Big Ideas Award: UCD Spin-out LaNua Medical wins chance to compete at Start-Up World Cup
Posted 16 May, 2024
LaNua Medical team members: Dr Eoin O'Cearbhaill, Dr Cormac Farrelly and Tom Fitzmaurice
A UCD spin-out has won the chance to compete for $1,000,000 in investment after winning the Big Ideas competition at Enterprise Ireland’s Start-Up 2024.
LaNua Medical, an emerging University College Dublin spin-out supported by NovaUCD, will represent Ireland at the (opens in a new window)Pegasus Start-Up World Cup in San Francisco in October as part of winning the prize.
The company was one of 10 investor-ready potential spin-outs that had three minutes to pitch their new technology solutions to a 600 strong audience made up of representatives from the Irish start-up ecosystem including VCs and other funders, State support agencies & professional and financial services.
Dr Cormac Farrelly, UCD School of Medicine and a consultant radiologist at the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, and a member of the LaNua Medical team, pitched at the event and was presented with the Big Idea’s Award by Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Peter Burke TD.
“I have no doubt [LaNua Medical] will go on to make Ireland proud at the International Start-Up World Cup in the US,” said the Minister.
“Enterprise Ireland’s Start-Up Day offers an exciting snapshot of the future, showcasing investor-ready start-ups with disruptive technologies that will change our world for the better, as well as providing opportunities for keen investors.”
LaNua Medical, an Enterprise Ireland Commercialisation Fund project, is developing solutions for problems related to embolization - a minimally-invasive procedure used to treat, for example, internal bleeding or benign and malignant tumours.
Its GateKeeper device blocks blood flow to select tissue, while enabling targeted therapeutic delivery aimed at reducing the risk of side effects.
The other members of the LaNua Medical team in addition to Dr Farrelly are Dr Eoin O'Cearbhaill, Tom Fitzmaurice and Sajjad Amiri, UCD School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering.
LaNua Medical completed the 2022 UCD VentureLaunch Accelerator Programme delivered by NovaUCD.
By: David Kearns, Digital Journalist / Media Officer, UCD University Relations (with materials from Micéal Whelan, UCD Research and Innovation)
To contact the UCD News & Content Team, email: newsdesk@ucd.ie
