Company: Kalogon
Founder: Tim Balz
Website: https://www.kalogon.com
About Kalogon
Kalogon was founded in 2019 by award winning engineer and former SpaceX employee Tim Balz to solve a large but often overlooked problem: the health consequences of prolonged sitting. Nearly 3 million people in the US experience pressure injuries each year, and 2.7 million people use wheelchairs. For many of these individuals, traditional seating has changed very little in decades.
Kalogon applies advanced engineering, software, machine learning, air management, and customised materials to turn seating from a passive surface into an active health technology. Our Advanced Pressure Management System, or APMS, dynamically adjusts air pressure based on micromovements, conditions, and personalised settings to support blood flow and pressure relief. Our technology has been clinically evaluated, with its efficacy covered in the Journal of Tissue Viability and Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology.
Our four medical products address different needs across wheelchair seating. Orbiter uses smart air technology to provide dynamic pressure management. Orbiter Med combines customizable foam with APMS for more complex seating needs. Bondar is a highly customisable back support designed to accommodate positioning needs and body asymmetries. Verro provides an intimate custom fit through either variable density 3D printed lattice technology or dual density foam. We also apply technology to reduce burden throughout the ordering process. Launch Pad gives clinicians and suppliers a digital platform for ordering products and designing customisations, helping simplify a process that has traditionally required significant manual coordination.
One of our biggest challenges has been bringing new technology into a healthcare category built around long established products, reimbursement structures, clinical workflows, and a concentrated dealer network. Kalogon reaches end users through a US ecosystem that includes approximately 240,000 physical therapists, 134,000 occupational therapists, Assistive Technology Professionals, and medical equipment dealers. Three large dealers control roughly 70 percent of the US market, making adoption dependent not only on building better technology, but also on earning the trust of clinicians, suppliers, and users.
We have addressed that challenge through empathy led research, rapid prototyping, rigorous clinical evaluation, and direct feedback from wheelchair users and clinicians. We also manufacture in house at our Melbourne, Florida headquarters, allowing our team to move quickly from user insight to product development, testing, manufacturing, and continued improvement.
Recognising that our core technology can address a much larger market of people who spend significant portions of their lives sitting, Kalogon has expanded from wheelchair seating into applications for the US Air Force, automotive, and commercial aviation sectors.
Our impact on the US ecosystem is both technological and economic. Kalogon is building advanced hardware and manufacturing capability in Florida, creating technology designed to address a major US health problem, and developing intellectual property with applications across healthcare, transportation, and aerospace. By combining a clearly defined need, scalable technology, and expansion into multiple industries, Kalogon is building a new category around intelligent seating rather than simply improving the products that already exist.
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