Participated · Series C · May 2024

Zenas BioPharma is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company based in Waltham, MA, focused on inflammation and immunology-directed (I&I) therapies. Led by CEO Lonnie Moulder, the company operates clinical development capabilities globally and is advancing a portfolio of autoimmune therapeutics. Its lead candidate, obexelimab, is a bifunctional monoclonal antibody designed to bind both CD19 and FcγRIIb to inhibit B cells, plasmablasts, and CD19-expressing plasma cells. Obexelimab is being evaluated across multiple programs, including a Phase 3 registration-directed trial in IgG4-Related Disease, two planned Phase 2 randomized controlled trials in Multiple Sclerosis and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, and an ongoing open-label Phase 2 in Warm Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia. The company intends to use new funding to advance ongoing mid- to late-stage clinical development programs for obexelimab and its broader I&I portfolio. Zenas BioPharma is a biopharmaceutical company focused on advancing and commercializing immune-based therapies. Led by Lonnie Moulder and based in Waltham, MA, its lead candidate is obexelimab, an investigational phase III‑stage bifunctional antibody that inhibits CD19‑expressing B‑cell lineages without depleting the cells. Zenas acquired exclusive worldwide rights to obexelimab from Xencor. In early‑stage clinical studies obexelimab demonstrated inhibition of B‑cell function and produced an encouraging treatment effect in patients with multiple autoimmune diseases. The company plans to use new funding to initiate a global Phase 3 registration trial in patients with IgG4‑related disease in late 2022 and to progress other global autoimmune disease programs into clinical development in 2023. IgG4‑RD is described in the article as a chronic, serious fibroinflammatory disease that typically affects multiple organs.

Participated · Equity · Mar 2023

EDITED provides an AI-driven merchandising experience platform that connects business analytics with external market data to help retailers make faster, data-backed product lifecycle decisions. The platform delivers Market and Enterprise Intelligence and automation to help retailers increase margins, generate more sales, and improve predictability for merchandisers. Brands such as Columbia and Inditex use EDITED’s Retail Intelligence products to expedite insights into action. EDITED reported strong, capital-efficient growth last year despite difficult market conditions. The company plans to use new funding to accelerate product development, invest in partnerships, and pursue opportunistic M&A to expand its value proposition to customers. Edited provides a retail tech platform that tracks over 375 million products and 2.5 billion SKUs across the apparel, beauty, and homeware sectors. The platform uses AI, analytics and image and text recognition to understand pricing, discounts, assortments and trends in real time. It is used daily by approximately 50,000 retail professionals across more than 200 brands, serving customers from fast-fashion to luxury, including PUMA, Tommy Hilfiger, Diesel, Ann Taylor and the Arcadia Group. Edited was founded in 2009 by Geoff Watts and Julia Fowler and is based in London. The company recently raised funding to support product innovation, accelerate hiring and expand its global presence. To date the company has raised $34m in total capital. EDITD provides real-time market data and analytics for the fashion and apparel industry. Its platform analyzes more than 50 million product SKUs, tracks over 4,000 global retailers’ webpages with day-to-day updates, and maintains a searchable database of more than 2,000 blogs and 600 million social opinions. The company translates these data into actionable insights to help retailers set price architecture, product assortment and positioning, and avoid investing in the wrong products or quantities. EDITD is used daily by retailers and brands including ASOS, Gap, Gilt Groupe, Missguided, Target and Motel across five continents. Led by CEO Geoff Watts, the company plans to use the funds to hire in key strategic areas in its London, Melbourne and recently opened New York offices. EDITD raised $4.4m in funding from Index Ventures, new investor Frog Capital and other existing backers. EDITD provides a retail monitoring and analytics platform for the fashion industry, mining the social web (blogs, Tweets, Facebook) and the wider web to measure what’s being talked about and what’s selling. The company aggregates more than two million products and captures about 300,000 new opinions daily to identify emerging trends. Brands and retailers use EDITD’s data to improve production planning, pricing, inventory management and competitor intelligence. EDITD positions itself as a big-data play enabled by the rise of social media. The company plans to further develop its product, increase the amount of data analyzed, enter new markets and expand its team globally. The recent $1.6M seed financing led by Index Ventures provides capital to support those plans.

Participated · Series B · Aug 2021

Refurbed operates an online marketplace in Austria. The company has reached profitability, demonstrating a sustainable business model before seeking additional capital. While the article does not elaborate on specific products or categories offered on the marketplace, Refurbed’s core platform connects buyers and sellers online. The firm’s recent funding indicates it is still in a growth phase despite already operating profitably. No additional operating metrics—such as revenue, user count, or growth rates—were disclosed. Similarly, the article does not mention explicit future expansion plans or target markets. The founders have kept further company details, including investor information, under wraps. Overall, Refurbed stands out for reaching profitability ahead of its latest capital infusion.

Participated · Seed · Jun 2021

EmiSwap is a community‑governed decentralized exchange (DEX) that offers high rewards for liquidity providers and 100% compensation for Ethereum transaction fees in $ESW governance tokens. The platform operates as a DAO in which $ESW holders vote on platform developments and participants are rewarded daily based on trade volume, with additional incentives such as limited‑edition NFT cards, bounty campaigns, and airdrops. EmiSwap received a grant from the NEAR Foundation to build on the NEAR Protocol and will deploy a cross‑chain AMM DEX to leverage NEAR’s sharded architecture for improved scalability. The integration aims to provide lightning‑fast transactions, enhanced security, interoperability, and higher staking yields, and to bring CEX‑style features like limit orders, frozen orders, and delayed executions to the DEX. Token economics include granting $ESW to holders and allocating 0.05% of daily trading commissions to them. The project notes standard KYC for launchpad participants and a restricted‑country list for token sales; EmiSwap is the first project in the EmiDAO alliance alongside several exchanges and partners. EmiSwap is the first community-governed decentralized exchange (DEX) in the EmiDAO ecosystem that combines liquidity incentives with gamified NFT mechanics. The platform advertises high returns for liquidity providers and a 100% refund of Ethereum gas fees paid in $ESW governance tokens. EmiSwap uses a scalable DAO model where $ESW token holders vote on development and participants are rewarded daily based on trade volume. The product roadmap includes utility "Magic Card" NFTs planned for Q3 2021 and a Card Wars tournament slated for Q4 2021, with NFTs usable in auctions and contests. EmiSwap also promotes cross-blockchain compatibility, multi-blockchain interoperability, and an advanced referral program. The project is presented as the first offering of the EmiDAO alliance, whose members are actively involved in product management and support.

Participated · Series B · May 2021

Founded in 2017 and headquartered in the UK, Paysend operates a global digital payments network that connects more than 25 billion endpoints and serves over 12 million customers. The platform supports cross-border transactions in more than 170 countries and has reported increasing payment volumes as it scales internationally. Paysend offers products for both consumers and enterprises and continues to expand its product suite. The company emphasizes development of proprietary technology to underpin its network and product roadmap. Recent funding from an existing investor is intended to accelerate geographic expansion and product launches. Claret Capital cited Paysend’s scalable infrastructure and execution against growth plans as reasons for the follow-on investment.