Despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on global supply chains and other economically important systems, 2020 still managed to produce major tech breakthroughs, as well as thousands of startups. We analyzed 3.060 BioTech startups founded in the last 5 years to identify top startups in the industry. You will discover 5 emerging BioTech startups founded in 2020.
The 5 promising BioTech startups you should watch in 2021 were hand-picked based on our data-driven startup scouting approach, taking into account factors such as location, founding year, and relevance of technology, among others. The 3.060 companies that were analyzed for this report, are identified using the StartUs Insights Discovery Platform, covering 1.379.000+ startups & scaleups globally. When you are looking for up-to-date BioTech solutions for your innovation units, R&D, or product development department, the StartUs Insights Discovery Platform gives you the most exhaustive collection and ensures you continuously discover new startups, scaleups, and technologies.
Global Startup Heat Map: 5 BioTech Startups to Watch in 2021
The Global Startup Heat Map below highlights 5 BioTech startups, established in 2020, developing technology-driven solutions for the BioTech industry. Moreover, you can explore global hotspots for BioTech startups and even download this graphic to include in your next presentation.
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BIOMILQ – Cultured Milk
One of the biggest problems BioTech is tackling is the unsustainable and unethical scale of industrial production of animal-based foods. Startups are working on a range of alternatives, largely classified into plant-based and cultured alternatives. Cultured meat and milk replace animals with cellular agriculture to provide sustainable and scalable food production.
BIOMILQ is a US-based biotech startup working on cultured milk. The startup’s patent-pending process uses mammary cells from expectant mothers. By culturing them in a facility, BIOMILQ produces nutritionally equivalent breastmilk. The startup’s solution is a more comprehensive and sustainable breastmilk alternative when compared to infant supplements.
Auxilius – Clinical Trial Financial Management
Startups are reliant on clinical research organizations (CROs) to bring a novel drug to the market. However, many CROs have no formal methods to assess the risk to budget. As a result, this leads to a large number of drug trials failing because of a lack of funding. It leads to millions in sunk costs, as well as the loss of potential drugs. BioTech startups are developing clinical trial financial management solutions that address this gap.
The US-based startup Auxilius develops a data-driven, clinical trial financial management platform. The platform helps biotech companies ensure that outsourced partners meet the contract terms, budgets, and milestones. The solution performs proactive scenario modeling to adjust costs and timelines throughout the clinical trials. By managing financial risk, Auxilius’ platform improves the success of clinical trials.
Kumuda – Small Molecule Drugs
Recent developments in artificial intelligence (AI) are accelerating the discovery of small molecule drugs. AI enables startups to leverage a large amount of omics and chemical data for data-driven target discovery. It allows researchers to screen the chemical space efficiently to discover lead molecules with desired properties. Pharma and biotech startups are investigating small molecule drugs for a large number of conditions, including unmet clinical needs.
Kumuda is a US-based startup accelerating the early-stage discovery of small molecule drugs. Using its platform, the startup identified a potent inhibitor drug candidate for COVID-19. The inhibitor candidate blocks the human ACE2 receptor, preventing the entry of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The startup is also targeting neurological disorders and other diseases.
Curative – COVID-19 Testing
Quickly following the coronavirus outbreak, many diagnosis startups and companies developed COVID-19 testing solutions. These solutions helped identify and isolate infected individuals, preventing the spread of the disease. The different tests use the quantitative PCR or antibody-testing to detect the virus in a few hours or days. Beyond the pandemic, startups are working on a range of diagnostics tests for infectious diseases.
The US-based startup Curative develops COVID-19 testing solution. Originally founded to develop tests for sepsis, the startup quickly pivoted to respond to the coronavirus pandemic. The startup’s FDA-authorized swab test is painless and self-administered. The test takes only 20 seconds, and the startup delivers results via text and email within 2 days.
Adnexi – Disease Intelligence
Efforts to tackle diseases often long before the drug development process. Patient advocacy groups (PAGs) ensure patient rights and generate support for certain drugs, particularly for unmet clinical needs and rare and orphan diseases. Moreover, disease intelligence allows startups to keep track of infectious disease outbreaks and efforts to tackle them. Although a relatively recent development, BioTech startups are increasingly turning to disease intelligence to identify opportunities.
Adnexi is a US-based startup that offers a disease intelligence platform for biopharma. The platform discovers patient advocacy groups (PAGs) and key opinion leaders (KOLs). With strategic intelligence, the platform connects these stakeholders to the drug development process. The platform keeps track of the treatment ecosystem for a disease to track all organizations developing treatments.
What does 2021 bring for the BioTech Industry?
To stay ahead of the technology curve, it is important that you know which technologies and industry trends will impact your company in 2021. You can explore our curated reports on emerging industry trends & technologies or let us do the work for you. To keep you up-to-date on the latest technology and emerging solutions, we provide you with actionable innovation intelligence – quickly and exhaustively.
