YOPI Technologies

A smartwatch counts steps and heartbeats, but it cannot tell whether a worker on a hot site is dehydrated or how much oxygen an athlete is really using; those measurements still belong to a laboratory. YOPI's wearable analyses eccrine sweat on the arm and turns it into real-time hydration, electrolyte and metabolic readings, starting with heat-exposed workers and professional athletes.

Every popular wearable works from the same signal, the heartbeat, and estimates the rest. It cannot see electrolytes, hydration or oxygen consumption, which is why a metabolic lab with a breathing mask is still the standard for measuring fitness, and why a worker on a hot site or an apparently fit athlete can be in trouble before anything on the wrist says so. One of YOPI's founders learned this the hard way, facing emergency bypass surgery in what looked like excellent physical shape.

YOPI collects sweat on the arm, senses the electrolytes in it and converts the changes into oxygen consumption, calories burned, fuel use and hydration trends in real time, with personal baselines and alerts over time. The company, based at Kibbutz Nir Am, has tested the system on more than two hundred people against certified laboratory measurements, manufactured its own sensors and built its first generation of devices, and its work has been covered by Israel21c, NoCamels and The Jerusalem Post. The beachhead is dehydration monitoring in occupational safety and professional sport, with healthcare and remote patient monitoring to follow once the clinical and regulatory work is done. Co-founded by Menachem Genut and Hemi Re'em.