Next Wednesday, startups participating in the MassChallenge accelerator will compete for nearly $1.5 million in cash awards.
MassChallenge chose 128 startups back in May to take part in the four-month accelerator program, and 26 of those will advance as finalists to Wednesday’s awards ceremony. They’ll have 15 minutes to convince a panel of judges that they’re worthy of a slice of the $1 million in grants the accelerator will give out, typically in amounts of either $50,000 or $100,000.
Startups will also have a shot at $475,000 in sidecar prizes from the Center for Advancement of Science in Space, the John W. Henry Family Foundation and Perkins School for the Blind.
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Nine of the finalists are focused on healthcare or life sciences:
- A Little Easier Recovery – nonprofit organization that makes post-surgical recovery garments for women with breast cancer
- Calista Therapeutics – developing new peptide drugs for cystic fibrosis (profiled here)
- Elegant Therapeutics – accelerating drug discovery by automating experimentation on small model organisms
- Hemova Medical – vascular access ports to extend the longevity and safety of access sites for kidney dialysis (profiled here)
- Keraderm – uses a tiny skin samples to cover skin tissue loss four times the size of a business card
- MouseHouse – mobile app for scientists to manage breeding, genetics and health of their lab mice
- Quad Technologies LLC – dissolvable hydrogel for use in protein purification and cell separation
- Thompson SCI – device for treatment of traumatic spinal cord injury
- Vecoy Nanomedicines – in pre-clinical development of virus nano-scale decoys that capture and destroy viruses (profiled here)
Check back next week for news on the winning companies.
