Tracking patients' food intake and making medical nutrition to tackle malnutrition
Malnutrition can make hospital patients and older people more fragile, delay wound healing and prolong hospital stays. Recording food intake manually is time-consuming and can be inaccurate. Poor taste and thick textures can also make nutritional supplements less appealing.
AlpinaSana combines camera-based meal tracking with foods for special medical purposes. Its AI estimates nutrient intake from meal images to help care teams spot deficits, while its medical ice cream and drinks provide nutritional support.
What stands out about AlpinaSana
Around 20 Swiss hospitals and clinics were using its protein ice cream by January 2025.
The company reports deploying its AI nutrition tracker in hospitals; the CTO describes intake estimation in real hospital environments.
Robert Schreiber and Alpinasana won a 2026 W.A. de Vigier Award, carrying CHF 120,000 in prize money.
Co-founder Jotam Bergfreund is a food scientist with an ETH PhD and leads development of the company's medical nutrition products.
Co-founder and CTO Raban Iten previously co-founded StageChat in 2020.
Co-founder Robert Schreiber founded SoulBites in 2020 to turn misshapen South American fruit into snacks.
AlpinaSana reached Venture Kick’s highest stage in 2024, receiving CHF 150,000 to scale nutrition-product production.
Co-founder Raban Iten holds an ETH doctorate in machine learning for quantum science and leads hospital nutrition-tracking AI.
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