Croatian Startup Bellabeat to Invest $10m in Scientific Research, Health Startups Focused on Postnatal Depression

Croatian startup Bellabeat, known for its fitness tracking and wearable technology products, will invest $10 million in scientific research, medical, and health startups that offer solutions dealing with postnatal depression, the company said in a press release. The fund will be deployed to selected candidates over a one-year period.

According to data compiled by Bellabeat, three out of 10 women globally have to deal with postnatal depression at some point of their lives. More often than not, however, this condition is diagnosed too late, making the postnatal journey for many women much harder than it needs to be. The goal of the $10-million fund is to empower women and help them reach the best possible health and wellness, which can be achieved by putting forward issues that are not talked about enough.

Developing advanced algorithms

Bellabeat is developing algorithms that will detect conditions such as postnatal depression early on and detect when young mothers need help. Besides their own, in-house research, the startup is investing up to $10 million in innovative solutions from various scientific and medical projects with promising potential in the maternal health field. Potential beneficiaries are scientific researchers, health, and medical startups, as well as creators of innovative therapies.

Earlier, the company said they have developed an algorithm that can predict stress resistance on any given day. According to the description, the algorithm can predict critical stress days based on user-generated data such as amount of sleep, exercise, etc.

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The Belabeat story

Bellabeat, known mainly for their smart jewelry, was set up back in 2014 by Croatian mathematician Sandro Mur and Slovenian artist Urška Sršen. Currently, the company has about 70 employees, with 65% of them being women. The company operates from Zagreb and is legally based in the US.

Bellabeat was the first Croatian startup to reach a record $4.5 million US dollar seed investment from Silicon Valley investors in 2014, and the first to hit a record $6.5 million sales contract. In 2018, the company got $14.2 million in a Series A funding round.

So far, they have sold two million of their products, and their main market is the US.