Start-up Upstep which produces customized insoles, raised NIS 2 million from investors who had already invested in the company recently in preparation for the company’s crowdfunding process to raise some NIS 10 million in the firm’s second crowdfunding project after it raised about $2.5 million in 2021.
Limor Katz, CEO, said: “The goal of the fundraising is for continued growth while integrating an optimization process, recruiting professional personnel, constant improvement of the PPC system and establishing the most advanced production system in the world in the insole industry.
“We are already leading the US market today in the field of customized insoles, significantly more than any other company, and we intend to strengthen and expand our grip on this market and later on in other markets in the world.
“The company is currently near the end of groundbreaking technological developments, which will give it a significant competitive advantage and position it as a groundbreaking company at the pinnacle of technology in the industry.”
“The company is currently near the end of groundbreaking technological developments, which will give it a significant competitive advantage and position it as a groundbreaking company at the pinnacle of technology in the industry.”
Limor Katz
Upstep’s sales volume of insoles in the US in 2021 was over 34,000 pairs and the figures for 2022 are expected to show a doubling of that volume.
In the third quarter of 2022, Upstep reached record sales in the US of approximately $2.8m., an increase of 82% compared to the Q3 2021.
What is Upstep?
Upstep became the leading company in the field of customized insoles in 2022 and it recently established a second logistics center in Nevada, adding to its New Jersey plant, with an investment of approximately NIS 1.5 million. This has shortened the delivery times of products to customers by 25%, Katz said.
Upstep allows customers to order custom insoles online through a highly accurate diagnosing process via input of the characteristics of the customers’ foot, the pain they suffer and a matching of the insole to the customer’s foot and needs, whether for daily use or for sports.
Owned by siblings Limor Katz, Aviad Raz, and Oren Raz, Upstep was established in 2017 after two and a half years of development research and within three years of activity in the American market, it became the top online medical authority in the United States for treatment of leg pain.