The DayOne Accelerator, a three-month hybrid program for high-potential, early-stage techbio and healthtech ventures working at the intersection with Pharma R&D, is now kicking off its 2025 edition.
Whether it’s in liquid biopsy platforms, designing smarter clinical trials, or harnessing AI to unlock new frontiers in drug discovery, we are proud to be working with 15 inspiring Swiss and international startups – selected by an expert jury from nearly 200 applicants – in the 2025 DayOne Accelerator cohort that will be shaping the future of healthtech at the intersection with Pharma R&D:
Areltys is developing a digital platform to facilitate access to innovative cancer treatments, particularly to Radio-Ligand Therapy (RLT), in routine care and clinical research. The platform facilitates the referral and organization of RLT, allowing for greater efficiency in the healthcare system and reducing the mental burden on caregivers while freeing up time for care. 
C. Light Technologies is a neurotech and AI startup. It has developed a cutting‑edge retinal eye-tracking platform designed to non‑invasively assess oculomotor function, specializing in fixational eye movements invisible at the bedside. 
EVIIVE is a Swiss precision diagnostics startup developing first-in-class blood tests based on extracellular vesicle (EV) biomarkers. Their proprietary multi-omic EV platform, combined with machine learning, predicts patients’ response to immunotherapy, enabling personalized treatment decisions in oncology. 
Grove AI is advancing next-generation clinical research with AI agents. Grace, a digital staff member powered by their Participant Relationship Management (PRM) platform, is an AI agent able to automate and improve operations to accelerate clinical trials. 
Harmonic Discovery enables medicinal chemists to design selective, multi-target, small-molecule therapeutics for complex diseases. Their AI-driven platform solves the hardest problems in drug selectivity, enabling the development of selective, multi-target profiles previously considered undruggable. 
Lemna Bio uses structure-first AI to design molecular probes and model cellular perturbations with atomic-level causality. Their goal is to model experimental cell systems, enabling millions of in silico tests to be performed before entering the lab. 
Menken Trials is developing a real-time compliance intelligence layer for clinical trials. They help Pharma detect operational risks as they happen, from missing signatures to training gaps and protocol deviations. Instead of relying on post-hoc clean-up or manual review, Menken ensures trials stay audit-ready by design, reducing delays, deviations and inspection risks from day one. 
Nanolynx Biologics is developing conditionally active nanobody-drug conjugates (smart NDCs) targeting treatment-resistant cancers. Powered by its proprietary Intellibody™ platform, Nanolynx Biologics’ smart NDCs overcome the toxicity and tissue penetration limitations of conventional ADCs, delivering safer and more effective therapies. 
Navis Bio provides AI-powered software for scientific and competitive intelligence in biopharma. Their platform analyzes large-scale data to uncover gaps of maximal opportunity, helping teams prioritize indications, de-risk assets, and make faster and smarter portfolio decisions. 
Octozi’s AI platform automates processes involved in data cleaning, review and reconciliation. The system is trained on clinical and drug-specific data to detect data discrepancies, manage queries, and generate reports and visualizations for the study team. In a study, Octozi demonstrated the ability to accelerate data cleaning processes by 6x. 
OmniScience is transforming clinical development with Vivo, the industry’s first agentic AI control tower for clinical trials. Vivo unifies fragmented data across EDC, CTMS, labs, imaging, COAs, DHTs and other sources into a continuously learning system that automates oversight, accelerates decisions, reduces cost, and improves probability of success. 
Parithera enables single-cell RNA sequencing directly from whole blood. Their automated platform isolates and barcodes cells for deep molecular profiling, unlocking new insights in oncology, immunology and infectious disease. 
StratifAI is a precision oncology company developing the next generation of predictive biomarkers, by providing a more complete understanding of tumor biology and its correlation to patient outcomes. Their core asset is their multimodal biomarker discovery platform, which unlocks clinically actionable insights from a wide range of modalities. 
Virtuosis AI, a spinoff from EPFL that was awarded Microsoft Startup of the Year in 2023, develops and integrates AI-based vocal biomarkers to detect over 25 mental, cognitive, respiratory, cardiovascular and metabolic disorders from a single 30-second audio recording. 
ZuriEV is developing a next-generation liquid biopsy platform that detects cancer early, starting with brain tumors, by analyzing tumor-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) from blood. Their technology is non-invasive, highly accurate and compatible with standard lab equipment, making early detection more accessible globally. ”It’s fantastic to see the diversity and richness of applications to DayOne growing year after year. For this 7th edition – and our 3rd one focused on HealthTech x Pharma R&D – it has been inspiring to witness the strong momentum in healthtech, enabling precision medicine and smarter clinical trials, alongside a surge of techbio solutions. I’m excited to support this outstanding international cohort, and looking forward to accompanying them on their entrepreneurial journeys.
Cécile TardyPortfolio & Accelerator Lead, DayOne
DayOne’s expert selection panel had the tough challenge to choose only 15 companies from a total of nearly 200 submissions, coming in from 40+ different countries all around the world. This year, we had a record number of submissions from Switzerland (33), with the US (30) and UK (17) being the next two most frequently represented countries.
The 2025 program begins with an in-person Bootcamp in Basel at the start of September, followed by the rest of the hybrid program where the startups will receive 1:1 mentoring with Pharma industry executives, and industry-specific coaching from top experts. The program culminates with our Innovation Showcase in December, where the cohort will have the opportunity to pitch their solutions to investors.
After the program is finished, our startups will have the chance to join our post-accelerator extension program, and up to three of them will also receive CHF50k in non-dilutive funding and 6 months’ desk space at a Switzerland Innovation Park Basel Area site.
”This cohort of 15 startups reflects the cutting edge of healthtech innovation, bringing fresh solutions to the challenges of Pharma R&D. By connecting their pioneering technologies with Basel’s unique life sciences ecosystem, we aim to accelerate the future of drug development and improve outcomes for patients worldwide.
Ursula CostaDirector Healthtech Innovation & Investment, DayOne
Are you interested in applying for next year’s program?
If you’re an early-stage startup with a healthtech solution for an unmet need in Pharma R&D (NB: tech solutions only – molecules are accelerated by our sister initiative BaseLaunch), then we would love to hear from you. The next Call for Applications will open in March 2026 – learn more about the Accelerator program in the meantime here.
