GRZ Technologies, Dicronis and Lymphatica win CHF 130,000 in Venture Kick stage 3
07.12.2017
Congratulations to GRZ Technologies, Dicronis and Lymphatica, all of whom have taken home the full CHF 130,000 after passing stage 3 of Venture Kick. GRZ Technologies are developing hydrogen storage units for renewable energy and Dicronis and Lymphatica are both working to reduce the impact of the chronic disease lymphedema, Dicronis through early diagnosis and Lymphatica through slowing or reversing the progression of the disease.
 Lymphatica (L: Valentina Triacca, R: Marco Pisano)
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 Dicronis (L: Jovan Jancev, R: Patrizia Marschalkova)
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 GRZ Technologies (L: Claudio Ruch, R: Noris Galladat)
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GRZ Technologies AG: EPFL (hydrogen storage to boost the renewable energy of tomorrow)
The global solar power market, estimated to be worth $160bn by 2023 [1], still struggles with a key challenge: energy storage. GRZ Technologies is aiming to become a part of this high growth industry by being a key provider of hydrogen related technologies, thereby drastically improving solar energy storage capacities. Hydrogen is known as a potential key component of energy storage, however its applications are still limited and its use can be hazardous due to its high flammability. GRZ Technologies, founded by experts in chemistry and engineering, has developed a series of new technologies using metal hydride to provide safe, efficient and compact hydrogen storage solutions.
The objective is to bring this technology into our homes by developing hydrogen storage units for engineering services and grid-to-grid storage that are safe to use and small enough to fit in housing complexes. This size reduction is achieved by offering an over 20x increase in KWh storage per cubic meter compared with existing batteries. The technology has already been proven in the first products bought to market, the AGAS (Advanced Gas Scorption Analysis Systems) series, which allows materials scientists to measure how different gases are absorbed and adsorbed.
After acquiring a seed fund of CHF 300,000 CHF in 2016, GRZ made it into the TOP 100 Swiss startups in 2017 and will use the 130,000 CHF from Venture Kick in order to increase the size of their operation and explore manufacturing methods for their storage systems. Founders Gallandat, Ruch and Züttel explain: “Venture Kick has been a true booster for our project. The process of presenting our business model to a panel of experts, being exposed to their critical questions and benefitting from their contact and advice was a very helpful experience. It helped us to shape our business plan, focus on the key issues and get in touch with further investors.”
Two new Medtech startups for early diagnosis and treatment of lymphedema
Chronic lymphedema is a common, irreversible and debilitating side effect of many cancer therapies, causing excess fluid to build up under the skin and resulting in painful, swollen limbs. 10 million people suffer from chronic lymphedema in Europe and U.S. alone [2], with current therapies being very expensive and time consuming and carrying an estimated economic burden of $70bn [3].
Dicronis: ETH Zurich (early detection of lymphedema)
After graduating from her Master’s in Pharmaceutical Sciences at ETH Zurich, Patrizia Marschalkova, co-founder and CEO of Dicronis, started to wonder how to best put into practice the knowledge she had gained and, in particular, how to enhance patients’ quality of life. This led her to develop the Lymphit, an early diagnostic tool for lymphedema. Early diagnosis of the disease can lead to earlier treatments, thus slowing down the progression and enabling sufferers to maintain their quality of life and remain in the workforce for longer. However, current state of the art diagnostics are not sufficiently finely tuned to enable early detection, instead relying on the appearance of symptoms.
The Lymphit works by painlessly injecting soluble microneedles into the skin. As the skin’s environment dissolves the microneedles, they release a harmless fluorescent signal, which is then cleared by the lymphatic system. By measuring how quickly the fluorescent signal is dispersed using a small, watch-like device worn by the patient, lymphatic function can be calculated and lymphedema diagnosed before the onset of symptoms.
Being part of the venture leaders Life Sciences 2017 eam, Marschalkova took a key message home to win the Venture Kick final: “investors are interested in promising/innovative technologies, explained in a straightforward manner, to be exploited by a capable team with a clear development plan.“ The Venture kick program helped them to realize and improve on all these different aspects. Patrizia and her team plan to use the funds raised from Venture Kick to start conducting clinical trials in 2018. She says “Besides the key entrepreneurial learnings, Dicronis profits from financial help from Venture Kick, which will be instrumental in getting the venture ready for investors.”
Lymphatica Medtech SA: EPFL/CHUV (implantable medical device to treat lymphedema)
While working as PhD students at EPFL looking at the problem of lymphedema, founders Dr. Marco Pisano and Dr. Valentina Triacca began looking into how to slow or reverse the progression of the disease and hypothesised that there may be a way to remove fluid from the affected limbs, by creating an artificial pump to relocate this fluid to areas of the body where it will be easily removed (e.g. the peritoneal cavity).
It was the birth of their solution, LymphoDrain, a micropump designed to be implanted just under the skin. A small magnet within the micropump creates the pumping action to move the fluid into silicon catheters and is controlled via an external wearable device. This means that the entire process is easily controllable through the unit worn by the patient, and does not rely on an implanted power source, making it suitable for long-term use without the need for replacement or maintenance. Pilot studies conducted in the research laboratory of Prof. Lucia Mazzolai at CHUV have been overwhelmingly positive, and the team hopes to move to in-human clinical trials as early as next year. Founders Pisano and Triacca say: “During the last 11 months Venture Kick has helped us in the transition from a promising academic project to a structured startup, ready to secure funding to start clinical trials in lymphedema patients. The training camps, the challenges to our business strategy, the jury feedback and the financial support were all key factors in shaping our entrepreneurial mindset and successfully completing, validating and implementing our business plan.”
References:
[1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/217177/global-projected-growth-of-solar-power-by-2020/
[2] https://lymphaticnetwork.org/
[3] M. Gutknecht et al., (2017) Cost-Of-Illness of Patients With Lymphoedema, Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology, 31(11), 1930-1935. DOI: 10.1111/jdv.14442
The global solar power market, estimated to be worth $160bn by 2023 [1], still struggles with a key challenge: energy storage. GRZ Technologies is aiming to become a part of this high growth industry by being a key provider of hydrogen related technologies, thereby drastically improving solar energy storage capacities. Hydrogen is known as a potential key component of energy storage, however its applications are still limited and its use can be hazardous due to its high flammability. GRZ Technologies, founded by experts in chemistry and engineering, has developed a series of new technologies using metal hydride to provide safe, efficient and compact hydrogen storage solutions.
The objective is to bring this technology into our homes by developing hydrogen storage units for engineering services and grid-to-grid storage that are safe to use and small enough to fit in housing complexes. This size reduction is achieved by offering an over 20x increase in KWh storage per cubic meter compared with existing batteries. The technology has already been proven in the first products bought to market, the AGAS (Advanced Gas Scorption Analysis Systems) series, which allows materials scientists to measure how different gases are absorbed and adsorbed.
After acquiring a seed fund of CHF 300,000 CHF in 2016, GRZ made it into the TOP 100 Swiss startups in 2017 and will use the 130,000 CHF from Venture Kick in order to increase the size of their operation and explore manufacturing methods for their storage systems. Founders Gallandat, Ruch and Züttel explain: “Venture Kick has been a true booster for our project. The process of presenting our business model to a panel of experts, being exposed to their critical questions and benefitting from their contact and advice was a very helpful experience. It helped us to shape our business plan, focus on the key issues and get in touch with further investors.”
Two new Medtech startups for early diagnosis and treatment of lymphedema
Chronic lymphedema is a common, irreversible and debilitating side effect of many cancer therapies, causing excess fluid to build up under the skin and resulting in painful, swollen limbs. 10 million people suffer from chronic lymphedema in Europe and U.S. alone [2], with current therapies being very expensive and time consuming and carrying an estimated economic burden of $70bn [3].
Dicronis: ETH Zurich (early detection of lymphedema)
After graduating from her Master’s in Pharmaceutical Sciences at ETH Zurich, Patrizia Marschalkova, co-founder and CEO of Dicronis, started to wonder how to best put into practice the knowledge she had gained and, in particular, how to enhance patients’ quality of life. This led her to develop the Lymphit, an early diagnostic tool for lymphedema. Early diagnosis of the disease can lead to earlier treatments, thus slowing down the progression and enabling sufferers to maintain their quality of life and remain in the workforce for longer. However, current state of the art diagnostics are not sufficiently finely tuned to enable early detection, instead relying on the appearance of symptoms.
The Lymphit works by painlessly injecting soluble microneedles into the skin. As the skin’s environment dissolves the microneedles, they release a harmless fluorescent signal, which is then cleared by the lymphatic system. By measuring how quickly the fluorescent signal is dispersed using a small, watch-like device worn by the patient, lymphatic function can be calculated and lymphedema diagnosed before the onset of symptoms.
Being part of the venture leaders Life Sciences 2017 eam, Marschalkova took a key message home to win the Venture Kick final: “investors are interested in promising/innovative technologies, explained in a straightforward manner, to be exploited by a capable team with a clear development plan.“ The Venture kick program helped them to realize and improve on all these different aspects. Patrizia and her team plan to use the funds raised from Venture Kick to start conducting clinical trials in 2018. She says “Besides the key entrepreneurial learnings, Dicronis profits from financial help from Venture Kick, which will be instrumental in getting the venture ready for investors.”
Lymphatica Medtech SA: EPFL/CHUV (implantable medical device to treat lymphedema)
While working as PhD students at EPFL looking at the problem of lymphedema, founders Dr. Marco Pisano and Dr. Valentina Triacca began looking into how to slow or reverse the progression of the disease and hypothesised that there may be a way to remove fluid from the affected limbs, by creating an artificial pump to relocate this fluid to areas of the body where it will be easily removed (e.g. the peritoneal cavity).
It was the birth of their solution, LymphoDrain, a micropump designed to be implanted just under the skin. A small magnet within the micropump creates the pumping action to move the fluid into silicon catheters and is controlled via an external wearable device. This means that the entire process is easily controllable through the unit worn by the patient, and does not rely on an implanted power source, making it suitable for long-term use without the need for replacement or maintenance. Pilot studies conducted in the research laboratory of Prof. Lucia Mazzolai at CHUV have been overwhelmingly positive, and the team hopes to move to in-human clinical trials as early as next year. Founders Pisano and Triacca say: “During the last 11 months Venture Kick has helped us in the transition from a promising academic project to a structured startup, ready to secure funding to start clinical trials in lymphedema patients. The training camps, the challenges to our business strategy, the jury feedback and the financial support were all key factors in shaping our entrepreneurial mindset and successfully completing, validating and implementing our business plan.”
References:
[1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/217177/global-projected-growth-of-solar-power-by-2020/
[2] https://lymphaticnetwork.org/
[3] M. Gutknecht et al., (2017) Cost-Of-Illness of Patients With Lymphoedema, Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology, 31(11), 1930-1935. DOI: 10.1111/jdv.14442