Elizabeth Pavez Lorie, Ifigeneia Petrocheilou (© CompreVie)
CompreVie is transforming product testing with a skin-on-chip platform that fuses scaffold-free tissue engineering and microfluidic technology to mimic human skin with unmatched biological accuracy. Motivated by the urgent need to ease the suffering of 4.5 billion people living with chronic skin conditions, and to reduce the millions of animals used each year in trials that too often fail to predict human outcomes, CompreVie bridges the gap between pre-clinical and clinical research in a fundamentally new way.
What makes the platform truly distinctive is its longevity. Each sample can be kept in culture for many months, representing different age groups and both female and male skin. This means a single sample becomes a living window into what a cream, treatment, or drug is actually capable of, not just within days, but across months. Following the same biological model over time mirrors the way clinical trials track the same patient over weeks or months, delivering that depth of insight from within the laboratory. The vision is bold but grounded: living biological models that represent real populations and real environments, with over 50% reduction in material costs compared to conventional testing.
In doing so, CompreVie not only advances the science of skin testing, it actively contributes to the industry’s shift toward greener, more sustainable practices: reducing waste, eliminating unnecessary animal use, and building a testing ecosystem that is as responsible as it is rigorous.
After receiving the brutkasten special prize at the S&B Award 2025, the Rudolf Sallinger Fund spoke with co-founder, CEO and CSO Dr. Elizabeth Pavez Lorie about the progress CompreVie has made in the months since.
Last year, you won the brutkasten special prize at the S&B Award 2025. What has been the most significant milestone CompreVie has achieved since then?
Following the S&B Award, we were shortlisted in two categories at the Global Startup Awards: HealthTech Startup of the Year and Founder of the Year. While we did not take home the prize, the connections and conversations that came out of that event have been genuinely valuable and continue to bear fruit.
On the technical side, we have maintained a very robust patent application and are continuing to advance it, with further IP applications planned for the coming year. We also completed an important collaboration with biotech partners in the Czech Republic, which once again demonstrated the versatility and testing power of our skin-on-chip platform.
And finally, perhaps most underrated in the current climate, we entered 2026 with confidence. In today’s turbulent investment environment for biotech, that is not a small thing. Stability and momentum, even when quiet, are worth mentioning.
How did you make use of the €5,000 media volume?
We used it to give an in-depth interview that was published both online and in print. The results generated strong visibility across the DACH region and put CompreVie in front of an audience we would not have reached otherwise. For a company at our stage, that kind of targeted exposure is genuinely valuable.
One of your short-term goals was to conduct beta testing with new pilot partners and expand collaborations. What progress have you made in this area?
This has been one of our most active areas. We initiated a collaboration with a team at the University of Vienna and are in advanced talks to begin another significant collaboration with a biotech company here in Vienna. We have continued our ongoing work with a cosmetics-focused biotech company in Brno, and are in discussions with a potential pilot partner in the United States, which, if it progresses, would be an important step in our international expansion.
We were also able to support a med/biotech company in the UK with preliminary biocompatibility data, an area that remains significantly underrepresented in current testing frameworks. Having demonstrated that we can deliver in this space, we are now actively expanding our biocompatibility offering and will very soon launch a dedicated pilot testing portfolio for companies requiring this type of data. In parallel, we have submitted an application for the Horizon European Innovation Council Accelerator Innovation Challenge (EIC AIC) call focused on alternative methods, with interested partners and collaborators already engaged who see CompreVie as their biocompatability testing solution for scaffolds, transplant materials, gels, and related materials.
The halthy/biotech landscape remains highly competitive and volatile, which is precisely why we stay focused on what we can realistically and excellently deliver, rather than spreading ourselves too thin chasing every opportunity.
How have you further developed your business model to better meet market demand?
We have made several deliberate refinements this year. We have adjusted our investor strategy and are focused on finding a lead investor from August onwards, ideally a strategic lead who brings not just capital but relevant network and expertise. In the meantime, we continue to apply for and rely on grants and paying pilots to maintain momentum.
We have also become more disciplined about how we share our pitch deck. After finding that it had circulated beyond intended recipients in the past, sometimes reaching investors without the right context, we now manage this more carefully to ensure our story lands the way it should.
On the operational side, we have identified a promising lab space just outside Vienna that would give us excellent conditions to establish our service platform and scale with great visinity to key big pharma players that can hopefully lead to collaborations. We are ready to move the moment the right funding, whether grant or investment, is in place. We are also exploring consulting opportunities to support other companies (biotech, healthtech, skin care) with R&D concepts and no clear testing stratergy, which allows us to generate additional revenue and traction while staying true to our core mission.
Finally, we are developing digital and predictive approaches that use an “in vivo” framework, working with cosmetic partners to better understand customer needs and feed real-world insights back into our lab testing development. The long-term ambition is to contribute meaningfully to the full replacement of animal testing and a more sustainable skin care industry and beyond.
How has your team evolved since then?
We are currently supported by a student, and the core team remains Ifigeneia and me. We have made a deliberate choice not to expand until we have a more stable platform in place. Growing too fast without the right foundation is a risk we are not willing to take, we would rather move carefully and build something that lasts. We nevtertheless look forward to having new talents in biology, toxicology, regulatory, microfluidic fabrication, bioinformatics as well as competent and mission driven sales and marketing team members joining the company as soon as we can.
What entrepreneurial goals have you set for 2026?
Our primary goal to secure the pilots and grants needed for 2026 to move into our own lab space. Alongside this, finding the right lead investor and co-investors remains a top priority. We are open to various models: private investments, investment syndicates, or alternative structures. What matters most is finding partners who genuinely understand what we are building and want to be part of it for the right reasons. We are a science and business driven 100% women-led company that can’t wait to have more dedicated shareholders join us!
