Medtech startup competition seeks applicants for $20K prize

Avio Medtech Consulting and the Cambridge Innovation Institute’s Cambridge VIP division are again teaming up on a startup competition with a $20,000 cash prize.

“For startups, cash rules everything, so we’re making it simple with a cash prize and a room full of investors,” Avio Medtech Consulting founder Morgan Evans said in a news release.

The Avio + Medtech MVP Pitch Contest application deadline is March 21, 2025.

To be eligible, startups must be in the diagnostics or medical device space (including software-as-a-medical-device, or SaMD, developers) raising seed or series A funding rounds in the range of $1 million to $15 million.

“We’re excited to provide a platform for the most promising medtech startups to demonstrate their potential and accelerate their growth,” Cambridge Innovation Institute CEO Ben Lakin said in the release.

Finalists will be named on May 2. On June 16, the top three finalists will offer 10-minute pitches to judges in front of an audience of investors and representatives from corporate strategics at the Medtech MVP Conference in Minneapolis.

In addition to a shot at the non-dilutive funding, those three finalists will also receive complimentary registration to the conference.

Last year’s winner was Ponte Biosciences, which is developing a cell-based bioartificial liver system to treat acute forms of liver failure. The other two finalists were Heart Failure Solutions (developing minimally invasive pericardial modification for patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction) and Sparta Biomedical (developing a device that mimics native cartilage for patients with knee osteoarthritis).

Competition sponsors include Rochester, Minnesota’s Destination Medical Center, law firm Fredrikson & Byron, and contract research organization Mobius Medical.

Previously: Avio Medtech’s Frank Jaskulke on M&A, spinoffs, layoffs and Medtech Big 100 trends