The Venture Codex

Led · Series A · Jan 2024

Xinglian Peptide (星联肽) develops protein-conjugate therapeutics, using a combination of introduced and in-house R&D to rapidly build its pipeline. The company currently has three candidates in preclinical development. It expects its first product to enter clinical research in 2024. The program is positioned to deliver more effective and safer oncology treatments for patients, per the company statement. Recently the company completed a RMB 90 million Pre‑A financing, strengthening its financial position for near-term development. Tianjin Xinglian Peptide Biotech (天津星联肽生物科技有限公司) was founded in February 2022 and positions itself as a platform developer of protein/peptide conjugate therapeutics, emphasizing PDCs. The team reports deep XDC drug‑development and project‑management experience and currently has three products in preclinical development. Its lead PDC, SC‑101, targets Nectin‑4 and is presented as having efficacy and safety advantages versus same‑target ADCs at comparable dosing frequency and potential to be Best‑in‑Class. SC‑101 is progressing toward an IND submission expected in the second half of the year and plans to enter Phase I in 2024. The company recently completed a financing to support IND development for two PDC candidates and to build an early R&D platform. Tianjin Xinglian Peptide (天津星联肽生物科技有限公司) operates a peptide-drug conjugate (PDC) drug R&D platform, combining introduced technologies with in-house research to rapidly build its pipeline. The company was incubated and established by the 复健资本新药创新基金 (the fund named in the article). As of the report, Xinglian Peptide has three programs in preclinical development. The firm completed a seed financing of RMB 45.5 million in February 2022 to support its R&D activities. It expects its first product to enter clinical research in 2024. The company aims to deliver more effective and safer treatments for cancer patients.

Participated · Series C · Mar 2021

Gyroscope Therapeutics is a clinical-stage gene therapy company developing treatments for diseases of the eye that cause vision loss and blindness. Its lead candidate, GT005, is an AAV2-based, one-time subretinal gene therapy designed to increase production of Complement Factor I (CFI) to rebalance an overactive complement system implicated in AMD. GT005 has been granted Fast Track designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and is being evaluated in Phase II clinical trials for geographic atrophy secondary to age-related macular degeneration (GA). Gyroscope plans to use proceeds from the Sanofi investment to support funding of ongoing clinical trials of GT005 in GA. The company is led by CEO Khurem Farooq and is headquartered in London, with locations in Philadelphia and San Francisco. Gyroscope Therapeutics is a clinical-stage gene therapy company focused on developing one-time AAV-based treatments for eye diseases, primarily geographic atrophy (GA) secondary to age‑related macular degeneration (AMD). Its lead investigational therapy, GT005, is an AAV2-based gene therapy designed to increase production of Complement Factor I (CFI) to modulate an overactive complement system and is delivered under the retina. GT005 has received Fast Track designation from the U.S. FDA and is being evaluated in Phase II trials (EXPLORE and HORIZON) and earlier Phase I/II (FOCUS) studies in genetically defined and broader GA populations. Gyroscope also develops a proprietary OrbitTM subretinal delivery system for precise posterior eye delivery and maintains a manufacturing platform and surgical delivery capabilities. Proceeds from the announced financing are earmarked to advance GT005’s clinical development, expand the early-stage pipeline, and further develop the delivery technology. The company is headquartered in London with locations in Philadelphia and San Francisco and is supported by a syndicate of life sciences investors.

Participated · Series B · Sep 2020

Founded in 2018, 键嘉机器人 develops orthopedic surgical robots and has positioned itself as a domestic leader in hip joint replacement robotics. Its first domestically developed product, ARTHROBOT, targets both acetabular and femoral procedures and claims to control final surgical error within 1 mm and angle deviation within 1°. The company emphasizes a医工结合 (clinical-engineering) team with core technology origins linked to Tsinghua University and the national 863 program. Under its current strategy, 键嘉 focuses on close clinical collaboration to solve pain points of manual joint replacement, reduce surgeon learning curves, and lower intraoperative radiation exposure. The company plans to use new funding to accelerate clinical trials, registration, and new product R&D and to build a surgical-robot platform business offering overall orthopedic solutions and personalized treatments. Prior financing includes an A round in early 2020 of several tens of millions RMB from BV Baidu Ventures.

Participated · Series D · Sep 2018

Butterfly’s core product, the Butterfly iQ, is a $2,000 handheld ultrasound device that uses a semiconductor ultrasound-on-a-chip (CMUT) architecture to deliver whole-body imaging. The iQ pairs with a smartphone app that uses AI and computer-vision "Tele-Guidance" to direct probe placement and uploads encrypted scans to a SOC II–certified, AES 256-bit cloud service that the article describes as HIPPA-compliant. The device was cleared by the FDA in October 2017 for abdominal, cardiovascular, fetal, gynecological, urological, musculoskeletal and other clinical applications. Butterfly says its chip contains up to 10,000 transducer channels and can perform roughly half a trillion operations per second, enabling three-dimensional imaging. The company has begun shipping first units to tens of thousands of customers who reserved them and plans to sell more than a quarter-million devices in the next 18 months. Butterfly is also developing two new products: an ultrasound monitoring patch and an ingestible pill that images internally. Butterfly Network is a Guilford, CT- and NYC-based healthcare startup. It was founded by Jonathan Rothberg and a group of physicists and engineers from MIT and Lincoln Laboratories' through-wall radar team, including Max Tegmark, Nevada Sanchez, Greg Charvat and Tyler Ralston. The company aims to transform medical imaging and non-invasive surgery by leveraging advances in semiconductors, deep learning and cloud computing. Butterfly Network is incubated within 4Combinator, a healthcare startup incubator. The company raised over $100m in funding, with backers that included Aeris Capital and Stanford University. As of the article the company was hiring.

Participated · Equity · Jan 2018

TytoCare develops a clinician-grade handheld remote examination platform paired with FDA-cleared AI-powered software-as-a-medical-device algorithms to enable comprehensive remote physical exams. The company serves health systems, payers, and employer health programs and is positioning its platform for cardiopulmonary screening, oncology supportive care, and chronic disease management including CHF and COPD. TytoCare announced leadership appointments of Adam Pellegrini as CEO and Greg Orr as COO concurrent with its $25M+ growth round led by Insight Partners. The company intends to use the new capital to expand its AI algorithm pipeline, deepen integrations with health systems and payers, and accelerate go-to-market efforts. TytoCare is headquartered in New York and Netanya, Israel, and emphasizes FDA-cleared diagnostic fidelity as a competitive differentiator.