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5 exciting business events in Barcelona this May
16 de April de 2024
Starting Anew: The Journey of Talía Bonmatí’s Professional Reinvention
The hospitalization of an animal is much more complex than it seems at first glance. After admission, veterinarians face a significant challenge: determining the condition of an animal that can’t communicate in our language what it’s feeling. And until recently, the only way to monitor their vitals required sedation to prevent them from pulling out the cables. Talía Bonmatí, our protagonist, set out to change these methods with her venture. Named one of the Top 5 Women Entrepreneurs in Catalonia in 2023, she has revolutionized the veterinary system with her cable-free, remotely-checked, telemedicine system.
- Favorite place: Manhattan
- Hobby: Reading
- One Word That Defines Me: Resilience
- Favorite Quote: “The lazy always work twice as hard.” Whenever you try to cut corners to save time, you end up doing double the work.
Born in Elche (Alicante), this journalist redirected her career path after completing a postgraduate program in business management in the music industry, followed by a master’s in Digital Marketing and an MBA.
In 2015, Talía’s professional journey underwent a radical change. Before launching her company, she conducted an exhaustive market study to identify the initial challenges she would face. “The master’s in Digital Marketing from EAE Barcelona was fundamental for conducting this study,” explains Talía. “Furthermore, applying this knowledge allowed me to generate an initial database with over 800 contacts, including professionals and pet owners, which helped me better understand the market.”
With a clear business idea, she didn’t hesitate to educate herself until she became an expert in the field. “I read all the papers, studies, and topics around sensors when the project started. I even reached a point where I could have conversations with the technical team almost as if I had studied engineering,” confesses Talía. And for her:
“What truly matters when venturing into a new business isn’t so much your prior education, but rather your passion for a particular field and your willingness to learn.”
What’s Dindog Tech?
In 2016, Talía established Dindog Tech, a company focused on developing sensor-based telemedicine systems, with the firm purpose of solving a real problem through technology and innovation.
Talía explains: “As animals age, sedation can become increasingly risky for their health. Over time, this risk increases as their bodies metabolize anesthesia differently.” That’s why, in 2019, recognizing the invasiveness of sedation monitoring in animals, Dindog Tech developed the sensor-based monitoring technology, Dinbeat UNO.
They succeeded in their innovation, providing a simple and non-invasive way to measure the health parameters of animals: a harness with a telemedicine system that eliminates the need for visible cables.
“In vet hospitals, we often see cages full of animals unable to express how they’re feeling. They’re sedated, and we can only track their health using monitors, like the ones used for people. That’s because awake animals can’t stand having cables around,” explains the entrepreneur. “What does this mean? It means we can only monitor them during procedures or when we manually check their vital signs, sometimes with gaps of up to four or five hours between checks.”
“During this time, complications can arise that sometimes go unnoticed, mainly because we can’t tell if the animals are getting better or worse during those intervals,” she explains.
The truth is, for everyone at Dindog Tech, animals are at the heart of their work. As Talía admits, they’ve all had to leave their pets hospitalized at some point, assuming they’re being monitored as closely as humans in hospitals. But that’s not the case. “That’s why our motivation is to adapt and enhance monitoring systems in veterinary care,” she confesses.
The big innovation: Data in real time
Talía’s device isn’t unique. In fact, there are similar ones in the U.S., the largest market. However, what distinguishes Dindog Tech’s system is its ability to provide real-time data. As she explains: “There are many companies offering similar devices, but none provide instant data. Most collect information and send it every 10-15 minutes. They’re more like monitoring devices.”
This is where Dindog Tech stands out. After a significant investment in research, they have developed a data transmission protocol that refreshes every 8 milliseconds. This refresh time allows for an almost instant reaction. “At Dindog Tech, we saw an opportunity, we investigated it, developed it, and we’re taking advantage of it.”
Two brands. One common goal.
The technology entered the veterinary market in March 2020, but the company didn’t stop there. In addition to its line of veterinary products, marketed under the Dinbeat brand, they’re also developing +Plug&Health for human telemedicine applications, although the latter is still in certification stages.
Dinbeat started developing wireless monitoring technology in 2016, but at that time, they hadn’t decided whether to apply it to humans or animals. Later, as Talía puts it, “Veterinarians informed us that they lacked any means to monitor animals without sedation or cables. That’s why we adapted the technology we had been developing.” It wasn’t until 2019 that they began adapting the final product for animals.
In the case of the prototype for humans, it came about organically during the COVID-19 pandemic. “We were contacted by the Catalan Institute of Health because field hospitals didn’t have enough equipment to monitor all patients. They asked if we could adapt our animal telemedicine system for humans, with one particular feature: it should be able to measure blood oxygen saturation.”
They initiated a pilot study at the Guzmán Institute to test this product. It was successful, and its certification for human health use began in early 2021. However, certification processes in the healthcare sector are time-consuming, so it was established that the product’s commercialization for human use would commence in 2025.
Grado en Marketing y Comunicación Digital
Vivimos en un branded world, un mundo repleto de marcas luchando por hacerse un hueco en tu corazón. O las amas o las odias. Y si eres de los primeros, el Grado Universitario en Marketing y Comunicación Digital de EAE Barcelona es para ti.
Infórmate
The benefits of Dindog Tech’s innovation in telemedicine
For humans, spending extended periods in the hospital often leads to post-hospitalization syndrome, which can result in other conditions such as malnutrition, mental health problems, or infections due to weakened immune defenses.
“Being able to send these people home to finish recovering while still being able to monitor them helps with the recovery. They’re in a familiar environment, eating their regular food, and surrounded by their family, especially for older individuals,” says the CEO and founder of Dindog Tech.
Patient satisfaction is remarkable: “Everyone highlights the peace of mind our devices provide.” Also, Talía explains that the product has reduced calls to hospitals because as soon as professionals detect an issue, it’s the center that calls the patients. “The assurance that someone is caring for them from the hospital makes patients less worried,” she concludes.
In the case of Dindog’s veterinary product, the device trials were a complete success. The feedback from veterinarians has also been overwhelmingly positive because both pet owners and professionals now have access to a wealth of data that was previously unavailable, which means that many more animals’ lives are being saved.
Talía Bonmatí and Dindog Tech are inspiring examples of how professional reinvention and a passion for entrepreneurship, tech and innovation can have a transformative impact on society, improving the well-being of both animals and humans.
Thank you, Talía, for your relentless efforts to enhance the well-being of both people and animals!
