Six years ago, while researching for a college entrepreneurship competition, Valentina Agudelo identified a troubling gap in breast cancer survival rates between Latin America and the developed world, with women in her native Colombia and the rest of the continent dying at higher rates due to late detection. 

Today, Agudelo is the co-founder and CEO of Salva Health () , and recently took home the top prize at TechCrunch’s Startup Battlefield () . On the latest episode of Equity () , she joins Rebecca Bellan to discuss how her company is using the Julieta device to revolutionize early breast cancer detection. But before we dive into that, a quick reminder: applications are now open () for this year’s competition, so make sure to get yours in!

Listen to the full episode to hear more about:

• How their flagship product, Julieta, is making early breast cancer detection more accessible and efficient.

• The unique hardware-as-a-service model and its impact on rural healthcare.

• Salva Health’s expansion plans and exploration of other medical conditions like osteoporosis and liver cancer.

• Valentina’s experience competing in TechCrunch’s Startup Battlefield and the challenges of securing funding for female-led startups.

Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts every Wednesday and Friday. 

Subscribe to us on () Apple Podcasts () , Overcast () , Spotify () and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X () and Threads () , at @EquityPod. For the full episode transcript, for those who prefer reading over listening, check out our full archive of episodes here () .

Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. We’d also like to thank TechCrunch’s audience development team. Thank you so much for listening, and we’ll talk to you next time.

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