Participated · Equity · Oct 2023

AOA Dx is a NYC-based company developing a detection test for ovarian cancer using its GlycoLocate™ platform. The platform focuses on glycolipids and tumor marker gangliosides and harnesses novel biomarkers through data science to improve early detection. Led by CEO and co‑founder Oriana Papin‑Zoghbi, the company’s initial focus is ovarian cancer. AOA Dx plans to use the new capital to open new lab facilities, expand its prospective ovarian cancer clinical trial (OVERT), and develop GlycoLocate into additional cancer areas. The company raised $17M in the latest round led by Good Growth Capital and has now raised $24M in total. Investors in the round include RH Capital, Y Combinator, Astia Fund, Adaptive Capital Partners, Gore Range Capital, LongeVC, The Helm, VU Venture Partners, FemHealth Ventures and diagnostic investors such as Labcorp Venture Fund. AOA Dx is developing AKRIVIS GD, a liquid‑biopsy assay intended to enable accurate early detection of ovarian cancer. In a landmark peer‑reviewed study in the Journal of Precision Medicine, the technology showed over 90% accuracy for detecting ovarian cancer, including early‑stage disease. The company says AKRIVIS GD has high sensitivity and specificity and would be the first available tool to enable early detection of ovarian cancer. AOA plans to use new funding to further develop the next generation of AKRIVIS GD and to expand its team. Teams are based in Boston, New York, and London, and the company participated in Y Combinator’s program in 2021. The work responds to a large unmet need: roughly 225,000 women are diagnosed annually and late detection drives high mortality, while early detection can dramatically improve five‑year survival rates. AOA is developing AKRIVIS GD, a blood-based liquid biopsy intended to detect ovarian cancer at earlier stages. The company reports that its proof-of-concept demonstrates high accuracy across all cancer stages and epithelial ovarian cancer subtypes. AOA says its technology detects 53% more patients with early-stage disease compared with the current standard, CA 125. The team partnered with Professor H. Uri Saragovi of the Lady Davis Institute/McGill University to develop the test. AOA is part of Y Combinator’s summer 2021 batch and raised seed funding to advance development. The company plans further prospective patient clinical trials and to pursue FDA regulatory processes to bring the test to market.

Led · Series D · Jan 2023

Palvella Therapeutics focuses on developing and commercializing novel therapies for serious, rare genetic skin diseases that currently lack FDA-approved treatments. The company advances a broad pipeline built on its patented QTORIN platform, initially targeting lifelong rare skin disorders. Palvella works with patient advocacy organizations and patient registries to design accelerated development programs to expedite patient access to targeted therapies. Its lead product candidate is QTORIN 3.9% rapamycin anhydrous gel, being developed for pachyonychia congenita, microcystic lymphatic malformations, and prevention of basal cell carcinomas in Gorlin syndrome. QTORIN rapamycin has received FDA Fast Track Designation for all three indications. The company recently completed a Series D financing to support advancement of QTORIN rapamycin across these indications. Palvella Therapeutics is a Wayne, PA–based rare disease biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing pathogenetically targeted therapies for serious genetic diseases with no approved treatments. Its lead program, PTX-022 (QTORIN™ 3.9% rapamycin anhydrous gel), is in a Phase 2/3 pivotal study for pachyonychia congenita (PC), a rare, chronically debilitating and lifelong genetic disease estimated to affect more than 9,000 individuals in the U.S. The company partners with patient advocacy organizations and patient registries to design fit-for-purpose, accelerated clinical development programs aimed at expediting targeted therapies to patients lacking approved options. Palvella intends to use the proceeds from the financing to advance PTX-022 in adults with PC. Wes Kaupinen serves as President and CEO. In conjunction with the funding, Scott Morenstein of CAM Capital and Cory Freedland of Samsara BioCapital joined Palvella’s Board of Directors. Palvella Therapeutics is a Wayne, PA-based rare disease biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing pathogenetically targeted therapies for debilitating, rare genetic diseases with no approved treatments. The company is led by Wes Kaupinen, president and chief executive officer. Its lead program, PTX-022 (QTORIN™ rapamycin formulation), is entering Phase 2/3 development for pachyonychia congenita (PC). PC is a rare, chronically debilitating lifelong monogenic disease in which mutations in keratin genes lead to dysregulated keratinocyte proliferation, increased skin fragility and impaired plantar skin barrier function. Palvella will continue to retain responsibility for all clinical development, regulatory, manufacturing, marketing and other commercialization activities worldwide. The company has secured external development funding to advance PTX-022.

Participated · Equity · Nov 2022

Validic builds a digital health and remote care platform that converts personal health data into actionable insights to strengthen care delivery and patient engagement. Led by CEO Drew Schiller, the company supplies solutions used by healthcare providers, health plans and health IT companies to deliver personalized chronic condition management, remote care and support for healthy living. Customers named in the article include Mass General Brigham, Cleveland Clinic, Mayo Clinic and CVS Health. The company said it will use new funding to continue investing in its digital health and remote care platform. The report does not disclose specific operating metrics such as revenue or user counts. Validic is a cloud-based digital health platform that provides access to patient data from in-home clinical devices, wearables and patient healthcare applications. Launched in 2010 by CEO Ryan Beckland and based in Durham, NC, the company connects providers, pharmaceutical companies, payers, wellness firms and health IT vendors to digital health technologies. Its FDA Class I MDDS technology delivers actionable, standardized and HIPAA-compliant consumer health data from mobile health devices and applications. Validic integrates with over 175 fitness and clinical devices and applications. The platform is used to coordinate care across communities, improve patient engagement strategies and manage patient populations. The company raised $12.5M in Series B funding and intends to use the proceeds to continue to grow operations. Validic operates an API platform that links mobile health apps and consumer devices to healthcare organizations such as hospitals and insurers. The platform aggregates individual health data recorded via mobile apps and devices ranging from the Nike Fuel Band to in-home blood pressure monitors. By simplifying data collection, Validic opens new doors for remote patient monitoring and preventative healthcare. The company plans to deploy the platform to over 20 million people by the first quarter of 2014. Financially, Validic closed a $5 million Series A round co-led by Greycroft Partners and SJF Ventures. The company is based in Durham, NC. Validic is a Durham, NC-based provider of a technology platform for accessing data from mobile health and in-home devices, wearables and patient healthcare applications. The platform connects customers — providers, pharmaceutical companies, payers, wellness companies and health systems — to mHealth technologies to help coordinate care, improve patient engagement and manage populations. The company closed a $1.25M convertible note and has now raised $2.1M in total. Management said it will use the funding to grow and expand the business. The company is led by co-founder and CEO Ryan Beckland. In conjunction with the raise, Validic hired John Turnburke as senior vice president of business development, Chris Edwards as senior vice president of marketing, and Ben Clark as vice president of operations. Validic operates an API platform that connects individual health data from mobile apps and devices to healthcare organizations. The platform links data sources ranging from consumer wearables like the Nike Fuel Band to in-home blood pressure monitors. Customers include hospitals, health insurers and other healthcare organizations that consume patient-generated data. The company is led by CEO and co-founder Ryan Beckland. Validic recently secured external funding and has commercial traction, evidenced by a contract with Viverae to integrate Validic data feeds into Viverae's Health Management System. The company is based in Durham, North Carolina.

Participated · Series A · Apr 2020

Dorsata launched into the market in late 2017 and offers a maternity-care-management tool used by OBGYNs for documentation, care plans, and order entry. The product is deeply integrated with electronic medical records, ingesting clinical data and running it through a rules engine informed by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists to produce precise plans of care. The company positions its tool as a partner to providers in the exam room, aiming to reduce variations in medical care and prevent complications. Dorsata plans to use new funding to integrate into additional EHR systems, expand to new providers and patients, and support ongoing product development. Management has said the capital will help launch a first pilot customer on NextGen within the next 30 days and enable continued investment in its core product suite and future EHR integrations. Dorsata provides a software platform that enables clinicians to create, distribute and review clinical care pathways and improve collaboration. The platform is used daily by over 1,500 clinicians to reduce time spent on documentation and data entry. The company is led by CEO David Fairbrothers and is involved in platform rollouts at Barnes-Jewish in St. Louis and Penn Medicine in Philadelphia. Dorsata raised $1.1M in seed funding to support growth. The company plans to use the funds to hire full-stack software engineers and business development professionals and to grow its community of clinicians. A 5 Cap Ventures partner, Peter Hotz, joined Dorsata’s board in conjunction with the funding.

Participated · Series B · May 2019

Paradigm Diagnostics develops the Paradigm Cancer Diagnostic (PCDx), which uses proprietary sequencing, bioinformatics and technology to identify evidence-based treatment options that may improve a cancer patient’s progression-free survival. The company delivers comprehensive next-generation sequencing results, including mutational load, from a single slide and returns results in 3–5 business days. Led by co-founder, chairman and CEO David Mallery, Paradigm emphasizes rapid, clinically actionable genomic reporting. The recently announced financing will support rapid commercialization of the PCDx test. The article does not disclose revenue or user metrics. The company is based in Phoenix, AZ. Paradigm Diagnostics is a Phoenix, AZ-based developer of cancer diagnostic tests. It has developed PCDx, a clinical-grade NGS-based test designed to identify genomic and proteomic alterations in tumor DNA, RNA and protein to inform personalized cancer treatment. PCDx interrogates the most relevant genomic targets at over 5,000x average depth of coverage and reports 72 therapeutic associations, with results typically delivered in 4-5 business days. The company intends to use the funds from the Series B first close to build out its commercial team and establish research collaborations. The company is led by David Mallery, President and CEO.