Sven Mulfinger and Verónica Montesinos are two businessmen who, in their fifties at the end of 2019, decided to leave their respective jobs as managers and change their professional lives. "I wanted to set up a social project that would help some reality and that would be supported by technology," explains Montesinos. Mulfinger, for his part, was already connected to the world of equity capital and B Corps.
Montesinos and Mulfinger met at an entrepreneurial event organized by Nuclio, from which came the idea of creating an application together to improve the mental health of women during matrescence, the period of time that goes from preconception to three years after the birth of a baby.
"Pediatricians focus on the newborn and not on the needs of the mothers, when the harsh reality is that 90% of them experience some mental health disorder associated with motherhood," says Montesinos. The entrepreneur adds that "around 25% of them suffer from a severe disorder and it is estimated that 75% of these cases would be underdiagnosed."
Through their company Thousand Colibris, Montesinos and Mulfinger launched at the end of 2021 a digital therapeutic tool, based on artificial intelligence, to improve early detection and monitoring of these mental health disorders during matrescence. The application is called Dana and has involved 691,000 euros of investment to date, 320,000 euros of which come from a round of financing led by the investment and acceleration firm for high-impact social business projects Ship2B Ventures.
By the end of this year, the co-founders want to raise another round of investment, but this time for one million euros. "It will allow us to strengthen our position in the market, continue developing deep tech technology, consolidate our clinical studies for CE certification and start expanding into new markets in Europe," explains Montesinos.
Dana addresses, for now, directly to the end user. She does it, also for the moment, for free. By the end of this year they plan to launch a paid version to start generating income and, more in the medium term, they plan to direct their product to companies or entities. Based in Barcelona and with a staff of six, Dana is being supported by the Center for the Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technologies (Cimti) and by the Swiss accelerator Tech4eva. It also has agreements with universities such as the Universitat Rovira i Virgili and the Vall d'Hebron hospital.
