HealthTech Israel Podcast

In this episode, we're speaking with Cecile Blilious, who is the head of impact and sustainability at Pitango Venture Capital.

Interview questions

00:56  Tell us about your professional journey and what brought you to where you are today?

03:03 How would you define impact investments? And what does it take to be an impact investor or entrepreneur today?

07:40 Why should I as a CEO of a startup company be focused on ESG? 

15:02 What are the sustainability models that you're developing at Pitango and how is this relevant to HealthTech companies?

21:54 Is there an expectation that companies will have an Impact and Sustainability Officer? 

24:13 Is there going to be a personalization of expectation around ESG for health tech, specifically?

32:43  Could you tell us a little bit about GITA, the Global Impact Tech Alliance, which you founded?

38:29 Is there anything that, in the next 5 years or in 5 years, you are dreaming of doing once you've put in motion this train of ESG connected to impact? 

Today we're speaking to Daniella Gilboa, CEO of AIVF. A company that is out to transform the fertility and IVF treatment journey. Daniella was an embryologist for more than 15 years before establishing AIVF. And she's a biostatistician too. 

00:55 We'd like to hear about your personal journey. What is the process that leads an embryologist to establish an AI driven IVF company?

07:42 You have said that you believe that being an embryologist is probably one of the most noble professions in the world. What did you mean by that?

09:12 What made you feel like you have the tools to take this endeavor forward as its CEO?  

11:47 What in your eyes are the problems in the current status of IVF and the journey in which women are trying to or families are trying to conceive?

19:15 What would be the role of the embryologist going forward, once you have this technology out in the market? 

22:45 How do you bring patients into the equation of IVF transformation? 

31:51 How does the AIVF solution work? 

35:02 Can you tell us where you are in the AIVF journey in terms of the product and regulation and market?

38:16 How is Dan Ariely involved with the company and what does her behavioral economics have to do with IVF?

43:36  Is there an element of the product right now that connects to the patients? Will the patient be able to follow what is happening with their embryo, remotely, while everything's happening.

47:46 Why aren't there more female CEOs in healthtech?

50:55 What is your best tip for a scientist who is thinking about opening a startup?

In this episode we are talking to Yotam Drechsler and Dr. Yaron Segal from BrainQ.
Yotam is the CEO of the company and Yaron is the investor, founder and Chief Innovation Officer.

This is the story of a personal quest to help a loved one that morphed into a game-changing solution making a significant impact on the neurorecovery of stroke victims.

BrainQ’s investigational cloud-based technology aims to reduce disability and promote neurorecovery for stroke victims. Using a Brain Computer Interface-based approach, the company’s frequency-tuned low intensity electromagnetic field therapy is designed to operate based on biological insights retrieved from brainwaves using explanatory machine learning tools. These insights are aimed at imitating the natural processes of neural network synchronization and promoting recovery processes. The system is designed to allow for scalable and decentralized care via a portable, non-invasive wearable device that is cloud-connected with integrated telemedicine tools that enable remotely monitored sessions through an app.

Prof. Varda Shalev, Co-Founder & Chief Medical Officer at Alike.Health

Prof. Varda Shalev is a practicing Primary Care Physician, a medical researcher, associate professor of medicine at the Tel Aviv University School of Public Health,  founding director of the Macabbi Institute for Research and Innovation KSM and recently the co-founder and Chief Medical Officer of Alike Health - a healthcare startup developing an AI-based system designed to help patients manage their medical data, monitor their  conditions and gain insights into their treatment.

Summary of interview

01:15 What are the most memorable milestones that brought you to where you are today?

02:58 What is the driving force behind your passion for Health Technology?

05:43 What made you the jump into co-founding a startup?

07:14 What is the difference between being an intrapreneur that innovates within an organization, and an entrepreneur?

09:06 What was the value you found in collaborating with startups in your work at the Morris Kahn and Maccabi Research & Innovation Institute?

15:03 Let's talk about Alike Health, what does Alike do?

20:27 Obviously the US market is very interesting, why aren’t you creating a product for the German market?

22:15 Doesn't the scoring system create more anxiety with the patient? Will the patients know how to act upon it when there is no 100% certainty?

24:27 Do you give patients the option to call a live person and discuss or get clarifications on the report? 

26:12  What is the business model for your company?

28:35  You raised your seed round from a single investor – Pitango. Do you think raising a seed fund from one VC investor is advantageous?

29:33 How has the Israeli Health Technology ecosystem evolved over the decades?  

36:27 Where are we going with health? What is going to be the next revolution that we're going to see?

40:04 How is Alike.health closing the loop on data?

41:45 What advice would you give to someone who wants to do what you are doing?

46:15 If you could go back to your 16-year-old self, what would you tell her?

47:13 Why do you think there are less Women entrepreneurs and what needs to be done in order to change it?