There’s a lot of focus on fintech right now, mostly driven by large investments from huge VCs, but one field of technological development is not getting the reputation it greatly deserves. Healthtech is a booming market and it’s anticipated to grow rapidly, partly aided in this respect by the growing aging population.
Here are some of the most exciting healthtech startups to give you a flavor of what the industry is about.
Walk with Path
If you find the world of healthtech inspiring and you’re looking for employment, you should try to get involved. Startups are constantly on the lookout for high-quality members of their team. You should have an awareness of tech or, even better, a degree in health sciences or another health-centred academic degree.
Walk with Path was created by Lise Pape to help her father, who was suffering from Parkinson’s Disease, retain his mobility. With a Master’s in innovation design and engineering, Lise created an attachment for a shoe that shines a laser to guide a person’s path as well as sending vibrations up the foot to help people with sensory issues who find it hard to know where they’re walking. This simple invention is very effective and makes a significant difference to the lives of sufferers.
Oxford Heartbeat
This is healthtech invented in Oxford that makes minimally invasive heart surgery more efficient by converting a 2D medical scan into 3D real-time images. Surgeons can then use these images to test different medical devices in a simulation to see which device and strategy would work best for the individual on whom they are operating.
Benevolent AI
Drug companies take about 12 years to test a drug. Benevolent AI wants to get that number down so that society can benefit from more safe drugs being released at greater speeds. They have created a new drug testing mechanism that takes a wealth of data and processes it using AI to try and reach the conclusions that would arise from drug testing at a much faster rate.
Feebris
Feebris is another AI healthtech invention. It uses data from healthcare devices, such as digital stethoscopes as well as wearable data gatherers to aid non-invasive diagnoses of conditions in children and the elderly. One example of its uses comes from its founding work with pneumonia, the biggest killer of children under 5. She used data from sounds in the lungs to identify the presence of pneumonia quickly.
Thriva
The last item on this list, Thriva, started in 2015. It sends out a finger-prick blood testing kit that helps users monitor their baseline health. It then offers highly-personalized lifestyle advice to help you improve your general wellness over time. It tracks cholesterol, liver function, iron levels, and vitamin D and costs about $250 a year.
These tech companies have all achieved funding. Some have raised millions and others like Feebris were only on £10,000 before securing £1.1 million seed funding this May. The world of healthtech is inspiring and it’s great news for so many people when these startups gain traction.
