AI Memory Therapy With Real Clinical Impact: How Kompanion Care Turns Personal Loss Into Scalable Dementia Innovation

with Peter Markus

Healthcare investors spend a lot of time looking for the next breakthrough. The next molecule. The next platform. The next source of asymmetric upside. Yet the truth is simple and inconvenient. A large part of our global disease burden does not need more molecules. It needs better execution.

Dementia is one of those areas. We have very few therapeutic options. We have millions of families suffering through slow, painful decline. And we have a care ecosystem that is not built for the scale of what is coming. The demographic curve is irreversible. The needs are immediate. The system is not prepared.

This is why the story of Kompanion Care matters. It is a story that does not start with technology. It starts with loss. Two founders, two grandmothers, two families navigating the emotional and practical chaos that dementia brings. Out of that personal experience came an idea. And from that idea came a product that bridges clinical psychology, AI, and real-world care delivery.

What impressed me most is not only what they built, but how they built it. This is not another wellbeing app. It is a certified medical device supported by clinical trials, regulatory discipline, and a reimbursement strategy grounded in real evidence.

The Core Problem: Dementia Is Already the Next Global Epidemic

Every country with an aging population is moving toward the same cliff. Longer life expectancy does not mean healthier life expectancy. Neurodegenerative disorders, especially Alzheimer's disease, are growing faster than the system can respond.

Three major forces are driving this shift:

1. Aging populations worldwide.

Japan, South Korea, Germany, Italy, France, Singapore, and China are leading the demographic curve. This means more elderly individuals are at risk for dementia, depression, and social isolation. Asia will soon be the epicenter of global aging.

2. Limited access to therapists.

Even in the wealthiest countries, the number of trained therapists specializing in cognitive decline is far below what the patient population requires. Waiting lists are long. Care is fragmented. Families are left alone.

3. Rising economic burden.

Dementia drains national budgets faster than oncology. The cost is not drug-related. It is care-related. Nursing homes. Long-term support. Lost productivity. Emotional and financial burnout in families.

This is where Kompanion Care enters with a pragmatic and scalable solution. They did not attempt to cure dementia. They focused on what actually changes patient outcomes today: reducing loneliness, improving mood, engaging memory pathways, and slowing decline through clinically proven therapy.

The Founders: Experience Before Hype

When I evaluate early-stage companies, the first filter is simple. Does this founder know how to execute

Peter Markus does. He built and scaled a computer vision company to 60 employees. It was acquired by a US unicorn. He then co-founded Kompanion Care with Ali, another founder with a strong track record. Both come from the world of operational scale, engineering discipline, and applied AI.

They did not start this company to chase trends. They started it because dementia hit their families. Their motivation is not abstract. It is personal. That matters, especially in clinical innovation.

The Technology: AI-Powered Reminiscence Therapy That Works

Kompanion Care’s product, Lilia, is built on a therapeutic method known as reminiscence therapy. This is not a new concept. It has been used for more than 60 years in clinical settings. Its purpose is clear: help patients re-engage with the past through stories, photos, and personal events in order to reduce depression and apathy.

The challenge has always been scalability. Traditional therapy requires trained professionals, structured sessions, and physical presence. Most elderly people do not have access to this at all.

Lilia changes that.

Here is what makes it unique:

1. Family-centered memory collection.

Family members upload photos and stories into a dedicated WhatsApp group. Lilia interacts with them, asks follow-up questions, clarifies context, and extracts meaningful details. This builds a personalized memory library.

2. AI transforms raw content into guided therapy sessions.

Lilia uses these materials to build interactive sessions delivered through a simple, elderly friendly application. Large buttons, easy navigation, voice-based interaction, and an avatar that speaks naturally. There is no friction. Even non-digital users can engage.

3. Proven impact on mood-related symptoms.

Apathy, depression, loneliness. These are not small problems. They accelerate cognitive decline. By improving these symptoms, memory therapy can meaningfully slow deterioration.

4. Medical certification, not consumer hype.

Kompanion Care did the difficult work. They obtained European Class I medical device certification. They completed a proof-of-concept study. And they have launched a multicenter clinical trial in France and Hungary with support from leading geriatric hospitals.

For AI in healthcare, this is rare. Most companies ship products before evidence. Kompanion Care built evidence before scale.

Clinical Trials: The Real Test of Discipline

Investors often underestimate the value of a founder who embraces clinical validation instead of avoiding it. It signals long-term thinking. It signals confidence. And it creates an immediate barrier to entry.

Kompanion Care’s current multicenter clinical trial includes:

• 100 patients

• 8 clinical sites

• Leading university hospitals in France

• Top geriatricians overseeing design and evaluation

This study will evaluate the therapeutic effect of Lilia on mood-related symptoms, cognitive stability, and user engagement.

This is the foundation for reimbursement. Europe, especially France and Germany, is investing heavily in digital therapeutics. The combination of AI, psychotherapy, and remote monitoring puts Kompanion Care in a position to become one of the first scalable AI therapy tools reimbursed by national health systems.

Why This Matters for Investors

There are three reasons Kompanion Care is strategically relevant for healthcare investors.

1. It solves a high-cost, large-scale problem

Dementia is expensive, not because of drugs, but because of care. A tool that meaningfully improves daily functioning or reduces decline can generate massive cost savings for insurers, governments, and families.

2. It fits the global pivot toward prevention

Healthcare systems cannot afford to treat dementia only after symptoms are severe. Prevention and early detection are where the returns will be.

3. It has a credible pathway to clinical and commercial traction

Founders with a successful exit. A certified medical device. Real clinical trials. Early traction in Europe. A strong position for Asia and the US.

This is the difference between a startup and an investable company. One has potential. The other has execution.

The Future: Digital Biomarkers and Continuous Monitoring

The most exciting part of Kompanion Care is not the therapy. It is what comes next.

As users interact with Lilia, the system collects speech samples, facial expressions, gesture patterns, and cognitive responses. These become digital biomarkers that can track changes in memory, attention, emotional stability, and cognitive decline.

This data can:

Detect early decline long before families notice it

Provide real-world evidence for pharma companies

Support adherence monitoring for Alzheimer's drugs

Guide clinicians with continuous patient insights

This transforms Lilia from a therapy tool into a long-term monitoring platform. It creates a feedback loop that is valuable for families, clinicians, and industry partners.

This is where the real scale lies.

Why Not Direct to Consumer

Generalist investors often ask why Kompanion Care does not go straight to consumers. The answer is simple.

Dementia is a sensitive disease. There is denial, fear, and stigma. Families do not search for dementia tools online until it is too late. Trust must come through clinicians, caregivers, or validated channels.

Direct-to-consumer might grow fast. It will not grow sustainably. Medical adoption requires medical credibility.

Kompanion Care understands this. That is why they work with clinicians, elderly homes, and national health systems instead of jumping into generic advertising.

It is the disciplined path. And it is the only path that builds long-term value.

The Asian Opportunity

Asia will be the future center of global aging. Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and China are facing demographic shifts at a speed Europe saw decades ago. The demand for dementia care is enormous.

Kompanion Care already has investors in Singapore. Their product is language-adaptable. The regulatory framework for digital health in Asia is maturing quickly.

This region represents one of the most attractive future vectors for growth.

What Kompanion Care Needs Next

The founders were clear. Two things matter most right now:

1. Seed investment to maintain momentum

Clinical trials, product development, and regulatory expansion require capital. Because they are a medical device, their timeline is longer than a typical SaaS product. But their upside and defensibility are far greater.

2. Talent

Growing a medical AI company requires engineers, clinical operators, and regulatory experts. With the right funding, their team can scale responsibly.

This is exactly the moment when professional investors add the most value, not with capital alone, but with infrastructure, execution, clinical networks, and regulatory support.

Kompanion Care represents the type of innovation that will define the next decade in healthcare. It is practical, evidence-based, and scalable. It focuses on real patient needs. It builds on proven science. And it applies AI where AI can genuinely improve lives.

I invest in founders who combine vision with discipline. People who understand that clinical innovation is not a sprint, but a system. Kompanion Care is exactly that.

Their mission is simple. Help millions of people feel less lonely, less depressed, and more connected to the life they still have. There are few missions more important.

And with the right partners, it is achievable.

Timecode:

00:00 Introduction and Guest Introduction

00:23 Peter Markus's Background and Career Journey

01:26 The Birth of Kompanion Care

04:31 Innovative Technology Behind Lilia Platform

11:41 Challenges and Importance of Medical Software

15:23 Current Progress and Future Plans

22:17 Investment and Market Strategy

37:28 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Links:

Peter M. Kovacs LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petermkovacs/

Peter M. Kovacs Personal Website:https://www.petermkovacs.com/

PMK Group Website: https://www.pmk-group.com/

Guests:

Péter Márkus: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pmarkus/

Kompanion Care: https://www.kompanioncare.com/

Transcript:

Peter M. Kovacs: So, hello, it's, uh, Peter M Kovacs from PMK Ventures and PMK Group. I'm very happy to be here, uh, with Peter Markus, the founder of Kompanion Care. They, they produce a really, really interesting and very innovative, uh, product to treat and help for patients with Alzheimer's disease. Uh, Peter, can you introduce yourself and your, your company?

Peter Markus: Yes, of course. Thank you for the invitation. I'm happy to be here and. So the question was like to introduce myself a little bit and my company. So I graduated from Corvinus University here in Budapest. Uh, I did investment analysis and risk management. Then I worked a couple of years, uh, for the Boston Consulting Group as management consultant.

And then I joined the French startup company called Planorama, uh, which was doing a computer vision solution for retailers. I founded the Hungarian subsidiary and built, scaled it up to like 60 people or 70 people when we get acquired by an American, uh, unicorn company called Trax Retail. Trax retail was one of our biggest competitors.

They decided that, uh, we are too big of a threat for them in Europe, so they decided to acquire us quickly to eliminate this threat and to buy market and talent. And, uh, actually that's how I met my co-founder Ali, his company, which was called Qopius. It was also acquired by Trax retail. He, they were doing a similar solution just with robots com compared to us.

And then we worked together a couple of years and we decided that, okay, maybe, uh, we should start a new company and. During some of the personal cafeteria discussions, it came up that both of our grandmothers suffered from Alzheimer's disease and it took a big toll on, on both of us and our families, and we, we kind of felt the need that we want to do something to, to ease this pain and to ease this process, not just for the, for the elderly loved one, but also for the family as well.

And that was the emergence of large language models and chat GPT. And we thought, oh, okay, this might be a cool technology which we can use to solve, or at least to help somehow with this problem. And that's how the idea of Kompanion Care came, and that's how we started this whole journey with my co-founder Ali.

Peter M. Kovacs: So it, it means that you are not the, the starting, you're not just started. So, so you are experienced the startup funder, so it is not the, the, the first job you are doing. Indeed. 

Peter Markus: It's not my first rodeo to put it that way. Yeah. Uh, I built, uh, the previous com company carried up. It was quite a successful exit for all of us.

And then we decided we want to build something which is beneficial both for society and also good business opportunity. Plus since we also have this personal connection and personal struggle, I mean, everything came together and we felt motivated to, to build Kompanion Care. 

Peter M. Kovacs: It's very nice to hear that the Successful Exit is the best track record that the investor we can see.

And then we are checking during our professional due diligence that you already had a very, very nice exit. And it is always promising. You know, many startup companies, they are failing. It's over 70, 90% of the failure rate. Because many cases the the team is not experienced in, in your case, it's. Stick that, that you are experienced.

There is a really, a, the success is is there in, in your story. And it's, it's very important. On the other hand, the, the technology, the technology is very important. Uh, there is now very huge hype of ai. But as I see, and as I, I, as I saw, uh, from, from your, uh, presentations and, uh, seeing your, your product, it's, it's, it's, it's really innovative.

It's a very, very good technology. And, um, and it's, it's very important for, for this population, which is growing very, very, very, uh, quickly. So the aging population, not just in Europe, but especially in Asia, uh, where we are focusing now, um, next to the European market, I think it's, it's a really essential tool and we are very happy to see something.It's, it's moving forward. CNS, which is our core focus, neurology, it's, it's very difficult. There is no treatment options. So any help, any small piece of help or hope, I think it's very important in this field. Uh, so can you just tell a couple of words about the technology? How is it really works your, your Lilia platform?Because I think it's, in general, the idea is it's very interesting and I, I think a lot of people never heard about this memory therapy and all this kind of stuff. 

Peter Markus: Yes, I'm happy to introduce a little bit or tell you a little bit more about our product and our technology. So our platform is called Lilia.Yep. And basically we try to find, uh, uh, existing psychotherapies. Which are used in the traditional setting in group therapies or one-on-one therapies, and try to identify, uh, some of those which we, which we thought could be more personalized, more automated, and which we thought we can make it more accessible for a lot of people.

And this is how we found reminiscence therapy, memory therapy, which is a classic form of therapy for people suffering from dementia. It's been used since the sixties, very successfully. And it helps a lot to alleviate some of the mood related symptoms, which is associated to Alzheimer or, or dementia disease.

Basically, most of these people suffer from some form of, or some level of depression or apathy, loneliness, social isolation, and all these aspects are kind of, unfortunately, uh, worsening the, the condition of, of the patient. So the, the cognitive decline is faster, uh, in for those patients who suffer from high level of apathy or high level of depression.

And memory therapy, reminiscence therapy is a good way to alleviate, uh, these aspects of, of, of the symptoms. So we thought, okay, cool. It's, it's for, for those people who don't know what's memory therapy, it's, you can actually see it quite often in movies where there is like a family photo album and next to each picture they write some of the contacts that who is on the photo, where it was taken, when it was taken, what was the occasion.

And then they talk about these family events or life events with the professional therapist in a group therapy or one-on-one session. And this conversation helps to activate memories from the own life of, of the elderly person, uh, autobiographic memories and associated memories to certain places, to certain events like Christmas or New Year's Eve, or marriage or something like that, or marriage or birthdays.Or, I dunno, there is a, I can send a photo or I can show a photo in a, in a book, in a photo album to my, uh, grandparents that, Hey, we visited Paris and, uh, we, we take a look at the scenery from the Eiffel Tower and it was beautiful. And this can trigger memories from their own life. Anything which is related to France, to Paris, to Eiffel Tower, to whatever.And then you can start to talk about it. And this helps. Both to remember things and to keep kind of the brain a little bit more active. Yeah. And more importantly, it helps with the mood related symptoms. So most of these photos, particularly in our platform, the entire concept is built around family. Yeah.

We ask family members to send photos in a dedicated WhatsApp group, uh, to our platform. So we have our chatbot Lilia in this WhatsApp group. Talking to the family members of, of the user, of the elderly person, and asking, asking the family members that, Hey, can you please share some nice memories which you think might be interesting for your grandma or for your father, or.Whoever is the user of our platform. Sharing 

Peter M. Kovacs: memories means that you ask the family members to, to share photos with some description and exactly details what's what was happening there and 

Peter Markus: exactly. And if those details are not sufficient, our AI Lilia can ask follow up questions that, okay, this is how I understood the, your photo and your story, but can you please tell me more because this is not enough for me to generate a meaningful session for your parent or for your grandparent.

So it's a, it's a dynamic discussion with the family members in a dedicated WhatsApp group, and then this entire information is transformed into like a, a memory therapy session, which is then used, uh, or it's consumed or, or it's delivered through our Lilia application to the elderly person, which is built in a way that it's tailored for elderly people.The whole user experience and the user interface was designed. Having in mind who is the target audience. So basically there are big buttons. It's like linear, very simple, just very simple linear storytelling. Even those people who are not digitally native or not very familiar how to use it, they can use it very easily.And there is a lot of like, uh, voice. Voice or like discussion with our avatar. So it's, it feels like a personal discussion, not like typing or, or, you know, sending an email or whatever. It's more like a discussion with a real person. 

Peter M. Kovacs: So the, the target audience. So, so the patients, they just staying at home or in the elderly home using this platform is a smartphone or tablet or any type of Exactly.Device. They are able to use it 

Peter Markus: Exactly. And this way. It becomes, this whole memory therapy becomes a lot more personalized and more accessible. So think about it. If you think about it, in the traditional therapy, people needs to go to the location of the therapist. There is long waiting lines because one therapist has like a limited slots per day, and there are not enough therapists.Even in developed countries, there are not enough therapists to conduct these kind of sessions. It costs a lot of money either for the healthcare system or for the person themselves. So there are a lot of obstacles to provide this therapy for the growing number of people who needs it. I mean, I think probably the, one of the biggest epidemics of our lifetime is dementia or Alzheimer disease, and with the aging population, it's just getting worse and worse.So more, more and more people needs this, but it's not available. So we hope that with our approach and with our platform, we can make this available in a very personalized manner for a lot of people and for a relatively cheap amount of money compared to traditional therapies. 

Peter M. Kovacs: It's very important. So the incidence of Alzheimer dementia is increasing very quickly, especially that the population is aging.There are more and more patients. And also the diagnostics is, is developing because I think there are much more patients affected, which are diagnosed today. So I think it's, it's very important. And, uh, so where you are now with the development, so, um, as I know, so you already developed the system. You made some, some, um.Early stage, um, testing. So, so where you are now, what are the, the next steps, which are the most important milestones? 

Peter Markus: Yeah, so the next steps and the, the maturity of our platform, I think we, we, we are in a relatively good shape. I, I would say. So maybe I would, just before we go into the maturity part, I would say one, one thing.

Why, what is our strategy or what is our vision for the long term? Because you mentioned diagnostics and, and we, we talked a lot about therapy, but, you know, to, to be able to provide therapy, we wanted to become a medical software device, not just a simple wellbeing application, but a medical software device.

And to become a medical software device, we need to show that our application is actually clinically efficient and effective. Improved. Yeah. And this is why we need like such, uh, industry or professional investors like you because you understand the dynamics of how it works with the clinical trials and, and you understand the, the value of such a tool in a clinical setting and our long-term vision that we provide our tool for the users.

In a social security reimbursement scheme, so of course they can always buy it themselves, but in many developed countries or Western European or even Asian developed countries, they start to put lot more emphasis on prevention. And we hope that our tool can become like a significant, uh, prevention tool, uh, in a sense that if we can decrease the level of depression and apathy and loneliness and social isolation, it can slow down a little bit, the progression of the disease.But to get there, we need to do like big clinical trials and to do big clinical trials. We need like experts and expert investors like yourself. 

Peter M. Kovacs: Yeah. Thank you so much. So. You touched a very important point. So our, our, our, our goal as, as PMK ventures and our, our group is, it's very important that, that we're not just investing cash or money.

There are a lot of investors in the field, um, but the professional investors in any field. So in medical field especially that it's very important what we see. That we understand the, the entire ecosystem. We, we understand the, the product life cycle from the very beginning until the, the very end. Um, and, and I'm very happy to work with, with, um, such company as, as your company and, and many more, and coming more and more fortunately.

Because it's very nice to see that it's how effective and it's even more efficient to develop any product and go to the market much earlier and working with professional investors, of course, next to, to financial investors because it's, it's, it's always a need to get. Unfortunately, there are many financial investors on the market.

Also they are happy if, if a professional investor are in, in the, in the loop because the professional due diligence is done much better than with the external experts. I, I, I saw unfortunately many times in the past that, um. Professional due diligence was done by consulting companies. They were not really expert of the field.They are big names, but, but not expert in the field. And, uh, and unfortunately, this professional due diligence was not really valid. And, uh, it's caused, uh, quite, quite, uh, significant challenges. So yes, it's, it's very important that, that we understand the, the need and we are able to, to support it. And, uh, yeah, we really hope that it's additional value for, for you and.For your company. 

Peter Markus: Yeah. We consider ourself very lucky that to, to have, uh, such a professional invest on board like yourself because it is de-risking the investment for generalist investors since they are not that familiar with this whole clinical trial procedure and the reimbursement pathway and the whole medical domain.To see, for them to see like a, an expert investor who has been doing this for 20 years. It's kind of reassurance that we are going in the right direction and we have the right expert support to reach our goals at the end of the day. And you asked before about our maturity and where do we stand? So we did like a smaller, uh, proof of concept project last year, which was very successful.

We obtained medical device certification in April, so we are now a classroom medical device in Europe and we just started a much bigger clinical trial together with you and with a, with a French partner in France. This is a much bigger scope with a hundred patients in two different countries, eight centers altogether, three in Hungary, five in France.We have one of the biggest university hospitals in France, uh, running this study for us. Probably we have the two or three most prominent, uh, uh, geriatricians in France, uh, supporting our study and participating in our study, uh, actively. So I believe we, we are on the right track, both from a medical and from a business point of view.

We managed to raise a pre-seed fund at the end of last year. We also won a government grant in France to support this study what we are running right now. And we are starting to open our seed fundraising round soon, which hopefully will help us to cover the next two years and to cover an even bigger clinical trial which can help us.To get to the reimbursement scheme, uh, by the end of 2026, we would like to achieve reimbursement status. So it's actually not the patients who needs to pay for this or they only need to pay very little, but it's either the insurance companies or social security who will pay for this solution at the end of the day.

Peter M. Kovacs: Yeah. So you mentioned that the investment is a very important part and you are expert based on your education. Uh, you, you are and then your previous jobs. So, so we are expert of, uh, finance and the investments. What is the key challenge, uh, for the startup company in Europe? Um, independently Western European or, or central Eastern European country, uh, and the company, you get both legs.So you are in France and Hungary as well? Yes. Uh, what are the key challenges? What, what, what, what is the the biggest issue nowadays to get funding? 

Peter Markus: I see two in our case we faced. So the question was like, what are the biggest issues? And we faced two major issues, I think, uh, which is probably one of them is a bit special for our case.

Because this whole medical software or medical device domain, it's a bit niche, not just in Europe, but globally. I mean it's, that's not the mainstream of venture capital. Yeah. So many generalist, venture capitalist firms, when they hear, uh, about clinical trials. And, uh, medical software device and these kind of terms, they get scared that, oh my God, it's going to take forever to get the return on investment.And it's very risky and it'll cost like tens of millions of euros and we will never benefit from it. So as soon as that there is kind of this preconception that it's impossible and very difficult and, and it's never going to happen and there is no return on investment. So there is this kind of little bit negative preconception about this domain, but 

Peter M. Kovacs: do you think it's a negative or it is just unprofessional?

Peter Markus: Maybe? I wouldn't say, uh, I, I mean, 

Peter M. Kovacs: I'm unprofessional that it's, uh, not the s because they are professional investors, but, uh. Not knowing the, the profession lacking this professional expertise? 

Peter Markus: Yes, I think it's the second one. It's like not knowing the industry or not knowing this particular domain. They heard some horror stories about it, but they never actually invested in such a company.They never felt it on their own skin how it works. So it's just a lack of experience with this, this industry and the other. But there is a small truth to it. So the small truth is that it takes longer compared to typical, uh, software as a service or or business to consumer companies for a medical software or a reimbursement pathway, that takes a little bit longer.

So it requires more patience from the investor side as well. And typically investors are not too patient. They want to see the return immediately, and they want to reach like 10 x or a hundred x in two years, and then they cash out and everyone is living happily ever after. In our case, it takes a bit longer, and this is why we need, uh, specialized investors like yourself or other investors who focus on medical software.Because they understand the dynamics and the trajectory of such a company that it requires a little bit long, longer time period to get there. But when you get there, there are benefits. 

Peter M. Kovacs: Exactly. So that's why I would like to highlight that this social insurance or private insurance, they, they are so big buyers what you don't get in other fields.So the medical field is tough. That's why we are not so many people. Both sides. Yes. On the other hand, uh, if it works. It's, it's, it's, it's a much bigger and much more stable and solid business. 

Peter Markus: Yeah. So it, it's difficult to pass the, the hurdle, but when, when you do it, there is a lot less competition because a lot of people get scared on day one that it's too much regulation, too much compliance.A lot of people work, a lot of administration. They go in a simpler direction. So when you get there, it's less competition and higher profit margins because simply there is. Both the governments and the insurance companies, they spend on healthcare quite a lot, and even if it's a software, if it has like meaningful, positive impact, they are willing to spend on it.And particularly if it's related to such a big disease like dementia or Alzheimer disease, it's a big proportion of the budget both for governments and and for insurance companies. 

Peter M. Kovacs: I, I'm very happy that you choose the direction, the hard way. To go for a medical device, uh, validation, and this validation studies.So first of all, we met, we could meet this way. Uh, and I'm very happy that we met, uh, last year. Uh, but also it's, it's, it's really true that most of the companies, they, they're going to the, to the easy way, not not taking this, this, this long ways to validate and to make the clinical studies. Of course, it's much easier because the main cost.Uh, is is the clinical studies. So it's very important you can cover and manage the clinical studies from professional financial point of view. Uh, but after the completion of these clinical studies, we, we are just started and hopefully we can, we can progress very well and quickly. How do you see the, the next few years?So what, what, what are your plans? 

Peter Markus: Yeah, so before you asked, uh, or what are the challenges in Europe about fundraising? So the specialty challenge was that we, us being a medical software device was one, and the other one is risk appetite. And that's a little bit related to your current question, like. What are the future plans?Yes. So in Europe, the risk appetite is a little bit lower compared to the US and, uh, the generous VCs or VCs, they only like to invest. Once you have like a significant recurring revenue and you are very stable and you found product market fit mostly, and uh, you 

Peter M. Kovacs: don't really need investment because you get this.Yes, at that 

Peter Markus: time. At that time, uh, you need investment to. Grow very quickly or to go global or whatever, but it's not really like seed or precede investment. So our current challenge and our vision is, is about really providing enough, uh, evidence, medical evidence that we are on a good track and we hope with that we can raise the seed round and we can start our next phase in our vision, which is the reimbursement plus pathway, bigger clinical trial. Going abroad. So US is going to be a very important market after Europe. Yeah. Primarily we start in Europe, in France, Germany, uh, uk, Spain, like the Benelux countries, Nordics, and all these kind of countries where they put a lot more emphasis on prevention. And then in the next iteration we go, go, gonna go to the US and we already have in our pipeline the next phase of our development, which is the monitoring aspect of our application.

So our, the primary purpose right now is the therapeutic aspect with this memory therapy, but we want to add a monitoring aspect. Yeah. Our users are interacting a lot with Lilia, our avatar, which allows us to record various kinds of digital biomarkers. For example, speech samples. Like face recording, eye movements, uh, uh, gestures or sensor off from, from the various kind of sensors in the, in the device.And when we start to analyze all this information, also with ai, it'll give us the opportunity to detect changes in the cognitive status of our user. And that's our long term vision to have a two in one tool. One. On the one hand, it has a therapeutic aspect, and on the other hand, it gives us a monitoring aspect and it can give signal to family members or to general practitioners or doctors in general that, okay, now we see, we see some kind of changes in the cognitive behavior of the users.It could be a 

Peter M. Kovacs: positive or a negative. So yeah, improvement or decline. Decline, 

Peter Markus: yeah, but unfortunately in most cases it's decline typically. When we see a significant change with the, from all these digital biomarkers, we can give a signal that it's time to see a doctor and then the doctor can, you know, determine the next steps of the intervention.They need to start to take medication. They need to do this, they need to do that, and we hope that with this monitoring. It and both the therapeutic and the monitoring aspect could be a good complimentary tool for pharma companies. 

Peter M. Kovacs: Yeah. Yeah. 

Peter Markus: And that's, uh, one of our long-term goals and we started some discussion with some major pharma companies already.Okay. I cannot name them. It's okay right now. But basically they provide drugs or medication for the memory. What we provide is complimentary in, in Bo, in two senses, complimentary because it helps with the mood. And when we develop the monitoring aspect, it'll be very valuable for these pharma companies to have real life evidence or real life data about the patients who are taking their medication, how their status is changing over time.

Currently, they have very little data about this because these patients are visiting a doctor. Once a year or once every six months, but not very often. And with our tool, they can have almost daily or many times, uh, a week data or data points with the same set of analysis, same set of digital biomarkers, which will give both us and them the opportunity to do a very granular, longitudinal, uh, follow up of, of all these patients and measurement of.The efficacy of their drugs and uh, just simply following up with the patients. Uh, we can later add adherence of taking the drugs as well, that we remind the users when they do the memory therapy. Ava, I reminds them to don't forget to take your medicine, for example. And there are, we feel that there are kind of endless opportunities of where we can.Bring this platform in the future. 

Peter M. Kovacs: Yeah. It, it's, you are right. So because you, you open the, uh, the market widely because, because, uh, with these diagnostic tools, with these di digital biomarkers, you open for, for a completely different or a much wider population because you don't need to get the disease.You can predict it early and you, you can interact early. So I think it's very important. So, so I, I can expect that in 10 years that everybody using smartphones, they are just analyzing the data, how you make a phone calls, how you type your messages and they can analyze it. And they can predict that you will get Parkinson, you will get Alzheimer's will get something.Just using your smartphone you will be able to 

Peter Markus: Indeed, indeed, I think our. Goal with this is to create like a comfortable environment for our users and, and to encourage them to talk about a subject which they like, which is family. Yeah. What's going on in their family that brings some positive emotions on the surface.And that kind of, you know, pushing away the anxiety or the stress, uh, which, which is caused by being tested for such a disease. So, yeah, it's important. There are some digital tests already, but most people are very frustrated when they need to take it because. It's a, it's, it's a bad feeling to, to be aware that I'm being tested if I have Alzheimer's disease or other kind of mental disease or not.And with our tool, it, it becomes like a comfortable and natural. Natural, it's part, part of your life. Yes. And it becomes like a seamless byproduct of using our application that we can. Track and monitor, like what's going on with our users and, and if they have, uh, you know, some issues which requires them to see a doctor or not, of course we will inform them that this is part of the platform and they're not going to hide this fact we are medical software device.Yes, everyone will know it, but the whole experience will be packaged in a way that it, it's not causing stress or anxiety, but it's a, a nice and warm feeling to talk to sometimes, like talking to a friend. And you get the additional benefit of some therapy and of like, someone is monitoring you that whether you need to see a doctor or not, 

Peter M. Kovacs: that's very nice.Do you have any language barrier for this or, or, or you are able to, to use it in any countries, you just need to adopt the language. 

Peter Markus: Luckily, these large language models are working quite well in most of the, of the languages as particularly the, the most common languages. So I don't think there are real barriers.It, it's more like a strategic decision at this point, like which languages we start with and we decided to start with the European languages. Uh, so English, French, German, because those are the biggest and most advanced, uh, uh, healthcare systems in Europe at the moment. And of course, English is, uh, is America and the global language.So it, it, it's, it's good to to have it everywhere. And then later on, hopefully as we can expand globally. I think it'll be very easy to adapt it to various languages and to various environments. 

Peter M. Kovacs: Okay. Are you thinking about the Asian market because the aging population, uh, you know, it's, I'm talking about Japan, South Korea, I'm Singapore.They are, they are, they get more and more, uh, uh, population so. The, the percentage of the population above 65 years of age is the highest in Asia. It's, you know, from, if you check that from India to to Australia, it is 4 billion people are living in that few countries and the other 4 billion is living then the rest of the world.Uh, so I think it's, it's, I know it is very challenging market, but, but still, I think going very quickly. 

Peter Markus: Definitely, uh, definitely Asia is a very important target market for us as well, particularly that one of our investors is in, is from Singapore. So I, I think that o obviously, uh, makes it easier for us to, to establish our presence in that region.It, we need to go step by step. We are a small team. We need to be very focused and, and very, uh, targeted with our execution. It's an interesting saying, but, uh, but it's kind of true. The idea is like, uh, 10, 20% and the execution is 80 or 90% of your success. So that's where we try to focus most of our energies to get, to get started in one geography.

First, to establish ourselves, uh, both scientifically and. As a product and as a business. And once we see a bit of traction, uh, a bit of interest, then we are gonna go to the next geography and then to the next geography. And we hope within five to seven years we will be one of the market leaders in this elderly population, uh, to provide various kinds of solutions.So memory therapy is first, just the first of, yeah. And we already started to identify more proven psychotherapies, which we can adapt. Uh, we can, uh, or we can extend our existing one with music therapy, with, uh, additional kinds of therapy methods. So basically it's the first of many and we hope within five to seven years we will be one of the market leaders providing, uh.AI driven therapeutic solutions and monitoring solutions for this patient 

Peter M. Kovacs: population. Yeah, you summarize very well. So, so you are on a very good track. So, so you have, uh, proved, uh, science behind your product. You have the product already available and you are just validating, going to the hard way, but, uh, the more beneficial.So I think you are a very good track. You have a financial investors, you have a professional investors. So I think it's, it's, it's a very good, um, way to go to the success. What, what do you need currently? Do you need anything? Or, or you have everything now? 

Peter Markus: I think we need the. So we need two things. We need the next round of investment to keep up the momentum. That's probably the biggest thing that we, that we need right now. And that's the most important thing that we started to prepare. And the second thing, uh, what we need is, uh, uh, you know, grow the team. Yeah. With good talent, because we do see, we are a small team and we do have some. Areas which are underrepresented at the moment simply because of the lack of time.So, but these two go hand in hand. If we have a little bit more financial freedom, then we can better allocate the resource, hire more people, hire more people, and build the, build the team in a, in a more efficient way. So these two go hand in hand and I think just. One more thought about why we are going in this medical direction.'cause this is, this has been challenged many times by generalist venture capital investors that why don't we go directly to the consumers? Yes. And why don't we just, you know, promote it directly and. It's a very interesting concept or or idea to go direct directly to the consumers, but all the professional people that we talk let it be the operator of an elderly care home, an neurologist, a psychiatrist, and uh, uh, anyone who is dealing with this kind of patient population.

They all support our strategy that we need to become medical software device and we need to go through trusted partners. To promote and to sell our application, meaning we need to go through, uh, doctors or medical or elderly care homes or patient associations or any kind of professional people who is between us and the patient, uh, who is trusted by the patient because most people, they.

They try to deny that they have a problem and family members alike, they say, oh no, come on. My mom, she doesn't have any memory issues. She's just fine. And until they hear this from a trusted professional, someone, doctor at Care home, nurse at Care, home Director, GPO, yeah, gp, until they hear this from someone who they trust.They are not, they don't want to face this. So if we start to advertise ourselves that, hey, he here is a good medical software for people suffering from early symptoms of dementia or Alzheimer disease, people just ignore it. Don't, don't want to click on it. They want to ignore it. Probably subconsciously because they're afraid of the disease.They are afraid that they have a problem themselves, and the family members also afraid that their loved one is having a problem. So, interestingly. Generalist VCs are pushing this direct to consumer direction. Everyone who works in the industry and who is working with this patient population, they are supporting our way of, of go to market strategy because they all agree unanimously that that's the only way to actually make yourself heard with this patient population.Otherwise, they just ignore you out of fear, out of denial, out of. All kinds of emotional responses. 

Peter M. Kovacs: Yeah, that's why I I always saying that, uh, you need professional people and professional investors who understand these needs. 'cause this is, for example, it's a very special patient population. You cannot treat the odd patient with dementia.Alzheimer the same way as. Patient with diabetes, it's completely different way of communication. Yeah. I'm very happy that you, you choose this hard way and hopefully, uh, you succeed very, very, very quickly and, uh, very soon together. We, we are, we are really happy to, to invest and work with you and with your team.And, uh, yeah, very soon we will see the results of the pilot study, uh, and the publications will be released immediately. So, so we really hope that, um, you will get the. Uh, much bigger, um, investment. So, so you will get this freedom and to, to, to grow the team much faster or as fast as you wish. And, um, you, you get to the, you, you bring this product to the market very soon.

Peter Markus: Our dream is to help millions of people to feel at least a little bit better, yeah. Uh, during their daily life. And, you know, to feel less lonely, less depressed. And to have just a little bit more happiness in their life. 

Peter M. Kovacs: Yeah. I think it's not million, it's 10 millions or even hundreds of millions. 

Peter Markus: Well, I mean, I hope you speak the truth.Yeah. And I hope it will come true one day, but I will be happy even with millions in a few years and then maybe tens, tens of millions in like 10 to 15 years. 

Peter M. Kovacs: Thank you so much. And I think the next topic will be when you, you can discuss and you, you, you can tell us a bit more about the primary results of the study.'cause it's very important that, that, that you will be able to show us and all and the entire profession and the society that, that, that you have the medical data and moving your, your idea. And thanks again for your, uh, for your help and also for your, uh, development of this product. 

Peter Markus: Thanks for the invitation and for the great discussion.

Peter M. Kovacs: Thank you.