ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: HABBIE IS BREAKING NEW GROUND FOR DIGITAL REHAB

DigitalWell Ventures Accelerator are following the journeys of our alumni companies with great interest and strive to support them in their endeavors. Today, we shine the spotlight on one of our outstanding alumni companies, Habbie HealthTech, and their successful journey since graduating from our accelerator program in December 2022.

Digital rehabilitation and motivational training for everyone

Habbie Tech, founded by Martin Larsson, Tobias Norén Hallin, Hans Paulsson and Janne Persson in 2022, embarked on their entrepreneurial journey with a vision to transform the way rehabilitation is seen today. By developing an easy-to-follow, video-assisted digital training tool, Habbie is making the lives of patients, caregivers and physiotherapists easier: in Habbie’s app, a digital physiotherapist guides the patient through individually tailored training sessions.

At the same time as the patient sees the instructions, the patient also sees him/herself as a mirror, with a camera and can easily follow along with the exercises. When the training session is complete, the patient can give feedback to their physiotherapist about their experience of the training via a simple button press or a voice message. The app also ensures compliance with the exercise program – if the camera does not “catch” the patient doing the exercise in real-time, it will simply not move to the next exercise.

***Habbie’s rehabilitation tool in action:*** with Habbie, the user sees himself and an instructor, and trains together in real time – without anyone having to be on site. The training is carried out more correctly and above all – it gets done!

Habbie’s recognition by the Swedish municipalities

After graduating from DigitalWell Ventures Accelerator in December 2022, Habbie continued to acquire more customers in the municipalities that have first tested Habbie’s tool as a pilot for their service digitalization projects. Most of them were so satisfied with the tool, that they are now discussing continuing with the implementation of the app – Region Västerbotten, Arvika kommun, Oxelösunds Kommun, Gagnefs kommun och Falköpings kommun are just some of the examples. Vingåkers kommun is another happy user of Habbie, which sees Habbie’s training tool as key to strengthening the health of the municipality’s seniors.

Another test with Oxelösunds Kommun’ dementia care facility has shown that, regardless of the stage of dementia, residents could train on their own thanks to Habbie’s simple user interface and guiding training program.

Habbie is already used today in rehabilitation in regions and municipalities, but preventive training is unfortunately often missing in regional and municipal health care. The test with a large group of users for preventative training in spring and summer has also shown promising results, with more than 80 percent of users finding it easy and intuitive to train with Habbie, and over 80 percent confirming that the motivation to exercise increased with the help of Habbie’s tool.

*Vingåkers kommun,* ***one of the municipalities in Sweden using Habbie’s tool***

B2B offering and a proof of scalability

n addition to the work with the public sector, Habbie is also exploring partnerships with private companies. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the increase in sedentary behavior resulted in an average of 75 percent of the employees not meeting the recommended physical activity goals. Luckily, an increasing number of companies are trying to take care of the personnel by working preventatively, and Habbie is currently working on developing a special B2B offer to help the company’s employees get back on track with their training programs. One of the most recent examples is a collaboration between Habbie and FYSALL AB which serves as proof of a joint training offer to companies, with employees getting access to a digital training buddy when and where they want.

DigitalWell Award recognition

Among the recognition with clients, Habbie also triumphed in the Data & Digital Technology category of DigitalWell Award in the summer. The award came in recognition of Habbie’s innovative work, and we at DigitalWell Ventures couldn’t be prouder of our accelerator company for achieving such a tremendous milestone!

“Through the use of digital technology, Habbie provides support and guidance for individuals requiring physical training to boost their health. Collaborating with healthcare providers, patients, and research entities, Habbie has developed a user-centric experience for both individuals and healthcare providers. This approach offers an overview to providers that allows continuous adaptation and follow-up for each user. Their solution not only motivates the user, but also contributes to greater adherence to treatment plans and enhances individual self-capacity.”

*See Habbie’s nomination speech:* ***https://dreambroker.com/channel/w472itv9/ydiwhu9***

Unique user experience and ease of use

According to Habbie’s CTO Tobias Norén Hallin, the whole design process for Habbie from the beginning was about simplifying and prioritizing what is needed to get the training done, not just adding more and more features.

Simplicity together with the experience of training with another person, even though it is pre-recorded, and the possibility to see yourself and easily give a message or feedback to your physiotherapist.

With the app, the training program takes a pause when the person is not in front of the screen, ensuring adherence to the training.

*News piece featuring positive feedback on Habbie’s training app from both client and physiotherapist*

Future markets and plans

On the technical development side, Habbie is currently implementing Bank-ID as a login method for patients, healthcare administrators and physiotherapists as a response to security demands and to ensure ease of use for patients who do not have like a physical contact with healthcare, so they can use their own device and still logging into the Habbie app. The integration Habbie is using for Bank-ID also has multiple options to be implemented in other countries (countries own the electronic signing solutions). Therefore, it shows itself to be a scalable technical solution as well.

Habbie’s team is also working with translation and internet internationalization of the interfaces. They now have the patient app in English, and it is prepared for other languages as well. The admin part is available in English, too, and can be translated in other languages to come hand in hand with the upcoming contacts in other countries and markets – something that can be adjusted depending on a business’ roadmap and the company’s priorities.

*Hedla Rehab, the new client of Habbie in Spain*

As per the scientific evidence, Habbie is currently working with a team of scientists in the Netherlands who are measuring motivation based on different kinds of training and coaching, such as comparing the adherence to Habbie’s training program compared to, for example, having a live coach, or pre-recorded exercises or video training.

Conclusion

The success of Habbie HealthTech, one of DigitalWell Venture’s distinguished alumni companies, is a testament to the power of innovation and perseverance. We are immensely proud of their journey and look forward to celebrating more of their achievements in the future.

We encourage you to connect with Habbie’s founders on LinkedIn and stay tuned for more updates on their startup journey. Remember, their story is just one of the success stories that have emerged from the DigitalWell Ventures Accelerator, and we remain committed to nurturing and supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs.