Ludwigsburg, 29 February 2024 - The artificial intelligence-based healthtech start-up Deep Care has successfully completed a Seed II financing round and raised another seven-figure sum. This capital raising will be used to realise growth plans and further develop existing technologies. Deep Care's aim is to consolidate its position in the corporate healthcare market through continuous innovation. The backers include not only investors from the previous round, who participated again, but also Sparkassenkapital Ulm GmbH, Volksbank Albstadt ChancenKapital GmbH, S-WagnisVC Unternehmensbeteiligungs GmbH and S-Unternehmensbeteiligungsgesellschaft Ostalb mbH. In addition, the federal government provided direct funding totalling around 650,000 euros for two research and development projects.
Founded in 2020, the start-up launched its first innovation on the market last year and has since acquired more than 120 business customers and increased its turnover by 800 % for the second year in a row. Deep Care's solution is a digital health assistant for office workers that is based on artificial intelligence and state-of-the-art sensor technology. The personal assistance device recognises and reports health risks in the workplace in real time, such as lack of exercise or poor ergonomics of work equipment. Personalised and low-threshold support enables a long-term improvement in health behaviour and working conditions, even when working from home.
With this interactive and work-related health approach, Deep Care is positioning itself as a pioneer in the field of corporate health and, in addition to major customers such as E.ON and Deutsche Bahn, is also gaining important partners such as Die Techniker, AOK and B-A-D. Simon Fiechtner, co-founder and business developer, explains: "The partnerships with seven health insurance companies and the leading provider of occupational health and safety mark important milestones for our company. By integrating into established market structures, we can reach companies more quickly, enabling employees to benefit from more effective health promotion."
Over the next few years, the start-up aims to establish itself as a comprehensive provider of digital health solutions in the workplace context throughout Europe. A key step is the expansion into occupational health and safety, which, in contrast to workplace health promotion, is mandatory for all companies in Germany. Over the coming months, the sensor-supported AI application will enable the implementation of various occupational health and safety measures, such as a risk assessment.
"In future, Deep Care's technology will make it possible to check workplace conditions in the home environment as part of a risk assessment. It is well known that the technical equipment in the home office is often not comparable with modern office and VDU workstations. This is why the risk assessment is not only a legal requirement, but also a necessary measure for the prevention of health and safety. The Deep Care methodology enables a real perception of the actual conditions and achieves a high level of ergonomic effectiveness," says Elisabeth Strathaus, Head Safety Engineer at Phoenix Contact, which is piloting the sensor-based risk assessment for the first time.
The fresh capital is an important step towards realising one of the founders' key concerns: "Health is undoubtedly one of the three biggest concerns facing humanity as we look to the future. The number of carers is decreasing while our lifestyles are deteriorating. As today's generation, we have a responsibility to prepare for this challenge. One approach is to develop effective therapies for the sick. However, I prefer to protect people by addressing the root causes and promoting well-being through the use of meaningful technologies." - Dr Milad Geravand, Founder and Managing Director of Deep Care.
Together with leading research institutions such as the Fraunhofer Institutes IOSB and IGD and the Institute of Sport and Sports Science at KIT, the start-up is therefore driving forward further innovations as part of two research and development projects. One of these projects aims to record stress parameters in the workplace using non-invasive sensor technology in order to promote mental well-being and reduce the high number of stress-related absences from work.
Deep Care is a high-tech start-up from the healthcare sector founded in Waiblingen in 2020. Deep Care GmbH has been based in Ludwigsburg since 2022, where it currently employs 18 people. We use innovative technologies and artificial intelligence to develop smart solutions for occupational health and safety in order to enable people to work healthily in the long term. Our focus is on low-threshold solutions that do justice to the modern working reality of people.
