About our project
The problem we solve: 30 Million Americans suffer from Diabetes and cost $322 Billion a year to US Healthcare system. 33% and 25% of Medicare and Private Insurance spending respectively goes towards treating Diabetes. 1 in 3 Americans or about 86 Million are Prediabetic. Left untreated they will raise the cost of treating Diabetes to $514 Billion a year by 2025. Prediabetes is the definitive indicator of onset of Diabetes. Prediabetes can also lead to other health issues like heart disease, stroke, obesity, etc. Reversing prediabetes can result in patient longevity, improving quality of life and reducing healthcare costs by hundreds of billions a year.
About our solution:
If our competitors are the Ubers’ of Diabetes prevention, Akila Labs is building a driverless car! CDC has designed a program that helps 60% of participants reverse Prediabetes. The program is costly, even when technology is used, as it needs a driver (Health Coach) to work. We’ve developed a virtual health coach that uses AI/ML to deliver the benefits that far exceed a health coach. Akila’s cognitive learning loop uses the power of AI/ML to modify user behavior learnt from data generated by sensors, wearables, EHR, etc. Insights from our platform can discern patterns hitherto hidden from view, as these are data driven and protected from human biases. Akila’s health coach is proactive and uses all available AI/ML technologies to provide timely and simple intervention from Diet, Exercise, Activity, Mindfulness, Stress and Sleep. This is a scalable platform that can provide superior results for a fraction of the cost – this makes it an attractive product for global consumption.
Progress to
date:Akila Labs has completed the following milestones: 1. AI Engine has been built and implemented on AWS. 2. Prototype has been completed. 3. Concept and technology has been evaluated by experts. 4. Advisor from Mt. Sinai Hospital has come on board to help with product design and conducting clinical pilots. 5. MVP has been developed. 6. Review of product with potential users has been conducted with a lot of positive feedback. 7. Product is being readied for clinical pilot.
About Our Team
Creator: Lakshmi Anantharamu
Location: New York
Education: University of Colorado, Denver
Bio: Entrepreneur, Researcher and Computer Scientist applying Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning to create innovative solutions to solve vexing problems in Healthcare. Worked as Algorithmic Engineer for more than 15 years developing complex software and products, strong background in computer science research on Algorithms and excellent academic record.
Title: President
Advanced Degree(s): PhD
About Team Members
Prakash Hosalli
CEO, MBA
Biography: Seasoned technologist with more than 15 years of product, project, and program management experience. Extensive experience setting up teams to deliver products and services ranging from startups to Fortune 100 companies. Managed P&L of accounts worth $25 million annually for Oracle, Cognizant and TSYS.
Title: CEO
Advanced Degree(s): MBA
Twitter:
@nyc_prakash
LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/prakash-hosalli-19118a1
Elise Brett
Advisor, MD
Biography: Elise Brett, MD is a board-certified Endocrinologist and Associate Professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai and voluntary faculty at Lenox Hill Hospital. She's providing advisory on product features and clinical pilots.
Title: Advisor
Advanced Degree(s): MD
LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/elise-brett-91556225/
About Our Company
Challenge Mission
Affiliation(s)
The market size for our product spans the preventive medicine, corporate wellness, fitness, and health segments. We aim to focus on the Diabetes Prevention part to start and expand to other areas. Our product is also not limited to US geography and can be launched globally in short order. We consider 5 Million paid customers that we can acquire in 5 years to be our Total Market Opportunity. The total patient population for Prediabetes is 86 Million in US alone, a figure that has grown by 27% in a decade.
Key Milestones Achieved and Planned
We plan to acquire ~2 Million customers in 3 years across multiple geographies - US, India and Europe. Our revenue target for teh 3rd year is $60 Million,
Our Competitive Advantages
Revenue Model ? Direct to employers, provider referrals and payers (Medicare & Insurance). ? Direct to consumer – Freemium & Subscription ($9.99/month). ? Healthcare network like Solera Health.
Barriers to Entry
Akila Labs is building a driverless car, while our competitors strive to become the Ubers’ of Diabetes prevention! Some of pur competitors include Omada Health, Lyra Health, Blue Mesa Health, etc. CDC has designed a program that helps 60% of participants reverse Prediabetes. The program is costly, even when technology is used, as it needs a driver (Health Coach) to work. We’ve developed a virtual health coach that uses AI/ML to deliver benefits that far exceed a health coach. Akila’s cognitive learning loop uses the power of AI/ML to modify user behavior. Our technology is scalable and very cost effective. We'll charge $9.99 a month compared to $70 to $120 per month charged by our competitors. Our competitors are ill-equipped to launch their product in countries like India.
Funding, Partners and Alliances To Date
Innovation Details
Intellectual Property Summary
The IP of our company derives from an unique application of AI/ML and allied technologies - Mobile, Cloud, IoT (Wearables, Sensors), and Big Data to create a digital health coach. The product uses a range of Algorithms implemented for supervised and unsupervised learning of users' data as part of the AI engine. The expert system that encapsulates specialized rules and expert advisory is used in conjuction with the engine to provide health coaching.
Clinical Information
CDC designed Diabetes prevention is a proven program (http://bit.ly/1T6fNKk). Studies have also proven the effectiveness of digital Diabetes prevention programs that work in conjunction with a health coach (http://bit.ly/2f5QbhD, http://bit.ly/1FVZGqi, http://bit.ly/2cEEbV8, http://bit.ly/2eNoY4Q). These interventions are covered by Medicare (http://bit.ly/2aTMOuj).
Akila’s AI based virtual health coach is the next logical step in the evolution of digital intervention for Prediabetes. We propose that through our pilots, we will match the results proven by previous studies on the subject.
Regulatory Status
FDA as per it's guidelines issued on July 29, 2016 (http://bit.ly/1woYHau) makes it clear that Akila Health Coach will not require any specific FDA approval.
How we will use the funds raised
Utilization of funds from Seed Round
Complete development of product from MVP to full feature including the following (Cost $300,000). Duration 4-5 months.
- Digital coaches to include:
- Daily activity coach
- Weight loss coach
- Nutrition coach
- Sleep coach
- Stress coach
- Support group coach
- Analytics insights to tie all the data points into behavioral patterns.
- Coaching messages using behavioral experts.
- Expert system to manage co-morbidities.
- API integration for data collection (Fitbit, Misfit, LoseIt, etc).
- Integration with Google Voice & Sir.i
- Mobile App to tie all together.
Clinical Pilot & Beta release ($200,000). Duration 6-9 Month
- Clinical pilot at 1 to 3 locations - NYU, Montefiore, YMCA, etc.
- Limited release on Google & Apple App store.
Thank You
I'm an Entrepreneur, Researcher and Computer Scientist. I've used my experience as a Prediabetic patient who went through the CDC designed Prediabetes program, and my background as an AI Algorithmic Engineer to develop Akila. This is my answer to solving one of the big Healthcare problem using technology.
Akila means a wise girl in many languages and cultures, from Africa to Middle East to India. We want to Akila to become a personal health coach to anyone, anywhere in the world. Akila will guide you to become healthy, whatever your stage or status in life, without costing you a fortune. You may not be a star athlete that gets personalized care, but that shouldn't stop you from getting the same level of insights, using our AI platform.
