Munich, September 7, 2020. The start-up LAQA’s concept for high-tech hydration management in hospitals and retirement and care homes has won over experienced business angels: the investors are providing a total of over 700,000 euros to make the prototype of a smart drinking cup ready for series production, test it in field trials and finally launch it on the market. The market launch is planned for mid-2021.

LAQA is tackling a key problem with its intelligent drinking cup “SmartCup”: Many elderly people drink too little – confusion, dizziness and falls are the result, and illnesses can be exacerbated. Dehydration    med.: Volumenmangel der extrazellulären Flüssigkeit, u.a. des Blutplasmas – dem Körper wird weniger Flüssigkeit zugef... is also often the main or secondary diagnosis in hospitals. Encouraging patients to drink and documenting fluid consumption takes up a lot of nursing staff time. This is where LAQA comes in with a high-tech and AI-based solution to provide fundamental relief.

The LAQA SmartCup reminds you to drink by light, sound or vibration. The amount drunk is transferred to the care management software via radio (NB-IoT) and interface (fully automated drinking protocol) or made available via a web interface – no further local infrastructure is required. The drinking impulses are based on a permanent recalculation of the user’s drinking profile and real-time data. This significantly improves the efficiency and quality of the actual care work.

Renowned partners for field tests

LAQA has already been able to attract well-known partners for the field test of the “SmartCup”: one of the largest care home chains in Germany, municipal and non-profit care service providers and also several statutory and private health insurers.