Bayer HealthCare officially launched its “Grants4Apps Accelerator 2015” program in Berlin, Germany with five digital health startups from around the globe. As part of the deal, each of the companies will receive financial support of up to 50,000 Euro, along with support from Bayer executives and external experts to advance their projects over the next four months.
“With our ‘Accelerator’ program we create an environment in which to advance digital innovation in healthcare,” said Johannes Schubmehl, CIO at Bayer HealthCare. “We are looking forward to supporting the five digital health startups to further develop their innovative projects.”
The pharmaceuticals giant received more than 200 applications from 48 countries to participate in this year’s Grants4Apps program. Applications from Europe and the Americas were strongly represented, but there were also many applications from Asia, particularly from China.
Each of the startups will receive financial support of up to 50,000 Euro, along with support from Bayer executives and external experts to advance their projects over the next four months.The five digital health startups chosen for the program include:
Serona
Founded in 2014 as Hack My Hormones, the company has developed a technology that generates and tracks hormone data to enable precision medicine. The Serona platform offers accurate and accessible hormone testing, and data management to researchers and healthcare professionals. Instead of the current status quo in women’s health of treatment planning by trial and error, Serona empowers hundreds of millions of women on hormonal prescriptions (e.g., for fertility solutions, menopause symptoms) to seek customized solutions and track insights over time.
MediKeep
A mobile app for your home medicine cabinet. It has an inventory option to list all medicines by scanning the barcodes or searching from a database, viewing expiry dates and remaining quantities. Estonia-based MediKeep is also working as a pill-reminder, with notifications where the user can count down dosage from the inventory after every notification. Future development plans consist of making profile based suggestions for home medicine, conflicting drug alerts, simplified medicine information sheets and an option to view taken medicine and symptoms log. The mobile app is available in the iTunes and Google Play store.
Sendinaden
Sendinaden Limited focuses on 3D printed smart wearable devices that help city-dwellers build better habits by triggering flow states for learning and health. In Asia, city-dwellers are faced with challenging environments that are both polluted and stressful. Sendinaden’s first product, the Pattern Breathe Mask, improves health by changing breathing patterns. Customized to each user and up to 95% 3d-printed locally, the mask filters the air while measuring the user’s breathing and giving real-time feedback. The company is also exploring other customer needs such as the diagnosis and treatment of sleep apnea and usage for drug delivery & pulmonary rehabilitation. Its Pattern Breathe Mask will be available worldwide from January 2016.
Viomedo
Viomedo UG provides patients access to innovative therapies in the setting of clinical trials. The online platform aggregates 2,000 clinical trials that are open for patients in Germany. It also provides them with the information they need in order to consider participating in a clinical trial as a therapeutic option. This is how Viomedo provides patients access to tomorrow’s medicine, today.
Vitameter
The Vitameter is a handheld device that analyzes users’ vitamin levels from a single drop of blood with a user experience similar to glucometers. The intent is to expand to other biomarkers, providing users with the information needed to quantitatively understand and optimize their health.
Also worth noting is that for the first time, two of the startups will also use the laboratory facilities in the Berlin Bayer HealthCare CoLaborator as they need further capacities to test their concepts in real life.