Sibylla Biotech selected by Nature among the eight best start-ups in the world in the life-science sector

Sibylla Biotech, a spin-off of INFN, the University of Trento, and the University of Perugia, has been selected, the only Italian company, as a finalist of the Spin-off Prize 2021, an international award estab-lished by Nature Re-search and Merck, dedicated to technology transfer.

Sibylla Biotech, constantly engaged in drug discovery, announces a unique and extraordinary recognition. It is, in fact, one of the eight fi-nalist start-ups selected on a global scale by a jury of experts desig-nated by the prestigious journal Nature and by the Pharma compa-ny Merck. The commission of experts recognized the extraordinary impact that the spin-off could have in discovering drugs of currently incurable diseases and the solidity of the company’s growth strategy.

The company was born from the results of the scientific research carried out by the founders inside INFN, the Telethon Foundation, the University of Trento, and the University of Perugia. In July 2019, the first important investment arrived from the Vertis Venture 3 Tech Transfer fund, that made it possible to transform the group of re-searchers into a group of entrepreneurs and managers able to im-plement new solutions to face an ever-increasing number of thera-peutic targets.

Sibylla is currently the only company globally able to simulate the formation of large proteins involved in various diseases, thus allow-ing the design of therapeutic solutions that would otherwise be una-vailable. The technology has been used in oncological, neurodegen-erative, and infectious diseases but applies to any therapeutic area.

The Spin-off Prize celebrates entrepreneurial excellence from re-search institutes and universities around the world. It is often a pre-cursor of incredible successes, both about the impact of technology developed on the lives of millions of people and about business. The eight finalists are referred to as “One to watch companies,” meaning companies to keep an eye on, because they can revolutionize the state of the art of their sector.

The Spin-off Prize winner will be announced during the Future In-sight Virtual Event on July 12th. In addition, an article will also be ded-icated to each of the eight finalists, including Sibylla, in a special sup-plement published in Nature Outlook, thus accrediting the start-up in the register of planetary excellence.

“I am honored, excited, and proud that Sibylla has been selected for this globally prestigious award that recognizes our world-class scien-tific impact.” says Dr. Lidia Pieri, co-founder and CEO, “Sibylla tells a story of excellence empowered by the bold and unconventional vi-sion of crossing the boundaries between sciences and between sci-ence and entrepreneurship, and fueled by the continuous vital im-pulse to push beyond in innovation. Sibylla, above all, is the people, founders, employees, investors who work with passion, commit-ment, awareness, and fun. This award belongs to all of us. ”

Sibylla is just raising: a newly signed collaboration agreement with one of the world’s top 10 pharmaceutical companies, new hires, and industrial scale-ups on the horizon, along with technological devel-opments that will integrate Quantum Computing and Artificial Intel-ligence into drug research processes. All of this makes us believe that Sibylla will be a company that can shape and improve people’s fu-ture. Sibylla Biotech: one to watch.