Biotechnology projects that can change our future:
These three life science start-ups convinced the jury of the 11th BioRiver Boost!
Die Platzierten sind ingineeon – advanced immunpotherapeutics (1. Platz), TCBalance Biopharmaceuticals GmbH (2. Platz) und Sweethoven Biotech (3. Platz).
Düsseldorf/Hilden, 1 October, 2024: The winners of the 11th BioRiver Boost! 2024 have been announced. First place went to Munich-based ingineeon – advanced immunotherapeutics. The company develops cytokine-based immunotherapies against cancer, infectious diseases and autoimmune diseases. Second and third place went to TCBalance Biopharmaceuticals GmbH from Berlin and Sweethoven Biotech from Bonn. A special prize in the form of a wildcard to participate as a finalist in the BioRiver Boost! 2025 competition went to the start-up project TumiKo from Essen. With its annual start-up competition BioRiver Boost!, BioRiver e.V., the association of the biotechnology and life science industry in the Rhineland, offers young life science start-ups and promising start-up projects valuable support and the opportunity to network and become visible in the industry. Access to renowned experts from global life science companies and investors can be decisive for the future success of a start-up. Furthermore, the prospect of association membership is an additional incentive for the winning teams, as they can benefit from BioRiver e.V.’s resources and broad network. These are this year’s winners:
1. Place:
ingineeon – advanced immunotherapeutics, Munich
Cytokine-based first-in-class immunotherapeutics against cancer and autoimmune diseases Therapeutics, that utilise our immune system offer enormous possibilities in modern medicine. Cytokines are immune signalling proteins that control the entire immune system. ingineeon has developed several cytokine-based first-in-class immunotherapeutics with which it can precisely modulate immune responses. For example, immune functions can be restored or specifically suppressed. The former is important for cancer or sepsis, for example, and the latter for autoimmunity. The company ‘s current pipeline includes several first-in-class biologics for infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases and oncology. Each of these compounds has a unique mechanism of action with therapeutic breakthrough potential in the respective indication. The basis of this pipeline is the combination of expertise from (pre-)clinical research, molecular immunology and rational protein engineering in the ingineeon team. “I am very happy about our 1st place. place and, above all , about the positive feedback that we and the entire ingineeon team received from the team received from the high-calibre jury of the BioRiver Boost! as well as from representatives of the industry and the financial market,” said Dr. Julia Behnke, Chief Executive Officer of ingineeon
. „Für einige unserer Programme liegen uns bereits Proof-of-Concept Daten aus ex vivo Studien mit Patienten vor. Wir suchen daher aktuell passende Investment- sowie Kooperationspartner aus der Industrie. Mit dieser Auszeichnung, unseren bisherigen Erfolgen und einem Kernteam, welches >100 Jahre synergistische Expertise aus Wissenschaft, Klinik und Industrie vereint, sind wir nun bestens für die nächsten Schritte aufgestellt: den Spin-off des Unternehmens ingineeon aus der Technischen Universität München und den Start der klinischen Entwicklung unserer ersten Programme.
2. Place:
TCBalance Biopharmaceuticals GmbH, Berlin
Pioneer of a therapeutic concept based on regulatory T cells
More than 10 % of chronic diseases are due to undesirable/pathogenic immune reactions. Conventional therapies only help partially and usually require lifelong immunosuppression, which is often associated with numerous side effects and high costs. tcbalance is developing a sustainable therapy concept, that could revolutionise the current treatment strategy for such diseases. Through the targeted use of so-called regulatory T cells (Tregs), the balance of the immune system is restored. Using a highly innovative modular technology platform technology platform for the generation and application of novel Tregproducts, tcbalance develops autologous bridging therapies through to allogeneic “standard products” for various immune disorders, such as in transplantation medicine and autoimmune diseases. “I am very pleased about the recognition, which gives us and our therapeutic approach visibility in the scientific environment, industry and in the financial sector,” says Prof. Dr O. Weber, Chief Executive Officer of TCBalance Biopharmaceuticals GmbH
. „Gerade in Bereichen wie der Zelltherapie, die aufgrund ihrer Komplexität und ihrer noch frühen Entwicklungsphase immer noch sehr unterschätzt wird, ist es wichtig in der Diskussion zu bleiben und bei Investoren und Partnern das enorme Potential solch neuer Therapieansätze, vor allem in Bereichen mit einem hohen medizinischen Bedarf, hervorzuheben.“
3. Place:
Sweethoven Biotech, Bonn
Sweet fibre with nutritional value as a healthy and sustainable sugar substitute
Sweethoven Biotech focuses on the development, production and marketing of a sustainable, sweet-tasting dietary fibre that combines natural sweetness with nutritional benefits. In contrast to synthetic sweeteners, which are largely based on fossil raw materials, Sweethoven’s healthy sweetener is produced from renewable resources and offers decisive advantages over available sugar alternatives. The fibre-based sugar alternative enables the production of sweet foods with increased nutritional value and contributes to a sustainable and healthy diet. It thus counteracts both the excess sugar and the lack of fibre in the Western diet. In contrast to synthetic sweeteners, which accumulate in aquatic habitats in alarming quantities, this substitute is digested by beneficial intestinal bacteria.
“For us as a university project, it was very important to seek dialogue with the professional world as early as possible and to be able to present our ideas to a jury of such high-ranking experts from renowned companies. We are very proud to receive this award at this year’s BioRiver Boost!” said Dr Marcel Hövels, Chief Executive Officer of Sweethoven Biotech. “This award is particularly important for us as we are on the verge of process development for higher production volumes to attract potential long-term customers for a pilot study,” added Dr André Neff, Head of Research at the company.
The winners of this year’s BioRiver Boost! 2024 from left to right: Dr André Neff, Deputy Head and Dr Marcel Hövels, Head of Sweethoven Biotech, Dr. Julia Behnke, Chief Executive Officer of ingineeon – advanced immunotherapeutics and Prof. Dr O. Weber, Chief Executive Officer of TCBalance Biopharmaceuticals GmbH. Dr O. Weber, Chief Executive Officer of TCBalance Biopharmaceuticals GmbH. ” On behalf of everyone involved , I would like to congratulate the three winning teams of the 11th BioRiver Boost! from the bottom of my heart. I am impressed by how diverse and professional the projects in the competition were. We can see an excerpt of this in the award ceremony. I am thrilled, the innovative strength and drive with which young founders are workingin our industry in Germany and throughout Europe “, said Dr Bettina Möckel, Vice President of Corporate Development at QIAGEN and Chairwoman of the Board of BioRiver e.V.
“We are very proud to have been supporting promising start-ups for 11 years now with the BioRiver Boost! initiative and giving them visibility and access to leading life sciencescience experts and investors. This year, our competition received more applications than ever before, and these came not only from all over Germany, but also from the UK, France and India I would like to thank the partners of BioRiver Boost! as well as our board and the members of BioRiver e.V. for their continued commitment and support, which have made this competition a permanent fixture in the biotechnology start-up scene. for their continued commitment and support, which have made this competition a permanent fixture in the biotech start-up scene.” The winning teams receive personalised coaching from experienced entrepreneurs to help them refine their business strategies and strengthen their entrepreneurial skills. In addition, they are offered marketing support from experts and membership of BioRiver e.V., which gives them long-term access to an extensive network of experts and companies from the life sciences sector. This combination of coaching, marketing and networking creates valuable opportunities for the winning teams to develop and grow. The award ceremony took place on 27 September 2024 at the headquarters of Johnson &Johnson &J Innovative Medicines Germany in Neuss. The eight finalists took the opportunity to present their company to a panel of experts in the form of pitch presentations followed by a Q&A session and in-depth discussion. As in previous years, this year’s jury was made up of high-ranking executives from global life science companies such as BAYER CropScience, BAYER Pharma, Johnson&Johnson, LONZA, Miltenyi Biotec, QIAGEN, UCB as well as financiers such as High-Tech Gründerfonds and NRW.Bank. The jury was very impressed by the quality of the presentations and emphasised the high standard of the numerous applications when announcing the winners. One of the projects whose development the jury would like to observe further is the start-up project TumiKo from Essen. The team is developing an intelligent medical device for monitoring and manipulating skull-based immune cells for the minimally invasive treatment of neurological diseases such as brain tumours. The jury therefore decided to award a special prize in the form of a wildcard for this project this year, which will ensure that the TumiKo team participates as a finalist in the BioRiver Boost! 2025 competition.
About the Start-up Competition BioRiver Boost!
Every year since 2014, young companies that develop market-changing and/or innovative technologies or services for the biotechnology or life science sector have been able to apply for the BioRiver Boost! Startup competition. Organised by BioRiver e.V. and made possible by the commitment of the association’s members, partners and life science companies, BioRiver Boost! is now the best-known competition in Germany that accepts applications without regional restrictions and thus appeals to start-ups from all over Europe. In a two-stage process, a jury first selects eight finalists from all the applications, who then give short presentations and answer questions from the jury on the day of the awards ceremony. The finalists are selected based on specific criteria, such as customer benefit and degree of innovation of the technology as well as the experience of the team and the quality of the business plan. After the so-called pitch sessions in front of the jury and the audience, the jury decides on the best three start-ups or start-up projects in a secret ballot. After the competition, all finalists are invited to become part of the extensive BioRiver network and benefit from the expertise of the association and its members. The programme of the final event also includes reverse pitches by investors and corporations, as well as a designated networking session. Another highlight is the participation of previous winners and finalists and the motivational talk by last year’s winner. The BioRiver Boost! is supported by numerous sponsors: The event was hosted by Johnson&Johnson, platinum sponsors included KölnBusiness Wirtschaftsförderungs-GmbH and the City of Düsseldorf. Gold sponsor was NRW.Bank.
The BioRiver Boost! 2024 was again sponsored as Startup-Event.NRW (#DWNRW) sponsored by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Innovation, Climate Protection and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.
About BioRiver – Life Science in the Rhineland e.V
BioRiver – Life Science im Rheinland e.V. has a long tradition of supporting start-up projects and start-ups, making it a particular focus. The vast majority of the more than 65 life science companies in the association, which include industry giants Johnson&Johnson, Bayer, Qiagen Miltenyi Biotec, LONZA and Charles River, were founded by universities in the Rhineland. Managing directors and senior management of the companies are involved as chairmen, on the board and in the BioRiver e.V. working groups. BioRiver has a total of over 100 member organisations.
For more information, please visit www.bioriver.de.
Contact:
BioRiver – Life Science im Rheinland e.V.
Dr. Frauke Hangen
Geschäftsführerin
+49 (0)211 316 0610
hangen@bioriver.de