Participated · Series A · Nov 2025

AI Proteins has built an AI-enabled discovery platform that designs and optimizes de novo miniproteins, giving the company precise control over molecular function, stability, and pharmacology. The platform’s industrialized design-build-test cycle has already produced molecules against more than 150 targets and delivered multiple in-vivo proof-of-concepts. In December 2024 the company entered a research collaboration and option agreement with Bristol Myers Squibb worth up to $400 million, validating commercial interest in its technology. Beyond internal drug programs, the modular miniproteins can be applied to diagnostics, agriculture and research reagents. To scale efficiently, AI Proteins is adopting a hub-and-spoke LLC structure that spins individual programs into subsidiaries while preserving the core platform. The new capital will bolster platform expansion, data generation, and advancement of lead therapeutic candidates toward IND-enabling studies. The company’s investors believe the approach could usher in a new class of protein medicines that outperform traditional antibodies.

Led · Series B · Aug 2022

Regenacy Pharmaceuticals is developing ricolinostat, an oral selective histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6) inhibitor intended to reverse peripheral nerve dysfunction and relieve pain, numbness, and motor deficits in diabetic and other peripheral neuropathies. Preclinical models have shown efficacy of ricolinostat and other HDAC6 inhibitors in diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN), chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN), and Charcot‑Marie‑Tooth disease, with a promising safety and tolerability profile. The company recently completed enrollment in a double-blinded, placebo-controlled Phase 2 study of ricolinostat in painful DPN, with initial results expected later this year. Regenacy said it will advance a joint venture, Beijing 3E‑Regenacy Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd., to investigate ricolinostat in CIPN patients in China. The company also maintains a portfolio of selective HDAC1/2 inhibitors with potential applications in blood diseases and neurological disorders. Regenacy plans to use proceeds from its Series B financing to continue advancing the ricolinostat clinical development program. Regenacy Pharmaceuticals is a clinical-stage biopharma focused on developing selective HDAC6 inhibitors, principally ricolinostat, to restore nerve function in diabetic and other peripheral neuropathies. Ricolinostat is an oral, selective HDAC6 inhibitor with prior Phase 1 and 2 data showing an excellent safety and tolerability profile and preclinical evidence of restoring nerve fibers and reversing pain and numbness. The company also holds a portfolio of selective HDAC1 and HDAC2 inhibitors targeting major blood diseases and neurological indications. Regenacy plans to advance ricolinostat into a Phase 2 proof-of-concept trial in diabetic peripheral neuropathy and will evaluate the candidate in chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy and CMT Type 2. The company intends to use the proceeds from its recent financing to initiate the Phase 2 study. Regenacy is based in Waltham, Massachusetts.

Led · Series A · Mar 2022

NextRNA Therapeutics leverages a proprietary discovery platform to systematically identify disease-relevant long non-coding RNAs and their interacting proteins and to develop selective small molecules that modulate those interactions. The company is advancing a pipeline built from that platform and has progressed two small-molecule programs in oncology and immunology. NextRNA was founded in January 2021 and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Leadership and scientific founders include Carl Novina and Robert Langer, and the company cites pioneering work at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute as its scientific basis. At launch NextRNA intends to use financing proceeds to augment its target and drug discovery engine, expand its pipeline, and advance lead programs. The company positions itself to translate discoveries around long non-coding RNAs into transformative therapies across multiple disease areas.

Participated · Series B · Jan 2022

Windgap Medical develops patient solutions built on a patented wet/dry drug-delivery platform and autoinjector technology. Its lead program is an epinephrine autoinjector for the treatment of anaphylaxis, for which the company intends to seek FDA approval. Windgap is also advancing a novel emergency treatment for cyanide poisoning sponsored by the National Institutes of Health through a multi-year CounterACT grant led by the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. The company said it will use new funding to energize the ongoing epinephrine commercialization process and grow its pipeline of additional products that utilize the platform. Windgap’s products have not been reviewed by the FDA to date. The company is led by CEO Christopher Stepanian and CTO Brent Buchine, PhD, and is based in Watertown, MA. Windgap Medical develops a patented wet/dry drug-delivery platform. Its first product is designed for administration of epinephrine to treat anaphylaxis, and the company has additional products under development in other markets. None of Windgap’s products have been reviewed by the FDA; the company intends to seek FDA approval first for the epinephrine product. The company is led by CEO and co-founder Chris Stepanian and is based in Watertown, Massachusetts. Financially, Windgap received a strategic investment of undisclosed size. The investment was led by Shepherd Kaplan Krochuck, with participation from Molex Ventures (a subsidiary of Koch Industries). Windgap Medical is developing a smaller, more user-friendly epinephrine auto-injector with a dry, more temperature-stable formulation intended to be pocket-sized (about the size of a Bic lighter). The device is designed to make it obvious which end is the needle and to reduce user errors common with current auto-injectors. Windgap holds more than a dozen provisional patents and has patents pending covering device design and the drug formulation. The company is targeting a market release by 2018 and intends to compete in the roughly $1.3 billion auto-injector market dominated historically by the EpiPen (with >90% market share). Windgap positions its product against competitors such as Sanofi’s Auvi-Q and upcoming generic alternatives and has not disclosed pricing or reimbursement plans, leaving that to commercialization partners. The startup was a 2012 MassChallenge winner and has raised financing to support development.

Participated · Series B · Mar 2021

TechsoMed is a Rehovot, Israel–based medical imaging software company developing the BioTrace platform, an AI and algorithm-powered system for real-time tissue viability imaging. Its first product, BioTraceIO, is primarily targeting liver tumor ablation procedures and is in clinical validation. The company is pursuing FDA De Novo clearance for its BioTrace system, with approval anticipated sometime in 2022 according to the article. BioTrace is designed for multi-clinical applications including oncology (tumor ablation), cardiology (heart arrhythmia) and pain management (radiofrequency neurotomy). TechsoMed collaborates with medical centers worldwide and has established a Japan subsidiary to support commercialization in Japan and other Asian markets. The company is led by CEO Yossi Abu. Techsomed is a biotech company developing ultrasound-based real-time monitoring systems for thermal ablation procedures. Its BioTrace™ system integrates with standard ultrasound devices and uses proprietary AI and image analysis to track the target tissue’s unique biological signature as it responds to heat. That signature is used to visually simulate the post 24-hour thermal effect in real time, enhancing the surgeon’s level of control and accuracy during the procedure. The company is based in Rehovot, Israel. Techsomed secured $2.6M in funding in a round led by Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, with participation from Screen Holdings, AMIT‑Technion (the Alfred Mann Institute), NextLeap Ventures and Axil Capital. It intends to use the funds for further development toward obtaining FDA, PMDA and CE regulatory approval.