Participated · Equity · Feb 2024

Acwa builds robotic solutions for water and clean-water infrastructure, aiming to run robotic missions that gather asset-management data for utilities. The company says it is entering a new stage of growth and will use fresh capital to accelerate its path to market and deliver first robotic missions. Its LinkedIn post highlights eagerness from water utilities awaiting those deliveries. The announcement references the IMAGINE - H2020 project Aquatech. Acwa also noted that two historic investors, UI Investissement and CALAO FINANCE, are reinforcing their positions. Operating metrics (revenue/users) were not disclosed in the article.

Participated · Equity · Mar 2022

Beijing Yuanjian Information Technology (Yuanjian) focuses on information security using AI to construct trusted networks, electronic identity management, and collaborative services. The company holds full‑stack IP across text, image, voiceprint and speech, and reports breakthroughs in visual recognition and voiceprint technologies. Yuanjian’s core team is composed largely of PhD graduates from institutions such as the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Automation, Tsinghua University, and Beihang University. It provides solutions to smart cities, wearable devices, smart security, and internet sectors, and has served thousands of enterprises as well as government bodies including the Ministry of Public Security and the Cyberspace Administration. Yuanjian has built multi‑dimensional identity authentication (voiceprint, face, multi‑factor liveness detection, OTP) with tens-of-millions‑level, seconds‑scale matching and has participated in national engineering centers and standards work. The company operates four business lines: AI security products and services, internet content review, trusted identity authentication, and special-purpose voice chips, and is expanding C‑end offerings for hotels, smart travel, and eldercare.

Participated · Series A · Feb 2021

AmacaThera develops novel injectable, localized therapeutics using its AmacaGel hydrogel platform. Its lead clinical candidate, AMT-143, is a long-acting, non-opioid post-surgical pain therapeutic intended to provide rapid onset and up to three days of pain relief. Preclinical studies have shown superior release kinetics compared with the current standard of care, and a Phase Ib clinical trial is scheduled to commence in early 2024. The AmacaGel platform can deliver a wide range of therapeutics—from small molecules to antibodies, lipid nanoparticles, and stem cells—and has demonstrated safety in humans across over 40 peer-reviewed publications. The company plans to expand the platform's applications and develop additional localized, sustained-release products targeting indications including post-surgical pain and cancer. AmacaThera raised CAD$4.0 million in a Series A extension to accelerate clinical development and advance multiple pipeline programs. AmacaThera is a clinical-stage company based in Toronto that has developed a proprietary hydrogel platform enabling local, sustained release of small-molecule drugs, biotherapeutics, and cells. The materials leverage inverse thermogelling properties to protect encapsulated biomolecules from degradation and clearance and have shown utility in multiple disease models. Its lead product, AMT-143, is being developed as a single injection administered at the time of surgery to treat post-surgical pain and reduce or prevent the need for opioid-based pain relief. AmacaThera is a spin-out from Dr. Molly Shoichet’s laboratory at the University of Toronto and is led by CEO and cofounder Michael Cooke and CSO and cofounder Molly Shoichet. The company plans to advance AMT-143 into clinical trials and to expand its pipeline using the injectable sustained-release platform. AmacaThera completed an oversubscribed C$10.3 million Series A to support development of AMT-143 and pipeline expansion. AmacaThera is focused on commercializing a proprietary injectable, biocompatible hydrogel platform designed for sustained delivery, targeting and release of diverse therapeutic agents. Its lead program, AMT-143, is being developed to improve post-operative pain control and reduce or eliminate opioid use following surgery. The company was nurtured in Dr. Molly Shoichet’s laboratory and participated in multiple accelerators, including Creative Destruction Lab, University of Toronto Early Stage Technology, OBIO, TIAP, and the U of T Innovations & Partnership Office. AmacaThera is a resident company at Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JLABS (JLABS @ Toronto). Co-founded by Dr. Molly Shoichet (Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer) and Mike Cooke (Co-Founder and CEO), the company recently closed a US$3.6M seed financing round. In conjunction with the financing, Peter van der Velden, Managing General Partner at Lumira Ventures, joined the company’s board of directors.