After winning the 2025 EIT Jumpstarter Health category and the Special Prize for EU Outermost Regions, MYLeukaemia has evolved from a research project into MYCancer, a deep-tech company advancing functional precision oncology from Madeira.
Cancer treatment is rarely one-size-fits-all. MYLeukaemia set out to explore a more personalised approach using bone-marrow-on-chip technology to recreate key aspects of a patient’s bone-marrow environment and study how blood cancers respond to therapies ex vivo.
When the team joined EIT Jumpstarter in 2025, the science was already at the heart of the project. The programme helped them tackle a different challenge: turning scientific potential into a viable venture.
“EIT Jumpstarter was the moment we stopped presenting MYLeukaemia only as a scientific breakthrough and started building it as a European deeptech company. It gave us the structure, pressure and credibility to show that frontier medtech can be born in Madeira, an EU outermost region, and still speak to one of Europe’s biggest healthcare challenges.” – Hugo R. Caires, PhD, Founder & CEO, MYCancer
Jumpstarter pushed the team to think beyond scientific validation, asking who needs the technology, what evidence could drive adoption, who would pay for it and what regulatory pathway would be required. It also connected the Madeira-based team with mentors, entrepreneurs, investors and innovation networks across Europe
“The most valuable outcome was not the prize money. It was the transition in mindset from research project to venture.” – Hugo R. Caires, PhD, Founder & CEO, MYCancer
Less than a year later, MYLeukaemia evolved into MYCancer – Technology for Functional Precision Oncology, Lda., an incorporated deep-tech company in Madeira.
A major milestone followed: €335,124.86 in eligible investment through Portugal’s Recovery and Resilience Plan for MYCANCER MADEIRA ORIGINS. The funding is enabling the establishment of MYCancer Labs within the SESARAM regional healthcare environment, providing infrastructure and research capacity to advance the technology.
The company has also gained further recognition, including the European InnoMedCatalyst Overall Winner 2026 and a Top 10 place at Startup World Cup Portugal 2026.
MYCancer is currently focused on research and industrial development. Its next steps include strengthening the reproducibility of its platform, generating evidence for future clinical development and expanding collaborations across Portugal and Europe.
The story also demonstrates how European innovation can grow beyond traditional technology hubs.
“Innovation does not have to start in Europe’s largest centres. It can be built, tested and proven in places like Madeira, and scale across Europe from there.” – Hugo R. Caires, PhD, Founder & CEO, MYCancer
From MYLeukaemia’s scientific beginnings to MYCancer Labs taking shape in Madeira, the team’s trajectory demonstrates what EIT Jumpstarter is designed to catalyse: turning research talent into entrepreneurial capability, connecting regional innovation with European opportunities and helping promising ideas build a credible pathway towards impact.
And perhaps MYCancer’s story is best captured in one simple idea: where innovation starts should not determine how far it can go.
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