CHF 40,000 for tumor therapies with AI modeling, streamlined legislative analysis for public affairs, and disruptive radio frequency testing
21.12.2023
Calico Biosystems, DemoSquare, EM Path received Venture Kick's second stage of financial and entrepreneurial support. Their projects employ digital approaches to assess the potency of therapeutics on patient tumours; develop in-house AI algorithms to report on legislative activities; and provide a game-changing solution for wireless system providers.
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 Calico Biosystems: CSO Riccardo Turrini and CEO Marie-Agnès Doucey
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 DemoSquare: Jérémie Rappaz and Victor Kristof
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 EMPath: Mohammad Azadifar
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Calico Biosystems: Predicting drug efficacy for cancer patients
Both the high attrition rate (> 95%) of therapeutics and the low response rate of patients to approved anti-cancer therapies call for a game changer in therapeutic testing. Calico Biosystems merges innovative experimental and digital approaches to assess the potency of therapeutics on patient tumours. The experimental approach uses the exclusive know-how of the founders in testing therapeutics on native patient tumours, therefore overcoming artificial models. The digital approach, based on computational modelling, predicts the most potent combinations of therapeutics to benefit patients in the clinic. Calico Biosystems' unique service provider platform will be offered to pharma & biotech companies that want to assess the efficacy of their therapeutics in pre-clinical settings, as well as hospitals and clinical trial sponsors, to identify the best combination treatment for each patient in clinics.
The founders, CEO Marie-Agnès Doucey and CSO Riccardo Turrini are former Unil collaborators with more than 15 years of experience in systems immuno-oncology. Calico Biosystems is poised to become the leader of Precision Oncology, by taking 20% in a market estimated to reach 500B USD by 2030.
The Venture Kick grant will be used to further develop the market strategy and increase the visibility among potential customers. calicobiosystems.com
DemoSquare: Democratize democracy
Few aspects impact businesses more than regulation. However, monitoring and reporting on public affairs is a tedious and costly process for companies. DemoSquare aims to save public affairs managers up to 16 hours a week by developing in-house AI algorithms to collect, analyze, and report on legislative activities.
DemoSquare is a SaaS that solves problems for the global 10.8B public affairs market. In Brussels alone, there are 12K interest groups officially registered with the European Parliament, and there are 1 million public affairs managers globally. The EPFL spinoff is founded by two Ph.D.s in artificial intelligence, specializing in the modelling of political processes and information extraction from massive new datasets.
Turning their research into a product, the team is now preparing for their official launch on October 22 with the Swiss Federal elections. A critical mission will be to make parliamentary and public data efficiently and transparently available to citizens while proposing advanced monitoring tools for large organizations.
The Venture Kick funds will provide significant support for product development in Switzerland as well as facilitate the future expansion of DemoSquare into other jurisdictions. demosquare.ch
EM Path: provides a disruptive radio frequency test solution for wireless system providers
Available radio frequency test solutions for wireless systems and antennas typically require large and expensive anechoic chambers. Additionally, they suffer from long test durations due to point-to-point scanning.
EM Path offers a disruptive solution for devices such as phones, automated cars, radars, satellite communication, and IoT devices. This solution can perform the tests in a single shot, eliminating the need for point-to-point scanning. Their new solution is at least 4x more compact, 50x faster, and will enable production line testing. The total market size is estimated to be $1.4 billion in 2023, with a compound annual growth rate of 9.7%.
In close collaboration with the IICT institute HEIG-VD, Dr. Mohammad Azadifar is developing this new test solution to facilitate radio frequency testing. VentureKick funds will be used to develop the calibration and positioning system for the test solution. EM Path
Both the high attrition rate (> 95%) of therapeutics and the low response rate of patients to approved anti-cancer therapies call for a game changer in therapeutic testing. Calico Biosystems merges innovative experimental and digital approaches to assess the potency of therapeutics on patient tumours. The experimental approach uses the exclusive know-how of the founders in testing therapeutics on native patient tumours, therefore overcoming artificial models. The digital approach, based on computational modelling, predicts the most potent combinations of therapeutics to benefit patients in the clinic. Calico Biosystems' unique service provider platform will be offered to pharma & biotech companies that want to assess the efficacy of their therapeutics in pre-clinical settings, as well as hospitals and clinical trial sponsors, to identify the best combination treatment for each patient in clinics.
The founders, CEO Marie-Agnès Doucey and CSO Riccardo Turrini are former Unil collaborators with more than 15 years of experience in systems immuno-oncology. Calico Biosystems is poised to become the leader of Precision Oncology, by taking 20% in a market estimated to reach 500B USD by 2030.
The Venture Kick grant will be used to further develop the market strategy and increase the visibility among potential customers. calicobiosystems.com
DemoSquare: Democratize democracy
Few aspects impact businesses more than regulation. However, monitoring and reporting on public affairs is a tedious and costly process for companies. DemoSquare aims to save public affairs managers up to 16 hours a week by developing in-house AI algorithms to collect, analyze, and report on legislative activities.
DemoSquare is a SaaS that solves problems for the global 10.8B public affairs market. In Brussels alone, there are 12K interest groups officially registered with the European Parliament, and there are 1 million public affairs managers globally. The EPFL spinoff is founded by two Ph.D.s in artificial intelligence, specializing in the modelling of political processes and information extraction from massive new datasets.
Turning their research into a product, the team is now preparing for their official launch on October 22 with the Swiss Federal elections. A critical mission will be to make parliamentary and public data efficiently and transparently available to citizens while proposing advanced monitoring tools for large organizations.
The Venture Kick funds will provide significant support for product development in Switzerland as well as facilitate the future expansion of DemoSquare into other jurisdictions. demosquare.ch
EM Path: provides a disruptive radio frequency test solution for wireless system providers
Available radio frequency test solutions for wireless systems and antennas typically require large and expensive anechoic chambers. Additionally, they suffer from long test durations due to point-to-point scanning.
EM Path offers a disruptive solution for devices such as phones, automated cars, radars, satellite communication, and IoT devices. This solution can perform the tests in a single shot, eliminating the need for point-to-point scanning. Their new solution is at least 4x more compact, 50x faster, and will enable production line testing. The total market size is estimated to be $1.4 billion in 2023, with a compound annual growth rate of 9.7%.
In close collaboration with the IICT institute HEIG-VD, Dr. Mohammad Azadifar is developing this new test solution to facilitate radio frequency testing. VentureKick funds will be used to develop the calibration and positioning system for the test solution. EM Path