08
de Juliol
de
2016
Act.
08
de Juliol
de
2016
There are almost 100,000 apps on the market related to physical activity and health that allow users to take steps to improve their nutrition and fitness, according to a study from the European Commission. The range is extensive, but not all of these tools have a specialist behind them to supervise one's diet. In order to obtain adequate results for each profile under the supervision of a nutritionist, the Catalan startup Diet Creator has come up with a mobile application that allows users to be monitored online and in real time.
The project was launched almost three and a half years ago, but in the form of desktop software. "At that time the platform was born in an advanced form because it allowed for interaction with the patient," the director and founder, Joaquín Torres, tells VIA Empresa "and now we have taken a step forward by creating more software that incorporates the latest innovations and that, moreover, can connect with any device."
All the hard work has now been recognised. In the Alimentaria 2016, food fair, the startup was one of those chosen for the second edition of the Prometheus acceleration programme from Reimagine Food.
Promoting the role of professionals
Diet Creator was initially aimed at professionals. In its everyday use, it requires equations and other calculations based on such variables as gender, age, weight, calorie consumption and energy expenditure throughout the day. It is a lot of numbers, but there are now no professionals who do not use the support of computers, among them this company's former project.
It is now seen as an old tool, miles away from the instant ease of mobile apps. For that reason, they decided to make the leap into producing a mobile app that is more modern and that allows professionals "to find a place in the digital world." "Our aim is to bring to the digital world all the tools and algorithms necessary to make nutritional evaluations and to interact in real time with the patient so that the nutritionist can be digitally present," adds Torres.
The user in mind
The app will appear on the market in the autumn, but it is now just about ready and will be available for smartphones, tablets and wearables like Fitbit, which will provide exact information about energy expenditure in real time. "It will do what nutritional software has always done, but with the use of new technology and the capability to connect with any device," he points out.
Thanks to these innovations, the patient will be able to see his or her energy expenditure through the app's interface as well as the recipes that the nutritionist recommends in order for them to eat balanced meals. In other words, the market will have new collaborative software in which the knowledge produced comes from the bringing together of data from the patient with the calculations made by the professional, and all at a distance.
It could also be a good moment to pick up a project that was left half-done. It deals with a marketplace that was thought up in 2013, but dropped despite "selling a lot" because there was no mobile version and everything had to be done from a computer. The aim was to bring together all of the nutritionists that used Diet Creator so that patients could contact the ones they wanted to talk to online. Now, with the current growth, Torres sees picking up the idea again as viable: "We want to create a solid infrastructure to go places and turn it into a useful tool."
All of this leads Torres to say that they were born "as a knowledge company." "Sales were not the priority, first we wanted to overcome some difficult challenges in order to become global, and now that we have done our homework, we can come out and present ourselves as a useful, functional and complete tool adapted to everyone's needs. You have to provide easy solutions on the internet. We are in a very important process of revolution," he concludes.
Software with international ambitions
Until now, some 200 nutritionists in Spain and Latin America use the tool, and they have even had orders from the United States. And apart from converting the old software into a more interactive tool better adapted to the needs of professionals and users, the leap in quality means that this upgrade also includes food tables from other countries.
That allows them to attend to orders from North American clients, which use the USDA system to evaluate the nutritional value of foods, while also providing a tool for professionals all over Europe, where there are also different tables and foodstuffs adapted to each area and each type of consumption.
The fact of providing suitable information for specialists all over the world and fostering interaction with patients through wearables makes Diet Creator a unique tool. "We do not have a lot of competition in our field because we offer user experience, functionality and power in the processing of data," says the director.
Two people for a big project
The team is made up of Joquín Torres himself and an engineer. Both work fulltime but they are aware that with the growth they want to achieve from September, they will need to increase the staff. At the same time, they think that having grown with limited resources is a positive thing: "We can go ahead even without investors. If we don't get the round, we do not die; I don't think just any startup can say that."
The company was set up almost four and half years ago and since then Torres estimates that they have invested 130,000 euros. "I put in 50,000 euros from my own pocket and the partners contributed another 80,000 euros," he recalls.
The project was launched almost three and a half years ago, but in the form of desktop software. "At that time the platform was born in an advanced form because it allowed for interaction with the patient," the director and founder, Joaquín Torres, tells VIA Empresa "and now we have taken a step forward by creating more software that incorporates the latest innovations and that, moreover, can connect with any device."
All the hard work has now been recognised. In the Alimentaria 2016, food fair, the startup was one of those chosen for the second edition of the Prometheus acceleration programme from Reimagine Food.
Promoting the role of professionals
Diet Creator was initially aimed at professionals. In its everyday use, it requires equations and other calculations based on such variables as gender, age, weight, calorie consumption and energy expenditure throughout the day. It is a lot of numbers, but there are now no professionals who do not use the support of computers, among them this company's former project.
It is now seen as an old tool, miles away from the instant ease of mobile apps. For that reason, they decided to make the leap into producing a mobile app that is more modern and that allows professionals "to find a place in the digital world." "Our aim is to bring to the digital world all the tools and algorithms necessary to make nutritional evaluations and to interact in real time with the patient so that the nutritionist can be digitally present," adds Torres.
The user in mind
The app will appear on the market in the autumn, but it is now just about ready and will be available for smartphones, tablets and wearables like Fitbit, which will provide exact information about energy expenditure in real time. "It will do what nutritional software has always done, but with the use of new technology and the capability to connect with any device," he points out.
Thanks to these innovations, the patient will be able to see his or her energy expenditure through the app's interface as well as the recipes that the nutritionist recommends in order for them to eat balanced meals. In other words, the market will have new collaborative software in which the knowledge produced comes from the bringing together of data from the patient with the calculations made by the professional, and all at a distance.
It could also be a good moment to pick up a project that was left half-done. It deals with a marketplace that was thought up in 2013, but dropped despite "selling a lot" because there was no mobile version and everything had to be done from a computer. The aim was to bring together all of the nutritionists that used Diet Creator so that patients could contact the ones they wanted to talk to online. Now, with the current growth, Torres sees picking up the idea again as viable: "We want to create a solid infrastructure to go places and turn it into a useful tool."
All of this leads Torres to say that they were born "as a knowledge company." "Sales were not the priority, first we wanted to overcome some difficult challenges in order to become global, and now that we have done our homework, we can come out and present ourselves as a useful, functional and complete tool adapted to everyone's needs. You have to provide easy solutions on the internet. We are in a very important process of revolution," he concludes.
Software with international ambitions
Until now, some 200 nutritionists in Spain and Latin America use the tool, and they have even had orders from the United States. And apart from converting the old software into a more interactive tool better adapted to the needs of professionals and users, the leap in quality means that this upgrade also includes food tables from other countries.
That allows them to attend to orders from North American clients, which use the USDA system to evaluate the nutritional value of foods, while also providing a tool for professionals all over Europe, where there are also different tables and foodstuffs adapted to each area and each type of consumption.
The fact of providing suitable information for specialists all over the world and fostering interaction with patients through wearables makes Diet Creator a unique tool. "We do not have a lot of competition in our field because we offer user experience, functionality and power in the processing of data," says the director.
Two people for a big project
The team is made up of Joquín Torres himself and an engineer. Both work fulltime but they are aware that with the growth they want to achieve from September, they will need to increase the staff. At the same time, they think that having grown with limited resources is a positive thing: "We can go ahead even without investors. If we don't get the round, we do not die; I don't think just any startup can say that."
The company was set up almost four and half years ago and since then Torres estimates that they have invested 130,000 euros. "I put in 50,000 euros from my own pocket and the partners contributed another 80,000 euros," he recalls.