Startups innovating for safe treatments for hemophilia, cholestasis and liver disease, full-stack mobile manipulation solutions, precision in dental implantology, and fully electric training and traveling airplane each receive CHF 10,000

CALDRE: Cholestasis and liver disease resolved
CALDRE addresses an important public health issue related to the rising incidence of liver disease. The liver produces and secretes approximately 800 milliliters of bile each day. However, conditions such as autoimmune diseases, unhealthy lifestyles, and blockages can obstruct bile flow from the liver causing a disease called cholestasis. Cholestasis produces enormous stress on the liver and can lead to severe and potentially life-threatening tissue damage. It is the current indication responsible for 10% of all liver transplants.
CALDRE has discovered an innovative and untapped therapeutic target to help relieve the symptoms of liver cholestasis. By leveraging a liver-specific targeted therapy, cholestasis-induced liver damage can be prevented in pre-clinical models. This new treatment option holds promise for 370,000 patients suffering from primary biliary cholangitis and primary sclerosing cholangitis who are unresponsive to the current standard of care.
The team from the University of Bern and Inselspital, is currently developing a lead candidate, with a phase I clinical trial on the horizon. The Venture Kick Stage I funding provides the opportunity to engage expert advice on the pre-clinical strategy.

DynaTech: Unlocking robots' true potential
Many industries across the globe are struggling due to labor shortages. Recent breakthroughs in robotic technologies have enabled robots to help but due to a lack of manipulation skills, they are currently limited to tasks such as infrastructure inspection or patrolling.
DynaTech offers full-stack robotic mobile manipulation solutions designed to alleviate these limitations. Drawing on over 25 years of combined team experience at the forefront of ETH's robotics research, the co-founders Eris Dhionis Sako, Johannes Pankert, and Kenneth Blomqvist, and a team of robotic specialists, provide tight integration of a powerful internally developed robotic arm and machine learning technologies that empower robots to tackle tasks previously deemed impossible. The latest leaps in robotic automation are poised to disrupt the global physical labor market which accounts for 50% of global GDP.
The Venture Kick funds will be used to improve our marketing material and establish contact with new customers through fairs and exhibition visits.
  Milan Aircraft: Fully electric training and traveling airplane
Small aircraft aviation is facing increasing costs and pressure to reduce noise and CO2 emissions, but simply electrifying existing airframes results in non-satisfying flight performance due to heavy batteries. Endurance and range are far away from allowing full standard training.
The Milan concept, which is ‘electric by design’, addresses this problem and achieves outstanding flight performances. A usable endurance of ~ 2.5 hours fulfills more than 95% of all use-cases of flying school and clubs, at drastically reduced operational costs. The usable range of ~500km makes it also a true alternative for private owners.
The company is being founded by 11 experienced engineers, who specialize in fields like electric vehicles, power electronics, energy infrastructure, mechanics, software, aviation, or business advice. The revolution will not only relate to the propulsion system but also include a new way of industrial aircraft manufacturing. Furthermore, a brand-new European certification regulation, aiming to boost innovation, will be applied.
The Venture Kick funds will contribute to functional prototype building and to prepare for certification.