Startup Nimble Diagnostics takes victory at ninth edition of Cuatrecasas Acelera

Cuatrecasas Acelera—an open innovation program launched by the firm in 2016 to offer its legal expertise to startups with significant legal challenges wanting to validate their legal strategy and accelerate their compliance process— closed its ninth edition today with Demo Day hosted in hybrid format from the Madrid office auditorium. Nimble Diagnostics was declared winner after the heads of the six participating startups presented their projects and ran a demo of their proposals before an expert panel made up of some of the key representatives of the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

This Demo Day closes a four-month program during which Cuatrecasas provided legal and business support to  the six participants from the energy, fintech, foodtech, healthtech, legaltech and proptech sectors, while facilitating their access to clients and financing. The participants defined their business model and activity with all the legal guarantees, together with over 40 lawyers and a team of legal mentors made up of the firm’s lawyers, including Julio Brasa (expert in public law), Juan Carlos Hernanz and Félix Plasencia (experts in public law, and energy and infrastructure), Idoya Fernández (partner and head of the firm’s Knowledge and Innovation Group), Miguel Sánchez (expert in finance law and fintech), and Ariadna Casanueva (expert in pharmaceutical regulatory law and digital health).

Cuatrecasas’s Senior Partner, Rafael Fontana, welcomed the participants, emphasizing the importance of expert legal advice to ensure the success of the most innovative and disruptive projects. During the session, the heads of the participating startups, Cicerai, Eara, Hydros Power, Nimble Diagnostics, Orygen and Poseidona, presented their projects’ progress before a select panel made up of Rafael Fontana, Francesc Muñoz (Cuatrecasas CIO), Vasco Bivar and Diana Rivera (partners at Cuatrecasas), Jorge Barón (head of Adara Ventures) and Pol Fañanás (Cuatrecasas Acelera alumni and cofounder of Views). While the panel deliberated, the participants enjoyed a keynote speech titled “Are you AI ready?” by Nora Oyarzabual, Cuatrecasas lawyer and expert in intellectual property.

In its deliberation, the panel considered essential factors such as the value proposition, business viability and scalability of each project, the team involved in its creation and development, as well as its progress throughout the program. The final decision was unanimous. Nimble Diagnostics was recognized as this edition’s best proposal based on the quality and visibility of its business model.

Nimble Diagnostics is the first microwave-based (“MWI”) medical device for the continuous, non-invasive, non-ionizing monitoring of patients with implanted stents. Its MWI technology can diagnose the state of the stent and its potential problems, regardless of the type and location. Francesc Muñoz and Alba Molina presented the award to  Oriol Iborra (CEO and cofounder), who gave thanks for this recognition as the best possible way to support the project: “We are very grateful to Cuatrecasas Acelera. It has helped us to define the investment round in which are immersed now and to have everything in order to be able to prepare the service agreement with suppliers and social partners. Currently, we are working on the data protection part and, thanks to this award, we will be able to make progress.”

After congratulating those responsible for the winning project, Francesc Muñoz thanked  the event's attendees and applauded the excellent uptake on this increasingly consolidated program in the accelerator scene, where it particularly stands out for its ability to add value to the participating startups and to the entrepreneurial ecosystem in general.

Cuatrecasas Acelera has closed a new edition, once again upholding its interest in discovering and anticipating new business models, fostering development of the most innovative proposals, and strengthening the firm’s positioning in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Muñoz anticipates that the firm’s strategy regarding open innovation will continue to grow: “Commitment to innovation is not negotiable and, with Acelera's 10th anniversary coming soon, we will renew and continue to drive this commitment.”

About Cuatrecasas Acelera

Cuatrecasas Acelera is an open innovation program through which the law firm Cuatrecasas offers its legal expertise to startups wanting to validate their legal strategy and accelerate their compliance process. Over a four-month period, an accelerator program drives them forward, providing legal assistance and facilitating connections with clients, funds and the innovative ecosystem.

The winning projects from previous years were: Emily.AI, a medtech that customizes oxygen therapy for respiratory care patients by using AI (eighth edition); Union Avatars, a software startup that creates realistic avatars in the metaverse for any platform (seventh edition); Bia Power, an energy startup that optimizes electric vehicle charging and the healthtech Match Trial that accelerates the inclusion of cancer patients in clinical trials (sixth edition); Menhir Financial, a platform using machine learning to help banks, funds and asset managers (fifth edition); TOQIO, a banking and financing startup (fourth edition); BlockTac, a certification app based on blockchain technology, and FuVeX, a startup implementing drones for companies and institutions (third edition); Validated ID, an electronic signature platform (second edition); and TheLogicValue, a fintech platform (first edition).

Also, the Cuatrecasas Fast Track Program selects more mature legaltech or technological startups and develops a use case with them to give companies an opportunity to learn about them and validate the feasibility of their initiatives in a real professional environment.