The biotech company has been chosen as "the best Scale Up" among the ten startups candidates for the award of this business growth program, led by the Valencian Institute of Business Competitiveness (IVACE) and the European Business and Innovation Center (CEEI) de València
Darwin Bioprospecting Excellence, a company located in the Science Park of the University of Valencia, has won the European Commission's 'Scale Up' program, led by IVACE and with the collaboration of CEEI Valencia. The biotech company is dedicated to microbial bioprospecting, i.e. obtaining natural microorganisms for their application in industrial or biomedical processes.
In July 2020, ten companies -two of them located in the PCUV- were selected to participate in this 3rd edition of the business growth program and thus benefit from strategic consulting sessions of more than 50 hours. After completing the training, Darwin has been chosen as "the best Scale Up" and has been endowed with 5,000 euros in consulting services to cover its specific growth needs.
Kristie Tanner, head of R&D at Darwin, says that the startup will use the award "to continue growing as a company". "We are scientists and had no knowledge of finance. Therefore, these months of training have been key to deepen Darwin from a business point of view and not only in the technical part," Tanner explains.
Scalability as the main objective
The 'Scale Up' program is aimed at startups and SMEs less than six years old that want to grow exponentially. The ten companies that have participated in this third edition, including Darwin Bioprospecting Excellence and Smart Induction Converter Technologies (SiCtech), have enjoyed 50 hours of training with experts in different fields, as well as mentoring with professionals from CEEI Valencia.
"The training has been unbeatable and the interaction we had with the rest of the companies has been very useful to learn and expand in the business field. We have had sessions of all kinds, on finance, internationalization, business models, and so on. Before participating, our income came from the services we offered to clients. Thanks to this program, we have learned that, in order to scale, we have to strengthen our own product line," explains Darwin's R&D manager. Tanner encourages startups to apply for the next edition. Registrations can be made until March 25 through the website www.ceei-valencia.com/scaleup.