Antwerp-based HealthTech startup Koios Care has closed a €1 million funding spherical to speed up its efforts in reworking the monitoring and remedy of Parkinson’s Illness with its AI-powered platform that passively collects knowledge from smartphones and smartwatches.
The spherical was led by Greek early-stage DeepTech investor Evercurious VC, with participation from Astylab Ventures, the imec.istart fund, and a number of other angel buyers, together with these coordinated by HeBAN. The brand new funding will assist Koios Care broaden its digital well being device ‘Parkiwatch’ throughout European clinics, assist regulatory clearance efforts, and construct stronger partnerships with pharma firms and analysis establishments.
“There’s a major hole between what individuals with Parkinson’s really want and what they at the moment obtain. It’s not nearly managing signs, it’s about meaningfully enhancing their general High quality of Life. That’s the hole Koios Care is right here to shut,” mentioned Dr Konstantinos Kyritsis, Co-founder and CEO “One affected person utilizing the expertise to obviously talk with their neurologist informed us, ‘Typically, on my present treatment scheme, it appears like I’ve no Parkinson’s.’ That’s not simply encouraging, it’s a strong glimpse of what’s doable. It’s the form of transformation we’re relentlessly working to ship for everybody residing with this illness.”
Based by Dr Konstantinos Kyritsis and Dr Dimitris Iakovakis, Koios Care bridges the hole between sufferers’ each day lives and medical care. The staff’s answer allows care groups to make earlier and extra personalised selections, primarily based on goal, real-life proof – slightly than occasional clinic visits or self-reports.
Koios is creating an AI-powered platform that passively collects knowledge from smartphones and smartwatches to offer clinicians and researchers with real-world, clinically significant insights into neurological problems.
Koios Care is responding to it referrs to as a “silent pandemic” – the fast world rise of Parkinson’s Illness, which reportedly now impacts greater than ten million individuals. By leveraging knowledge from on a regular basis gadgets, the corporate goals to personalise and enhance care whereas streamlining medical workflows and supporting simpler drug improvement.
Koios Care’s mannequin helps each sufferers and the broader healthcare ecosystem. For clinicians and sufferers, it gives a digital device to information remedy selections and monitor outcomes; for pharma and MedTech corporations, it provides an R&D platform that may generate real-world knowledge and determine significant endpoints for medical trials.
“For too lengthy, sufferers, clinicians and researchers have lacked steady, goal knowledge to really personalise Parkinson’s care and perceive the real-life impression of the illness and its therapies,” mentioned Dr Iakovakis, Co-founder and CTO of Koios Care. “This funding displays the pressing want for a brand new normal in care. With our answer, we empower sufferers to higher perceive their situation, equip medical groups with unprecedented insights, and supply pharmaceutical firms with a strong device to speed up the event of simpler therapies.”
To this point, Koios Care has studied 130 sufferers in a multi-centre EU trial and is working with hospital pilot websites and trade companions throughout Europe. The platform aligns with present regulatory steerage on digital well being instruments and is designed to enhance therapeutic decision-making and trial success charges by reflecting real-world affected person outcomes.
Alex Vamvakas, associate at Evercurious VC, commented, “Koios Care’s progressive method to passively monitoring High quality of Life with on a regular basis gadgets is a game-changer for neurodegenerative problems. We’re impressed by the staff’s scientific rigor, the medical validation and the imaginative and prescient to reshape long-term neurodegenerative circumstances’ care and allow the shift towards personalised, data-driven illness administration at scale.
“With roots in Greece and Belgium, and collaborators throughout Europe, Koios Care exemplifies the form of area bridging, self-discipline spanning, impact-driven innovation {that a} extra linked European DeepTech ecosystem can unlock. It displays a imaginative and prescient of Europe the place scientific excellence and entrepreneurial ambition transcend borders to resolve urgent world challenges.”
Wanting ahead, Koios Care plans to develop drug-device mixture merchandise and broaden its attain to different mind and behaviour-related circumstances, together with Gentle Cognitive Impairment, Alzheimer’s, narcolepsy, and consuming problems. The startup is focusing on areas the place real-time, real-world knowledge stays a vital lacking hyperlink in care and analysis.