Melbourne, Australia – 13 August – Six Australian biomedtech and health technology startups have been awarded a combined $13.5 million through the second funding round of CUREator+, a national research translation and commercialisation program delivered by Brandon BioCatalyst in partnership with ANDHealth.
Thanks to funding from the Australian Government's Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF), CUREator+ supports the commercialisation of early-stage Australian medical innovations with the potential to improve health outcomes while creating high-value companies and sovereign capability.
The independent CUREator+ Investment Review Committee selected the companies driving these home-grown innovations based on their solid scientific and technical foundations, commercial promise, and potential to benefit Australians.
These six companies represent the next generation of Australian health and medical innovation. Through CUREator+, they will receive milestone-based non-dilutive funding, expert commercialisation support and access to industry networks to accelerate development of their therapeutics, medical devices and digital health innovations. By backing breakthrough science with capital and expertise, CUREator+ is committed to transforming world-class Australian research into investable companies that improve patient outcomes, attract private investment and strengthen Australia's global leadership in life sciences.
Minister Mark Butler, Minister for Health and Ageing, said,
“Our Government is investing in biomedtech and health technology startups to support new technologies that can improve health outcomes and change lives.”
“These advances have the potential to make a real difference for patients, and I look forward to seeing their impact in inflammatory disease, cancer, heart disease and beyond.”
Mr Sander Bangma, CEO, Navier Medical Ltd, said Navier Medical is thrilled to be selected for the CUREator+ program, as it continues its mission to reduce the impact of cardiovascular disease on Australians and patients around the world.
"Preventing heart attacks starts with seeing the disease earlier. Our Navier Heart platform turns routine CT scans into a powerful tool for early detection and personalised treatment of cardiovascular disease, by revealing the high-risk vessels hiding in plain sight. The CUREator+ program supports our next critical steps, including a prospective clinical trial, delivering our platform at scale, and progressing the company towards commercial readiness, enabling us to bring this technology to patients in Australia and around the world."
Dr Amanda Vrselja, Program Head, CUREator, said the program addresses one of the most critical gaps in Australia's innovation ecosystem.
"Australia produces outstanding medical research, but too many promising discoveries struggle to access the expertise, capital and commercial support needed to reach patients. CUREator+ is designed to change that. By combining milestone-based funding with experienced commercialisation support, we're enabling founders to build investable companies capable of delivering global healthcare impact from Australian innovation."
Bronwyn Le Grice, CEO of ANDHealth, said the companies selected through CUREator + are developing new solutions to solve major health challenges.
“These innovations show the breadth of Australian capability in AI‑enabled diagnostics, digitally‑enabled models of care and data‑driven biomarkers, and we’re focused on supporting them to become globally competitive companies that deliver better outcomes for patients in Australia and around the world."
Round 2 recipients are among Australia’s most promising emerging health technology companies addressing unmet needs across inflammatory disease, cancer, cardiovascular disease, neurological disorders and AI-enabled digital health.
The second-round recipients are:
- Aleris Therapeutics (awarded $2,500,000) - Developing a novel therapy for inflammatory diseases.
- Frontier Inflammasome Therapeutics (awarded $2,500,000) - Developing first-in-class therapies for inflammatory diseases.
- Luma Bio (awarded $2,500,000) - Developing peptide-based radiopharmaceuticals for targeted cancer imaging and treatment.
- Navier Medical (awarded $2,130,609) - Developing AI-enabled cardiac CT risk markers to improve prediction and prevention of heart attacks.
- Neurotologix (awarded $1,950,000) - Commercialising an integrated platform for the objective assessment of vertigo and dizziness.
- WeGuide (awarded $1,945,111) - Developing an AI-powered platform to accelerate the development and commercialisation of digital biomarkers using wearable, clinical and patient-generated health data.
We congratulate the six companies awarded funding through CUREator+: Aleris Therapeutics (VIC), Frontier Inflammasome Therapeutics (QLD), Luma Bio (VIC), Navier Medical (WA), Neurotologix (WA) and WeGuide (VIC).
About us:
About CUREator+
CUREator+ is a national research translation and commercialisation program delivered by Brandon BioCatalyst in partnership with ANDHealth and supported by the Australian Government through the Medical Research Future Fund. The program combines non-dilutive funding with expert commercialisation support to accelerate Australia's most promising medical research and digital health innovations towards investment readiness, clinical adoption and commercial success.
About Brandon BioCatalyst
Brandon BioCatalyst is Australia's leading life sciences venture capital firm, with more than two decades of experience building globally competitive biotechnology and healthcare companies. Brandon has supported more than 70 companies, helping translate breakthrough science into therapies, technologies and diagnostics that improve lives while delivering economic value for Australia.
About ANDHealth
ANDHealth is Australia's national commercialisation organisation for digital and connected health, supporting entrepreneurs to build investable businesses and accelerate the adoption of innovative healthcare technologies in Australia and internationally.
Further details about the CUREator+ program are detailed on the websites.
https://www.andhealth.com.au/our-programs/cureatorplus
https://brandonbiocatalyst.com/cureator/cureator-plus/
Contact details:
Ruth Heenan, E: [email protected]
M: 0416 565332