Matrubials Wins $50,000 SEGA Health & Life Science Pitch Showcase at Aggie Square

On December 9, 2025 five of the region’s most promising health and life science startups took the stage at Aggie Square for the SEGA Health & Life Science Pitch Showcase, competing for a $50,000 non-dilutive grant from the State of California’s Accelerate CA program. At the end of the night, Davis-based Matrubials emerged with the top prize.

Hosted by the Sacramento Entrepreneurial Growth Alliance (SEGA) and the Carlsen Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship, the showcase highlighted how quickly the Sacramento biotech and health ecosystem is maturing—with real money, real milestones, and globally relevant science being built here, not just in the Bay Area.

What SEGA and Accelerate CA Are Betting On

SEGA is an Accelerate CA hub focused on channeling state-backed innovation dollars into high-potential startups across Health & Life Science, Climate Tech, and Food & Ag. Over two years, SEGA will deploy $500,000 in non-dilutive funding to regional companies to help them move from concept to commercialization—funding that doesn’t take equity but does demand real traction.

The Health & Life Science Pitch Showcase at Aggie Square is one of the key mechanisms for putting that capital to work: vetted founders, deep-tech solutions, and a public pitch environment that also signals to the ecosystem that Sacramento is serious about building a life science cluster.

Matrubials: Milk-Inspired Therapies for Drug-Resistant Infections

Matrubials is a UC Davis spinoff developing “milk-inspired” therapeutics—specifically, antimicrobial peptides derived from human breast milk—to combat drug-resistant bacterial infections.

CEO and co-founder Dr. Ishita Shah and her team have spent years studying how components of human milk selectively kill harmful bacteria while sparing beneficial microbes. Their lead applications are in women’s health, starting with bacterial vaginosis (BV), a condition affecting roughly a third of women and often leading to recurrent UTIs, yeast infections, and broader complications. Instead of using broad-spectrum antibiotics that disrupt the microbiome and fuel resistance, Matrubials is working on targeted topical therapeutics that knock down “bad” bacteria while preserving the protective flora.

It’s not Matrubials’ first time in the spotlight. The company has already:

• Won $10,000 NorCal AngelCon finale

• Been named Startup of the Month by Comstock’s

• Won a Sacramento Region Innovation Award in the Biopharma category

• Secured a competitive NIH SBIR grant to advance its technology

Most recently, Matrubials also picked up the audience choice award at NorCal AngelCon—another Aggie Square-hosted program where local angels invested $100K in IntelliVasc and $50K in Strived.io—underscoring how often this team is rising to the top when investors, judges, and audiences look at the same field of startups.

Winning first place at SEGA’s Health & Life Science Showcase is yet another proof point: serious science, a clear clinical need, and a founder team that keeps executing.

A Strong Bench: The Other Finalists

The lineup of companies made it clear this wasn’t a lightweight pitch night. Sharing the stage with Matrubials were:

• ARIZ Precision Medicine – Developing precision, ligand-targeted siRNA cancer therapies that aim to “stop cancer at the root cause” by targeting the molecular drivers of cancer and concentrating drugs inside tumor cells while sparing healthy tissue.

• EpiSense – Building a discreet EEG wearable that predicts seizures by detecting irregular spikes in brain activity, with a focus on helping the 50 million people worldwide living with epilepsy.

• IntelliVasc – Creating an implantable vascular sensor and remote monitoring platform to track vessel stenosis and prevent deadly cardiovascular events through continuous, AI-powered data rather than occasional follow-ups.

• SinewUS – A UC Davis-connected startup designing devices to improve tendon and ligament health, with the goal of preventing injury, treating tendinopathy, and accelerating recovery using cutting-edge load-based therapies.

Any one of these could credibly lead a pitch competition on their own. Seeing all five on one stage is a sign of how deep the region’s health and life science pipeline is becoming.

Why This Matters for the Sacramento Startup Ecosystem

A few years ago, it would’ve been easy for a company like Matrubials to quietly decamp to the Bay Area or Boston. Instead, you now see a different pattern:

• Founders spinning out of UC Davis and staying in the region

• State-backed funding (via Accelerate CA) flowing through local hubs like SEGA

• Recurring programs—NorCal AngelCon, SEGA showcases, Innovator Network events—creating multiple shots on goal for the same startups over time

The result is a growing stack of capital, lab space, mentors, and customers that makes Sacramento a genuinely plausible home for companies tackling hard health problems.

For founders, the signal is simple: if you’re building in health, biotech, or life sciences, Sacramento isn’t just a place to start—it’s increasingly a place to scale.

If You’re a Founder, What’s Next?

If you’re working on a health or life science startup in the region, this is the time to plug in:

• Watch for future SEGA funding cycles and pitch showcases

• Connect with Aggie Square, the Carlsen Center, and programs like NorCal AngelCon

• Reach out to Startup Folsom and our partner organizations to get on the radar for upcoming events, workshops, and investor touchpoints

Matrubials’ win at the SEGA Health & Life Science Pitch Showcase is a win for the whole ecosystem—but it should also be a challenge.

If they can do it here, so can you.