Led · Seed · Jan 2024

GeneNeer, led by CEO and co-founder Kinneret Shefer PhD, has developed a method leveraging proprietary Superlines and tissue-specific silencing to improve the precision, speed, and safety of advanced breeding technologies. The company’s first focus is on the potato market. It is actively pursuing development in other key crops through strategic partnerships. GeneNeer intends to use the funds to expand research and development into its methods for enhancing gene editing and gene discovery. The company recently closed a US$1 million seed funding round. GeneNeer is based in Yehud, Israel.

Participated · Series A · Dec 2021

X-Therma is a San Francisco, CA–based biotechnology company developing a convergent biopreservation platform and cold chain technology for regenerative medicine and organ preservation. Led by CEO Xiaoxi Wei, the company aims to enable safe, on-demand organs, engineered tissues, cell and gene therapies, and vaccines by overcoming time-sensitive limitations. Its product pipeline includes XT-Thrive and XT-NoVo for regenerative medicine and cell therapy, and XT-ViVo and TimeSeal for organ preservation for transplantation. XT-ViVo and TimeSeal have received FDA Breakthrough Device designation. X-Therma raised $22.4M in a Series B to scale global commercial operations and facilitate progression into the clinical stage with FDA Breakthrough Device status. The round was led by Starling Locke Capital and Lorea, with participation from new and existing investors. X-Therma develops a nontoxic, biomimetic peptoid-based biopreservation platform for organ preservation and cell, gene, and tissue therapies. Its flagship products include XT-Thrive, a DMSO-, serum-, and protein-free chemically defined cryopreservation solution, and organ preservation solutions XT-ViVo and TimeSeal. The company reports a demonstrated extension of organ shelf-life from hours to days in collaboration with a Johns Hopkins surgeon and is positioning its technology to enable global organ banking and off-the-shelf living medicines. X-Therma plans to scale commercialization of cGMP-grade XT-Thrive to meet customer demand from cell and gene therapy and tissue engineering users, and to accelerate regulatory efforts for organ preservation through its partnership with Johns Hopkins University. The company will expand its multidisciplinary team, hiring remotely for roles tied to its San Francisco Bay Area headquarters and Austria subsidiary. X-Therma has also received over $10M in contracts and grant support from the U.S. Department of Defense, the National Science Foundation, and the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

Led · Seed · Sep 2020

DaVinci Kitchen builds a modular robotic kiosk that forms, cooks and serves Italian-style pasta dishes in about six minutes. The machine can prepare two dishes simultaneously and cleans plates in roughly 20–30 seconds. Its modular design allows reconfiguration to prepare other foods or different regional takes on pasta. The company targets restaurants and food courts, offering robots for purchase or lease, and plans to deliver its first batch of 10 kiosks in late 2020 or early 2021. DaVinci was assembled by German incubator 2b AHEAD in 2018 and is based in Leipzig, Germany. Financially, the company has raised around $780,000 in a seed round and is in the process of raising a Series A targeting $1.7 million.