Louth startup Pillaxia, which helps patients manage medications effectively, has been selected to represent Irish tech startups at Web Summit 2024 in Lisbon.
Pillaxia is one of 36 Irish startups being showcased globally by Web Summit – the world’s biggest tech events business – at its flagship technology gathering in the Portuguese capital next month.
Pillaxia has been recognised for its potential to shape the future of technology and innovation – and to help build a future wave of home-grown tech firms which will ensure jobs and prosperity for the region.
The startup was created when Drogheda native Stephanie Esambe, who holds multiple science qualifications from Trinity College Dublin, turned her own experience of struggling to manage medication into a service for anyone facing the same issues.
Pillaxia is planning to launch its new product early next year, and Stephanie said that being selected for the Irish Startup Initiative was a huge boost in her company’s journey.
“We are absolutely thrilled to be selected for the Irish Startup Network initiative and to attend Web Summit this year,” Stepahanie said. “This is a fantastic opportunity for us to showcase our work on an international stage and connect with potential partners, investors, and other leaders in the tech industry.
“Attending Web Summit will allow us to gain invaluable exposure, expand our network, and learn from global innovators pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in technology – as well as potentially winning new customers, securing investment or creating business partnerships.”
More than 70,000 attendees, 3,000 startups and 500 investors from around the world will attend the Lisbon event, which sees many attending startups secure international contracts, investment or business partnerships.
Web Summit, which is headquartered in Dublin and now employs over 300 people worldwide, has committed to bringing the selected Irish startups to the Lisbon event as part of its efforts to support Ireland’s tech ecosystem. Web Summit has said it wants to help ensure that founders here in Ireland are supported as they seek to build the tech firms of the future.
As part of the Irish Startup Network initiative, Pillaxia will receive a complimentary startup package to exhibit at Web Summit Lisbon, including full access to the three-day event, as well as an exclusive space on the event floor and dedicated pre-event support to get the most out of the experience.
Since being founded, Pillaxia has gained recognition for its innovative solutions in the medtech industry. In the initial phase of their journey, Pillaxia achieved recognition by making it to the Regional Shortlist for the 2022 National Startup Awards in the Medtech Startup category.
The company was born out of her background in drug development and research and both her and her sister’s personal experience of navigating their health challenges and managing medication and prescriptions with apps that were not fit for purpose.
As an undergraduate, Stephanie studied functional biology at Trinity College, Dublin. She then went on to secure a Masters in translational oncology – which she explained covers the basics of cancer, treatment, research and drug development. “I then got a job in pharma at Pfizer on the drug manufacturing side in Clondalkin,” she said. “It was cool to see how much goes into making the medications and seeing the scale of what it takes to make the drugs and get it to the patients.”
However her life was transformed by a series of painful setbacks. “At the beginning of my career I had two car accidents and also suffered a sexual assault which greatly impacted my mental health,” she said. “I suddenly found myself on the other side of the drugs industry, managing my own medication.”
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It was during this period that Stephanie realised how limited the resources for helping patients manage medication were – and not just for those suffering from mental health challenges. “In my journey of managing my medication, I was also looking at my sister who lives with the neurological disorder Hydrocephalus: she has undergone over 20 surgeries and takes a huge stack of regular medications,” said Stepahnie. “I just felt that a lot of the medication tracking apps were cold and impersonal and there had to be a better, more flexible way to do it.
“And so I developed Pillaxia, an innovative medication management app designed to simplify the process of managing multiple medications and improve health outcomes with personalised reminders, tracking, educational resources, fostered collaboration among patients, and your own AI health companion, Angela.”
Stephanie explained that she has been funding the company’s early development herself – an increasingly popular approach known in the tech industry as ‘bootstrapping’. “So far I have been bootstrapping everything myself, that’s just how it has developed but we have an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) and are currently trialling conducting a trial study and hoping to launch early next year so I’m very excited by what Web Summit can offer to take Pillaxia to the next level,” Stephanie said.
Web Summit Lisbon, taking place from November 11-14, 2024, is one of the world’s largest and most influential tech conferences, attracting over 70,000 attendees, including top industry leaders, investors, and media. In addition to the Lisbon event, Web Summit also hosts global tech conferences in Qatar, Rio de Janeiro and Vancouver – making it the world’s biggest technology events company.