Inaugural CIS Challenge (Care in Space) Winners Announced
Investment and management company Boryung, along with Axiom Space and Starburst Aerospace, the global aerospace and defense startup accelerator and strategic advisory practice, have officially announced the six startup winners of the inaugural Care In Space (CIS) Challenge.
Hosted by Boryung in collaboration with Axiom Space and Starburst Aerospace, the CIS Challenge aims to advance the future of space health and the next generation of pharmaceutical, bioscience, and medtech development in space. The first of its kind, the program is positioned to accelerate the development of space health and health-adjacent solutions to increase access to space, solve human healthcare-related problems in space, and create novel healthcare solutions in space for terrestrial use.
Space health encompasses all stages of the 'Healthcare Journey'— from initial monitoring and diagnosis, to treatment, therapeutics, and continuing care. The CIS Challenge leverages the extreme conditions of space to drive innovation and build viable, scalable companies at the intersection of commercial space and biomedical science. The annual challenge supports early-stage entrepreneurs and their startups as they develop revolutionary solutions and technologies that will allow for extended life and travel in space as well as the manufacturing of advanced health treatments to be built in space for use on Earth.
CIS Challenge Startups Pitched in August
August 4, 2022, was the first annual CIS Challenge Pitch Day at UCLA. Finalists selected from the initial application process had the opportunity to pitch their solutions to aerospace, bioscience, and bio/medtech industry experts who assessed entrepreneurial acumen, scientific merit, business model viability, and overall feasibility in order to choose winners.
The six founders and their startups are awarded an equity investment of $100K, admission into the Care In Space 13-week accelerator program mainly operated by Starburst to help bring their ideas to fruition, and the unique opportunity to receive mentoring directly from Axiom. The winners will gain access to Axiom's integration team, which has successfully flown dozens of payloads to the International Space Station. This mentorship helps to prepare these startups for on-orbit research and manufacturing and to address the critical challenges we face with extended periods of space travel and habitation. The winners will also benefit from a large network of biomedical and aerospace industry leaders, academic labs, startups, and investors at the global scale.
The CIS accelerator cohort launched on September 12, 2022, and it will conclude with a CIS Challenge Demo Day at the beginning of December 2022, during which teams will showcase their progress to investors.
(Source: Starburst Aerospace news release. Images provided)