Gedea Biotech was the audience’s choice in Venture Cup’s Sweden final

When the 15 finalists pitched their business ideas, the audience voted to choose their favorite in Thursday’s Sweden final in the Venture Cup entrepreneurship competition. SmiLe company Gedea Biotech received the most votes, thereby winning the Venture Cup Crowd Award.

Gedea Biotech – the audience’s favorite – received the Venture Cup Crowd Award, a prize that includes free business trips for four people by train in first class for one year from SJ.

“The entire Venture Cup competition has been an extremely rewarding experience for us and we made many valuable connections. Winning the hearts of the audience and receiving such a generous prize from SJ feels great,” says Annette Säfholm, CEO of Gedea Biotech and the one who pitched the company’s business concept.

She expects that within two to three years, Gedea Biotech will have a CE-approved vaginal tablet for local treatment of fungal infections, the first of its kind that will effectively cure the symptoms and can also be taken for preventive purposes.

The winner of the Venture Cup final was NextStep Dynamics, which was awarded the prestigious title of Startup of the Year. The company also received SEK 150,000 and a one-year entrepreneurship program from McKinsey & Co. and SEB. NextStep Dynamics was also designated Top Tech Company of the year.

NextStep Dynamics was previously coached in SmiLe’s e-health accelerator, Health2B, and is now based at Minc Incubator in Malmö. The company has developed a smart device that can prevent fall injuries among elderly individuals.

“We are delighted about Gedea Biotech’s accomplishment and would like to congratulate all of the prizewinners. We are really pleased that two companies that SmiLe has worked with have won prizes. Just being selected through the semifinals all the way to the final is a huge recognition of our quality,” says Ebba Fåhraeus, CEO of SmiLe Incubator in Lund.

Other winners included: Impact Maker – Organofuel Sweden, Game Changer – Next Period, and Student Superstart – Tracy.

Facts about Gedea Biotech:
Gedea Biotech develops an antibiotic-free local treatment with a completely new mode of action for the treatment of vaginal infections. Gedea Biotech addresses an area of indication for which current treatments usually do not have adequate effect and for which resistance problems are associated with the therapies. Many women suffer from recurrent vaginal infections without being cured.

For additional information, please contact: Annette Säfholm, CEO Gedea Biotech
+46 (0)708-918681, annette.safholm@gedeabiotech.com, www.gedeabiotech.com

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