Cluj-based Stressless, developers of TULLY, a wearable emotional monitoring and control device for children diagnosed with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) announced the closing of the first angel funding round of €45,000 from a group of tech angels investors, including Dragos Nicolaescu (founder of Tech Startup School), Niculae Dinca and Emmett King (Co-founder of Transylvania Angels Network, Cluj).
The funding adds to an €75,000 EIT Health – RIS InnoStars grant, in which Stressless collaborates with the Faculty of Psychology of Babeș-Bolyai University from Cluj-Napoca and FreshBlood (the EIT Health RIS hub for Romania), and will be used to further development and large scale testing of the device and for a crowdfunding campaign launch towards the end of the year.
TULLY is a wearable device monitoring physiological indicators, helping children with ADHD and their therapists by providing external input for stress and agitation awareness, and by improving the therapist’s visibility on his patient emotional evolution and therapy efficiency. Hyperactivity in ADHD is linked to intellectual challenge and mental strain and manifests mostly during school lessons. The intellectual challenge increases the children’s stress until an emotional flare episode. This can happen multiple times a day, interrupting classes and leading to the children’s marginalization, with sever effects on their development.
Stressless was founded in 2017 and in the last 3 years the four founders, specialized in Psychology, Strategy and Sales, Electronics, Hardware and Embedded Software Development, went through several product variants, reaching the second version of the fully functional prototype earlier this year.
Dragos Nicolaescu, mentor and lead investor, said: “At a startup that does not yet have a product launched, but only a prototype and some functional tests, the only thing you can evaluate is the quality and seriousness of the founders. And you don’t realize their quality just by watching them at a presentation or a coffee, but by working together”, mentioning the fact that he discovered them last summer, when they sent a pitch deck on the TechAngels website and has been working with them since then.
“Knowing the team for some time, it’s not hard to appreciate the dedication and passion that they invest in helping children, parents and last but not least, doctors who use the TULLY app. In addition, the financing of this startup is an excellent example of communication and inter-organizational support, which brought together various members of the Romanian startup ecosystem, including: Transilvania Angels Network, TechAngels, Cluj Startups, FreshBlood, Babeș-Bolyai University and EIT Health”, mentioned Emmett King, co-founder of Transilvania Angels Network and one of the investors.
“We see now healthtech startups from Cluj and Romania assuming global ambitions and being supported by different ecosystem players. This is a proof that the ecosystem is developing and the connections between the players are strengthening, and we are looking forwards to see the healthtech innovators like the TULLY team having an impact at european and global level”, added Dr. Ion Petrovai, from FreshBlood, the EIT Health RIS hub for Romania, and one of the main catalysts of innovation in healthcare in the region.
