Leipzig-based HealthTech startup JawBuddy has raised €818,000 in a pre-Seed funding round. The company develops solutions to help people manage jaw pain, teeth grinding (bruxism) and tension linked to temporomandibular joint (TMJ) problems. The funding round was led by healthcare platform HALBZEIT.
The round also received support from Dr Siegfried Marquardt, a specialist in dentistry and dental implants, and Dr Guido Sigron, an oral and maxillofacial surgeon. Other investors included Mittelständische Beteiligungsgesellschaft Sachsen (MBG) and business angels Christophe Barriolade, Aldrich Huang, Jens Kosche and Marc Scheidegger. The total funding also includes the Business Angel Bonus from Sächsische Aufbaubank.
“I suffered from jaw pain myself for years and saw how little you can do between two dental appointments. That is exactly the gap we close. With this funding, we are now starting the clinical trial and taking the next step towards reimbursement,” said Leon Rauch, co-founder and CEO of JawBuddy.
Founded in 2025 by Leon Rauch, Moritz Scherer and Benjamín Cádiz de Gracia, JawBuddy is a digital health startup based at SpinLab in Leipzig. The company develops solutions to help people manage jaw pain, teeth grinding (bruxism) and tension caused by TMJ problems. Its app offers guided exercise programmes designed by physiotherapists.
The app provides users with personalised self-treatment programmes that they can follow at home. It also uses a smartphone camera to track their progress. The platform supports people with bruxism, a condition in which people grind or clench their teeth without realising it.
JawBuddy combines medical knowledge, personalised guidance and simple daily exercises to help users understand the causes of their jaw pain and manage their symptoms over time.
According to the company, its exercises are based on medical research and clinical evidence. They were developed by co-founder Moritz Scherer, a physiotherapist with a master’s degree who is also pursuing a PhD in Health Technologies, and Dr Christian Wolf, an oral and maxillofacial surgeon at Kantonsspital Aarau. Their work combines medical experience with the latest research on jaw-related conditions.
The app also uses users’ health assessments, daily feedback and reported symptoms to adjust their exercise plans. As users continue using the app, it learns which exercises work best for them. JawBuddy also creates medical reports that users can download and share with their dentists, doctors or physiotherapists to support their treatment.
“We invest where a large, underserved market, a clear clinical need and a reimbursable model come together. JawBuddy brings all of that, and it tackles a problem every dental practice knows: patients with jaw problems who keep coming back,” said Luisa Wasilewski, Pool Captain at HALBZEIT.
JawBuddy is also in talks with a major public health insurance provider to introduce a care agreement, which is expected to start in early 2027. The company will also begin a clinical trial involving 130 patients across multiple centres in December 2026. It plans to use the new funding to support its research and clinical studies and work towards getting its services covered by health insurance providers.
