The Venture Codex

Participated · Series B · Oct 2025

DermaSensor’s core product is a wireless, handheld optical-spectroscopy device that assesses skin lesions at a cellular level, delivering automated skin-cancer detection for use in primary care settings. Cleared by the FDA via the De Novo pathway in early 2024, it is the only automated skin-cancer detection device available to U.S. primary-care physicians. Since its mid-2024 commercial launch, clinicians have scanned more than 20,000 lesions with the device, and usage is growing at an average quarterly rate of 117%. Published studies report sensitivity between 96-100% and specificity up to 77% for pigmented lesions, performance that has been highlighted in Nature and honored by TIME’s Best Inventions of 2024. The company’s AI training dataset has already grown several-fold beyond the original 2,000 lesions, and management cites approximately 2,000 suspicious cancers detected for referral to dermatology. Beyond the cleared algorithm, DermaSensor has three active pipeline programs that will run on the same hardware. To date the company has attracted $43 million in total investment, supporting both commercial expansion and additional clinical evidence generation.

Participated · Series A · Dec 2023

Cambium fuses artificial intelligence, chemical informatics, and high-performance computing to create entirely new monomers and polymers hundreds of times faster than traditional R&D methods. The company then manufactures, tests, and scales these materials in-house on proprietary, aerospace-qualified production lines located in the U.S., the U.K., and Europe, enabling rapid prototyping and immediate scale-up for supply-chain security. Its product portfolio already includes ultra-high-temperature polymers, carbon-carbon thermal protection systems (ApexShield 1000™), machining-ready composite billets for solid-rocket motors, and metal-to-composite adhesives for air and space structures. A common platform approach allows Cambium to extend into future verticals such as optical and directed-energy protection and high-temperature foams. The recent acquisition of SHD gives Cambium one of the world’s largest qualified prepreg, film, and adhesive capacities, strengthening its global manufacturing footprint. Active contracts on multiple defense Programs of Record and dual-use applications position Cambium as a preferred advanced-materials partner across land, sea, air, and space. Investors describe the business as driving “fast, profitable growth,” though specific revenue or user metrics were not disclosed. The new capital will fund expansion of its distributed, secure manufacturing network and accelerate its product pipeline.

Participated · Seed · Mar 2023

Autio offers a location-based audio storytelling app that uses a user’s GPS location to deliver narrated stories about nearby landmarks, cities, and towns. The company was founded by Woody Sears, Bill Werlin, and Kevin Costner and is based in Santa Barbara. It originally launched in August 2020 under the name HearHere. On March 29, 2023, Autio announced it had raised $5.9 million in a funding round. The round was led by iHeartMedia. The article does not disclose additional operating metrics, valuation, or other participating investors. HearHere is a GPS-powered audio entertainment app that delivers immersive, location-based storytelling to road-trip travelers. Launched in August 2020 and based in Santa Barbara, the app pushes three- to five-minute stories to users as they drive, surfacing history, natural landscape, sports, music and local insights. HearHere currently has more than 100,000 registered users and offers over 8,880 stories across the continental United States; free accounts include five stories while paid subscriptions cost $36 per year for unlimited access. The company maintains a 26-person content team of researchers, writers, editors and narrators (primarily contractors), and actor Kevin Costner joined in 2020 as a co-founder, narrator and investor. HearHere plans to expand its content library, add offline listening, launch an Android app, and extend availability to Alaska and Hawaii later this year. The new funding will also be used to grow the team and expand functionality. HearHere produces short (three- to five-minute) narrated audio stories that trigger with users’ permission while they drive, surfacing local history, sports, music and lesser-known points of interest. The company has banked 5,500 stories across 22 states and plans to be nationwide by summer. It operates a content team of 22 researchers, writers, editors and narrators and currently has a five-person core team. HearHere offers five free stories per month and unlimited streaming for $35.99 per year. The roadmap includes opening to third-party contributors and incorporating AI and machine learning for language support and better personalization. HearHere has formed distribution and promotion partnerships with AAA, Camping World, Outdoorsy, RVshare and Cruise America.

Participated · Seed · Apr 2022

Sigo Seguros operates a digital-first platform underwriting non-standard auto insurance, enabling customers to buy policies in minutes from their phones and avoid onerous downpayment fees. The company targets working-class drivers and initially focuses on Hispanic and Latino communities by offering a full bilingual experience in Spanish. Its underwriting technology has produced profitable loss ratios, distinguishing it from other auto insurtech cycles. Sigo reported over 500% growth in Gross Written Premiums last year and payback periods measured in weeks. The financing is intended to fund expansion into new markets with large immigrant communities and limited suitable insurance options. As part of the investment, Rafael Varela will join Sigo’s board of directors. Sigo Seguros provides bilingual, mobile‑first auto insurance tailored to immigrant and working‑class drivers, with a focus on Latino and Spanish‑speaking communities. The company’s product eliminates additional fees and biased rating factors such as credit score and employment, and offers a bilingual end‑to‑end customer experience. It launched a proprietary product in August 2021 and is headquartered in Texas; the company was founded in 2019. Sigo reports it exceeded prior‑year sales in just the first half of 2023 and sees payback periods measured in weeks and months. The company plans to double its team by the end of the year and use new funding to expand customer‑facing technology, continue digitizing underwriting, and expand into new markets with large immigrant communities. Sigo Seguros is an Austin, TX-based insurtech founded in 2019 that provides affordable auto insurance for Spanish-speaking and immigrant communities. It offers a fully bilingual, mobile-first platform that simplifies the insurance experience and launched its inclusive auto insurance product in August 2021. The company provides transparent pricing without fees or biased rating factors and offers coverage to customers with foreign IDs or licenses. Sigo currently serves Texas and plans to expand into more states in 2023. It recently raised $5.4m in seed funding to expand operations and broaden access to equitable insurance for immigrant and working-class populations. The company has made key hires, including a Vice President of Insurance and a Senior Product Manager, and will continue hiring across insurance, technology, and business functions. Sigo is a managing general agency founded in 2019 that provides auto insurance to underserved immigrant and Latinx customers through a tech-enabled, bilingual, mobile-first direct-to-consumer platform. Headquartered in Jersey City, NJ, the company currently offers coverage in California and Texas. Sigo raised $1.5M in seed funding to support its growth. The company plans to use the funds to continue expanding operations and broaden the reach of its auto insurance product among immigrant and Latinx communities. The startup was founded by Néstor Hugo Solari and Júlio Erdos. No operating metrics were disclosed in the article.

Led · Seed · May 2021

Mill It is a plant-based food company that makes dairy alternative products from ancient grains. Using a proprietary fermentation method, the company developed what it describes as the first plant-based buttermilk. It plans to use that buttermilk to create several new plant-based products and offerings, including salad dressings. The product focus centers on leveraging ancient grains and its fermentation process to create dairy-alternative ingredients. Financially, Mill It recently raised a $765,000 Series Seed round led by Kern Venture Group. Investors in the round included Ariel Savannah Angel Partners and participants from the Santa Barbara Angel Alliance and Tech Coast Angels.