Participated · Series B · Sep 2025

Mercy BioAnalytics develops extracellular vesicle–based liquid biopsy tests aimed at the early detection of cancer. Its patented Mercy Halo platform uses biomarker co-localization to interrogate abundant blood-based extracellular vesicles that carry cancer signatures from their cell of origin. The company’s initial focus is the early detection of ovarian and lung cancers, and its blood-based ovarian cancer test portfolio is designed to detect pre-clinical high grade serous ovarian carcinoma in post-menopausal women. Mercy says the Mercy Halo ovarian cancer screening test shows unprecedented sensitivity and specificity in a blinded evaluation of samples from a randomized controlled trial. The company plans to commercialize its ovarian cancer tests and expand the Mercy Halo portfolio to include multi-cancer and lung cancer screening tests. Mercy is based in Waltham, Mass., and recently closed a financing to support commercialization and portfolio expansion. Mercy BioAnalytics is advancing the Mercy Halo extracellular vesicle‑based liquid biopsy platform to enable early detection of cancer. Mercy Halo seeks high clinical sensitivity and specificity by simultaneously detecting multiple cancer‑related biomarkers co‑localized on individual tumor‑derived extracellular vesicles. The test can be run on a very small volume of serum or plasma and uses a simple PCR‑based readout. The company closed an oversubscribed $41 million Series A to advance development and commercialization, with an initial focus on high‑risk lung cancer screening. Proceeds will also support clinical programs in ovarian cancer and the development of a broader portfolio of early‑detection tests. Preliminary data presented at ASCO, AACR and EDCC demonstrated promising performance for detecting Stage I and II lung and ovarian cancers, and Mercy is planning larger independent validation studies.

Participated · Seed · Feb 2025

Edacious operates a next‑generation food lab and a science‑based software platform that measure and map nutrient density across whole foods and ingredients. The company assays more than 200 compounds essential to human health to reveal how genetics, soil health, and management practices drive nutritional differences. Edacious reports that nutrient levels can vary up to 10x within groups of similar foods (for example, apples) and says its tools measure and map nutrient density 10 times faster and cheaper than incumbent approaches. Its lab replaces incomplete and costly testing with a streamlined, affordable analysis of vitamins, minerals, fats, proteins, and carbohydrates, while the platform enables users to compare, benchmark, and share nutrition data. The company positions its insights for producers, CPG brands, genetics companies, ingredient manufacturers, retailers, and policymakers to enable product differentiation and more informed choices across the food system.

Participated · Equity · Nov 2024

EarthOptics leverages advances in soil-sensing technologies, genomics, and data science to deliver predictive insights into chemical, physical, and biological soil properties. It combines lab-based analysis with field-based sensors to give farmers and ranchers actionable recommendations to optimize spending and unlock sustainable farming opportunities. The company completed a strategic merger with Pattern Ag, combining EarthOptics’ proprietary field-based sensing technologies with Pattern Ag’s lab-based analysis to offer comprehensive soil data. Led by CEO Lars Dyrud, EarthOptics operates offices in Raleigh, North Carolina; Emeryville, California; Arlington and Blacksburg, Virginia; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Fayetteville, Arkansas, and maintains two laboratories in Emeryville and Memphis, Tennessee. The company intends to use new funding to accelerate technological innovation, broaden its geographic reach, and consolidate its position as an authoritative source for soil insights. EarthOptics develops next-generation soil-sensing technologies that combine ground-based sensors, satellites, physical soil samples, machine learning models, and agronomic expertise to deliver detailed soil measurements. The company's platform provides insights to help farmers optimize fertilizer applications, inform tillage decisions, and quantify carbon sequestration. EarthOptics plans to use its latest funding to expand access to its tools and deliver hyper-accurate soil insights. Founded in 2018 and based in Arlington, VA, the company serves growers and ranchers seeking data-driven land-management decisions. The company is led by CEO Lars Dyrud. The article reports a recent financing that will support its growth and product expansion efforts. EarthOptics has developed an imaging suite that uses ground-penetrating radar and electromagnetic induction to produce deep maps of soil physical and chemical composition. Its commercial products, GroundOwl and C-Mapper (C for carbon), reconcile no-contact sensor data with traditional lab samples via machine learning trained on tens of thousands of ground-truth measurements. The hardware can be mounted on ordinary tractors or trucks and pulls readings every few feet, reducing physical sampling from hundreds of samples to dozens. The company’s outputs can be used to create meter-scale treatment maps or to feed variable-depth robotic field machinery such as smart tillers. Management positions the product as a cheaper, faster, and more precise alternative to traditional soil sampling and as foundational data for automated and robotic farming. Financially, EarthOptics raised a $10.3M A round to scale its two existing products and to develop a moisture-mapping product.

Led · Seed · Oct 2024

Holobiome has built the Microbiome Vault, a diverse collection of human gut bacteria, and performs target-directed screening to map how the microbiome influences health. The company uses large datasets from these screens to inform development of novel consumer products and drug candidates. Its initial focus is on the gut–brain axis, with a lead program that is a next‑generation probiotic targeting biology relevant to depression. Holobiome advances additional programs via partnerships with major consumer, food, and pharmaceutical partners in areas including stress and pain. The company was launched in 2018 and is headquartered in Boston. Holobiome has secured substantial non-dilutive funding (including NIH and TRISH grants) and recently closed an institutional seed round to support clinical advancement and platform expansion.

Participated · Equity · Oct 2023

Triplebar’s core product is its Hyper‑Throughput™ screening platform, described as a “microprocessor for biology” that integrates hardware, software, biology and biochemistry to miniaturize and accelerate evolution. The platform is used to develop biological systems for low-cost, low-footprint animal proteins, improve performance of animal cell lines for cellular meat, and discover novel therapeutic biologic candidates. Triplebar positions itself as a multi-product, multi-vertical product design engine serving food, nutrition and healthcare verticals, including bioactives, functional food proteins, cultured meat, and novel biologics. The company works with commercial partners and corporate collaborators to scale manufacturing via fermentation and cell-line optimization without genetic modification. Recent partnerships include collaboration with Umami Bioworks on cultivated seafood cell lines and with FrieslandCampina to co-develop scalable nutritional ingredients. Triplebar announced $20M in new funding to expand its product portfolio across food and biopharmaceuticals.