On June 16th, 2021, nine SMEs had the opportunity to present their solutions, clinical applications and expectations regarding future funding in front of eight investors from the European area and Australia. In the first part of MeetMyInvestor, the investors presented their investment volumes and criteria for investment. This was followed by the pitch session, where SMEs presented a bandwidth of different diagnostic approaches. The topics ranged from differentiation of depression and bipolar disorder over to cancer screening and the detection of various infectious diseases, through to the detection of autism spectrum disorder. The SMEs received the necessary tools for a successful pitch in advance through an extensive training program, in which they learned various techniques to make their presentation convincing.

At least since the Covid-19 pandemic, diagnostics, such as rapid tests, PCR or immunoassay, and sequencing of mutants, have attracted a lot of attention as a key solution to address the global crisis. Although the importance of new diagnostic approaches for the specific detection of diseases has gained widespread acceptance, it often takes a long time to bring new solutions to market. One reason is that these solutions are commonly based on complicated technologies. Another cause for delays is insufficient investment in expansive solutions with a high risk of not meeting expectations and return on investment.

Especially for small and medium sized companies it is difficult to finance the cost intensive research and development of innovative diagnostics. For the young companies, the round table with investors is more than welcome. After the event Berry Kriesels, CEO of Omnigen BV, gave a positive feedback: “I already had some responses to the pitch and requests already to share the deck. So the session for me was definitely successful.” And also MUDr. Thaddäus Hocotz, CEO of Canostix GmbH, was pleased by the event: “Industry-specific events like this particular one are much more beneficial for start-ups than the usual topic-agnostic ones. The choice of investors was tremendous, which was confirmed by their intelligent and targeted questions. It was also an excellent opportunity to connect to other founders in the space.”

For more information on the NWE project, please visit the project website Codex4SMEs.