The virtual apartment invented by BioMinds will help stroke patients recover. Their method based on VR and AR technologies will speed up rehabilitation and increase its effectiveness. In June this year, BioMinds collected an investment round for a total amount of EUR 330k, with a few business angels taking part and Aligo VC leading the round.
The Biominds team is working on a therapeutic platform that uses virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). Their new idea is to develop the platform with the Training Apartment: an environment for simulating everyday activities for patients who recover after a stroke. The system will use Oculus and HoloLens augmented reality glasses and will enable holistic neurological rehabilitation at every stage of recovery.
Our rehabilitation system is primarily a more effective and faster therapy and increases the probability of at least partial return of patients to their social roles before stroke. In the future, the Training Apartment will become part of the BioMinds XR therapeutic platform, providing motor, cognitive and psychological rehabilitation of people after stroke.
Mateusz Kierepka, President of BioMinds
Currently, ADL (Acitivties of Daily Living) therapy is based on performing simple activities. Spending long hours in therapeutic laboratories, patients unscrew bottles, pour liquids or comb their hair. Virtual Training Apartment will allow them to safely exercise more complex activities like such as making tea, cleaning, and watering flowers. This will accelerate patients’ return to independence.
Elżbieta Włodarska, Vice President of BioMinds
Experienced players of Polish MedTech
BioMinds is created, among others, by Mateusz Kierepka, Elżbieta Włodarska and Łukasz Makowski.
Mateusz Kierepka is one of the pioneers of telemedicine solutions and the former president of one of the most important Polish medical start-ups – MedApp, which creates specialized diagnostic software.
Elżbieta Włodarska is the vice-president of BioMinds. She is a psychologist and neuropsychologist with seventeen years of clinical experience in working with adults after stroke and brain injuries, a coordinator of internal training of medical personnel; diagnostician of dementia processes and a member of the Polish Alzheimer’s Society and the Polish Neurological Society.
Łukasz Makowski is an entrepreneur and manager with 20 years of experience, the founder of LookSoft – the oldest Polish company developing mobile software.
From incubation to VC investment
The BioMinds project took its first steps at the Unicorn Hub Starter Platform. After the incubation process, the company obtained funding from PARP and the first investment support from business angels.
Then came the VC investment and business angel support.
The undoubted benefits for patients translate into the great business potential of the BioMinds idea, because according to WHO, as many as 15 million people suffer a stroke every year. Hospitals, rehabilitation centers and therapists need solutions that will enable them to increase the availability of rehabilitation and reduce its costs.
Tomasz Chwiałkowski, Partner at Aligo VC
BioMinds was also supported by business angels. One of them is dr Lech Ignatowicz – a scientist and investor focusing on life science projects and medical innovations. Ignatowicz is a PhD from the Swedish Karolinska Institutet as well as a biotechnologist and microbiologist (University of Warsaw). His involvement in the BioMinds project also includes the development of the company’s operations on the Swedish market.
Paweł Zylm, a business angel, former president of BRE Ubezpieczenia and a finalist of the Business Angel of the Year 2020 competition, is also involved in the project.
Piotr Basista, an expert in the field of physiotherapy and co-founder of the Pelvic Floor Rehabilitation Clinic, has also joined the group of investors supporting BioMinds.
Stroke: the most common cause of disability among adults
Stroke is one of the most serious health problems in the modern world. It is the third most common cause of death in the world and the most common cause of disability in peopleadults. According to the report of the Expert Team of the National Program for the Prevention and Treatment of Cerebral Stroke, 60,000 new strokes are registered annually in Poland. The consequences of a stroke are numerous and widespread, in most cases contributing to permanent disability which leads to a partial or complete loss of independence in everyday life.
There are already studies on the American market that show that training in virtual reality is more effective than conventional therapeutic interventions. Rehabilitation based on this technology not only offers the possibility of physical exercise in clinical conditions, but also creates an excellent environment for home exercises.
Elżbieta Włodarska, Vice President of BioMinds.
.