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Dia Beta Labs are delighted to announce that we have been selected as the overall winners of the annual INVENT Competition for startup companies!

Organised by the Northern Ireland science and technology hub, Catalyst with headline partner Bank of Ireland UK, INVENT is an annual competition for early-stage start-ups and aspiring entrepreneurs to showcase their innovations to a panel of expert judges.

DBL were one of 117 companies across a diverse range of sectors to enter the competition, with the semi final conducted in June this year.

Following progression through the semi-final stage, selected companies had to pitch to a panel of 10 experts from the Northern Ireland ecosystem ahead of the award ceremony held in the ICC Belfast on Thursday 3 October 2024, where the twelve finalists competed for the main prize, with DBL triumphing overall and taking home £25,000 from the total prize fund of £55,000.

DBL’s first taste of success on the evening came in the BioBreakthorughs category for life-science startups where DBL were up against fellow Ulster University portfolio company, Galvani Tech Ltd. Pictured above is DBL’s CEO, Ryan Lafferty, receiving the award from Joann Rhodes, CEO of Health Innovation Research Alliance Northern Ireland (HIRANI).

Finalists were also given the opportunity to deliver a 1 minute elevator pitch to the approximately 500 attendees with a spot prize of £1000 for the winner by public vote. The prize on the night was taken home by deserved winners who have developed an innovative stop-gap for prevention of initial cardiac damage following a heart attack.

Of the success, DBL’s CEO Ryan Lafferty had this to say: “We are delighted to have come through INVENT as overall winners as this hugely validates the business and helps to spread the word on the positive changes we are aiming to make in management of metabolic diseases. We all know someone who is struggling with management of weight or diabetes and are unfortunately being failed by currently available options. As long as the prevalence of these conditions continues to spiral out of control, innovation in this area will be greatly needed. We would like to extend thanks to Catalyst who have provided tremendous support to us and so many others in the NI ecosystem!“

INVENT success was the icing on the cake for a particularly big week for Dia Beta Labs – more to follow on this shortly!