Kymansis, IRIS, and Rhonexum each receive an Innogrant

Kymansis – a non-invasive wearable for cardiovascular health monitoring

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of death globally, taking an estimated 18 million lives each year. CVDs are a group of disorders impacting the heart and blood vessels. Identifying those at highest risk of CVDs quickly is paramount in preventing premature death. For the most part, diagnosis of CVDs still relies on lengthy or invasive procedures, bulky equipment, and specialised expertise. As a result, millions of people go undiagnosed each year. Blood pressure is the most widely-used non-invasive marker – but on its own, it cannot provide a full picture of cardiovascular health.

Kymansis, a startup based at EPFL in Professor Nikolaos Stergiopulos’ Laboratory of Hemodynamics and Cardiovascular Technology, has developed a non-invasive, cuffless wearable that continuously monitors cardiovascular health with clinical-grade accuracy. Worn on the wrist like a bracelet, it uses a network of pressure sensors positioned over the radial artery. The collected data is processed by advanced AI models to estimate three critical indicators—blood pressure, arterial stiffness, and cardiac output—providing clinicians with precise, real-time insights throughout the day.

The team will use their FIT-Innogrant to finalise the design and start the clinical validation process.

Contact: Georgios Rovas

IRIS – facilitating the development of biologics

Biologics – drugs produced from living cells – are transforming medicine and opening up many new therapeutic possibilities. However, manufacturing them is slow, expensive, and often inefficient. Current techniques do not enable to determine cell productivity based on cell morphology alone. This makes it time-consuming and expensive to select the best-performing cells, optimize bioreactor process or fine-tune production.

IRIS, a startup based at EPFL in Professor Bart Deplancke’s Laboratory of Systems Biology and Genetics, has developed a new technology combining high-resolution imaging with molecular profiling. This means teams can interpret cell function from shape alone. Through microfluidics and AI-driven analysis, they can identify high-performing cell clones, speed up production, and predict outcomes from cell images alone in real-time.

With the support of the FIT-Innogrant, the team will validate the technology with key partners in biologics manufacture.

Contacts: Joern Pezoldt & Johannes Bues

Rhonexum simplifies the development process of cryogenic electronics

Cryogenic electronics are designed to operate at extremely low temperatures and are essential for next-generation technologies such as quantum computing and space exploration. But, despite their promise, developing cryogenic circuits is slow, expensive, and risky. Without accurate simulation tools to verify designs before manufacture, engineers work with limited visibility, often resulting in repeating trial and error loops to build functioning hardware.

Rhonexum – an EPFL startup project based at Professor Charbon’s Advanced Quantum Architecture lab – wants to overcome these challenges. Their platform combines automated cryogenic measurement systems and cryogenic transistor models, allowing designers to model and verify chips before they are built. This dramatically reduces both cost and development time – by up to 90%.

The team will use their FIT-Innogrant to further develop their platform and onboard early users.

Contacts: Hung-Chi Han & Vicente Carbon