Building Healthtech With Purpose

From food systems to digital health, women founders in the MassChallenge Switzerland network are tackling urgent challenges with bold ideas and deep expertise. Last year, 55% of the startups we accelerated were women-led — a reflection of that growing impact. In this portrait, we feature Greta Preatoni, founder of MYNERVA, who is developing AI-powered wearable technology to support people living with diabetic neuropathy and improve quality of life.

A Shift in Care: The Rise of Wearable Neurotechnology

From your perspective, how willing are clinicians and healthcare providers to integrate innovative wearable neurotechnology and sensory-based interventions versus traditional therapies? What trends are you seeing?  

Clinicians are increasingly open to innovative wearable neurotechnology, especially when it offers something patients are truly missing in today’s standard of care. 

With Leia, our wearable sensory prosthesis at MYNERVA, we see clear interest because it introduces a different approach: instead of relying only on compensation strategies or medications, Leia provides meaningful sensory input that can help people feel more stable and confident while walking. 

This is particularly relevant because many patients either don’t respond sufficiently to available treatments, or they hesitate to take long-term medications due to side effects. So, there’s a real appetite for solutions that are non-invasive, wearable, and supportive in everyday life. 

Importantly, wearable interventions like Leia also open the door to home-based care, empowering patients to continue benefiting from support beyond the clinic and as part of their daily routines. 

Designing for Real Life: Balancing Innovation and Accessibility

How difficult has it been to balance cutting-edge technology with usability — especially for patients who may be older or less tech-savvy? 

Balancing cutting-edge technology with real-world usability has been one of our core priorities from the very beginning, especially because many of the people who benefit most from Leia are older adults or patients who are not necessarily tech-savvy. 

That’s why we’ve built Leia through an iterative, patient-centered development process. We brought in patients early and repeatedly into focus groups and testing sessions to understand exactly where they might encounter difficulties, what feels intuitive, and what creates friction. Those insights directly shaped the design: we simplified the user experience, reduced unnecessary complexity, and focused on making Leia something that fits naturally into daily life rather than feeling like a complicated piece of technology. 

For us, innovation only matters if it is truly accessible, and usability is just as important as the science behind the device. 

From Clinical Evidence to Everyday Impact

Have you heard or collected evidence of how your solution is already changing patient lives during trials or early use cases? What stories or data stand out? 

We are already seeing very encouraging evidence that Leia can make a meaningful difference. 

The scientific foundation for our approach is supported by published clinical research, including the work published in Nature Communications, which demonstrated the ability of our sensory neurostimulation to improve gait and balance in people with sensory impairment. 

Alongside these results, we are also hearing striking qualitative feedback during early use cases. Several patients have told us that they could perceive their feet again after years of numbness, even after a single session. Others reported practical functional changes, such as feeling stable enough to manage stairs without relying on handrails. All of this, after just one session. 

As we move into longer-term clinical studies, our goal is to continue to measure and confirm what we are already observing: that restoring sensory input through Leia can translate into real improvements in stability, mobility, and everyday independence for patients. 

Building Trust: Lessons From the Medtech Funding Journey

Securing investment in early-stage medtech is notoriously challenging. What have been your biggest learnings in fundraising and investor conversations so far? 

Securing early-stage investment in medtech is certainly challenging, and one of the biggest reasons is that it takes time, especially if you want to bring on board the right investors who can truly support the company through its next stages of growth. 

We’ve learned that fundraising is not just about raising capital, but about building long-term partnerships. The best investor conversations are the ones where there is a shared understanding of both the complexity of medtech and the scale of the opportunity. 

One of the key takeaways for us has been that credibility comes from focus and execution: investors respond well when you are transparent about the critical milestones ahead and demonstrate a clear, realistic plan to achieve them. 

In that sense, the strongest relationships are built with investors who don’t just provide funding, but who actively partner with you to accelerate adoption, scale, and long-term impact. 

Why It Matters

Greta Preatoni’s work with MYNERVA shows what purpose-driven innovation looks like in action: combining deep science with real, measurable improvements in everyday life. With Leia, she’s helping restore sensory input, stability, and confidence for people living with chronic neuropathy — while making care more accessible beyond the clinic. 

Her journey also highlights the reality of building in medtech: designing for usability, earning clinical trust, and finding the right long-term partners to scale. 

“The MC programme has been a truly transformative experience, helping us accelerate our growth in the right direction. Over just a few intense months, we had the privilege of engaging with an incredible network of high-calibre mentors who supported us across every key area from regulatory strategy to go-to-market planning, fundraising, and beyond.” Shares Greta.

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