We want to give everyone a better opportunity for a healthy life.
Founded by Doctors
Recognizing that traditional approaches to lifestyle change were not effective enough, Drs. Tryggvi Thorgeirsson and Sam Oddsson founded SidekickHealth to help prevent and manage chronic diseases.
Guided by Research
SidekickHealth was born out of research collaboration with professors, Ph.D. advisors and clinicians from leading universities and institutions in Europe and the U.S.
Powered by Behavioral Economics
While many platforms target the already motivated with a reason-based approach, SidekickHealth targets the fast-thinking part of the brain, which is responsible for 80% of people’s lifestyle choices.
Driven by Data
Sidekick’s artificial neural networks learn from millions of user decisions and background data to make intelligent future suggestions that are most likely to activate people.
Here’s a little bit about our journey so far.
Mar 2019
Health Hub Vienna
In a four-stage process culminating in a selection board event, SidekickHealth was selected to the Health Hub Vienna (HHV) accelerator program, whose mission is to transform health care through innovation.
Nov 2018
Partnership signed with Siminn
Iceland’s largest telecom company announces that SidekickHealth’s platform will be part of their product offering.
Oct 2018
Bayer G4A Dealmaker Day
Bayer selects SidekickHealth as one of 12 companies out of 1,800 G4A program applicants to join Dealmaker Day 2018.
Dec 2017
Crossed 10 million user-generated data points
Our database provides insights into the health activity of users by age, gender, personality type, and even operating system. FYI, iPhone users do more yoga and Android users swim more.
Sep 2017
Nordic Startup Award Winners
SidekickHealth wins the Nordic Startup Award for Best Health/Lifestyle Tech Startup in Iceland.
Jun 2017
Health TechX Award Winners
SidekickHealth is recognized as one of the fastest growing and most innovative businesses across Europe.
Jun 2017
Presentation at ADA’s 77th Scientific Sessions
Co-founder Sam Oddsson presents the findings from our randomized controlled trial at the American Diabetes Association’s annual conference. *Manuscript in preparation
Apr 2017
Reykjavik City kicks off Health Games
Over 2,000 employees record 1M healthy activities in 3 weeks.
Sep 2016
30 early adopter organizations
More than 4,000 people have used Sidekick to manage their health.
Apr 2016
The results are in
A randomized controlled trial conducted with Harvard researchers shows that SidekickHealth users were three times more likely to reach their 5% weight loss goals and 30% more likely to adhere to their health program. *Manuscript in preparation
Jun 2015
Launch of SidekickHealth 1.0
Sidekick goes live! The first recorded activity is a “Breathe” relaxation exercise.
2014
Development gets underway
SidekickHealth earns grant and seed funding to create the prototype and grow our team.
Oct 2013
Company founded
Drs. Tryggvi Thorgeirsson and Saemundur Oddsson welcome SidekickHealth to the world.
Feb 2013
The paper that started it all
Soon-to-be co-founder & CEO Tryggvi Thorgeirsson, M.D., publishes “Behavioral economics: merging psychology and economics for lifestyle interventions” with Harvard professor Ichiro Kawachi in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
