
Sagentia
Sagentia is a global technology and prdouct development consulting company with extensive experience workign with start-ups on commercialising medical systems. Our product portfolio includes custom instrumentation for Point of Care and Central Laboratory instruments, intelligent surgical devices and robots and wireless patient monitoring and woundcare devices.
With global headquarters in Cambridge, UK, Sagentia works with clients from front end market needs analysis through to transfer to manufacture. We deliver innovation aroudn new technologies and new generation products and services that provide commercial value and market advantage. Critically we understand the challenges faced by start-ups and we work with you to deliver to your key decision gates.
Mrs Tamara Kahn
VP Strategic MarketingSEED Capital Denmark
SEED Capital is the largest early stage venture fund in Denmark. We invest in companies within IT, Cleantech and Life Science at the seed or even pre-seed stage from Denmark and southern Sweden. We invest in classic venture companies that have a highly innovative solution and a scalable business model for entering an attractive market with a number of identified paths to exit.
Because of our strong partnership with the government funded innovation incubator DTU Symbion Innovation we are able to invest € 250-750.000 at the early stages of a company’s development, allowing them an opportunity to prove their technology and business.
Depending on capital need, SEED Capital can invest up to € 9 million in the following rounds – preferably in syndication with international investors. We take an active advisory role as an investor and will normally take the position of Chairman of the Board in the company until a skilled alternative is identified.
Mr Jon Ingi Benediktsson
Investment ManagerSerendipity Innovations
Serendipity's core business is to create new innovative companies based on leading academic research.
Serendipity does this together with leading researchers, motivated entrepreneurs and by working closely with potential customers to ensure that the products and services developed meet the actual needs and requirements of the market. Our product development projects usually involve paying customers. This makes the value creation process more efficient while the product demand becomes more predictable.
Serendipity began operations in 2004 and has since established and operated more than ten companies; most of them research and development-intensive companies.
Mr Erik Björkegren
Venture ManagerDr Christos Panotopoulos
Medical AdvisorSpinChip Diagnostics AS
SpinChip; The ultimate point of care in vitro diagnostic platform of the future.
TECHNOLOGY. The SpinChip platform is based on unique patent pending lab-on-a-chip technology invented at SINTEF and to be industrialized and commercialized by SpinChip Diagnostic AS. The bioanalytical platform concept includes small polymer chips with integrated reagents being processed by a small (1.6L) low cost instrument. The concept allows for a variety of advanced analyses to be performed with very high accuracy from a fraction of a droplet within a few minutes. Potential application areas are within human and veterinary point of care in vitro diagnosis (PoC IVD) as well as within food, water and environmental analysis.
The main advantages of SpinChip are extremely fast and flexible microfluidic sample processing and assaying, allowing for a variety of analyses to be performed fully automated at point of use settings at a low cost. The Spinning Chips instrument is based on a micro-centrifugal principle not including any pumps and valves. The availability of high centrifugal forces and the independence of design restricting interfaces make the platform particularly flexible in sample and reagents processing as well as being robust and inexpensive in production. Very fast and robust immunometric chemistries are being used in the pilot application. Further two complementary optical detection systems covering a very wide dynamic sensitivity range are included. These combined features make Spinning Chips superior to any existing bioanalytical platform. Samples that today have to be sent to advanced centralized laboratories will in SpinChip be analysed fast and reliable at a variety of point of use settings: “Do more with less, better, faster and cheaper”.
MARKET. The main focus is on the PoC IVD market which is expected to grow from approximately 10B$ in 2011 to more than 30B$ in 2014. (Yole Development; POC 2010, March 2010). PoC IVD platforms on the market have essential limitations in; numbers of applicable parameters, sensitivity range, speed, reliability, robustness, sample handling and/or cost. The SpinChip platform has inherently the essential features of fulfilling requested requirements and becoming the leading PoC IVD platform of the future.
DEVELOPMENT PLAN: SpinChip Diagnostics AS intend to develop and install the first operating platform version at Oslo University Hospital, before partnering with a major diagnostic company for production and distribution. The milestone plan includes development of a true operating “work like” and “look like “ instrument prototype and injection molded chips for the analysis of the pilot panel of parameters within end of 2013.
CLINICAL FOCUS: SpinChip Diagnostics AS has identified several clinical fields where the platform will give substantial added value in use. These include cardiovascular disease, endocrinology, anemia, diabetics, drug of abuse, cancer, companion diagnostics, infections and non-communicable inflammations.
The pilot application of the platform is for very early detection, differentiation and monitoring of serious inflammatory reactions including severe sepsis. In the US there are more than 750 000 cases annually (210 000 proving fatal). Annual cost of treating sepsis within EU is approximately 7.6 billion Euros. In close collaboration with Oslo University Hospital we have selected a combination of parameters that will allow discrimination between various types of inflammations, in particular between viral and bacterial infections, but also those caused by non-communicable diseases. Time is usually very critical in these cases. None of the existing technologies allow for relevant diagnosis to be performed fast and efficient in relevant point of care settings. Using the SpinChip platform the measurement of several inflammatory parameters will be completed next to the patient within a few minutes using 10µL finger prick blood. Combining measurement of fast responding parameter released from the leucocytes (Calprotectin) with well established parameters (CRP and WBC) within one chip will represent a breakthrough in early identification, monitoring and discriminating between various inflammatory conditions.
The SpinChip platform with the first “sepsis application” will be launched 2016. As the SpinChip technology is extremely flexible both with respect to sample processing, assay principles and measuring range, a variety of advance analyses will be applied to the platform shortly after.
KEY STAFF: The inventor, Stig Morten Borch (CEO) was R&D director at Nycomed and at Axis Shield PoC having overall responsibility of the development of the NycoCard (www.axis-shield.com/NycoCard) and the Afinion (www.afinion.net) platforms respectively.
FUNDING:
SpinChip Diagnostics AS was founded in February 2012 as a spinoff from SINTEF. The Norwegian Research Council has confirmed supporting the development of the platform with 14,7 mill NOKs starting 2012. In collaboration with Oslo University Hospial and SINTEF a proposal for further funding by “Innovasjon Norge” is being prepared.
Several players have signaled their interest in participation in an investor consortium and two have signaled their interest in taking the lead. We are hereby inviting competent investors and strategic partners to participate.
