SmartPlate that Detects Nutrition Facts of Food Completes $100,000 Kickstarter

This plate will calculate the nutritional value of your food.

When I spoke to Anthony Ortiz on Thursday, he couldn’t help being a little nervous. His company’s $100,000 Kickstarter campaign sat at $96,258 with just three days to go. With Kickstarter, if you don’t hit your goal, you don’t get a dime.

“Talk about a nail-biting nerve-wracking process,” said Ortiz, the CEO Fitly. “That’s the risk you take with a platform like Kickstarter – it’s all or nothing.”

But he can rest easy — by 8 a.m. Friday morning, it eclipsed the $100,000 mark.

Fitly’s Kickstarter centers around its product SmartPlate, which analyzes the food put on the plate and delivers calorie content and nutrition facts to your smartphone. It uses three digital cameras and advanced image recognition and weight sensors to identify the food. Then it calculates how much protein, fat, carbs and sugar you’re about to consume.

The device is wifi and bluetooth enabled. Ortiz claims that it has 99 percent accuracy.

Now that Fitly has the cash, the company will continue refining the SmartPlate and plans to deliver the first ones to customers by summer 2016.

Fitly participated in the DreamIt Health Philadelphia program and the University City Science Center’sDigital Health Accelerator. The company started as a meal-delivery service and is releasing SmartPlate as its first product.

Currently housed at the The Innovation Center @3401 (part of the University City Science Center), Fitly has no plans on moving away from Philadelphia.

“I love Philly. I’m a loyal person,” said Ortiz, who grew up in South Jersey. “Philly gave me an opportunity. People are starting to realize that innovation will make Philly thrive.”