Led · Series A · Dec 2018

Kypha provides an innovative testing platform for precision monitoring of immune system activity to improve patient care and advance immune-targeted drug development. Its platform can enable complement testing at scale from home health to clinical laboratories, supporting precision immune monitoring as standard of care in a growing multi-billion dollar complement drug and immunotherapy marketplace. The company recently acquired Biosensia and plans to complete integration and expand the manufacturing capacity of Biosensia's ISO 13485-certified facilities in Dublin, Ireland. Biosensia operates as a Kypha wholly-owned subsidiary and develops, manufactures, and commercializes multi-analyte quantitative and qualitative assays on a low-complexity, CLIA-waived testing platform, and also offers contract assay development and manufacturing services. Kypha intends to use new funds to support commercial launch of additional Kypha tests and to expand partnerships with pharmaceutical companies advancing therapies targeting complement. The company is led by CEO Chad Stiening and is based in St Louis, MO. Kypha makes a point-of-care test that uses a single drop of blood to assign a numeric value indicating inflammation within minutes, operating similarly to a diabetes test. The core product is designed to give clinicians rapid, actionable information at the bedside. The company positions the test to help physicians make more effective decisions for diseases where inflammation monitoring is critical, such as lupus. Kypha raised a $2.1 million debt offering to further its work in managing inflammation. Prior to this raise, the company had secured $6 million for development plus $1.5 million in grants. Investors in the company have included BioGenerator, Arsenal Capital Management, Serra Ventures, Saint Louis University’s Billiken Angels Network, St. Louis Arch Angels, and Holton Capital Group.

Led · Equity · Jul 2018

Deck Commerce is a St. Louis-based cloud solution that provides an order management system for retailers and brands. Its platform offers enterprise inventory visibility, universal product information, and distributed order management, connecting front-end shopping channels with back-end business systems. The product was built to address data, system integration, and business process challenges retailers face in today’s retail environment. In October 2021 Deck Commerce closed a $7.8M Series A funding round led by Plymouth Growth. The company plans to use the funds to expand strategic alliances, amplify sales and marketing initiatives, and drive product development, including enhancing direct-to-consumer capabilities for leading brands. Deck’s platform targets small e-commerce businesses seeking to streamline order, inventory, and product data management while leveraging existing back-end systems. Deck Commerce provides a cloud-based Order Management System (OMS) and web services that help retailers and consumer product brands simplify order fulfillment and servicing across retail channels and distribution networks. The platform supports omnichannel workflows and recently added an In-Store Fulfillment module enabling retailers to use stores as pick-up locations and micro-distribution centers. Customers include New Balance, Build-a-Bear, and NYDJ. The company is led by founder and CEO Chris Deck and is based in St. Louis, MO. Deck Commerce secured $2.7M in financing and plans to use the funds for marketing, sales, and distribution, expansion of its Channel Partner program targeting value-added eCommerce vendors and system integration agencies, and rollout of new implementation programs and business development support. Backers included Arsenal Capital Management. Deck Commerce is a SaaS eCommerce operations platform launched in 2015 by Christopher Deck and based in St. Louis, Missouri. The platform connects front-end shopping channels with back-end business systems to help businesses compete with eCommerce leaders. It streamlines processes for managing orders, inventory, and product data, with features including enterprise inventory visibility, universal product information, and distributed order management. The company serves retailers and branded wholesalers such as New Balance, Rawlings Sporting Goods, Chinese Laundry, and Warrior. Deck Commerce closed a $2M financing round led by Arsenal Capital Management and intends to use the proceeds to expand sales and marketing, accelerate product development, and increase customer on-boarding capacity. In conjunction with the funding, Arsenal Managing Director Pete Reinecke joined the Deck Commerce board of directors.

Led · Equity · Apr 2017

PowerPost is a SaaS content marketing platform that automates content publishing and lead collection for brands. Launched in 2016 by CEO Dan Curran and CTO Paul Shirer, the software lets brands organize, schedule and distribute content while collecting leads. It also offers an agency newsroom of writers, visual artists and social media experts to support clients. Customers include Marriott, Ty, AmericInn, Frisch’s Big Boy, Cannon Safe and Kent Foods. The company plans to use the new funding to expand sales and marketing and accelerate product development. PowerPost is based in St. Louis.

Led · Equity · Jun 2016

Bonfyre offers a private social communication app designed to engage employees via a familiar social feed, cloud-based architecture, and features such as photo sharing, surveys, quizzes, trivia and over two dozen other tools. Its analytics engine and survey capabilities produce real-time HR business intelligence to help companies evaluate and invest in employee programs. The company reports an average employee adoption rate of more than 70% and counts clients including Marriott, Commerce Bank and Express Scripts, as well as nine Fortune 500 companies. Bonfyre says its platform improves internal communications, recognition, engagement campaigns and collaboration across teams and locations. The company plans to use new funding to expand its sales team, deepen technical expertise and improve customer support to bring the solution to more companies. Market context in the article notes stagnant employee engagement averages (~30%) and estimated annual costs to U.S. companies of $450–$550 billion, which Bonfyre positions its product to address. Bonfyre builds cross-platform, event-based private micro social networks accessible via web, iPhone and Android to connect brands, organizations and attendees. Its core product enables event organizers, corporations and educational communities to create private channels for photo and message sharing, real-time engagement, giveaways and direct attendee communication. The company reports revenue from over 50 major event partners, including Express Scripts, ISES, Amazon and Budweiser Made In America, through adaptable event solutions and monthly subscriptions. Leadership says customer feedback from hundreds of events is guiding product development and feature roadmaps. Bonfyre plans to expand monetization with a LinkedIn-style freemium model offering core features for free and advanced, customized functionality at a cost. The company highlights MKTG’s prior use of the product at client events and counts advisor Jim McKelvey among its supporters.

Participated · Series A · Jul 2015

Aptimmune Biologics develops mucosal vaccines for swine, focusing on PRRSV and influenza virus. The company’s pipeline is built on patented vaccine technologies invented by founder and Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Federico Zuckermann, a swine immunologist and University of Illinois professor. New CEO Aaron Gilbertie, who joined weeks before the financing, will lead pipeline development, product registration, and commercialization. Management says the vaccines will improve swine health and producer productivity and address diseases with a combined annual economic impact of over $1.4 billion on the U.S. swine industry. Aptimmune is based in the EnterpriseWorks technology business incubator at the University of Illinois Research Park in Champaign, Ill. The company reports a strong and extensive intellectual property portfolio underpinning its product offerings. The recent funding is intended to accelerate development and product registration of its mucosal vaccine candidates.