Five companies receive additional financial support through BioInnovation Institute's Venture House program

COPENHAGEN, Denmark, March 16, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- BioInnovation Institute (BII), an international non-profit foundation incubating and accelerating world-class life science research, today announces that five companies are to receive additional financial support through its Venture House program, created to further support former Venture Lab companies through their next phase of growth.

The Venture House program provides exclusive follow-on funding in the form of a founder-friendly convertible loan of EUR 1.3M to selected companies that have already participated in the 12-month Venture Lab program created to support business acceleration, scientific and team development. As part of the Venture House program, companies will also take advantage of BII's extensive network to help establish a strong board, chairman and key scientific advisors. This is the second cohort of companies to be accepted into the Venture House program since its launch in August 2022.

To support product innovation and ecosystem growth, the program consists of four executive sprints, each focused on a key development area to help mature the project and ultimately attract further funding. The first sprint focuses on helping the companies develop an operational plan, while the following sprints provide training and support in fundraising, partnership, and leadership.

Bobby Soni, Chief Business Officer at BioInnovation Institute, said: "We are delighted to present the second cohort of companies entering our Venture House program. Since its launch in 2022, the program has seen the companies mature in terms of business plan, scientific, and team development with excellent readiness for their next phase of funding. We look forward to continuing to support these five innovative companies and accelerate their growth."

In March 2022, as part of the BII's Venture Lab program that supports business acceleration, scientific development and team development, each Company received a risk-free convertible loan of EUR 500,000 plus access to labs and offices at the BII's entrepreneurial ecosystem in the center of Copenhagen. Thus, after entering the Venture House program they have received in total of EUR 1.8M. The new companies the BII has accepted into the Venture House program are:

• Tetrakit Technologies develops the next generation of radioactive drugs to find and destroy cancer tumors. Its mission is to enable better, safer, and more cost-effective theranostic radiopharmaceuticals for patients with advanced cancer.
• Ousia Pharma is a toxicology-stage life science company focused on developing innovative medicines for treatment of metabolic and neurological disorders. Ousia Pharma utilize a proprietary targeting approach in which peptides are used to deliver modulators of neuroplasticity to drive potent and sustained disease modifying benefits for patients suffering from obesity and cognitive disorders.
• Aiomic is developing a cutting-edge AI platform (Aiomic360) to combat postoperative complications. With automated tracking and real-time risk assessment, Aiomic360 will function as quality management tool for hospitals, a decision support tool for healthcare practitioners and an individualized patient empowerment tool for surgical candidates.
• Nordic Virtual Pastures introduces its ground-breaking 'Virtual Media' for the propagation of meat cells that through a sustainable and low-cost production process will allow the world to continue eating meat without the ethical and environmental issues that today surround the conventional meat industry.
• Mello is developing a Smart Delivery Platform to enable the effective delivery of probiotics and bioactives, for healthier food and drink. Initially focusing on probiotic delivery – with its unique target-driven, controlled-release delivery technology the Company aims to overcome a number of industry-wide challenges which currently prevent optimizing probiotic benefit.

Since its inception in 2018, BII has supported 80 start-ups and projects with EUR 71 million alongside the venture capital, industry and business expertise it provides to help them accelerate to the next level.  In total, BII's start-ups have raised over EUR 382 million in external funding from both local and international investors.  Recent company successes include Adcendo, Stipe Therapeutics, Twelve Bio, Octarine Bio, and Cirqle Biomedical.

Read more about the Venture House program here.

About the BioInnovation Institute Foundation:

At BioInnovation Institute (BII), we accelerate world-class life science start-up innovation for the benefit of people and society. As a non-profit institute, BII operates the company creation programs, Bio Studio, Venture Lab and Venture House, to support life science start-ups with knowledge, network, infrastructure and funding of up to EUR 3M per project and EUR 1,8 M per start-up. With our expertise, network, funding, and infrastructure, we empower startups to succeed and believe in the transformative power of life science innovation. Read more on www.bioinnovationinstitute.com