Bluedrop Medical and the EIC Accelerator: A Scale for Diabetic Feet

People with diabetes often lose feeling in their feet, so wounds can go unnoticed until they become ulcers that, in the worst cases, lead to amputation. Bluedrop Medical, founded in Galway in 2015, built the OneStep Foot Scanner, a device that looks like a bathroom scale and takes high-resolution images and temperature readings of the feet in under 30 seconds a day, with a monitoring service that alerts patients and doctors to early signs of damage.

The EIC selected Bluedrop's NextSTEP project in the October 2021 round, and the EIC Fund invested in a €10.5 million round in March 2023. No NextSTEP grant project with Bluedrop appears in the EU's CORDIS database, so what the grant part of the award paid for cannot be checked. Today Bluedrop runs its service from an office in Houston, Texas, and publishes no user numbers.

Where Bluedrop Stands Today

Bluedrop's website addresses patients and US healthcare providers, lists a Houston address alongside Galway, and says patients scan on average about four times a week, with "the few ulcers that are detected graded at a Stage 1 at time of clinical escalation". It cites figures that an ulcer caught at Stage 1 costs 57% to 93% less to treat than later stages. Its news page has not been updated since March 2023. On ClinicalTrials.gov, a US re-ulceration trial it sponsored was terminated after 26 patients for "unsustainable recruitment rate", and a second trial with Serena Group, planned for 100 patients, started in February 2025.

The Technology: A Daily Foot Check

Patients step on the OneStep scanner, which captures high-resolution images and temperature data of the feet. Bluedrop's EveryStep service reviews the data and contacts patients, and their doctors if needed. The company says the approach limits "unnecessary alerts that can discourage use of any monitoring system over time".

What the EIC Project Promised, and What the Record Shows

Bluedrop's first EIC grant came earlier. At the 3 April 2019 cut-off of the EIC SME Instrument Phase 2, part of the Horizon 2020 EIC pilot, it was selected for DELTA, which ran from 1 August 2019 to 30 November 2022 with an EU contribution of €2,499,850 towards a total cost of €3,571,215, to finish the scanner's hardware and software, obtain regulatory approval and start pilots. The final report says all three were completed, with the approvals required for a US launch in place, and the US Food and Drug Administration's device register has listed a Class I foot examination tool from Bluedrop since April 2022.

NextSTEP promised "next gen remote management of patients suffering from diabetic foot syndrome". The award was blended finance. The EIC Fund's participation in the 2023 round confirms the equity side. We searched the CORDIS Horizon Europe data and found no NextSTEP project with Bluedrop as coordinator; the acronym belongs to an unrelated research project. Whether a grant was signed and paid is not public.

1. A home monitoring systemDeliveredOneStep and EveryStep on offer.
2. Clinical evidencePartialOne trial stopped; one ongoing.
3. Private follow-on capitalDelivered€10.5M in 2023.
4. A reported NextSTEP grant projectNot shownNot on CORDIS.

What Has Happened Since the Award

The Money

The March 2023 round was co-led by Atlantic Bridge and Elkstone, with the EIC Fund, Furthr VC, the Western Development Commission, Ascentifi and the HBAN MedTech and Irrus Investments syndicates. Bluedrop said it would add 25 jobs to its 17 staff, with engineering in Ireland and commercial roles in the US, and that the round brought its total funding to €16 million.

Why Europe Should Care

Bluedrop's own figures put the US cost of diabetic foot ulcers at more than $17 billion a year, and its service is aimed at US patients and providers. EU money helped an Irish company pursue that market. Whether European patients benefit is not yet visible.

The Verdict

Bluedrop Medical has not been asked for comment for this article. It is based entirely on company statements, EU data and the trial registry, linked throughout.