The new accelerator dedicated to medical biotech is to be set up in Milan with seed funding of €6 million from the Paris-Based venture capital firm Sofinnova Partners.
BiovelocITA will offer start-ups workspace, mentorship, a small amount of money to create viable business plans and an introduction to potential investors.
The accelerator has been co-founded and will be managed by Silvano Spinelli and Gabriella Camboni, the founders of two earlier biotech companies, EOS and Novuspharma.
“With BiovelocITA, we will replicate the experience of transforming a promising research project into a successful biotech company, but on a larger scale,” Spinelli said.
The accelerator has signed a partnership with TTFactor, the tech-transfer company managing the IP portfolio of three Italian research institutes, the FIRC Institute of Molecular Oncology, Istituto Europeo di Oncologia and Centro Cardiologico Monzino.
Some 10 projects spanning oncology, the central nervous system, diabetes and dialysis treatment, are currently being considered. BiovelocITA intends to finalise the first license options by the end of the year.
“There is a window of opportunity in Italy: the science is excellent and the pool of entrepreneurs is growing,” Graziano Seghezzi, partner at Sofinnova Partners.
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