Press Conference with BC’s Startup All-Stars Pitch Competition winner

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BC Biotech Startup VoxCell Wins $10,000 Pitch Competition at Web Summit Vancouver 2025

At the close of Web Summit Vancouver 2025, Minister Diana Gibson announced VoxCell, led by Dr. Karolina Valente, as the winner of a $10,000 pitch competition. The competition, powered by NWPC and New Ventures BC, highlighted BC’s thriving tech sector, which includes over 12,000 innovative companies specializing in areas like clean tech, AI, life sciences, and quantum computing.

VoxCell focuses on bioprinting human-like tissue to bridge the gap between laboratory drug testing and human trials. This technology aims to accelerate drug development by providing crucial insights into drug efficacy years earlier in the process. Dr. Valente showcased tissue samples of blood vessels, explaining how VoxCell’s technology can predict drug performance in human patients. The company, based in Victoria, BC, has recently secured its first paid pilot project for $500,000. This project involves using patient-derived lung cancer samples from Germany to test new therapies.

Angie Schick, Executive Director of New Ventures BC, highlighted the organization’s role in supporting BC’s tech ecosystem. New Ventures BC, now in its 25th year, has supported over 4,000 companies, which have collectively raised over $3 billion in financing and created more than 15,000 jobs. Ms. Schick cited recent successes of New Ventures BC alumni, including Jane Software’s $500 million secondary financing and Aspect Biosystems’ $115 million secondary financing.

The press conference also addressed questions about the impact of declining international student enrollment on innovation, the potential applications of VoxCell’s technology beyond drug testing, the outlook for data-centered growth and AI in BC, and the government’s plans for incentivizing data center development. Minister Gibson acknowledged the challenges posed by declining international student numbers, emphasizing ongoing efforts to address this issue with the federal government. Dr. Valente discussed the potential of VoxCell’s technology for personalized medicine, while Peter Cowan and Minister Gibson addressed the importance of data sovereignty and the development of a provincial AI policy.