Australia’s brightest MedTech entrepreneurs battled it out at National MedTech’s Got Talent National Finals in Melbourne. The top five teams secured $20,000 non-dilutive, stage-gated funding to kickstart their MedTech startup towards product-market fit and investor readiness. 

These teams will participate in an intensive 6-week accelerator program, with the most investible team taking out the competition, and receiving an additional $40,000.

The 13 semi-finalists had three minutes each to pitch their business concept to the judging panel of industry executives, investors and sector influencers, who then debated and selected five finalists against criteria including innovation, market, pathway, sustainability and soft skills.

The 2017 MedTech’s Got Talent finalists are:
Geldom – building the better feeling next-gen condom – Simon Cook and Robert Gorkin – mentored by The ActuatorMUVi – UV sterilisation of hospital equipment – Tania Willett and Murray McDonald – mentored by Design+Industry
Stelect – device for accurate stent size selection – Elise Sutherland, Fay Gibson, Marc Stringer, Anya Rossello, Elizabeth Griffiths – mentored by MiniFAB
Navi Medical Technologies – improving successful placement of catheters – Wei Sue, Alex Netwon, Mubin Yousuf, Shing Sheung, Brad Bergmann and Christiane Theda – mentored by Design+Industry
Cerebro Biosystems – targeted and timely prevention of sepsis – Nenad Bartonicek, Dr. Martin Smith, James Ferguson and Kirston Barton – mentored by Johnson & Johnson

Each of these five teams will now begin an intensive six-week training program focused on the most critical issues for MedTech startups, such as clinical need validation, regulatory strategy, intellectual property protection, and reimbursement. The program will conclude in April 2018 with an invitation-only Investor Deal Pitch where we put our teams in front of real investors. The overall most investable team will then receive an additional stage-gated $40,000 with no impact on equity or IP.

Associate Professor Robert Gorkin, iAccelerate Researcher in Residence heads up the Geldom Project, which consists of an interdisciplinary research team working to develop the next generation of condom, created from hydrogels rather than latex or rubber. Read more here.