It was announced today that Dublin-based startup, Beats Medical has become the first Irish company to be invited to pitch at the prestigious Google Demo Day in Silicon Valley on November 2nd which will see 12 female-led startups from around the world pitch their businesses to over 100 investors, venture capitalists and judges at Google Headquarters.
The goal of Google Demo Day is to shine a light on innovation and showcase innovative female-led companies to Silicon Valley investors. Investor judges in previous years have included Steve Case, founder of AOL, who has personally invested $1.4 million in previous pitching companies and at Google latest event, vowed to invest a total of $1.1 million in pitching companies which included $100,000 for each startup that raised $1 million in the 100 days following the Demo day.
Google began running their annual Demo Days two years ago, having never featured an Irish company to date, and only two other European companies. It’s Women’s Edition was set up for highly innovative companies founded or co-founded by women and gives female entrepreneurs in high growth companies the opportunity to present to renowned technology investors.
Beats Medical was founded in 2012 and treats mobility, speech and fine hand movement symptoms of Parkinson’s disease which affects almost 10 million people worldwide.
The technology, which is the first app developed to treat Parkinson’s disease, provides a form of sound wave treatment called auditory cueing which has been used since the 1950’s to treat the walking symptoms of Parkinson’s disease such as shortened, shuffling steps and freezing. Beats Medical individually assesses and prescribes this treatment in the home daily via the mobile phone to help alleviate walking symptoms.
Ciara Clancy, CEO of Beats Medical, who is a finalist in this year’s EY Entrepreneur of the Year programme beat out more than 800 applicants from over 65 countries to secure her place at the Demo Day alongside female entrepreneurs from Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, India, Kenya, the Netherlands and the US.
Commenting on the opportunity, Ciara Clancy said that she hopes Google Demo Day will help build awareness for Beats Medical’s innovative technology and ultimately, help more people with Parkinson’s disease.
"I am honoured to have been given the opportunity to pitch at Google’s Demo Day. This event is an incredible platform for Beats Medical to showcase the technology that we have developed, and ultimately highlight how it can be used to help those living with Parkinson’s to have a better quality of life which is at the heart of everything that we do," she said.
Source: www.businessworld.ie
