EpiCapture Wins Award at 2022 InterTradeIreland Seedcorn Investor Readiness Competition
- UCD spin-out wins award for best venture stemming from a university spin-out or support programm
- ByoWave named overall winner of the competition
EpiCapture, a University College Dublin (UCD) spin-out supported by NovaUCD, has won the Award for the best venture stemming from a university spin-out or support programme and a €10k prize, at the final of the 2022 InterTradeIreland Seedcorn Investor Readiness Competition.
EpiCapture is developing a novel urine DNA test to detect aggressive prostate cancer. The test measures six epigenetic biomarkers which are indicative of aggressive disease, using a widely available PCR platform.
First intended use of the test is as a repeated use, monitoring tool for men with low-grade disease on Active Surveillance, to identify tumour progression. EpiCapture’s test also has potential as an early-detection test for aggressive prostate cancer.
EpiCapture was co-founded by Associate Professor Antoinette Perry and Edward Simons as spin-out from the UCD School of Biology and Environmental Science.
Associate Professor Antoinette Perry said, “We are so delighted to win this Special Award from InterTradeIreland. The Seedcorn Investor Readiness Competition was a really positive experience and we took great value from working with the InterTradeIreland team and their investment panel to refine our commercial proposition."
Seedcorn is the only competition of its kind on the island of Ireland aimed at improving the investor readiness of innovative new start and early stage businesses. As well as a substantial prize fund of €300,000 for the winners, participants in the competition benefit from business planning workshops, unique networking opportunities and access to angel investors, and mentorship support throughout the competition.
Galway-based Byowave was named the overall winner of the competition, winning a cash prize of €100,000.
ByoWave makes modular, accessible and customisable video game controllers for people with disabilities. The company, which completed the 2020 NovaUCD Student Enterprise Competition and NovaUCD’s 2020 EIT DeepInc Advanced Manufacturing Accelerator,has developed a new solution allowing users to build their own controllers based on their own physical needs, and have unrestricted access to the world of video-gaming.
Pictuired (l-r) Margaret Hearty, CEO, InterTradeIreland, Richard Kennedy, Chairman, InterTradeIreland with Eibhlin O'Riordan, co-founder ByoWave
Brandon Blacoe, CEO and co-founder, ByoWave said, “Seedcorn has been a great journey for us, and we are over the moon to be named overall winners of this year’s competition. The Seedcorn journey has been invaluable for us, and we are grateful to the programme team for all their support and encouragement throughout the process.
Eibhlin O'Riordan, co-founder of ByoWave said, “There are millions of people all over the world with a physical disability that prevents them from using traditional video game controllers. Indeed, accessibility barriers affect 40% of gamers who have a disability. We have been working for the past two and a half years to develop solutions that help people overcome this barrier, and the €100,000 prize fund will go towards our product development as we build more accessible controllers to make gaming open for everyone.”
Atlas Smart Technologies, from Ballymena, Co. Antrim won the Best New Start category award and a cash prize of €50,000. Capella Workspace Solutions, a Dublin-based company specialising in technology to facilitate hybrid office and home based working, picked up the Sustainability/Low Carbon Award.
Congratulating the winners, Margaret Hearty, Chief Executive Officer at InterTradeIreland said, “Seedcorn is all about promoting and nurturing the growth of innovative start-ups from across the island of Ireland, and it has been exciting to see fresh new talent from a range of sectors. ByoWave, Atlas Smart Technologies, Capella Workspace Solutions and EpiCapture each demonstrate the talent, fresh thinking and ‘can do’ attitude that epitomises the very best of what companies across this island have to offer. In the current challenging economic climate and with a global recession looming, it is innovative businesses like these who can embrace change and shape the future of our economies.
InterTradeIreland is proud to support these companies at this early stage of their development. We will continue to focus on supporting SMEs to start their innovation and export journey and help them navigate a pathway to growth.”
In addition Lia Therapeutics, an emerging UCD start-up which completed the 2021 UCD VentureLaunch Accelerator Programme following a BioInnovate Fellowship Programme in University of Galway, was the winner of the Best Early-Stage Award in the Munster regional final of the competition. Lia Therapeutics, whose founders are Sinead Buckley and Steve Cullen, UCD School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, is developing Nightleaf, the first wearable medical treatment delivering relief to sore and dry eyes.
Sinead Buckley and Steve Cullen, co-founders, Lia Therapeutics
ENDS
29 November 2022
For further information contact Micéal Whelan, Communications and Media Relations Manager, NovaUCD, e: miceal.whelan@ucd.ie.
Editors Notes
Further information on the Seedcorn competition is available via https://intertradeireland.com/funding/seedcorn/