Startups Developing Mini-Cryostats, a Cell Level Ophthalmology, Optical Quantum Sensors and 4D Microsurgical Patient Simulator Each win CHf 10’000
10.03.2020
condenZero, EarlySight, Miraex and SurgeonsLab Teams win Venture Kick’s financial and entrepreneurial support. Their projects help researchers improve the cool-down cycles of their experiments, doctors detect and treat eye diseases at an early stage, industrials make data-driven maintenance decisions, and hospitals achieve the accuracy and detail required to train microsurgery.
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 condenZero, CEO Denys Sutter
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 EarlySight, CEO Timothé Laforest and CTO Mathieu KUNZI
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 Miraex co-CEOs Clément Javerzac-Galy and Nicolas Abelé
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 SurgeonsLab CEO Fredrick Johnson Joseph and CMO David Bervini
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condenZero: cryogenic sample holder for cryo-transmission electron microscopy
Temperatures close to the zero point (-273°C) have important technical and scientific applications. Users of cryo-electron microscopy wait several hours to cool-down. Once the base temperature is reached, ca. 20 minutes are available for research before the instrument warms up again, ending experiments pre-maturely. condenZero's product is based on a novel cryo-technology, cooling down in minutes and sustaining temperature for 6+ hours. The team is composed of CEO and co-founder Denys Sutter, PhD in physics and EFZ physics laboratory technician, CTO and co-founder Dominik Biscette, engineering education (ABB) and CSO Johan Chang, a physics professor at the UZH. At the moment, they are in the prototyping phase for four research institutions - EPFL, EMPA, UZH and Université de Paris Sud - with first tests expected in June 2020. They plan to use Venture Kick funds for protoyping, assembly line, salary and travel. condenzero.com
EarlySight: Precise monitoring of retinal diseases
Temperatures close to the zero point (-273°C) have important technical and scientific applications. Users of cryo-electron microscopy wait several hours to cool-down. Once the base temperature is reached, ca. 20 minutes are available for research before the instrument warms up again, ending experiments pre-maturely. condenZero's product is based on a novel cryo-technology, cooling down in minutes and sustaining temperature for 6+ hours. The team is composed of CEO and co-founder Denys Sutter, PhD in physics and EFZ physics laboratory technician, CTO and co-founder Dominik Biscette, engineering education (ABB) and CSO Johan Chang, a physics professor at the UZH. At the moment, they are in the prototyping phase for four research institutions - EPFL, EMPA, UZH and Université de Paris Sud - with first tests expected in June 2020. They plan to use Venture Kick funds for protoyping, assembly line, salary and travel. condenzero.com
EarlySight: Precise monitoring of retinal diseases
According to WHO, 81% of visual impairment could be avoided if diagnosed and treated early. Many ocular diseases (e.g. AMD, glaucoma) are starting with the degeneration of the retina cellular structure which is invisible to current examinations. With EarlySight, CEO Dr Timothé Laforest and CTO Mathieu KUNZI's team is developing a medical device to help doctors detect and treat eye diseases at an early stage thanks to precise measurements of the eye condition. Their instrument is able to observe and quantify the retinal cells and provide a ten times more precise image of the retina than the actual standard of care. According to ophthalmologists, it will greatly improve the diagnosis and treatment follow-up by providing objective pieces of evidence of the disease progression. They plan to use the stage I funds of Venture Kick to communicate on the results of the clinical trial, in order to obtain written interests on the technology and pre-orders of the instrument. earlysight.com
Miraex: Predicting to protect the industrial world
The widespread need for small, ultra-sensitive sensors, in harsh environments, exists across multiple industries including power generation, food production, chemical, pharmaceutical, security, defense, aerospace, semiconductor, and Oil & Gas. Miraex's technology developed by co-CEOs Clément Javerzac-Galy and Nicolas Abelé (previously co-founder of Lemoptix and Osmoblue) and CIO Karel Dumon supports Industry 4.0 revolution founded on the use of sensors throughout the value chain, from equipment to machine monitoring, enabling cost savings through improved efficiency. Miraex’s core technologies are optical quantum sensors that measure a variety of phenomena including sound, vibration, temperature, magnetic & electrical fields, and radio waves. The sensors are supported by advanced signal processing and machine learning data analysis. They plan to use Venture Kick funds to further focus on customer and technology development. miraex.com
SurgeonsLab: 4D Microsurgical Patient Simulator
Miraex: Predicting to protect the industrial world
The widespread need for small, ultra-sensitive sensors, in harsh environments, exists across multiple industries including power generation, food production, chemical, pharmaceutical, security, defense, aerospace, semiconductor, and Oil & Gas. Miraex's technology developed by co-CEOs Clément Javerzac-Galy and Nicolas Abelé (previously co-founder of Lemoptix and Osmoblue) and CIO Karel Dumon supports Industry 4.0 revolution founded on the use of sensors throughout the value chain, from equipment to machine monitoring, enabling cost savings through improved efficiency. Miraex’s core technologies are optical quantum sensors that measure a variety of phenomena including sound, vibration, temperature, magnetic & electrical fields, and radio waves. The sensors are supported by advanced signal processing and machine learning data analysis. They plan to use Venture Kick funds to further focus on customer and technology development. miraex.com
SurgeonsLab: 4D Microsurgical Patient Simulator
Due to the fragile nature of neurovascular pathologies like Intracranial aneurysm (below 0.2 mm wall thickness) and to the complexity of the disease, the morbidity of microsurgery is not negligible. For neurosurgeons, this means they need to be trained and prepared well in advance while operating such critical cases. Fredrick Johnson Joseph and Dr. med. David Bervini from Inselspital, Bern created SurgeonsLab to produce patient-specific training models for trailing microsurgical procedures and interventions pre-operatively. The 4D microsurgical simulator serves as a pre-operative training tool to generate known treatment strategies by letting the surgeons trail and practice surgical procedures several times before operating on the real patient. Such a way the treatment planning is definitive, and it helps the hospital save surgery cost and patient’s life without morbidity. The physical models used in the simulator are patient-specific and compatible with the existing clinical workflow in any Hospital. A fully functional prototype solving the unmet clinical need was built and was validated by 25 neurosurgeons from different parts of the world. The seed fundraised through the Venture Kick program will be used for customer acquisition, market exploration and to scale up the production unit.