The Venture Codex

Participated · Series B · Apr 2014

Nora Therapeutics is a Palo Alto, CA-based biotechnology company focused on developing therapeutics to address IVF failure and recurrent pregnancy loss. Its lead compound, NT100, is a novel biologic similar to a naturally occurring protein in the female reproductive tract and may enable embryo implantation and pregnancy maintenance by optimizing maternal-fetal immune tolerance. NT100 is currently being studied in an ongoing Phase 2 trial (THRIVE‑IVF). The company plans to expand development of NT100 by adding a second Phase 2 trial (RESPONSE) in women with unexplained recurrent pregnancy loss. Led by President and CEO Jeffrey K. Tong, Ph.D., Nora intends to use recent financing proceeds to advance these clinical programs. The company closed an $18M Series B to support development of its lead program. Nora Pharmaceuticals develops drugs and devices for women’s reproductive health. The company is based in San Francisco and is operating in stealth (it does not have a website). Nora disclosed that it has some products but did not provide further details. Financially, the company secured $25 million in a first-round financing. The round was led by Burrill & Co., Prospect Venture Partners and Vivo Ventures. The fundraise comes amid heightened investor interest in women’s health, with several peer startups recently raising capital.

Participated · Seed · Oct 2013

BetterDoctor operates a consumer healthcare tool and mobile app that lets users search doctors by specialty, insurance, location, availability and condition. It publishes individual doctors’ experience in different procedures using Medicare data and ranks physicians using quality metrics such as education, certification, sub-specialty, research, referrals and consumer ratings. The service aims to help patients find highly qualified local specialists who accept their insurance and have current appointment availability. BetterDoctor has helped over 10,000,000 patients and makes more than one million doctors searchable. The company plans to use new funding to expand the team, continue developing its doctor ranking algorithm, and extend its web and mobile apps to new platforms. Leadership includes CEO Ari Tulla and CTO Tapio Tolvanen. BetterDoctor is a mobile-optimized search engine and ranking service that aggregates physician data and matches patients with doctors via a device-friendly interface. Since launch the company’s database has grown to over 1 million physicians across 60 specialties, with 300,000 having passed its quality screening. More than 4 million people have used the service to find a doctor and roughly 1 million people search BetterDoctor each month; 5,000 physicians have signed up for its doctor dashboard and the team has grown to 21 staff. The company offers a paid "verified" tier that lets physicians claim profiles and use the platform for lead generation while keeping search results ad-free and excluding doctors with serious negative ratings. BetterDoctor plans to use its new capital to expand awareness among physicians and to refine its patient-doctor matchmaking and ranking algorithms. It positions itself as a competitor to ZocDoc and Practice Fusion by focusing on quality screening, mobile experience, and lead-generation for practices. BetterDoctor operates a nationwide web and mobile physician search and booking service with a Doctor Dashboard for clinicians. Users pick a specialty and insurance plan to receive lists of verified, invite-only physicians and can sign in with Facebook to save and recommend providers. The company emphasizes quality by restricting listings to doctors who meet its criteria and avoiding paid-placement incentives. Built by an eight-person team after six months of Bay Area beta testing and debuting at Founders Den, BetterDoctor is optimized for mobile and plans to roll out additional national physician data. The founders started the company following personal struggles navigating insurance and provider availability, aiming to make discovery and booking faster and more transparent. To date it has raised $650K in seed funding from doctors and angel investors and is in the process of raising a Series A.

Led · Series B · Jun 2012

AliveCor is a Mountain View, California-based provider of FDA-cleared personal electrocardiogram (ECG) technology solutions led by CEO Priya Abani. Its core consumer hardware includes the clinically validated KardiaMobile device and the multi-lead KardiaMobile 6L, which detects atrial fibrillation, bradycardia, tachycardia and various ECG rhythms. The company offers the Kardia AI-enabled platform to assist patients and clinicians in the efficient detection of atrial fibrillation. For enterprise customers AliveCor provides an enterprise platform including KardiaComplete for payors, employers, and health systems enabling front-end and back-end integration. AliveCor also operates a digital health subscription, KardiaCare, with more than 130,000 members offering advanced features to understand and manage heart health. The company intends to use new funding to expand its development efforts. AliveCor, based in Mountain View, CA and led by CEO Priya Abani, develops AI-based personal ECG technology and enterprise cardiology solutions. Its FDA-cleared KardiaMobile device is a clinically validated personal ECG that provides instant detection of atrial fibrillation, bradycardia, tachycardia, and normal heart rhythm. The company’s enterprise platform enables third-party providers to manage patients’ heart conditions with front-end and back-end integration to AliveCor technologies. To date, AliveCor’s products have served more than one million customers and recorded over 85 million ECGs. The company says it will use recent funding to accelerate growth of its remote cardiology platform domestically and around the world. Kardia aids patients and clinicians in the early detection of atrial fibrillation, a common arrhythmia associated with elevated stroke risk. AliveCor develops single- and six-lead smartphone ECG devices and AI-based interpretation software for consumer and point-of-care use. Its latest hardware, KardiaMobile 6L, launched in June and captures six perspectives by adding a third contact point. The company also secured FDA clearance for KardiaAI, an update for KardiaMobile and KardiaStation. AliveCor recently disclosed a new $5.78M infusion of capital and has a prior $30M round from 2017 led by Mayo Clinic and Omron Healthcare. Management has not announced how the new funds will be allocated. The business faces competition from entrants such as the Apple Watch’s ECG feature and has previously discontinued its KardiaBand for Apple Watch. AliveCor develops AI-enabled solutions to improve cardiac care, notably KardiaMobile and KardiaBand. KardiaMobile is an FDA-cleared product that instantly detects atrial fibrillation and normal sinus rhythm and is used worldwide for accurate ECG recordings. Paired with the Kardia app, KardiaMobile and KardiaBand provide instant analysis for detecting atrial fibrillation and normal sinus rhythm. Kardia is an AI-enabled platform for clinicians to manage patients for early detection of atrial fibrillation. The company said it will use new capital to support growth as well as research and development efforts. AliveCor is a Mountain View, California-based provider of FDA-cleared mobile electrocardiogram technology. Led by CEO Vic Gundotra, the company has launched Kardia Pro, an artificial intelligence-enabled platform that helps doctors monitor patients for early detection of atrial fibrillation. Kardia Pro tracks physiology measures such as weight, activity and blood pressure and creates a personal heart profile for each user, enabling user identification. AliveCor raised $30M in a Series D funding round led by Omron Healthcare, with participation from Mayo Clinic and existing inside investors. The company will use the capital to accelerate innovations in heart health and to continue expansion of the business. Its technology focuses on early detection of atrial fibrillation, the most common cardiac arrhythmia that increases stroke risk.

Participated · Series D · Jun 2012

Ceptaris Therapeutics is a privately held specialty pharmaceutical company based in Malvern, Pa., developing a proprietary gel formulation of mechlorethamine hydrochloride for treatment of early-stage (stages I–IIA) mycosis fungoides (CTCL). If approved, the investigational drug would be the first topical mechlorethamine product available to treat signs and symptoms of this rare cancer. The company recently received a Complete Response Letter from the FDA on its New Drug Application for the mechlorethamine gel and is working with the agency to address the requests. Ceptaris raised $10 million in a Series D-1 private placement of preferred stock to provide additional capital for ongoing activities. The financing included prior investors Vivo Ventures, Palo Alto Investors, Burrill & Company, Aperture Venture Partners, Osage, and BioAdvance, plus new investor Third Point, LLC. The company said the funds will be used for operational expenses, including activities related to addressing the FDA’s requests. Ceptaris Therapeutics is a privately held specialty pharmaceutical company in Malvern, Pa., developing a proprietary gel formulation of mechlorethamine hydrochloride for early-stage (stages I‑IIA) mycosis fungoides, a type of Cutaneous T‑Cell Lymphoma. The company's New Drug Application (NDA) for the mechlorethamine gel is under review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. If approved, the product would be the first topical mechlorethamine available to treat the signs and symptoms of this rare cancer. Ceptaris secured $15 million in venture debt financing to support ongoing operations and preparation for commercialization. It received $7.5 million at closing and has access to the remaining $7.5 million contingent on FDA approval of the NDA. Primary venture capital investors include Vivo Ventures, Palo Alto Investors, Burrill & Company, Osage Ventures, Aperture Venture Partners, and BioAdvance. Yaupon Therapeutics is a privately held specialty pharmaceutical company developing a proprietary gel formulation of mechlorethamine hydrochloride to treat early-stage (I‑IIA) mycosis fungoides, the most common type of cutaneous T‑cell lymphoma (CTCL). The company has submitted a New Drug Application (NDA) to the FDA for its investigational topical mechlorethamine gel. If approved, the product would be the first topical mechlorethamine gel widely available to treat signs and symptoms of this form of CTCL. Yaupon says the financing will fund the company through the NDA regulatory review and support preparation for commercialization. Management has stated commercialization may be pursued alone or with an industry partner. The company is based in Malvern, Pennsylvania.

Led · Series E · Apr 2012

WhiteGlove Health offers a Corporate Membership Program that provides self-insured employers and their employees/direct dependents access to acute, preventive, and chronic care, diagnostics, and generic Rx medications in-person (at home or work) or by phone. Under the program employers pay for memberships and WhiteGlove does not charge the employer’s health plan for its medical services or generic Rx medications prescribed during in-person visits. The company says its model operates at a fraction of the cost of alternatives and claims widespread adoption, with hundreds of employers using WhiteGlove. The recent financing will be used as working capital to drive membership density in existing markets, expand into new markets, and develop a broker/benefits consultant sales channel. The company is positioned around mobile and service-driven care intended to lower employer healthcare costs while improving employee experience. The article is datelined Austin, Texas, indicating the company’s operating presence there.