On 24 September 2020 six EIC-backed innovators had the chance to show their COVID-19 solutions during a dedicated EIC ePitching session with Investors, taking place during the R&I Days 2020. The session was a follow-up of the first EIC ePitching with Investors on COVID-19, which took place in April this year.
Advitos, Contextflow, LenioBio, Omnispirant, Respinova Ltd and TraceAnalytics each had 7 minutes to showcase their ideas: 4 minutes of pitching followed by 3 minutes of Q&A by the jury members consisting out of representatives from Capricorn Partners, Hightech Grunderfonds, Industrifonden, Kurma Partners, Mustard Seed MAZE Panakes Partners, Seroba Life Sciences, Sofinnova Partners and Ysios Capital. At the end of the session the participants had the opportunity to vote for ‘Best Pitch’ with the winner receiving an award from our partner Wolves Summit. Respinova, represented by its CEO Cliff Ansel, was crowned as winner.
Respinova: A new approach for post-COVID recovery
Respinova, based in Herzliya, Israel, pitched a new device for the treatment of COPD and COVID. Many COVID patients recovering from the disease remain with impaired lung function. Respinova’s Pulsehaler™ technology is the first and only treatment to directly re-open the collapsed small airways of lung-impaired patients, thereby reducing breathlessness and improving patient’s ability to walk. Respinova attended the April edition as well, but came back with a new approach: “Any chance to get in front of investors is important to us. We’ve shifted our approach to COVID-19 in the meantime. In April we were thinking of Pulsehaler™ as a direct treatment, now we are using it for post-COVID recovery. From an investment point of view, it makes more sense” as noted by Cliff.
Respinova, an EIC-beneficiary since late 2017, is no stranger to the Business Acceleration Services. The company appreciates the opportunities and support brought by these events: “It’s great to have this platform that continues to promote us as we go through the project and further commercialisation. It’s not just funding, but also the support to meet with investors, like today’s excellent line-up”, Cliff concluded.
Having won this edition, Respinova will get an all expense paid trip to Wolves Summit 2020, hosted next month in Poland. The upcoming edition will run both online and in-person in Warsaw, enabling startups, investors, and executives to take part regardless of where they are in the world and to reach the global tech community at a click of their fingertips. Our partner, Wolves Summit, has prepared a special discount for our EIC members to take advantage of their next hybrid edition on October 5-7.
EIC attracts the best entrepreneurs and delivers qualitative funnelling for investors
Patrik Sobocki and Thomas Burt, representing respectively Industrifonden and Sofinnova, were two of the attending jury members. Patrik has had numerous interactions with the EIC, among them through other ePitching with Investors: “You’re progressing as a platform, it’s interesting to see how you are moving. You present high quality cases, that’s what matters for us as investors. You attract the best entrepreneurs and deliver both qualitative funnelling for us.” For Thomas, a first-time attendee, the event was about “seeing the next crop of companies. What companies are going to be the next big things.”
With six highly innovative companies on display, there was enough to go around: “Today we looked at the product; how factual they are when developing and going to the market. Of course these events are also a great way to get to know the person behind it, the CEO or founder. Can they pull it off? Can they do fundraising, can they pitch? All in all, a great first glance”, Patrik added. Thomas concurred and concluded “It’s a good forum and a great way of introducing companies in a fast-track manner. You come away with sufficient amount of understanding and interest to follow-up. I, and we as a fund, will keep an eye on several of them”.
Are you looking forward to pitching your ideas to top-class investors?
We host regular ePitching sessions with Investors based on your company profiles in ScaleUp EU. Our next ePitching event will be focused on Fintech and take place on 15 October 2020 between 13 – 15. If you are interested to attend it, please register HERE. Keep an eye on our events page for more information on future events.
If you are interested in joining, don’t miss out and update your profile information straight away. If you need help, please contact us through our contact page (choose ScaleUp EU: claim access).
DISCLAIMER: This information is provided in the interest of knowledge sharing and should not be interpreted as the official view of the European Commission, or any other organisation.