>>venture>> Startup Competition: Diatheris and ZiZAN!A Biobotanica awarded
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Several Swiss Health Valley projects were rewarded during the finale of the >>venture>> Startup Competition on 26 June 2023, at the SwissTech Convention Center.
BioSimo : Grand Prize (ZH)
Biosimo has been awarded with CHF 150,000 and a McKinsey & Company business consulting package to keep venturing forward successfully. This Zürich-based chemical engineering start-up aims to develop and operate processes to produce bio-based platform chemicals. Every-day products like textiles, glues, and films can become greener without changing design, supply chain, or market price.
Diatheris – 1st place Health and Nutrition (GE)
The “Diatheris” project is a HUG and UNIGE spin-off developing an approach to overcome the main limitations of insulin therapy (complications and co-morbidities) for type 1 diabetes. Insulin therapy is not without its dangers: it is difficult to dose and, in the long term, it can also lead to serious metabolic and cardiovascular problems.
Scientists at the University of Geneva (UNIGE) have been working for several years on an alternative therapy based on the S100A9 protein. They have now provided proof of principle that this protein can significantly improve metabolism in insulin deficiency. In addition, by deciphering the biological mechanisms at work, they have discovered a previously unknown anti-inflammatory effect that could prove key well beyond diabetes.
Metalead – 2nd Health and Nutrition (ZH)
metaLead develops next-generation medications to treat lead poisoning at various levels, many of which cannot be currently treated. metaLead‘s novel short peptides are designed to prioritize and strongly bind lead while leaving essential and physiologically relevant metal ions such as calcium, copper, zinc, and iron intact. These peptides selectively and tightly bind lead ions by addressing the differences between the targeted metal and the essential ones in terms of their physical and coordination properties.
Lighthouse Tech Sagl – 2nd Health and Nutrition (TI)
Sensors and electronics are incorporated modularly in eyewear temples allowing users to select fashion eyewear frame components. The LTH01 modular series is ready to be incorporated into fashion eyewear collections.
ZiZAN!A Biobotanica – Audience Prize (VS)
ZiZAN!A is part of Zollinger Bio, a Swiss family business specialising in the production of organic seeds. The seeds harvested represent only a small part of the biomass of the plants grown, the rest being composted.
ZiZAN!A has a simple idea: to recover and upcycle these secondary products and avoid waste by transforming these plants into precious cosmetic ingredients.
The company grows 450 plants in Valais, in the Swiss Alps. It produces its cosmetic formulations according to the #CleanBeauty principle: a minimum of ingredients, total transparency and high concentrations of active ingredients.
Packaging is kept to a minimum or made from bio-based materials.
Source : >>venture>>