Participated · Series G · Dec 2022

Snyk builds a Developer Security Platform that integrates into developer workflows to secure code, open source dependencies, and cloud usage. The company emphasizes a developer-first approach to increase developer productivity and enable security teams to collaborate with engineering. Snyk reports more than 2,500 customers worldwide and cites customer outcomes including security spend consolidation, developer productivity gains, and risk reduction. It recently announced a new integration with ServiceNow Vulnerability Response to surface Snyk open‑source findings into ServiceNow workflows. Snyk positions this work as central to advancing enterprise DevSecOps and accelerating secure digital transformation. The company announced a $196.5M Series G in late 2022 and is continuing product and partnership expansion. Snyk is a Boston, MA-based developer security company that offers a Developer Security Platform for developers and security teams. The platform automatically integrates with a developer’s workflow and is purpose-built for security teams to collaborate with development teams. It secures critical components of applications from code to cloud, driving increased developer productivity, revenue growth, customer satisfaction, cost savings and an improved security posture. Snyk is used by 2,300+ customers worldwide, including Asurion, Google, Intuit, MongoDB, New Relic, Revolut and Salesforce. In December 2022 Snyk raised $196.5M in Series G funding at a $7.4 billion valuation. The company intends to use the funds to accelerate growth and to enhance and expand its Developer Security Platform both organically and inorganically via strategic acquisition. Snyk provides a Developer Security Platform that automatically integrates with developers' workflows and is purpose-built for security teams to collaborate with development teams to secure applications from code to cloud. The company is led by CEO Peter McKay and is based in Boston, MA. Snyk serves 1,200 customers worldwide, including Asurion, Google, Intuit, MongoDB, New Relic, Revolut and Salesforce. It raised $530M in a Series F at an $8.5 billion valuation, with the transaction including both primary and secondary offerings and more than $300M of new capital. Snyk intends to use the funds to accelerate product innovation and development, introduce enhancements to its Developer Security Platform, add new workflow integrations, improve functionality and launch new features. The company has recently expanded its leadership team with hires including incoming Chief Revenue Officer Dino DiMarino, Chief People Officer Adriana Bokel Herde, Chief Marketing and Customer Experience Officer Jeff Yoshimura, CIO Erica Geil and VP APJ Sales Shaun McLagan. Snyk provides a Cloud Native Application Security Platform, a developer-first solution that delivers security visibility and remediation for application code, open-source libraries, container infrastructure and infrastructure as code. The platform is built on a proprietary vulnerability database maintained by an expert security research team and powers strategic partners such as AWS, Datadog, Docker, Dynatrace, IBM Cloud, Rapid7, Red Hat and Trend Micro. Snyk works with global customers of all sizes to enable developers to automatically integrate security into existing workflows. The company closed a $300M Series E that included both primary and secondary offerings and injected $175M of new capital into the business, valuing Snyk at $4.7 billion post-money. Snyk has raised $470M to date and intends to use the new funds to expand its business reach. The company also announced several senior hires and two new board appointments concurrent with the financing. Snyk builds security into the development process, offering tools that scan code commits and git repositories to surface vulnerabilities rather than relegating security to separate teams. The company uses an open-source product as a top-of-funnel to drive interest in its platform. Snyk's annual recurring revenue is growing 275% year over year, and the startup has accelerated hiring — adding 100 employees in the last 12 months and reaching 375 employees with plans to add another 100. Company leadership says the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated customers' shifts to the cloud and cloud-native applications, increasing demand for its developer-centric security approach. CEO Peter McKay, who joined in 2018, emphasizes diversity initiatives including unconscious bias training and executive pledges on hiring. Founded in 2015, the company has attracted significant investor interest as it scales its product and go-to-market.

Participated · Series B · Jan 2022

Metagenomi is described in the article as a gene editing startup. The company recently completed an initial public offering. That IPO raised $94 million. The article does not provide details on the company’s product pipeline, operating metrics, investors, founding year, or location. The mention of Metagenomi appeared as a brief item in a biotech news roundup. Metagenomi develops next-generation gene editing systems and a proprietary metagenomics-powered discovery platform to find and adapt novel cellular machinery for therapeutic use. Its toolbox aims to produce ultra-small, highly specific editors with reduced immune risk for in vivo applications. The company is advancing wholly owned lead therapeutic programs through preclinical development toward clinical proof-of-concept and has initiated nonhuman primate in vivo gene editing studies. Metagenomi plans to nominate additional therapeutic targets to expand its pipeline using an automated discovery engine and its versatile gene editing toolbox. It cites successful partnerships with Moderna and Ionis Pharmaceuticals and reports a healthy cash runway to support near-term milestones. The company states its goal is to develop potentially curative therapeutics that can edit DNA where current technologies cannot. Metagenomi leverages a proprietary metagenomics-powered discovery platform to identify and adapt naturally evolved gene editing systems that are ultra-small, efficient, and highly specific. The company develops a toolbox of next-generation gene editing systems intended to enable edits where current technologies cannot, with applications across in vivo and ex vivo therapeutic programs. Metagenomi plans to advance its lead gene editing programs through preclinical development and into the clinic and to expand its manufacturing, automation, and AI infrastructure. Its pipeline targets metabolic, cardiovascular, and CNS diseases, as well as immuno-oncology, and the company also intends to make its systems available to partners. The firm emphasizes decreased risk of immune response and high specificity as differentiators for its platforms. Financially, the company has raised a total of $300 million to date. Metagenomi develops proprietary CRISPR-based gene‑editing systems discovered via a metagenomics-powered discovery platform that reveals novel cellular machinery from otherwise unknown organisms. The company adapts these naturally evolved systems into therapeutic tools for partners and to fuel its own pipeline of potentially curative medicines. Metagenomi says its toolbox enables editing where current technologies cannot and aims to match the best technology to unmet medical needs. The recent Series A extension will support expansion of the team and development of the company’s therapeutic pipeline. Leadership highlights plans to advance both in vivo and ex vivo therapies toward the clinic. The company frames its goal as revolutionizing gene editing to benefit patients worldwide.

Participated · Series C · Jan 2022

Founded in 2014 with operations in South San Francisco and Paris, DNA Script develops Enzymatic DNA Synthesis (EDS) as an alternative to traditional chemical DNA synthesis. The company’s first commercial product is the SYNTAX Platform/System, a benchtop enzymatic synthesis instrument that enables labs to print synthetic nucleic acids on demand. SYNTAX is positioned to let researchers iterate more rapidly by removing multi‑day waits for third‑party oligo providers. DNA Script says the platform targets genomics and molecular biology applications and aims to increase access to oligo manufacturing. The company frames SYNTAX as a step toward a new paradigm for DNA and RNA synthesis and to transform life‑sciences research. Financially, DNA Script completed a second tranche of its Series C, raising $200 million and bringing total capital raised to $315 million since founding. DNA Script is pioneering enzymatic DNA synthesis (EDS) and is commercializing the SYNTAX benchtop DNA printer to put DNA writing capabilities directly in research and clinical labs. The SYNTAX system is intended to make writing DNA as simple and straightforward as reading DNA, enabling same‑day synthesis of oligonucleotides for faster experiment iteration and diagnostic development. The company plans testing with a select group of partners, a beta program later this year, and to accept orders for the printer next year. Recent funding will accelerate development of its suite of EDS technologies, support the commercial launch of SYNTAX, and help ramp commercial and manufacturing capabilities. DNA Script is also participating in the Molecular Encoding Consortium with the Broad Institute and Harvard University to develop deployable DNA data storage and retrieval technology, a project funded by a $23 million IARPA grant. The company was founded in 2014 in Paris. DNA Script develops enzymatic DNA and RNA synthesis technology to produce rapid, affordable, high-quality synthetic nucleic acids. The company has demonstrated the ability to synthesize 200 nucleotides of DNA with high accuracy, showcased at an academic conference. Its platform combines novel biochemical processes and nucleotide chemistry intended to enable genome-scale synthesis and same-day results. DNA Script positions its technology for applications across drug discovery, diagnostics, agriculture, industrial and food technologies, and DNA data storage. The company was founded in 2014 in Paris. The Series B financing announced in this article provides additional capital to further develop its enzymatic platform and expand applications. DNA Script develops a novel enzymatic process for de novo DNA and RNA synthesis that mimics natural biochemical mechanisms. The company’s platform aims to produce long DNA constructs with higher quality, faster turnaround and reduced use of harsh chemicals compared with traditional chemical synthesis. DNA Script positions this technology to address unmet manufacturing needs in cell and gene therapy and to accelerate genomics research. The company cites potential applications across therapeutics, sustainable chemical production, improved crops and DNA data storage. DNA Script was founded in 2014 in Paris and has been described as aiming to become a global leader in biomanufacturing for cell and gene therapy. Financially, the company has raised $27M to date and was recently awarded $2.7M in non-dilutive financing from Bpifrance. DNA Script develops enzymatic DNA and RNA synthesis technology that mimics natural processes to produce de novo synthetic nucleic acids. Its biochemical approach aims to deliver faster turnaround, higher quality, and greater manufacturing flexibility than traditional chemical synthesis while minimizing the use of harsh chemicals. The company positions itself to accelerate innovation across life sciences, with applications in therapeutics, sustainable chemical production, improved crops, and DNA data storage. Management says recent breakthroughs on the platform have advanced development and the company aims to become a global leader in synthetic DNA manufacturing. The synthetic nucleic acids market exceeds $1 billion annually and DNA Script is focused on scaling to meet demand. Financially, the company has raised $24M to date, including a $13M Series A in September 2017 led by Illumina Ventures.

Participated · Equity · Nov 2021

Model Medicines is an AI/ML drug discovery company that leverages a historical compendium of drug development data and a drug- and disease-agnostic discovery platform to create Phase II/III-ready drug candidates. The company has developed a pipeline of patent-pending therapeutics across oncology, infectious diseases, gastric disorders, neurological disorders, and weight disorders. It recently used its platform to discover MDL-001, a once-daily oral infectious disease candidate moved from concept to IND-enabling studies in less than 12 months and at a fraction of traditional development costs. Model Medicines also identified and validated over 30 in vitro disease-model drug candidates for novel infectious disease targets discovered by Sanford Burnham Prebys and virologist Dr. Sumit Chanda. Following the $4.1M financing, the company plans to bolster its internal therapeutic pipeline, expand R&D to broaden platform functionality and enhance discovery efficacy, and recruit scientific, clinical, technical, and business leaders. The company is led by CEO Daniel Haders II, Ph.D., and is based in San Diego, CA.

Participated · Equity · Nov 2021

Shoreline Biosciences is developing intelligently designed, off-the-shelf induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived NK and macrophage cellular immunotherapies. The company focuses on standardized, targeted cell products including next-generation, more persistent iPSC-derived NK cells and macrophage-cell therapies. Shoreline is advancing proprietary iPSC differentiation methods, genetic reprogramming of disease-relevant pathways, and plans to create NK-specific CARs, switchable CAR-NK engagers, and macrophage-specific CARs. It targets both hematologic malignancies and solid tumors and has established strategic partnerships with Kite (a Gilead Company) and BeiGene. Shoreline also reports contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) partnerships to support manufacturing. The company is headquartered in San Diego, CA and is well-capitalized to continue pipeline advancement. Shoreline Biosciences is developing intelligently designed allogeneic, off-the-shelf natural killer (NK) and macrophage cellular immunotherapies derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC). The company focuses on standardized and targeted NK- and macrophage-based cell therapies for cancer and other serious diseases. It plans to use new funding to accelerate advancement of its proprietary iPSC platform and next-generation NK and macrophage cell therapy programs. Research efforts supported by the financing include work to create potent and persistent NK cell-specific chimeric antigen receptors (CARs), switchable CAR-NK cell engagers, and macrophage-specific CARs. Shoreline has entered a strategic relationship with the Advanced Cell Therapy Laboratory of UC San Diego to secure GMP manufacturing of its cell therapy products. The company was co-founded by Dan Kaufman, M.D., Ph.D., along with Steven Holtzman, William Sandborn, M.D., and Kleanthis G. Xanthopoulos, Ph.D.