Biotech startup BioLattice wins pitch prize — but says the real value was showing up

Technical.ly

16-05-2025

Despite the international representation at BioLabs Philadelphia's third annual Investor Day, a local biotech company took home the top prize.
Amelia Zellander, founder and CEO of tissue engineering startup BioLattice, applied for Investor Day as a way to attract funding and resources for her company, with the goal of making connections that could lead to valuable relationships, she said. The event featured 18 startups, all of which pitched to win Startup of the Year and a package of consulting services, software services and discounts on equipment. The startups were also exposed to life sciences stakeholders from across the country and those from outside the region got to meet Philly's ecosystem.
Winning Startup of the Year means a lot, Zellander said, and helps to spread the word about the work she is doing.
'People invest in people they know and they like,' she told Technical.ly. 'You just have to have face-to-face interaction, and nothing magical is going to happen for me at this one event. It's about being out there a lot.'
Recognition from winning the award will help Zellander with her current goal, raising a $2 million seed round. The seed round will help the company file for an Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) from the Food and Drug Administration to generate data to show that the company is ready for a clinical trial, Zellander said.
BioLattice is developing a biomaterial to repair and transplant the front layer of the eye called CorneaClear. The company has seen some momentum over the last few years, receiving funding from federal agencies, accelerators and pitch competitions that have supported the development of its prototype. It has some early data from animal tests to inform its pilot studies, but still needs more cash to get there.
A slow funding environment isn't scaring BioLattice away
Despite Zellander's recent wins, her experience with finding funding and resources for her company has always been a challenge.
It's generally harder for life sciences companies to find funding because they're high risk and require long timelines. Lack of funding is exacerbated by funding cuts to the National Institutes of Health.
The Philadelphia region saw a dip in venture capital last quarter and Philly companies say they are having trouble securing funding from local investors. Events like BioLabs Investor Day are intended to bring investors and money from outside Philadelphia into the region, Melina Blees, head of BioLabs Philadelphia, told Technical.ly.
But investors generally are looking for companies with strong teams that are capital efficient, have an exit timeline and proven customers.
Plus, federal funding cuts are making it increasingly difficult for startups to get off the ground.
However, these circumstances don't particularly scare Zellander, she said. Raising money and finding resources have always been difficult. In the past, she struggled to find consistent funding and balance her time building the startup while working full-time jobs, she said.
'It has just never been easy, and in my experience, it's always hard for just different reasons,' she said.
Bringing outsiders to Philly to boost local VC
BioLabs hosts events like this not just to engage with local stakeholders, but also to show off the region to investors who may write Philly off, Blees of BioLabs said.
'Our goal is really to bring them here, to show them that there's great science happening,' Blees said. 'Then hopefully that means they come back and they invest.'
Biolabs' national presence is helpful for this, she said. The global life sciences coworking company hosts an investor event series in its hubs across the country, which works to build a network that can be tapped into by anyone.
BioLabs launched in Philly in 2018 and is now doubling down on its presence here. The company recently announced plans to expand its space at the Curtis building. The BioLabs for Advanced Therapeutics will be a 30,000-square-foot incubator space to be completed in the second half of this year.
The expansion includes the opening of the Thermo Fisher Scientific Advanced Therapies Collaboration Center, which is expected to bring in companies from all over to try equipment and work with the life science company's team, Blees said.
Convincing investors that startups can be successful anywhere is easier since the pandemic introduced virtual work, she said. In fact, startups can be more successful in an ecosystem where they have connections and resources with a lower cost of living.
'Money can move,' Blees said. 'If a great company is embedded in an ecosystem and has the support and has resources, why would you move them?'
Sarah Huffman is a 2022-2024 corps member for Report for America, an initiative of The Groundtruth Project that pairs young journalists with local newsrooms. This position is supported by the Lenfest Institute for Journalism.