Building a BioTech Venture, otherwise known as BBTV, is a program offered at the University of Toronto (UofT), by Medicine by Design. Medicine by design is focused on investing heavily and advancing research programs in partnership with the Precision Medicine Initiative (PRiME), Health Innovation Hub (H2i) and Talk Boutique. On March 27, 2024, six teams from UofT and its affiliated hospitals were chosen to present in front of a panel of four expert judges from industry.
Under the guidance of Ian Keeling, a senior coach at Talk Boutique, and Professor Paul Santerre, teams honed their presentations, refining their pitches to perfection. Each team had just 11 minutes to impress a panel of four expert judges, showcasing their vision for the future of biotech. The stakes were high, with a $25,000 prize for the winning team and $10,000 for the team in second place.
This pitch competition involved mainly biotech companies focused on solving cancer, sepsis, burns, gene therapy, etc. Re:Pair Genomics had the amazing opportunity to be one of the six chosen participants. The pitch was led by Swapna Prakash, our Chief Operations Officer, and was backed by the expertise of Yosuke Niibori, our Chief Scientific Officer, during the Q&A session. Swapna’s presentation was captivating and captured the essence of our company’s mission.
It was exciting to listen to all the pitches that were made and even more nerve-racking to wait over 30 minutes for the judges to select the winners. The results were finally announced and Re:Pair Genomics came in 2nd place!! It was a surreal experience and the team was glad that our startup was able to carry our mission across to the judges and the audience. The cash prize will be used towards additional validation studies in collaboration with academia and industry. Stay tuned for more exciting news to come!
