The MTH Unboxing is a monthly format. One startup from the portfolio of the MediaTech Hub Accelerator will be presented in each issue. This time, you will learn more about the startup memodio.
Many people use digital services to keep an eye on their health, or to have a positive influence on it in the long term, like fitness trackers, apps or glucose monitors. With the further development of technologies, there are also more and more innovative ideas and solutions coming onto the market. One such innovative idea is memodio. memodio is an app that aims to prevent and treat dementia in its early stages.
The founding team behind memodio consists of two doctors, Felix Bicu and Doron Stein, and software architect Paul Zimmermann. In this issue of MTH Unboxing, the team explained to us what motivated them to develop the memodio app. They also give a little insight into how the startup was created and tell us what big challenge they have already mastered.
MTH Accelerator: Who are you and what did you do before memodio?
memodio: Our founding team consists of three people: we have two doctors - Felix and Doron - in the team, who quit their jobs in hospitals to found memodio. Both bring experience from practical medicine and knowhow about the health system and digital applications in the healthcare sector. Paul is the perfect complement as a software architect - he had already had more than seven years of coding experience in the web and mobile sector at the time when the company was bring set up. Programming the app was thus an easy task for him and our development team.
MTH Accelerator: What made you decide to found memodio?
memodio: We are all personally affected by dementia in our circle of relatives and therefore know what dementia really means for those affected and their relatives. Doron also wrote a book about care for early Alzheimer’s disease. Both of us looked at the time at what could be done about dementia and discovered that a certain form of therapy has shown particularly good effects in scientific studies. However, this therapy hasn’t yet been translated into a tangible product. That’s something we have now done with our app.
MTH Accelerator: What is memodio exactly?
memodio: memodio is an app for the prevention and therapy of dementia for people in the early stages of the disease. It offers a digital therapy programme that includes brain training, physical activation, dietary adjustment, optimisation of risk factors and many other therapy elements. The therapy programme is based on the latest scientific findings and was developed by doctors, psychologists and neuroscientists. The app is available for all smartphones and tablets.
MTH Accelerator: What is your mission?
memodio: There isn’t currently any approved therapy for people with incipient cognitive impairments, so-called mild cognitive disorders. This is changing with memodio. Our vision is to revolutionise the care of those affected in the long term.
MTH Accelerator: What has been your biggest challenge to date?
memodio: The biggest challenge to date was getting the app approved as a medical device. However, we have managed to overcome this hurdle in the meantime. The next challenge is being able to attract paying users and health insurance funds to subscribe to the app. We have already scored some successes here, the app is already being reimbursed by AOK PLUS for example, but there is still room for improvement.
MTH Accelerator: And last but not least: why did you decide to locate the company in Potsdam?
memodio: We are a spin-off of the University of Potsdam and feel a particularly close connection to the Hasso Plattner Institute. The location here offers an excellent support ecosystem. We have never regretted our decision to be based here.