The Venture Codex

Participated · Series A · May 2025

Vivodyne operates a robotics-plus-AI platform that grows thousands of fully functional human tissues and generates large-scale human multi-omic datasets to improve preclinical prediction. Its system produces imaging, single-cell transcriptomics, and proteomics from more than 10,000 independent human-tissue experiments per robotic run and can generate data from tens of thousands of complex tissues. The platform grows tissues a thousand times larger than typical organoids, supports over 20 distinct human tissue types, and models diseases including cancer, fibrosis, autoimmunity, and infections. Vivodyne’s AI actively designs and optimizes candidate therapies across modalities such as small molecules, biologics, mRNA lipid nanoparticles, and cell therapies. The company reports that most of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies already use its technology and is positioning to replace animal models across the preclinical pipeline. To scale capacity and meet surging pharma demand, Vivodyne is opening a 23,000 sq ft fully robotic laboratory in South San Francisco. Vivodyne builds an automated platform that cultivates, doses, samples, images, and analyzes lab-grown human organ tissues to produce large, human-predictive datasets powering a clinically predictive AI stack. The company has bioengineered over 20 types of human organ tissues that mimic native human physiology and can cultivate and analyze more than 10,000 individual human tissues at a time using robotic automation. Its AI pipelines identify novel therapeutic targets and predict patient responses to drugs, and Vivodyne has used the platform across modalities including small molecules, biologics, mRNA lipid nanoparticles, and cell therapies. The company says its datasets are larger and more human-predictive than conventional preclinical models, addressing a key bottleneck in drug development. Vivodyne reports collaborations with the majority of the top 10 large pharma companies and intends to advance its discovery pipeline and multimodal AI models with new funding. The founders, University of Pennsylvania bioengineers Andrei Georgescu and Dan Huh, lead the company’s technology and research efforts.

Led · Equity · Feb 2024

Underscore District operates as an accelerator and operator for fashion brands, with a portfolio that includes Magliano, GR10K, Piumestudio and Wok Store. The company provides a comprehensive set of services to its brands, spanning finance, operations, merchandising and e‑commerce to support sustainable growth. It aims to build an entrepreneurial fashion hub powered by a young team of more than 20 professionals with backgrounds from private equity to finance. Underscore uses capital and operational infrastructure to scale participating labels and expand its portfolio of companies. A notable past investment is Magliano (late 2022), where the group holds the majority of the distribution company tied to the label. The firm emphasizes sustainable development of new talent and brands as a core objective.

Led · Seed · Feb 2023

PteroDynamics develops the patented Transwing® VTOL aircraft that folds its wings to transition between vertical and winged horizontal flight, combining fixed-wing speed and range with VTOL capability. Its current fourth-generation P4 Transwing has a maximum takeoff weight of 89 pounds and a maximum payload of 15 pounds. In 2025 the U.S. Navy awarded the company a contract to design and develop the larger fifth-generation P5 Transwing, which is specified to have a maximum takeoff weight of 330 pounds, carry a 50-pound payload, and achieve a range of over 400 nautical miles at 70 knots. Initial flight testing of the P5 begins later this summer. PteroDynamics plans to scale engineering, flight testing, and manufacturing to meet growing interest from defense and commercial operators for contested logistics, maritime support, payload delivery to remote locations, and reconnaissance and surveillance.

Participated · Series A · Mar 2021

Novosteo develops and delivers new drugs for the treatment of bone fractures, bone metastasis and infection to reduce morbidity, mortality and loss of mobility and productivity. Its lead candidate, NOV004, has shown promise in live animal studies by accelerating fracture healing when delivered systemically. NOV004 reportedly concentrates at the fracture site while avoiding accumulation in the rest of the body. The company plans to advance NOV004 into clinical development beginning in the first half of 2021. Novosteo was co-founded by Stewart Low and Philip Low of Purdue University. The company is based in Austin, Texas. Novosteo is a Purdue University spin-out developing a novel injectable-targeted drug that concentrates at fracture sites after systemic administration to accelerate and improve bone healing. The company has completed preclinical studies showing the targeted drug heals bone fractures faster and better than the same untargeted drug. Those research findings were published in a June 2018 Department of Defense Spotlight article authored by the company’s co‑founders. Novosteo is co‑founded by Philip S. Low and Stewart A. Low. The recent investment is intended to help build out business infrastructure to compete for talent and capital in global markets. No operating metrics (revenue/users) are disclosed in the article.

Participated · Series A · Jul 2020

OrthoFX develops digital and hybrid orthodontic services combining physical products with digital workflows. The company plans to use recent funding to expand research and development and build a suite of hybrid digital and physical orthodontic offerings. Management intends to deploy a large portion of the capital to establish a development centre in Kochi Infopark, Kerala to access local talent. The move to Kerala is framed as part of the company’s broader expansion and product development strategy. OrthoFX’s public statements emphasize innovation and becoming a preferred global brand in digital orthodontics.