CardioSignal wins Desafío DKV 2025 at Health4Good in Barcelona
Smartphone-based atrial fibrillation detection selected as the winning digital screening solution in DKV’s open innovation challenge in Spain
28th Nov, 2025
CardioSignal has been selected as the winner of Desafío DKV 2025, the open innovation challenge organised by DKV Innolab and announced during the Health4Good event in Barcelona.
The fifth edition of Health4Good brought together around 200 professionals from innovation, healthcare, insurance and digital health to discuss how technology and AI can support more preventive and accessible care.
With this decision, CardioSignal and DKV start a collaboration to bring smartphone based atrial fibrillation detection to DKV insured customers as part of DKV’s digital health ecosystem.
Who are DKV and DKV Innolab?
DKV is a leading private health insurer in Spain and part of ERGO Group, one of Europe’s major insurance groups.
Through DKV Innolab, the company runs open innovation programs that connect startups, clinicians and insurance experts around new digital health services for prevention and early detection.
What is Desafío DKV 2025?
Desafío DKV 2025 is DKV’s annual open call for disruptive digital screening solutions that enable early identification of risks and diseases.
This year’s edition focused on clinically validated digital solutions that can be integrated into DKV’s health services.
From 79 applications coming from more than ten countries, four finalists were selected:
Apneal – digital sleep apnea detection using a smartphone
Swaasa by Salcit Technologies – AI based cough analysis for respiratory disease detection and monitoring
Lindera – AI based gait analysis and personalised fall risk prevention plans
CardioSignal – smartphone app for early detection of atrial fibrillation
All four solutions presented their proposals live at Health4Good, held at DKV Innolab in Barcelona. CardioSignal was chosen as the winning project by the jury based on clinical validation, user simplicity, regulatory robustness and scalability. In short, CardioSignal was chosen because we “checked all the boxes”.
What did CardioSignal win?
As winner of Desafío DKV 2025, CardioSignal will:
Enter DKV’s adoption process to be offered as an additional digital health service within one of DKV’s private insurance products
Receive a 10,000 EUR award
Join the ERGO scale up program (ERGO ScaleHub) with the opportunity to present CardioSignal to ERGO Health leadership. ERGO Group is one of Europe’s major insurance providers, opening a significant strategic pathway for CardioSignal beyond Spain.
These steps are designed to help CardioSignal and DKV co-develop and scale a service that improves prevention, supports clinicians and adds value for insured customers.
How CardioSignal supports DKV’s prevention strategy
CardioSignal is a CE-marked under EU MDR as Class IIb medical device. in the EU. The app uses a one minute measurement with a smartphone held on the chest to detect signs of atrial fibrillation with clinically validated algorithms.
Making early detection of atrial fibrillation available on a device that many people already carry every day can help:
Support earlier detection
Reduce the risk of stroke and heart failure
Enable more preventive care pathways
By combining CardioSignal with DKV’s digital channels and medical network, the partnership aims to:
Offer easy self-monitoring for DKV customers at increased risk of atrial fibrillation
Enable earlier medical follow up when CardioSignal detects signs of possible atrial fibrillation
Support a more preventive, data driven model of care within DKV’s insurance products
Next steps in the CardioSignal and DKV roadmap
In the coming months, CardioSignal and DKV will work together on:
Designing and validating the care pathway for DKV insured customers using CardioSignal
Preparing technical and workflow integrations needed with DKV’s digital health services
Running tests where needed to confirm clinical impact, user experience and operational fit
Exploring how successful use cases in Spain can inform future scale up opportunities within the wider ERGO Group
“We are very proud of this recognition from DKV and the Desafío DKV jury. It confirms the importance of bringing simple, clinically validated digital tools like CardioSignal to everyday preventive care,” said Juuso Blomster, CEO, Ph.D. MD Cardiologist, CardioSignal. “We look forward to working with DKV to make early detection of atrial fibrillation more accessible for their insured customers.”
Acknowledgements
The CardioSignal team warmly thanks DKV Innolab, the DKV innovation team, and everyone involved in organising Health4Good.
In particular, we would like to thank Judit Faus and Silvia Vinyes for leading an open and collaborative process, the broader DKV group for their trust and support, and ERGO for welcoming CardioSignal into its scale up activities.
We also congratulate our fellow finalists Apneal, Swaasa by Salcit Technologies and Lindera for their strong contributions to digital prevention and early detection.
Images by Grupo DKV.
About CardioSignal
CardioSignal is a smartphone based medical device for early detection of atrial fibrillation and future digital cardiac biomarkers.
Using only the sensors in a standard smartphone and a one minute measurement on the chest, CardioSignal enables scalable self-monitoring and remote care pathways to support stroke and heart failure prevention.