Startups revolutionizing orthodontics, leveraging AI for oncological diagnostics, simplifiying recruitment, making hydrogen production sustainable, and developing an immune-based cancer therapy receive CHF 10,000 each

In-Teeth Technology: Revolutionizing orthodontics
The two common aesthetic solutions for teeth misalignment offered by practitioners today each have their trade-offs: patients have to choose between lingual braces, which are invisible and reliable but also painful and expensive, and clear aligners, which save chair time but are visible, poorly reliable, and have to be removed when drinking or consuming food.

In-Teeth is developing a revolutionary, easy-to-use solution that combines the benefits of both techniques: the removable lingual arch matches the quality of lingual braces and the user-friendliness and cost advantage of clear aligners. Based on 3D scans of the patient's teeth and using direct 3D printing with biopolymer, the novel appliance design and manufacturing process have been patented. Targeting orthodontic practitioners with its B2B business model, the startup aims to address and capture the global custom orthodontic supply market valued at USD 6 billion with a CARG of nearly 20%.

In-Teeth proprietary technology was developed by Hugo Meley, Ph.D., who has a background in 3D tech development, and Antoine Meley, MD, an orthodontic practitioner. The team is complemented by Prof. Francois Birling, an expert in industrial software, and Prof. Gregory Antonarakis, Ph.D., who will be running the clinical pilot study at the University of Geneva.

The CHF 10,000 awarded by Venture Kick will be invested in a patent extension, a regulatory roadmap validation as well as in the manufacturing of showcase demonstrators.


Moonlight AI: Using AI to innovate diagnostic processes in oncology
Analyzing genomic biomarkers is vital for the application of targeted therapeutics in hematology and oncology. The sequencing of these biomarkers usually requires highly specialized lab infrastructure; globally, most patients do not have access to such sequencing technology, thus also forgoing optimal treatment options.

Moonlight AI circumvents this problem by developing computer vision algorithms that classify scanned images based on the presence of specific genomic biomarkers not visible to the human eye. Having secured access to high-quality data sets, Moonlight AI is revolutionizing the potential to predict specific genomic aberrations in scanned images of blood and bone marrow smears, which are collected in the course of standard diagnostic procedures of oncological patients.
 
The startup's solution will be offered to healthcare service providers worldwide—particularly oncological clinicians and hematologists—in a fee-for-service model for the molecular diagnostics market.

The Jura-based startup Moonlight AI was co-founded by Sezai Taskin (CEO), who brings over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry to the table; Nicole Romano (CTO), who earned her Ph.D. at Stanford and is a leader in machine learning; Stefan Habringer (CMO), a hematologist and clinical research group leader; and Christian Ruiz (CSO), a leader in oncological research and diagnostics.
 
The CHF 10,000 awarded by Venture Kick will help the startup develop several MVPs for different indications and secure possible industrial partnerships as they further develop the product.
 
www.moonlight-ai.com

PastaHR: The recruiting engine to hire desk-less workers
In light of recent shifts in the labor market, finding and hiring skilled workers has become more challenging for employers.

PastaHR aims to lower the obstacles in the hiring process by creating a more direct connection to potential employees through chat apps they use daily. Currently, the software solution focuses on WhatsApp, used by the vast majority of the Swiss population. By integrating a link to a WhatsApp Chatbot on career pages and in recruitment campaigns, hiring processes are simplified through easy contact as well as primary candidate screening. This vastly improves the candidate experience, resulting in more qualified applications and faster time-to-hire.

PastaHR can be integrated into over twenty application tracking systems and is fully GDPR compliant. In the future, the product offering will be expanded with features such as new recruiting channels (e.g., Instagram) or more seamless integration into social recruiting and employer branding efforts.

The startup already collaborates with enterprises across healthcare, retail, logistics, and engineering services. With the global HR technology market expected to grow to USD 90 billion by 2025 (up from USD 47 billion in 2019), the startup is capitalizing on significant market potential.

PastaHR was founded by Manuel Buri and Patrick Schnyder, who met over six years ago during their undergraduate studies at the University of St.Gallen when they organized Switzerland’s largest startup conference. Both founders also hold an MSc in Computer Science and have vast experience in entrepreneurship and technology. Manuel previously worked for UBS, Google, Earlybird VC, and most recently as a Product Manager at Valora Digital, while Patrick has experience in venture building from his time at the AI-focused venture studio Merantix.

With the CHF 10,000 awarded by Venture Kick, the startup will boost its product development and sales activities.

www.pastahr.com

REMA: Making green hydrogen production affordable and efficient
The need for sustainable technologies for the production, storage, transportation, and usage of energy is rising. Due to its many applications as well as its storage capacity, hydrogen is considered the Swiss Army knife of decarbonization; yet the price of production is a problem. A cheaper, more efficient, and more reliable electrolyzer that can be mass-produced rapidly is therefore vital.

REMA's ground-breaking technology removes the most limiting and costly part of commercial electrolyzers, called membranes or separators. The unique technology maintains a hydrogen production purity of 99.99% as well as system integrity that is unmatched, reducing the price of production by up to 40%. REMA's technology is currently protected by four patents at different evaluation stages.

The hydrogen market was valued at USD 129.6 billion in 2020 and is estimated to surpass USD 220 billion in 2030. Most of the hydrogen produced is so-called grey hydrogen as its production is powered by fossil fuels, with green hydrogen assumed to account for USD 89 billion by 2030. REMA's solution can decarbonize the market and make green hydrogen competitive. The startup's initial product is a small-scale unit of 2.5kW that produces around 1kg of hydrogen a day for devices like drones, bikes, light towers, or small off-grid systems. Once established, the goal is to develop a larger unit aiming at a scale of over 50kW.

The startup's founding team consists of Steven Schenk (CEO), a mechanical engineer specializing in fluid simulation and electrochemical reactors; Ioakim Sioutis (Lead Engineer), a specialist in mechanical design and electrochemical reactor development; Prof. Demetri Psaltis, Director of the EPFL's Optics Lab and optofluidics expert; and, Prof. Nikos Stergiopoulos, EPFL professor and founder of Comphya and Rheon Medical.

REMA will invest the funds awarded by Venture Kick to finalize the membrane-less stack prototype and validate long-term performance.

www.h2rema.ch


Trojan Therapeutics: Developing a novel immunotherapy to fight cancer
While immunotherapies have revolutionized oncology, currently approved immunotherapies are not efficient against so-called “cold” tumors, i.e. non-inflamed solid tumors. The reason is the immunosuppressive nature of the tumor microenvironment (TME).

Trojan Therapies aims to break up the immunosuppressive TME and generate an anti-tumor response with a monocyte-based immunotherapy comparable to CAR-T cell therapies. The therapy targets monocytes that migrate into the tumor and usually differentiate into tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs), which promote tumor development, proliferation, and metastasis. Monocytes derived from the patient's blood are gene-engineered to replace the TAMs in the TME—like trojan horses—thereby reversing the immune-suppressive TME and activating the immune system against the tumor.

The startup has chosen triple-negative breast cancer as its first lead indication, which often affects women under 40 and has a far worse prognosis than other breast cancer types and accounts for 40% of all breast-cancer-related deaths. Only 60% of patients respond to first-line treatment and 40% suffer a relapse.

The initial target population is a segment of patients in which the first line of treatment failed, which amounts to around 30,000 patients a year out of a total of 120,000 in Japan, the EU, and the US. The startup plans to scale the treatment for glioblastoma, ovarian cancer, and pancreatic cancer.

The team consists of Simon Bredl, the treatment's inventor and project leader who is not only an experienced synthetic biologist, but has gathered startup experience with Redbiotec and Redvax; Roberto Speck, MD, also inventor, expert for humanized mouse models and infectious diseases, and head of the HIV-1 research group at the University Hospital of Zurich; and Sabrina Traxel, a postdoctoral researcher and experienced cancer immunologist specialized in acute lymphoblastic leukemia and pancreatic tumors

With the funds awarded by Venture Kick, the startup will finance an FTO that will allow the continued development of the treatment technology.

www.trojan-therapeutics.com