Bayer Accelerates Six New Startups

Friday, August 31, 2018
Startup
News
The company will provide them with offices in Berlin, pharmaceutical executives and industry experts as mentors and EUR 50,000 in funding for each project. The finalists of Bayer’s Grants4Apps (G4A) 2018 Accelerator were presented during the official program’s kick-off on August 30th in Berlin. "Bayer is seeking to apply digital solution across the pharmaceutical value chain in order to detect diseases at an earlier stage, to develop medicines faster, and to deliver individual treatments with a meaningful outcome for patients. In this endeavor, we benefit immensely from collaborations and the exchange of knowledge and skills with innovative startups" said Dieter Weinand, Member of the Board of Management of Bayer AG and head of the Pharmaceuticals Division.
Digital solutions are essential to driving innovation in an evolving healthcare environment.
Six years ago, Bayer started cooperating with startups in the healthcare sector through the G4A program. Cooperation with startups is an integral part of Bayer’s overall digital transformation. The company is driving a Group-wide initiative called “Advancing Digital” to foster innovative solutions in healthcare and agriculture. The startups that have applied are developing digital solutions that cover the entire value chain within healthcare. Also this year, a patient jury was asked to rank startups according to the impact that their solutions would have on patient experience. This year’s winners are:
  • Agamon(Israel, GB): A healthcare intelligence platform that can be used to compile and structure health-related data from various sources in order to derive new information. agamon.io
  • Cyclica(Canada): A cloud platform that aims to use artificial intelligence and biophysics to accelerate drug development. cyclicarx.com
  • KinAptic(USA): An accelerated learning system for VR stroke rehabilitation using electric stimulation that analyzes and detects neural signals to stimulate nerves in stroke patients. kinaptic.com
  • OME(GB): Personalized health coaching that uses extensive data analyses to compile individualized health programs (nutrition, sleep, physical activity) in order to prevent disease. ome.health
  • S-There Technologies(Spain): A smart device that analyzes health data through urine in the toilet and gives patients insights into their health. s-there.com
  • Zencorlabs(Germany): A smartphone software and device that uses artificial intelligence to warn patients of heart failure.
  About G4A G4A is the name under which Bayer combines the Group’s digital-health initiatives. These include the identification of new technologies, business models and market trends, and cooperation with startups. The core of this collaboration is the Accelerator program. Bayer launched G4A in 2013, originally with the aim of promoting app development in healthcare (hence the name Grants4Apps). Today Bayer actively promotes G4A in more than 13 countries worldwide to develop and accelerate new collaborations in digital health.