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Sens.ai is Revolutionizing Mental Wellness with AI

During VivaTech 2024 in Paris, we sat down with Paola Telfer, founder and CEO of Sens.ai. Her company is at the forefront of mental wellness technology, using innovative AI solutions to transform how we approach mental health. This interview highlights Paola’s journey, her groundbreaking product, and the future of mental wellness technology.

The Inspiration Behind Sens.ai

Paola Telfer’s journey into mental wellness technology began with a personal crisis following a motor vehicle accident. She saw gaps in the market regarding mental health solutions and decided to bridge these gaps. “I realized that there were subtle levels of mind in your subconscious that were difficult to access precisely,” she explains. This realization led to the development of Sens.ai, aiming to make these transformative tools accessible to more people.

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Innovative Neurofeedback Technology

One of the core components of Sens.ai is its neurofeedback technology. Users wear a headset and use a mobile app that transforms their biological signals, like heart rate and brain waves, into music and visuals. Paola shares, “It’s like a mirror for your mind, guiding you to deeper states of consciousness where you can rewire your stories.” This technology allows users to engage in deep mental exercises that can rewire their brains for better mental health.

Bridging Medical and Consumer Markets

While neurofeedback devices have existed in the medical space, Sens.ai aims to make this technology consumer-friendly. Paola emphasizes, “We wanted to redesign the electrodes entirely to make it super easy to use, with no paste in your hair, and seconds to get the signal going.” This user-centric approach ensures that the technology is accessible and effective for everyday use.

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The Role of AI in Mental Wellness

Sens.ai incorporates advanced AI to enhance the accuracy and effectiveness of its mental wellness technology. Paola highlights the importance of a clean data set for applying AI effectively. “We had to make sure the integrity of the data set was absolutely critical,” she notes. AI not only improves the precision of neurofeedback but also personalizes the user experience by adapting to individual needs.

Future Directions and Ethical Considerations

Looking ahead, Sens.ai aims to expand its reach and impact. The company is raising a $20 million Series A to scale its operations. Additionally, Sens.ai is exploring group coherence, where multiple users can synchronize their brainwaves and heart coherence for enhanced group dynamics. On ethics, Paola stresses the importance of transparency and simplicity in handling user data. “Your data should never harm you,” she assures, emphasizing the company’s commitment to privacy and ethical AI use.

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Last week, I spent three days at Bits and Pretzels in Munich — a startup-focused event with a distinctly Bavarian flavor. Think Oktoberfest meets startup conference, complete with dirndls, lederhosen, and more beer than you might expect. As someone building an AI-powered event platform, I went in with a specific mission: Observe how startups actually market themselves at events. Here’s what I discovered: GoodBytz: The power of good demos What they did: Robotics startup GoodBytz set up a booth where its robots prepared kaiserschmarrn (a traditional German dessert) all day long. Why it worked: Nothing beats seeing a product in action. While other booths had brochures and demos, GoodBytz’s robots were actually cooking. The smell, the movement and the end result stirred together an experience that people will remember and talk about. The lesson: If you have a physical product, show it in action. The old writing adage generalizes well: Show, don’t tell.  Let people see, hear and touch the product. WeRoad: The bathroom hack What they did: Posted “Missing Investor” flyers in bathroom stalls with QR codes pointing to their website. Why it worked: Pure genius. Every startup at the event was looking for investors, but the “Missing Investor” headline, while a bit on the nose, proved irresistible. Plus, bathroom stalls are one of the few places where people have 30 seconds to actually read something. The lesson: Think about where your target audience’s attention will remain undivided. Sometimes, the most effective marketing leverages the most unexpected places. Emqopter: Visual impact matters What they did: Designed a bright orange booth that displayed their drone prominently. Why it worked: In a sea of grey, white, beige and brown, Emqopter’s bright orange booth was impossible to overlook. The drone was real, too, and proved a real conversation starter. The lesson: Your booth is competing with hundreds of others. Make it visually distinctive and ensure your product is the hero. Quests: Community building using the product What they did: Created a busy, branded booth with accessories (toy car, traffic cones, a bulletin board) and used their anti-loneliness app to build communities among founders at the event. Why it worked: Quests used their product to solve a real problem right at the event, and the busy booth design generated energy and curiosity. The lesson: Use your product to solve a problem at the event — if it’s possible, of course. Demonstrate your value in real time. Dyno: Event-themed marketing What they did: Distributed branded electrolyte packs with the tagline “Your hangover ends. Your pension lasts – with Dyno.” Why it worked: Dyno aligned its messaging perfectly with the Oktoberfest theme. Every attendee was thinking about beer and hangovers, so Dyno’s goodies were quite relevant. The tagline was clever, memorable, and directly addressed a pain point most people at the event might have to deal with later. The lesson: Tailor your marketing to the event’s theme and culture. The more you tie your messaging and product to the context, the more memorable you become. So, what did I learn? Event marketing is about more than just showing up and setting up a booth; you have to understand your audience and create experiences that people will remember. Here’s what really struck me: most startups and even big companies don’t know how to leverage events properly. They book the booth, show up and hope for the best; maybe they bring some branded pens and a pop-up banner. Then they’ll go back home and wonder why they spent €5,000 in exchange for 50 business cards that never convert. The startups that stood out at Bits and Pretzels understand something fundamental: event ROI isn’t about booth size or location; it’s about strategy, creativity and planning. None of the startups above improvised on-site, or planned something the night before the event in their hotel rooms. They laid everything out 4-6 weeks before the event. A solid pre-event strategy is what separates successful event marketing from expensive booth rental.  But what matters most for early-stage startups is that you don’t need a massive budget to stand out. WeRoad’s bathroom stall hack probably cost €50 to print the flyers. A standard booth package at Bits and Pretzels would go for €3,000 to €5,500. The ROI difference is staggering when you compare the cost per meaningful conversation. That’s the difference between simply spending money and investing smartly. Building Sesamers has taught me that helping startups find the right events is only half the equation. The other half is helping them understand how to maximize ROI once they’re there. Good props aren’t a marketing expense; they’re opportunities to meet customers, investors and partners, and strike up engaging conversations.

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