This year the e52 High Tech Piek Awards were presented to nine people who made a significant contribution in the high tech arena (or from whom we expect great things in 2016). A Peak, four Stars and four Blasts.
Every day we speak to one of the award winners.
Today Fabio Bambang Oetomo
What Blast Winner
Why Bambang Oetomo is at the helm of one of the most succesful HighTechXL-teams of 2016. With its own office on campus and an investment in the bag Bambang Oetomo left for China to get a footing in the international market. 2017 will be a packed year for Bambi Medical.
On the 22nd of September, Bambang Oetomo took central stage at XL Day, HighTechXL’s grand finale. Since then, a lot has happened that will help define Bambi’s future: The production of a series of prototypes will soon start, a first major test with Dutch hospitals will take place, using those prototypes en there is that journey to China off course.
Let us start with the investment Bambi Medical took home. Throug a Leap Funder-campaign 500.000 euro was collected. That means the company can now invest more in product development. This also means the start-up can start paying a salary to its team. Up to now, everyone in the team worked as a volunteer for the company.
By now, the team of Bambi exists out of six players, an expansion of the team is probable however, the search for a CTO as the seventh man on the team has already started. “Before, all we could offer was to cover the expenses they made, now we can start to pay something they can live off”, Bambang Oetomo says.
Bambi Medical is developing the Bambi-Belt, a strap that can be applied to babies in incubators. The strap measures physiological parameters like the heart rate and temperature of the baby. Now, those measurements are performed through electrodes, which are attached to the skin of the baby and have to be replaced on different occasions throughout the day. The strap can be worn all day, which reduces stress for the baby as well as its parents.
Then lets take a look at the influence the investment has on the production process of the Belt. It creates space to further develop the product and do more research on the needs for the product. According to its founder the start-up can work on this for the coming nine to twelve months with the money they now have gathered. However, after that time, still no product will be sold on market, therefore the company will again have to look at ways to raise money with investors.
A next step in product developing is a trial period with three Dutch hospitals, which will start in the beginning of 2017. For that trial period a small batch of straps will be produced at Holst Centre, the research institute is based on High Tech Campus and is a partner of Bambi Medical. By 2018, the product should be used in hospitals throughout Europe.
“Worst-case scenario for us is that the prototype still has to undergo a lot of work an development. We did some tests before, but nothing at this scale”, Bambang Oetomo says. “Best-case is that the prototype works perfectly and we can go to the next phases quickly: developing the final product and proceed to mass-production.”
China
And finally, there is that trip to China. Because Start-ups -by nature- often do not think small. The team visited China as part of a trading mission with StartupDelta in search of first contacts with possible partners there.
“We have spoken a lot of people about entering the best way to enter the market over there. The ask for the product absolutely is there.” That does not mean China will be easy to conquer for Bambi Medical however. “China is a different world. It is hard to enter without an insider on your side, even if you have a product they like.”
Therefore Bambi Medical would like to set-up an office in Shanghai. “We have to have a strong presence with local employees to get acces to the hospitals there.” A similar way of starting business is being contemplated for the US-market. When the step to a different continent will be made is not yet clear.