9th September 2023
Exciting news: three start-ups from Austria have made it to the European semi-finals of the current EIT Health Catapult Pitch Competition! Each year, the competition showcases Europe’s most promising life science and healthtech start-ups to leading experts and investors.
The Catapult programme has supported over 300 companies in the seven editions so far. Many of these companies have closed investment rounds of millions of euros after participating. For example, the 2019 catapult winner, SparingVision, raised €119.5 million to accelerate the development of their breakthrough treatment tackling chronic ocular diseases. This funding round was closed less than three years after winning the biotech category.
Read more about the selection process and the 30 semi-finalists from across Europe here.
Meet the Austrian Catapult Semi-Finalists:
Healthtech Category
Lumetry Diagnostics: Lumetry offers the first home monitoring solution to track pCO2 toxicity in lung patients’ blood via breath gas analysis. Finally, giving patients at risk suffering from diseases such as COPD, an objective & easy to use solution, more self-control and a reduced fear of hospitalization. Lumetry has promising pre-clinical data as well as an ongoing clinical pilot study with approximately 200 patients taking place right here in Vienna. The team behind the solution has multiple years of experience in respiratory analysis, data science, biomedical engineering, cloud computing, business development and more. Together the team aims to provide the number one lung disease platform and thereby bring the most reliable lung monitoring solution to patients’ homes.
Saphenus Medical Technology: Saphenus Medical Technology was founded in Austria in 2016 and has spent years researching the world’s first sentient prosthesis with leading scientists. In 2021, the first user was equipped with the sentient prosthesis. Saphenus Medical Technology cooperates with leading institutions in Austria and Germany and makes a significant contribution to making basic knowledge rapidly available to patients.
Life Science Category
G.ST Antivirals: G.ST Antivirals is a clinical-stage biotech company that applies an innovative host cell-based strategy to develop broad-spectrum antivirals against infections of the respiratory tract. The first product of G.ST Antiviral’s pipeline is a proprietary 2-deoxyglucose (2-DG) containing nasal spray targeting upper respiratory tract infections (common cold). The product entered clinical testing in 2022 and is currently being evaluated in a Phase 1 at the Vienna General Hospital, Austria. Two pre-clinical candidates are currently being evaluated in pre-clinical stage for prevention and treatment of virus-associated exacerbations in COPD patients and other highly vulnerable patient groups.
Discover the Programme
EIT Health Catapult is a fast-tracking Europe’s best start-ups programme, introducing a unique competition and training programme that showcases life sciences and health tech start-ups to leading experts and investors across Europe. The programme awards the best business concepts, and fast-tracking start-ups to become part of the EIT Health Community of world-leading companies.
Throughout the programme, start-ups receive intensive training as they build their credibility and visibility through pan-European exposure. Finalists pitch at the Bits & Pretzels HealthTech event 2024 as they go head-to-head for cash and industry prizes.
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