The grand prize winner of the Fuzehub 2024 Commercialization Competition, held during the New York State Innovation Summit, was Anova Biomedical Inc., a current Center for Life Science Ventures member and a former Life Science Technology Innovation Fellow and Ignite Fellow. Among the seven prize winners, five were Cornell-supported entrepreneurs.
Anova Biomedical Inc., a startup developing the first fully synthetic and bioresorbable vascular grafts to improve the standard of care of patients, was the grand prize winner of $150,000.
“This award enables us to work with the Center of Excellence in Advanced and Sustainable Manufacturing at RIT to build a new, cutting-edge graft manufacturing device that will improve our manufacturing scale and quality. The award will also fund our next round of preclinical studies with grafts made using this new device, said Anthony D’Amato, Co-founder and CEO of Anova Biomedical. “Together, this award represents a significant maturation of the company where we can focus on operating with the rigor, quality, and attention to detail that the development of a life-saving medical device requires.
D’Amato, is a recent graduate of the Center for Technology Licensing’s Ignite Fellows program. The program pairs Cornell faculty inventors with fellows to merge cutting-edge research with practical implementation. Upon graduation, Anova Biomedical joined the Center for Life Science Ventures to continue progressing in hopes of outside investment and ultimately achieving self-sufficiency.
“The team at the Center for Life Science Ventures and their continued support and mentorship helped me polish the business and commercialization aspects of my pitch. Their experience and advice are a tremendous enabler for Anova’s recent successes”, said D’Amato.
FuzeHub, a not-for-profit organization that supports small and medium-sized manufacturing companies in New York State, hosted its eighth Commercialization Competition this year. Twelve startups competed for the chance to win $50,000 by pitching their business plans to a panel of judges with the opportunity to win the $150,000 grand prize.
During the Summit, finalists pitched the commercialization potential of their startup’s product or technology to a panel of judges. The award funds must be used to improve an existing prototype, enabling the company to pursue further investments and customers, leading to their product’s commercialization. Anova Biomedical’s commitment to remaining in upstate NY and creation of quality jobs in the medical device field, an underdeveloped sector for the region, set them apart in the competition.
