PANTOhealth, a Berlin-based tech startup, is pioneering efforts to revolutionise Europe’s rail infrastructure, aiming to make it more reliable, efficient, and sustainable. EIT Urban Mobility, an initiative of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union, invested and supported PANTOhealth in its latest 6-digits round of investment.
With a mere 0.5% share in EU greenhouse gas emissions, trains stand out as the most sustainable mode of transport. However, challenges such as maintenance-related delays and cancellations hinder the widespread adoption of rail travel. PANTOhealth’s predictive maintenance solutions leverage real-time monitoring and AI-driven algorithms to proactively identify and address maintenance issues before they escalate. By significantly reducing downtime and enhancing safety, PANTOhealth aims to increase rail infrastructure uptime by around 30%, thereby minimizing accidents and defects, and ultimately providing passengers with a more reliable travel experience.
Recognising this, Mina Kolagar, co-founder and co-CEO of PANTOhealth, emphasizes the importance of prioritising train reliability and punctuality. “At the end of the day, it is passengers who are choosing the mode of transportation. Our goal is to provide a proactive maintenance plan, like a suggestion guide.” As PANTOhealth prepares to scale its operations with the support of investors “Every day I wake up with the mindset that we need to be flexible to solve unexpected challenges. I believe we have a strong and reliable team,” reflects Kolagar. AI is used to define the exact position of faults, and determine the reason for the fault, before predicting the best time to carry out maintenance. Additionally, PANTOhealth’s technology allows them to recommendations to maintenance teams to check predetermined locations and make small adjustments.
As a portfolio startup of EIT Urban Mobility, the investment manager Johannes Kirschner insisted that “We are very excited to support PANTOHealth as we believe in the positive impact of their technology and the immense market potential. In securing a substantial six-digit seed round at the end of 2023, PANTOhealth shows us right. The funding round was led by SCE Freiraum Ventures together with EIT Urban Mobility and a prominent group of Business Angels and industry experts. It marks a crucial step forward, enabling PANTOHealth to scale operations and contribute to shaping the future of rail in Europe, vital for meeting climate goals through innovation.”
With ambitions to expand beyond Europe and into markets like India, PANTOhealth will play a pivotal role in shaping the future of urban mobility worldwide. The startup’s innovative approach has garnered recognition, including a ‘Coup de Coeur’ prize from the European Railway Clusters Initiative (ERCI) and acknowledgment of Mina Kolagar as one of the 100 most important people in Berlin’s economy in 2023 by Germany’s Tagesspiegel newspaper. With 62 additional investment rounds in 2023, EIT Urban Mobility is the top investor in European mobility start-ups according to the latest report of Via ID and Dealroom.
