coreway: Digital support for people with IBD

Chronic inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis affect millions of people worldwide and continue to place a significant burden on healthcare systems. Yet, care pathways are still often reactive instead of preventive — even though flare-ups frequently announce themselves early on. This is exactly where coreway, a startup from Schwäbisch Gmünd, comes in: With its CE-certified digital health solution, the team around co-founder Philipp Emonds aims to support people with IBD in their daily lives, enable early detection of disease activity and strengthen data-driven care.

As part of our 5-HT Startup Stories, we spoke with Philipp Emonds about the motivation behind coreway, current gaps in IBD care, international growth ambitions and the company’s experience at the 5-HT event “Insuring Digital Health”.

How would you explain your solution to a healthcare professional in three sentences?

Coreway is a CE-certified digital health solution (app) that supports people with inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis in their daily lives. Our unique selling point is a hybrid care solution for IBD patients that combines a holistically structured health monitoring system for the early detection of disease flare-ups with an accompanying care program.

Coreway App Screens

What problem motivated you to found coreway?

We are driven by the gaps in care for chronic inflammatory bowel diseases: Despite the high burden of disease, care is often reactive, fragmented, and only begins once a flare-up has already escalated. Many patients experience a loss of control, uncertainty in their daily lives, and psychosocial stress. At the same time, high costs arise from hospital stays, acute treatment, and lost workdays. Through our own personal experience and discussions with patients and healthcare providers, it became clear that there is a lack of practical digital solutions that can detect changes in the disease early on, strengthen self-management, and support data-driven medical decisions.

Coreway Team

How do you convince pharmaceutical companies, health insurance companies, insurers or other potential customers to set up a pilot project with you?

We win over potential partners by offering a clearly structured, low-barrier pilot project that realistically combines medical benefits, economic impact, and practical feasibility. Coreway addresses a key weakness in today’s IBD care: Despite the high cost of care due to expensive medications, hospitalizations, and numerous sick days, treatment is often reactive, even though flare-ups can be predicted early on. Our CE-certified digital solution intervenes earlier and aims to specifically mitigate escalations and, consequently, costs. Potential partners are welcome to visit our website: www.core-way.de.

Who are your current customers (groups) and who are the potential customers?

Our current client groups include people with health insurance who have been diagnosed with IBD and who use Coreway as part of studies, pilot projects, and preliminary care models, as well as the first health insurance companies and care partners with whom we intend to implement pilot and evaluation projects. Potential customers include public and private health insurers, insurance companies, care networks, and pharmaceutical and life sciences companies focused on IBD therapies. We are currently active in the DACH market, Italy, Spain, Denmark, and the Netherlands. Looking ahead, we plan to expand into other European markets with comparable healthcare systems.

Where do you see yourselves in 3 years' time and how can 5-HT support you?

In three years, we envision Coreway as an established digital care pathway for people with IBD, integrated into selective contracts with several health insurance providers. Our solution is designed to demonstrably reduce escalations, improve the quality of care, and serve as a reference model for other chronic conditions. 5-HT can support us in this by facilitating access to health insurance providers, industry partners, and healthcare providers.

You took part in Oktober 2025 at Insuring Digital Health. What is your impression of the event and what have you gained from participating (so far)?

Our impression of the Insuring Digital Health Event was very positive: The event provided a high-quality forum for exchange between startups, insurance companies, and established players in the healthcare market, with a clear focus on practical implementation. We found the targeted feedback from health insurance and insurance experts on care logic, evidence requirements, and contract models to be particularly valuable. Participation led to concrete contacts, in-depth discussions, and initial points of contact for pilot projects, and helped us further refine our positioning and value proposition vis-à-vis insurers.

Philipp Emonds, co-founder of coreway, at the 5-HT Insuring Digital Health event in Mannheim in October 2025