Experienced start-up managers well received at Swiss Venture Day

Nine start-ups have been selected for the Swiss Venture Day of CTI Invest last week: Attrackting, Eturnity, Mimedis, Obexia, Polarmond, Powzy, Dorphan, Swiss Medendi and dacadoo.

Many of them have experienced management teams. Obexia is a very good example of what difference such a team can make. The current team has joined Obexia half a year ago. The team with 80 man years of industry experience decided to focus on the development of therapies for cancer cachexia because it has large unmet need.

Cachexia or wasting syndrome is characterized by loss of weight, muscle atrophy, fatigue, weakness, and significant loss of appetite. In cancer more than 30% of patients die due to cachexia and more than 50% of patients with cancer die with cachexia being present. Cancer cachexia is associated with high mortality rate and dismal quality of life. Obexia CEO Conrad Savoy showed a moving picture of Steve Jobs who suffered from cancer cachexia.  

The clear focus, the development of a therapy addressing an unmet need and the experienced team has been appreciated by the investors at the Swiss Venture Day.

In addition several other experienced start-up managers presented their companies. Really amazing was the infusion device of Swiss Medendi. The device substantially changes how vesicant and irritant drugs such as drugs used in chemotherapy will be infused by utilizing a proprietary patented technology. At the moment those drugs can cause permanent injury to blood vessels. The device of Swiss Medendi will change this. The product is very simple and cost effective but is at the same time addressing a real medical need.

Another interesting example was Attrackting. The start-up develops an intelligent cat collar. Using mobile networks and GPS, it tracks and records the activity of these animals. It was founded by an experienced team that keeps the company lean which leads to a very low burn rate.

The presentation given by dacadoo founder Peter Ohnemus was remarkable because it demonstrated that even passionate speakers can explain what makes their company special in 4 minutes. Peter Ohnemus mentioned several important achievements of dacadoo and said that the most important announcement in the history of the start-up was the one about the partnership with Samsung. Dacadoo will be pre-installed on the new smartwatch Galaxy Gear II, which will be launched in April.

The list of all presenting companies can be found in another article about the Swiss Venture Day. Members of CTI Invest can find videos of the presentations on the CTI Invest website.