Tucson startup Avery Therapeutics won the third annual Get Started Tucson business-pitch competition, hosted Thursday evening by Cox Business, Startup Tucson and Inc. Magazine.
Avery won $60,000 in cash and prizes at the event at the UNS Energy building with a pitch for its implantable heart graft, designed to regenerate heart muscle and blood vessels after a heart attack.
The heart graft stemmed from research led by Dr. Steven Goldman, cardiologist and researcher at the UA Sarver Heart Center and is expected to be available to patients by 2020.
Jen Koevary, chief operations and financial officer of Avery Therapeutics, said the company will use the $25,000 cash prize to fund pre-clinical work leading to clinical trials.
Other prizes included a Cox Business Internet and phone technology package; a profile in Inc. Magazine, a pitching opportunity with the Desert Angels, a local investor group; admission to Startup Tucsonβs Thrive Scale Up program; and a one year of office space at the CoLab co-work space.
