MEDEA Biopharma from the Technical University of Munich (Germany) and PlasticFri from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Germany) were declared Grand Final winners of the 11th Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition (LKYGBPC), organised by the Singapore Management University Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SMU IIE).
MEDEA Biopharma won the Lee Kuan Yew BETA Prize, while PlasticFri clinched the Lee Kuan Yew INFINITY Prize. The BETA category covers pre-revenue startups, while the INFINITY covers revenue-generating startups in the early- to Series A stages.
Both winners have received S$100,000 (US$73,000) in cash and S$75,000 (US$55,000) in-kind prizes each, and the opportunity to be mentored by some of the more notable venture capitalists (VCs) in the innovation and entrepreneurship space for expansion in the region.
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MEDEA develops a new generation of sustainable and eco-friendly antibacterial solutions as alternatives to chemical and harmful antibiotics, copper and pesticides to combat harmful bacteria in humans, animals and plants. Founded by Rüdiger Trojok, Dr Elene Kakabadze, Giorgi Khubua and Alexander Skripnik, the firm entered the competition in the ‘Urban Solutions and Sustainability’ Category.
PlasticFri is a greentech company that turns agricultural waste into eco-friendly products, such as cups, straws, and packaging, to replace plastics. To date, the company claims to have sold more than 10 million products, saved more than 52,000 litres of water and eliminated 5,000 kg of plastic waste. Founded by Dr Allen Mohammadi and Max Mohammadi, the firm entered the competition in the ‘Urban Solutions and Sustainability’ Category.
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Thirty-one other student startups were also declared winners across various categories.
A total of 53 university startups, including ten from Singapore, gathered at SMU to compete for S$2.5 million worth of prizes over the week. With the theme’ Innovations Beyond Boundaries – Reimagining a Smart, Sustainable & Resilient Future’ and focusing on five key areas: Urban Solutions and Sustainability; Manufacturing, Trade & Connectivity; Human Health & Potential; Smart Nation & Digital Economy; and Media & Entertainment, the biennial LKYGBPC saw over 1,000 entries from 1,100 universities from 77 countries, including Argentina, China, Germany, the US, Ukraine, Japan, and Indonesia.
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Image Credit: LKYGBPC
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