Venture Kick brings two deeptech startups closer to the market

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01.04.2019
Fabio Oldenburg, COO of Gaia Membranes (left); Petr Strnad and Andréa Boni, co-founders of Viventis Microscopy.

With its new technology Gaia Mambranes boosts the efficiency of batteries, fuel cells electrolyzers and more. Viventis develops microscopes which will improve our understanding of cellular processes. Both start-ups won CFF 130,000 in the Venture Kick finale.

Lithium-ion batteries, the energy storage technology of choice for consumer electronics and electric vehicles, face critical problems such as rapid charge deterioration and short lifetime; a highly-flammable and explosive chemistry; and expensive end-of-life management. Until now, vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs) – an emerging technology that scales more easily than lithium-ion – had struggled to compete, because of their relatively low charge-discharge efficiency of 75 percent, compared to nearly 90 percent of lithium-ion batteries.

Gaia Membranes aims to disrupt the status quo and transform VRFBs into the most-affordable technology for energy storage. How? Their first ion exchange membrane product boosts the efficiency of VRFBs by up to 15 percent, thus bridging the gap to lithium-ion batteries. What’s more, their versatile membrane technology allows them to develop products that boost the efficiency of fuel cells, water electrolyzers, and other related applications. These are some of the fastest-growing segments in the $1.4 billion market for ion exchange membranes.

The team is now preparing to increase production and start pilot projects. “With the renewed support we can accelerate our manufacturing scale-up and bring our first product to market by the end of 2019," said Elian Pusceddu, co-founder and CEO of Gaia Membranes.

Long-term live-imaging

High-resolution live-imaging solutions are needed to advance our understanding of cellular processes used in pharmaceutical research. The most-widespread current technologies use fluorescence microscopy, which is not suited to long-term imaging of living light-sensitive samples, because of its relatively high photo-toxicity. Alternative solutions are limited when it comes to observing larger samples, a requirement when trying to properly observe 3D cell cultures.

Viventis Microscopy is commercializing a novel light-sheet microscope system offering unpreceded imaging capability. Its technology allows for up to six days of live-imaging of light-sensitive samples, such as embryos and organoids (artificially grown tissue that resembles an organ), which may enable accelerated drug development.

Viventis aims to establish itself as a strong, innovative player in the $750 million imaging market for live-cell imaging. It has already delivered several microscope systems to leading European research institutes, and it plans to expand in biotech and pharma segments that use 3D culture systems, such as organoids, in their research . "Venture Kick will allow us to finance our demo microscope and bring it to potential customers and to international exhibitions. This is fundamental to increase our visibility and market penetration," Andrea Boni, Viventis Microscopy's co-founder and COO, said.

The philanthropic initiative Venture Kick provides up to CHF 150,000 in seed funding to Swiss startups. In addition, it offers a well-structured entrepreneurial path towards building a winning business. Startups pitch to expert juries at three stages to obtain funding, gaining direct feedback and access to an international network of successful entrepreneurs and investors. In 2019, Venture Kick will pay out 4.35 million francs to idea-stage startup projects to bring Swiss science to global markets. 

Picture: Fabio Oldenburg, COO of Gaia Membranes (left); Petr Strnad and Andréa Boni, co-founders of Viventis Microscopy.

(Press release)

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