When brother and sister Krishan and Koushalya Sachdev witnessed their 23-year-old cousin’s adjustment to life as a paraplegic after suffering a traumatic accident, they wanted to do everything they could to help him.

Three years into his transition, he began suffering from pressure ulcers, which are caused by the prolonged pressing of skin and softer tissue against a harder surface and can happen from sitting in a wheelchair for a long time.

That’s how the idea for the pair’s health care startup was first formed.

Today, the pair are the co-founders of HiPR Innovation, which has secured $50,000 in funding thus far. Since its founding, HiPR Innovation has created a dynamic and reactive cushion that redistributes pressure to prevent ulcers. The startup has received a patent and is currently working on a second submission to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

The HiPR Innovation team includes Samuel Zhang, a recent electrical and computer engineering graduate in the Cockrell School of Engineering. He works on the hardware technologies that go into the product. In the past, Caton Sun, another UT electrical and computer engineering graduate, helped head the development of software for their products.

Read the full story