From migraine patient to passionate health entrepreneur 

Lucy Cavendish College MSt student Nicola Filzmoser (Entrepreneurship in Healthcare Innovation at Judge Business School) in partnership with Cornelius Palm, won the Cambridge University Entrepreneurs (CUE) 10k Challenge for ‘Happyr Health’ which aims to help children with migraines.

Nicola Filzmoser - where my story started

My story with migraines started when I was in kindergarten. Actually, in the form of recurring stomach pain which shifted to classical migraines after two years. That's called abdominal pain although I only found out about this term about a year ago. Back then, nobody could tell me. 

That's exactly the issue with migraine in children. It is hardly understood, under-diagnosed and under-treated. With Happyr Health, I am continuing the journey I started 17 years ago to find something that helps. Together with my partner, Cornelius Palm, we founded Happyr Health in autumn 2019 and talked to many (paediatric) migraine experts, psychologists, parents, and young patients to find out where we can help best. 

Happyr Health

We now have a team of world-leading experts in the domain of migraine in children and are working on our app to deliver the recommended first-line, preventative treatment, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), in a playful way.   

Our team is currently developing the Happyr Health app with an augmented reality avatar at its core. Children can chat with the avatar via a safe and child-friendly chat script that is developed with psychologists. In the chat, children learn about CBT and coping strategies while we can understand what each child needs. Based on this we can further personalise therapy-based games. 

The app is currently in development but we are always looking for young migraine patients and parents to give us feedback. We are developing an app to support YOU, that's why we include patients in every step of our process. If you have a child with migraines or know somebody who might be able to help, please reach out: hello@happyrhealth.com.

The Cambridge ecosystem

My partner and I are both part-time students in Entrepreneurship at the University in Cambridge and also grateful to be part of the Accelerate Cambridge program for several terms already. 

After a successful crowdfunding campaign where we raised £10,000 in two weeks, we recently won the Cambridge University Entrepreneurs 10k challenge. We have been awarded by CUE as a winner for the 2k challenge in February and are more than grateful to be honoured with this second prize. The Cambridge ecosystem has been vital in our progress so far, and so have been our colleges, Lucy Cavendish and Homerton.

Additionally, we reached the McKinsey Venture Academy finals and EIT Health finals as one of the top 8 digital health start-ups in Europe. 

About CUE

Cambridge University Entrepreneurs (CUE) hosts one of the most successful student-run business creation competitions in the world. CUE’s main events are the £100, £2k and £10k competitions. From ‘just an idea’ to ‘we’re ready to scale’, their competitions and accompanying mentorship aim to guide participants towards creating a commercially viable company - regardless of whether they win.

The competitions are open to individuals and teams from three categories: ‘Software’, ‘Social Enterprise’ and ‘Science and Technology’.

Visit Happyr Health https://happyrhealth.com