This 30-Year-Old Started a Business to Stop Food Poisoning in Its Tracks. Now It's Raised Over $20 Million — and Taco Bell Is a Customer. Christine Schindler, co-founder of PathSpot, is on a mission to detect harmful pathogens, like E. coli, before they make you sick.
By Amanda Breen Edited by Jessica Thomas
Key Takeaways
- PathSpot has raised $23.5 million and deployed its technology in over 10,000 locations.
- The company reports up to 97% reduction in contamination rates after six months of using the technology.
This Q&A features Christine Schindler, a 30-year-old biomedical engineer and co-founder and CEO of PathSpot. She and co-founder Dutch Waanders launched the company in 2018. PathSpot has raised $23.5 million to date, and its technology is used in more than 10,000 locations, with Taco Bell and Marriott among its customers. Read on to see what inspired Schindler to create this technology and how it works.
Image Credit: Courtesy of PathSpot. Christine Schindler.
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What was your day job or primary occupation when you started your business?
Before starting PathSpot, I was working in research for a large healthcare company. I am a biomedical engineer and have always been passionate about working at the intersection of public health and technology. While it is certainly more stable to pursue some other aspect of that mission from within a larger company, I felt there was a gap in the market that was allowing preventable illness to spread — so I went all in. The CDC reports that 48 million Americans get sick annually from foodborne illnesses, leading to thousands of deaths, with 89% of outbreaks directly linked to inadequate handwashing. Having previously worked in research positions in hospitals and developing low-cost medical solutions in Africa, I felt my skills, resources and energy were well-positioned to address this urgent public health issue.
When did you start your business, and where did you find the inspiration for it?
While working in the healthcare sector in 2017, news about several large foodborne illness outbreaks caught my attention. After doing more research, I was surprised to learn how common these outbreaks were and how antiquated some of the preventative measures were: 48 million sick, 128,000 hospitalized and 3,000 deaths annually from foodborne illnesses in just the United States. Signs reading "Employees Must Wash Hands" simply weren't enough given the scale of the problem. PathSpot launched later that year, inspired to develop technology to address this public health issue and got to work developing our first product: the PathSpot HandScanner.
Image Credit: Courtesy of PathSpot
What were some of the first steps you took to get your business off the ground?
The first priority was learning about the food industry. I knew plenty about the technology required to detect these foodborne illness contaminants, but I had previously worked in hospitals and knew that the business priorities and constraints for developing a product intended for use in restaurants and grocery stores would be completely different. I went door-to-door talking to restaurant managers, franchisees, operators and executives — anyone who could provide feedback and perspectives on our 3D-printed prototypes and help us improve them. In 2019, we launched our flagship PathSpot HandScanner, which uses spectral imaging to detect foodborne illness contaminants that can lead to serious outbreaks like norovirus, E. coli or salmonella. The device is designed to be durable, easy to install and maintain, simple to use and affordable for the average restaurant. The HandScanner is mounted on the wall next to a handwashing sink and includes a robust data reporting system to inform management teams in real-time about food safety risks. Each step was strategic, laying the groundwork for scalable, industry-wide implementation that would streamline back-of-house operations and encourage frequent and effective handwashing.
As we started working with more and more restaurants and hospitality venues, we noticed several industry needs beyond handwashing management. We later expanded our product line to cover the digitization of the entire food safety ecosystem, offering smart temperature monitoring, food expiration management and digital logbook tools that, like the HandScanner, collect and compile valuable data that helps management make fast, informed decisions about their operations and prevent the transmission of illness.
What were some of the biggest challenges you faced while building your business, and how did you navigate them?
The first major challenge I needed to overcome was making the transition from inventor and engineer to businesswoman and entrepreneur. Financial models, fundraising, sales, marketing and contract negotiations were all so foreign to me but also so necessary for making this vision a reality. I was fortunate to find incredible advisors early in my founder journey, and they each played a role in helping me understand the startup world and make the transition successfully. I still connect with many of these early advisors on a weekly basis. Each of them has a unique perspective on the industry and has played a major role in bringing PathSpot to where it is today: protecting millions of meals around the world.
What does PathSpot's growth look like?
PathSpot's growth trajectory has been remarkable. We're now operational in thousands of locations worldwide and have forged partnerships with industry leaders from groups across all areas of the food supply chain — from restaurants, grocery stores, hotels, cafeterias, food manufacturing facilities and more. Our data shows that after one month of using PathSpot, brands experience a 75% reduction in contamination rates, increasing to 97% after six months. To date, our HandScanners have validated millions of handwashes and alerted employees to thousands of instances of contamination. This translates to significant cost savings for our customers through labor optimization, audit readiness, customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.
What do you enjoy most about running this business?
What energizes me most every day is seeing the tangible impact of our technology on public health and the business operations of our customers. We're not just improving numbers on a spreadsheet: We're enhancing food safety, boosting employee confidence and helping businesses thrive. It's incredibly rewarding to see that employees using PathSpot report that they are thinking more critically about safety on a daily basis. We're fostering a true culture of clean, building pride in the workplace and enhancing hospitality. In a post-pandemic world where cleanliness is the new ambiance, it's exciting to be at the forefront of meeting evolving consumer expectations.
What's your advice for others hoping to start successful businesses of their own?
My advice is to identify a significant problem and commit to solving it innovatively. In our case, we saw that traditional approaches to food safety weren't cutting it, so we developed technology to address this gap. Leverage your unique skills and experiences to help you identify a true problem and unmet need — the impact and drive come when you're building a solution the world needs.
