Rockstart’s Digital Health Accelerator Presents First Cohort of Startups at Demo Da

An overview of 2016 Inaugural class and their announcements highlight the Digital Health Accelerator program

NIJMEGEN, MARCH 10 - Rockstart, the Global Startup Machine, announced today the Digital Health Demo Day featuring the first 10 participants of its Digital Health Accelerator. The accelerator, the first of its kind in the Netherlands, took place in Nijmegen to take full advantage of the highly innovative healthcare ecosystem that exists there. During the program, the startups have been engaging with a highly active network of healthcare professionals and partner organizations to help validate and scale their business.

In 2015 Rockstart initiated its very first Digital Health program, together with strategic partners in Nijmegen.  10 companies, representing 6 nationalities, were chosen and accelerated their businesses over the last 6 months. Demo Day is the final milestone at the end of 180-day program. The 10 companies display the full range of digital health: from medical devices to robotics, from mobile prevention programs to online booking platforms.  During the program the total number of people working on the startups has more than doubled.

Highlights from Demo Day

- Recently, the startups presented for the Dutch minister of Health, Edith Schippers: “I’m privileged to see a lot of good ideas. Transforming an idea into a service for a large audience is really difficult and the determination and dedication that you show to scale your company is necessary. And most of all, in the interest of the patient.”

- During the program, the startups attracted over €400.000 in funding and team sizes more than doubled

- More than 75 international investors reached out the startups to discuss follow-up funding and future expansion plans

- International startups have created partnerships with local healthcare organizations including AMC, St. Maartenskliniek, Radboudumc, Pluryn, SIZA, Philadelphia, Pharmaccess, various GP practices and healthcare insurers.

Program Director Maarten den Braber: “The startups in this year’s program really show that Digital Health goes hand-in-hand with great business opportunities. We see that Digital Health in general is gaining strong momentum with entrepreneurs and investors. Recently CB Insights ranked Rockstart’s Digital Health program 6th most active digital health investor worldwide out of more than 1,000 investors.”

Overview: startups and their announcements

Bruxlab (Netherlands)  - Bruxlab diagnoses sleep bruxism within minutes.  Bruxlab focuses on the dental sleep disorder Bruxism (involuntary habitual grinding of the teeth, typically during sleep) and provides a cost effective and efficient test/diagnostic tools for patients and dentists. While the patient is asleep the smartphone app records possible grinding sounds. Scientific research reports that 8% of the adult population is grinding their teeth during sleep and a total of 85% is yet undiagnosed. Via our validated medical algorithm this information is being analysed through the Bruxlab SaaS platform.

Bruxlab recently secured CE certification and is HIPAA compliant, making it market ready for Europe and the United States.

 

Cognilab (US) -  Cognilab is an online research platform for the scientific study of the human mind. Cognilab created a virtual lab allowing researchers to collect data faster than ever before. Their ultimate mission is to centralize the largest repository of human cognition on the planet - they believe cognitive models will be key in the digital health era.

One of Cognilab’s early adopters, a Canadian researcher, went from creating her first psychology experiment to publishing the results in Body Image (paywall), a prestigious peer-reviewed academic journal in less than 8 months. Cognilab has also established a valuable partnership with the UK company Prolific, providing an additional 30K participants to the Cognilab pool.

Dinst (Netherlands) - Dinst enables seniors and their informal caregivers to locate pre-screened professionals like handymen, hairdressers and physical therapists to provide in-home services. User reviews and introductory videos further assure seniors the professionals they’re inviting into their homes have been properly vetted.

 

Dinst developed a white label SaaS solution to connect the networks of large homecare organizations to their platform. They’ve already signed contracts with Amstelring and Leefstijl3 and are working on growing their current userbase to include more partner organizations.

Fuelling (Spain) - Fuelling is an app for companies that encourages and rewards employees for their sportsmanship. It's simple, fun and customizable.

Fuelling is working with four customers to develop customized challenge and HR wellness dashboards that will impact 15,000+ employees in 10 countries.   

Fysio24 (Netherlands) -  Fysio24 is an app giving users access to a library of do-it-yourself prevention and recovery programs for running injuries. Fysio24 programs are created by world leading running injury experts and provide users with day-to-day information, instructions, exercises, challenges and inspiration to start and stick with their program.

This month Fysio24 will launch their beta app and assembled a group of running injury experts to develop injury prevention and recovery programs. In May 2016 the paid version of the app will be launched.

  

Med Angel (Germany) - Med Angel is a device and an app that continuously monitors the temperature of medication and alerts users if it gets critical.  Conditions like diabetes, inflammatory joints and bowel diseases, growth and metabolism disorders, cause a lot of stress. Med Angel’s aim is to help people living with chronic conditions overcome their lifestyle challenges, and give them peace of mind.

Med Angel is planning the product launch in Europe in Q2 2016, soft launch in the US in Q3 2016 and a solution for small/medium medical practices "Med Angel PRO."

MOUNT (Netherlands) - MOUNT helps bring patients and health providers closer together through shared decision making and Digital Decision Aids (DDA’s), which are linked to the Electronic Health Record-system of healthcare institutions. DDA’s describe the treatment options available and help patients to understand these options, as well as the possible benefits and harms. This allows patients to consider the options from a personal perspective (e.g. how important are the possible benefits and harms are to them) and supports them to participate in making a treatment decision as an equal partner.

MOUNT has recently signed contracts with Academic Medical Center Amsterdam and RadboudUMC to partner in developing DDA’s, and is a proud winner of the Sustainable Healthcare Challenge.

Picto Connection (Spain) - Picto Connection is an intelligent communication software, designed by professionals, that through an online neuropsychological test, analyses the pathologies, illnesses, specific needs and degree for each person.  As a result, Picto Connection can recommend and create the best communication tool for each individual, taking into account the pathologies but also each specific need, such as visual, cognitive or mobility needs.

In the last year, Picto Connection has released their product to the Spanish market, brought on Spanish payment clients and have plans to expand internationally - this year in the Netherlands, next year in Germany and France followed by the United States and Latin America.  

Teamscope (Chile) - Teamscope (Chile) - Teamscope is a mobile platform that makes it possible for medical researchers in rural areas to collect clinical data and collaborate with their peers right on their mobile device, even when they are offline or in remote locations.

This year Teamscope launched an Android app in addition to their iOS app and established a partnership with Pharmaccess (NL) to conduct a series of pilots in Africa.

Tinybots (Netherlands) - At Tinybots, we are making Tessa: your sidekick in taking care of your loved ones. Worldwide there are over 47 million individuals with dementia. With Tessa, individuals with dementia become more self-reliant and regain control of their lives. Our social robots bring structure and cognitive stimulation into their daily lives. Tessa provides friendly, spoken reminders, suggest activities, and play personal music. The family is able to schedule reminders and send messages to the robot through a simple app.

Tinybots has received 17.000 euros in pre-orders and presented Tinybots to prime-minister Mark Rutte & startup special envoy Neelie Kroes.

After Demo Day, the teams will focus on scaling their businesses with sessions dedicated to hands-on support for fundraising and expanding their teams.  On March 17th, Med Angel and Tinybots pitch to an audience of 1000 healthcare, business and innovation professional at the Health Valley Event.

Rockstart would like to thank our Digital Health partners:  Bol, Deloitte, Gemeente Nijmegen, Health Valley, Hekkelman Advocaten & Notarissen, Kadans Science Partner, Noaber Ventures, Novio Tech Campus, PPM Oost, Provincie Gelderland, Rabobank and Radboud UMC Reshape Center.

About Rockstart’s Digital Health Accelerator

Rockstart’s Digital Health accelerator is the first of its kind in the Netherlands and takes place in Nijmegen’s Health Valley to take full advantage of the highly innovative healthcare ecosystem (link to infographic) that exists there. The unique program is patient-focused, includes global ambassadors and mentors and integrates field labs to startups quickly validate and scale their ideas. Selected startups receive €20,000 in funding, office space, workshops, personal guidance by a large group of experienced mentors and access to a broad network of partners and investors.

About Rockstart

Amsterdam based Rockstart ‘'The Global Startup Machine', was founded in 2011 by Dutch serial entrepreneur Oscar Kneppers (formerly Emerce & Bright). The first Rockstart Accelerator program launched in 2012.  Rockstart has accelerated 68 startups in 7 programs: 4 in the web & mobile domain, 2 focused on the smart energy industry and 1 in Digital Health. To date, over 76% of Rockstart alumni (including 3D Hubs and Peerby) have attracted over €31.5 million in funding from national and international angel and venture capital investors including Greylock Partners, Balderton Capital,XAnge Private Equity and Walvis Participaties.

Applications for the 2nd Rockstart Accelerator Digital Health program open in April 2016.

About Rockstart

Rockstart is an early stage investor that empowers purpose-driven founders across three domains: Energy, AgriFood, and Emerging Technologies.

Rockstart invests in early-stage startups from each of the three funds and provides access to capital, market, and expertise by connecting founders with co-investors, mentors, partners, corporates, and the wider Rockstart network.

Rockstart has invested in more than 350 startups and its alumni value to date is more than €1.7bn. Rockstart is an international team of 45+ professionals dedicated to empowering purpose-driven founders to become scalable and drive positive change on a global scale. Rockstart has notable exits such asWercker, Dan.com, Hubs.Com, Bouw7, iClinic, and s and Brincr. The company has offices in Amsterdam, Copenhagen, and Bogota.

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