Munich Startup: What does your startup do? What problem do you solve?
Christina Port, founder of 2NA Fish: Personalized medicine requires personalized diagnostics. It is now known that RNA biomarkers play a crucial role in the therapeutic approach to tumor diseases. (Editor's note: RNA = Ribonucleic acidHowever, existing technologies for analyzing these RNA biomarkers either provide insufficient information or are not suitable for use in clinical laboratories due to cost and complexity.
With 2NA Fish we have a groundbreaking technology for the spatial analysis of RNA biomarkers ("Spatial Transcriptomics"). We combine DNA (=deoxyribonucleic acid) nanotechnology with artificial intelligence, thus enriching tumor analysis with a new, currently unavailable spatial dimension of RNA expression. With this, we hope to revolutionize therapeutic decisions in cancer treatment!
Nanotechnology in tumor analysis
Munich Startup: But that's been around for a long time!
Johannes Breulmann, founder of 2NA Fish: That would be nice! Spatial transcriptomics technologies have experienced a real boom in recent years and were even named "Nature Method of the Year" in 2021. However, these technologies are not yet suitable for clinical use. There are two main reasons for this: Either the technologies are too expensive and complex to acquire, conduct, or analyze images. Or the technologies are not scalable. In other words, they can detect a maximum of three biomarkers simultaneously, but not ten or twenty RNAs, thus limiting their application. Our technology, on the other hand, works on standard equipment that pathology laboratories already have and can be integrated into existing workflows.
Munich Startup: What is your founding story?
Johannes Breulmann: I would call it a "forced coincidence." After selling my previous startup, InsureQ, I was looking for a new challenge. With InsureQ, we actually wanted to take things much further. Unfortunately, we missed the opportunity to secure follow-up financing for our 30-person team. So I wanted to start a new company, preferably in the field of biotechnology, as I've had a childhood passion for science fiction and exploring the limits of scientific possibility. Through a former intern of mine who knew about this passion, I learned about Christina and her team at TUM.
Funding of 1 million euros
Christina Port: Exactly. At that point, I had already validated the technology and, with a lot of sweat and tears, secured funding totaling over a million euros. The early days were particularly difficult, and I put all my savings into founding the company. When I felt the technology was ready to move out of the lab, I actively sought out a co-founder with startup experience. It was truly a happy coincidence that Johannes approached us at exactly that time.
Munich Startup: What have been your biggest challenges so far?
Christina Port: Convincing the very first people to believe in me and the product was certainly one of the biggest challenges so far. We have already won several awards and grants, for example the Medical Valley Award, the Science4Life business plan competition, and the Munich Startup AwardAnd we've established prestigious partnerships. This makes it a little easier to establish further good contacts and convince investors of our idea. But the very first steps were, as is often the case, the most difficult.
2NA Fish: First pilot projects launched
Munich Startup: How are things going?
Johannes Breulmann: As an EXIST-funded startup, we are not currently allowed to generate any revenue. Nevertheless, we have already launched several pilot projects with renowned research institutions. We expect to generate our first revenue towards the end of the year, once the EXIST funding has expired and we have completed our financing round. In fact, there is already a waiting list of interested parties for our technology, but we are currently only able to process it very slowly. While we already have eight employees, we would be able to grow significantly faster with additional staff—especially scientists.
Munich Startup: How have you experienced Munich as a startup location so far?
Christina Port: The network for startups in general, and biotech startups in particular, is already really good. I'd like to particularly highlight the BioM Cluster, through which we've received many relevant contacts and support. But we also feel very well looked after in the TUM Incubator, thanks to Ivana Hecimovic, Joanna Whyte, and many startup friends. Of course, there's always room for improvement, and the bureaucracy surrounding the administration of our funding isn't always easy—but other locations probably have the same problem.
.Johannes Breulmann: I agree. What's still missing, in my opinion, is a kind of co-working lab space in the center of Munich—for example, in the Werksviertel or other locations with many startups. The space BioM is currently building with MAxL in Martinsried is a good example. I'd love to see more of these.
Do it Yourself!
Munich Startup: Outsource or do it yourself?
Johannes Breulmann: So far, our clear focus has been on doing it ourselves. This applies both to the core of our technology in the lab and to initial customer acquisition. We currently want to learn as much as possible about our technology and customers. As soon as we feel the learning curve is slowing down (does it ever?), we would consider outsourcing production and distribution of our technology.
