WeWalk raises $2.5 million investment for smart cane technology

WeWalk, a Turkish startup developing smart cane technology for visually impaired individuals, has raised $2.5 million in investment.

İlkay Gündoğan, the famous German national team football player, also invested in WeWalk. Nesta Impact Ventures, the healthcare fund King's Health Partners, and from Turkey Bilişim Vadisi Fonu, APY Ventures, and Galata Business Angels became new investors in WeWalk.

The Turkish startup WeWalk, which develops smart cane technology for visually impaired individuals, raised $2.5 million in investment. The $2.5 million round included participation from leading European healthcare and social impact-focused capital funds. German national team football player İlkay Gündoğan also invested.

Among the new investors of WeWalk are the UK-based social impact investment organization Nesta Impact Ventures, healthcare fund King's Health Partners, and from Turkey Bilişim Vadisi Fund, APY Ventures, and Galata Business Angels. Vestel Ventures, which has supported WeWalk since the early stages, also joined this round. Kürşat Ceylan, co-founder of WeWalk who is also visually impaired, stated that the company will use the investment to further develop its technologies and expand globally.

In addition to the investment, WeWalk also received $2 million in R&D grant funding from Innovate UK, funded by the UK Government in collaboration with Imperial College London, one of the world’s leading technical universities, and RNIB, the UK’s largest organization for the visually impaired.

According to estimates by the World Health Organization, there are 253 million visually impaired people worldwide. Visually impaired individuals need a cane to detect obstacles on the ground. Founded in 2019, WeWalk transforms this tool—used in a simple format since the 19th century—into a highly capable device. The smart cane developed by WeWalk detects obstacles at waist and head level with sensors and alerts the user.

Integrated with a smartphone application, it provides accessible navigation specifically designed for visually impaired users and shares information about public transportation and nearby places via audio. Moreover, by integrating with new smart city solutions, it continues to gain new features and makes life easier for visually impaired individuals. Today, the WeWalk Smart Cane is used in 59 countries and was selected as one of the best inventions of the year by TIME.