VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwired - Oct 18, 2016) - Mio Global, known for the most accurate wrist-based heart rate technology, today announces $15M USD in funding led by Hydra Ventures with participation from private investors.

Founded by IT industry veteran Liz Dickinson, the company has been a long-time pioneer and industry leader in heart rate monitoring technology. Mio Global disrupted the wearable tech industry by becoming the first company to introduce a continuous optical heart rate sensor in a sports wrist watch, the Mio ALPHA, which offers EKG-level accuracy for fitness training and day-to-day monitoring.

Recently, Mio introduced "PAI" (Personal Activity Intelligence) -- a ground-breaking personal health metric that is backed by (a) leading scientific research and (b) an intelligent software platform that uses heart rate to track the body's response to all types of physical activity while providing actionable and personalized feedback to help users maintain optimal health. PAI captures everything a user needs to know about their heart rate activity in the form of a simple score, and provides a clear actionable goal: keep your PAI score at 100 or above.

Mio will continue to draw on the expertise provided by Hydra Ventures as it scales, and the funding will be partially used to further develop Mio's AI-based sensor analytics and insights platform within PAI that was acquired from the Nobel Prize winning Norwegian University of Science and Technology. In addition, the funding will be used to launch the Mio SLICE, which is the next generation of Mio's best-in-class wrist-based wearables and is the first activity tracker to capture all-day heart rate data and display PAI directly on the wristband. Mio envisions that SLICE will become a strong reference design for other companies interested in licensing PAI and Mio's highly accurate sensor IP.

"The era of heart rate has finally arrived. Multiple wearables offer accessible, unobtrusive heart rate monitoring, yet most consumers do not fully engage with the heart rate sensing capabilities or do not know how to make sense of heart rate data," said Liz Dickinson, Founder and CEO of Mio Global. "PAI solves this problem by using one simple metric that is far more meaningful and personalized than counting 10,000 steps. This new investment will be used to fuel continued growth and develop future technologies that will improve global health."

PAI was invented by world-renowned exercise physiologist and high intensity interval training pioneer Dr. Ulrik Wisloff, Professor at the Faculty of Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and the Head of Cardiac Exercise Research Group and K.G. Jebsen Centre for Exercise in Medicine. PAI has been scientifically validated based on the HUNT Study, one of the largest health studies ever conducted in which more than 60,000 individuals were closely monitored during a period of 20 years. Users earn PAI points during all of their daily physical activities, and the goal is to maintain a PAI score at or above 100 over a seven-day rolling window. The PAI metric provides each individual with a personalized activity guideline that is scientifically proven to help maximize longevity by up to ten years and reduce the risk of lifestyle-related diseases by up to 38 percent. The PAI study will be published in a major medical journal this year.

For more information on Mio Global and PAI, visit www.mioglobal.com/PAI.

About Mio Global:
A recognized pioneer in sports and fitness technology with distribution around the world, Mio is known for its industry-leading heart rate monitor technology and wearables. The company was founded by CEO Liz Dickinson, a visionary in the fitness technology sector, who holds numerous patents. Mio offers a range of heart rate monitoring watches and wristbands, including award-winning wearables such as Mio ALPHA, Mio FUSE, Mio LINK, and later this year, Mio SLICE, as well as advanced technologies such as PAI -- Personal Activity Intelligence -- a revolutionary new system and metric to manage one's health through exercise by tracking activity levels based on heart rate. Mio's deep R&D capabilities in machine learning and AI have positioned them to become a technology company with a mission to license its technologies to others to make wearables meaningful. Mio continues to deliver the world's most accurate heart rate and heart rate variability in motion and other biometric sensing capabilities. For more information, visit www.mioglobal.com.

About Hydra Ventures:
Launched in 2011, Hydra Ventures is the corporate venture arm of adidas AG, and is dedicated to exploiting new market opportunities by creating and developing new technologies, consumer brands, and trends in apparel, footwear and sports-related areas. For more information, visit www.hydra-ventures.com.