Munich Startup: What does your startup do? What problem do you solve?
Medigital: We are Medigital and automate capacity management in hospitals. Our first ready-to-use module is occupancy management, which fully automates the planning of patient stays in the hospital. This step is crucial for the efficient use of hospital capacity, as it not only depends on the available diagnostic and treatment options but also triggers a multitude of administrative processes, such as patient transport, billing, and patient discharge.
While patient diagnosis and treatment are already being significantly impacted by new technologies such as artificial intelligence, administrative processes and their execution have barely been modernized in the last two decades. This results in a significant portion of clinical staff's working time being spent on these tasks, often taking valuable time away from direct patient care. We're changing that!
Time savings and less coordination effort
The core of our software consists of a sophisticated AI-powered algorithm that automatically plans the required capacity for each patient stay and intelligently balances it between wards to optimize hospital utilization without overloading staff. In our occupancy management module, for example, the algorithm automatically assigns patients to the appropriate beds based on patient master data. Furthermore, the algorithm can transfer patients across wards, resulting in significant time savings for doctors and nurses through reduced coordination effort. Our user interface keeps the relevant staff at the ward and hospital levels always up to date.
Munich Startup: But that's been around for a long time!
Medigital: Unfortunately, the reality in hospitals often doesn't match what's technologically possible. It's not uncommon for patients to still be scheduled using pen and paper. There are also improvised solutions such as whiteboards and Excel spreadsheets. Even modern hospital information systems (HIS) often only offer simple occupancy lists. These lists often have to be printed out, manually updated, and re-entered into the system at the end of the day.
In the area of asset management, we are currently seeing solutions that can track not only equipment but also beds in real time, indicating whether they are currently free or occupied. Similarly, there are communication solutions for doctors and nurses that offer an occupancy list as a byproduct. Both approaches are undoubtedly valuable, but they often lack the comprehensive planning component for patient stays and strategic foresight. They perfectly complement our capacity management, as together they offer a comprehensive solution that not only shows the current status but also anticipates future capacity needs. Our innovation lies not only in the technology itself, but also in the holistic approach to the problem of capacity management in hospitals.
Munich Startup: What is your founding story?
Medigital: Our founding story at Medigital is closely linked to our time together at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). Max, Paul, and I have known each other since our student days at TUM. During our studies, we participated together in the UnternehmerTUM TechChallenge, a program in which companies, as corporate partners, present their real-world problems, and students are tasked with developing prototype solutions within three months.
During this intensive phase, we visited countless hospitals and engaged in intensive discussions with doctors and nurses. We witnessed firsthand how chaotic and inefficient many processes are in these facilities. These observations inspired us to develop a solution that would help address these problems and make everyday healthcare more efficient.
At the end of these three months, we were able to take first place in the TechChallenge with our prototypes. This was the starting point for the next step. We applied for the Xplore pre-incubation program at UnternehmerTUM, where we met our fourth co-founder, Max Schnettler. As a team of four founders, we first managed to receive the EXIST Founders' Grant and then successfully completed our first round of financing. This initial phase was crucial for us and laid the foundation for the development of Medigital.
Challenge: Long sales cycles in healthcare
Munich Startup: What have been your biggest challenges so far?
Medigital: One of our most significant challenges has been and continues to be the exceptionally long sales cycles in the healthcare industry. It often takes several months from initial contact to concrete negotiations. Nevertheless, we are now at a point where we have increased our professionalism to handle these long cycles. At the same time, we are reaping the rewards of our efforts so far, as hospitals are increasingly approaching us.
Another challenge was raising awareness among doctors and nurses about the benefits of digital and, above all, automated occupancy management. Initially, many users perceived using our solution as additional stress and effort. However, we were quickly able to demonstrate how efficient and time-saving our solution truly is. After a short time, users were so convinced that they completely replaced their previous solutions with ours.
Munich Startup: Where would you like to be in one year, where in five years?
Medigital: We have ambitious plans for the coming year. With a planned financing round in April 2024, we will successfully further develop our first module, "Occupancy Management," convert our pilot customers into long-term customer relationships, and attract additional hospitals to our solution. The funds from this financing round will also help expand our team capacity to develop additional modules and advance our vision of automating entire capacity management in hospitals.
Vision: Plan patient flow seamlessly
Looking five years ahead, we see our product as a significant addition to the hospital software landscape. Our solution will enable seamless planning of the entire patient flow and real-time optimization of resources—be it for admission, diagnosis, treatment, discharge, or staffing. In doing so, we strive to not only increase efficiency but also improve the quality of patient care.
Munich Startup: How have you experienced Munich as a startup location so far?
Medigital: Munich has proven to be extremely beneficial for us as a startup location. In fact, you could say that we are, in a way, a product of the UnternehmerTUM, as we have taken advantage of almost every one of their programs and networking opportunities. Currently, we are a proud participant in the Xpreneurs Batch 14 and have been part of TUM’s VentureLabs Healthcare for almost two years.
But Munich offers even more. The city is home to two outstanding universities, which are an excellent source of highly qualified talent. The numerous networking and pitching events have allowed us to meet many other startups. This exchange is invaluable, as we can benefit from the experiences of other founders. We learn from the challenges other startups have already overcome and grow together through the new ones that lie ahead.
Munich is also an emerging center for digital health and the digitalization of the healthcare sector. Initiatives like Venture Lab Healthcare and events like Bits & Bretzls HealthTech offer increasingly better support and resources for startups in this field. A wide range of support options are available, especially in the early-stage sector.
The impressive statistics and rich network integrated us strongly into the Munich ecosystem even before our founding and helped us to successfully launch Medigital.
Munich Startup: Hidden champion or shooting star?
Medigital: Our focus on the B2B market and our specialization in hospitals make us a hidden champion by definition. But if all the modules we want to develop work together seamlessly and are successfully implemented in hospital operations, we undoubtedly have the potential to become a shooting star – at least in the healthcare industry. The potential impact would be enormous and would also be noticeable for patients. Not only would many administrative tasks in the hospital be eliminated, but capacities could be optimized so that more patients can be treated while simultaneously reducing the workload.
Update from May 2024: The startup was renamed “Auta Health”.
