Meet Danielle Ralic, CEO of Ancora.ai and Venture Leader Mobile 2024. The ICT startup provides unbiased clinical trial information by collecting information from public registries so patients and their healthcare professionals can evaluate all potential treatment options. Danielle and the other Swiss National Mobile Team members will head to the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona at the end of February.
Name: Danielle Ralic
Location: Zurich, Switzerland
Nationality: US
Graduated from: Boston College
Job title: CEO
Number of employees: 6
Money raised: CHF 312,000
"The key principle that I hold is to always do what’s right for patients and their families."
Can you tell us who your product or solution helps, and how?
Ancora.ai’s solution first and foremost helps patients by helping them access clinical trials, and access to trials is access to treatment options. Our solution also supports healthcare providers in finding clinical trials so they can provide the best care for their patients and helps pharmaceutical companies recruit patients to their trials faster so we can accelerate clinical research.
What market are you addressing and what is the potential of your startup in that market?
Ancora.ai is addressing the USD 44 B clinical research market, specifically patient recruitment which is estimated at USD 3.5 B. Ancora.ai has the potential to be the digital recruitment platform for clinical trials transforming the way we recruit patients to trials to be systematic and data-driven.
How and where did you come up with the idea for your startup?
I conceived the idea for my startup, Ancora.ai, while working in healthcare technology. Seeing the gap in access to clinical trials for cancer patients, including friends and family, inspired me. I realized the potential of using AI tools, like natural language processing, to make trial information more accessible. That’s how I came up with the idea to build Ancora.ai, where we use technology to make relevant trial information accessible to patients and their care teams so that finding a trial is no longer based on luck.
What do you expect from the Venture Leaders roadshow, and how do you think it will help you achieve your vision?
I am looking forward to meeting other startups in the ecosystem and investors as part of the Venture Leaders roadshow. Meeting other startups and companies in the ecosystem helps us to grow our partnerships which are key to expanding our reach and patient support. Meeting investors helps us move forward with fundraising which gives us the capital needed to achieve our vision of evolving our AI-driven trial matching technology and fully launching our business model.
What are your team’s key achievements to date?
Our key achievements include building a successful proprietary trial-matching AI model, completing an impactful study published in a scientific journal, partnering with patient organizations, securing a pharmaceutical client, and successfully demonstrating our tool's effectiveness in a hospital pilot. These milestones validate the positive impact of Ancora.ai in improving access to clinical trials and recruitment.
Is there a key principle or value that guides you as you build your company?
The key principle that I hold is to always do what’s right for patients and their families.
What is the most important lesson you have learned as a founder?
The most important lesson is how critical it is to have a good network around you. Being a founder is incredibly challenging and so lonely, and I’ve been fortunate to have incredible support from family, friends, partners, my team and other founders. I am especially lucky to have a wonderful group of female founders that I can lean on and grow with.
What is your favourite productivity hack or tool and why?
Write down my to-do list each morning. It doesn’t sound like much of a hack but writing down what I have to do helps me sleep better at night and also forces me to reflect and prioritize. As a founder, there are a million things you can always do, and one of the most important jobs of a founder is to figure out what needs to be done and what will move the company forward with your limited time and resources.
What was your dream job when you were a child?
When I was a little girl, I wanted to be an inventor.
Do you recommend a podcast you want to share with us?
I really enjoy the HLTH Daily Show by Chitra Nawbatt and recommend it to anyone in healthcare.
