PatchAi - a startup that offers, thanks to Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, an empathic virtual assistant to patients participating in clinical trials - announced that it has closed two rounds of fundraising for about 900 thousand euros in 2019. The startup's service provision has been active since December 2019 and among the first PatchAi® clients is Novartis Italia, thus confirming its position as one of the fastest rising startups in the health sector.
In the last 15 months, the Padua based startup, led by CEO Alessandro Monterosso, has emerged victorious in 10 national and international competitions for over 300 thousand euros in prize money and services. The company has been accelerated by Unicredit Startup Lab and the European Institute of Technology (EIT Health) and now collaborates with international players such as IBM and HIT - University of Padua.
The ability to deliver: PatchAi's forte
In an era of transition to value-based healthcare, where patient centricity and real-time data generation (RWE) play a key role, the implementation of innovative digital solutions can provide double the value in improving patient care and collecting valuable healthcare data, reducing not only distance and time but also the costs of innovative drug trials.In this scenario, PatchAi presents itself as the first cognitive platform offering an empathic virtual assistant for the collection and predictive analysis of patient reported data in Clinical Trials, opening the doors to a new frontier in patient engagement through the adoption of conversational ePRO(1) (Co-PROTM)(2).
The idea was born in the hospital wards across different countries where the 4 founders - Alessandro Monterosso, Filip Ivancic, Kumara Palanivel and Daniele Farro - worked in clinical research covering different roles (doctors, nurses, pharmacologists) and were able to experience first-hand the unexpressed needs of patients, communication barriers and often obsolete data collection practices. The team then convened at SDA Bocconi School of Management and, thanks to their participation in the Cariplo Factory's BioUpper acceleration program, they began working on the implementation of the idea, acquainting themselves with the main stakeholders in the sector.
Commitment, energy and, above all, great execution capacity were essential in enabling PatchAi® to become a real company where today, in addition to the team of four founders, more than 12 professionals are active collaborators. "Our next goal - says CEO Alessandro Monterosso - is to invest further in research and product development, continuing to focus on the internationalization of the market outreach and expansion into the B2C segment. All this so that "patient centricity" does not remain merely a concept but is translated into active patient involvement and improvement of their quality of life during clinical trials."
Investors and growth objectives
Believing in the PatchAi® team and project are important players and investors in the healthcare and digital health sector including UVCAP, Healthware Ventures, Padda Health and Avalanche Investments. In 2019 the startup was able to close two rounds, thus entering the market 12 months earlier than anticipated."I am very happy with our investment in an Italian digital health startup" - says Roberto Ascione, CEO of Healthware Group and President of Healthware Ventures. "PatchAi® comprises a team with high growth potential that strongly believes in its objectives. A factor that, as an entrepreneur and investor, I appreciate very much and that I am sure will be decisive in their future growth. PatchAi® also demonstrates the importance of working with patients in scientific research to develop innovative solutions."
For the next few years, management expects the business to experience strong growth with the goal of reaching more than 40,000 patients within the next 5 years and continue acheiveing their growth targets in the corporate and consumer sectors, both in Italy and globally.
For further information, please visit:
https://patchai.io/en/
About PatchAi®
It is an innovative start-up that has developed the first cognitive platform for collection and predictive analysis of data reported by patients in Clinical Trials, which opens the doors to a new frontier in patient engagement, thanks to the adoption of conversational ePRO (Co-PROTM). It is a Class I medical device, pending authorization, that uses technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning and integrates an empathic virtual assistant built on IBM® Watson. This technological integration makes it possible to assess patient needs, implement personalized strategies to achieve and maintain patient engagement, and collect valuable real world data on symptomatology, adverse events, therapy adherence and quality of life.
1. Per ePRO - Electronic Patient-Reported Outcomes: any report of the status of a patient's health condition that comes directly from the patient.
2. PatchAi ha registrato la tecnologia Co-PROTM (Conversational Patient-Reported Outcomes)