🔒On the Record: Digital health startup Kinotek aims to move the needle on ‘movement health’

Pat Panaia, a veterinary-health industry veteran who has held executive roles at IDEXX Laboratories Inc. and Covetrus, took the helm as CEO of Kinotek in 2022. Mainebiz caught up with the lifelong animal enthusiast to find out more about the Portland-based digital health startup, which recently raised $2 million to fund its next growth chapter. The company is staffed by 14 employees and has a growing customer base in the U.S. and abroad. Mainebiz: What prompted your early interest in veterinary health?

Pat Panaia: From my childhood, we always had a dog. Mom was a dog-and-squirrel whisperer. We fed the squirrels from the back door of my home in suburban Chicago — they came right up to the door. From the start, I felt a special connection to and awe and respect for the non-human world. MB: How does Kinotek’s technology work and what problems does it aim to solve? PP: Imagine what we can do when we start measuring and improving our movement health. The Kinotek proposition is exactly this: when professionals can quickly, accurately and regularly measure how you move, they can not only help you prevent this pain and injury, they can enable you to move and feel better, and live longer. The goal is not to just live more years, but to live more years in good health. It all starts with good movement health. Kinotek uses advanced technology and proprietary algorithms to enable professionals to quickly and accurately measure human movement health. Our cloud-based app produces metrics on mobility, symmetry and movement quality. It provides an overall movement health Score and 3D visualizations. We identify dysfunctions and give guidance to professionals on areas to work on. Many of our customers also take advantage of our AI-driven, hyper-personalized exercise programming based on the Kinotek analysis. It’s precision analytics and personalization at its best. MB: What’s your personal experience with the platform? PP: Before joining Kinotek, I mysteriously experienced knee pain and developed a bunion on my foot. Only when I got my own movement health analyzed early on with Kinotek did I fully understand: I had knee valgus (my knees turn inward while doing a squat) which caused my feet to turn out, thus the bunion. Also, when I squatted down, my hips did not descend in parallel – one side stayed higher than the other (it’s called an asymmetrical hip shift). All of this dysfunctional movement was causing the pain. Basically, I had gotten older and lost muscle strength in my glutes and other areas. To compensate for my weaknesses, I started moving overall in a dysfunctional way, which led to pain. Through strength training with my personal trainer, and greater awareness of how I sit, stand and walk, I am very proud to report that I no longer have knee pain. MB: Who and where are your customers? PP: Kinotek’s core customers are fitness and wellness providers at gyms, clubs and wellness centers globally. Often these customers are offering longevity programs and leveraging technology to match their clients’ expectations: they — and society as a whole — want to measure everything and pursue a healthy lifestyle with strength training and the right exercise to move, feel and live better and longer. MB: What’s the timeline for reaching break-even on cash flow? PP: We are targeting this goal in the next 12 to 18 months. MB: Where do you see Kinotek in five years from now? PP: Macro trends — including an aging and affluent population, the digitization of everything and the longevity movement itself — position us to lead the establishment of movement health as the fifth vital sign, available to everyone via technology. We are now building our team and partnerships to continue to grow globally. MB: What’s the exit strategy — an IPO or something else? PP: We believe that a key partnership with a fitness/wellness provider and/or investment from private equity is our next stage.