How are things going with you & meala at the moment, what is the status / what are you currently working on?

meala: Things are very busy at the moment, but going great! meala’s been a proper company since this summer and our CEO Kevin Nils Röhl just got back from San Francisco, where he had the opportunity to present our new app concept at the DiabetesMine Innovation Days. We’ve broadened the scope of meala to include the possibility of conducting research. The first research project was called „Pizza Challenge“ which we successfully finished in collaboration with DCB and Dexcom earlier this year. We’re currently evaluating the results from the Pizza Challenge, but it’s still possible to contribute to the project by using the meala app.

What has happened since the Challenge / how did the Challenge support you?

meala: So many things have happened and we received such great support from DCB – throughout the Innovation Challenge and beyond. By participating in the DCB Innovation Challenge, we gathered insightful knowledge about pitching during the training with Patrick Rohr and start-up development in our 1:1 sessions with experts like Derek Brandt and Valentin Christian Splett. The award ceremony with so many people from the diabetes community is a memory we will cherish for a long time. Since then, with the continuing support of DCB, we have been able to expand the team at meala and we have established collaborations with patients organizations like diabetesDE and Blickwinkel Diabetes.

What is to come in the upcoming months?

meala: We will be publishing the results of the Pizza Challenge on international conferences throughout the next year! The great feedback from our community motivates us to work towards bridging the gap between patients and research and helping to establish more studies for people with diabetes in real-life settings. We want to emphasize the importance of peer support and experiential expertise for self-management and we’re already working on the next study called “Cookie Challenge”. That new research project is all about insulin-to-carb ratio, including community events and publications. If you’re interested in collaborating, don’t hesitate to contact us at mail@heymeala.com.

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How are things going with you & GlucoSet at the moment, what is the status and what are you currently working on?

GlucoSet: We have started to work with the manufacturing partners to finish the design including all manufacturing aspects. This is a big step for the company since we suddenly do not think in single sensors but in 100’000 sensors volume. Furthermore we started to write patents, which we plan to submit in the upcoming months.

On the financial side, we just received exciting news from the European commission funding GlucoSet with €5.5M, this blended finance from the EU helps us tremendously to filling up the Series A financing round.

What has changed since the Challenge / how did the Challenge support you?

GlucoSet: The challenge helped us to widen the Network in many areas: DCB helped us to get in touch with real experts in developing glucose sensing systems, to learn from their experience is invaluable for a startup like ours developing such a multidisciplinary product. Furthermore we could widen our network with experts in the field of regulations, which allows us to get a second opinion and we were also given many contacts of manufacturing and business partners. Last but not least, we would like to mention the connection to DCB itself; we just submitted a grant application with one of the DCB professors.

It is very noticeable that the prize increased the visibility to investors, and to the MedTech society. 

On the financial side, we just received exciting news from the European commission funding GlucoSet with €5.5M, this blended finance from the EU helps us tremendously to filling up the Series A financing round.

What is to come in the upcoming months?

GlucoSet: We still have some technical problems to solve, and we slowly start to make the company ready to enter into the regulated development phase. We look very much forward to soon having a first monitor prototype with a running graphical user interface we can connect with the sensors.

Thanks so much for reading and we’ll provide you with the next episode of this series soon!

Firstly, ideas and existing projects can be submitted to the DCB Open Innovation Challenge. The following criteria are relevant:

• Need: Does the idea address an important problem or need of people with diabetes?
• Problem and solution fit together: Does the idea offer a good solution to the need?
• Innovation: Does the idea offer promising new ways to meet the identified need?
• Feasibility: How likely is it that the idea can be realised?
• Impact: Does the idea have the potential to change the lives of people with diabetes in a meaningful way?

If these questions can be answered with “yes”, the idea or project can be presented to the DCB within the communicated application deadlines. It does not matter whether a start-up company, a family member or someone from the healthcare sector or research is participating. What is important is that the innovative approach helps improve the lives of people with diabetes. Participating startups will benefit from professional expert feedback, and the top three projects in each of the Diabetes Devices and Digital Diabetes categories will receive access to a bootcamp. The finalists will receive prize money of up to USD 100,000, including in-kind support. The DCB Innovation Challenge is one of the world’s largest diabetes awards with international reach.

Support from the innovation team and a unique investment fund

Another possibility, in addition to the DCB Open Innovation Challenge mentioned above, is direct support from the innovation team. Through the targeted financial support of projects that meet the criteria, ideas can be identified, implemented and brought to market maturity.

If there is a high growth potential, the Swiss Diabetes Venture Fund, which is unique in Europe, can be a suitable partner. The fund is aimed at start-ups with a focus on diabetes technology. Through its partners, the SDVF combines various competences from deal flow, company building, network, research facilities and comprehensive medical technology knowledge. The fund was established in 2021, in partnership between Swiss Startup Group AG (SSUG), Simon Michel and the DCB. There are already three start-ups in the fund’s portfolio: Supersapiens, Digital Diabetes Analytics and Piomic Medical.

If you’ve read until here, thank you ?!

If you’d like to collaborate with us, contact us here: innovation@dcberne.com

If you want enjoy the unique DCB atmosphere and enjoy the second edition of our start-up night? Book your seat here!