Belgian healthtech start-up MOONBIRD raises 1.5 million euros to help adults and young people breathe again
Brussels, 18 June 2021 – Moonbird, the Brussels-based breathing support start-up, has received a total investment of 1.5 million euros in a round led by AKILES and Scale Fund. The existing investors imec.istart, Buysse&Partners and some private investors also provided additional financial backing.
The healthtech start-up moonbird, which is developing a scientifically based device for calming down, has raised 1.5 million euros in an investment round. That consortium includes Akiles, ScaleFund, imec.istart, the Flemish investment company PMV, Buysse & Partners and a range of private investors.
40% of people globally suffer from stress, anxiety and sleep disorders. This number has been growing every year, long before the Covid-19 outbreak, and is reinforced by the increasing number of impulses we are exposed to every hour. Meditation and mindfulness have exploded in parallel. Breathing exercises are essential to many of these techniques. Moonbird guides people in their breathing exercises, both with a digital coach and with a tactile device that fits in the palm of your hand.
The startup was founded in 2019 by brother and sister Michael and Stefanie Broes. They came up with an intuitive, tactile handheld device to make people aware of their breathing and allow them to find the right breathing rhythm and train it daily. In doing so, they aim to reduce the number of burn-outs and insomnia. Besides consumers, moonbird targets clinical coaches, pyschologists and corporates where the device is introduced as a stress reduction device for employees.
“During stress, our sympathetic or 'fight or flight' nervous system is overactive. This increases blood pressure and heart rate, and reduces our heart rate variability. The latter is the natural variation between successive heartbeats, and the higher, the healthier. The moonbird device guides you to breathe at a slow rhythm, which has been scientifically proven to activate the body's natural relaxation response. This restores the healthy balance in your nervous system and increases heart rate variability.” says Stefanie from moonbird.
In close cooperation with breathing coaches, psychologists and renowned neurologists such as Prof. Steven Laureys, extensive research was carried out into how moonbird can optimally assist its users. The device, the app and the algorithms help with better breathing, reducing stress and anxiety as well as improving focus and meditation.
Moonbird will use the growth capital to strengthen the team, offer additional guidance to consumers, pioneer with companies that want to use the moonbird to improve wellbeing at work and roll out commercialization worldwide.
The startup is part of the Start it @KBC community, the largest startup accelerator in Belgium.
About moonbird
Stefanie Broes (PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences, ex-Cowboy) and Michael Broes (economist, ex-DegroofPetercam) founded moonbird in 2019. Moonbird develops a device that helps people to perform breathing exercises correctly. The young Belgian start-up thus wants to make these techniques more widely accessible, to improve people's general well-being. The first product, moonbird, is a compact device based on scientifically proven principles and helps people to relax, become calmer and fall asleep faster.
www.moonbird.life
About Akiles
Christophe Rousseaux founded AKILES, a Belgian ‘evergreen’ investment fund, in 2019, supported by several investment professionals. Backed with his experience as the founder and CEO of Immoweb, through AKILES, he wants to support other successful managers and entrepreneurs in the long run to develop the growth of their companies. AKILES mainly focuses its investments on ‘Growth Capital’ and centres its attention on companies characterized by a strong growth potential and solid competitive positions.
https://www.akiles.be
About PMV
PMV is a do-and-dare company that shapes the future of the Flemish economy. PMV finances promising companies from the very beginning, through growth and internationalization. PMV offers tailored financial solutions to all entrepreneurs with a good business plan and a strong management team. It does so with capital, loans and guarantees. In addition, with and for the government and other partners, it realizes projects that are important for prosperity and welfare in Flanders. PMV has a portfolio of 1.5 billion euros under management.
https://www.pmv.eu/nl
About ScaleFund
ScaleFund is an early-stage investor aiming at bridging the increasing issue of “equity gap” between Seed rounds and Series A. ScaleFund acts as an active shareholder in the “post Seed/pre-VC” phase, fostering the development of companies with consolidated team and validated strategic positioning to ignite the growth phase.
https://www.scale-fund.com/
Over imec.istart
Imec.istart - imec's business accelerator - aims to help tech startups successfully launch their businesses. The imec.istart program offers a wide range of services, such as initial financial injection (50,000 to 250,000 EUR pre-seed funding), industry-specific coaching and mentoring, access to technology and office facilities, access to a broad (inter)national network of partners and investors and much more. Since its launch in 2011, imec.istart helped more than 235 tech startups in different fields to develop into sustainable businesses. Imec.istart is ranked 1st in the European 'Top University Business Accelerators' by UBI Global.
www.imecistart.com
Over Akiles
Christophe Rousseaux richtte AKILES op in 2019. AKILES is een “evergreen” investeringsfonds dat ondersteund wordt door ervaren investeringsmanagers. Met zijn ervaring als oprichter en CEO van Immoweb, wil hij via AKILES andere succesvolle managers en ondernemers op lange termijn steunen om hun bedrijf te laten groeien. AKILES concentreert haar investeringen op groeikapitaal en richt zich op bedrijven met sterk groeipotentieel en een sterke concurrentiële positie.
https://www.akiles.be
Press contact
Stefanie Broes
Co-founder moonbird
+32 485 63 81 41