Annaida Technologies is developing a medical device called ‘EmbryoSpin’ for improved IVF screening to enable millions of people to have children. Neural Concept, on the other hand, provides simulation software that can analyze the aerodynamics of car and airplane designs 1,000 times faster. The two startups have joined the Venture Kick winners community.
The latest Venture kick award endowed with CHF 130’000 goes to Annaida Technologies founded by Marco Grisi and Gaurasundar Conley, and Neural Concept founded by Pierre Baqué, Timur Bagautdinov, Francois Fleuret and Pascal Fua. The funds will support the startups in advancing their technologies.
Annaida Technologies, an EPFL spinoff is working towards a better IVF Screening medical technology device. Approximately 1 in 10 couples in developed countries use in-vitro fertilization when trying to conceive, and Europe's clinics perform 660,000 IVF cycles every year. Globally IVF will be a $20 billion industry by 2020, with patients spending over $1 billion on screening embryos to identify which may be most viable. Current methods, by examination under a microscope or by taking a biopsy of as much as 15 percent of the embryos cells, are slow and result in successful pregnancies 35 percent of the time on average.
Annaida's CTO Marco Grisi, who studied microengineering and magnetic resonance at Lausanne's Institute of Microengineering EPFL, developed a faster, more-accurate technology that's delicate enough to use on a human embryo. The startup's device, EmbryoSpin performs microscopic Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (“µNMR”) at a scale 10-fold better than existing technologies. Like an MRI scanner, shrunk to suit embryos about one-fifth of a millimeter in size the device will allow IVF clinics to perform their analysis on-site and within an hour. µNMR opens new global markets in assisted reproductive technology enabling non-invasive embryo viability screening for in vitro fertilization (“IVF”), as well as in biochemical research.
The startup team used Venture Kick's support to meet industry players and opinion leaders at conferences and institutes worldwide, and develop their expertise in embryology. While the startup prepares to close its seed round, it will also start a human embryo study with an IVF clinic in canton Vaud.
Deep learning algorithms for car makers
Neural Concept is dedicated to optimizing engineering processes using deep learning algorithms. Currently, car makers each spend about $10 million annually on software to digitally simulate the aerodynamic performance of their designs. Overall about $3 billion is spent on digital simulation by industrial R&D companies, particularly global car and plane-makers. The current technology is slow, taking between 6 and 24 hours to analyze a design, which limits the number of designs engineers can test.
The Lausanne based EPFL spin-off applies deep learning technology developed for 3D models at EPF Lausanne's Computer Vision Lab. The startup‘s simulations can be performed in 100 milliseconds, allowing engineers to speed-up their R&D cycles, and make better products more cheaply. Neural Concept’s technology will also accelerate aircraft designers' work.
Neural Concept already has on-going product validation with six customers in Europe and the U.S., and currently closing a seed round. Since passing the previous Venture Kick jury and training, the startup has won Bridge and Innogrant grants.
Photo: Gaurasundar Conley, CEO & Marco Grisi, CTO of Annaida Technologies (L); Pierre Baqué, CEO of Neural Concept.
(Press release)
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