The 14th edition of Startup Champions Seed Night was once again held in a packed EPFL Rolex Learning Center. On this occasion, 20 startups were invited to pitch in 90 seconds each. Another highlight on the evening was the presentation of the Isabelle Musy Award to women-led entrepreneurial projects. This year two laureates won over the jury with an exciting sustainability project.
The Startup Champions Seed Night is one of the key events in the startup scene in Western Switzerland. The event is organized by EPFL Alumni, the EPFL Vice Presidency for Innovation and Venturelab. The 14th edition once again drew a full house, with a large audience of nearly 500 people spread between the Rolex Forum and the live broadcast.
20 start-ups pitched once again in four groups. From cleantech to medtech, ICT or space technology, the audience discovered the best of the early-stage startups from EPFL and beyond. The full list can be found on the EPFL Alumni website. Four startups made it to the grande finale:
- SaisiR: Led by Claudia Bigoni, the startup responds to the need for effective and efficient solutions for severely impaired stroke patients (25M globally). It provides clinics and hospitals with non-invasive and personalized therapy via an AI-driven brain-computer interface. Current global spending for stroke rehabilitation is $250B.
- MoleSense led by Gian Luca Barbruni is developing the first molecular maternity management wearable, addressing the $45B maternal care market. Their customers are high-risk pregnancy hospitals, and they deliver real-time insights to improve outcomes, reduce costs, and enhance patient care. A game-changer in maternity health management.
- Roofscapes: Founded in 2021 at MIT by three EPFL architecture alumni, Roofscapes adapts cities to climate change by transforming rooftops into green and accessible spaces. Its replicable solutions reduce urban heat islands, create ecological corridors, store rainwater, and offer unprecedented, shared spaces, at scale.
- Pave Space: Expanding Earth industry to orbit by unlocking the next humanity potential: in-space logistics. PAVE Space mission led by Julie Böhning is to develop autonomous and mobile spacecrafts equipped to handle large structure assembly, maintenance and logistic in space.
With so many brilliant concepts, the jury had a tough decision ahead, ultimately choosing one deserving winner: MoleSense. The femtech made a strong impression with its pitch and market potential.
Isabelle Musy highlights Sustainability entrepreneurs
Launched in 2014, the Isabelle Musy Award is designed to award and support female entrepreneurs in the Swiss Romande and Swiss Italian regions. The aim is to encourage the creation of technology companies with societal impact by women. The prize was presented by the donor. This year she honored two female scientists with an ambitious sustainability project. The Isabelle Musy Award, endowed with 50,000 Swiss francs, went this year to Manon Rolland and Claire Bourmaud, cofounders of Koatin'G. Their technology makes it possible to replace toxic petroleum products in bank receipt paper with healthier, more sustainable alternatives.
In addition to the entrepreneurs of tomorrow, Vincent Delattre, co-founder of ONWARD Medical SA and EPFL Graduate in Life Sciences took the stage to share his experience. Founded in 2014, the startup active in the neurotechnology and medtech space, is focused on developing therapies to restore movement, independence, and health in people with spinal cord injuries (SCI). Publicly listed, ONWARD is traded on Euronext Amsterdam.
(PR - ES)
On picture: Time Cousin (Roofscapes), Julie Böhning (Pave Space), Gian Luca Barbruni (MoleSense), Claudia Bigoni (SaisiR),
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The new Swiss Venture Capital Report was published on 26 January. It analyses 304 financing rounds closed in 2020 and includes further article such as an interview with Michael Hengartner, President of the ETH Board, and a list of Swiss "soonicorns". 
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