"Comprehensive suite of vital signs - just take a seat." A health monitor hidden in the one routine everyone already has.
CASANA · The company behind the Smart Seat, designed, tested and built in Rochester, New York.
Casana builds the Smart Seat - a toilet-seat replacement that quietly measures your vital signs while you sit. There is nothing to wear, nothing to charge, and nothing new to remember. You use the bathroom the way you always have, and the seat reads your heart rate, heart rate variability, blood oxygen, respiration rate and blood pressure trends in the background.
The idea began as a research project. Founder Nicholas Conn developed the original "Heart Seat" while completing his PhD in microsystems engineering at the Rochester Institute of Technology, and formally launched Casana in 2018 in partnership with the University of Rochester Medical Center. For most of its life the company was known as Heart Health Intelligence.
What sets Casana apart is a deliberate contrarian bet. While much of digital health raced to strap more sensors onto wrists and fingers, Casana removed the device from the body entirely and embedded it in a routine. The company argues that the hardest problem in home monitoring is not accuracy - it is adherence. People abandon cuffs and forget to charge wristbands. A seat you sit on every day never gets abandoned.
After roughly a decade of research, clinical validation and manufacturing - nearly all of it in the Rochester area - Casana released its consumer Smart Seat in July 2026 at an introductory price of $199.
"Comprehensive suite of vital signs - just take a seat."
The Smart Seat uses embedded sensors - no camera, no microphone - to capture a set of readings automatically, then syncs the trends to an app you can share with family or caregivers.
The original IoT monitoring device that captures clinically relevant measurements. It received FDA 510(k) clearance in 2023 for measuring heart rate and blood oxygen saturation, establishing the regulatory foundation for the platform.
The consumer wellness version: a Wi-Fi-enabled seat with a soft-close lid that passively tracks six-plus vitals during normal use. App-based trend tracking, family and caregiver sharing, no camera or microphone, and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Home health monitoring lives or dies on how often people actually use the device. Casana's differentiation is best understood as an adherence argument - illustrated here as the realistic share of days a person keeps using each approach over time (approximate, for illustration).
The signal is captured during a routine you already have, so there is nothing new to build into your day.
No camera and no microphone - a deliberate choice for a device that lives in the bathroom.
Because it is used daily, the value is in the trend line over weeks and months, not a single reading.
Consumers monitoring their own health or a family member's - particularly older adults aging in place and people managing hypertension and chronic cardiovascular conditions. Beyond the home, Casana positions the platform for healthcare and research partners running remote patient monitoring and clinical studies.
Hardware plus subscription. The Smart Seat launched at $199, including the device and the first year of service, followed by a recurring subscription of roughly $9.99 per month for ongoing insights and app features. The company spans direct-to-consumer wellness and B2B remote patient monitoring.
Bringing total funding above $46M. Some sources cite $55M+ raised across the company's life.
Nicholas Conn develops the toilet-seat cardiovascular monitor during his PhD.
Launched (as Heart Health Intelligence) with the University of Rochester Medical Center.
Morningside leads, with Matrix, General Catalyst and Outsiders Fund.
The Heart Seat is cleared for heart rate and blood oxygen measurement.
Rochester-made seat goes on sale at an introductory $199.
Founder & Chief Scientific Officer, and the company's founding CEO. Earned three degrees from RIT and invented the Heart Seat during his doctorate. An RIT Distinguished Alumnus.
Chief Executive Officer. Formerly an early-stage investor at General Catalyst focused on software-meets-healthcare, with earlier experience at Capgemini Consulting.
RIT alumnus who previously founded Rochester-based Datto, helping steer Casana's growth.
Grown from a PhD side project into a venture-backed company of roughly 65-75 people - with research, clinical trials and manufacturing all kept in Rochester.
A privacy-first design for a device that lives in the bathroom.
R&D, clinical trials and manufacturing all done in one American city.
The company rebranded to Casana as the product matured.
It passively captures heart rate, heart rate variability, blood oxygen (SpO₂), respiration rate, blood pressure insights and sit-to-stand power while you sit, then syncs the trends to an app.
No. The Smart Seat works during normal use with no wearables, no charging and no behavior change - measurements happen automatically while you sit.
The Heart Seat received FDA 510(k) clearance in 2023 for heart rate and blood oxygen measurement. The 2026 consumer Smart Seat is positioned as a wellness device.
It launched at an introductory $199, which includes the seat and the first year of service, followed by a recurring subscription of about $9.99 per month.
No. The Smart Seat has no camera and no microphone; it uses embedded sensors to read vital signs.