The start-up is eligible to win a share of $100,000 in financial support and more than $200,000 in vital services to develop their product.
Cork-based Lia Eyecare has been selected as one of the 15 finalists in a global medtech competition hosted by the University of Massachusetts (UMass).
The women-led start-up, which spun out from University College Dublin (UCD), made it to the final round of the annual UMass Medical Device Development Centre (M2D2) Challenge for its product Nightleaf, which uses thermal modulation technology to stabilise the eye’s tear film layer to treat dry eye disease. Dry eye disease affects more than 345m people worldwide.
As a finalist, the start-up is eligible to win a share of $100,000 in financial support and more than $200,000 in services including lab space for testing, clinical development support, engineering resources and legal guidance. Moreover, finalists have the opportunity to connect with key organisations and investors in the tech, healthcare and legal sectors.
The final pitching event will be held next Wednesday (26 March) in UMass Lowell in Boston.
“It’s an opportunity that is now positioning Lia Eyecare among the top emerging medical device and biotech start-ups worldwide,” the co-founder and CEO Breda O’Regan said.
From left: Sinéad Buckley and Breda O’Regan, Lia Eyecare founders.
O’Regan credits the company’s success in the competition to a recent AwakenHub and AwakenAngels trade mission to Boston and New York that showcased a 25-member delegation of women-founded start-ups, angel investors and partners from across the island of Ireland. The company was introduced to the competition during this trade mission.
“I would like to take this opportunity to urge any women business owners who are seeking to grow their company to make sure they are surrounding themselves with the right advice and community,” Regan added. “After working on Nightleaf for five years, it’s tremendously exciting for us that all these opportunities are aligning as we prepare to launch.”
O’Regan has more than 20 years of experience in multinational business, including holding key financial leadership roles at Janssen Sciences Ireland and Johnson & Johnson.
While Sinéad Buckley, the company’s co-founder, as well as its COO said: “Having the opportunity to go to UMASS Lowell to present Nightleaf feels like a full-circle moment for Lia Eyecare.
“The idea for our product started from research carried out through the BioInnovate programme at the University of Galway before we developed it further and were able to spin our company out from UCD, supported by Enterprise Ireland.
“Getting to the final of an event like this shows just how important it is that the Irish Government continues to invest in the founder ecosystem. We need to be able to access support through our universities and colleges and organisations like AwakenHub and Enterprise Ireland to ensure we can accelerate the kinds of Irish innovations that have the potential to revolutionise healthcare for people everywhere.”
This year’s UMass M2D2 $200,000 Challenge is focusing on four challenge areas of interest, which include point of care, military medicine, medtech sustainability and surgical devices. Lia Eyecare is participating in the point of care track.
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