• Sonoma Orthopedics

  Participated · Equity · Sep 2025

  Sonoma Orthopedic Products, founded in 2005 in Santa Rosa, has developed two implant devices for repairing fractures of the wrist and collarbone. The devices are implanted inside the bone by an orthopedic surgeon using minimally-invasive techniques. The company says the approach results in less pain and better healing. Sonoma disclosed a new $1.5 million venture funding round in a filing with federal securities regulators. To date the startup has raised more than $25 million, including a $12 million funding round in 2009. Named investors include EDF Ventures, Asset Management Co., Split Rock Partners and MedVenture Associates. Sonoma develops and manufactures orthopedic implants for wrist, ankle, and collarbone fractures. Its patented WaviBody® and ActivLoc® technologies are used in least-invasive surgical procedures to provide fixation for fractures at the core of the bone. The implants are inserted in a canal in the center of the bone, require much smaller incisions with minimal tissue damage, and have no prominence outside the bone. The company intends to use the funds to receive FDA clearance on its new ankle implant, launch it, and scale commercially. Sonoma received $12M in funding from First Analysis, which also placed Tracy Marshbanks on the company’s board. Founded in 2005 and based in Santa Rosa, California, and outside Chicago, the company focuses on minimally invasive fracture fixation solutions. Sonoma Orthopedic Products develops and commercializes least invasive, fracture‑specific implant systems using proprietary technology for orthopedic trauma. The company is led by President and CEO Glen Coleman and was founded by COO Charles Nelson. It intends to use recent funding to launch new products, expand its U.S. sales network, and support key clinical trials. Sonoma also plans to use proceeds to acquire certain key assets of NovaLign Orthopaedics, Inc. In conjunction with the financing, Dr. Walter Lin of Ascension Health Ventures joined Sonoma’s board of directors. The company is based in Santa Rosa, California. Sonoma Orthopedic, based in Santa Rosa, Calif., develops the WaviBody, a flexible device inserted into a fractured bone that then becomes rigid to set breaks anatomically. The company aims to commercialize its first two products, positioning the WaviBody as an alternative to casts, braces and bone plates. Sonoma is currently testing the WaviBody on 50 patients with wrist fractures to evaluate whether they heal faster using the device. Wrist and clavicle fractures have proved problematic because existing treatments can be unwieldy or fail to heal injuries quickly or correctly; Sonoma targets those shortcomings. Financially, the company has raised $25 million to date, including the most recent $12 million round. Sonoma says it has enough runway to last through 2011. Sonoma Orthopedics is a stealthy spinal-device maker based in Santa Rosa, Calif. The company is developing devices that repair or reinforce bones from the inside. It is operating under a stealth profile while advancing those spinal repair technologies. Financially, Sonoma raised at least $10 million in a second funding round. MedVenture Associates led that round, joined by existing investors EDF Ventures, Asset Management, Halo Fund and Angel's Forum. The company previously raised $3 million in a first round last April.

• 1DocWay

  Participated · Seed · Jul 2015

  1DocWay operates a psychiatry delivery network that partners hospitals and mental health professionals with community health centers, skilled nursing facilities, military bases, critical access hospitals and other care settings. Its technology serves patients by enabling remote psychiatric care at partner institutions. Founded in 2011 and based in New York, NY, the company reported treating over 20,000 patients in 11 states during the first half of 2015. The company provides telepsychiatry services to hospitals and institutional care sites that lack on-site psychiatric coverage. 1DocWay intends to use the newly raised capital to accelerate growth.

• Yiftee

  Participated · Series A · Jan 2014

  Yiftee lets consumers send gifts to friends via an iPhone app or website, with all gifts sourced from local merchants and presented with pictures, descriptions, and pricing. Recipients receive a gift notification via Facebook, email, or text and can redeem the gift using a prepaid MasterCard shown to the merchant on a smartphone. The company has developed YifteePro to simplify local gifting for professionals and businesses, allowing bulk uploads, default venue selection, personalization, and automated delivery. YifteePro gifts are redeemable at local merchants within 90 days, there is no extra cost to the business, and unredeemed value is returned to the giver. The startup was founded by Lori Laub and Donna Novitsky, and Novitsky previously served as CEO of Big Tent and was a partner at Mohr Davidow Ventures. Yiftee has raised a $2.1M Series A following a $1M seed in 2012 and plans to use the new funding to expand YifteePro and explore opportunities in Asia. Yiftee is a gifting service that connects consumers with gifts sold by local merchants via an iPhone app and website. Consumers select a friend and their location, view featured local merchants’ gifts with photos, descriptions, and pricing, pay Yiftee, and send the gift notification via Facebook, email, or text. Recipients redeem gifts by using a prepaid MasterCard credit card presented to the merchant on a smartphone. Yiftee’s revenue model is a convenience fee charged to the gift giver. The startup reports having 2 million local restaurants and shops listed on the platform. Founders are Lori Laub and Donna Novitsky; Novitsky previously served as CEO of Big Tent and was a partner at Mohr Davidow Ventures. The company will need to convert gift transactions into repeat in-store customers to sustain local-merchant traffic.

• KeepSafe

  Participated · Equity · Jul 2013

  KeepSafe builds a password-locked photo gallery app that stores private images on users’ phones. The app launched a year and a half ago and has grown to 13 million users, with 6 million monthly active users. Founder Zouhair Belkoura says many users rely on the app to separate work sketches and ideas from personal photos of friends and family, and some parents use it to hide adult content from children. KeepSafe generates revenue by selling premium services such as a fake PIN lock screen. The company plans to use new funding to hire more engineering and product development talent. The product targets a privacy-centric niche that the company says addresses basic user needs not solved by broader social networks.

• Esperion

  Participated · Equity · Apr 2013

  Esperion Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing oral low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) lowering therapies for the treatment of hypercholesterolemia and other cardiometabolic disorders. Its lead product candidate, ETC-1002, is a first-in-class, orally available, once-daily small molecule designed to target known lipid and carbohydrate metabolic pathways to lower LDL-C and to avoid side effects associated with existing LDL-C lowering medications. The company completed a $33M financing to continue advancing ETC-1002. That financing was led by new investor Longitude Capital with participation from existing investors Aisling Capital, Alta Partners, Domain Associates, Arboretum Ventures and Asset Management. Management is led by Roger Newton, Ph.D., executive chairman and chief scientific officer, and Tim Mayleben, president and chief executive officer. Esperion is based in Plymouth, Michigan. Esperion Therapeutics is developing ETC-1002, a drug candidate to treat dyslipidemia by lowering LDL and raising HDL. The company launched a Phase 1 clinical trial of ETC-1002 in November. Esperion was spun off from Pfizer and is headquartered in Plymouth, Michigan. An SEC filing says the company has raised an additional $5 million and reports $27.75 million in total equity and debt financing (a figure that likely includes a $22.75 million Series A announced in 2008). Esperion said it is looking to raise $38.25 million, though its plans for a Series B were described as unclear. Pfizer retained a financial stake in the company.

No current team members are available.