Christian Pozo, David Calvet, Bernat Graupera and Jaume Ribas are four friends who discovered the existence, in Japan, of an exoskeleton designed to help caregivers of the elderly to move them, reducing the risk of suffering a lower back injury. "We studied the solutions available in Spain, as well as the market, with the aim of determining if there was a need in the country and we concluded that there was," explains Graupera. To import the solution to Spain, the four friends founded Healthy Suits, a company with which they became the first to bring this technology to Europe. Currently, they are also distributors in Portugal, Chile and Peru.
The first Japanese exoskeletons arrived in Spain in 2021. They are manufactured in Japan by the company Innophys, a spin-off of the University of Tokyo, where the exoskeleton was born by Professor Hiroshi Kobayashi. "Here they are still a very unknown solution, but the problem of low back injuries is very serious," says Graupera. The founder adds that his main clients are from the industrial and logistics sector, such as warehouses.
Healthy Suits is confident that 2023 will be the year of its consolidation in the national market, with a growth forecast of 40% during this year (they closed in 2022 with a turnover of around 65,000 euros). In the medium term, its objective is to establish itself as a leading and reference company in the implantation of exoskeletons in Spain and to analyze the best way to expand to all Spanish-speaking countries.
The company has established its headquarters in Barcelona and has a warehouse in Argentona (Maresme). Muscle Suit Every, which is the name given to the exoskeleton, has been recognized with first prize at the CSC Impulsa awards, which detect and recognize innovative initiatives from centers that are part of the Consorci de Salut i Social de Catalunya network ( CSC).
