Swiss biotech innovation on the global stage

15 July 2021 | Thursday | News | By Isabelle Mitchell


Venture Leaders Biotech 2021: 10 new Swiss National Startup Team members to showcase Swiss biotech innovation on the global stage

The Swiss National Startup Team welcomes new members: A jury selected 10 startups for the first Venture Leaders program dedicated explicitly to the biotech sector. During their roadshow, the Venture Leaders Biotech will meet international investors and industry leaders and access industry-specific expertise and networks to grow their companies. Venture Leaders Biotech 2021 is co-organized by Venturelab and Swissnex and supported by EPF Lausanne, ETH Zurich, VISCHER, and the Canton of Zurich. 

The Venture Leaders—the members of the Swiss National Startup Team—have a clear-cut goal. They envision themselves as global players and want to take the first step toward their international expansion. The investor and business development roadshows for Swiss startups are specifically structured to help them achieve this goal. For the past 16 years, the Swiss National Startup Team has traveled to Boston to discover the entrepreneurial scene of the United States of America. In 2014, the Venture Leaders roadshow extended to China and New York and then added Silicon Valley in 2017 and Barcelona in 2019. 
 
For the past 16 years, the Venture Leaders teams have been showcasing the quality and potential of Swiss startups around the globe. Venture Leaders alumni comprise high-flying biotech startups such as Covagen (acquired by Johnson & Johnson), Redbiotec (Redvax acquired by Pfizer)), KB Medical (acquired by Globus Medical), SimplicityBio (acquired by Precision for Medicine), and AMAL Therapeutics (acquired by Boehringer Ingelheim). The startup NBE-Therapeutics participated in the Venture Leaders program in 2003 and was acquired for EUR 1.18 billion by Boehringer Ingelheim in 2020.  
 
The biotech sector now introduces its own members of the Swiss National Startup Team: A jury of professional investors and biotech experts reviewed almost 70 applications to choose the 10 Venture Leaders Biotech 2021. Previously, biotech startups participated in the Venture Leaders Life Sciences program, but the sector now has its own roadshow, and the Venture Leaders Biotech 2021 will be the first class to graduate from the biotech program. The 10 selected startups improve disease prevention, diagnostics, and treatment through innovative solutions covering areas such as RNA-sequencing, precision medicine, gene editing, and gene therapy.  
 
“Having an international investor roadshow for biotech startups reflects the importance of this growing sector—in Switzerland and beyond. We want to facilitate connections and investment opportunities for the Venture Leaders Biotech 2021 so that their innovative power can reach its full potential,” said Jordi Montserrat, managing partner at Venturelab. “The Venture Leaders Biotech startups 2021 demonstrate Switzerland’s position as a global biotech hub that provides high-quality innovation that will transform our future.”  
 
The international investor roadshow to take place in the fall aims to accelerate the startups’ expansion and sets the base for their global business networks. “Venture Leaders is an outstanding program that opens many more doors than it would be possible for an individual company alone,” said Sven N. Hobbie, co-founder of Juvabis and Venture Leaders alum. 
 
Venture Leaders Biotech 2021 is co-organized by Venturelab and Swissnex and supported by EPF Lausanne, ETH Zurich, VISCHER, and the Canton of Zurich. 

 

Learn more about the Venture Leaders Biotech 2021:

Acthera Therapeutics AG:Next generation drug delivery for almost any drug modality

ACTHERA Ltd. incorporated in 2019 in Basel is developing an entirely novel targeted therapy technology based on Hard-Shelled Liposomes (HSLs). The proprietary technology has the potential to address t... Read more

Alithea Genomics SA:Next-gen drug and biomarker discovery using RNA sequencing.

Measuring the activity of genes in biological samples, such as blood, biopsies or stem cells, among others, has great medical potential for the discovery and development of new drugs and biomarkers. ... Read more

Avrion Therapeutics AG:Precision gene therapies for neurodegenerative disorders

Avrion Therapeutics is a spin-off from EPFL developing precision gene therapy solutions to address genetically defined neurodegenerative disorders. Gene therapies can provide benefit through modulatio... Read more

cellvie AG:From cells to medicine

cellvie is bringing about a new treatment modality, leveraging the therapeutic potential of mitochondria. Specifically, it was shown that mitochondria, the powerhouses of the cell, can be augmented an... Read more

deepCDR Biologics AG:Deep learning in antibody discovery and engineering

We harness the power of machine learning to move beyond experimental screening found in traditional therapeutic antibody discovery and engineering processes. To achieve this, we combine three state-of... Read more

Gnubiotics Sciences SA:Biosimilar oligosaccharides to restore microbiome diversity

Gnubiotics Sciences SA is revolutionizing the microbiome health of humans and animals with a new category of complex molecules: glycans. Gnubiotics' unique and proprietary technology platform combines... Read more

HexagonFab:Low-cost drug discovery tools

Designing, developing and commercializing nanomaterial-based biosensors for life science analysis that require high-sensitive, rapid and real-time results (e.g. protein interaction analysis). Read more

Nemosia:The missing link in the fight against neurodegeneration!

At Nemosia, we aim to raise public awareness of neurological disorders and promote a culture where it is seen as normal and safe to do regular brain check-ups even if there are no visible symptoms. W... Read more

NextImmune AG:Novel Therapy for Autoimmunity and Organ Transplantation

NextImmune, is a spin-off from the Biozentrum, University of Basel, and is focused on the research and development of a novel class of immunosuppressive therapies for autoimmune-inflammatory diseases ... Read more

STALICLA SA:Precision medicine for neurodevelopmental disorders

STALICLA is a Swiss clinical stage biopharmaceutical company advancing an omics-based precision medicine platform targeting neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs), with a first application in Autism Spec... Read more

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