Capturing the public's attention is not easy. And connecting with them is even harder, especially in a context full of distractions. How do you manage to engage the audience? How do you awaken their interest? How do you achieve an impact so that this interest lasts beyond the moment? These are constant questions in the field of events and conferences, and Emogg Analytics has developed a technology that provides more than just clues to find answers.
How does it do it? By analyzing the audience's reaction in real time, through cameras and an algorithm that analyzes details such as posture and expression, to determine the level of attention, interest, or fatigue. "The platform tracks reactions and transcribes the event in parallel, which allows for correlation and measurement of the impact of each moment," highlights the founder and CEO of the startup, Edgar Sanjuán. Thus, peaks of attention and moments of emotional connection can be detected, as well as moments of greater dispersion, and connected with what was being tried to transmit to the audience.
Micro-gestures of the face and hands and body position are what provide clues to this reaction, which the platform distinguishes between various categories, such as exaltation and aversion. "Then, a report is automatically generated, which can include conclusions and improvement proposals," Sanjuán emphasizes.
Thus, and without recording the public or storing personal data, the technology of the Catalan startup allows for continuous analysis of the impact of an event on the audience, applying neuroscience to improve decision-making in multiple event formats, whether it's a conference, a training session, a movie, or even clinical therapies. These are verticals that the company is exploring, while focusing on the field of trade shows and conferences.
It all started precisely in this sector of MICE events. Sanjuán had been a specialist for a decade in the methodology of visual thinking, which translates concepts into drawings. Sanjuán applied it in events and meetings, collecting content in visual summaries. "And I always had a challenge: having the responsibility of summarizing the most relevant concepts of a meeting, I wondered what would have aroused the most interest in the public."
That challenge and that curiosity are the origin of what is now Emogg Analytics, through a path in which the "mental coach of elite athletes" Richi Serrés played a decisive role. "After meeting in 2017 and working together, I wondered if it was possible to transform what was necessary to capture emotions into an algorithm, and convert it into data." After pondering this possibility, in 2020 they set out to articulate a technical team to begin developing this algorithm, in a project in which they attracted the attention of a couple of investors specialized in hospitality and restoration, coinciding with a moment of standstill due to Covid.
The pandemic not only closed hotels and restaurants: like the rest, the world of events also stayed at home. Faced with this scenario, their initial purpose was to create a solution that would allow gamers and streamers to measure their audience's reactions. With this objective, they considered launching an application for analyzing micro-gestures but, while developing it, the pandemic ended and people went back out into the streets. In parallel, colleagues and acquaintances of Sanjuán from the mice world began to show interest in the technology and the possibility of measuring feedback from talks and training sessions. And here, they decided to pivot.
They launched the first pilots aimed at in-person events in 2024, with which they invoiced 19,000 euros. In 2025, they multiplied the figure by five, to more than 100,000 euros, and they want to quintuple it again this year, to reach 500,000, with their algorithms capable of interpreting human reactions and translating them into data and key information. "Before an audience, we are interested in knowing if people are attentive and have an emotional connection, or not," insists Sanjuán. In addition, the startup is incorporating new tools, such as people flow meters, useful for analyzing everything from conference attendees to where visitors to a trade fair stand concentrate their interest.
The company is not only growing in tools, but also exploring reaching more verticals. "We have also done cinema, and we are doing a pilot in the health field," Sanjuán highlights. It does so through a European program on personalized medicine in the psychological treatment of psychosis (Permepsy). Led by the Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu, the project relies on Emogg Analytics to analyze in real time the attention and reactions of patients with schizophrenia during group sessions of metacognitive therapies. The startup's entry into the health field does not end there: it is finalizing a pilot with CatSalut linked to the early detection of childhood autism spectrum disorders.
The startup is exploring these new areas without direct competitors in its sector, and with a staff of five people. "This year we want to expand the team," Sanjuán emphasizes, to also focus on commercialization. To expand its staff and continue boosting its technology, the startup has an open funding round with which it aims to attract 450,000 euros. This investment will be added to the amount allocated to the project so far: 970,000 euros from the partners and their environment, plus 200,000 euros from an Enisa loan. With the new round and the challenge of growing to continue positioning itself as an interpreter of emotions, the startup advances with the ambition of converting something as intangible as emotions into a key indicator for measuring impact.