In Founder Focus we introduce entrepreneurs and change-makers working on innovative startups, social enterprises and SME’s around Aotearoa New Zealand.
At a glance
Founder: Angelica Lawson
Business: Ceratec Health
Founded: July 2023
HQ: Auckland
Can you tell us a bit about your business?
Over 570 million people worldwide live with undiagnosed prediabetes and diabetes, and predominantly work in high risk industries. This is causing a 315% higher risk of incidents, reduced productivity which accounts for 62% of total diabetes-related costs in large U.S. corporations, and leads to permanent hearing loss, vision loss, Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, kidney disease, erectile dysfunction, and disabilities.
Ceratec Health tackles this issue with world-leading AI, allowing companies to screen each employee’s risk of diabetes in less than 3 minutes with >95% accuracy on their mobile device. From this, employees are given a diagnosis and personalised management plan to optimise their health. While this occurs, BeteCheck generates anonymised data-driven insights onto a Health and Safety (H&S) dashboard, empowering H&S managers to early identify, manage, and prevent diabetes accidents, injuries, and productivity delays.
What’s the backstory for your business idea?
I founded Ceratec Health after spending over five years in audiology, where I consistently witnessed patients lose their quality of life and develop debilitating health conditions due to late or missed diabetes diagnoses. Frustrated by these preventable outcomes, I conducted nationwide research and interviews with healthcare professionals, uncovering the root barriers to diabetes early screening and prevention. This inspired me to create Ceratec Health as a way to provide equitable, high-quality healthcare that empowers people, regardless of race, class, or location.
What programmes, learning or mentoring, or resources have been of assistance so far?
Transforming an idea to a real-world technology required us to challenge our assumptions and deeply understand the problem and customer needs. We learned that continuously validating the problem and assessing our solution’s impact on its ecosystem is essential for growth.
Key books that have guided us include:
- Zero to One by Peter Thiel
- The Fail-Safe Startup by Tom Eisenmann
- Blue Ocean Strategy by Renée Mauborgne and W. Chan Kim
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