Venture Lounge at Merck Innovation Center

At the invitation of Merck, Carlsquare and the EASME (Executive Agency for Small and Mid-Sized Enterprises), investors, corporates and experts in the life sciences sector met to hear the business case of 14 companies from all over Europe.

As part of the European Commission’s SME Instrument business acceleration services, Carlsquare, on behalf of the EASME, organized the Venture Lounge together with Merck in its Innovation Center to give innovative companies from Europe the opportunity to pitch their business to investors and strategists.

In an exciting panel discussion EASME, HTGF, Paul Hartmann, Forbion, SHS, B.Braun and Merck Ventures discussed technology disrupts and exit strategies.

A jury of investors assessed the companies according to different criteria, three winners emerged:

1. Genome Biologics, Germany

2. Exogenus, Portugal

3. Algaris, UK