Startup CureMatch Wins $35,000 Grand Prize in Global Trade Pitchfest

CureMatch-Stephane-Richard-right-MetroConnect-image-by-Catherine-DeYoung-used-with-permission

CureMatch, a San Diego startup with technology to help doctors choose the best combination of anti-cancer treatments based on an analysis of each patient’s tumor, took home a $35,000 grant intended to help companies expand overseas.

The cash, awarded last Thursday, was the grand prize in the annual MetroConnect contest organized by the World Trade Center San Diego, an affiliate of the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp. CureMatch CEO Stephane Richard (at right in photo above) said the company would use the award to expand into Canada, Mexico, and Europe.

CureMatch was the top vote-getter among four finalists that gave presentations in a pitchfest that followed a months-long selection process. Out of 65 companies that applied for the program in 2017, 15 qualified for a $10,000 MetroConnect grant funded by JPMorgan Chase. From that list, four companies were selected to compete in Thursday’s MetroConnect’s Grand Prize Pitchfest. About 200 people attended the event, according to MetroConnect organizers.

CureMatch uses its technology to analyze the results of tumor DNA sequencing. The company says its analytic software then ranks more than 4.5 million different combinations of anti-cancer drugs to rank the ones that offer the best chance against the specific tumor gene mutations found in individual patient’s tumors.

Since the MetroConnect program began in 2015, companies involved in the program have collectively produced an additional $15 million in export sales and 161 new jobs in the regSion, according to the Metro Connect program. The other three finalists were:

—Planck Aerosystems has developed technology that enables drones to operate in maritime environments, lifting off from moving vessels of any size without the need for a dedicated pilot or extensive installed hardware.

— FoxFury makes powerful, specialized LED lights for use in firefighting, law enforcement, industrial safety, hazardous areas, filming, photography, and the military.

—Tioga Research is a contract research organization that specializes in supporting the development of dermatology products, including topical ointments and creams, transdermal drugs, and prestige cosmetic products.

Author: Bruce V. Bigelow

In Memoriam: Our dear friend Bruce V. Bigelow passed away on June 29, 2018. He was the editor of Xconomy San Diego from 2008 to 2018. Read more about his life and work here. Bruce Bigelow joined Xconomy from the business desk of the San Diego Union-Tribune. He was a member of the team of reporters who were awarded the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting for uncovering bribes paid to San Diego Republican Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham in exchange for special legislation earmarks. He also shared a 2006 award for enterprise reporting from the Society of Business Editors and Writers for “In Harm’s Way,” an article about the extraordinary casualty rate among employees working in Iraq for San Diego’s Titan Corp. He has written extensively about the 2002 corporate accounting scandal at software goliath Peregrine Systems. He also was a Gerald Loeb Award finalist and National Headline Award winner for “The Toymaker,” a 14-part chronicle of a San Diego start-up company. He takes special satisfaction, though, that the series was included in the library for nonfiction narrative journalism at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. Bigelow graduated from U.C. Berkeley in 1977 with a degree in English Literature and from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1979. Before joining the Union-Tribune in 1990, he worked for the Associated Press in Los Angeles and The Kansas City Times.