Led · Series A · Dec 2025

Syremis Therapeutics is advancing a neuropsychiatric pipeline grounded in clinically validated mechanisms, aiming to create best-in-class treatments for schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, bipolar depression and other psychiatric conditions. Its lead asset, ST-905, is a potent dual M1/M4 muscarinic receptor agonist now in Phase 1 trials and designed for once-daily oral dosing with the potential for a long-acting injectable formulation. A second program, ST-901, is a next-generation NMDA antagonist in IND-enabling studies and slated to enter Phase 1 next year to address depressive disorders. Both candidates originated at Clexio Biosciences before being spun out to Syremis. The company highlights the vast unmet need in schizophrenia, which affects more than 20 million people globally, and cites limitations in efficacy and tolerability of current therapies as its market entry point. Syremis is led by a seasoned team including co-founders Elisabeth Kogan (CEO), Elena Kagan (CDO), and Menashe Levy (CTO), with board members drawn from Dexcel Pharma, Third Rock Ventures, Bain Capital Life Sciences and other industry leaders. Its $165 million Series A financing provides the capital to advance both programs through clinical proof of concept. No commercial revenues or patient enrollment figures have been disclosed to date.

Participated · Series C · May 2022

Kriya Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing gene therapies across multiple therapeutic areas. Its pipeline includes programs in ophthalmology, metabolic disease and neurology built on a fully integrated proprietary manufacturing and engineering platform. The company intends to use new funding to support clinical trials of its gene therapies and to continue leveraging its research and manufacturing engine for new product development. Kriya operates from Research Triangle Park, NC. The company closed a major Series D financing to advance its clinical programs and platform utilization. Kriya Therapeutics develops gene therapies focused on prevalent diseases in ophthalmology, neurology, and metabolic disease. The company has built integrated engineering, computational, and manufacturing platforms to accelerate research, development and production of gene therapies. Proceeds from the recent financing will support clinical translation of its pipeline and further scaling of those platforms. Kriya emphasizes targeting validated biological targets and well-defined clinical endpoints to rapidly achieve proof-of-concept. Since its founding in October 2019, the company has raised over $600 million in committed capital and says its investments in infrastructure and talent have improved development efficiency. Kriya intends to translate multiple programs into the clinic in the coming years. Kriya Therapeutics is a fully integrated gene therapy company that combines proprietary computational tools, in-house GMP manufacturing, and a rational design toolkit to develop gene therapies. The company has scaled SIRVE™, a machine learning–enabled technology and cloud computing architecture, to integrate large datasets from high-throughput screening and sequencing. Kriya has expanded its pipeline via internal R&D, acquisitions, and partnerships, with therapeutic divisions in ophthalmology, oncology, rare disease, and chronic disease. It operationalized scalable GMP manufacturing infrastructure in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina to support in-house production from early through late-phase development. The company’s stated mission is to improve speed to market and reduce cost for gene therapies by advancing engineering, production, and translation capabilities. Proceeds from the recent financing will support advancing the pipeline and continued scaling of its engineering, manufacturing, and computational platforms. Kriya Therapeutics is a fully integrated platform company focused on designing, developing and manufacturing gene therapies. The company combines computational vector design (SIRVE™) and a proprietary high-efficiency manufacturing platform (STRIPE™) to reduce immunogenicity, improve expression and achieve lower production costs at scale. STRIPE is being developed at a 51,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Research Triangle Park, N.C., and Kriya expects its full cGMP manufacturing infrastructure to be online this year. Kriya is advancing an internal pipeline with programs in metabolic disease, ophthalmology and oncology. Proceeds from the recent financing will be used to further develop Kriya’s core technology platforms, expand its therapeutic pipeline and advance current programs. The company maintains locations in Silicon Valley/Redwood City, Calif., and Research Triangle Park, N.C., and is led by co-founder and CEO Shankar Ramaswamy, M.D. Kriya Therapeutics is a Palo Alto, Calif. and Durham, N.C.-based gene therapy company focused on expanding gene therapy beyond rare monogenic disorders to diseases that affect millions. Its pipeline centers on multiple AAV-based investigational therapies targeting metabolic diseases, including type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, and severe obesity. Lead programs are KT-A112 (intramuscular delivery of genes producing insulin and glucokinase), KT-A522 (salivary gland delivery of a GLP-1 receptor agonist), and KT-A832 (intrapancreatic delivery of modified IGF-1). The company intends to use proceeds from its financing to develop these gene therapies. Kriya completed a seed round in Q4 2019 led by Transhuman Capital, which also participated in the Series A. The company is led by co-founder, chairman and CEO Shankar Ramaswamy, M.D., supported by a team of scientific, development, manufacturing, and regulatory executives.

Participated · Equity · Aug 2021

BrainQ builds a cloud-connected home therapy system that uses EEG-informed, low-intensity magnetic field (ELF-EMF) stimulation to target stroke-affected neural networks and accelerate neuroplastic recovery. The product is a whole-brain cylindrical headset paired with a back/hip pack, a tablet app, and a telemedicine/caregiver workflow for at‑home use. Treatment sessions last about an hour during which patients perform exercises while the headset streams EEG data to BrainQ’s cloud to generate personalized stimulation parameters. A small 25-patient study reported that 92% of treated patients saw major improvements over therapy alone and 80% achieved what the article described as recovery, results that supported FDA Breakthrough Device designation. The Breakthrough status also confers qualification for Medicare coverage and could enable shipment within a year or two. BrainQ raised $40 million to advance commercialization and run a larger clinical study. BrainQ develops personalized electromagnetic treatment protocols for stroke victims and patients with spinal cord injuries by analyzing patients' brainwaves. The company uses AI and claims to own one of the largest BCI-based EEG databases for motor tasks, which it says enables tailored therapies. At the time of the article, BrainQ was running two human clinical trials for stroke patients in Israel and working with Google’s Launchpad Accelerator. The team includes former members of Israeli elite intelligence units and academics with AI and neuroscience backgrounds. Financially, BrainQ announced a $5.3 million financing on top of a prior $3.5 million raise. The company says it plans to push its technology, expand operations, and position itself as a leader in BCI-based precision medicine. BrainQ develops a non-surgically embedded EEG system to gather neural data and aid recovery for stroke and spinal cord injury patients. The company is conducting two human clinical trials for stroke patients in Israel and must gain FDA approval before selling services in the U.S. A spokesperson said BrainQ will likely enter other markets first while awaiting U.S. regulatory clearance and hopes to be available in the U.S. by 2020. The startup has plans to expand into Alzheimer’s research and potentially children’s syndromes. BrainQ faces competition from implant-focused firms like Kernel and Neuralink as well as EEG-based competitors such as NeuroLutions and NeuroPace. Google’s Launchpad Studio worked with the company, and BrainQ has presented clinical findings to the World Congress of Neuro Rehabilitation. Financially, BrainQ has raised about $3.5 million to date from various Israeli investors and angel backers.

Participated · Equity · Aug 2017

Roivant Sciences operates a platform model to create medicines by launching nimble 'Vants'—focused biopharmaceutical and health-technology start-ups. It recently unveiled VantAI, a computational drug-discovery platform for designing and optimizing targeted protein degraders, which began development in early 2019. VantAI has designed degraders for six unique targets to date, and Roivant aims to bring its first candidate from that platform into the clinic in 2021. To support the program and its expansion, Roivant secured a $200 million equity investment as part of a strategic partnership. The funding and partnership are intended to help Roivant build a protein-degrader pipeline and establish multiple biotech start-ups around the platform. The company emphasizes targeted protein degradation as a modality that can improve potency and selectivity and enable targeting of difficult-to-drug proteins. Roivant Sciences is a biotech holding company that builds and funds independent biopharmaceutical subsidiaries, often branded with the “vant” suffix. The firm’s strategy is to create one independent company at a time and serve as an umbrella and financier for those spin-offs. Examples include Axovant (neurology), Myovant (women’s health/endocrine), Dermavant (dermatology), Enzyvant (rare diseases), Urovant (urology) and Datavant (healthcare data middleware), as well as newer spin-offs Immunovant, Altavant and Sinovant. Roivant now oversees 14 subsidiaries, employs about 750 people and reports 34 drugs in development. Financially, the company has raised more than $3 billion in total and recently completed a $200M financing at a $7B post-money valuation. The company has faced setbacks (notably Axovant’s failed Alzheimer’s and DLB trials) and conducted layoffs and employee reassignments in June, but continues to support subsidiary financings (for example, Datavant raised $40.5M earlier this year led by Roivant). Roivant builds and operates subsidiary biopharma companies (each with “vant” in the name) that acquire and advance abandoned or shelved drug candidates toward commercialization. Its subsidiaries include Axovant (neurology), Myovant (women’s health/endocrine), Dermavant (dermatology), Enzyvant (rare diseases) and Urovant (urology). Roivant is also launching Datavant, a tech-focused subsidiary aimed at using AI to unlock insights in healthcare datasets, improve trial design, enable virtual pooled-placebo trials, and identify molecular targets. The company was founded by Vivek Ramaswamy in 2014 and is based in Basel, Switzerland. Roivant has taken subsidiaries public: Axovant completed a 2015 IPO that raised $360 million (its shares opened at $15 and were trading at $23 at the time of the article) and Myovant went public in 2016. Prior financings include investments from hedge funds such as Viking Global Investors, QVT Financial, and Dexcel Pharma. The company’s strategy focuses on quickly advancing clinical-stage assets by forming focused operating subsidiaries around each asset.