At the crossroads of engineering and empathy, Singapore-bases entrepreneur Rachel Hong is redefining how we treat chronic respiratory diseases. From her base at the House of BioHealth in Luxembourg, she leads Meracle Health — a company born in a university lab and now shaping the future of digital respiratory care.
Before launching her European venture, Rachel Hong had already built a solid foundation in medical engineering. As the founder and CEO of Meracle Health (Luxembourg) Sàrl, she now oversees the company’s expansion from Asia to Europe.
The Luxembourg entity, based at the House of BioHealth in Esch-sur-Alzette, operates as a subsidiary of Meracle Pte Ltd, a Singapore-based digital healthtech company pioneering smart respiratory solutions.
Meracle’s arrival in Luxembourg was no coincidence. The company joined the local innovation ecosystem through Fit4Start, the national accelerator managed by Luxinnovation, which played a pivotal role in connecting Meracle to key partners and supporting its European launch.
From university research to clinical innovation
It all began at the National University of Singapore.
Before founding Meracle Health, its creator worked at the School of Medicine, helping physicians develop new medical devices. “As an engineer, working directly with doctors was a dream,” she recalls. “They told us what the problems were, and we could design real solutions.”
Among some twenty projects she helped lead, one stood out: a pediatrician’s question about why young asthma patients weren’t improving despite proper prescriptions. The issue, she discovered, wasn’t just medication compliance — it was technique. “Inhalers require skill and coordination,” she explains. “Especially for the very young and the elderly, technique can make all the difference.”
That realization became the seed of Meracle Health. Once the prototype proved its potential, the team reached a crossroads: either license it out and hope for the best, or take full responsibility to bring it to market. She chose the second path — spinning out the company, securing grants, and steering it through the regulatory maze. “It wasn’t a sudden spark,” she says. “It was the understanding that this needed to move beyond research. Someone had to carry it forward.”
Discipline, Persistence, and a Founder’s DNA
When asked which personal values she built into Meracle Health, her answer comes without hesitation: discipline. “As a founder, there’s no task too small or too big. You show up every day, even when there’s no feedback, no validation. That discipline — to take responsibility and keep digging for answers — is what sustains a startup.”
For her, persistence isn’t just about effort; it’s about curiosity. “In healthtech, there’s rarely a clear path. You can’t Google your way through regulatory and hospital procurement. You have to knock on doors, follow every lead, and keep asking until the answers appear.”
Reinventing Respiratory Treatment
Meracle Health focuses on chronic respiratory diseases — asthma, COPD, and related conditions. Unlike pills or injections that guarantee a fixed dosage, inhaled medication depends heavily on how it’s taken.
“For inhalers, technique determines efficacy,” she explains. “When patients don’t get better, the instinct is to increase dosage or change drugs. But often, it’s not what they take — it’s how they take it.”
The company’s flagship product provides real-time guidance during inhalation, helping patients adjust their breathing technique instantly. “Think of it like a speedometer,” she says. “Other devices act like speed cameras — they tell you afterward that you were wrong. We show you while you’re doing it, so you can correct it in real time.”
Clinical trials have shown remarkable results: significant improvements in asthma control and a reduced reliance on rescue medication. “For children, the biggest win is being able to run, play, and live like other kids again,” she smiles. “One girl in our trial now does tennis, basketball, swimming — her rosy cheeks said it all.”
AI and the Future of Personalized Care
The next chapter for Meracle Health is data and AI. Every use of the device records valuable information about frequency, timing, and technique. That data helps clinicians distinguish between medication issues and usage issues — but it can also do more.
“We’re working on predictive models to identify when a patient might be at risk of an asthma attack,” she explains. “By combining behavioral data with environmental factors like pollen or pollution, AI can forecast risk on a personal level. Not everyone reacts the same way to the same conditions — AI helps us see those individual patterns.”
The company is also collaborating with Infineon, a leading semiconductor firm, to enhance data security and connectivity — essential foundations for AI-driven healthcare. “It’s a two-pronged approach,” she says. “Smarter software and reliable hardware.”
The Human Side of Technology
At the core of Meracle Health’s philosophy lies one principle: ethics. “Patients meet us at their weakest,” she says softly. “We must be at our best when they’re at their worst.”
She structures ethics around three pillars — functionality, risk management, and usability.
“The most high-tech device is useless if a child can’t hold it properly. We study every angle, light position, and grip strength to ensure it’s intuitive. Usability is part of ethics.”
The Challenges of Building in HealthTech
Health innovation, she notes, isn’t just about the product — it’s about navigating a complex ecosystem. “Many of us come from engineering or clinical backgrounds. We obsess over design and performance, but forget that the business side is equally critical.”
Each market, she says, behaves differently. “You might have one device but a hundred markets. Each one has its own rules, procurement systems, and stakeholders — doctors, nurses, hospital administrators, pharmacists, procurement officers. Understanding that web is as hard as building the product itself.”
Her advice to young founders is candid: “At first, you think you know a lot. Then you realize how little you know. That’s not failure — it’s progress. When you start feeling lost, you’re actually on the right track.”-
Finding a Home in Luxembourg
Asked why she chose to expand to Luxembourg and join the House of BioHealth, she smiles: “Because of the ecosystem.”
“For founders, building a company can be lonely. You feel like you’re the only one facing these challenges. But in an ecosystem, you discover that you’re not alone. Others want you to succeed.”
She sees strong parallels between Luxembourg and Singapore — both small, efficient, and connected. “In small countries, everyone knows everyone. That makes collaboration faster and innovation easier. They’re like living laboratories — ideal for testing and scaling new technologies before taking them global.”
Through connections at the House of BioHealth, Meracle Health has already established partnerships with local institutions such as the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH). “One introduction led to another — from a single contact to a full research collaboration,” she says. “That’s the power of a close-knit ecosystem.”
Bridging Medicine and Innovation
Looking ahead, she hopes to strengthen ties between startups and clinicians. “In Luxembourg, most doctors are independent rather than employed by hospitals, which makes it harder to engage them in innovation. But I believe that if they see the potential impact, they’ll want to be part of it.”
Her vision is simple yet profound: to bring doctors and engineers together at the same table — even, quite literally, at the same workbench. “In Singapore, I had doctors come to the lab to build prototypes with us. They’d say, ‘I use my left hand for this,’ and that tiny insight changed our entire design. That’s what true collaboration looks like.”
A Future Shaped by Empathy and Precision
For Meracle Health, innovation isn’t just about sensors and data — it’s about giving patients agency. “Digital health should empower people to take control of their well-being,” she concludes. “Doctors will always be essential, but our goal is to help individuals understand their own bodies, see the cause and effect, and feel in charge of their health.”
Because, in the end, breathing better means living better — and that’s the miracle worth pursuing.