MindMate – a free health and lifestyle app is aimed at people who suffer from Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, brain injury and other forms of cognitive decline – was set up in 2015. Patrick Renner and Susanne Mitschke were volunteering in care centres while fellow co-founder Roger Arellano was helping his grandfather, who was living with Alzheimer’s. The MindMate team work with experts at Glasgow University to offer users a range of activities, including memory training, health tips and workouts.
Name: Patrick Renner
Age: 29
Position: Co-founder
WHAT’S YOUR BUSINESS CALLED?
MindMate
WHERE IS IT BASED?
Glasgow
WHY DID YOU SET UP THE BUSINESS?
WE wanted to develop a mobile app for other caregivers like themselves.
With the help of Dr Terry Quinn from the University of Glasgow’s Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences, we began to translate contemporary research in Dementia care into an actionable, digital platform.
We are three co-owners all with different experience. We volunteered in Germany and all had different experiences with dementia.
The team is from Germany and Mexico and we met studying in Glasgow.
We all have business and engineering degrees so we are tech people but we work with the University of Glasgow for research purposes.
Scotland is a unique place for a company with the level of support businesses are offered. I’ve lived in lots of different places – Germany, the US and Mexico and I think in Scotland we have a unique spot for a business with lots of help available. It is a nice country.
We joined the young innovators challenge and competitions for money to put into development. We have now raised over £2 million from investors in the UK and US. We had great support from support organisations such as Scottish Institute for Enterprise, EIE, Scottish Enterprise and TechStars in the US, one of the world’s leading accelerator programmes.
HOW DOES IT WORK ?
THE app is based on the Alzheimer’s finger study – which reveals that physical exercise, brain games, nutrition and social interaction can delay the onset of Alzheimer’s or delay it in the first place.
The app is free. We make money by partnering with research organisations who are using the data to help find a cure for Alzheimer’s.
We got pretty good feedback when we launched. We have one million users and a 4.8 rating. Our study with Glasgow University confirms that patients who use the app have a better quality of life. We partnered with societies and charities like Dementia UK to reach the first 100 users and did lots of press and promotion on social media.
HOW IS IT DIFFERENT FROM COMPETING BUSINESSES?
IT is a holistic app for health and doesn’t just focus on brain training. It combines all things. We focus on the 50+ demographic. To do this we made the font bigger and the menu and navigation is easier to use. There’s lots of things to be aware of in this age group.
WHAT IS YOUR TARGET MARKET?
AT first we focused on people with Alzheimer’s and dementia diagnoses but realised the app can also be used for preventative purposes.
WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT RUNNING THE BUSINESS?
I PERSONALLY think we have found a good spot for a profitable business. Helping people is a nice thing to do.
WHERE DO YOU HOPE THE BUSINESS WILL BE IN 10 YEARS’ TIME?
IN 10 years I want us to be growing as quickly as possible.
We want to launch different apps for different conditions so have a broad portfolio of health apps eventually.
We currently have 10 employees and are already in the process of hiring two engineers.
We are hoping to have more than 50 employees eventually. We already have an office in California which is very different to Scotland as it is always sunny!
In 10 years I see the company’s headquarters staying in Scotland but having offices all over the world.
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