If you saw a problem every time you received treatment, would you decide to make it your purpose to solve it? Not many people would. But Jan Elsner isn’t many people. Skinuvita – making home UV-Therapy possible.

 

When you find out more about Skinuvita and how they are making UV-therapy more accessible, you soon discover what lies at the heart of the startup. There is a vision, yes, but also an inspiration weaved into the business and those who work within it. It’s the real feeling of knowing what it’s like to live with a chronic skin disease and that the effective medical treatments available are actually not so easily applied.  

Jan Elsner, who Co-Founded Skinuvita, has the chronic skin disease Psoriasis and had for a long-time seen numerous therapists and tried different treatments until he eventually found that UV therapy was the best for him. However he encountered a problem. He was recommended 30 individual sessions, the average for a successful treatment cycle, but to receive these, he needed to visit the dermatologist every single time. Time is the most precious thing and this treatment process takes it away. Plus the travel involved in going to and from the doctors. That’s why home UV-Therapy is so important. 

Therefore UV therapy, in its current setup, is just not applicable for most patients of chronic skin diseases. But the solution from Skinuvita is. Jan decided to improve the situation for himself and all others in similar positions. To create a digitalised therapy which allows patients to use a safe and medically supervised UV-therapy at home. It began as a student project at Bremen University and those around were quick to see the advantages it brought to the healthcare ecosystem.

Jan explains how things began to really take off. “We had input from dermatologists in Bremen, public health experts and insurance companies. They were all keen to support. Then in 2019 with the Digital Health Act, the market changed and digital health became far more relevant.”

Even the global pandemic didn’t seem to hugely impact the startup being formed. “We decided to leave the comfortable bubble of academia and actually found more courage to write proposals for funding. It was during this process that we were invited to pitch at the Professional Association of the German Dermatologists (BVDD) in Berlin and then by surprise became the wildcard entry for the Vision Health Pioneers Incubator.”

Jan shares how joining the Vision Health Pioneers Incubator has helped their dream of making home UV-Therapy possible. “We went from an evening and weekend project to, on short notice, having the luxury to build a team.” It was this process where fate played a role.

A Team of Coincidence

Jan reached out to now Skinuvita Co-Founder Till Fitzke, but it nearly didn’t work out that way. Till shares how he became involved. “I knew Jan from before. He contacted me but I was super sick with tonsillitis. After five days I called him back just before he pressed send on an email accepting someone else for the role! It was such a unique opportunity that I quit my then job. I felt I wouldn’t get another chance at something like this.”

This wasn’t the last of happy coincidences for the Skinuvita team. For Bojana Petkovic, UI Designer, she was finishing her studies in Digital Media when a flatmate recommended the startup. “They said that Skinuvita were looking for support in their design work. I had a promising future in my job at the time but it wasn’t so interesting. I relate more to this kind of work – where we can create things from scratch. Rather than being a tiny screw in a larger organisation.” Bojana is focusing on marketing design and visual identity, having also recently been awarded the ‘Best Design Art’ award for her master thesis. 

As the Skinuvita team speaks it is clear they have a well-balanced approach to startup life and embrace the journey they are on. Till likens the combined passion as to that of doing something in your life that helps other people. “We all have that in common. It is worth a lot.” he says. 

The startup team has naturally changed a little since they entered the Vision Health Pioneers Incubator in January 2021. Jan shares more,

“Not everyone is born to work in a startup with all its uncertainties and challenges. We had a great colleague, Nadine, who did a fantastic job but had to make a change in her career direction. We are very thankful for her efforts. We used this chance to explore a fourth member of the team.” It was by chance that Till received a message from a friend. 

“It was another funny coincidence. Vincent Pursian, who is now our Finance Manager, messaged me. We knew each other from school and he had just found out that his job at the time wasn’t continuing. He was in!”

Vincent is making sure they are ready for investment. “Till came back to me with that question about a change in my life and so I accepted. We have been planning for a substantial investment since then and are confident with what we can achieve. There are already ongoing conversations with various interested business angels and VCs.”

A Philosophy of Positive Impact

Jan explains how they enjoy the positive impact they have. “Like Bojana said, none of us want to be a small screw in the system. Startups are risky and they need a profitable business outlook to attract investors. We all relished the fact that we get more fulfilment from shaping things.” Bojana adds more, “We really discovered that in a team workshop together. After three exciting days with barbeque, creative sessions and simple things like playing frisbee in the lake, we got to know one another. That was really important to help us bond.”

“The small moments like when you discover a puzzle piece you didn’t know was missing. Suddenly everything gets better.” – Is how Jan describes how it energized them. 

 

The Skinuvita Home UV-Therapy Product

The future looks very promising for Skinuvita. For example a recent meeting with an influential Head of a Dermatology Department took place and this might lead to advanced clinical tests. They aim to have a virtual treatment therapy device tested under medical supervision and overcome some of the typical barriers of certification. Following this, the next step is to take their product to the business sector. 

Till explains more about their product. “We’re in different beta phases. On one side is a therapy manager for nurses and doctors to plan and set sessions for treatment. On the other, a patient app where they receive session information – things like when and how long a treatment is. We were also recently able to integrate a bluetooth control unit which allows our software to connect with existing therapy devices, enabling an automatic dosis transfer. Therefore there is no longer the risk that patients could be harmed by setting a wrong dosis. Now we have to design it, connect it, make it look nice and certify it.” 

Jan describes how the Vision Health Pioneers Incubator has helped their mission of home UV-therapy.

“It’s hard to imagine how we would have created our startup without the support. It’s like gaining knowledge from ten years of industry experience within just nine months. There’s just so many new things to consider when you’re not an expert. This is exactly the right programme for young people and young ideas.”

 

They have big dreams for home UV-Therapy at Skinuvita. They don’t just want to be considered an app which is turned on and off. Their international team has contacts in the Netherlands, Scandinavia and of course across Germany. Jan explains, “We are creating quality of life for those with chronic skin diseases. The more rural the area, the more relevant a home treatment. We now have a well established treatment and will use technology to make it safe, accessible and to guide people. To give them a normal life. We want UV-therapy to be as normal as brushing your teeth.” 

Catch Skinuvita presenting at INTO THE FUTURE – the next Demo Day from Vision Health Pioneers Incubator on 31 August 2021.

“A lot of people put the emphasis on the heart but our lungs are equally important. After all without oxygen, the blood the heart pumps is useless. Cardiovascular diseases get the fame for all the right reasons, but now we want to raise awareness and contribute to making lung health considered just as important.”

These are the words of James Hugall, Co-Founder and CEO of Breaz. In the following interview, the Breaz team speak openly about making the invisible damage of COPD, visible – The lung diseases they are trying to tackle, what drives them to make a difference and what the future has in store for their device. They also share why now might be the best time to make something come to full fruition.

James explains what they mean by this. “The impact of COVID19 may impact the awareness of respiratory diseases like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Before this time, many people would feel a pain in their chest and just think they are getting old or not being as active as they could be. We want to change this mindset and bring our product into the market to help analyse people effectively.”

James, who is from the UK, originally began making his plan for the business in Barcelona, Spain. He worked there as a scientist in academia before moving to Berlin, Germany to enrol with the Vision Health Pioneers Incubator. James is joined by Co-Founder Austrian Petra Stockinger and Eduardo Evaristo, Mechanical Engineer from Venezuela. Combined this international team is focused on improving people’s lives and making the invisible damage of COPD, visible.

The Breaz Prototype

The Breaz team have a vision for their product to be considered as everyday as a thermometer or a blood pressure monitor. “These devices allow us to quickly understand what risks we have of certain diseases. We want the same for lung health. ” Petra says.

The Breaz prototype is a simple to use device which measures and grades respiratory diseases like COPD. All patients need to do is breathe normally and within a couple of minutes the doctor receives the results. They can then choose the best next steps, whether further tests, or beginning or adjusting treatment.

“We want to make it simple to use and reach as many different settings as possible. In primary care but perhaps also pharmacies and even the gym. Whenever the individual wants to check their lung health, they can.” James says.

Making the invisible damage of COPD visible

Both James and Petra are scientists and have previously worked in an academic setting. Whilst completing their post-doctoral work, Petra was working in biology and James in physics. Both knew they wanted more.

“We wanted to get out of the scientific world and into something more applied, that’s where our interest for healthcare innovation took hold.” James says. Only despite this inspiration happening at similar times for them both, they didn’t know each other at the time. “That desire for something more took us to the d.HEALTH course in Barcelona. This is where you try to create a business idea based on a real experience in a clinical setting.”

They worked in different teams on the course which explored unresolved clinical needs that doctors faced. For two out of the nine month course, this focused on hospital immersion. Petra describes this time. “We discovered hundreds of needs and then we needed to try and filter them down to just one that would have the biggest impact, if it were worked on. James was in the respiratory team and saw first-hand the shocking amount of people suffering from COPD.”

James continues with what this experience was like, “I really wasn’t aware of it before that moment, it surprised me. More than half of the people there were dying from this disease. We only saw them at the very end and it was horrible to watch. To see the suffering.” It was during these traumatic experiences that James saw the need for something to improve this situation.

“The current method just isn’t working effectively. From both the patient and the doctor’s point of view. When diagnosing patients, the main method is the force spirometry test, which is where the patient breathes in a whole lot of air and exhausts it as quickly as possible. It’s quite a stressful test for patients and there are often long waiting periods.” 

Doctors in primary care have also complained that the test isn’t always completed effectively. Petra and James reference research which found 75% of cases are undiagnosed. (Soriano and Joan B in their paper, “Prevalence and Attributable Health Burden of Chronic Respiratory Diseases, 1990–2017: A Systematic Analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017).

“So this is where the inspiration comes from. To find a way to test these people effectively. Reduce the number of undiagnosed cases, take control early with detection and how to follow the patient throughout the rest of their life. COPD is in many ways the new stroke.”

The programme in Barcelona ended and James was inspired to do something to improve the situation. Unfortunately timing wise, Covid-19 was just starting to appear.

“That changed things a lot. It became hard to start a business and bring us all together. The team changed slightly and then by chance a colleague in an EIT Health MedTech Bootcamp mentioned the Vision Health Pioneers Incubator. It seemed like the perfect setting to build a new startup and receive really important training.”

Breaz were enrolled and James reached out to Petra again to come in and join as another Co-Founder. Despite only having a week to decide, she said yes!

Breaz were finalists in the 2021 Imagine IF! Competition

The Breaz Team

The team today splits most of the business activities between James and Petra. Eduardo, as Mechanical Engineer, focuses on the prototype of their product. They believe having strong focus areas has helped them but that this did take time to develop. Petra explains, “James comes from a technical background so he’s more on the product development side. My background is data aspects – clinical testing. We have faced challenges, like any other startup, but within the incubator of Vision Health Pioneers, that has really helped us.”

Eduardo is in charge of product development. He describes his role, “We’re a hard-tech company so we need to develop and produce a physical device. I need to make sure that it works and then test and calibrate it.” It’s clear he enjoys the design process the most and all the challenges that come with it. “There are so many decisions to be made because we’re coming up with something new. There’s no script to follow. At times I have to kind of trust my gut and then see if it works. If it does, I feel amazing. If it doesn’t, then I need to see what I can do about it.” 

James shares more about their time with Vision Health Pioneers. “It’s been a good introduction to topics that would have taken us forever to try and learn. We’ve connected with some great people, received mentoring but have also seen how different startups work and operate. We’ve always really appreciated the support in preparing for what comes afterwards.” 

Breaz are now excited to talk to potential investors and prepare themselves for the Demo Day on 31st August 2021 where each startup will pitch their business. They are continuing to develop their prototype and are working on the longer process of hard tech plus working on strategies for how they can sell it. They are making the invisible damage of COPD, visible. 

Environmental Concerns for Lung Health

Petra shares why lung diseases are such a worrying concern. “Air pollution, smoking, anything that irritates in the air – all of this can cause harm to our bodies. People are not always so aware of the damage the conditions around us are having on our body.” 

“The global population is also becoming older. This is important because chronic respiratory diseases take a while to develop, so as people age, they can enter more severe states of lung disease.” James adds. 

The team also shares that in more heavily polluted areas of the world, for example in locations where they cook inside over open fires, they are possibly at a greater risk. They also cite research from Hitchman SC and Fong GT that found smoking amongst women is increasing in some locations as social equality is achieved. (Gender empowerment and female-to-male smoking prevalence ratios. Bull World Health Organ). 

For Breaz success is how the team grows from here. They believe that good people are the really important part but also how that team works together can be a challenge. They appreciate they have a complex product which requires a lot of activities running in parallel but are confident they can make it happen. By this time next year they hope to have tested their device in a clinical setting, have feedback, early adopters and overall a better understanding through user valuation research. 

James going into a little detail on the current progress. “Compared to say a software based company, we have different expectations with hard tech. We’re getting to where we want to go – to have a functional demonstration of our device so we can take it to a hospital and test it, but it does take time. We can then use those learnings to develop further.” 

Eduardo adds more on the why behind Breaz,

“We’re raising awareness of a massive problem that COPD represents, worldwide. We are making something and getting it out there. People are finding out too late and we can avoid that stress. It comes down to whether we choose to do something about it or have people who can barely breathe.”

Petra shares that she loves to learn, even when she’s involved in something she isn’t fully comfortable with. “We have learnt that sometimes not making a decision is worse than making the wrong decision. If you are not an expert in something, in a startup you just push yourself to make a decision.”

“We have come from science where you try to prove if something is wrong by obeying the rules of the world as you would expect it too. At the beginning of our journey, we wanted to know what’s the right answer, now we know there isn’t always one, you just take different paths.” 

Breaz was born from frustration in academia, a willingness to learn of problems in clinical settings, the leap into a new country, hard work in an incubator and ultimately along the entire journey, a desire to help people.

Recently both Berlin startups Karis and ALMA, in the current Vision Health Pioneers Incubator, have crossed borders, within the confines of current Covid19 restrictions, to bring their ideas to other parts of the world. They are just two of the many companies who have brought their new thinking and innovation to Berlin for incubation and then once they have reached a maturity level, started to go international. They build solutions to often complex problems and whether they gain research and insights from other countries or present and pitch to new audiences, at the heart of the activity is how these teams bring their resolution and innovate remedies to people. Here they share their recent activities. 

Karis pitch at the most influential startup event in the world

How did Karis, who integrates art, science and emerging technologies into a unique treatment option for people with ADHD, find pitching at one of the most popular startup events in the world? 

Karis Co-Founders David Garrido and Rubén Nieto López share how the opportunity came about and why it was good practice for INTO THE FUTURE, the next Vision Health Pioneers Incubator Demo Day on 31st August 2021. They were both very enthusiastic with the experience and how it opened their eyes. 

4YFN is famed for its global impact and is part of the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona. With 950 investors and 100,000 attendees it’s clear the reach it has. So what was the experience like for Karis?

“We went with the intention of not regretting anything. It was our first conference in some time and so we wanted to learn more about the international startup ecosystem. At first it was quite weird, especially with everyone wearing masks which makes networking interesting, but then we got used to it all again.” David explains.

The opportunity for Karis to attend 4YFN came through the Vision Health Pioneers Incubator mentor network. Aline Noizet, Founder of Digital Health Connector and mentor for the startups who has worked on accelerator programs in Barcelona, Berlin and in the United States. “We were very grateful to Aline for bringing us the opportunity.” David says. “She knew we were interested in the topics being discussed and that, even though we are still at an early stage, it would be a great international experience for us.”

Ruben shares how they approached the conference. “We went there every day as soon as it opened. We attended sessions on anything related to our activities. Whether that was how to use VR and AR in different ways, the topic of art therapy but also how art can be connected to new innovation. We explored sessions on funding, best practices (especially on digital health innovation)  and how to approach investors.” All essential topics for the Demo Day 31.08.21 where Karis will be pitching their business. 

David also had the opportunity to pitch Karis on stage whilst at 4YFN. “It was a nice experience. You pitched to an audience and to a camera. It made me step out of my comfort zone a little. I felt there were different challenges to pitching online but I enjoyed the experience and embraced it.” 

“We both appreciated interacting with other attendees. Whether startups, which in a way helps us track where our business is in comparison but also companies which we could collaborate with in the future.” Ruben explains. “We are very aware we need contacts for growing our business so we tried to interact with doctors, hospitals, institutions and investors. We even spoke with hospitals with expertise in ADHD. There was excitement there and we have brought that back with us.”

 

David’s takeaway word from 4YFN is ‘hope’. “It’s hope because despite the physical distancing we have all been doing, we are all finding a way to make things happen. There is a startup ecosystem and there are people involved that want to help you and share their knowledge. The most interesting aspect of innovation for me is when different ideas come together and that happens when you can interact with others.” Ruben adds, “It doesn’t matter what kind of business you are, what matters is the problem you are trying to solve. That’s the kind of environment our startup in Germany wants to be in.” 

ALMA holds their first of many international events 

Just last week in Madrid, Spain, ALMA held the first of their international events where they are researching and analysing feedback from attendees. Co-founder Giulia Tomasello shares why having an international focus is important for the development of their platform and their plans for future events around the world.

ALMA is developing a community that captures what it means to live in a female body. A safe and inclusive space where stories can be shared around female intimate care. They use the workshops to analyze different points for front and back end development of their community platform. The team in Berlin then also works on the user journey and user interface developments. 

“It can be difficult to find people to talk about something like female intimacy. We’ve found small groups are best for workshops where people join with intention. At our event in July in Madrid we held contact exercises to create trust and then activities to understand a personal journey through self-care.” 

Giulia explains that they are trying to understand the invisible and invisible taboos of society. “What is hiding us from being who we want to be. Are we trying to fulfil parts of a gender role which are not who we want to be, but what society has made us believe us to be.”

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ALMA is focused on gathering insights from people across the world because they want their community platform to be a place where all female users will not feel alone. “In our sessions we are taking on board suggestions and feedback from what the majority are saying towards female health. It is a place for sharing experiences and that’s powerful. We are already seeing how fear can be overcome when realising we can solve things and try different solutions.”

Having a platform constructed with input from people is important for Giulia and Berlin startup ALMA. “At the moment we are evolving with ALMA Connects Flora which developed from ALMA Meets Flora. We held events internationally for this first stage of research and now we are looking into what it means to deal with society that doesn’t understand the many sides of the female world.” 

ALMA meets FLORA explores how intimate female health is experienced by women* in our society:

ALMA is currently planning for upcoming events in Germany, Italy, Sweden and South America. For those who cannot attend these events, ALMA has also created an online survey for gathering feedback. 

Giulia summarises why international focus is so important for the Berlin based startup. “We want to know how women all over the world feel and how they would react.”