CHF 40,000 for a microbial-based therapy for Colorectal cancer and a digital wellbeing app
15.07.2022
Recolony and Zario win Venture Kick's second stage of entrepreneurial and financial support. Their projects focus their efforts on developing cancer therapies that primarily consist of selected commensal bacteria of the gut microbiota and improve how we use our phones and live our lives.
 |
 |
 Recolony: from left to right: R&D Manager Dr. Egle Katkeviciute, and co-founders Dr. Ana Montalban-Arques, Project Leader in the Wyss Zurich Translational Center at the University of Zurich, Dr. Philipp Busenhart, Business Development Manager
|
|
 Zario: CMO & CXO Killian Fjellbakk and CEO Ondrej Zak
|
|
Recolony: a microbial-based therapy for Colorectal cancer
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the 3rd most prevalent cancer and the 2nd leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide. In advanced stages, 5-year-survival rates are below 15%. Recent advances in technology and biomedical research have contributed to characterizing the human microbiome and uncovering its important role in health and disease. Those findings led the premises to allow monitoring, preventing, or even curing human diseases through specific microbiome interventions.
To harness the potential of beneficial gut microbiota, Recolony was created by co-founders Dr. Ana Montalban-Arques, Project Leader in the Wyss Zurich Translational Center at the University of Zurich, Dr. Philipp Busenhart, Business Development Manager, Dr. Egle Katkeviciute, R&D Manager and Prof. Michael Scharl, Head of Research at the Gastroenterology Dep. USZ. Based on their unique translational approach, Recolony will bring microbial-based therapy into clinical drug development for CRC treatment. Based on human CRC patient data, Recolony identified specific bacteria that are less abundant in CRC patients compared to healthy individuals. When applied orally to mice carrying CRC tumors, they could induce a potent anti-tumor response and treat those tumors successfully. The team aims to develop a live biotherapeutic product based on the lyophilized form of these bacterial strains in gastro-resistant capsules. Now, they are addressing the regulatory requirements needed for preclinical/clinical development. In 2025, they plan to perform their first-in-human clinical trial in the USZ with CRC patients to test safety and tolerability. The global colorectal cancer therapeutics market should reach USD 16.6 billion by 2028 from USD 9.26 billion in 2020 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.6 % for the period 2020 to 2028.
With the Venture Kick Stage 2 funds, they will cover the costs of a targeted metabolomics profile to define the efficacy attributes of their selected bacterial strains and validate a potential efficacy biomarker. recolony.ch
Zario: Digital wellbeing, one challenge at a time
Up to 70% of phone users feel they're spending too much time on the phone and 30% actively take steps to reduce screen time. And at least 430 million phone users self-identify as phone addicted and want to change their phone behavior. Zario is a digital wellbeing app that helps people reduce unwanted screentime and replace it with meaningful activities. It combines psychology and gamification and uses daily micro-challenges to help users change their habits in a fun and easy way while leveraging AI to personalize the journey.
The team consists of CEO Ondrej Zak, CMO & CXO Killian Fjellbakk, an alumnus of Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne, CTO Bartosz Kukaczewski, and Chief Habits Officer Thomas Walker who is a student at the University of Zurich. Zario provides users with daily challenges that tackle the problem on two fronts:
Reduce: scientifically-backed methods to reduce unwanted habits and to make phones less addictive and
Replace actionable alternatives that address the same needs social media does: promote human connections and encourage novel and memorable activities.
The Zario team estimates the TAM to be 9 billion USD.
The team was recently featured on the famous digital product platform; Product Hunt, where they became the No.1 product of the day.
The Venture Kick funds will be used to finance further development of the app and to grow the reach of the app on all social media platforms using a mixed strategy of organic and inorganic marketing. meetzario.com
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the 3rd most prevalent cancer and the 2nd leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide. In advanced stages, 5-year-survival rates are below 15%. Recent advances in technology and biomedical research have contributed to characterizing the human microbiome and uncovering its important role in health and disease. Those findings led the premises to allow monitoring, preventing, or even curing human diseases through specific microbiome interventions.
To harness the potential of beneficial gut microbiota, Recolony was created by co-founders Dr. Ana Montalban-Arques, Project Leader in the Wyss Zurich Translational Center at the University of Zurich, Dr. Philipp Busenhart, Business Development Manager, Dr. Egle Katkeviciute, R&D Manager and Prof. Michael Scharl, Head of Research at the Gastroenterology Dep. USZ. Based on their unique translational approach, Recolony will bring microbial-based therapy into clinical drug development for CRC treatment. Based on human CRC patient data, Recolony identified specific bacteria that are less abundant in CRC patients compared to healthy individuals. When applied orally to mice carrying CRC tumors, they could induce a potent anti-tumor response and treat those tumors successfully. The team aims to develop a live biotherapeutic product based on the lyophilized form of these bacterial strains in gastro-resistant capsules. Now, they are addressing the regulatory requirements needed for preclinical/clinical development. In 2025, they plan to perform their first-in-human clinical trial in the USZ with CRC patients to test safety and tolerability. The global colorectal cancer therapeutics market should reach USD 16.6 billion by 2028 from USD 9.26 billion in 2020 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.6 % for the period 2020 to 2028.
With the Venture Kick Stage 2 funds, they will cover the costs of a targeted metabolomics profile to define the efficacy attributes of their selected bacterial strains and validate a potential efficacy biomarker. recolony.ch
Zario: Digital wellbeing, one challenge at a time
Up to 70% of phone users feel they're spending too much time on the phone and 30% actively take steps to reduce screen time. And at least 430 million phone users self-identify as phone addicted and want to change their phone behavior. Zario is a digital wellbeing app that helps people reduce unwanted screentime and replace it with meaningful activities. It combines psychology and gamification and uses daily micro-challenges to help users change their habits in a fun and easy way while leveraging AI to personalize the journey.
The team consists of CEO Ondrej Zak, CMO & CXO Killian Fjellbakk, an alumnus of Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne, CTO Bartosz Kukaczewski, and Chief Habits Officer Thomas Walker who is a student at the University of Zurich. Zario provides users with daily challenges that tackle the problem on two fronts:
Reduce: scientifically-backed methods to reduce unwanted habits and to make phones less addictive and
Replace actionable alternatives that address the same needs social media does: promote human connections and encourage novel and memorable activities.
The Zario team estimates the TAM to be 9 billion USD.
The team was recently featured on the famous digital product platform; Product Hunt, where they became the No.1 product of the day.
The Venture Kick funds will be used to finance further development of the app and to grow the reach of the app on all social media platforms using a mixed strategy of organic and inorganic marketing. meetzario.com