UBER launches HEALTH PLATFORM for nonemergency medical transport

Riding-sharing company Uber unveiled Uber Health, a centralized healthcare platform that aims to make it easier for providers to assign nonemergency medical transport (NEMT) for their patients and clients. Hospital admins can schedule rides for patients to take place immediately, within a few hours, or up to 30 days in advance. Uber Health also released an API so that organizations can add the service to their existing patient management software. Patients will receive alerts via text message, which means they don’t need to have the Uber app or a smartphone to use the feature. Uber said its working on a voice service for landlines.

Uber Health aims to improve the rate of patients turning up to appointments, saving hospital networks billions.

• About 3.6 million patients miss medical appointments each year because of transportation barriers, according to the National Academy of Sciences. The lost revenue from missed appointments could be as much as $150 billion each year, according to Health Management Technology.
• Missed appointments can lead to poor health outcomes and increased emergency department visits and hospitalizations, placing further strain on hospitals and emergency response staff. By allowing staff to book transport in advance, Uber Health could help alleviate this issue. 

Uber’s not alone in the non-emergency medical transport (NEMT), but it's arguably the most recognizable, which could give it a leg-up over the competition. Rival ride-sharing company Lyft has also made several forays, including a partnership with Hitch Health. Meanwhile, other companies, like Veyo, are dedicated NEMT services. A beta version of the Uber Health platform released in July 2017 is already being used by more than 100 healthcare organizations in the US.

However, as ride-sharing companies take a larger role within NEMT, they're likely to face barriers that could stymie adoption. For example, there is some concern over whether drivers will be liable for anything that happens to the patient to or from their appointment, according to BuzzFeed. Further, it’s not clear whether ride-sharing has a positive impact on appointment no-shows, according to a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Source: Business Insider

107 Artificial Intelligence Startups working in Healthcare

Company	Total Funding ($M)	Investors
Ada	$ 0
Advenio TecnoSys	$0.10	Kstart, Zone Startups
AiCure	$15.10	Biomatics Capital Partners, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, New Leaf Venture Partners, Pritzker Group Venture Capital, Tribeca Venture Partners
Amara Health Analytics	$0.07	NA
analyticsMD	$13.84	Fenox Venture Capital, FundersClub, StartX, Y Combinator
Apixio	$45.36	Bain Capital Ventures, First Analysis, SSM Partners, Undisclosed Angel Investors,
Arterys	$12.00	AME Cloud Ventures, Asset Management Ventures, Emergent Medical Partners, GE Ventures, Morado Venture Partners, Norwich Ventures, StartX
Atlas	$2.91	Indiegogo, Techstars, In-Q-Tel
Atomwise	$6.12	AME Cloud Ventures, Data Collective, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Khosla Ventures, OS Fund, Y Combinator
Avalon	$0.14	Entrepreneur First, Techstars
Ayasdi	$97.88	Centerview Capital, Citi Ventures, Draper Nexus Ventures, Floodgate, Institutional Venture Partners, Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
Babylon Health	$25.00	DeepMind Technologies, Hoxton Ventures, Innocent Drinks, Kinnevik
Bay Labs	$7.80	Eleven Two Capital, Jack Culpepper, Kevin Goodwin, Khosla Ventures, National Science Foundation, Nicolas Pinto, Randy Martin, Vince Monical, Yann LeCun
Behold.ai	$0.02	Almaworks, gener8tor
BioBeats	$3.23	AXA Strategic Ventures, Cantora Records, Damon Wayans, ENIAC Ventures, Gotham Chopra, IQ Capital Partners, Justin Boreta, K5 Ventures, Ken Hertz, Mark Beaven, Scooter Braun, Slow Ventures, , White Cloud Capital, Will Smith, ZhenFund
Buoy Health	$2.52	NA
BurstIQ	$0.25	500 Accelerator, PV Ventures
Butterfly Network	$100.00	Aeris Capital, Stanford University
Clinithink	$0.00	Finance Wales Investments, Vanguard Atlantic
Cloud Pharmaceuticals	$1.73	National Science Foundation,
CloudMedX	$6.72	FundersClub, Lux Capital, Tencent, Y Combinator
CureMetrix	$0.00	Analytics Ventures, evoNexus, Keshif Ventures, La Costa Investment Group
Cyrcadia	$2.45	Reno Angels, Undisclosed Angel Investors
Deep Genomics	$3.74	Bloomberg Beta, True Ventures, Undisclosed Angel Investors, University of Toronto Early-Stage Technology
Deep6	$0.10	Techstars
Desktop Genetics	$3.15	Angels in MedCity, Boundary Capital, Darrin Disley, Execute Technologies, Illumina, Innovate UK, IQ Capital Partners, Jonathan Milner, London Co-Investment Fund, Martin Murphy, Michael Martin, Richard Youngman
Digital Reasoning Systems	$75.63	Goldman Sachs, HCA, Health Evolution Partners, Lemhi Ventures, NASDAQ, Silver Lake
EaglEyeMed	$0.60	NA
Enlitic	$15.00	Amplify Partners, Capitol Health Partners, Data Collective
EnsoData	$0.56	HealthX Ventures, Y Combinator
Entopsis	$1.73	Breakout Labs, Krillion Ventures,
Envisagenics	$0.10	HealthX Ventures, Y Combinator
Flatiron Health	$313.00	Allen & Company, Baillie Gifford & Co., Casdin Capital, Google Ventures, Roche Venture Fund
Freenome	$7.05	Andreessen Horowitz, Data Collective, Founders Fund, Third Kind Venture Capital
Gauss Surgical	$24.81	AVIA Health Innovation, Jump Capital, LifeForce Ventures, Promus Ventures, Providence Ventures, StartX, Summation Health Ventures, Taube Investment Partners, TMCx, UHC
Ginger.io	$28.22	Ari Buchler, Bill Warner, ENIAC Ventures, James Joaquin, Kaiser Permanente Ventures, Kapor Capital, Khosla Ventures, LaunchCapital, Romulus Capital, Techstars, True Ventures, Ty Curry, Walt Winshall
Globavir Biosciences	$0.15	StartX
H2O.ai	$33.60	Capital One Growth Ventures, Nexus Venture Partners, Paxion Capital Partners, Transamerica Ventures
Healint	$1.01	GREE Ventures, JFDI.Asia, Shin Ryoku, Singapore National Research Foundation, Undisclosed Angel Investors, Wavemaker Partners
Health Fidelity	$19.26	Charter Life Sciences, The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
Hindsait	NA	Guidewell, Healthbox Global Partners
iCarbonX	$199.00	China Bridge Capital , Tencent, Vcanbio
Imagen Technologies	$5.00	NA
Imagia Cybernetics	NA	BDC Healthcare Venture Fund, Emerillon Capital, Lumira Capital, Real Ventures
InSilico Medicine	$0.80	Deep Knowledge Ventures
Intendu	NA	Impact First Investments
Jvion	$8.95	Eastside Partners
LifeGraph	NA	8200 EISP
Lucina Health	$19.64	Arboretum Ventures, Cape Andover Capital Partners, Chrysalis Ventures, JumpStart, North Coast Angel Fund, Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Project
Lumiata	$20.00	BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners, Intel Capital, Khosla Ventures, Sandbox Industries
Lunit	$4.13	Formation 8, K Cube Ventures, Softbank Ventures Korea
Magnea	$0.22	Elis Nemes, Karl-Mikael Syding
Medal	$3.78	8VC, Draper Associates, Founders Fund, ZhenFund
Medalogix	$5.00	Coliseum Capital Management
Medasense	$8.00	8200 EISP, Baxter Ventures, Benslie Investment Group
MedAware	$2.35	DreamIt Ventures, GE Ventures, MassChallenge, OurCrowd.com, Winton Ventures
MedWhat	$1.12	Caixa Capital Risc, Microsoft Ventures Accelerator, Stanford Hospital & Clinics, Stanford University, Startcaps Ventures
MedyMatch Technology	$2.00	Exigent Capital, Genesis Capital Advisors
Mindshare Medical	$2.00	Frost Data Capital
NarrativeDx	$1.80	Capital Factory, DreamIt Ventures, Floodgate, Live Oak Ventures, LiveOak Venture Partners, Silverton Partners, Undisclosed Investors
NextHealth Technologies	$9.50	Daniel Spirek, James Bradley, Norwest Venture Partners, Peter Everett, Point B Capital, Trace Devanny
NuMedii	$3.50	Claremont Creek Ventures, Life Science Angels, Lightspeed Venture Partners
Numerate	$17.50	Atlas Venture, Foundation Capital, Lanza techVentures, Lilly Ventures
Nuritas	$8.80	Ali Partovi, Marc Benioff, New Protein Capital
Oncora Medical	$1.32	BioAdvance, Dorm Room Fund, Dr. Thomas Mackie, DreamIt Ventures, iSeed Ventures, Science Center
Ovuline	N/A	Bridge Boys, David Cohen, LaunchCapital, Lead Edge Capital, Lightbank, LionBird, Martin Ventures, Paris Wallace, Techstars, Techstars Ventures, Zaffre Investments
Pathway Genomics	$40.00	Edelson Technology Partners, Founders Fund, IBM Watson Group
PeerWell	$2.10	Arian Foster
PhysIQ	$11.91	NA
Picto Connection	$0.02	Rockstart Accelerator
Potbotics	$2.36	NA
Profility	$1.69	Previz Ventures
Proscia	$1.00	A-Level Capital, Emerald Development Managers, Robin Hood Ventures, TCP Venture Capital
Qualaris Healthcare Solutions	$0.20	Carnegie Mellon University, Innovation Works
Roam Analytics	N/A	8VC, AITV, Blumberg Capital, Undisclosed Angel Investors
RxPREDICT	$1.00	NA
Saykara	$2.73	NA
Sense.ly	$3.79	Alchemist Accelerator, Eastlink Capital Management, Fenox Venture Capital, Launchpad Digital Health, TA Ventures, TMCx, Undisclosed Angel Investors
Sentrian	$15.82	Frost Data Capital, REV, Tech Coast Angels, TELUS Ventures
SigTuple	$0.00	Accel Partners, Ashok Bareja, Binny Bansal, Debanjan Mukherjee, Nirupa Bareja, Sachin Bansal
SkinVision	$3.47	Leo Pharma, PHS Capital, Seedmoney
Smart Healthcare	$0.03	Chalmers Ventures
TAO Connect	$1.56	Florida Angel Nexus, Florida Funders
TinyKicks	$0.71	evoNexus,
Touchkin	$0.40	Alok Mittal, Amit Gupta, Anuj Srivastava, Himanshu Aggarwal, Puneet Agarwal, Raghunandan G., Swiss Re
twoXAR	$3.40	Andreessen Horowitz
VisExcell	$0.25	DreamIt Ventures,
Wellframe	$10.30	Carl Byers, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Formation 8, James Nahirny, John McEleney, Jonathan Bush, Michael Gaiss, Pam Garside, QueensBridge Venture Partners, Rock Health, Steve Papa, Tim Draper, , Waterline Ventures
WellTok	$238.62	Bessemer Venture Partners, Catholic Health Initiatives, EDBI, Emergence Capital Partners, Flare Capital Partners, Georgian Partners, Hearst Ventures, IBM Watson Group, InterWest Partners, Miramar Digital Ventures, Miramar Venture Partners, New Enterprise Associates, Okapi Venture Capital, Qualcomm Ventures, TriZetto Corporation
Your.MD	$5.00	Smedvig Capital
Zebra Medical Vision	$20.00	Deep Fork Capital, Intermountain Healthcare, Khosla Ventures, Marc Benioff
Zephyr Health	$32.50	Google Ventures, Icon Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Susa Ventures
benevolent.ai	$140.55	NA
CareSkore	$4.42	Y Combinator
DreaMed Diabetes	$8.70	Medtronic
Flashback Technologies	$3.25	NA
HealthNextGen	$0.03	Health Wildcatters
Keen Eye Technologies	$1.60	Seventure Partners
Lytics	$0.52	Mattias Paulsson, Swedish Growth Fund
Maxwell MRI	$0.20	River City Labs
Perceive3D	$0.57	Portugal Ventures
Picwell	$7.05	Kevin Hill, Trevor Fetter, Paul Kusserow, Osage University Partners, MassMutual Ventures, Andrew Kress, Bruce Perkins
pulseData	$3.20	Homebrew
Roam Insight	$22.37	Undisclosed Angel Investors
Sophie Bot	$0.01	Nailab
VITL	$1.50	Alex Chesterman, David de Rothschild, Cameron James Edwards, Simon Franks, Ben Stanway, Joseph Aluin Lenzie
Viz.ai	$2.49	Innovation Endeavors

US commands Majority Of Medical Device Startup Deals, with Israel and UK as Runner-Ups

Since 2012, the US has received 80% of global deals to medical device startups. California alone takes more deals than any non-US country.

 Source: CB Insights

The United States is the center of startup investing for many industries and the medical device industry is no exception. 

Source: CB Insights

Globally, Israel ranks a distant second to the US in medical device deals and funding. Recent investments in Israel include V-Wave‘s $28M Series B from a trio of Israel-based investors including BioStar Ventures, Pontifax, and TriVentures, as well as InSightec‘s $22M Series D from investors including the Israel-based Elbit Medical Technologies.

V-Wave is developing an atrial shunt intended to reduce left atrial pressure and heart attack frequency. InSightec is developing focused ultrasound and MRI technology with neurosurgical, gynecological, and oncological applications.

Within the US, California is the center, which is not surprising, and Massachusetts takes second place.

Deals by country

Accounting for 80% of deals to medical device companies, the United States has dominated investment into the industry over the past four years. Israel and the UK rank second, each with a 4% share of global medical device deals. Germany, Canada, and France grab third with a 2% share each.

One of the most active medical device investors, High-Tech Gruenderfonds, made two deals into Germany-based startups in 2016; SeNostic, which develops diagnostic technology for neurodegenerative diseases, and Abviris, a developer of screening tools for HPV-induced oral cancer.

The remaining 7% of medical device deals is spread widely among 24 countries including Switzerland, India, and the Netherlands, none capturing much more than 1% of the global total.

Funding by country

Total equity dollars in the sector are also heavily concentrated, with the US taking an 82% share of equity funding to private companies in the space. Since 2012, Israel has been leading the pack outside of the US with a 6% share of total funding dollars.

In third, Switzerland, the UK, France, and Germany account for 2% each. The remaining difference is split between a number of countries, none making up more than 1%. 

Deal share within US

As in the tech sector, California also commands a large share of domestic investment into medical device companies. The state has dominated US-based deals to medical device startups, with a 31% share of all US deals since 2012 and 38% in 2016 year-to-date. When compared to the rest of the world, California is participating in more deals to medical device companies than the top 5 non-US countries combined. Two such deals include the $120M Series G in Proteus Digital Health and $93M Series F in Halt Medical.

Massachusetts has consistently ranked second, averaging a 10% share of US based deals into private medical device companies. Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Texas have battled it out for third over the years, with Pennsylvania taking the bronze in 2016 year-to-date with a 6% share of deals.

Featured image credit: Getty Images/ baytunc

How to Build a Startup as a Non-Tech Founder

Source : Founder Institute

Remark CB : To build a company is more a kind of an art then science.  Like with a good recipient it depends on the right ingredients in perfect balance.

Startups and innovative technology have become so synonymous with one another, that many people now think that you can’t create one without the other. And while it is necessary to have an understanding of the technology that you’re building, you actually don’t need to be a developer or engineer or computer scientist to launch an impactful company.

If you’re an aspiring entrepreneur who wants to launch a tech startup but doesn’t have much tech experience, this blog post will give you the wisdom you need to build your dream company, featuring insights from Weiting Liu, the founder and CEO of Codementor.

Can Anyone with Any Level of Technical Proficiency Start a Company Today?

Believe it or not, you don’t have to have ANY tech experience to launch a tech company. Remember, if your goal is to build an app, your mission isn’t to learn how to build an app; rather, your mission is to learn how to get things done.

Regardless of how talented you are, you are going to find yourself - at least several, if not many times - not being able to do something to run your company. Even if you’re an experienced technical founder, your financial, marketing, or managerial skills may be lacking, which means you’ll have to adapt to the needs of your growing company and compensate.

Bottom line: not being able to code is no excuse to not build a company, as coding is only one of many tasks.

How Do You Build a Company Without Tech Experience?

Because of the proliferation of various tech-based markets, it’s getting easier and easier for someone to create a tech product without a degree in engineering or computer science. For example, there are numerous platforms that enable users to build apps without any coding experience, which is a great way for budding founders to build a minimum viable product (MVP).

At the very least, non-tech founders now have the resources that allow them to at least build a mockup of their offering to attract the interest of those with the expertise to build a more finalized product.

Your MVP is Up and Running. What Next? 

Once you’ve built your working MVP, your next step is to show it to as many users as possible and get their feedback. If you consistently get feedback on a specific feature or set of features, make the necessary changes to the best of your ability.

During this process, it’s important to keep these two points in mind:

1. Ensure that you’ve built your MVP with the flexibility to make changes as you get feedback from users.
2. Continuously learn how your product works with each iteration so additions and fixes can be made more quickly.

Do You Need a Technical Co-founder Early On?

If you can make changes to your project based on user feedback on at least a weekly schedule, recruiting a technical co-founder at this stage is not necessary. Especially since your product is basically the company itself, doing as much work by yourself will save you time and money.

While it may be tempting to outsource your code to a freelancer, this isn’t recommended, as the iteration cycle is far too long to make any meaningful progress on your product.

Project Management Skills are a Must-Have

As a non-tech founder, it’s important to develop a variety of other skills to compensate for a lack of technical expertise, including basic product management principles. Also, as part of your role, you should take the time to learn at least a little bit of the primary language of your product for a variety of reasons. If you don’t know how to speak to developers, if you don’t know how to set deadlines, if you don’t know what a product development sprint is, you’re going to be lost in the lingo of the people working for you.

Learning a little bit of code can go a long way. For example, if your developer gives you an estimate of how long it will take to build a feature or fix a bug, just having some basic coding skills can help you gauge if that estimate is correct, and will enable you to better articulate the needs of the product to the developers.

Learn How to Communicate with Developers

You can’t write good requirements if you don’t have some understanding of the technology of your product. All modern technology systems consist of a front end and a back end, so it’s essential to understand how these work as they pertain to your product. For those of you not familiar with these terms, the front end is what a user sees on a website, software, or app, while the back end exists on the servers, and features the database, the application layers, etc. that process the data and presents information to the front end.

Many novice founders write requirements by only describing the front end while neglecting the back end, relying on their partners or employees or outsourcers to figure out the back end. This is dangerous, and will greatly increase the risk of delays and miscommunications. Remember, don’t underestimate the power of learning a bit of code.

Also, when communicating with developers, it’s important to keep your scope as limited as possible and to focus on the primary function of your product. If your product’s core function is weak, no amount of flashy features are going to make your product stronger.

Inhouse or Outsource?

As mentioned earlier, try to build everything yourself for as long as possible, or at least keep it inhouse for as long as possible. Especially during the formative stages of building your product, you should directly oversee the core experience of your product, as you are the one getting the initial customer feedback.

However, if for whatever reason you choose to outsource your user experience, you should only do so if the freelancer can have meetings with you on a daily basis and produce product iterations on AT LEAST a weekly basis. Basically, if you’re going to outsource your product to a freelancer, only do it if you can treat them like an inhouse developer.

Additional product features, on the other hand, can definitely be outsourced as need be, as features that are not relevant to the core user experience should only serve to enhance the product, and can thus be handled with more leniency.

Should You Hire a Project Manager Early in the Process?

While this is not exactly common practice among startups (yet), hiring a project manager early on during the formative stages of a startup can yield some surprising benefits. Even without the burden of learning how to code, writing requirements for a product’s front end and back end, holding regular meetings with developers, planning product iteration deadlines are difficult tasks, even for non-tech founders. Hiring someone who specializes in this kind of role can be a potential shortcut for early stage non-tech founders.

How Should You Pick Your Technology?

If you are setting out to build a tech-based product, start by first basing it on a technology that has a large online community that is currently active to ensure that your offering will appeal to a wide audience. Also, be sure to pick a technology that is prevalent and relevant, as this will increase your chances of finding a co-founder that is up to speed and won’t need to go through an extended learning curve. Or, if you already have a co-founder in mind, build your product on the technology that they are most familiar with already.

Final Thoughts 

Starting a company is hard. It’s stressful and unpredictable and daunting. However, learning how to code is actually one of the easier aspects of launching a tech startup, even if it’s just a little bit. Technology is constantly changing, so it’s important to constantly keep abreast of current trends and to learn emerging methodologies. If you can keep up with the pace of technology, then you will be better equipped to keep up with the demands of your company.

13 digital health crowdfunding projects in 2016

Connected CPAP, breathalyzers, mental health apps and more

Source : mobihealthnews.com

Shae, which bills itself as “Siri for Your Health,” has raised $71,23 by 268 backers, far outpacing its $25,000 goal. It still has 16 days left. The app uses interactive voice and text conversation to communicate a personalized health plan via smartphone, tablet, desktop, smartwatch or any connected device. It can integrate with wearable fitness trackers or wellness apps.

One Drop Premium is a glucose meter with companion app. This one has almost a week left to reach its $50,000 goal and is currently at $38,031 from 179 backers. The offering consists of a lancing tool, drop meter, test strips and vegan leather carry case. The meter connects via Bluetooth to an iOS or Android application. Users sign up for a membership that offers 24/7 access to certified coaches and unlimited testing strips delivered each month.

Remora Tracking. This campaign is for a standalone tracking device to put on people, belongings or pets. Remora has 143 backers who have thus far pledged $22,276 of a $100,000 goal, with 32 days to go. It uses a built-in cellular signal that connects to a database using Google Maps. It started as a way for athletes to track themselves, but expanded to include just about anything. The device also has an impact sensor, which sends a notification to whomever may be tracking you. Users can put up “geo-fences” that alert the supervisor when those wearing Remora happen to move out of a preset area, like a preschool doorway, a yard, or anywhere else.

Airmony is a battery-powered hoseless CPAP machine designed with portability in mind. Five backers have contributed $3,447 to its $180,000 goal, with 18 days left. The idea came to CEO Jaume Palou after he had to cancel a trip due to an inability to carry and plug in his CPAP machine everywhere he went. Airmony doesn’t need to be plugged in, fits into hand luggage, and is purportedly user-friendly enough that it can be used by children. It continuously records physiological sleep parameters, providing data that can be stored on a smartphone or tablet, or sent to the doctor online.

WearSmith, a Bluetooth-enabled breathalyzer, is made by CoAsia Microelectronics in Taiwan. It has raised $2,929, from 32 backers, with a month to go to meet the $35,000 goal. The alcohol breath tester is a standalone device with a smartphone application that will analyze how long it takes the user to recover, counting down until they are sober enough to drive. The app will notify the user by linking to the tester via Bluetooth, or it can be used by itself, with the result shown on the OLED display. It’s designed to be slipped into a pocket or bag before a drinking occasion, and it only weighs 19 grams. 

nestCare
This suite of devices has raised $2,545 of its $50,000 goal, from eight backers, with 2 months left. The Bluetooth-enabled devices measure key vitals – a blood pressure cuff, smart scale, pulse oximeter and wearable activity tracker and medications reminder, come with an app for smartphones and tablets that aims to be a personal wellness coach and communication hub.

Mevo 
This fitness and health app for iOS and Android has 18 backers pledging $2,085 so far of a $20,000 goal, with 23 days to go. The voice-controlled app is aiming to replace several others. Tell it what you ate, what you plan to do for a workout, how many reps you do, etc. It will feature automated coaching based on goals and data you provide, quizzes and competitions, a library of recipes, meal plans, exercises.

Phyzit is a cloud-based solution for tracking the metrics surrounding transitional care management. The Kickstarter fund has raised $775 by seven backers, with a goal of $50,000. 35 days to go. Aimed at patients, hospital systems, family practice providers, internal medicine providers and cardiologist, the intuitive dashboard to track patients and help clinical staff stay on top of transitional care management deadlines or tasks.

Fit2U is an app to bring instructors of popular fitness programs and dance classes to the app user, wherever they are. It caters to the “non-gym-going individual” or those who are simply too busy. Eight backers have raised a total of $805 of the $25,520 goal, with 27 days to go. The app will connect users with an instructor in a variety of exercises or dance classes.

Alc Accounting 
This Kickstarter project bills itself as “An accountant in your pocket” – if the accountant only tracked alcohol. The mobile app has raised $625 from three backers, with 57 days to make its $10,000 goal. Alc Accounting is designed to keep track of drinking habits, whether its your blood alcohol content, calories consumed, or when and where you drank. The user selects the type of alcohol, then the specific brand or cocktail name from over 1,000 listed, the size and then scrolls through graphs, charts and maps to log everything about their drinking. The main reason the app needs funding is to cover the expenses of drafting “necessary legal documents for an app of this sort,” which includes privacy policies, terms of use and disclaimers.

SnapClarity, is a mental health app to reach a community with a suicide crisis. The project has 8 days left to reach a flexible goal of $25,000, $616 so far. The Terrace Wellness Group is working on the app to make therapy convenient and easily accessible to 100 kids in two at-risk Canadian communities, and it is crowdfunding to soft launch this summer. A pre-loaded smartphone will be given to the youth, with the ability to have an online chat with a professional therapist at any time. Healthcare professionals in the community will have access to the Terrace Wellness experts.

Never Be Alone
This is a heart attack app that works with smartphone and wearable heart rate monitor to constantly keep track of heart rate has raised $217 so far with a month left on a $50,000 flexible goal. If Never Be Alone detects an abnormal heart rate, it will initiate a countdown, and will end in a call to emergency services unless canceled by the user, family member or healthcare professional. If a user’s heart suddenly stops beating, Never Be Alone will immediately call 911 and dispatch emergency responders using the phone’s GPS. Medical data, current location and other information is converted from text-to-speech so the app can communicate over the phone on the user’s behalf. At launch, the company wants to include the Apple Watch and heart-sensing Fitbit devices. 

Warrior Distress App for Veterans 
These founders are working on an app to get mental health care to veterans, with the goal of ending the nation’s current rate of 22 veteran suicides per day by getting distressed veterans in touch with a peer counselor via text, email or phone. No one has pledged any money yet for this Kickstarter fund, which has 42 days to go to reach its $14,000 goal.