Exist funding goes to Bayreuth start-up

With over 700,000 euros in funding, the start-up Incontalert is now starting to develop a prototype of its sensor. The product should be ready for the market in two years.

For the first time, an Exist funding program from the Federal Ministry of Economics is going to a start-up at the University of Bayreuth (UBT), as the university proudly announces. The start-up Incontalert will receive 712,000 euros over the next 18 months to make its product ready for the market in two years. Incontalert is developing a sensor that shows people with incontinence or bladder dysfunction how full their bladder is on their cell phone, so that damage to the kidneys and uncontrolled urine loss can be prevented.

"Incontalert's product could significantly change the lives of many millions of people," says UBT mentor Maximilian Röglinger about the funding. "We can expect a lot more from Incontalert - we are very happy about their success and it is great fun to actively support them on their way."

The idea for Incontalert came from Jannik Lockl, who founded the start-up in 2017 during his studies with fellow student Tristan Zürl. The sensor developed works with a combination of infrared spectroscopy and machine learning algorithms. In 2019, Incontalert received its first funding of 250,000 euros by winning the Medical Valley Award. Today, the team consists of four people: Nicolas Ruhland and Pascal Fechner are also engineering students at UBT and have joined Incontalert.

"None of this would have been possible without the great support of the University of Bayreuth," says Lockl about the funding. The Exist research transfer funding program consists of two phases in which research-based start-up projects are supported. The first phase focuses on the feasibility of an idea and the development of prototypes, while the second phase promotes the path to independence and provides support in the search for external investors.