ILoF, a brand-new winner for the 4YFN Impact Awards 2021
Portugal based startup ILoF was crowned the winner of the 4YFN Impact Awards Barcelona 2021, after battling it out with five finalists on stage. We’ve had the chance to talk with them about the future of Digital Health, their future plans, applications of AI – and their experience at 4YFN. Do you want to know more?
Congrats, guys!
1. For those who don’t know ILoF what is it that you do? What’s special about your company?
iLoF is working to enable a new era of personalized medicine, using AI and photonics to build a cloud-based library of diseases biomarkers and biological profiles. We process massive amounts of optical and clinical data, providing screening and stratification tools for complex, heterogeneous diseases, in an affordable, fast, portable way.
This allows pharmaceutical companies and biotechs to save up to 40% of cost and 70% of the time spent screening for clinical trials, while at the same time, making the whole process more convenient for patients.
2. What has been your biggest challenge in the last year? And your biggest learning?
We work closely with hospitals and various healthcare providers, and thus we were able to see first hand the struggles and burdens that the pandemic brought to our healthcare systems. While working with them became in itself more difficult (as of course COVID19 was a clear priority), we were able to prove that one of the best qualities a startup must have is the ability to adapt.
We adapted our phenotyping platform to be able to help triage patients with severe to moderate cases on the COVID-19 infection, being able to do our small part in helping physicians, while at the same time advancing our mission of personalizing care for millions of patients around the globe.
3. You have won the 4YFN Impact Awards in Barcelona in June. The first What is the most exciting thing for you about your experience at 4YFN 2021?
Winning the 4YFN Impact Awards was certainly one of the highlights of this quarter for iLoF: but it was both an honor, and a responsibility. 4YFN brings together in a unique way a mix of innovators, founders, creators and leaders, all with the same goal of shaping the future, and we were delighted to be able to meet or re-connect (finally in person) with many of the stakeholders (investors or partners) we have been working virtually for the last few months. Overall, while it was the first time attending, we will certainly go again, and recommend it to everyone on the scene.
4YFN allows this unique atmosphere of innovation, the perfect collader for companies looking to raise.
4. Tell us more about the most recent project you are working on and how 4YFN has help and do (or you think can help you in a way) to achieve your goals.
We are currently in the later stages of the financing round, and actually were able to meet in person for the first time some of the investors who are now participating in the round. 4YFN allows this unique atmosphere of innovation, attracting some of the best people working in the entrepreneurship world, and is thus the perfect collader for companies looking to raise.
5. Any advice for startups that are starting now in the digital heath field and in general?
First, you really need to validate your market quite well.
Know your users (or customers) like the back of your hand: understand their pain points and needs. And then, build a product that addresses just that.
The rest will follow.
