Participated · Seed · Oct 2024

QarboTech develops QarboGrow, a liquid biostimulant concentrate that uses carbon quantum dots to penetrate leaves, optimize photon absorption and electron transfer in chloroplasts, and improve plant health and yield. The company supplies QarboGrow as a concentrate farmers mix with water and spray onto foliage; it can be integrated into existing spray regimens and mixed with other crop inputs. QarboTech sources carbon quantum dots from agricultural waste biochar using a patented extraction process and produces its material in liquid form to reduce nanomaterial handling hazards. The firm has scaled manufacturing from roughly 200 liters per month in a university lab to about 20,000 liters per month at a new facility in Puchong, and expects to reach 100,000 liters by March next year with expansion funded by the recent raise. Product classification and approvals: QarboGrow is classified as a biostimulant, has approvals in Malaysia, and is undergoing regulatory review in Indonesia (likely through end of 2025). Field validation includes 450 hectares of rice with reported tonnage increases of 10–50% and smaller trials (1–10 hectares) across leafy and fruiting vegetables, melon and pineapple; the company claims high ROI for farmers (e.g., $5 returned per $1 spent in rice; up to 10x on lettuces). QarboTech is extending IP protection from its extraction process to application areas and is targeting larger plantations and medium‑scale farms as it collects more trial data. Qarbotech is a Malaysia-based agritech startup. The company was reported to have raised a $700,000 seed round. The round was led by 500 Global. The article does not provide details on Qarbotech's specific product offerings or technology. No operating metrics, valuation, or use of proceeds were disclosed in the coverage. Additional investor names and the firm's future plans were not included in the report.

Participated · Series A · May 2024

Allozymes operates a microfluidics-based platform that screens millions of enzyme variants per day to identify and optimize enzymes for industrial and chemical applications. The company has grown to 32 employees across the U.S., Europe and Singapore and expanded its lab footprint roughly fifteenfold since 2021. Its current throughput reaches up to 20 million enzyme variants screened per day and it is targeting screening 7 billion variants in 2024. Allozymes sells enzyme-optimization services (branded SingZyme) and is developing a broader discovery offering called MultiZyme to design multi-enzyme solutions. The firm is building a proprietary dataset from these experiments and is developing machine-learning models trained on that data to propose new molecules and enzyme candidates. Case studies include bio-identical production routes for phytoene and bisabolol and a grant-backed project to convert plant fibers into soluble sweet fiber. Management says the company is well capitalized after the Series A and may raise a smaller round later this year to expand into pharmaceuticals and open a U.S. office. Allozymes has developed a benchtop microfluidic system that runs reactions in tiny droplets to accelerate enzyme screening, claiming throughput of up to ten million variants per day and greatly reduced costs versus traditional methods. The company sells enzyme engineering as a service rather than the device, tailoring projects from variant optimization to full replacement of chemical processes for industrial customers. Founders Peyman Salehian (CEO) and Akbar Vahidi (CTO) developed the technology during three years of research at the National University of Singapore, which holds the patent and exclusively licenses it to Allozymes. The team positions the platform against players like Codexis, Arzeda, and Ginkgo Bioworks by emphasizing much higher speed and lower cost per R&D dollar. Allozymes also plans to monetize the data generated from large-scale screens and may occasionally take part ownership of resulting IP or products. The company raised a $5 million seed round to commercialize the platform and scale customer projects.

Led · Series A · May 2010

Woozworld operates a user-generated social game and virtual world aimed at tweens (ages 9–14), enabling users to build entire worlds, virtual businesses, restaurants, hotels and games. The company intends to expand its services to mobile platforms and boost marketing to grow reach. Woozworld raised $6 million in new funding from Telesystem, iNovia Capital, and unnamed angel investors. It has registered more than 7 million avatars and more than 14 million virtual spaces created in 18 months. The user base has more than tripled over the last six months; Woozworld reports over 15 million monthly unique visitors from more than 180 countries and more than 76 million monthly page views. Bernard Gershon, former senior vice president and general manager at The Walt Disney Company and current president of GershonMedia, has joined the company’s board of advisors. Woozworld is a Web 2.0 virtual world for tweens that lets users build a shared world, design virtual spaces, set up activities and run virtual businesses. The service claims over 350,000 members and one million user-generated virtual spaces (up from about 50 at the end of last year). Launched in December 2009 and incubated by Tribal Nova, Woozworld will spin off from Tribal Nova following the new funding. The company raised $3 million in Series A financing led by iNovia Capital and ID Capital (a division of Telesystem Group). Proceeds are intended to continue development and promotion of the platform for tween users. Chris Arsenault of iNovia Capital and Daniel Cyr of ID Capital will join the spin-off’s board of directors.