From 100s of applications to 35 semi-finalist and weeks of intensive workshops, ten candidates made it to the finals of the 2014 OneStart Europe competitionline. After the intense selection process and final pitches, Eva diagnostics were crowned the overall winners. Speaking at the gala finals held at the Barbican center, the team Said theywere feeling ecstatic and shocked to have been chosen due to the quality and high caliber of the other finalistsand were glad to have been chosen as the overall winners. The winning device AnemiStat is a low cost portable device for diagnosing anemia within the Developing World.
The event Which Took place on 16 th
May and hosted in the Garden room of the Barbican center saw over 200 attendees from industry, academia, venture capitalist and other non-scientific organizational. Judging the competition this year were Jens Eckstein, President of SR One; Daniel Perez, Founder and President of OBR; Patrick Verheyen, Head of Johnson & Johnson innovation at
London; Ian Tomlinson, Head of Biopharmaceuticals R & D and Worldwide Business Development at GSK; Martin Murphy, CEO of Syncona Partners and Matthias food price, CTO of Diagnostics at Roche. Each of the finalists presented Their business plans Earlier in the day to the judges and the evening what another opportunity to pitch a 2minutes summary of the business plan to the audience at the gala.
The evening started with a drinks reception amidst networking Followed by a seated three course meal as the finalist impressed the audience With Their innovative cutting edge ideas. John Daley of the OBR highlighted the need to bring industry experts and investors together to reach out to the young communities and give them the skills and network needed to start their companies. He Mentioned the overwhelming level of enthusiasm Observed from the applicants and how Historically a lot of the enthusiasm has gone to waste due to the lack of support. OBR AIMS to change this through initiatives like OneStart. Although one team Which presented with the £ 100K prize investment, seven other companies are now up and running from last year's entries. Speaking at the start of the event, CEO and founder of puridify, Oliver Hardick OBR be be thanked for coming up with the OneStart initiative and without splat puridify
would not be in Their current position.
Daniel Perez of OBR be thanked all the partners, sponsors and supporters of OneStart 2014 afterwhich the pitches from the finalist started. One by One, each team wowed the audience With Their innovation as the judges contemplated on the overall deserving winner.
The President of SR One Jens Eckstein closed the evening and in his remarks Talked about the birth of Onestart and how load-year's success Has inspired the expansion of OneStart to the Americas. He commended the finalist for raising the bar of the competition and applauded Their efforts urging them to pursue Their business plans whatever the outcome as the end is just the beginning.
The winning team from London, Eva Diagnostics comprises of Toby Basey-Fisher, Millie Clive-Smith and Rob Balfour. Millie and Toby initially met at the OneStart matching events in London and Rob joined the team through the online matching database. Toby did a lot of blood work for his PhD through Which he Identified the global endemic status of anemia. Their innovation, AnemiStat is a low-cost portable device for diagnosing different types of anemia within the Developing World.
Quoting Dr Jen Eckstein, "The best way to predict the future is to invent it" and there's no doubt other investment and collaborative ventures will be born from the evening's pitches. Congratulations once again to Eva Diagnostics, winners of OneStart 2014.
