- Tuesday, June 2, 2020 @ 9:00 am
Ten new startups have been selected for the Venture Leaders Life Sciences program. Chosen from over 60 applicants from all over Switzerland, the winners will be celebrated at the Swiss Biotech Day on September 15, 2020. The entrepreneurs then plan on travelling to Boston, United States, in November 2020, for a week-long roadshow as the Swiss National Startup Team.
Venturelab has been organizing international roadshows for the Swiss National Startup Team for 15 years. The ambitious entrepreneurs and their promising startups are introduced to leading investors and potential customers in technology hubs in San Francisco, Boston, New York, China, and Barcelona. Amid the coronavirus pandemic, Venturelab continues its mission to select and support the best Swiss startups. The Venture Leaders Life Sciences selection was performed online, and the kick-off event and roadshow have been postponed to fall.
Venturelab’s ongoing support of the selected team during the extended preparation period includes visibility for the team, making online introductions, and preparing the next steps: a big kick-off in September at the Swiss Biotech Day 2020 and a one-week roadshow to Boston, now planned for November, where the Venture Leaders will be pitching to key US investors and meeting leaders and experts of the biotech and medtech industries. Boston is one of the world’s major life sciences hubs and the ideal springboard for ambitious startups on their way to global expansion.
A jury of investors and experts selected the winning startups, which are developing ground-breaking technologies and solutions in their fields. “The selection of Venture Leaders Life Sciences 2020 showcases outstanding solutions, and I am convinced that our partners in the US will value the quality and expertise of this year’s winners,” says Jordi Montserrat, managing partner of Venturelab. “Having three female founders and CEOs, which is a third of the selected startups, further strengthens the development of women continuing to lead and disrupt the life sciences field.”
Andrea Chicca, who is the Co-Founder, CEO and CSO at Synendos Therapeutics AG and Venture Leader Life Sciences 2019, explains that “Venture Leaders was an incredible experience for me and Synendos Therapeutics. The program provided a thorough understanding of the US Life Science ecosystem and enabled us to establish contacts with top-quality entrepreneurs, experts, and investors.”
Venture Leaders Life Sciences 2020 is organized by Venturelab and supported by EPF Lausanne, ETH Zurich, Hansjörg Wyss, Kellerhals Carrard, Paul Scherrer Institute, swissnex Boston, University of Zurich, Canton de Vaud, Ypsomed, and the Canton of Zürich.
The Venture Leaders are members of the Swiss National Startup Team and want to take the first step toward their global expansion. The Venture Leaders startup development program is specifically structured to support 10 selected entrepreneurs with a solid network, market exposure, feedback from investors and experts, and hands-on business development.
Venture Leaders Life Sciences winners 2020
Adiposs | Andrej Babic | www.adiposs.com | University of Geneva
Adiposs develops medical imaging products and technologies for early detection of cachexia, a fatal body wasting syndrome.
Annaida Technologies | Kyle Rodriguez | www.annaida.ch | EPF Lausanne
Annaida Technologies has developed EmbryoSpin, the first NMR sensor that enables non-invasive chemical analysis at the scale of a single human embryo.
Araris Biotech | Philipp Spycher | www.ararisbiotech.com | Paul Scherrer Institut / ETH Zurich
Araris Biotech pioneers a novel antibody-drug conjugate (ADC)-linker technology that enables the attachment of any payload to “off-the-shelf” antibodies without the need for prior antibody engineering.
Ariadne.ai| Adrian Wanner | www.ariadne.ai | ETH Zurich
ariadne.ai develops novel, imaging-based, AI-powered biomarkers that leverage existing imaging assays with the power of deep-learning and extract revolutionary new information from biomedical images.
EraCal Therapeutics | Josua Jordi | www.eracal.ch | University of Zurich
EraCal Therapeutics develops Era-107, a novel anti-obesity drug with a superior efficacy and safety profile, which has been demonstrated in three vertebrate animal models.
KetoSwiss | Elena Gross | www.keto.swiss | University of Basel
KetoSwiss develops novel medical food for the dietary preventive therapy of higher-frequency migraines and possibly other related diseases characterized by metabolic dysfunctions, such as Alzheimer’s disease.
LifeMatrix Technologies | Jason Schense | www.lifematrixtechnologies.com | University of Zurich
LifeMatrix Technologies’ unique tissue engineering technology grows human replacement tissues in the laboratory, providing the next-generation of implants for treating cardiovascular diseases.
Neurosoft Bioelectronics | Nicolas Vachicouras | www.neurosoft-bio.com | EPF Lausanne
Neurosoft Bioelectronics engineers a new generation of implantable electrodes that can seamlessly interface with the nervous system to achieve long-term bio-integration in the body.
STIMIT | Ronja Bruhn | www.stimit.com
STIMIT empowers patients in intensive care to breathe naturally through simple, removable, and non-invasive technology that activates patients’ diaphragms and helps prevent complications caused by muscle inactivity.
TERAPET | Christina Vallgren | www.terapet.ch | CERN
TERAPET develops and commercializes innovative solutions for a safer, more precise, and time-saving proton therapy for cancer treatment.
Follow the Venture Leaders Life Sciences winners throughout the roadshow via the hashtag #vleaderslifesciences or on www.venture-leaders.ch/lifesciences.
