Google.org has announced a new partnership to support Nexleaf Analytics, a Los Angeles-based startup that builds wireless sensors turning everyday objects like refrigerators and cookstoves into connected devices.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is matching a $2 million contribution from Google.org, through a matching fund from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which is a pool of money set aside by donors to match partnerships Gavi has with the private sector. This support of Nexleaf results in part from INFUSE, an accelerator Gavi launched to support "Innovation for Uptake, Scale and Equity in Immunization."*
Nexleaf builds wireless sensor devices and data analytics tools such as ColdTrace, a wireless remote temperature monitoring technology that protects vaccines, and StoveTrace, a cloud-based remote monitoring system that monitors the use of improved cookstoves. With funding from this new partnership, Nexleaf will now develop an analytics framework, gathering data from the countries its technology reaches, in order to share data with other governments looking to make evidence-based decisions regarding vaccine delivery.