The Golden Ticket Pitch Competition, offered by the American Cancer Society’s BrightEdge in collaboration with AbbVie and Research Bridge Partners, will be hosted at Pegasus Park in Dallas, offering early-stage oncology companies the opportunity to compete for lab and office space at BioLabs Pegasus Park, a $25,000 cash prize, and invaluable guidance from industry professionals.
Oncology companies seeking seed-stage through Series A funding are invited to apply to the Golden Ticket Pitch Competition. Applicants must attend in person the pitch competition on March 11, 2025, and commit to residing at BioLabs Pegasus Park for one year, organizers said. The winner will be announced at the conclusion of the competition.
BrightEdge, the innovation and impact investment arm of ACS, is dedicated to investing in innovative for-profit, early-stage companies focused on developing cutting-edge, therapeutics, diagnostics, devices, and technologies to combat cancer.
“We’re excited to provide an early-stage oncology company the opportunity to truly move the needle to advance their efforts and meet their goals,” Alice Pomponio, VP of innovation and impact investing and managing director of BrightEdge, said in a statement. “Supporting companies at early stages is a strategic tool in the fight to end cancer as we know it, for everyone. By engaging companies at critical development stages, we can accelerate progress and deepen their downstream impact.”
How it works
Companies must submit a pitch deck and complete an online application.
Event partners ACS, AbbVie, and Research Bridge Partners will review submissions and select four to five finalists for the in-person, closed-door pitch competition. Finalists will present a pitch to a panel of judges from the partner companies, followed by a Q&A session, after which the judges will select a winner.
Applications are due by Jan. 23. On Feb. 21, the finalists will be notified of their invitation to participate in the live pitch competition at Pegasus Park, 3000 Pegasus Park Drive in Dallas.
Tailored support offered as part of the award package
As part of the award package, each sponsor will offer tailored support to the competition’s winner.
ACS BrightEdge will provide access to its team of scientific and industry advisors, along with the online learning platform of the ACS BrightEdge Texas Accelerator. AbbVie’s sponsorship of the event includes the opportunity for the winner to receive guidance from the biopharmaceutical company’s team of oncology experts. Research Bridge Partners, which cultivates novel biomedical startup companies based on the breakthroughs of preeminent innovators at mid-continent research universities, will offer coaching to the winning company.
Additionally, depending on the winner’s needs, there are potential opportunities for further partnership and support from Research Bridge Partners for commercialization efforts beyond research and development. The finalists may also have the chance to access additional lab space, depending on the need of the company and space availability at BioLabs Pegasus Park.
Pegasus Park is a 26-acre, mixed-use office campus consisting of more than 885,000 square feet of office and amenities space across multiple buildings. It includes an 18-story office tower, BioLabs, a state-of-the-art incubator laboratory and office facility for startup life sciences companies, Bridge Labs, a purpose-built institutional quality non-incubator life sciences building with laboratory and office space, and nonprofit and social impact shared spaces.
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