The Sparks Were Flying!
We’re thrilled to salute all eight impressive startups who took the stage at BioSpark 2025. Your passion, creativity, and scientific rigor made the competition inspiring and as one spectator said “FIERCE!”.
It is startups like these that remind us how vibrant and forward-thinking our biotech community really is.
A special congratulations to our three winners:
- First Place & $10,000 Award: Overa Therapeutics
- Second Place ($5,000 Award): SalivIQ
- Third Place (Year of CvilleBioHub Accelerator Access): Stride Robotics
We’ll be sharing photos, videos, and behind-the-scenes content from BioSpark soon!
Missed BioSpark 2025 or want to get ready for next year? Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter for advance notifications, early-bird info, and opportunities to engage again with this exciting ecosystem.
BioSpark Competition
BioSpark is a competitive live pitch event for life sciences start-ups that takes place during the annual BioDiscovery Summit and is co-hosted by CvilleBioHub and Cooley. The event will be held Thursday, September 18, 2025 at 9:00 am at the Irving Theater, 225 W. Water Street in Charlottesville.
BioSpark Pitch Eligibility
- Pre-seed or seed-stage company with formal entity
- Entity has full ownership rights to technology
- Less than $10M raised to date
- Open to U.S.-based companies
- One entry per company
BioSpark Pitch Categories
The submitted product or service must fall under one of the following categories:
- Therapeutics
- Digital Health and Analytics
- Medical Devices
- Diagnostics
- Healthcare Delivery
- AI Healthcare Service
- Healthcare Adjacent Technologies
BioSpark Pitch Process
- After the application process, eight companies will be invited to deliver an in-person pitch before a panel of judges and an audience of life sciences investors and summit attendees
- Pitches will consist of 8-minute presentations plus 5 minutes of Q&A with the panel of judges
- A pitch deck of no more than 15 slides must include: the problem, solution, value/science, business model, progress, data, fundraising ask, use of funds, team, and competitive landscape
- Selected companies are required to participate in an in-person runthrough on September 17th
- The first place winner is required to present at the BioDiscovery Summit’s evening program. All participants must plan to be available.
BioSpark Pitch Prizes
Participating companies are eligible for $15,000 in cash prizes and in-kind professional services. One company will receive a year of access to CBH’s Commonwealth BioAccelerator.
