IMChip and MimeCure in top 10 of the national Academic Startup Competition
Prof. Tamalika Banerjee’s startup IMChip and Prof. Erik Frijlink and Dr. Luke van der Koog’s startup MimeCure have made it into the top 10 of the national Academic Startup Competition. This makes them two of the most promising academic start-ups in the Netherlands. The members of the start-ups will participate in a trade mission to Silicon Valley with ScaleNL this spring.
On June 2, the ten winners will be in the spotlight at the Knowledge Transfer Office (KTO) masterclass at Brainport Eindhoven.

About IMChip
IMChip develops energy efficient computer chips for the chip industry to accelerate AI in a sustainable way. The startup is working with the patented memristor technology from the research group of Prof. Tamalika Banerjee to develop chips for applications used in self-driving cars, for example, where onboard, highly efficient, low-latency AI tasks must be performed. The company officially started in the autumn of 2024 and is in the early stages of product development and attracting investors.
About MimeCure
MimeCure is working on an innovative therapy for COPD that aims to repair damaged lung tissue using a naturally occurring protein fragment (MC002). This regenerative approach offers new hope for millions of patients by addressing the root cause of the disease. The startup is currently focused on completing preclinical trials and obtaining investment to support the first human clinical trials, which are expected to start within three to five years. If successful, the innovative therapy could be ready for use in COPD patients within seven to ten years.
The Academic Startup Competition
The Academic Startup Competition is an initiative of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate, Techleap, Universities of the Netherlands, and the NFU. It is an annual competitive programme for the most promising academic ventures from Dutch universities and research institutes.This year, seven startups from the UG and the UMCG (of which four FSE startups) made it to the top 40.
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Last modified: | 03 April 2025 5.00 p.m. |
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