Start-ups looking to present their innovations in front of the biggest annual gathering of the biotech community can apply now for the Start-up Stadium pitch contest, which culminates in a final competition at the June 5-8 BIO International Convention.
Start-ups in the final will have a prime audience of potential investors as they compete for prizes that include financing and access to accelerator programs. Submit your application by Feb. 15 to pitch at the largest biotech partnership event in the world.
For investors, start-up Stadium offers a chance to get in on the most recent developments while they are relatively unkown.
Start-up Stadium has two categories:
- Companies seeking seed capital, with less than $1 million in funding.
- Emerging businesses, with between $1 and $10 million in funding.
Both of last year’s winners created novel strategies for delivering therapies, including gene therapy, against cancer or other illnesses:
- Emerging Start-Up Winner: SiVEC Biotechnologies uses specialized bacteria to deliver therapeutic payloads (mRNA, siRNA, proteins/nanobodies, and CRISPR/Cas) to targeted tissues, including “tissues that cannot be targeted by viral vectors and lipid nanoparticles.”
- Seed-Stage Winner: OncoXome delivers gene therapy by producing exosomes, the extracellular vesicles cancer cells use to “communicate” with each other.
Start-up Stadium, which began in 2015, had a record-breaking number of candidates and spectators last year, and the 2023 event is expected to be even bigger.
