Philippine health tech startup mClinica topped nine other startups in Tuesday’s Hack Osaka Award 2015, a global innovation conference held in Osaka City, Japan.
The largest pharmacy network in the Philippines, mClinica won the gold prize in the HackOsaka International Pitch Contest, joined by startups from different parts of the globe.
It received ¥500,000 ($4,200) and kindle fire.
mClinica creates digital infrastructure connecting pharmaceutical companies directly to pharmacies for better delivery of healthcare.
The silver prize went to Blaze, a London-based startup that creates cool product for cyclists, while the bronze prize was awarded to Up Performa, the IoT startup in Osaka, and then Berlin’s Smart Checkups was selected as Cross Coop Prize as well.
mClinica founder Farouk Meralli, who pitched for mClinica, told DEALSTREETASIA that they continue to build their team and develop new products as they expand to new markets.
“We just entered Vietnam and are launching there in March,” Meralli said.
Also Read: mClinica taps funders for Southeast Asia expansion
In a separate interview, Yasuhiro Seo, general manager of IMJ Investment Partners, said “mClinica is also preparing for fundraising this year as it focuses on solidifying business in the Philippines and Vietnam and plans to go beyond all over Southeast Asia.”
IMJ is one of the startup accelerator partner of mClinica.
“I can really only speculate on why the judges chose mClinica. The only concrete thing I can say is that one of the judges appreciated the fact that we were solving a massive problem that is often overlooked,” Meralli said.
He added: “The win was a validation of our business model both in terms of its commercial value as well as its social impact. It encourages us to go even farther in changing healthcare.”
The six other startups that joined the pitching contest were Japan’s Cofame, Ingage, DigitAddress and M Square LLC, Germany’s Cashboard, and Thailand’s Stamp.
Cofame allows one to quickly set a meeting, exchange business cards, register participants and even replicate meeting situations later.
Ingage is an e-mail management and sharing service. By visualising the records of past e-mails in a timeline, all team members can collectively support their customers without any trouble.
Cashboard is the one-stop shop for finance. It offers retail investors an easy and convenient way to invest low amounts of money in a scientifically diversified portfolio with automated management. Its service is free and clients only pay a fair profit share.
M Square LLC is a secure card-less payment platform which allows you to pay by your vein scanning.
DigitAddress makes logistics smart. It is a real-time platform where logistics and consumers can communicate easily. It also protects consumers personal information including credit card numbers.
Finally, Stamp creates a unique digital fingerprint like “hanko” which works on smartphones utilising the touchscreen interface with patent-pending technology. No pairing or pre-registration is required to securely authenticate a transaction.
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