Healium, a virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) platform, announced it has been awarded sole-source contract status with the U.S. military.
The U.S. Small Business Administration defines sole-source contracts as a contract that can be issued without a competitive bidding process. This often occurs when only a single business can fulfill the contract’s requirements.
Healium’s VR and AR apps pair with external neurofeedback or biofeedback wearable devices to train and reward a person’s ability to calm or focus themselves.
End users can monitor biometric data, including EEG brain patterns, heart rate, skin conductance and blood pressure.
The company claims that the recent contract extends its products for post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and sleep to the nation’s military personnel.
Before this most recent sole-source contract, Healium was selected by AFWERX, the innovation arm of the Department of the Air Force (DAF) and a directorate within the Air Force Research Laboratory for Small Business Innovation Research, to address challenges within the DAF.
“We’re delighted to empower more members of the U.S. military and VA hospitals with Healium’s mental health solutions that are uniquely powered by quantitative data from the user’s own body,” Sarah Hill, CEO of Healium, said in a statement.
“Of all of the dashboards Airmen monitor, Healium is a way for them to train their mental resilience with their own biometric EEG brainwave or heart rate data.”
THE LARGER TREND
In 2023, Healium received $3.6 million in seed funding and signed an agreement with the Mayo Clinic for the development of immersive mental health and fitness experiences.
Other players in the medical extended reality (medical XR) biometric space include XRHealth, which in 2023 was awarded a U.S. patent for a learning system technology that adjusts training and treatment protocols according to a patient’s biometric and motion data.
In February, XRHealth acquired fellow medical XR company RealizedCare, a company formed in 2023 as a result of a merger between VR behavioral health platform BehaVR and virtual chronic care-management company Fern Health, a digital care management platform for chronic pain powered by digital therapeutics.
Last year, the company acquired NeuroReality, a cognitive training virtual reality platform, and the year before, XRHealth acquired Barcelona-based Amelia Virtual Care, a VR platform for mental health professionals.
In 2019, XRHealth opened its VR platform to third-party developers and announced Healium would be integrated with XRHealth’s platform.
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