Neo Pill is a Local Startup Which Triumphed at EIT Jumpstarter Competition – Testing Serbian Market and Looking for Partner for Distribution Outside Serbia

At the renowned international competition EIT Jumpstarter, held at the end of last year, two startups from Serbia won first places, in two categories – food and health.

The Neo Pill startup got the best rating from the jury out of all the teams from the countries of the Western Balkans and received the special award for the best team from the Western Balkans in the EIT Health category.

The representatives of this startup team designed the eponymous product for the cleaning of fixed dentures.

When developing this solution, they had in mind the fact that numerous surveys show that patients with fixed dentures find it much more difficult to maintain oral hygiene, making them twice as likely to develop cavities and gum diseases.

The first 1,000 devices were distributed in Serbia through the network of the Laviefarm company, but also in Bulgaria, through the network of the doctor’s offices of one of the most influential orthodontists in that country.

The idea is for the patients to get the device exclusively at the recommendation and with instructions from an orthodontist.

The Neo Pill team was supported by the National Alliance for Local Economic Development – NALED, and thanks to the grant within the Startech program, they completed the development of the device, created the production tools and started distributing the product, primarily in the local market.

Another important turning point for this startup last year was the presentation of the project within the DSI network of business angels.

– On that occasion, we got five business angels in our team, who, with their investment capital, the existing network of contacts and their expertise, considerably strengthened our position in the business environment. In addition to the capital which enables further development, the validation of our startup that we got on that occasion is very important – says one of the founders of the startup, Olga Petrovic.

They are currently in the phase of testing the Serbian market and seeking a partner for distribution outside Serbia. They are also continuing the development of the product in parallel, with additional options.

So far, they have tested the product on a sample of 20 patients and analyzed the total number of bacteria before and after the use of the device.

– It has been confirmed to us that the principle of collecting the bacteria through electrolysis works, but we don’t want to stop here. In the next two months, we are initiating a clinical observation study with 200 participants, where we will have the opportunity to test the long-term effect of the use of Neo Pill – announces Olga.

She also clarifies that the business model of Neo Pill is set up as B2B2C. That means that the idea is for the device to be distributed through partner companies which distribute dental equipment to dentists’ offices. In a later phase, when the market gets to know the device, the idea is to distribute it through other sales channels as well.

The production of Neo Pill takes place in Serbia entirely, and as the team says, they can already secure tens of thousands of devices.