Participated · Seed · Mar 2022

Creyon Bio engineers RNA-based medicines and oligonucleotide-based medicines (OBMs) aiming for predictable safety and efficacy profiles. It builds proprietary, purpose-built datasets that inform machine learning models to rapidly identify design rules and engineering principles for safe and effective OBMs. The company raised $40M in Seed and Series A financing and intends to use the funds to continue optimization of its platform and expand the team. Leadership includes Co-founder, CEO and President Chris Hart and Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer Swagatam Mukhopadhyay, Ph.D.; senior team members include Nathan Billings, Ph.D., Chief Strategy Officer, and Monica McArthur, Ph.D., Chief Technology Officer. Its board features Kiersten Stead (DCVC Bio), Zavain Dar (Lux Capital) and independent member Dennis Langer, M.D., J.D. Creyon operates from San Diego, CA and Research Triangle Park, NC and combines chemists, biologists, and computational scientists to tackle the drug design problem from multiple angles.

Participated · Series A · Oct 2021

Seraphina Therapeutics develops FA15™ (pentadecanoic acid, C15:0), a proprietary, vegan-friendly powdered ingredient marketed as fatty15, the company's first essential fatty acid supplement. The product is positioned to support cardiometabolic, immune, and liver health and is sold direct-to-consumer via a subscription platform. Seraphina plans to use new capital to expand its recurring DTC subscription business and to develop ingredient opportunities to fortify foods and beverages with C15:0. The company holds exclusive licensing rights to more than 30 U.S. and international patents, including USPTO patent 11,116,740 issued September 14, 2021, and has received GRAS status for FA15™. Early consumer adoption has been strong—Seraphina sold out its initial offering within six weeks—and retention metrics are high (more than 85% of customers renew; average monthly retention above 90%). The company is running a 12-week randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial to evaluate FA15™'s physiological effects. Seraphina Therapeutics developed fatty15, a consumer dietary supplement that delivers the pure fatty acid C15:0, which the company says promotes cellular resilience, enhances mitochondrial function, and activates receptors that regulate immunity, metabolism, mood, sleep and appetite. The C15:0 discovery was led by founders Drs. Eric and Stephanie Venn‑Watson following research that included studies of bottlenose dolphins; independent studies and a large-scale 14-year study of more than 14,000 people are cited linking higher C15:0 levels to better survival and health. Seraphina launched fatty15 as a vegan-, dairy- and gluten-free supplement sold in refillable glass bottles and is also advancing FA15™, a pure powder form of C15:0, as a food ingredient. The company says it continues to study C15:0 as a potential prescription therapeutic for related nutritional deficiencies. Seraphina is a spinout of Epitracker, Inc. and is headquartered in San Diego.

Participated · Series A · Mar 2021

Stuart Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company based in Stuart, Fla., developing unique synthesized peptide therapeutics for ophthalmic diseases. Its platform, PolyCol™, is a synthesized peptide designed to repair and restore structural integrity and cell interaction domains in extracellular matrix (ECM) collagen. The company's lead candidate, ST-100, is a reparative therapeutic formulated as a topical drop for the treatment of dry eye disease and is the first drug candidate from the PolyCol platform. Stuart is pursuing variants of the PolyCol platform for additional ophthalmic indications, including glaucoma, dry and wet age-related macular degeneration, and neurotrophic keratitis. The company is led by President & CEO Eric Schlumpf. In March 2021 Stuart Therapeutics raised $11M in a Series A to fund development.

Participated · Series A · Oct 2020

Primmune Therapeutics is a clinical-stage therapeutics company focused on designing and developing systemically acting, orally delivered small-molecule toll-like receptor 7 (TLR7) agonists. Its lead candidate, PRTX007, aims to stimulate the innate immune system and is being advanced for cancers and other diseases that respond to immunotherapy. The company plans to launch Study PRTX007-003, a Phase 2 neoadjuvant efficacy trial evaluating PRTX007 in combination with standard-of-care anti-PD-1 therapy for patients with Stage III resectable melanoma. Primmune’s approach could provide a convenient oral alternative to existing injectable immunotherapies. To date, the firm has raised at least $23.3 million in Series B funding, including the latest $8.6 million tranche. These funds will support the upcoming Phase 2 trial and continued development of its TLR7 agonist platform.

Participated · Series B · Jan 2017

SiteOne Therapeutics develops highly selective small-molecule inhibitors of voltage-gated ion channels, including NaV1.7 and NaV1.8, to treat sensory hyperexcitability disorders such as chronic pain, chronic cough, and ocular surface pain. The company's lead program targets the NaV1.8 channel in the peripheral nervous system, aiming to provide analgesia with a reduced side-effect profile and lower abuse risk than centrally acting therapies. SiteOne's pipeline emphasizes isoform-selective sodium channel inhibitors and other genetically and clinically validated targets for peripheral sensory neurons. The company positions its approach as a non-opioid alternative focused on peripheral rather than central nervous system targets. SiteOne plans to advance its small-molecule candidates into human clinical proof-of-concept studies. The announced $100 million Series C financing will support those clinical development efforts. SiteOne Therapeutics develops novel pain therapeutics and diagnostics intended to treat acute and chronic pain without the limitations of existing therapies such as NSAIDs or opioids. Its therapeutic candidates are highly selective sodium ion channel 1.7 (Naᵥ1.7) inhibitors derived from naturally occurring small molecules. The company was founded with technology licensed from Stanford University and is led by President and CEO Stan Abel. SiteOne is advancing multiple Naᵥ1.7 candidates toward clinical applications across acute and chronic pain indications. The company intends to use recent financing to accelerate development of these candidates. The article does not disclose revenues, users, or other operating metrics. SiteOne Therapeutics is a San Francisco startup developing sodium channel inhibitors and diagnostics aimed at non-opioid treatments for moderate to severe pain. The company’s lead program targets the Nav1.7 sodium ion channel, a target the company notes is validated by human genetic conditions. SiteOne licenses its technology from Stanford University and says the lead compound was originally discovered in the ocean. The compound also has potential use as a long-acting local analgesic and as a diagnostic PET imaging agent. Financially, SiteOne completed an initial $1.5M equity round and secured a $1.4M Phase II SBIR grant from the NIH. The early equity round was led by Sears Capital Management and Biobrit LLC.