A novel wearable medical device, CoolZEN, developed by undergraduate Biomedical Engineering students Nitya Dintakurti and Shreya Kalyanasundaram, has won the Greather London regional round of the F Factor competition, a UK-wide startup competition for under 25 year olds.
CoolZen will be showcased at Founders Forum London June 17 with the other regional winners and will go to The F Factor National Final at London Tech Week in September to pitch for £10,000 of equity-free cash.
CoolZEN is a non-invasive, wearable medical device for menopausal women suffering from hot flashes, which automatically detects the onset of a hot flash and leverages a natural physiological response to bring relief.
It provides a solution to a problem where there are very few non-pharmaceutical solutions.
The students say CoolZEN will not only help alleviate the effects of Hot Flashes, but also help restore equality in the workplace, give back mid-aged women their confidence, and improve productivity.
We get the 'talk' when we're about to start our periods, but not when we they stop. The hush-hush surrounding the menopause has to stop. We are proud to be working in this space and hope that CoolZEN will be a game-changer in the way women manage and treat their menopausal symptoms. – Shreya Kalyanasundaram, co-founder
It has been wonderful and inspiring to work on such a massive unmet clinical need. Winning the F Factor regionals has further strengthened our mission and drive to revolutionize the field of menopause. We are so excited for what’s in store in the future for CoolZEN. – Nitya Dintakurti, co-founder
The true value of education lies in giving our students purpose. Shreya and Nitya found their true calling during their BEng program - of solving an unmet clinical need with frugal engineering. We hope to put coolZEN in hands of women soon. We need more women-led enterprises like them. – Professor Prashant Jha, Head of Affordable Medical Technologies, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences
The students also won the Idea Factory competition earlier this year.
The F Factor is a UK-wide startup competition underpinned with active entrepreneurship education for under 25 year old to harness cutting-edge innovation and shape them into solutions for the world’s most pressing problems.
The judges were very impressed and thought CoolZEN was a very innovative idea and a seemingly very unique product. – F Factor Team