Interview: Hana Cosic, Amygdala. The AI-Powered Approach to a Healthier Heart

The interview with Hana Cosic, Founder at Amygdala, a startup from Estonia, focusing on AI-driven digital lifestyle modification for (pre)heart disease management.

You can listen to the episode with Hana Cosic on EmpoWomen Podcast:

Or read the interview.

Elevator Pitch

Amygdala Health is an AI-powered digital health platform and lifestyle modification program for pre-heart and heart disease patients, rooted in behavioral science.

What inspired you to start this journey?

My background is in academia; I have a PhD in behavioral economics. During my PhD days, I was inspired by how we could take the knowledge from our experiments and apply it to make a real-world impact on people’s lives. That’s how Amygdala Health was born. Behavioral science provides powerful techniques to positively affect people’s decision-making.

We know that heart disease is the number one killer worldwide. Most people who suffer from it have lifestyle issues—a poor diet, low physical activity, or skipping medication. This is where we intervene. We use behavioral interventions to motivate people and put them on the right track to achieve a lasting lifestyle change, which helps them manage their disease better. Our goal is to use the best of scientific breakthroughs, data science, and AI to deliver something truly important: a healthy lifestyle change.

What makes your technology different from other lifestyle apps?

We are often overwhelmed by different solutions, yet we still struggle to make changes. We make it very simple. We take inputs from users—height, weight, habits, activity levels, and sometimes blood test results—and our algorithms create a personalized program for each individual.

Our uniqueness lies in this deep personalization, which is powered by behavioral and data science. We are a mission-driven company, dedicated to empowering people to achieve a behavioral lifestyle change. We know it’s not an easy task. In comparison to others, we use a proven scientific approach and AI to maximize personalization. Anna is different from Peter, and Peter is different from Harris; we apply different mechanisms to different personalities to achieve the end result.

Tell us about the team behind Amygdala Health

The team is incredibly important. As a group, you have to be inspired by a higher goal and be on the same path. I am a three-time founder, so I have learned a lot over the years about team dynamics and navigating tough periods. This team hasn’t changed; we are a group of scientists and software developers with one simple mission.

We are a team of four people. When you are driven by a high goal, things become easier because there are many ups and downs in startups. I believe in a flat structure, especially for small teams. The roles are interconnected—one day you’re in tech, the next you’re doing sales. Of course, you need experts, which we have, but we’re not big fans of formal titles at this stage.

What is your business model and who are your customers?

We operate on a B2B (business-to-business) model. Our solution is offered to private companies and insurance providers, primarily in the German market. Our end-users are the employees of these companies. We deliver this as a corporate health solution because there is a very large, often overlooked, cost associated with employees who have or are at risk of heart disease. Science shows this leads to drops in productivity and higher absenteeism, which is costly for companies.

We provide something very good for their employees, which in turn leads to increased productivity and significant cost savings for the company. Our end-users are people who, like most of us, are tempted to choose a piece of cake over an apple. On average, New Year’s resolutions stick for only 18 days. Most of us need gentle, friendly reminders to stay on the right track. Our solution provides that indirect motivation to help people manage their health amidst life’s many challenges.

What challenges have you faced as a female founder in deep tech?

Being a female founder is great because I believe female founders solve really large problems and change the world. At the same time, when you read reports that only 3% of venture capital went to all-female founding teams last year, it’s a bit discouraging. Gender shouldn’t be an obstacle if everyone can deliver results.

There is definitely a gender bias that exists, especially with a majority of male investors. At some pitching competitions, we have received different questions than our male counterparts—ours were more focused on prevention (“How will you prevent that?”), while theirs were focused on growth (“How will you grow?”). One great piece of advice we got from a program like EmpoWomen is to answer those prevention-style questions in a promotion-style way. In reality, a bit of change is needed in how we educate girls from a young age—empowering them to believe they can do and change big things.

What has been your experience with programs like EmpoWomen?

As a three-time founder, you learn from mistakes and by doing. I was raised in a family of entrepreneurs, so it was always part of my environment. We applied to EmpoWomen without knowing anyone who had been in it before. The program was very well-described, with two distinct parts: a typical acceleration phase with training on sales and product-market fit, and a second, very important part on investment readiness.

The investment readiness part was delivered by real investors, giving a very realistic picture of what fundraising is. It was by far one of the best programs we’ve been through because it was so practical. Equally important is the network of other female founders in the program. It’s an incredible experience to share insights with other women who are literally changing the world and to realize you share many of the same similarities and challenges.

What is the ultimate vision for Amygdala Health, and what is your final message?

As a mission-driven company, the ideal point would be when we have positively affected and transformed millions of lives in Europe for people with pre-heart and heart diseases. When we have users who control their lives and are much happier with their current state, then we will have achieved our mission.

For people who are listening, my last message is a simple one: the only constant in life is change. Consider change as a learning opportunity, as something that will put you out of your comfort zone and lead you to a new place where you will gather great experiences and get to know yourself better.

***

Subscribe to our social channels LinkedIn, Facebook, X, Instagram to join the vibrant EmpoWomen community, helping female founders of deep tech startups become a new transformative force.