Life sciences startups look to pitch contest finals

Purdue-affiliated startup OmniVis (CEO Katherine Clayton pictured) won last year's competition. (photo courtesy of bioLOGIC Global)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Inside INdiana Business) — Four Indiana life sciences startups are among a group of semifinalists for the 2020 bioLOGIC Innovation Awards. Online voting begins this weekend to select four finalists to compete in a $50,000 pitch contest in Louisville next month.

The Kentucky-based bioLOGIC Foundation is hosting the competition. The foundation says the eight semifinalists, representing Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, are “each uniquely tackling a public health problem with passion, efficiency and integrity.”

The semifinalists include:

Online voting to select the four finalists begins Feb. 1 and runs through Feb. 14. The foundation says community members, investors and startup leaders worldwide will have the chance to vote for their favorites.

The four finalists will advance to the 2020 BIA Pitch Day Finals in Louisville on Feb. 27. The winner will receive a $50,000 award.

The 2019 competition was won by Purdue University startup OmniVis, which is using the award to fund the pilot of a device to rapidly detect infectious diseases such as cholera. SalvePeds and OmniVis won first and second place, respectively, in the 2018 BioCrossroads New Venture Competition.