022.  

Who do you look to for guidance and mentorship?  
Our very first investor, we were lucky to meet him early enough and he has been acting as a real mentor since then. 
 
What is the most challenging aspect of being a founder?   
Knowing that your problems are not over once you go home. 
 
What is the most rewarding aspect of being a founder? 
Getting the chance to work with smart people and to solve a real problem that impacts end-users. 

What did you want to do with your life at age 12? 
I wanted to become an architect. 
 
What is your favorite podcast and why?  
How I Built This by Guy Raz because it focuses on the background story, the ups and downs, and the luck factor, which is very often ignored.


The biped harness is worn around the shoulders‍ and uses wide-angle cameras and AI to generate short sounds to warn you about the position of important obstacles, such as branches, holes, vehicles, or pedestrians. It also provides GPS instructions. Sounds are played in bone-conduction headphones.




Venture Leaders takes top entrepreneurs on investor roadshows in sector-relevant tech hubs to support startups in their global growth. Find out more about the Venture Leaders Mobile program. Venture Leaders Mobile is organized by Venturelab with the support of Huawei, Swisscom, and VISCHER.