Startup Focused on Mimicking Human Organs Wins $2,000 in Seed Funding

A student startup focused on commercializing platforms that mimic human organs won $2,000 at the Seed Funding Pitch Competition. 

Humimic Biosystems, which formed in 2023 as a spinoff company from U of A's Mechanobiology and Soft Materials Laboratory, is focused on developing models that mimic human organs — including the heart, lungs and brain — for wide-ranging applications, according to Lexi Applequist, the company's co-founder and CEO. 

Applequist said that by offering unique, reliable, user-friendly benchtop organ models, the technology can be used to model diseases for drug screening in the pharmaceutical industry, treatment testing in the medical device industry, and disease progression research in academia. 

Overseen by the U of A Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, the Seed Pitch competition allows students to pitch their ideas for a chance at funding in several categories: customer discovery, prototype development, market research, legal and design. Pitches are capped at 90 seconds, can't include slides and are followed by a brief Q&A session with judges.  

"Past winners include student teams focused on brain cancer treatment and developing platforms to improve the experience of international students. This year's field also included diverse startups across a range of industries," said Maddy Stricklen, OEI's program manager for competitions. 

"The judges really focused on companies that demonstrated the potential for a meaningful impact and clearly communicated how they plan to make that happen," Stricklen said. 

"It's inspiring to see such a variety of ideas being supported and recognized." 

The Seed Fund competition allows students to pitch their ideas for a chance at funding in several categories: customer discovery, prototype development, market research, legal and design. Pitches are capped at 90 seconds, can't include slides and are followed by a brief Q&A session with judges.  

WINNING TEAMS  

• $2,000: Humimic Biosystems — Lexi Applequist, doctorate, biomedical engineering; Lance Douglas Cordes, graduate, biomedical engineering; Landen Usher, graduate, Master of Science in Product Innovation 

  • Humimic Biosystems was formed to focus on the commercialization of human organ-mimicking models, including the heart, lung and brain. 

• $1,000: CurioTree — Kimberly Kay, graduate, Master of Business Administration; Avery Batson, graduate, Master of Finance; Thalia Hawkins, graduate, strategy, entrepreneurship, & venture innovation; Camille Jordan, graduate, Executive MBA; Sarah Martinez, graduate, electrical engineering and computer science 

  • CurioTree is an API-powered platform that simplifies personalized learning by embedding skill-based pathways into educational and retail platforms. 

• $500: Desmo LLC — Nathan Harris, doctorate, mechanical engineering 

  • Desmo's first product enhances firearm safety, operational effectiveness, and user experience with a compact, durable, and affordable sensor that detects the number of bullets in a rifle magazine. 

• $500 (People's Choice): DevelopIQ— Trey Dicks, senior, finance; David Blinn, senior, pre-business; Sebastian Reyes, senior, finance; Craig Harriman, senior, data science; Connor McCurtain, junior, computer science; Aidan McQueen, junior, computer science 

  • DevelopIQ is a SaaS platform with a user interface to track construction development costs using SQL relational databases for real estate developers, and also forecasts future housing prices using proprietary algorithm for any zip code in the U.S. using a data-driven methodology.