Adira-health, an app to improve high-risk pregnancy outcomes

Within a year, Mary and Stephanie went through a life changing experience: combining their 21 years of practice in the health industry to transform challenging pregnancy journeys, thus empowering women.

Their common sense of resilience, curiosity, and unconventional way of approaching challenges were coupled with their singular experience. Indeed, Mary’s background in business, engineering and her expertise in translational medicine got leverage by Stephanie’s’ start-up experience: Empowering pregnant women diagnosed with high blood pressure but also those with gestational hypertension, and pre-eclampsia is now possible with this unconventional app called Adira-health. The app not only provides valuable information to women about their condition and symptoms, but it also improved their birthing experience and overall health span. As a result, both mothers and babies benefit from better-quality pregnancy outcomes thanks to Adira-health. ‍

Adira-health improves high-risk pregnancy outcomes‍

Adira-health improves high-risk pregnancy outcomes for women and their babies by facilitating personalized learning about their bodies and conditions. This not only benefits mothers and their families but also has a positive impact on the entire healthcare industry.

Referred by gynaecologists, Adira-health offers data-driven support throughout the early stages of pregnancy and postpartum. It combines aspects of mental wellbeing, physical activity, and health data obtained from various sources, including self-reported hypertensive vitals and other applications.

By using artificial intelligence and providing a personal perinatal coach, Adira-health empowers patients by returning their own data to them. The aim is to promote positive habit changes and enhance women's heart health through research and preventive actions.

Stephanie envisions a world where heart health research for women surpasses that conducted for men. Through Adira-health, she is actively working towards prioritizing and advancing heart health research specifically for women.‍

For what type of pregnancies‍

Adira-health specializes in supporting pregnant women, particularly those with high-risk pregnancies that involve complications during both pregnancy and the postpartum period. One of the most prevalent complications is hypertensive disorders, which continue to be a significant cause of morbidity and mortality for both mothers and babies. As in-clinic visits remain the primary mode of receiving care, pregnancy care is often fragmented, with gynaecologists, midwives, family, and friends providing information that may be repetitive and disjointed. ‍

What differentiates Adira-health from the crowd‍

As we speak, women are screened early in pregnancy through specific blood tests, but they lack continuous information throughout their entire pregnancy and postpartum period to understand how their bodies and health change over time.

In a near future, Adira-health’s founders aspire for the in-person visits to be reduced, making reliable data outside the clinic crucial for both patients and their doctors.

To stay ahead of the changing needs, it is essential to collaborate also with men who are actively involved in addressing high-risk pregnancies and women's health. By joining forces, Adira-health and the ecosystem can create an impactful and supportive health care system together.‍

Global success aligns with teamculture‍

Besides the typical challenges of starting a company, the Adira-health team had the added complexity of being a global team. Building a cohesive and stable team was an ongoing journey and a significant challenge. After all, the quality of management is a major selection criteria for investors according to Speedinvest. Adira-health incorporated this aspect into their strategy: “We learned that it is a people’s business, to be transparent and honest, and share our values with potential supporters/partners and candidates.”

The team persevered to maintain stability, and their efforts were rewarded. In less than a year, Adira-health secured letters of intent as well as a leading research institute as a partner. These collaborations allowed them to engage with 1,000 high-risk pregnancies, a key milestone for validating their pilot program.

It also gave them the opportunity to actively listen to the unique journeys of women, allowing them to reflect on their own experiences. The valuable insights they got from these exchanges enable them to protect others from enduring similar pain and difficulties.‍

Tech4Eva – joining forces ‍

After four months of being part of the current cohort, Adira-health has already grown its network and confidence significantly. Through the support of personal coaching and participation in workshops tailored to meet the needs of start-ups, they have gained a deeper understanding of the health ecosystem. During the remaining part of the program, the team plans to refine their pitch deck and engage with investors as well as grant while preparing a product video to share.

In addition, the international team aims to gain access to OB/GYN clinical data to begin developing their AI model. Research with CSEM - one of the Tech4Eva network partners - will be conducted to identify vital sign parameters. ‍‍

‍Piece of advice to other founders‍

“The start-up life can be a lonely journey - so talk to others before you feel stress, make new friends that can support your new life, and lean into your support system to grow into the leader you want to be. Don’t be afraid to collaborate and co-create with other start-ups that are in the same field and share the same passion. “

- Stephanie Nemec – Cofounder of Adira-health

‍About Adira-health‍

Adira empowers pregnant women suffering from high blood pressure, measuring their vitals, assessing their physical and mental wellbeing to provide real-time, data-informed guidance, through our blended maternity care pathway. They offer peace of mind in the comfort of their own homes through knowledge and education of their own body. They use certified devices to track health data specific to hypertensive pregnancy disorders and passively track wellness data such as step count and activity. With this data, we develop algorithms for early wellness habit changes. We co-create with midwives and care-takers to create sustainable lifestyle changes.‍

About the Founders Mary and Stephanie: Mary brings more than 15 years bridging business and engineering in IT in different leadership roles. She holds an Exec MBA in Business Engineering from the University of St. Gallen and supported one start-up in Switzerland in a co-creation role for one of their product streams. Stephanie is based in San Francisco, California where she completed her Masters in Translational medicine and coordinated an 80-person start-up and filed the fastest FDA submission. She holds a patent from her PhD at UNSW in Sydney, Australia where she supported 3 university spin-outs.

More information here:

Website: https://www.adira-health.com/

Linkedin : https://www.linkedin.com/company/adira-health/?originalSubdomain=ch