Sulfiscon and biped.ai get Biopôle Start-up Funding

Based at Biopôle’s StartLab since March 2023, Sulfiscon is expanding on research by its three founders Alexander So, Nathalie Busso and Sonia Nasi, where a new paradigm of pathological calcification was discovered. Pathological calcification can affect different organs and is associated with ageing and diseases. At present, surgery is the only available option for advanced calcification of soft tissues. The lack of effective therapies (apart from surgical removal) has led Sulfiscon to develop small molecule allosteric modulators that can be administered as drugs to treat pathological calcification disorders. The team will receive up to CHF 90,000 to help advance the project and the company will have the opportunity to reapply for two more consecutive years of funding.

Contacted by Startupticker.ch, Sulfiscon Co-founder Professor Alexander So says: “Sulfiscon is proud to be awarded the Biopôle Startup Fund support at a critical stage of the company’s development. We are a young startup, which was founded in 2017 but only acquired SA status in 2021. As with all small early-stage companies that are trying to prove their ideas and bring them to market, funding is tight, and costs are increasing as we go through the necessary stages of drug development. The funding from the Biopôle will help to pay for laboratory rental costs at the Startlab and part of the costs of CROs who are undertaking different studies for us, as well as increasing our staff in Epalinges.”

The next steps for the Vaud biotech startup are to provide convincing in vivo efficacy data of its compounds in the relevant animal models, to consolidate the business and management team of the company to conduct phase I clinical studies and to confirm the safety profile of its compounds. The team will be expanding beyond its current staffing of 2 in the very near future.

Biped.ai granted funding for second year

Meanwhile, biped.ai has been selected for the second consecutive year, having first received the fund in June 2022. The start-up is developing an AI-powered harness for blind and severely visually impaired people that identifies potential obstacles and collision risks. It then plays short beeps in Bluetooth headphones to alert the wearer of any danger. The company will receive up to CHF 40,000 to develop the commercial phase of this innovative device.

Maël Fabien, CEO of biped.ai, outlines what the first year of funding has enabled the company to do: ‘The Biopôle Start-up Fund allowed us to cover part of our rent, hire new skilled people and launch our product on the market, in the most important year of our journey so far. We’re grateful for the continuous support of Biopôle, and we look forward to what the next 12 months will bring!’

Next application deadline is September 1st, 2023

Speaking of the support provided, Biopôle SA CEO, Nasri Nahas, says: ‘At Biopôle, we are proud to support emerging start-ups like Sulfiscon and biped.ai. The next year will be exciting for these groundbreaking projects and we look forward to following developments – and of course to supporting more projects like them through our programmes and community.’

Biopôle Start-up Fund offers up to CHF 90,000 a year over three consecutive years to promising life sciences ventures. Companies interested in applying for the Biopôle Start-up Fund can find all the information they need by clicking on the following link.

(PR - ES)
Picture on top: Sulfiscon team