The NC BIONEER Venture Challenge, an initiative of the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, has named three finalists in the Piedmont Triad. The regional finalists will compete for a collective $40,000 and a spot in a statewide competition.
Kepley BioSystems Inc. of Greensboro and Plakous Therapeutics LLC and TheraBionic Inc. of Winston-Salem are the Triad finalists.
This is the first year that NCBiotech is holding the NC BIONEER Venture Challenge as a statewide challenge. The challenge, which launched in 2020, was based in southeastern N.C. to raise the profile, increase the volume and better the success of regional life science innovators.
Benefits for the three regional finalists include monetary awards totaling $40,000, mentoring assistance, a public venture pitch, a one-year membership to Flywheel Coworking and access to services from Wildfire Marketing Solutions and to contract development services from Novex Innovations for the first-place finalist. The NC Biotechnology Center Life Science Intelligence Team will also offer assistance.
Regional finalists will participate in two months of mentoring leading up to a public pitch event on May 26. At the pitch event, the companies will present to a panel of judges including investors, entrepreneurs and innovators who will determine a regional winner. The first-place winner will advance to a statewide competition and receive $20,000. Second- and third-place regional winners will receive $10,000 each. An overall winner to be announced at Triad BioNight in late June.
Kepley BioSystems has developed a rapid and affordable blood screening tool that can be used to diagnose infected patients before the onset of sepsis. Kepley’s screening tool shortens turnaound time from days to hours using a marine-derived reagent and proprietary processing. It is one of two finalists in the Triad Inno Madness competition currently underway.
Plakous Therapeutics is a regenerative medicine company that has developed a patented biotherapeutic to prevent necrotizing enterocolitis, a rare pediatric disease with a 30% mortality rate and that causes an estimated $8 billion in overall health care costs annually.
TheraBionic has developed a medical device that uses radiofrequency electromagnetic fields to selectively block the growth of cancer cells. The proprietary device is both non-invasive and portable and can be used alone or with other cancer treatments.
“The NC BIONEER Venture Challenge creates a significant opportunity for each region across the state to strengthen the commercialization continuum for entrepreneurs and companies while leveraging valued partnerships,” Nancy Johnston, executive director of the NCBiotech Piedmont Triad office, said. “We appreciate our regional selection committee, judges, and mentors, and we are excited to support these regional finalist companies. It will be an honor to host the statewide finalists at Triad BioNight, an iconic regional event with statewide impact.”
The NC Biotechnology Center Piedmont Triad office is partnering with entrepreneurial ecosystem organizations, including Flywheel Coworking, Agile City and Launch Greensboro to advance the venture challenge. Statewide, NC IDEA is the lead sponsor of the NC BIONEER Venture Challenge.
