Top 9 Biotech Startups from Disrupt Startup Battlefield

Every year, TechCrunch’s Startup Battlefield pitch competition attracts thousands of applicants. We reduce these applications to the top 200 contendersand among them, the top 20 compete on the big stage to become the winner, taking home the Startup Battlefield Cup and a $100,000 cash prize. But the remaining 180 startups also blew us away in their respective categories and are participating in their own pitch competition.

Here’s the full list of biotech and pharmaceutical startups selected for Battlefield 200, along with a note explaining why they landed in the competition.

CasNx

What it does: CasNx invented a new type of antivirus treatment for organs from organ donors.

Why it’s notable: The startup invented a CRISPR gene-editing kit that eliminates viruses and installs “universal donor” markers while the organ is preserved outside the body.

Chipiron

What it does: Chipiron built an open, lightweight and inexpensive whole-body MRI machine intended to make cancer diagnosis by MRI more widely available.

Why it’s notable: The medical MRI machine is built using a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID), a highly sensitive magnetometer capable of measuring extremely weak magnetic fields, more commonly used in array antennas.

Accurate

What it does: Exactics is building a platform that creates rapid diagnostic tests.

Why it’s notable: Exactics is trying to make consumer diagnostic kits more widely available, starting with at-home testing for Lyme disease, with kits for other diseases on the roadmap.

Lumos Strategies OÜ

What it does: Lumos has created a consumer high-frequency electromagnetic device called Avara, intended for red blood cells.

Why it’s notable: Avara was designed to provide gentle, contactless “inductive therapy” to improve sleep, relaxation and recovery after exercise.

Miracles

What it does: Miraqules has developed a nanotechnology in powder form that mimics blood clotting proteins .

Why it’s notable: This technology enables instant blood clotting and is a unique and potentially life-saving alternative to traditional wound treatments, especially when treating patients at the scene of injury.

Nephrogenic

What it does: Nephrogen creates gene therapy solutions for kidney diseases.

Why it’s notable: Nephrogen solves the hardest part of the problem when it comes to gene-editing drugs. Its technology uses AI to precisely target gene editing to the exact cells in the kidney that are causing the disease.

PracticalPro

What it does: PraxisPro is an AI-powered training system for sales and marketing roles in the life sciences industries.

Why it’s notable: The system provides compliance-approved content, supplemented with real-time simulations and analytics to ensure those representing life sciences companies are properly prepared to do so.

Reme-D

What it does: Reme-D develops reliable and affordable diagnostic tests specifically for underserved communities.

Why it’s notable: Reme-D develops rapid diagnostic tests that are not only particularly affordable but also stable in hot and humid climates.

Surgery technologies

What it does: Surgicure has created a patented solution that more safely and reliably secures endotracheal (ET) tubes.

Why it’s notable: This device makes ET tubes, flexible tubes inserted through the mouth or nose during surgeries or other treatments, safer and more comfortable for patients.