9 December 2016; Stockholm, Sweden – The DI Digital team, Nordic Tech List, and numerous executive and financial partners have been traveling the country in search of Sweden’s next big tech success story by hosting competitions in Umeå, Gothenburg, Linköping, Malmö and Stockholm over the past three months. In October, AMRA won the competition for Linköping.
“Our goal is, based on your body composition profile, to evaluate your risk of developing metabolic disease. We want to assist healthcare practitioners in predicting and preventing disease, and prioritising whom to treat. Winning this award was a great tribute to our employees and, since participating in the Linköping round, we have received several spontaneous job applicants and it will probably continue,” says Tommy Johansson, CEO of AMRA.
Last night in Stockholm, the DI Digital Startup Tour hosted a dual event beginning with a competition for the winner of Stockholm, followed by a competition between each region’s finalists in Sweden. Five companies participated in the finals: AMRA from Linköping, 1928 Diagnostics from Gothenburg, Shipwallet from Stockholm, Fieldly in Malmö, and Sportswik from Umeå. In a gruelling final round, each company had 3 minutes to convince the audience and judging panel that theirs was the tech leader in Sweden – and AMRA took home the victory.
“It feels fantastic. I’m really happy,” says Tommy Johansson, “It is especially fun that a Linköping company has won.” As for who he first planned to call first about the company’s victory, he added, “My wife.”
As the winner of Linköping and now the winner for all of Sweden, AMRA has received a year’s worth of free financial consultation from experts at Nordea, 1 Million SEK in advertising through Bonnier News, free consultation services from Accenture, a Volkswagen car for 1 year, and an inspirational trip to Silicon Valley funded by Lufthansa. There, Di Digital correspondent Miriam Olsson Jeffery will provide a tour for meetings with Silicon Valley’s entrepreneurs and investors.
The original idea for AMRA stemmed from “Super Size Me,” a 2004 documentary following Morgan Spurlock as he attempted to live for 30 days on only food from McDonalds. Based at Linköping University, Professor Magnus Borga and Professor Olof Dahlqvist Leinhard, began to investigate ways to recreate the documentary’s findings using precise body composition measurements and an MRI scan. Their research led to the founding of AMRA in 2010. Tommy Johansson joined as the CEO in 2012, after selling his previous startup, C3 Technologies, to Apple in 2011.
AMRA has developed a method for precisely measuring body fat and muscle using a Rapid MRI and a cloud-based, computer-aided service. AMRA’s measurements are designed to impact our understanding of metabolic disease in clinical trials, research studies, and preventive care, allowing for a better understanding of which patients will suffer from serious disease, such as heart attacks, strokes, and diabetes. Longterm, AMRA will make it easier to prioritize which patients should be treated. AMRA’s collaborators include hospitals, research centers, and companies worldwide, including global pharma player, Pfizer, and MRI leader, GE Healthcare.
Congratulations to the AMRA Team for the great work that has contributed in such recognition, and congratulations to each of Sweden’s finalists.