Remote health monitoring has the potential to reduce the burden on the healthcare system. Cardiolyse technology incorporates a patient’s personal medical and lifestyle history, with 70 years of existing heart data across different ages, sexes, and ethnicities to create a personalized heart health report. Cardiolyse has been selected for the 2023 Health Incubator Helsinki (HIH) program.

The cornerstone of Cardiolyse’s innovative approach is its smart remote heart health monitoring platform. This platform not only provides a detailed report to healthcare providers, but also offers patients an easy-to-understand heart-health risk assessment. Patients can now take an active role in their heart health by conducting an initial evaluation themselves. This is a game-changer for the industry, where a scarcity of heart professionals and the rising number of patients have become major concerns. Cardiolyse technology stands out due to the extent of the evaluation which includes input from all known cardiac parameters and nervous system responses like the “fight or flight” (sympathetic) response, and the “rest and digest” (parasympathetic) response. 

Cardiolyse re-located to Finland from Ukraine

Cardiolyse was originally founded in 2015 in Ukraine by cardiologist, Illya Chaikovsky, and computer and data scientist, Anna Starynska. At this point they were already familiar with the issues of difficult-to-interpret heart data, and the burden heart monitoring places on cardiologists. They applied for the Vertical Health Accelerator in Helsinki, and were invited to relocate to Finland in 2017. For the past seven years, they have been on a mission to provide the best remote detection of cardiac abnormalities. They do this by incorporating heart monitoring data from the clinics or at-home devices, which comes in the form of an electrocardiogram (ECG), into a cloud-based AI algorithm.

Currently, Cardiolyse is onboarding a new CEO, Niina Vilkas, a clinician with a background in open heart surgeries, anesthesiology, and medical device businesses. “Cardiolyse combines everything I have dreamed about”. It is a cardiac-based medical software. It has AI-based technology. It’s a startup with a small team. I am looking forward to working with the team and building the company into something extraordinary,” Vilkas says. “Every member in this team is extremely professional in their own areas of expertise. They are passionate, and very committed to the company and its vision,” Vilkas continues.

Anna Starynska, Niina Vilkas and Illya Chaikovsky.

Cardiolyse enables heart health monitoring between doctors visits

The Cardiolyse universal electrocardiogram (ECG) scoring system can help follow up heart failure patients after myocardial infarction, as well as, patients of ischemic stroke and atrial fibrillation. In addition to the technology, the team focuses on providing services to physicians to follow up on patients with chronic conditions. In practical terms, this means that patients who leave the doctors are no longer left wondering how their heart is performing until their next visit. 

“When a patient takes a measurement at home with Cardiolyse, the patient can also report the symptoms. The measurement coupled with the symptoms is sent to the nurse or physician with a notification that says ‘there are no reported symptoms or abnormalities’. Or ‘reported symptoms: dizziness, and abnormalities detected,” Starynska explains. 

Physicians can receive updates of a patient’s heart status in an easy-to-read format, potentially reducing the number of physical visits overall. Vilkas adds, “All the data has already been gathered and automatically analyzed, so the doctor doesn’t need to use their time to do that, and they can focus on the patients instead.”

Cardiolyse measurements are device agnostic, meaning the readings can be taken with any existing ECG hardware. Additional health parameters from smartwatches, like blood pressure and pulse oxidation, and existing medications can also be incorporated into the algorithm for a more personalized and accurate risk assessment. 

The Health Incubator Helsinki program is tailored to fit the needs of each team

The Cardiolyse team applied to HIH for access to a broad pool of potential customers, health care providers, investors, and other stakeholders that the business needs to interact with. However, what they are receiving is so much more. Cardiolyse now has access to experts in software development, validation, certification, IPR, sales, and marketing among others. Additionally, the team can attend weekly webinars, review meetings, and receive information about potential funding. The Cardiolyse team sees their previous business experience as an advantage during the first months within the HIH program, “When expertise is provided to you, experience helps to digest it all and to convert it into advantages for your company,” Starynska says. 

The HIH program is customized based on the individual needs of each selected team to maximize the odds of success. HIH is supporting Cardiolyse in their goal of accessing the global market due to the nature of their services, which is not connected to any local language, but data from healthcare. Their business-2-business model provides analytics to telemedicine companies, hospitals, device manufacturers, and electrocardiogram device manufacturers.

The Cardiolyse team is currently looking for funding. They have an open round to bridge investments to reach series A within one year. Series A funding is the next stage following seed funding. To help the team reach their €0.5M goal, reach out to Cardiolyse with the contact information below:

Contact information for Cardiolyse team:
Niina Vilkas
niina.vilkas@cardiolyse.com

Check out all the companies in the Health Incubator Helsinki program.

Text: Rita Turpin, Giuliano Didio
Header: Pixabay
Team picture: Niina Vilkas, Cardiolyse.com