Healthcare

Makani Science

Website

Makani Science is a medical device company based in Irvine, California. We have created the world's first wireless patch that can accurately and continuously monitor breathing. The company is co-founded by Dr. Michelle Khine and Dr. Michael Chu, two experts in the wearable monitoring space from the University of California, Irvine. The Makani S

Founded 2018Origin source ↗Checked 2026-09-15

Overview

Makani Science is a medical device company based in Irvine, California. We have created the world's first wireless patch that can accurately and continuously monitor breathing. The company is co-founded by Dr. Michelle Khine and Dr. Michael Chu, two experts in the wearable monitoring space from the University of California, Irvine.

The Makani Science system will collect unique breathing waveforms from patients in everyday environments to create the first large database of respiratory patterns associated with different diseases. Data will be collected through systems sold to our initial beachhead market, where we will help improve monitoring safety in patients being sedated for medical procedures. Our long-term goal is to combine machine learning with this database to identify and predict respiratory complications for different patient populations.

We have a highly experienced team and will be FDA cleared in our beachhead market within a year.

Company description As recorded 2026-11-08
LinkedIn
HealthcareHardware deviceBusinessesEnterpriseHardware sales

Product & workflow

It enables healthcare professionals to immediately detect and manage respiratory events with no lag time

Source-reported As recorded 2026-09-23

Founders & team

Michael Chu

Founder

Michael graduated, PhD, from the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of California Irvine, where he worked in Dr. Michelle Khine’s lab. His research focused on developing and using soft wearable sensors for noninvasive monitoring of physiologic vital signs. Michael has helped author over 10 peer reviewed papers and is also inventor of 3 patents submitted by the lab. His dissertation work served as the foundation for the Makani Science technology.

LinkedIn
Founder profile As recorded 2026-09-15
2team members reported
Source-reported As recorded 2026-09-15

Founded 2018 · Source

News & product activity

Sources & observations

Y Combinator

Profile depthenriched profile
Website observationwebsite reachable
Last website check2026-11-11
Location · source statedLos Angeles, CA, USA
Pricing evidenceA pricing page was detected
Maturity: Not assessed · 4 of 6 areas documented

Source-based assessment · automated evidence rules

The retained text does not establish product availability or customer use.

Maturity is an evidence-based assessment, not a success rating. It may understate the current stage where evidence is limited. Coverage records documented areas, not a complete or independently audited company history.

Stage definitions
independent websitesource corroborationreachable websitedescriptive evidenceclassified market and modelsourced peoplesourced founding yearpricing page observed
startup.observe Directory coverage · Sources & method