AVATAR Zoo announced as winner of the Proefdiervrij Venture Challenge

Stichting Proefdiervrij wants to increase and accelerate the impact of non-animal research on the use of laboratory animals and has therefore organised the first Animal-free Venture Challenge. The four teams have been hard at work for the past 11 weeks, culminating in the presentation of their business plan today. Avatar Zoo is the winning team with their innovation!

What is the Proefdiervrij Venture Challenge?

During the challenge, scientific breakthroughs were converted into solid business plans. One way to strengthen the position of non-animal models is by setting up a commercial organization. However, this is still not happening enough due to the lack of experience and knowledge among scientists. Good guidance by experience experts is therefore essential. That is why we organized the Proefdiervrij Venture Challenge for the first time this year.

The participants have learned various skills that are necessary to set up or further develop a company.

“It is fantastic to see that the teams are taking such big steps during the workshops. Each step is a little closer to a fully-fledged venture plan. This also shows how valuable the Proefdiervrij Venture Challenge is. ”

Says Saskia Aan, science & innovation advisor at Proefdiervrij. The Proefdiervrij Venture Challenge was substantively supervised by the permanent, experienced team of the GameChanger Challenge BV, which has already organized more than 20 editions of the regular Venture Challenge.

And the winner is…

Four enthusiastic teams participated in this very first edition of the Proefdiervrij Venture Challenge. Avatar Zoo was declared the winner today and was awarded a nice cash prize of € 25,000 to further develop their innovation and build their startup. Avatar Zoo has developed a business plan for various virtual reality models that can be used for anatomy lessons and skills training. 

Source: Proefdiervrij