Our Investment in Stabl

Surgery Rehabilitation is Critical for Successful Patient Outcomes

Hamza Shaikh, CEO and co-Founder of Stabl, first experienced the problems within post-operative rehab when his cousin underwent surgery. On discharge, his cousin received a piece of paper with several exercises and instructions to follow a daily regimen. His cousin quickly lost the paper, forgot some of the exact movements, and performed them only intermittently. The end result? A longer recovery time and more clinician visits.

Poor adherence to post-surgery rehab is a complex problem that affects patients, surgeons, and the health system. Determined to change the status quo, Hamza set out to create a solution for all the stakeholders involved.

Knee-surgery patients who perform their physical therapy are up to 7.5 times more likely to have a successful outcome. So why does post-operative patient adherence hover around 50%?

The timing is right for a scalable solution based on a number of trends: increasingly digitized physical therapy, moving care into the home, and a rise in joint replacements. Knee replacements alone are projected to grow 673% to 3.5 million annual procedures by 2030, with patients requiring rehab for a truly successful procedure.

Stabl Co-Founders Hamza Shaikh and Abhinav Chawla Are Solving Post-Surgery Rehab

When we met Hamza, we weren’t surprised that he would attack this large and complex problem. Hamza’s kinetic energy gives him a bias towards action, and his time on the Ernst & Young Digital Health team provided him a foundational understanding of digital health solutions. His seven years as a certified personal trainer underscore his understanding of physical health. Hamza recruited college friend Abhinav Chawla as co-Founder, based on Abhinav’s experience leading product development at several deep-tech startups.

Their solution is Stabl, a telerehabilitation portal with automated computer vision that remotely assesses patients’ movements, flags surgeons when patients are struggling, and saves both parties time when recuperation is going well. 

Stabl Creates a Solution for Both Patients and Providers

Stabl provides a tailored post-operative recovery plan for patients, starting with knee replacements. They sell directly to orthopedic surgeons and provide them with access to remote patient recovery information. Stabl is the only player focusing on orthopedic surgeons, who will benefit from additional revenue, better patient visibility, and ultimately better patient outcomes. 

Patients receive a personalized recovery plan; this is tracked and patient activity is monitored for accuracy using computer vision. Physicians can view details of each patient’s progress or see a dashboard of all their patients. Physician time spent on the portal is automatically aggregated into billable time blocks, reimbursed under remote therapeutic monitoring codes. 

Stabl Growth in 2022 and beyond

Since our investment, Stabl graduated from Techstars’ inaugural Physical Health cohort in Dallas, Texas. They have made tremendous progress, including:

• Onboarding nearly two dozen patients from private clinics, with an 85% protocol adherence rate.
• Contracting an agreement with Texas Hip and Knee Center, the largest association of private orthopedic surgery clinics in Texas. 
• Setting up research studies at NYU and John Peter Smith, both geared toward institutional sales.
• Initiating a paid pilot at the VA Medical Center.

At 2048 Ventures, we have a strong thesis on digital tools for providers. Stabl’s mission, to ensure best at-home recovery for patients by working directly with the surgeons performing this care, creates the tools necessary to benefit all stakeholders. 

We are excited to lead Stabl’s pre-seed round, alongside those working in frontier health solutions at Techstars, Velocity, XRC Labs, Longjump VC and Angels Ahmed Siddiqi, Patrick Brown, and Dr. Amit Sahasrabudhe.

Learn more about Stabl at their website and follow Hamza Shaikh on LinkedIn for insights into the digital health future.