Faster Artery Navigation for Surgeons and Robots to Harvest Mushrooms win CHF 40,000
23.05.2019
Congratulations to the promising medtech and agritech startups, who both convinced the Venture Kick jury to win 40,000 Swiss francs each.
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 ARTIRIA Medical co-founders Guillaume Petit-Pierre & Marc Boers
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 Agrinium Technologies, Pierre Brémon
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ARTIRIA Medical (EPF Lausanne) – Guillaume Petit-Pierre and Marc Boers – medtech
The best way to treat a stroke-victim's brain is through their vascular system. Doctors perform such procedures 410,000 times a year. Current tools don’t give surgeons enough control over the procedure, so surgery is slow, expensive, and risks complications. ARTIRIA Medical, building on neuroengineering research by EPFL graduates Guillaume Petit-Pierre and Marc Boers, is developing a device to help surgeons navigate inside brain arteries quickly and safely. This unprecedented accuracy and effectiveness should improve patients’ lives. Petit-Pierre started developing the product during his PhD at the LMIS4 laboratory in 2016, prototyping began with clinicians and patients two years later, and preclinical testing started this year.
The startup has raised 850,000 francs in non-dilutive funds and built strong relationships with key opinion leaders in Switzerland and abroad, particularly in Boston, thanks to ARTIRIA winning a seat on Venture Leaders Life Science 2018.
“This intense travel to Boston enabled us to meet the best neuro-endovascular surgeons active in the field,” said Guillaume Petit-Pierre.
The team, joined by Colin Darbellay as an R&D engineer, is preparing to win new customers and raise a seed round to fund market entry planned for 2021.
“We will mainly invest Venture Kick money in one key element: finalizing and validating our regulatory strategy in anticipation of our U.S and EU market entry,” said Petit-Pierre.
In addition, the team continuously improve their product design and concentrate on verification and validation tests to be ready for their industrialization phase. The founders are also exploring other market segments, including cardiology and peripheral interventions, for which the product will represent a breakthrough innovation.
www.venturekick.ch/artiria
Agrinium Technologies (EPFL) – Pierre Brémon – agritech
The best conditions to grow mushrooms – 15 degrees Celsius, 85 percent humidity and darkness – aren't attractive working conditions for humans. Western European mushroom farmers and especially Swiss farmers have difficulty finding staff and staying profitable, while competing with imports that can sell for as much as 70 percent less than Swiss prices. The cost of harvesting represents as much as half of the total selling price. The jobs are intensive, repetitive and unhealthy, with high employee churn as a result.
“People have tried to automate this industry for more than ten years, without successfully disrupting it. But things are changing now, technology has evolved, and farmers have more and more difficulties finding employees from a generation that aren’t willing to do these difficult tasks. Furthermore, market liberalization is increasing competition and pushing prices down with imports from low labor cost countries,” said Pierre Brémon.
Agrinium Technologies is developing a robot to flawlessly harvest button mushrooms at a rate of 50 button per minute, 24 hours a day, 355 days a year.
“Venture Kick’s funds will allow me to accelerate the product development and convince our clients across Europe to enable Agrinium to enter market. The challenges are both technical and cultural. Venture Kick’s process trained me on how to address such evolving situations, which is essential to creating value for our clients.”
The startup plans to finalize patents and incorporate, before selecting partners to complete field-tests of its prototype.
www.venturekick.ch/Agrinium
The best way to treat a stroke-victim's brain is through their vascular system. Doctors perform such procedures 410,000 times a year. Current tools don’t give surgeons enough control over the procedure, so surgery is slow, expensive, and risks complications. ARTIRIA Medical, building on neuroengineering research by EPFL graduates Guillaume Petit-Pierre and Marc Boers, is developing a device to help surgeons navigate inside brain arteries quickly and safely. This unprecedented accuracy and effectiveness should improve patients’ lives. Petit-Pierre started developing the product during his PhD at the LMIS4 laboratory in 2016, prototyping began with clinicians and patients two years later, and preclinical testing started this year.
The startup has raised 850,000 francs in non-dilutive funds and built strong relationships with key opinion leaders in Switzerland and abroad, particularly in Boston, thanks to ARTIRIA winning a seat on Venture Leaders Life Science 2018.
“This intense travel to Boston enabled us to meet the best neuro-endovascular surgeons active in the field,” said Guillaume Petit-Pierre.
The team, joined by Colin Darbellay as an R&D engineer, is preparing to win new customers and raise a seed round to fund market entry planned for 2021.
“We will mainly invest Venture Kick money in one key element: finalizing and validating our regulatory strategy in anticipation of our U.S and EU market entry,” said Petit-Pierre.
In addition, the team continuously improve their product design and concentrate on verification and validation tests to be ready for their industrialization phase. The founders are also exploring other market segments, including cardiology and peripheral interventions, for which the product will represent a breakthrough innovation.
www.venturekick.ch/artiria
Agrinium Technologies (EPFL) – Pierre Brémon – agritech
The best conditions to grow mushrooms – 15 degrees Celsius, 85 percent humidity and darkness – aren't attractive working conditions for humans. Western European mushroom farmers and especially Swiss farmers have difficulty finding staff and staying profitable, while competing with imports that can sell for as much as 70 percent less than Swiss prices. The cost of harvesting represents as much as half of the total selling price. The jobs are intensive, repetitive and unhealthy, with high employee churn as a result.
“People have tried to automate this industry for more than ten years, without successfully disrupting it. But things are changing now, technology has evolved, and farmers have more and more difficulties finding employees from a generation that aren’t willing to do these difficult tasks. Furthermore, market liberalization is increasing competition and pushing prices down with imports from low labor cost countries,” said Pierre Brémon.
Agrinium Technologies is developing a robot to flawlessly harvest button mushrooms at a rate of 50 button per minute, 24 hours a day, 355 days a year.
“Venture Kick’s funds will allow me to accelerate the product development and convince our clients across Europe to enable Agrinium to enter market. The challenges are both technical and cultural. Venture Kick’s process trained me on how to address such evolving situations, which is essential to creating value for our clients.”
The startup plans to finalize patents and incorporate, before selecting partners to complete field-tests of its prototype.
www.venturekick.ch/Agrinium