Dublin biotech company Valitacell is the overall winner of this year’s InterTrade Ireland Seedcorn competition. The other main winner was Dundalk-based Gecko Governance, which won the Best Early Stage Company award.
This year is the 14th outing for the Seedcorn competition, which attracted more than 300 entries. The competition is aimed at companies that have a new equity funding requirement.
Valitacell operates a lab in the National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training. It helps companies to improve the efficiency and performance of a cell development process that is crucial in the manufacture of antibody drugs.
Founded in 2014, Valitacell is headed up by CEO Terry McWade (pictured), who was previously MD of Servier Denmark and CEO of Exceptis Technologies. McWade is also a former was deputy CEO of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.
Other Valitacell principals include COO Jerry Clifford, who spun the company out from another business called Technopath. Former Elan executive Peter Thornton is Valitacell’s CFO, and would appear to be main funder.
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The company has raised €1.5m in equity funding, all of it coming from Thornton and entities located in the British Virgin Islands. At the end of 2015, Valitacell Ltd had accumulated startup losses of €687,000.
Valitacell’s Seedcorn win brings a cash prize of €100,000. “This competition has taught the whole team a lot and allowed us to refine many aspects of our business," said McWade. "The €100,000 cash prize will allow us to develop a targeted sales and marketing strategy which will focus on market engagement and securing new customers.”
Gecko Governance took home a cash prize of €50,000. It makes regulation technology for the finance industry that allows fund managers to monitor and manage their regulation and compliance requirements. Gecko was founded in 2016 by Shane Brett; he has a background in hedge fund and asset management. “We will use the prize money to accelerate our expansion plans, specifically in rolling out our London office later this year,” said Brett.
Pic: Conor McCabe
