Interview with LabStyle’s CEO and President Erez Raphael

LabStyle's CEO and President Erez Raphael

We’re continuing with our interview series, and this time round we’ve cornered LabStyle’s CEO and President Erez Raphael.

The 40-year-old Raphael is a seasoned leader who brings more than 17 years of industry experience to his role at LabStyle, including product delivery, technology and business development. Prior to joining LabStyle in 2012, he held a leadership positions at Nokia Siemens Networks and Amdocs Limited.

Here’s how that interview went.

How would you pitch your company?

Living with diabetes is a daily challenge; it’s an endless roller coaster of confusing blood sugar changes, managing the impact of every meal, pain and emotional stress. And diabetes never takes a day off. So even with 4 hours a year of medical advice, there is still 8,756 hours a year of managing it all alone. That’s why we created Dario, the personalized smart meter.

Dario combines a glucose meter that plugs directly into any smart mobile device with personalized information about how the food you’re eating and the sport you’re doing is affecting your sugar levels, and offers support to make life easier for people with diabetes.

What sets you apart from competitors?

Dario is the only personalized smart meter on the market. It combines an all in one sleek glucose meter which plugs directly into a smart mobile device with personalized information and support to make life easier for people with diabetes.

What’s your business model?

Dario was created because living with diabetes is a daily challenge. The Dario business model is segmented into a few market segments:

  • For people with diabetes Dario has a disposable business model – test strips are sold to distributors. Patients are reimbursed for the strips by their healthcare providers and insurers.
  • Caregivers – A professional cloud (website) portal for caregivers is currently under development…
  • Clinical trials – Automated real time data collection for diabetes related clinical trials.

Can you share some numbers? How many users do you have?

We have thousands of active users of the app, and also of the smart meter.

Where do you see the company going from here?

LabStyle plans on furthering their proprietary technology to people with Other Chronic diseases; empowering them with the best tools, real-time knowledge and support so they can independently manage their condition with peace of mind and minimal disturbance to their daily lives.

Where do you see the mHealth industry going?

Dario embodies where mHealth is going – that is, leveraging the power of the internet and smartphone technology to give patients access to the information and people they need to manage their condition independently and more easily anywhere, any time.