Health 2.0 Startup Pitch night: and the winner is…
On April 24th, Health 2.0 Amsterdam hosted a TNW Conference side event at DesignThinkers Amsterdam. The room was packed with our Health 2.0 members, 5 judges and the 6 healthcare startups. We picked only 6 startups to give each one of the founders detailed feedback and to ensure that aside from 500 Euro prize they also get the invaluable feedback from our judges but also from diverse audience that Health 2.0 brings together every month.
Without a further adieu, I wanted to introduce each of the startups in no particular order and provide my personal feedback to each one of them (since I kept my mouth shut during the pitch)
Janno Barlage is not a newcomer to our Health 2.0 Amsterdam events. Fysio24 provides live 24/7 physiotherapy whenever and wherever people need it. I am a huge believer in care anywhere and see a value in disrupting existing brick & mortar care institutions and hence we decided to give Janno the stage again given that his company did open the “virtual doors” to customers. Janno & Petwin have built an interesting platform and certainly opens up the doors for physiotherapists to provide additional care outside of their normal working hours but their challenge will be the consumers. Both from the audience and the judges, there was some skepticism on the consumer adoption of this. I think Fysio24 would server well as a lead generation tool for initial consultation which COULD be done online then followed with a transaction fee to the physiotherapists. But time will tell.. I would be willing to pay €20 for an initial consult on my own time and in comfort of my own home (probably evening hours)
Ger Apeldoorn was driven by a personal family need to start AutiPlan, which is an app targeted for parents with autistic children. Ger’s presentation was focused and the product need is clear and concise. AutiPlan already has some great numbers to show, with over 6,000 registrations and almost 250K activities planed through their platform. The challenge now for AutiPlan is to scale this. There were suggestions from the audience to expand to other diseases such as dementia, which certainly could benefit from this tool but focus will remain key for this young company. Expanding to institutional payers such as schools and support organizations will be key to their adoption. Also while the app is available in three languages, with a focus on institutional expansion - keep the focus on the local market prior to investing into other countries.
Jelte’s mission with Pyoupil is to tackle dyslexia through early detection using smart tracking. I think everyone enjoyed a very focused approach for a very particular need and the idea to prove the model in Netherlands where the adoption of school sponsored devices in schools is on the rise. As the judges pointed out, Jelte and team needs to really focus real hard on the algorithms that can help drive this mission. One challenge that we all saw is the all-encompassing tracking of all kids to identify potential dyslexia problems - which is a tall order but nothing is off limits for young passionate entrepreneurs! Hope Jelte will keep us posted on his developments.
The Nutrino guys came as a team and prior to our event got finished practicing for their TNW conference pitch. Yaron’s presentation was very polished and certainly intriguing but our audience hopefully helped them to fine tune their pitch for the big TNW event. Nutrino is in a very crowded space but also a space that needs to be cracked in order to improve healthcare. Caloric input is a very manual process and there are many companies that are focusing in this space. Nutrino’s proposition, while intriguing packs a big punch with many features in the product already with more to come. Along with the judges, I agree that focusing in a particular geographic area and core capability of matching and producing a nutritional advice is what the Nutrino team needs to stick with. Dont create a sparcity and scarcity problem guys! Hope your pitch went well at TNW and keep us posted.
I found Frederic by accident on angel.co and was immediately intrigued. His pitch started with a line from The Boston Post circa 1865: “Well informed people know it is impossible to transmit voice over wires and that were it possible to do so, the thing would be of no practical value”. Frederic and the team at Holland Haptics is designing a technology for touch communication. Frederic is still exploring potential markets and many decisions have to be made around the particular industry, licensing model, distribution channels and many more. This took the team on a tangent around gaming and pornography use-cases but the most important message for Frederic was to think BIG!!
@FredPetrignani & HollandHaptics.com
Filippo presented WALK, which is an airbag that could prevent injuries in elderly. Unlike the known hip protectors on the market, this prototype device is lightweight and unobtrusive as well as already based on a technology that is used in the Nordics for bicycle injuries. We all enjoyed the concept but one of the main risks that we saw is that the technology will be licensed form the original manufacturer so those negotiations would need to be very solid to ensure exclusivity in certain markets and specifically in the healthcare industry. The target market for Filippo and team would certainly be the informal caregivers concerned about their parents or grandparents but one of the audience members suggested long term care facilities especially focused on alzheimer’s and dementia.
And the winner is……
It was a tough decision but the €500 from from Initium Consulting Group was awarded to AutiPlan. Congrats Ger & Wouter!
But Jacco Schutte made everyone a winner by providing a unique opportunity for our 6 startups to meet with executives from Menzis.
Hope everyone enjoyed the event with many more to come!
