Sekoia is answering a cry for help

As the Western world faces longer life spans and lower birth rates, the demand for innovating welfare technologies is increasing.

By Sisse Melsen

Today there are four workers per pensioner in Europe. In 2025 there will be three. And in 2050 there will be two. In other words, we will experience a halving of the workforce to support Europe by the year 2050. Part of the solution to the problem can be innovative welfare technology.

Danish CareWare and Welfare Tech Innovation Network

Various initiatives are being taken in Denmark to meet the evolving need of more “nursing hands.” In the fall of 2014, the national network, Welfare Tech Innovation Network for Health and Welfare Technology, was founded by nine leading Danish organizations within the area. The network will pave the way for increased development, commercialization, and export of Danish health and welfare technology by providing easier access to knowledge and skills necessary for companies.

Another place where welfare technology is paramount is the welfare technology conference CareWare with its related innovation and startup competition. The aim of the conference and competition is to promote innovation and entrepreneurship within the welfare sector. 

“The core of what we do is to build bridges between the private and the public, with the self-reliant citizen in the center. We are part of the CareWare program to advise and support companies so that they ultimately can present competitive business models that can be exported and create growth in Denmark,” says Christian Graversen, CEO of Welfare Tech.

The municipalities have also taken initiatives to encourage more welfare innovation. In the recent financial agreement with the Danish government, all municipalities have committed to spending half a billion kroner on streamlining with the use of welfare technology until 2017.

“Very much knowledge is now enclosed in hospitals, municipalities, and especially in universities and other knowledge institutions. It can be difficult for companies to access this knowledge and put it into play. This is what we want to change,” says network manager Gunhild Sander Garsdal of the Welfare Tech Innovation Network for Health and Welfare Technology

The world’s best “point-of-care” platform

The Danish open software platform Sekoia has recently received a lot of attention as a startup within the field of welfare. The company has designed a simple, smart application system that eases the daily life for staff and citizens in the nursing sector. Sekoia is designed to help with everything from planning, rehabilitation, task and activity management, to video communication, telemedicine, and more.

During the last three years, the technology has matured with pioneering customers, and since in scale. The company is now established in more than 40 centers, and on a monthly basis it supports more than one million nursing tasks.

In March 2015, Sekoia landed a three million dollar investment from the venture company Northcap. The aforementioned performance combined with this solid capital contribution to help emphasise Sekoia’s position as the leading welfare technological platform for the elderly and for special care. The time is now, to introduce Sekoia abroad.

“The investment is a huge recognition. It helps us power our ambition of becoming the world’s best ‘point-of-care’ platform. We must now strengthen the team further, refine the product and continue our process into surrounding markets, where the need for our product is also constantly increasing,” says Ole Langvad Wessby, CEO of Danish welfare tech startup Sekoia. 

Regarding the reasons for investing in Sekoia partner in Northcap, Kim Wiencken explains: 

“The number of senior citizens is growing, and it creates a huge market opportunity for new welfare technologies like Sekoia. In Northcap we look forward to working with the company’s strong team around internationalization towards markets like England, Germany, and Scandinavia.”

Kim Wiencken also believes that Denmark is a hotbed for welfare technologies where Sekoia’s current customers have delivered a large input into the solution, now ready to be rolled out on a large scale in the international market.

Established in the Danish market

In record time Sekoia has managed to break through in the Danish market — a difficult market, as Wessby puts it. Both staff and users have taken it to heart. They find that Sekoia means quality improvement and fewer errors. You move time from the office and out to the citizen, where administrative and time-consuming tasks are replaced with more face-to-face communication and, thus, presence.

“It’s fantastic to get a working tool which can free employees from a lot of administrative work in the office and give them more time with citizens. At the same time, we have brand new pedagogical tools and the ability for a more evidence-based approach,” says a consultant on the special area for Sekoia.

Overall, Sekoia yields great savings for its users. In the Danish municipality Odense alone, the use of Sekoia’s technology is expected to release 1.5 million dollars annually.

Meet Brian Sandholdt, co-founder of Sekoia at TechBBQ in the Opera May 20. Get your ticket here