The Venture Codex

Participated · Series A · Apr 2026

Vivacta is developing next-generation in vivo CAR-T therapies, with its lead program GT801 focused on hematologic malignancies and autoimmune diseases. Early clinical data reported at ASH 2025 indicated promising safety and efficacy signals for GT801. The company plans to use new financing to advance GT801 clinical trials, pursue regulatory submission and approval, expand its research team and platform, and drive global expansion. Vivacta describes its investor base as a mix of global industrial capital and specialist biotech investors, and raised over US$50 million in its Series A and Series A+ financings. After the financing, representatives from Loyal Valley Capital and DC Global Ventures joined the board, signaling investor engagement in governance and strategy.

Participated · Seed · Mar 2026

Excalipoint Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on discovering and developing T-cell engager (TCE) therapies for oncology and immunology indications. Its pipeline includes tri- and multi-specific antibody programs such as EXP011 (CTM012) targeting DLL3/CD3/4-1BB—entered Phase I/II with first patient dosed in October 2025—EXP012 (CTM013) targeting CDH17/CD3/4-1BB, and additional programs (EXP016, EXP017, EP101, EXP015) built on its TOPAbody, Immune Shield, and Pro-TCE platform technologies. The company is led by CEO Lei Fang and CFO Jielun Zhu. Following the $68.7M Seed raise, Excalipoint intends to use the funds to advance its proprietary platforms and progress its pipeline programs through clinical development.

Participated · Seed · Feb 2026

Sift Biosciences is a preclinical immunotherapy company creating “T-cell booster” peptides that activate infection-trained memory T cells, aiming to overcome the low immunogenicity that limits many current cancer treatments. Its proprietary platform combines artificial intelligence, metagenomics, and high-throughput immune profiling to identify microbial analogs of tumor-associated epitopes capable of rapidly amplifying immune responses. The initial pipeline targets solid tumors such as microsatellite-stable colorectal and ovarian cancers, while parallel research explores selectively expanding regulatory T cells for autoimmune disease. Founded in 2024 as a UC Berkeley spin-out and headquartered in San Carlos, California, the team is led by CEO and co-founder Clare Lou, Ph.D. The company has raised $3.7 million in pre-seed capital to fund in-vivo proof-of-concept studies, expand its AI-powered discovery engine, and select lead oncology candidates. Early preclinical data suggest the potential for faster, more potent, and durable immune responses compared with existing approaches. Financially, the company is still pre-revenue and focused on advancing its research programs toward clinical validation.

Participated · Series D · Sep 2024

eGenesis is a biotechnology company developing human-compatible engineered organs to address the global organ shortage. Its lead product candidate, the donor kidney EGEN-2784, carries three classes of genome edits: knockout of glycan-antigen synthesis genes, insertion of seven human transgenes to modulate rejection pathways, and inactivation of endogenous porcine retroviruses. The company’s EGEN genome engineering and production platform aims to comprehensively address cross-species molecular incompatibilities and viral risk. Proceeds from the $191 million Series D will be used to advance EGEN-2784 to a first-in-human kidney transplant study, advance pipeline programs (including acute liver failure and heart transplant), and scale production. In March 2024 eGenesis announced the world’s first successful porcine kidney transplant in a living patient under an FDA Expanded Access authorization, performed at Massachusetts General Hospital. The company says it is the only firm developing organs that carry all three classes of edits to address organ safety and efficacy. eGenesis develops human-compatible organs, tissues, and cells using gene-editing and genome-engineering to address barriers to xenotransplantation. The company harnesses gene editing technologies to make organs safe and effective for patients in need. Its development pipeline includes lead programs for kidney and islet cell transplants and earlier-stage programs targeting other solid organs. eGenesis intends to use its Series C proceeds to bring lead kidney and islet programs into human proof-of-concept studies, continue development of its proprietary gene-editing platform, and scale GMP production. The company is led by Paul Sekhri, President and Chief Executive Officer. Financially, eGenesis completed a $125m Series C financing in February 2021. eGenesis develops human-compatible organs using gene editing technologies such as CRISPR to overcome virology and immunology hurdles that have impeded xenotransplantation. The company is advancing an initial kidney product toward the clinic while pursuing programs in islet cell, liver, heart, and lung. It intends to use new funding to accelerate its kidney xenotransplant program into the clinic and to support advancement of other xenotransplant programs. eGenesis positions xenotransplantation as a potential solution for a broader organ recipient population and to expand applicability into areas such as cell therapy. The company is led by president and CEO Paul Sekhri and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. eGenesis completed a $100M Series B financing to support these efforts. eGenesis uses a CRISPR-based genome editing platform to engineer pig cells and organs intended for safe and effective human transplantation. The company’s core approach includes genomic engineering of pig cells, organ maturation, and eventual organ transplantation. eGenesis positions xenotransplantation as a solution to the severe shortage of transplantable human organs and aims to make it a routine lifesaving medical procedure. Its scientific team includes co-founder and CSO Luhan Yang and Harvard geneticist George Church, plus multiple scientists from Harvard with expertise in genome editing, synthetic biology, and transgenic animals. The company is in early stages of development and is advancing its platform toward delivering transplantable cells, tissues and organs. eGenesis announced a recent financing to support these development efforts.