The 12-month Venture Lab program is designed to support start-up companies with business acceleration, scientific, and team development, and provides a founder-friendly convertible loan of EUR 500,000 (approximately 4M DKK) plus access to labs and offices at the BII in Copenhagen. In becoming a part of the Venture Lab program, the early-stage companies also get an exclusive opportunity to apply for EUR 1.3M in follow-up funding through BII's Venture House program.

Bobby Soni, Chief Business Officer at BioInnovation Institute, said: "These eight early-stage companies are a fantastic addition to BII's Venture Lab. The start-ups have been selected as they demonstrate great potential to drive the innovation of solutions to current challenges in human and planetary health. We once again look forward to supporting these start-ups by providing our knowledge, network, funding, and infrastructure to build successful companies."

Each start-up will be supported in undertaking the necessary steps to reach initial proof-of-concept, to make a business plan and to set up a team. Assisted by a dedicated scientific advisor, a leadership coach and a BII business development expert, the new ventures will be guided in developing a detailed milestone plan and will be assisted in overcoming the challenges of growing a business allowing them to progress rapidly towards the market.

The new companies BII has accepted into the Venture Lab acceleration program are:

• Loma Therapeutics is developing targeted immunotherapy for efficient and safe treatment of patients with HPV infection, dysplasia, and cancer.
• metaLead is developing revolutionary therapies to treat metal-related diseases, currently focused on Wilson disease, lead poisoning, and neurodegeneration with brain iron accumulation.
• Leopard Biosciences is democratizing diagnostics by bringing the power of molecular testing to where it's needed most: in the hands of doctors and patients at the point of care.
• Novozymes' Venture (Corporate Sponsored Project) is exploring how to play a key role to develop and produce at scale cell culture media ingredients for the cultivated meat industry.
• Amalus Therapeutics is on a mission to profoundly reshape the lives of people affected by cancer and fibrotic diseases.
• BioHalo is revolutionizing the halogenated chemicals industry by starting with the production of more sustainable and bio-based fluorinated polymers and high-performance materials.
• Visibuilt is developing an innovative solution for road construction that replaces fossil ingredients in asphalt and reduces energy consumption during production.
• Rapidemic is developing a molecular point-of-care test for fast and accurate diagnosis of sexually transmitted infections.

Since its inception in 2018, BII has supported 87 start-ups and projects with EUR 77 million alongside the venture capital, industry and business expertise it provides to help them accelerate to the next level.  In total, BII's start-ups have raised over EUR 424 million in external funding from both local and international investors.  Recent company successes include Embark Laboratories, Adcendo, Stipe Therapeutics, Twelve Bio, Octarine Bio, and Cirqle Biomedical.