Telios Care | Startups&TheCity

Telios Care and Cluj Business Campus to launch the first hybrid clinic in Romania, in Cluj-Napoca

Sebastian Florian — Wed, 25 May 2022 07:46:28 +0000

Vlad Buzoianu, CEO of Cluj Business Campus and Philip Choban, CEO & Founder of Telios Care.

Telios Care, a pioneer in telemedicine in Romania, and Cluj Business Campus announced the opening of the first hybrid clinic in Romania, which combines the services of a normal clinic with telemedicine and homecare visits. The clinic will be opened in an office campus dedicated to both the employees who work and live in the campus and employees residing in Cluj-Napoca and the surrounding areas.

The new medical unit will become the place where patients will have access to full medical care services covering all 23 specialties offered by Telios Care, making Telios the only experienced telemedicine company in Eastern Europe now giving people a ‘real choice’.

The investment in this new project is projected to be between 500.000 and 700.000 euros and covers both the purchase of medical equipment and the overall makeover of the space.

„We are pleased to tell the CBC community that starting this year they will have access to high-quality medical services, delivered in a friendly and innovative way. Philip Choban is a visionary and the Telios Care team has proven to be a benchmark in telemedicine in Romania. We believe that the future of medicine, like the future of work, will have a hybrid component and we are honored that they chose Cluj-Napoca and Cluj Business Campus to bring it to life”, says Vlad Buzoianu, CEO of Cluj Business Campus.

This clinic will also be an additional medical unit for those who have access to Telios Care’s medical services with or without health insurance. Both categories will be able to access the medical services at discounted rates and, of course, receive the same personalized care they now receive using telemedicine. Secondly, the general population also has direct access to the clinic and information on how they can benefit from medical services.

„Telios Care was founded with the sole purpose of making health and wellness services as accessible and affordable as possible through new and emergent technologies, being at the same time a patient-oriented business. Now we can move on to the next level and give people the opportunity to choose how they want to receive healthcare. Telemedicine brings the opportunity to reach people in rural communities and the Telios Care team makes this thing happen every day through its international expertise, professionalism and dedication. In fact, our experience in the field of telemedicine is our main asset.” says Philip Choban, CEO & Founder of Telios Care.

Through this partnership, Cluj Business Campus offers its community high-quality medical services and extends the range of services designed to strengthen the philosophy of „1-minute city” and „work-life blending”, which is an essential concept in the Romanian real estate and office building market. It also consolidates the idea that Cluj Business Campus has been outlining since its inception, the opening of the first hybrid clinic in Romania in an office campus. In addition, it reveals the next step in the Telios Care business, Telios Home Visit, the homecare medical service branch that will start this year in Cluj and in a small number of cities, including Bucharest, during the pilot phase. After this period, the service will be available nationwide.

Through its founding members, Telios Care, a pioneer in telemedicine in Romania, brings over 25 years of experience in the United States of America in the field of distance medical care services.

In 2017, together with the other founding members, Lucian Coșoi, Matt Henry (in the USA) and Dr. Adrian Danciu, Philip Choban laid the foundations of the first dedicated telemedicine service in Romania. In its 5 years of existence, it has offered telemedicine services for the employees of more than 200 companies in Romania, covering over 110,000 employees and 23 medical specialties.

The Telios Care team shares the same vision – access to quality medical services, available anytime, anywhere. An easier doctor’s appointment, a better doctor’s appointment. In support of this vision, it is transforming the way beneficiaries and companies use their time and resources.

Cluj Business Campus (CBC) in Cluj-Napoca is a real estate project that brings the concept of a „1-minute city” to the Romanian office market. Offices, apartments, bistros, a rooftop bar, a gym, a fitness room, a park, a kindergarten, an international school, and a podcasting studio are housed in the 30,000 square meters. Today, the campus has adopted the blending work-life philosophy and is building an environment in which wellbeing and sustainability are the main pillars of everyday life.

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Cluj-based PrimaInvest Capital Management involved in €1,6 mln investment for local tech startups

Sebastian Florian — Mon, 23 May 2022 12:47:08 +0000

Over the past year, Cluj-based PrimaInvest Capital Management, founded by Florin M. Pop, a well-known local investor and business adviser, has been involved in attracting investments worth over €1.6 million for several tech startups targeting local and international markets.

In a time defined by global unpredictability, generated by the pandemic context, supply chain issues and the war in Ukraine, the business and investment environment has undergone many challenges and reconfigurations at strategic and operational levels. Even in this volatile context, PrimaInvest Capital Management continued to strengthen the strategic goals started in 2020.

One of the main objectives followed by the company has been to diversify the investment portfolio by investing in listed companies with growth potential: “The context of high volatility in global equity markets has led to significant withdrawals from the listed growth companies segment and a reorientation towards dividend companies. In my opinion, these declines can create opportunities for investors with long-term strategies. Therefore, in Q2 2022, we resumed purchases on growth companies listed in global markets, mainly in the US: Nyse & Nasdaq. In doing so, we are strengthening our positions on growth companies in several verticals such as Biotech (genome sequencing & therapy), EV & Green Energy, Metaverse, Tech. “, said Florin Pop, Founder of PrimaInvest, Investor, and Business Adviser.

Another strategic direction started by PrimaInvest Capital Management in 2020 and consolidated so far, is the direct involvement in innovative tech startups with scaling potential.

In the last 12 months, PrimaInvest has actively contributed to the local investment market and Angel Investing ecosystem, being involved as Lead Investor and facilitator in several important start-up projects.

One of the most mature startups is Telios Care, a project in which PrimaInvest played an active role as Founding Investor, alongside Emmett King. Together with Emmett, PrimaInvest led the Pre-Seed round attracting significant investment in the company, and later actively contributed to the €1 million Seed Round.

Founded by Philip Choban, Telios Care is a leader in the Romanian telemedicine market, bringing over 25 years of US experience in remote healthcare services to Romania.

“The main challenge for Telios was to penetrate an ecosystem that is almost non-existent in Romania. PrimaInvest, through Florin, helped us understand what opportunities and challenges we were facing. Florin has been with Telios from the very beginning, as Founding Investor and the first member of our Board of Directors. In addition to his expertise, Florin also brings a high level of empathy to collaborations, which is, in my view, the most important quality of a consultant or mentor…not just listening, but feeling.” says Philip Choban, about working with PrimaInvest and Florin Pop.

AiVA is another important tech startup in which PrimaInvest got involved in 2021 as Lead Investor in the Seed round, after also participating in the Pre-seed round in 2020.

Founded by Pushkar Chatterji, AiVA uses artificial intelligence to analyze video streams from CCTV systems, extracting valuable insights about consumer behavior for businesses in retail and not only.

The seed round conducted in Q3 2021 with the involvement of PrimaInvest, brought the Startup an investment of €200,000.

“PrimaInvest, and by extension Florin Pop, has been directly involved in the evolution and growth of AiVA. From regular and structured monthly meetings to unplanned phone calls on any topic, I always found support in Florin when I felt the need for advice and guidance. Florin has helped us in a variety of directions, from corporate structuring and sales strategies to budget planning and fundraising” says Pushkar Chatterji, founder of AiVA, about working with PrimaInvest.

Another tech startup that PrimaInvest is involved in is BOOKR, an innovative online booking app founded in Cluj-Napoca.

Under the guidance of PrimaInvest, BOOKR ran a pre-seed round in the form of a private placement, targeting an investment of €120,000. The round closed successfully at the end of 2021.

PrimaInvest’s investments in high-potential tech projects continued in the first quarter of 2022, when the company was actively involved, along with Robin Good partners, in the Preseed round for StageMe.Live startup.

StageMe.Live is a Romanian-German SaaS start-up that targets online shops, helping them increase sales and customer engagement with brands and products through live streaming video. The pre-seed round was a real success, attracting an investment of €170,000 for the startup.

Furthermore, Primainvest is involved in the launch of Robin Good, a business development project dedicated to startups in Romania, where Florin Pop is co-founder, along with Sandu Băbășan and Alin Laurențiu.

In addition to investing in tech startups with high scale-up potential, PrimaInvest has focused on strengthening the team by bringing in valuable collaborators with expertise, know-how and network, including Cristian Varga, specialized in investment and portfolio management, Cristiana Bogățeanu on Pitch Deck Training and Smaranda Ignat for startup advisory.

Beyond the investment company’s independent actions, PrimaInvest has developed collaborations and partnerships with communities dedicated to local investors and startups. These include Transylvania Angels Network (TAN), Growceanu, Cl u jHub, CS Inno Hub and ClujStartups.

For PrimaInvest, the last 12 months have meant evolution, consolidation, and the setting of new directions meant to have a high impact on the Romanian business and investment ecosystem. The next period is dedicated to the implementation of specific actions in the established directions.

In addition to those described above, PrimaInvest also holds stakes in other projects, including ThinkOut, Nifty Learning, Cartloop, Easy Sales, Cyscale, SanoPasso, Deveo Media, which are currently getting ready for investment rounds or scaling up.

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Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Established in 2021 in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, BOOKR is the first online booking service offering a 3D virtual tour of the… Read More

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Cluj-Napoca, Romania

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Cluj ecosystem steps up to finance a local startup, with Fortech, a Cluj-based software company, being the lead investor in Telios Care new round of €700,000

Sebastian Florian — Mon, 05 Jul 2021 12:10:05 +0000

Cluj-based Telios Care, one of the leading providers of telemedicine services in Romania, raised a new financing worth €700,000, having Fortech, a local software company, as lead investor. With an investment of €400,000, Fortech becomes the largest investor in Telios Care, with a 9% stake.

With this new financing round, current investors also increased their stakes, investing €180,000 in Telios Care. At the same time, the company managed to raise another €120,000 from new investors.

This round also marks the official launch of Fortech Investments, the investment division of Fortech Group, which will manage the company’s investment, acquisition, and partnership strategy.

“At Fortech, we’ve been great supporters of the development and disruption of the healthcare industry through our software development services. Contributing to Telios’ mission through funding is a natural next step we are taking towards a deeper involvement into the products that shape the world. Telemedicine is an important field for healthcare innovation, especially in Romania and CEE. As we followed the evolution of Telios, we believe now is the moment to partner up and support their growth, especially when looking at the team Philip has built and their plan to break ground in this up-and-coming field”, says Valentin Filip, Managing Director Product Investments, Fortech.

“Transforming healthcare takes a diverse team with a common goal. From the beginning, Telios Care has strived to bring whole-person care to every Romanian in the comfort of their own environment. We are helping people resolve their healthcare needs with confidence and simplicity. Helping us reach this goal has been the support of our investors, which has grown in size and strategic assistance. Now, with the help of one of the leading technology companies in Cluj, Fortech; through their investment division, Fortech Investments, Telios Care now strives toward the next steps of simplifying healthcare delivery in the CEE region. Partnerships developed with Transylvania Angels Network, Growceanu, and Tech Angels are what makes this Fortech collaboration so special for us; people taking care of other people”, says Philip Choban, CEO Telios Care.

Telios Care is currently a stock structure composed of both founders and investors, including investors from Transylvania Angels Network, Growceanu Angel Investment and Tech Angels, the three organizations being actively involved in raising the new funding and in supporting the healthcare industry and the digitization process.

“Transylvania Angels Network was glad to support Telios in this round from the beginning and in the last year, with two T.A.N. members also being founding investors at Telios. B2B telemedicine is an area with solid potential in Eastern Europe, as proven in other markets. The pandemic gave a boost to it as people see much better its value and benefits. We appreciate the solid growth in usage and clients, the maturity of the management team, and the future perspectives for partnering and expansion. Thus, it was a simple decision to contribute again to this round, as it became one of the biggest angel-led rounds in Romania”, says Mircea Vădan, Founding Board Member and Investor, Transylvania Angels Network.

From the new position, Fortech will be an active member of the Advisory Board, both in terms of business and technical areas, taking part in the development strategy of Telios in the next period.

Following the new funding, Telios Care will accelerate the development plans, both in Romania and in the region. The company aims to improve patient access to quality medical services by introducing faster medical devices on the market, adding new services on the platform that even offers the possibility of home visits, and by increasing the number of complex conditions treated through telemedicine.

For the current year, Telios Care expects a 100% increase in the use of its services as more patients turn to telemedicine as the first option in many cases.

Telios Care saw a 10-fold increase last year in the number of users of telemedicine services, with more than 100,000 beneficiaries across the country. For 2021, the company estimates a doubling in the number of patients by including Telios services in insurance products and medical subscriptions and direct sales to companies.

Following this new investment, Telios Care is valued at approximately €6.3 million.

Founded in 2017, Telios Care is currently in the third round of funding. The first of them took place in 2018 and provided funding of €150,000, money used to develop the platform, improve the software and systems used. The second round of financing ended at the end of 2020, after raising €200,000, an investment that also ensured the launch, for the first time in the Romanian health system, of the American model of “prescription fulfillment” – digital prescriptions sent by doctors, following all safety protocols, directly to the pharmacies indicated by patients.

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Cluj-based Telios’ CEO recognized as one of the Top 20 Innovators in Telemedicine in 2020

Sebastian Florian — Wed, 14 Oct 2020 06:45:22 +0000

Photo: Diana Campian / Startups&TheCity

Cluj-based Telios’ CEO and co-founder Philip Choban was recently recognized as one of the Top 20 Innovators in Telemedicine in 2020 by Technology Innovators for bringing digital healthcare to Eastern Europe without boundaries or borders. The Top 20 Innovators in Telemedicine’s objective is to provide information on the current developments in the telemedicine market, giving an insight on the experiences of leaders and experts in the telemedicine industry.

Philip Choban’s grandparents were born in Romania and immigrated to America in 1898. Philip returned to Romania after the fall of the communist regime. His Romanian born wife Carmen, fell gravely ill and it necessitated a permanent move. Philip was in need of constant medical help and guidance. With a condition making his wife difficult to leave the home, Philip found himself in a situation where he couldn’t find a doctor to answer his questions.

“Luckily, our medical director is one of my closest and oldest friends here. He’s a doctor and he helped me out. I could call him up and he would get things done for me so I started to think: what does the common person do when they don’t have these types of connections and that’s when we began.”, remembers Philip on how his journey to develop much-needed telemedicine services in Romania started.

After Carmen’s death in 2015 and since he was already involved in telemedicine in the United States, Philip decided to start a telemedicine company in Cluj, along with his co-founders, Lucian Cosoi, Matt Henry (in the USA) and Dr. Adrian Danciu. During this time, he sought to develop a market, because a market for professional telemedicine didn’t exist in Romania.

In a very short time their service attracted some of the biggest insurance companies as strategic partners, gained big corporate customers, and significantly increased their call volume. Telios is currently developing special applications that will be used specifically for their ‘Telemedicine First’ campaign.

“Fortunately and unfortunately the COVID-19 period has been a boom for telehealth and telemedicine.”, declared Philip in an interview for Technology Innovators. “The awareness of telemedicine has moved forward ten years in the last six months because of the pandemic. Medicare and Medicaid are now covering telehealth appointments. This would not have happened as quickly were it not for COVID-19. Ten years from now, telemedicine will be in the mainstream and as common as going to Urgent Care or ER but with a fraction of the costs involved”, envisions Philip. You can read the full interview on Technology Innovators, here.

At the beginning of 2020, Telios closed an investment round of $ 200,000. The funding received is currently being used for expanding awareness of telemedicine in Romania, strengthening the market position, increasing the medical staff and enhancing the abilities of the platform. A new investment round is planned before an offering of an IPO.

In partnership with VISION2020, an NGO providing support to the disadvantaged communities in Romania, Telios has started to provide primary health and wellness services. Together, they are providing telemedicine services at the push of a button, or the sound of the voice. Their first official CSR project is with Casa Ioana, a home for displaced women and their families.

Telios is now looking to expand its services to more countries in Eastern Europe, all the while keeping up with its commitments to make telemedicine available to more people in disadvantaged communities.

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Telios, one of the pioneers of Romanian telemedicine, closes an investment round of $ 200,000

Sebastian Florian — Fri, 08 May 2020 07:33:19 +0000

Photo: Diana Campian / Startups&TheCity

Telios, one of the pioneers of telemedicine in Romania, announced today it has closed an investment round of $ 200,000, including follow-on participation from existing investors. This 2nd round has been syndicated by Transylvania Angels Network in Cluj-Napoca, with involvement from other angel networks including Growceanu in Timisoara and TechAngels Romania in Bucharest, through Smart Impact Capital, a new established micro VC firm founded by Matei Dumitrescu, the vice-president of TechAngels Romania. Importantly, this is the first time that 3 of the largest angel networks in Romania are joining forces in a common investment. Them together with Spherik Accelerator’s investment fund and 2 foreign investors: an investment fund from Netherlands and a private investor from Belgium;

Telios services are covering a large and very diverse number of patients, from white-collar managers to blue-collar workers, who all need protection from COVID-19 and healthcare services delivered remotely in order to keep the economy going during the current crisis. The funding received will be used for expanding awareness of telemedicine in Romania, strengthening the market position, increasing the medical staff and enhancing the abilities of the platform.

”We are serving both corporate managers who have to work from home, and truck drivers or warehouse workers who need health advice while they are on the road or in difficult, hard to reach locations. We have by far the largest socio-economic footprint in Romanian telemedicine, which puts us in a very good position to have a strong contribution to healthcare during COVID-19 crisis. More companies and insurers, such as Asirom at the end of March, opt for Telios Care as their main healthcare and telemedicine provider, states Philip Choban, Telios’ CEO and Co-founder.

By using Telios, private companies and insurers can provide employees and insured patients, together with their families, 24/7 access to leading-edge telemedicine services provided by a dedicated team of doctors and nurses. Instead of waiting for days for a traditional doctor’s visit, patients can now jump into a doctor’s visit by phone or online with the most suitable specialist for their healthcare needs within minutes without being exposed to contact with other patients.

“I’ve been impressed by the work ethic over the past two years by the entire Telios team; medical, technical and sales. They continue to focus on quality healthcare services for all clients. I’m proud of Telios’ strong commitment to philanthropy, including providing their services to some of the underserved and underprivileged Romanians, including the blind and wounded veterans.”, commented Emmett King, Co-Founder of Transylvania Angels Network and Founding Investor of Telios.

“I am glad to be part of Telios and to contribute as an investor and advisor in both investment rounds. It was a challenging opportunity for me to contribute to this project, together with valuable founders and stakeholders, in order to build something innovative and very necessary in our healthcare environment. Being a pioneer in our market Telios brings through its founders, a wealth of American experience in the field of telehealth. Teaching our local healthcare system how to benefit from reducing visits to clinics, as well as other benefits; saving time and costs for people and companies, and introducing an important new service of obtaining second opinions. All these provide a good foundation for a high growth in the coming months and years.”, added Florin Pop, Transylvania Angels Network’s Lead Investor and Founding Investor of Telios.

“I founded Smart Impact Capital specifically to help impactful startups such as Telios. We are not only investors, we are a group of people with extensive experience in business, acceleration and financing, committed to growing the companies in our portfolio. Building the gap between startups and investors, and building the capacity of startups to execute the business and to raise funding was one of my main focuses throughout my career as investor and, at the same time, as acceleration expert”, said Matei Dumitrescu, founder of Smart Impact Capital & Vice President TechAngels Romania.

“We’re excited to be involved in supporting Telios as it aligns with our long-term strategy to become an innovation platform. Spherik’s mission is to support innovation in key domains, while investing in startups, making growth resources available for them and helping them connect to the relevant stakeholders. It’s an honor to have our first investment made towards such a promising player on the international ehealth market as Telios.”, said Paul Brie, President, Spherik.

“We at Growceanu couldn’t pass up the opportunity to support Telios on its forward-looking innovative path by bringing in our business angels and their experience, expertise, and extensive network. Beyond the current crisis, this company contributes to the general development and continuing professionalisation of the medical sector in Romania and beyond, connecting patients and expert advice very effectively. The spirit of connection is what has also driven this investment deal and I’m happy to be involved together with our ecosystem partners from across the country.”, said Ciprian Man, Growceanu Angel Investment co-founder.

“I’m glad to see this step forward for Telios! With the contribution of 15+ angel investors from 4 investment organisations it is an example that we can communicate and share opportunities together. Based on the efforts of the founding team, Telios is in the right position to help now during the crisis and benefit of the telemedicine wave that grows now.”, added Mircea Vadan, founder of Cluj Startups and board member of Spherik.

Telemedicine holds the answer to many of the long-term problems in the Romanian healthcare system. A survey released at the beginning of 2020, covering 10,000 people in 8 cities in Romania, showed that an astounding 85% of people who need medical assistance will usually postpone their doctor visit or cancel it altogether. This exposes millions of Romanians to substantial health risks, missed workdays, and a lower quality of life. It also directly affects companies’ productivity and bottom-line, because so many people miss work for reasons that can be avoided with an early doctor visit.

About Telios

Telios launched in August of 2018, after two years of developing the platform. In a very short time their service attracted some of the biggest insurance companies as strategic partners, gained big corporate customers, and significantly increased their call volume. Telios is currently developing an AI powered app for self-diagnosis which they plan to launch soon. Telios is looking to expand its services to more countries in Eastern Europe, all the while keeping up with its commitments to make telemedicine available to more people in disadvantaged communities.

About Transylvania Angels Network

Transylvania Angels Network is an initiative for bringing together business people interested in angel investing and mentoring tech startups. As a network they are focused on connecting people with the desire to learn from each other while assisting to grow and mature the local startup environment. This assistance includes getting personally involved by investing in and/or mentoring startups and their team members.

T.A.N. was created in 2018 as a new branch of Cluj Startups, a non-profit organization working with young entrepreneurs since 2012. Their mission is to support the growth of and investment in the Romanian startup ecosystem and entrepreneurial experience.

About TechAngels Romania

TechAngels was founded in 2013 with the aim of becoming a common meeting point between tech startups and investors. The group has two main objectives: educate and support young entrepreneurs throughout investments, access to the accelerations programs and many other resources necessary for developing their own business and to encourage the potential angel investors to take the first steps in this field.

About Smart Impact Capital

Smart Impact Capital is a new established micro VC firm founded by Matei Dumitrescu, the vice-president of TechAngels Romania. The group comprises 50% techangels and 50% various business experts.

About Growceanu

Growceanu Angel Investment is a group of business angels, active primarily in high-tech areas, who contribute money, professional, and business expertise, as well as personal connections, to the development of high potential (tech) startups.

About Spherik

Spherik is an NGO founded in 2013 to advance tech entrepreneurship in Romania as an essential step towards accelerating innovation. Through our national and European acceleration programs they match startups with strategic resources and support their growth at a global scale. At the same time, as Startup Europe Ambassador, Spherik exerts a strong position within the policy-making process both at national and European level.

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Romanian startups are joining forces to fight the crisis generated by the COVID-19 pandemic

Sebastian Florian — Tue, 17 Mar 2020 16:20:16 +0000

One of the Romanian startups joining the fight against COVID-19 is XVision, which uses AI algorithms to analyze lung X-rays and to speed up the diagnostic process.

Romanian startups are joining forces to provide solutions to the crisis generated by the COVID-19 pandemic, in a new initiative launched by Techcelerator acceleration program, called Tech Startups United. The initiative is gathering startups able to provide solutions to mitigate the effects of this crisis to the medical and financial systems and to companies and SMEs that need support in order to continue their economic activity during this period, as well as other institutions in search of digital solutions.

The list of enrolled startups will also be submitted to the authorities and can be publicly consulted by any organization seeking technology-based solutions to overcome this critical period. Startups wishing to join this initiative can register here.

“With this initiative we want to support, on one hand, the professionals in the front line in the fight against this pandemic, contributing with suggestions of tech solutions to make their work easier and of which will benefit implicitly those affected by it. Equally important is to support small businesses so that they do not get into the situation of downsizing their activity massively; therefore, we are looking for digital solutions that they can implement quickly to ensure the continuity of their operations. Startups have the great advantage of being able to quickly spinoff their solutions so they can be implemented by business segments related to those they initially targeted. The flexibility that they demonstrate, in this context, has to do with a sense of responsibility and of real value offered to the ecosystem whose active members they are,” said Cristian Dascălu, GapMinder VC partner and Techcelerator Co-Founder.

The first startup included in the list, which offered its services pro bono, is XVision. The Techcelerator alumnus, which uses AI algorithms to analyze lung X-rays, could speed up COVID-19 diagnostic process as it successfully assists radiologists. Among the pathologies identified by XVision are those directly related to pneumonia, a pathology that is also caused by coronavirus.

The list also includes other startups that have interacted with Techcelerator’s program and team in the past, such as Medicai, Ialoc, Frisbo, MediJobs, VoxiKids, Telios and CityHealth by Life is Hard.

Medicai is a medical imaging platform designed for chronic patients and their doctors. It offers online collaboration capabilities for multidisciplinary teams and implicitly offers clinicians the ability to transfer many of their activities into the digital environment. Processes such as triage, prioritizing patients, referrals to other clinics / specialties or monitoring can be done directly on the platform and more efficiently. During this period, it is even recommended that patients with chronic illnesses to not expose themselves to the contact with other people, if possible, as they are currently the most vulnerable category.

Ialoc, a reservations management solution, has launched a special Gift Card to support SMEs, such as restaurants and cafes, by encouraging regular customers to buy vouchers and use them after these venues are reopened. Thus, they ensure a certain continuity for small businesses which do not have digital goods and which depend on the physical presence of the customer in the respective restaurants or cafes.

Frisbo, an intelligent e-fulfillment platform, in collaboration with its e-commerce partners, launches a project to digitize the most affected areas of the Romanian economy, starting with physical stores, which will have to adapt quickly to online sales in order to ensure their survival given the reduction or ceasing of offline sales.

As for online specialized support, VoxiKids connects speech therapists and children through an application that offers special exercises to improve listening and pronunciation.

MediJobs, the largest online medical recruitment platform in Romania, has launched a hotline for faster enrollment of specialized staff.

Telios, a tele-medicine platform, offers online medical advice with the support of specialized doctors.

LIFE IS HARD company from Cluj-Napoca, specialized in software solutions development, offers free of charge the CityHealth application to local administrations throughout the country, which allows communication and remote interactions to solve problems that Romanian citizens may have during the COVID-19 pandemic. The application can help citizens be connected online with the local authorities and notify their issues without the need to go to the public offices or call.

Details about the listed startups are available here. The list will continue to be updated constantly.

Techcelerator is an acceleration program targeting Romanian technology startups. Headquartered in Bucharest and Cluj-Napoca, two important centers of Romanian innovation, Techcelerator is the first accelerator in Romania to allocate funds for the development of companies in the (pre)acceleration phase. Thanks to the strategic partnership with GapMinder Venture Partners, are targeted for acceleration and investments young innovative companies with high potential for international development and expansion in growing industries such as: software, cyber security, artificial intelligence, digital transformation, IT solutions for health, FinTech and others.

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Cluj startup ecosystem: €3 Million raised in 2019. Most promising Cluj startups & initiatives in 2020.

Sebastian Florian — Mon, 06 Jan 2020 12:23:53 +0000

Light artwork showcased at Cluj Tech Society – “The Tunnel” powered by Lights On Romania. Photo: Gabriel Aldea / Komiti.media

An estimated €3 Million were reportedly invested in Cluj-based startups in 2019, with fintech and e-commerce leading the way. Riding on a wave of good PR, great vibe and lots of initiatives being launched in support of the ecosystem, 2020 announces itself to be the best year so far for Cluj startups and the regional innovation ecosystem.

For Cluj startup ecosystem, 2019 was a year of growing awareness and collaboration. The Startup Europe Summit organized in Cluj by the European Commission and the City Hall in March, boosted the ecosystem, enabling communication between different organizations, which translated in a much better vibe in the ecosystem in terms of startups and innovation in the months that followed. The ecosystem witnessed a growing appetite from angel investors, more deep tech startups appearing and corporates starting to collaborate with startups.

2019 saw involvement from other actors in the startup ecosystem, including the Cluj-Napoca City Hall which stepped up to support the ecosystem. More tech-focused organizations begun startup activities, and companies in general saw the value in working with startups. Besides the Startup Europe Summit in March, the ecosystem was boosted by a lot of startup related events and conferences, most notable: Techsylvania, Cluj Innovation Days, IT Days, Cluj Tech Society, Transylvanian Clusters International Conference and Codecamp.

Investment deals in the Cluj startup ecosystem in 2019

2019 witnessed a major increase in number and value of funding deals in Cluj-based startups, with an estimated over €3M in total.

AlphaBlock an AI company that builds investment management solutions for pension funds, family offices, and hedge funds, has raised an estimated €1.3 million from Real Ventures, a Canadian early-stage venture capital firm. AlphaBlock has offices both in Cluj and Toronto.

Blugento’s e-commerce solutions platform received funding of €1 million from R22, a Polish IT group, with the aim to expand in central Europe. Blugento grew its revenue almost 10 times in just 3 years and it was valued at almost €4 million in this transaction of 31% equity stake.

Beez has received an investment round of €250K from GapMinder Venture Partners and Roca X, along with a private investor. The total amount attracted by the startup has reached €450K so far. With the help of this financing, Beez is currently expanding into the UK.

Finqware is preparing to launch on the European bank aggregation market, received a seed investment of €180K from GapMinder Venture Partners. It is the company’s first round of external financing after being set up in 2018. Finqware is planning to become the market leader for Open Banking in Europe in the coming years.

Telios, the pioneer of telemedicine in Romania, raised €200K in 2019, an investment round led by angels of the Transylvania Angels Network and previous investors.

Neurolabs builds object recognition algorithms by using synthetic data alone. This allows a faster, cheaper and cost effective solutions. In 2019, they raised an estimated €200K in grants and convertibles. Their long term plan is to achieve superhuman accuracy level in object recognition.

Cyscale, a cybersecurity platform, received a pre-seed investment of €50K from GapMinder Venture Partners as part of the third round of Techcelerator acceleration program.

Startup exits in 2019

Unloq, focused on multi-factor authentication, announced its acquisition by iWelcome, worldwide product leader in identity & access management for B2C and B2B scenarios, for an undisclosed sum.

Cluj most promising startups in 2020

Beez is currently expanding into UK, has already concluded partnerships with over 2,000 stores active in the UK, and is currently in discussions to attract new funds from British investors. Beez is set to disrupt the way people are buying online or in brick-and-mortar shops.

Blugento is currently expanding on several European markets, the first being Poland and France. They also laid the foundation of the first commercial agreement to support online stores in Romania in selling their products in Poland, an eCommerce market about 4 times larger than the local one.

teleportHQ launched the beta version of their AI-powered platform for automated generation of front-end code and design at the end of 2019. teleportHQ has now discussions and is doing prototypes with several leaders in the banking industry, the automotive industry, and several other industries.

Telios, the first company to offer telemedicine service in Romania, had a breakthrough year in 2019. After two years of developing their platform, they launched their service at the start of the year. Telios is currently developing an AI powered app for self diagnosis which they plan to launch soon. They also plan to expand into Hungary, Poland and Greece in 2020.

Neurolabs offers a comprehensive solution to the issues of the current point of sale service in a high traffic foodservice environment. In 2019, they won the “Best Innovation Startup” award at How to Web, Bucharest. Their vision is to be the go-to company when it comes to product recognition. Neurolabs wants to reach 3,700 implementations in cafes, restaurants and canteens by 2022.

Finqware plans to launch in 2020 the first implementations of their innovative Open Banking solutions, making the financial life of consumers and companies easier. Romanian banks will be the first to benefit from Finqware solutions, with a regional expansion to follow in Hungary, Poland and Croatia. Finqware aims to be the infrastructure of choice for banks and fintechs in Central and Eastern Europe.

MIRA Rehab, focused on rehabilitation games, is the most impactful healthcare Cluj-based startup so far. They have been recognized by the National Health Service in the UK, which positioned and promoted Mira Rehab as one of their used innovations.

WakeZ is an app for smartphones and mainstream wearables, which improves the quality of sleep using vibrations. They provide “sleep as a service”, as long as you have a phone and a smartwatch. WakeZ was awarded “Best Product” during Innovation Labs 2018 edition.

Cyscale is the first Romanian Cloud Cybersecurity company that provides dedicated Cloud Cybersecurity Services and works on Cloud Security products.

Mockless creates code-less API prototypes. In 2019, they won “Best Cluj Startup” award at IT Days 2019.

Trainsfer is a web-based platform for AI models creation, with an intuitive UI for leveraging state of the art machine learning using your own data in your custom app use-cases.

Most promising local initiatives supporting Cluj startups in 2020

Transilvania Digital Innovation Hub (TDIH) is a new structure created by the Transylvania Cluster Consortium, with the mission to support digital transformation for small and medium sized enterprises from the non-IT sectors, and for the public administration. Coordinated by Transilvania IT Cluster, TDIH is currently supporting the ecosystem on 3 topics: Robotics (within the DIH² project funded by Horizon 2020), eHealth (coordinated by FreshBlood, the local healthcare innovation catalyst/community) and Digital City / Smart City (delivering expertise for digital transformation of different public bodies in Romania).

In 2020 the TDIH initiative will expand to the nearby cities of Oradea and Baia Mare. The project aims to share expertise, resources, and empower communities in those cities to develop on their own model and their own assets.

“We truly believe that we will be able to develop more and to create more synergies on the regional level if we can succeed to give something back from our experience to the cities in northwest Transylvania.”, says Bianca Muntean, Cluster Manager at Transilvania IT Cluster about the planned TDIH expansion in the region.

StartupCities Europe is an initiative of the European Commision meant to encourage partnerships between cities from the European Union. Within this framework, Transilvania IT Cluster and Cluj municipality is piloting a project aimed to connect Cluj startup ecosystem with the one in Varna, Bulgaria, on verticals like AI and eHealth. The first phase of the project, a Youth Innovation Camp, is supposed to take place in the spring of 2020 in Cluj.

IoT Tribe Space Endeavour is an international two-year program related to promising space technologies, offering startups, scaleups and entrepreneurs space-tech enabled business opportunities, accelerated growth and access to funding. The program will be launched in Cluj with the support of Cluj IT Cluster, in January 2020. Besides a series of activities that will happen across important space and tech hubs such as Madrid, Aix-en-Provence, Bucharest and Cluj, selected startups will have the opportunity to join a global accelerator active in London and Singapore, for a complex 6 months program.

“The ultimate ambition is to bring IoT Tribe to Cluj, a true global accelerator, to consolidate our community’s efforts to emerge as an international startup hub.”, says Andrei Kelemen, Executive Director, Cluj IT Cluster.

Cluj Future of Work is a project funded by the European Commission meant to prepare the local community for the changes that the next 20 years will bring to the labor market. In 2020, the project is expected to have an important impact in the ecosystem by stimulating entrepreneurship, especially in the field of cultural and creative industries.

“The beginning of 2020 will be the time when, together with the project partners and based on the needs that resulted from these researches, we will develop the first program dedicated to entrepreneurs from the cultural and creative industries.”, announced Anamaria Vrabie, director of the Urban Innovation Division within the Center Cultural Clujean and co-manager of the project.

FreshBlood is seen by most of the key players in the local ecosystem as the main catalyst for healthcare innovation in Cluj. FreshBlood is also the hub of EIT Health in Romania, and in May 2019 has become connected to the European Connected Health Alliance, a European network of ecosystems, forming the regional network Transylvania Digital Health Ecosystem.

In 2020 FreshBlood is committed to map the whole healthcare startup ecosystem in the region, and provide the resources that startups need. FreshBlood will provide startups within areas like strength of the teams, business approach (think beyond, regional and national level), faster maturity, and preparation for the investment (relying on collaboration with the ecosystems outside of Romania, like Israel, France or Denmark).

“We will announce the specifics early in 2020, we are talking about a project that will be will be situated at the intersection between universities, hospitals, investors and companies.”, said Ion Petrovai, FreshBlood co-founder.

Main pre-acceleration programs in Cluj

Startup Weekend Cluj has contributed over the years to the definition and development of the local startups’ ecosystem. The first Startup Weekend Cluj edition happened in 2012, being one of the first events dedicated to startups in Cluj. Between 13th-15th of March 2020 people working in the most diverse fields such as IT, marketing, business, design and many more, will have the opportunity to learn from experienced mentors. The event will be followed by a series of workshops focused on idea validation opened to people interested to test their startup idea.

“In less than 54 hours the participants have the opportunity to learn at an accelerated pace the first most important steps in developing a business: validating an idea, building a prototype, or an MVP, as well as defining a business model. In addition to that, a selection of mentors and trainers – experts in the industries they operate, are present throughout the weekend to provide participants with real-time guidance and feedback.”, says Cristina Juc, organizer of Startup Weekend Cluj.

Digital Incubator by ClujHub it’s a program which started in 2016, in the old location of the hub together with Tetapolis, and it’s coming back in 2020. The program is meant to support startup in their pre-acceleration or incubation phase, offering them space, mentoring and business support.

The Digital Incubator will offer a venue where entrepreneurs can perfect their pitching skills, solving their problem-solution fit. The mentors will help them to work on their long term vision and strategy. It will be a program with three or four editions per year, targeting youngsters from 20-25 plus years up.

Machine learning bootcamp by Google Launchpad it’s an initiative brought to Cluj by Techcelerator, targeting AI / machine learning companies looking to grow. Google it’s looking to support these type of companies through a mixed process of design thinking combined with the discovery of opportunities in what the power of machine learning is and where machine learning could bring a lot of value.

Innovation Labs is a pre-acceleration program for young people eager to make the first steps in tech entrepreneurship. Each year up to 60 teams work from March to May alongside mentors, to improve their design, captivate users, develop & test their prototype into an MVP. In May, Demo Day brings the best teams into spotlight to gain outreach, traction and continued support from our network of alumni and business connections.

Startup incubators & acceleration programs in Cluj

Techcelerator vision is to reposition Romania on the world map of leading innovative startups that will reshape the world of tomorrow and offer a higher quality of life. With programs in Bucharest and Cluj-Napoca, Techcelerator is the first accelerator in Romania which allocates funds for the development of the companies in the (pre)acceleration phase. In 2019, Central European Startups Awards awarded Techcelerator “Best Accelerator at CES Awards”.

“In 2020 we will continue collaboration with TechAngels Romania, trying to bring more investments together. We will also create more international exposure activities for our portfolio companies, in order to take them into international markets and to support their commercial scale up. Techcelerator will develop new programs, more specific on different topics and with different partners.”, said Cristian Dascalu, co-founder Techcelerator and Partner GapMinder Venture Partners.

Spherik Accelerator was the first accelerator launched in Romania, with a mission to connect startups with strategic resources and support the growth of the local ecosystem. Developed by KPMG Romania in partnership with Spherik Accelerator, KPMG Startup Grow Pad is looking for startups that need assistance to find the right resources and finance they need to develop and grow.

Tech’n Trade is a good example of corporate and startups collaboration. Metro Systems launched Tech’n Trade concept in Cluj in 2019, comprised of an incubator meant to help young entrepreneurs and talented teams to create and launch their startup in retail.

Other organizations supporting the Cluj startup ecosystem

Cluj Startups mission is to support and facilitate the growth of the startup ecosystem in Cluj by organising events and workshops, connecting startups with resources and supporting the tech conferences and startup programs. It counts several thousand people in the community and is in touch with most startups in the region.

ClujHub organized hundreds of event dedicated to entrepreneurship and startups in the past years. Besides offering coworking spaces right in the center of Cluj, it acts as a bridge between entrepreneurs, creating networking and communication between them.

Silicon Forest is a technology hub and coworking space, now offering workspaces for startups and freelancers in two different locations in the city.

Transylvania Angel Network is a new initiative bringing together business people interested in angel investing and mentoring tech startups. In 2020, they plan to organize regular matching meetups between investors and startups.

Innovating Society will start a new series of events called “Fireside chats”. During these events, a limited number of participants will be accepted to discuss future trends and what is their impact on business. In addition, Innovating Society will continue with their “Problem Solvers” meetups, where compared to the “Fireside chats”, there will be one speaker sharing insights in topics such as innovation and entrepreneurship.

Mircea Vadan, Cluj Startups co-founder, sees the ecosystem growing strong in 2020, with foreign capital and founders moving towards Cluj: “Cluj is in a good vibe now more than ever. Venture capital funds, startup founders and corporates have Cluj on the map. But we need to deliver to the expectations created! There are around 50 organizations active in the startup area and I believe in the next six months there will be stronger communication between them and a sort of alignment in vision on growth and local innovation support.”

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Telios, the pioneer of telemedicine in Romania: from a non-existent market to call lines getting hot

Sebastian Florian — Mon, 09 Dec 2019 08:07:36 +0000

Telios’s founders, Philip Choban and Lucian Cosoi. Photo: Diana Campian / Startups&TheCity

Telios, the pioneer of telemedicine in Romania, had a breakthrough year in 2019. After two years of developing their platform, they launched their service at the start of this year and in a very short time their service attracted some of the biggest insurance companies as strategic partners, gained big corporate customers, and significantly increased their call volume. Telios is currently developing an AI powered app for self diagnosis which they plan to launch soon. They also work on CSR projects, one for the blind and one for the people in the villages, and they plan to expand next year into Hungary, Poland and Greece. Their customer base now varies from corporate employees and five star hotel guests to truck drivers.

Telios’ CEO and co-founder is Philip Choban, whose grandparents were born in Romania and immigrated to America in 1898. Philip returned to Romania after the fall of the communist regime. While living in Romania his wife, Carmen, fell gravely ill and was in need of constant medical help and guidance. With a condition making his wife difficult to leave the home, Philip found himself in a situation where he couldn’t find a doctor to answer his questions.

“Luckily, our medical director is one of my closest and oldest friends here. He’s a doctor and he helped me out. I could call him up and he would get things done for for me so I started to think: what does the common person do when they don’t have these types of connections and that’s when we began.”, remembers Philip.

Since he was already involved in telemedicine in the United States, Philip decided to start a telemedicine company in Cl u j, in 2017 along with his co-founders, Lucian Cosoi, Matt Henry (in the USA) and Dr. Adrian Danciu. During this time, he sought to develop a market, because a market for telemedicine didn’t exist in Romania.

“It’s been an experience of educating people and making people aware about the benefits”

Telemedicine began to evolve in the States in the 1960s, with NASA using it in space, but it didn’t really begin to commercialize until the late 80s. Telemedicine in the States has evolved and now it’s a $30 billion business, with the biggest player now having over 30 million clients.

Using telemedicine, employers, employees, families and providers can save time and money by having 24/7 access to a doctor by phone or online, anytime and anywhere. Telios’s highly qualified physician and health professional team can provide a diagnosis as well as suggest treatment options.

Photo: Diana Campian / Startups&TheCity

“Alongside the live interactions, secure email messaging to our entire medical team is available through our secure online portal. Have a quick question? – just send it to the medical team through the online portal and you will always get a personal, confidential, and professional response within 24 hours.”, details Philip.

Launching the service at the beginning of 2019 was perfect for Telios, their pipeline is now full with calls, they signed partnerships with important insurance names, and attracted big corporate customers. Some of the strategic partners include MedNet Greece, a Munich Re company, the largest reinsurance company in Europe, and SanoPass, the first company in Romania to provide a subscription based service for private clinics. Telios is the ‘first stop’ in their process should the customer wish a telephone consult prior to making an appointment with a physician.

Telios is currently incorporating, in partnership with MedNet Greece, an AI powered app through which people will be able to diagnose themselves and if they’re not satisfied with what the self diagnosis is telling them they can press the button and call a doctor directly.

“General medicine is the most sought advice followed by pediatrics and nutrition”

Using Telios, companies would save time for their employees, who would not have to take time off for unnecessary visits to doctors. They can just make a call and let the service keep their employees and their families more at peace about their health, which is very meaningful.

People generally call Telios for general medicine questions, pediatrics, nutrition and in a lesser regard psychology, dermatology, etc. Child psychology is also a growing segment as sometimes both parents might be working all the time and the kids are left with their peers, in an environment where there are drugs and other issues in the schools.

“General medicine is the most sought advice followed by pediatrics and nutrition. Nutrition is a huge area where we see the need to expand; we’re seeing cases of overweight, diabetes, problems with knees or ankles from weight.”, explains Phillip.

Besides employees of big corporate companies using Telios, telemedicine in Romania also has some other interesting use cases. For example, Telios gives a five star hotel in Cluj the option for their guests to call a doctor and have a discussion with them, a service offered both in Romanian and English. Other uses include logistics companies, who use Telios for their truck drivers while they are on the road. Telios also offers a “second opinion” service, which offers subscribers the possibility to have their medical files sent to medical doctors in the States to compare it to the opinion from the doctors in Romania. In about 50% of the cases, a second opinion changed the outcome of what needed to be done.

Telemedicine services at the push of a button or even at the sound of the voice, for the blind community

In partnership with Light into Europe, the largest NGO providing support to the blind and deaf communities in Romania, Telios will start providing primary health and wellness service to the blind community in the country. Together, they will provide telemedicine services at the push of a button, or the sound of the voice, to the blind community.

Photo: Diana Campian / Startups&TheCity

Initially, Telios will provide 150 beneficiaries from this community free access to the platform for one year. In the second phase, they will work closely with Light into Europe and other institutional partners to develop national coverage using this approach with the goal of providing both inexpensive and quality health solutions to vulnerable communities in Romania with limited or no access to basic health services.

“We’re implementing the first program where they’ll be able to call a doctor and talk to them instead of having to make an appointment and physically go there; for them it’s very difficult otherwise. To make an appointment, they now have to make a call and hail a taxi, which makes it very difficult for them to see a doctor, so by limiting those trips we’d be helping a lot of people.”, explains Philip.

Telemedicine for villages and expansion into the region

Next year, Telios plans to develop their B2B market and to expand into the B2C area. They will also be increasing their support for the disadvantaged communities, including not only the blind and the deaf, but also the people in the villages. They already have a company in the States that pledged a number of mobile telemedicine clinics that will be utilized for this.

Photo: Diana Campian / Startups&TheCity

“We have a commitment from a city in the northwest region of Romania that their hospital is going to connect with the villages around them via telemedicine, so the people won’t have to make the time-consuming trip to the hospital. For simple things, people will be able to go to the village community hall, which will have a medical assistant paid by the community, and use a telemedicine booth to connect them with a doctor in a nearby hospital with more resources. They will be able to talk to a physician and take basic measurements in the booth.The doctor will then be able to prescribe them the appropriate treatment. We will be providing the platform and equipment for this interaction to be possible”, details Philip.

Telios is committed to provide healthcare advice to all levels of society equally and is looking forward to not only expand its’ reach in Romania but in all of Eastern Europe, and has plans to go on the Romanian Stock Market within the next 24 months.

In short, telemedicine provides a simple and secure way of making lives simpler and letting doctors do what they do best, and Philip sees telemedicine having a big impact in the future: “Healthcare innovation is a very new and hot market, that benefits all, and I think telemedicine has a bright and innovative future, with the current medical students being the ones that will inherit the future and change the direction of healthcare in Romania.“.

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