MIPS looks to broaden its appeal with crash sensor acquisition

MIPS has announced a partnership with sensor detection company Quintessential Design, Inc. (“Quin”), a smart technology helmet safety brand. 

The agreement will see MIPS - who provide an additional safety system utilised by leading helmet brands - acquire 25 per cent of Quin's proprietary technology.

The Multi-directional Impact Protection System (MIPS for short) is already featured on many leading bike helmets, acting as an additional layer that sits between the EPS foam and helmet liner, its key goal being to guard against concussion. 

The union with Quin could provide MIPS users with the addition of an emergency response function, as well as data in the event of a crash, which can be used to determine the cause of an incident and even help to inform first response treatment. 

Having already teamed up in the production of the Abus Quin range of off-road helmets, this union could see more lids using cycling specific helmet smart sensors. 

The move by MIPS into the emergency response technology field sees direct competition with the likes of Specialized ANGi crash sensors, which, as an after market purchase, can be mounted on practically any helmet.

As every Specialized helmet is MIPS equipped, it'll be interesting to see Specialized's response long term, especially if the MIPS Quin system becomes a better integrated safety system option than the ANGi bolt-on widget.

US based Quin was founded in 2017, by Anirudha (“Ani”) Surabhi and Hannah Surabhi, and now has a development centre in India and teams in the US and UK.

IntelliQuin Smart System was first designed for the motorbike industry and, when paired with the APEX app, enables users to plan, record, and analyse ride data, such as speed, distance, time and elevation.

From a safety perspective it also sends out an S.O.S location beacon as well as recording crash analytics, a helpful feature when determining what went wrong and what medical attention is required. It's currently only available in the US, but will no doubt be scaled up to a much wider audience once MIPS is on board. 

Announcing the acquisition, Max Strandwitz, CEO of MIPS, commented: "With this investment, MIPS is taking the first strong step into exploring the possibilities of sensor technology in helmets. We are convinced that Quin's proprietary smart technology has many possibilities, and they work with the same consumer-centric approach to help save lives, that has always been at the centre of our work at MIPS".

The acquisition looks to be positive news for the Swedish company, which felt the brunt of the cycling downturn, reporting a 46% fall in sales for the last quarter of 2022, when the company experienced a drop of 7% for the year as a whole and 50% drop in its own overall helmet sales.