Five promising MedTech companies to watch earn $20,000 pre-seed funding in the 2021 National MedTech’s Got Talent Gala Finals

Summary: Australia’s brightest MedTech entrepreneurs battled it out at last night’s 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.

Melbourne, Australia. Friday 1st December, 2021. STC Australia, The Actuator and MedTech’s Got Talent (MTGT) announce their 2021 top five emerging MedTech companies to watch, selected at the national awards ceremony in Melbourne last night. These teams secured $20,000, stage-gated, non-dilutive funding to accelerate their path to product-market fit and investor readiness.
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 2021 MedTech’s Got Talent finalists are:
MUVi – 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
Geldom – building the better feeling next-gen condom – Simon Cook and Robert Gorkin – mentored by The Actuator

The $1,000 people’s choice award for the night was taken out by Navi Medical Technologies, who are developing a system to improve the successful placement of catheters in critically-ill neonates.

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.

This program is not possible without the entire ecosystem coming together to support the emerging talent and promising ideas of the future. This includes: MTP Connect, the Federal Government, STC Australia, the Victorian State Government, Artesian, EY, Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic, Cook Medical, Baker, Burnet Institute, Macquarie University, Swinburne University, Griffith Hack, MiniFAB, Planet Innovation, Procept, Hydrix, Wave Digital, Design+Industry, Ingenuity Electronics Design, IDE Group, Blue Curve, Brandwood Biomedical, Mobius Medical, Truly Deeply, Innermaven, ESICHub, the Dialectica Group, Melbourne Angels, Mobius Medical, Foundersuite, Australian Healthcare Solutions, Paul L Clark And Associates, Vestech, FAB9, F2F Communications, BioMelbourne Network, Cogentum, Global Data, GrantReady, Tenfold Business Coaching, K&L Gates, Science in Public and Seedly.

“Congratulations to all of this year’s semi-finalists. The Victorian Government is proud to be supporting the young and talented medtech entrepreneurs who are working to make Australian lives better and strengthen this sector which will be a crucial part of our future economy, ” said Minister for Innovation and the Digital Economy Philip Dalidakis

Please use the link below to view photos from the event:
National Gala Finals(30 Nov)

About The Actuator
The first of its kind, The Actuator is a deeply collaborative national program that gives promising early-stage medical technology companies an accelerated pathway to $2.7 million of funding, capitalising on Australia’s strengths in medical research, healthcare, clinical trials and advanced manufacturing.

Media Contact
Kaushalya Gunatilaka: [email protected]