Joan Vieyra: from the laboratory to the startup that wants to revolutionize medical prevention

At the Bankinter Innovation Foundation we are proud to follow the journey of those who have gone through the Akademia programme and today are driving change from sectors as diverse as food, energy and, in this case, health.

Our protagonist today is Joan Vieyra, co-founder and CTO of Loop Diagnostics (Loop Dx), a biotech startup with a critical mission: to detect sepsis early to save lives. The company has developed SeptiLoop, the first in vitro immunological test that identifies sepsis within an hour of infection, with three times more sensitivity than current methods and results ten times faster than conventional pathogen-based tests.

This pioneering technology does not seek to identify the causative pathogen, but to read the patient’s immune response. It does so thanks to a portable reading system capable of processing immune system cells directly at the point of care (point-of-care), and using disposable consumables. All this with a clear promise: to allow early and precise medical interventions, before sepsis evolves to a critical condition.

Loop Dx has already secured European funding – including a loan of almost one million euros from the Spanish Government’s Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan. A powerful combination of biotechnology, artificial intelligence and clinical ambition that could radically change the early diagnosis of one of the most difficult causes of hospital mortality to treat.

Below we summarize the interview we have had with Joan.

From the laboratory to the startup: this is how Loop Diagnostics was born

The story of Loop Diagnostics begins with an unmet clinical need. The origin is in the doctoral thesis of the promoter of the idea and current CEO, Enrique Hernández, an immunologist specializing in infectious diseases. During his research on sepsis, Enrique detected a gap: current methods for diagnosing this critical condition were slow, insensitive and too late.

With that intuition, Enrique decided to explore the path of entrepreneurship. He signed up for a reduced version of the Biodesign program in Barcelona – inspired by the same Stanford model that our protagonist took today – and it was there that he met Eduard Guerrero, an expert in the pharmaceutical industry, and later, Joan Vieyra, a biomedical engineer, who had experience in product development. Together they formed the founding team.

The project began as is often the case in high-impact innovation: with proofs of concept, prototypes, conversations with doctors and preliminary validations. The lack of experience in business was not an insurmountable barrier. “We had little business experience, but a lot of desire and very good mentors,” says Joan. “And the truth is that in Spain there are very solid institutional programs that helped us from the beginning.”

Interestingly, Joan points out an important contrast: while in the United States it is easier to connect with industry leaders on a personal level and direct mentoring, in Spain the institutional ecosystem is more accessible and generous with projects that have real potential. “There they ask you to be the trendy startup. Here, if yours makes sense, there are many more open doors,” he says.

Three founders, three profiles, a common vision

One of the keys to Loop Diagnostics’ sustained growth has been clarity in role assignment from the early stages of the project. Although the three founders – Joan, Enrique and Edu – come from technical backgrounds, they have been able to specialise and structure their responsibilities to avoid the chaos typical of small teams where everyone does everything.

“In the beginning, when there were four of us, it was inevitable that everything would be more mixed. But as soon as we started to grow, it was clear to us that we needed to compartmentalize so that the team could organize itself well and move forward without friction,” explains Joan.

The assignment of roles among the founders was based on their previous experience:

• Enrique, immunologist and promoter of the idea, assumed the role of CEO, leading the vision and the relationship with the clinical environment.
• Joan, a biomedical engineer with a background in development and manufacturing, was in charge of the technical side as CTO.
• Edu, with a background in pharma and legal and financial knowledge, was responsible for the operations and structure of the project.

Over time, the roles have been refined thanks to practice and specific training in each area. This clear structure has allowed the team to gain efficiency and prepare to scale, with well-defined responsibilities and a shared vision. In a sector as complex as healthcare, this organization is a competitive advantage.

A technical team with a clinical (and now commercial) vision

Today, Loop Dx is a multidisciplinary company with a compact but highly specialized team. In addition to the three founders, there are technical profiles in the laboratory, R+D project management, and two clinical managers who act as a constant bridge with health professionals.

In addition, they have support in the regulatory area, which has been essential to recently obtain approval for their technology. This milestone marks a new stage: the transition from the development phase to the market phase.

“Now the focus is 100% commercial. Sales and marketing,” explains Joan. To this end, the team is currently in a funding round whose main objective is to strengthen the commercial structure and launch SeptiLoop to the market. “We are looking to incorporate a sales team to speed up the arrival at hospitals and health centers. Until now, this part was assumed between the CEO and the COO, but we need to scale.”

From prototype to product: the invisible part of entrepreneurship

One of Joan Vieyra’s greatest learnings as CTO has been understanding what happens after a product works. “It’s one thing for it to work in the laboratory. Another, very different, is that it is ready to sell in hospitals,” he sums up.

Beyond the regulatory challenge, the leap to market requires building a complete system: suppliers, manufacturing, quality, traceability and scalability. “There is much more space than I would have imagined,” he admits.

This often undervalued step requires operational strategy, technical insight and a lot of anticipation. “If I had known earlier, I would have made some different decisions.”

A key lesson: in health, innovation does not end when the product works. It starts when you can reach the patient with guarantees.

Beyond Innovation: The Power of Human Relationships

Stanford’s Biodesign Innovation Fellowship program marked a before and after in Joan Vieyra’s career. Beyond technical learning, what transformed him the most was discovering the weight of personal relationships in business.

“In the United States, it’s not just about closing deals, it’s about building real trust,” he says. In Silicon Valley, he found a culture where founders of multimillion-dollar startups sit down with you, listen to you, and offer mentorship without expecting anything in return. “They take you seriously from the first moment. That makes a huge difference.”

This generosity when it comes to sharing knowledge contrasts with what she has experienced in Spain, where there are fewer accessible models and support is scarcer. “Here it is more difficult to find references who have time to help.”

His time at Stanford taught him a clear lesson: relational capital can be as valuable as technological or financial capital. Cultivating relationships based on trust is an investment that always ends up paying off.

Innovating in health is knowing when to move forward… and when to stop

Innovating in health is not just about having a brilliant idea. It is making strategic decisions in an environment where science, business, technology and regulation converge. For Joan Vieyra, one of the toughest challenges has been knowing when to continue and when to stop.

“The hardest thing is deciding whether to keep pushing or stop to rethink the path,” he explains. In medical developments, changing a part of the product can affect the regulatory design or business model. “It’s a mental struggle: you’ve been moving forward for months and suddenly you have to consider going backwards.”

These seemingly tactical decisions are deeply strategic. In a sector as demanding as health, going backwards is not failing. Sometimes, it’s the only way to prepare well for the next jump.

Regulation is not an obstacle: it is part of the strategic design

For many healthcare entrepreneurs, regulatory validation is perceived as a burden: a kind of mandatory toll on the way to market. But for Joan Vieyra, that vision is a mistake that can be very costly.

“Regulation cannot be an appendage of the business, it has to be part of the strategy from day one,” he says. And he doesn’t say this from theory, but from experience: that of having experienced first-hand how a misinterpreted or postponed requirement can force you to redo months of work, slow down development or even jeopardize the viability of the product.

His recommendation for those who are taking their first steps is clear: to know the regulatory framework in depth. Not only to comply with the law, but to know how to align those requirements with the product design, the business model and the team’s timing.

Joan insists that health regulations – such as European regulations for medical devices – are not rigid as a mathematical formula. “Many of these requirements can be interpreted. And if you know how they work, you can design your path to meet them without deviating from your mission as a company.”

The key is not to see regulation as a brake, but as another tool of strategic design. “Compliance is not enough. You have to comply well, and in a way that allows you to continue advancing with agility”.

In highly regulated sectors such as biomedical, Joan’s approach is especially valuable: turning the mandatory into a competitive advantage.

Innovating in health: when safety always wins

In the race to innovate in healthcare, speed isn’t everything. In fact, it is often not even a priority factor. For Joan Vieyra, the balance between innovation and safety is not balanced with creativity or technical talent. It is balanced with money.

“There is not much room to look for a middle ground: safety always wins,” he says emphatically. Although new treatments, devices and disruptive technologies are constantly emerging, the system is very clear with its priorities. If an innovation generates adverse effects or puts patients’ health at risk, the reaction is immediate and forceful: everything stops.

“The system is restructured so that this does not happen again. And that means that many innovations fall by the wayside. Not because they have no value, but because there is no margin for failure,” he explains.

This culture of “zero risk”, typical of highly regulated sectors such as healthcare, means that each advance must be accompanied by solid support: in clinical validation, in control processes and, above all, in investment. “The only way to compensate for this demand is with more money, more development time and more resources dedicated to doing things right,” adds Joan.

In his opinion, innovation in health cannot – and should not – look for shortcuts. What it needs is a framework that understands that safety has a cost, and that assuming it is the only way to guarantee impact without endangering the essential: the lives of patients.

The health of the future will be preventive or it will not be

To talk about innovation in health in 2025 is, almost inevitably, to talk about artificial intelligence. Joan Vieyra admits it bluntly: “I don’t want to fall into the cliché, but it’s obvious. AI is revolutionizing every industry, and healthcare is no exception.” Although he also qualifies: there is more noise than reality in many cases, but the transformative potential is undeniable. “What he can already do is spectacular. The problem is that the hype overwhelms it.”

That said, Joan prefers to focus his gaze on a less mediatic trend, but much more structural: prevention. And he puts it bluntly. “In high-income countries, between 17 and 30% of GDP is spent on health. It is barbaric. We cannot afford to continue investing only in treating diseases. We have to prevent them from appearing.”

According to him, the great disruptions in the coming years will not come so much from new treatments – no matter how promising they may be in oncology, cardiology or neurodegeneration – but from those technologies that manage to delay, reduce or even eliminate the need for treatment.

And that means betting on:

• Early and accessible diagnosis systems,
• Continuous monitoring technologies,
• Tools to promote healthy habits with measurable impact,
• And models of care that allow intervention before the disease becomes a clinical problem.

“If a technology makes you live longer without getting sick, it has much more value than a new drug that arrives late,” says Joan. His vision is clear: the next wave of innovation in health will be the one that manages to align technology, science and sustainability of the system.

Loop Diagnostics fits squarely into that vision. Its solution does not cure sepsis, but it catches it before it is too late. And that, in the new paradigm of health, can make the difference between life and death.

Authenticity as a differential value

In an ecosystem as competitive as that of innovation in health – where science, business, regulation and technology intersect – it is easy to think that those who have exceptional skills or privileged connections stand out. But Joan Vieyra offers a different vision, much more honest and close.

“I don’t think I have any extraordinary abilities. Rather, I have been lucky to be in the right place at the right time,” he says humbly. But if there is one thing that he does recognize as a constant in his career, it is his personal coherence.

“I have always been very rigorous with my values. All my decisions are guided by that: by what I believe, by who I am, and by what I am not willing to give up,” he explains. That authenticity, far from being an obstacle, has been a powerful tool in environments such as Silicon Valley or the European innovation ecosystem, where competition is fierce and personal relationships are key.

“Maybe it hasn’t given me a direct advantage, but it has allowed me to make a mark. I don’t know if that’s the exact word, but at least it has helped me establish real and lasting relationships,” she reflects.

In a world that often rewards speed, exposure and easy speech, Joan bets on something different: personal solidity as the basis of leadership. And that, in an industry where trust and impact go hand in hand, can make more of a difference than any perfect pitch.

Akademia: the origin of an innovative mindset

For Joan Vieyra, the starting point of everything that came after has a name: Akademia. The Bankinter Innovation Foundation programme was his first real contact with the world of innovation. Before that, he confesses, he did not have a complete vision of what it meant to be an entrepreneur in technology.

“I thought the innovator was a researcher locked in his laboratory, discovering incredible things that stayed there,” he recalls. What Akademia revealed to him was that innovation doesn’t end at university. “It opened my eyes to the fact that there has to be one more step. That we have to think about the business model, about how to bring that technology to society.”

Akademia not only provided him with knowledge about emerging technologies and innovation models, but also made him rethink the role of the scientist and engineer in society. The figure of the isolated inventor was left behind. Instead, Joan began to understand the importance of integrating science, business, and impact from minute one.

For those who are finishing university and wondering where to start in the world of innovation, Joan Vieyra is clear: Akademia is the right place to take the first step.

“We live in a time where technologies change every two years. If you get distracted for six months, you’re already outdated,” he jokes. In this context, understanding how innovation works is not optional: it is a necessity for any career with ambitions for the future.

And that’s where Akademia makes a difference. “It’s the best way to get started in this field. It allows you to understand what innovation really is, how it works, and how you can be part of it.” For Joan, it’s not just about acquiring technical knowledge, but about opening your mind, connecting with restless people and discovering new ways of thinking about the professional world.

In his case, Akademia was the beginning of a path that has led him to create a biomedical startup with the potential to save thousands of lives.

Thank you very much, Joan! And many successes!

If you want to know the testimonies of other Akademia alumni, you can see them here.

And if you want to know more about the Akademia program, we invite you to visit the Foundation’s website.