Innovation funding: FemTech continues to grow

For the fourth edition of the only FemTech acceleration program for start-ups In Switzerland, 189 companies from 45 countries applied - a new record and almost 29% more than in the previous year. Of the innovative companies offering solutions for women's health, 17 participants from eleven countries were selected.

FemTech: Increasing importance

"We are very proud to be co-hosting the fourth edition of Tech4Eva. The importance of the FemTech sector is growing, but in many areas women's health is still underestimated or under-researched," explains Jérôme Mariéthoz, Head of Health and Pensions Private Clients at Groupe Mutuel. "By partnering with more and more of these innovative companies, we are underlining our commitment to creating added value for our customers and raising awareness of the issue."

Participating companies follow the equity-free program for six months and are closely supported by over 40 mentors who help them develop their business plan and go-to-market strategy and meet investors. They also become part of the growing Tech4Eva FemTech community. "This year, we have chosen to support more mature high-tech FemTech start-ups from developed healthcare systems, drawing on the extensive business network and industrial expertise of the EPFL Innovation Park. We encourage more forward-thinking companies and foundations to join our initiative as partners to support numerous high-potential projects from countries in the Global South to make a global impact on healthcare," says Lan Zuo Gillet, Director of Tech4Eva and Deputy Managing Director of EPFL Innovation Park.

Two Swiss start-ups - and a premiere

This year's participants will present solutions for general women's health, reproductive medicine, pregnancy, postpartum, menopause and menstruation. Two of them are from Switzerland, both of whom work in the field of oncology/prevention for women:

• Calico Biosystems is a drug testing platform that reliably predicts the efficacy of pre-clinical stage cancer drugs in cancer patients. The aim is to provide women with cancer with effective and affordable drugs.
• HeroSupport SA is advancing radiotherapy treatment through the integration of 3D printing and surface scanning technology, a fast-growing new market. The company offers comprehensive solutions for radiation oncology professionals that enable precise and personalized treatments while improving the patient experience.

There is also a new feature at this year's edition: Debiotech, a new partner of Tech4Eva, is offering technical support in the form of in-kind contributions worth CHF 100,000 to a Tech4Eva start-up company so that it can develop its solution together with the company. The prize was awarded to Ablatus Therapeutics - Luna. "What particularly impressed us about Ablatus' project was the elegance of the solution and the concrete benefits for patients suffering from a very stressful disease. This project is exactly what has driven us for over 30 years: patient-centered innovation. It was difficult for us to choose a project because of the high quality of this year's Tech4Eva start-ups," says Laurent-Dominique Piveteau from Debiotech.

Promoting innovation thanks to strategic partnerships

On May 13, the fourth edition of Tech4Eva will begin with a public event in Bern on the topic of "Innovation with Impact". The keynote speech will be given by Laura Santos Carreras, Team Section Lead in Medical Technology at Helbling. She will explain why strategic partnerships and the creation of a development roadmap are key to bringing FemTech projects from research to market.

Sources: Groupe Mutuel and EPFL Innovation Park. More about Tech4Eva: www.tech4eva.ch