
For Annika Lundström, the path to founding a healthcare startup began in the high-pressure world of competitive sports. As a top-10 table tennis player in Europe who competed in the 2018 Youth Olympics, she experienced firsthand how stress can impact both mental and physical wellbeing. This experience became the catalyst for ReMinded, a startup developing rapid saliva testing technology to measure cortisol levels.
“That whole experience of being exposed to such high pressure and stressful environments at an age where you’re still figuring out your identity in life took a toll on my mental and physical health,” Lundström explains. “It was a necessary wake-up call to acknowledge how fundamental this aspect is for your life.”
With a background in Molecular Biosciences from the University of Helsinki, Lundström began researching innovations in stress management. What she discovered was a healthcare system still heavily reliant on subjective assessments. Mental health evaluations typically depend on questionnaires and interviews, making it difficult to track progress objectively or identify problems before they become severe.
Together with co-founders Sanjida Yeasmin, PhD, who leads biosensor technology development as CSO, and Adil Shah, a mechanical engineer serving as CTO, Lundström has developed a biosensor technology that can detect cortisol molecules in saliva samples using disposable test strips – similar to a rapid COVID test but for stress measurement. The technology eliminates the need for laboratory processing, providing immediate results that can help track stress levels over time.
The company has found particular traction with addiction healthcare centers and PTSD treatment facilities for veterans. “The issue for these customer segments is that they typically only take baseline blood work when patients are admitted,” Lundström notes. “Being able to provide continuous monitoring gives us more patterns and sufficient data to work with, instead of relying on that single data point.”
After establishing the company’s foundation in Finland, Lundström made the strategic decision to relocate to San Francisco in 2024. The move has accelerated the company’s progress, leading to a successful pre-seed round of approximately $500,000 in summer 2024. The rapid saliva-based cortisol sensor is soon fully ready for integration in clinical settings, with the company securing a partnership with a well-known hospital for clinical trials scheduled for Q2 2025.
Rather than rushing to direct-to-consumer applications, ReMinded is focusing first on institutional partnerships to ensure controlled implementation and validation of their technology. The company is on track with regulatory requirements and expects FDA approval by summer/fall 2025. Meanwhile, they are forging licensing agreements to establish early revenue streams in the coming months.
The company’s innovative approach is already garnering recognition. ReMinded secured second place at the Wearable Technologies Innovation World Cup Finals in September 2024, competing against over 600 startups. Lundström’s leadership was also recognized when she won the ‘Rising Star of the Year’ award at the Nordic Women in Tech Awards 2024 in November.
The potential applications extend beyond mental health care – from fertility treatment centers looking to measure stress impacts on conception to chronic condition management where cortisol levels can indicate inflammation and other health markers. By providing objective biomarkers for stress, ReMinded hopes to transform how mental health care is assessed and delivered, creating a more measurable path to better health outcomes.