Roundup: Breathe Well-being Diabetes Education App Brings in $6M or More

Breathe Well-being receives $6 million in funding ahead of Series B

India-based diabetes startup Breathe Well-being has raised $6 million (Rs. 500 million) in a pre-Series B round led by 3One4 Capital, Accel and General Catalyst.

The company, launched in 2020, focuses on behavior and lifestyle changes to reduce and reverse the risk of type 2 diabetes. It offers a clinically proven digital program personalized for each user, as well as coaching support and gaming content. It has been clinically proven to help lower HbA1c levels, lose weight, and reduce patients’ dependence on medications.

The company says it will use its new funds to expand its core team, strengthen its health coaching academy, scale its platform, and improve user experience.

New Pillwork Supplement App Launches

A new mobile app in South Korea helps users buy health supplements.

The Pillwork app is now available on iOS and Android devices and provides reliable information on approximately 20,000 nutritional supplements on its platform. It contains blogs, articles and encyclopedias and allows users to share their opinions about the product which others can check and review.

The application distributes products into categories for easy search, and also determines the risk of using a particular product for a particular disease.

Pillwork also has experts who can give advice to users, as well as provide AI-generated information that users may need. In addition, it can also scan finished pill vials and provide information about them instantly.

Artificial lens in South Korea can diagnose Alzheimer’s disease

The Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM) has developed an intraocular lens that can diagnose Alzheimer’s disease at an early stage.

Developed in collaboration with Yongin Severance Hospital at Yonsei University and Gangnam Severance Hospital, the implantable artificial lens is made from a biosensitive hydrogel that exhibits a moiré pattern in response to a targeted biomarker for Alzheimer’s disease.

Its pattern detection does not require the use of electrochemical or fluorescent labels, which are commonly used in other biosensors, as well as external power or light sources.

The study, which is supported by the Nanomaterials Technology Development Project of the Ministry of Science and ICT of South Korea, was published in the biomaterials journal Bioactive Materials.