Every year, TechCrunch’s Startup Battlefield pitch contest draws thousands of applicants. We whittle those applications down to the top 200 contenders, and from them, the top 20 compete on the big stage to become the winner, taking home the Startup Battlefield Cup and a cash prize of $100,000. However, the remaining 180 startups also impressed us greatly in their respective categories and compete in their own pitch competition. Here is the full list of the health and wellness Startup Battlefield 200 selectees, along with a note on why they landed in the competition.
AKARA uses AI sensors and autonomous UV disinfection robots to prepare operating rooms for surgery faster. This is noteworthy because doing more surgeries in a day not only helps patients but also increases revenue for hospitals.
ARM BIONICS is an Armenian startup that develops 3D-printed prosthetic arms. Its bionic arm is relatively affordable, making it highly accessible within its region.
ARTSKIN develops electronic artificial skin with sensors to restore the sense of touch for people with prosthetic limbs. The technology is noninvasive and can be integrated with existing prosthetics.
AWEAR is an ear-worn EEG device that monitors and provides feedback on chronic stress. Similar to how a Fitbit tracks steps, this wearable helps people take charge by measuring brain activity to guide them in reducing stress levels.
AXOFT is developing a tiny brain implant that communicates with the nervous system to treat severe neurological conditions. The soft material helps the technology safely connect to the nervous system for many years to treat serious diseases.
CARE HERO facilitates a tech-empowered caregiver network for the elderly and disabled. It addresses the shortage of caregivers by using technology to maximize how many patients a caregiver can treat.
CHE INNOVATIONS UGANDA is a Ugandan startup that develops medical devices, including NeoNest, an affordable transport warmer for preterm babies. This is important because rural areas of Africa often lack access to transport incubators.
ELLUSTRÖS provides technology that uses AI and image analysis to adjust posture on seats for ergonomic fit. It eliminates the need to manually adjust chair settings, reduces injuries, and enhances productivity.
ENDLESS HEALTH provides at-home health assessments to predict heart health and metabolic disease. This has potential for early disease detection without requiring a visit to the doctor.
EOS.AI focuses on cleaning, compressing, and harmonizing fragmented data stored in electronic medical records. Standardizing this medical data can help improve AI model performance.
FOOD FOR HEALTH offers a personalized food and grocery shopping guide. Its app helps consumers choose foods that support their specific health needs with scientific certainty.
GLITCHERS LAB uses video games to collect brain data for health research, especially for Alzheimer’s. It gamifies cognitive testing to create a large dataset.
INNOV8 AI uses AI to analyze social media and flag disruptive key narratives. This tool helps companies quickly notice unfavorable sentiment and reputation risks about their brand.
LEXI AI provides multilingual, AI-powered medical interpretation. Fast and cost-efficient medical translations can save lives.
MARITEST is developing a bloodless, rapid diagnostic tool for the early detection and treatment of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa. Its bloodless technology removes the reliance on medical technicians, accelerating diagnosis in rural areas.
MEO HEALTH offers a tech-enabled recovery program for people suffering from long Covid. The company’s drug-free approach has been clinically proven to improve patients’ symptoms.
MONERE is an AI-powered platform that uses a smartphone camera to analyze a user’s eyelid to monitor and reduce the risk of anemia and iron deficiency. Its noninvasive test claims to easily and quickly catch anemia.
NEAR WAVE has created a noninvasive, handheld device that claims to measure oxygen saturation and hemoglobin concentrations. This offers a less painful and faster way to collect vital biomarkers.
NEURAL DRIVE is developing a noninvasive brain-computer interface that allows paralyzed patients to instantly communicate essential and custom messages via a blink-to-speak function. Unlike invasive devices, it can restore communication for paralyzed patients quickly and cost-effectively.
NUSEUM is a B2B precision nutrition AI platform that converts an individual’s complex health data into evidence-based food, grocery, and recipe recommendations. These recommendations can help food delivery, e-commerce, diagnostic, health, and insurance sector clients offer better food choices to end customers.
OVULIO CORP. is a saliva-based hormone monitor for helping manage fertility, menopause, and medical conditions like PCOS. Unlike alternatives, the noninvasive device is reusable.
PHAROS automates the extraction of patient safety data from medical records for reporting to regulatory agencies. By using AI, it helps free up clinical staff time while simultaneously working to prevent patient deaths and harm.
PILLARBIOME uses AI to deliver personalized, science-backed health recommendations by analyzing your gut microbiome data. The microbiome is full of rich data that could provide insights into personalized dietary recommendations for better health.
RADICAIT is an Oxford spinout that uses AI to transform routine CT scans into PET-like scans, bypassing the need for scarce, costly PET imaging. Obtaining PET-level insights from a regular CT scan is much faster and cheaper.
SERENE SLEEP offers a simple, minimally invasive procedure to permanently stop snoring and treat sleep apnea. It tackles the widespread problem of snoring and sleep apnea, a condition that could otherwise require the use of bulky devices like CPAP masks.
SOME OTHER PLACE, which recently rebranded as Hug, connects users with trained, empathetic human listeners for real-time peer support. People often feel better after they share worries and emotional burdens without judgment.
SPOTITEARLY is an at-home cancer breath test that uses AI technology and trained dogs to sniff out multiple early-stage cancers from compounds in a patient’s breath sample. Based on studies showing dogs can detect cancer by smell, this startup is creating a novel method to integrate that ability into an early-detection diagnostic.
SYBIL HEALTH offers science-backed, holistic therapies, alongside lifestyle adjustments, to help women manage hormonal changes during menopause. It consults women on how to control menopausal symptoms with hormones or through complementary alternative and naturopathic therapies.
VITAL AUDIO uses bioacoustics technology to capture vital signs like heart rate, blood pressure, and respiratory metrics from short voice samples. This enables health systems to monitor thousands of patients, especially those in remote regions.
VIZQ TECHNOLOGIES uses AI- and VR-powered technology to make speech and language therapy for children more accessible. It helps bridge the gap created by the shortage of speech therapists.
VOCADIAN uses voice AI to diagnose fatigue in the frontline workforce. The company’s technology could increase productivity and help prevent accidents.
YUZI CARE matches families with birth and postpartum doulas and care providers. It is part of a wave of digital maternal health and postpartum startups.
ZEMI LABS develops smart clothing for athletes that can capture and analyze heart, muscle, skin, and movement data. Unlike typical wearable devices, this clothing captures a broad range of biosignals, which could ultimately help athletic performance.