AVT Spin-Off „BioThrust“ receives EXIST Forschungstransfer Grant
The AVT.CVT spin-off BioThrust by Patrick Bongartz and Moritz Meyer has achieved the next milestone on the journey of being founded. During their pitch in Berlin at the PTJ, they were able to convince the jury of experts from their idea and achieved a unanimous vote. This means that the team, which will be complemented by Mr. Konstantin Kurz covering the business development area, will receive funding of almost 680,000€ for 18 months starting in April 2022. "This milestone gives us the opportunity to further develop our prototypes. In collaboration with our industrial partners and interested parties from research, we want to develop products that can be used in any biotech lab and on a large scale in pharmaceutical production. It is our vision to completely revolutionize the gassing of bioreactors", Bongartz said.
"The whole AVT team congratulates warmly for obtaining the EXIST funds" said Dr. Hanna Wolff, Managing Director of AVT. "It shows that we can do relevant research and drive technologies from proof-of-principle to a high level of technical maturity at AVT." "At NGP², we are excellently equipped for all our product development challenges. A 3D printer lab for prototypes, biotechnological S1 labs for sample fermentations, an analytics department for characterizing our fixtures before and after use, in-house IT, and a modern mechanical workshop for complex manufacturing jobs... It's really all there!" continues Mr. Bongartz. Even though the team originally developed from Prof Wessling's Chair of Chemical Process Engineering, there have already been several collaborations with the other chairs. "This shows the strength of AVT's interdisciplinary approach" (Dr. Wolff).
What is next for BioThrust? "Well, besides preparing the spin-off, Moritz and I will finalize our degrees by April – we will definitely not get bored!", Bongartz said.