The Venture Codex

Participated · Equity · Jun 2024

Ocon Therapeutics is a women's health company developing, manufacturing, and commercializing 3D drug delivery systems based on its patented IUB (Intra-Uterine Ball) platform. Its validated 3D stent drug delivery frame, the IUB Ballerine, has demonstrated safety and usability in over 150,000 women. The company is advancing IUB SEAD and IUB PRIMA assets designed to address abnormal and heavy uterine bleeding. These assets aim to provide long-term hormonal and short-term non-hormonal treatment options. The company recently raised $10M in funding led by RH Capital and intends to use the proceeds to further enhance its ability to provide solutions for prevalent uterine pathologies. Ocon is led by CEO Keren Leshem and is based in Modiin, Israel. OCON Healthcare develops Ballerine®, a 3D spherical copper intrauterine contraceptive (IUB) designed to reduce endometrial irritation and lower rates of malposition and perforation versus current T‑shaped IUDs. The company also develops SEAD™, a point‑of‑care therapy for abnormal uterine bleeding and is advancing SEAD through Phase II clinical trials. Rhia Ventures' investment is intended to support OCON's US launch of Ballerine and to expand Phase II work on SEAD. OCON is Israeli‑based and positions its products as hormone‑free, non‑invasive alternatives to existing contraceptives. The financing comes from RH Capital Fund II, an impact venture fund focused on contraceptive innovation, maternal health, and unmet needs in women's reproductive health. Company leadership cites the investment, partnership, and network from Rhia Ventures as enabling continued product innovation and market entry efforts.

Participated · Series A · Mar 2024

Goalsetter provides a goal-based savings and smart-spending platform for families that combines educational media and tools to build wealth. Its financial wellness content is mapped to JumpStart.org and Council for Economic Education national standards and uses pop culture, memes, GIFs and game-based tools to engage young consumers. Features include “Learn to Earn,” which rewards kids for correct quiz answers, and “Learn Before You Burn,” which lets parents automatically freeze teens' and tweens' debit cards if they miss weekly quizzes. The company offers its app as a white-labeled youth-banking solution through partnerships with banks and credit unions including Fiserv, Trustage, CUNA Strategic Services, MSU Federal Credit Union, InTouch CU, Solutions Bank and Liberty Bank. Goalsetter recently raised $9.6M in a Series A extension and plans to use the funds to continue signing new B2B alliances and to implement existing programs ahead of a Series B raise. The company is led by founder and CEO Tanya Van Court. Goalsetter operates a financial-education app for children that combines allowance and gift management, a Goalsetter debit card, age‑tailored financial‑literacy quizzes to 'unlock' funds, and a newly introduced Goalsetter Invest feature for buying and selling stocks. The product is gamified to engage kids while teaching savings, spending, and investing behaviors. Founder Tanya Van Court built the company drawing on personal financial lessons and prior experience at Nickelodeon, Discovery Education and ESPN. Goalsetter initially grew via B2C channels focused on parents and word of mouth. Following its Series A, the company is shifting into B2B, offering white‑labeled versions of its platform to banks and financial institutions through a partnership with Fiserv. It is also pursuing partnerships with large employers to offer the platform as an employee benefit. Goalsetter provides an app and debit card that teach children financial literacy through quizzes, allowance management, goal cards and parental controls. The platform lets parents pay kids for correct quiz answers, enable family and friends to give goal cards instead of gift cards, and control or lock the kid debit card. Founder Tanya Van Court, who previously worked at Nickelodeon and ESPN, launched Goalsetter in 2019 out of the Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator. The company reports families save an average of $120 per month on the platform and said two families saved over $10,000 in the last year. Goalsetter is also launching a campaign for Black History Month aimed at closing the wealth gap among Black children and kids of color through financial education. To date the company has raised a total of $6.0M. Goalsetter provides parents and children a goal-driven savings platform with two main branches: a kids’ savings account (allowance, auto-save, debit card round-ups and GoalCards) and a financial-literacy learning center. Children set goals (college, bikes, gaming consoles), earn allowance through the app, and receive GoalCards from relatives to fund those goals. The company’s quiz game “It’s LIT” is mapped to K–12 financial literacy standards and uses pop-culture content to engage kids; Goalsetter plans to launch that curriculum to school districts with lesson plans and quizzes. Goalsetter monetizes by charging $1 per GoalCard sent, donates 5% of the transaction fee to children’s charities, and offers a voluntary donation function. The app skews younger than competitors and has been featured on Shark Tank; the founder declined an offer from Mr. Wonderful. Goalsetter has more than 20,000 users and graduated from the Entrepreneurs’ Roundtable Accelerator in 2017. The company has raised a total of $2.1 million to date.

Participated · Equity · Oct 2023

AOA Dx is a NYC-based company developing a detection test for ovarian cancer using its GlycoLocate™ platform. The platform focuses on glycolipids and tumor marker gangliosides and harnesses novel biomarkers through data science to improve early detection. Led by CEO and co‑founder Oriana Papin‑Zoghbi, the company’s initial focus is ovarian cancer. AOA Dx plans to use the new capital to open new lab facilities, expand its prospective ovarian cancer clinical trial (OVERT), and develop GlycoLocate into additional cancer areas. The company raised $17M in the latest round led by Good Growth Capital and has now raised $24M in total. Investors in the round include RH Capital, Y Combinator, Astia Fund, Adaptive Capital Partners, Gore Range Capital, LongeVC, The Helm, VU Venture Partners, FemHealth Ventures and diagnostic investors such as Labcorp Venture Fund. AOA Dx is developing AKRIVIS GD, a liquid‑biopsy assay intended to enable accurate early detection of ovarian cancer. In a landmark peer‑reviewed study in the Journal of Precision Medicine, the technology showed over 90% accuracy for detecting ovarian cancer, including early‑stage disease. The company says AKRIVIS GD has high sensitivity and specificity and would be the first available tool to enable early detection of ovarian cancer. AOA plans to use new funding to further develop the next generation of AKRIVIS GD and to expand its team. Teams are based in Boston, New York, and London, and the company participated in Y Combinator’s program in 2021. The work responds to a large unmet need: roughly 225,000 women are diagnosed annually and late detection drives high mortality, while early detection can dramatically improve five‑year survival rates. AOA is developing AKRIVIS GD, a blood-based liquid biopsy intended to detect ovarian cancer at earlier stages. The company reports that its proof-of-concept demonstrates high accuracy across all cancer stages and epithelial ovarian cancer subtypes. AOA says its technology detects 53% more patients with early-stage disease compared with the current standard, CA 125. The team partnered with Professor H. Uri Saragovi of the Lady Davis Institute/McGill University to develop the test. AOA is part of Y Combinator’s summer 2021 batch and raised seed funding to advance development. The company plans further prospective patient clinical trials and to pursue FDA regulatory processes to bring the test to market.

Participated · Series A · Aug 2023

Catch+Release is a San Francisco-based content licensing marketplace that connects brands and creators to source and license authentic visual content. The platform supplies high-performing visuals that brands use to bring campaigns to market. Clients mentioned in the article include Meta, Amazon, Uber, Disney, Nike, and ESPN. The company intends to use the new funding to further expand adoption among brands and to help companies properly license authentic visual content. The amount and financing instrument were not disclosed in the report. Analisa Goodin is the company's CEO and founder. The investment came from Roller Labs Ventures, the corporate venture capital fund of Canadian Tire Corporation. Catch+Release operates a content licensing marketplace connecting brands and creators to source and license user-generated content for campaigns. Led by CEO and Founder Analisa Goodin, the platform lists world-leading brands including Meta, Amazon, Uber, Disney, Nike, and ESPN. The company plans to use new capital to accelerate product features, enhance the user experience, and grow its creator community. The product focuses on streamlining discovery and licensing workflows for marketers and creators. Catch+Release is based in San Francisco and has raised funding to support platform and community expansion. Catch&Release provides a workflow for brands and agencies to capture and commercially license online content via a browser extension that lets users “catch” media and then request licensing to “release” it. The product includes a licensability score and analysis tools to identify clearance needs such as logos or other rights issues, and it integrates with stock marketplaces. The company started as an image research firm before becoming a product-focused, venture-backed startup in 2015. Founder and CEO Analisa Goodin says the startup aims to be the commercial licensing layer for the web across photos, video, writing, art and graphics. Catch&Release has been used to license footage for campaigns including a Red Lobster spot and ads for Verizon. It raised $14M in a Series A and has now raised $26M in total; the new capital will be invested in product, engineering and marketing.

Participated · Series A · Sep 2022

CNote operates an impact investing platform that routes investor funds into fixed-income and time deposit products designed to advance economic equality, racial justice, gender equity and climate-change adaptation. The platform leverages technology and a community-first framework to enable corporations, institutions and individuals to invest at scale and delivers regular reporting on the social impact of deposits and investments. CNote places funds through a network of over 2,000 impact-driven community financial institutions that serve low- to moderate-income communities, support women and people-of-color entrepreneurs, fund affordable housing and provide other forms of economic inclusion. The company reports it is deploying about $300 million in cash and fixed-income investments via its platform and serves roughly 1,900 corporate, foundation and individual investors. Notable investors on the platform include AMD, Patagonia, Xylem, Apple, Mastercard, Netflix and PayPal. CNote plans to use recent funding to advance its technology, expand its sales team and deepen its network of community financial institutions. CNote is a women-led financial technology platform that makes it easy to invest in economic inclusion through diversified community investments. The company uses technology to unlock proven community investments targeting racial equity, economic justice and gender equity. It aims to help close the wealth gap in underserved communities across America and generate economic mobility and financial inclusion. Led by CEO Catherine Berman, CNote packages impact investments for investors seeking socially responsible opportunities. The company intends to use recent funding to extend its reach in the socially responsible investing space. CNote is based in Oakland, California.