The Venture Codex

Led · Equity · Jan 2024

Reservoir Neuroscience is an Emeryville, CA-based, early-stage venture-backed biotech led by co-founders Aaron Friedman and Vlad Senatorov. The company is advancing a novel class of drug compounds designed to restore health to the brain’s blood vessels to rejuvenate the aging brain. It targets brain vascular pathology that becomes damaged and dysfunctional with aging and drives inflammation and neurodegenerative disease outcomes. Reservoir positions this vascular pathology as a biomarker that defines a patient segment and a previously untreated target. The firm intends to use its new financing to develop these compounds further. Company leadership states that treating underlying vascular problems could address a major risk factor for neurodegenerative disease and may offer broader brain-health and systemic benefits.

Participated · Equity · Feb 2023

cellvie is a Therapeutic Mitochondria Transplantation (TMT) company based in Zurich, Switzerland, and Houston, TX. The company employs proprietary preparation and delivery techniques to transplant mitochondria directly into compromised cells. The organelles penetrate cell walls through endocytosis and merge with the mitochondrial network to contribute to cells' energy metabolism. Led by co‑founder and CEO Dr. Alexander Schueller and Dr. James McCully, cellvie is developing its technology platform and mitochondria manufacturing capabilities. The company intends to use the financing to accelerate platform development, strengthen the team, and further establish mitochondria manufacturing. Cellvie develops medicines derived from cells by transferring healthy mitochondria to reinvigorate failing cellular energy metabolism. The company, founded in 2018 by James McCully, Alexander Schueller (CEO), Pedro del Nido and Sitaram Emani, is headquartered in Zurich and originated as a Harvard spin‑off. Its core modality, Therapeutic Mitochondria Transfer (TMT), has shown clinical promise in a Boston Children’s Hospital investigation in which 80% of pediatric patients experienced myocardial recovery versus an expected 29%, according to a forthcoming publication. Cellvie is initially pursuing an indication in organ transplantation and received FDA orphan drug designation in 2020. The company plans to productize its technology, expand its pipeline into rejuvenation therapies, and prepare an IND submission for a clinical study in kidney transplantation. Financially, Cellvie recently closed a $5 million financing to support these next steps.

Led · Equity · Apr 2022

Elastrin Therapeutics is a privately held biotechnology company developing therapies to reverse cardiovascular disease by restoring degraded elastin and removing arterial calcification. Its proprietary platform combines particle design with elastin targeting to improve drug efficacy and eliminate side effects. The company’s lead asset, ELT-001, is an EDTA-loaded nanoparticle conjugated with a proprietary monoclonal antibody for the treatment of vascular calcification. Elastrin was founded in 2018 as a spinout from Clemson University, where the underlying technology was developed over a 20-year period. The company is based in Greenville, South Carolina, and says it intends to grow the company and scale the technology. Financially, Elastrin recently closed a $10 million funding round led by Kizoo Technology Capital with participation from Starbloom Capital and SC Launch. Elastrin develops a proprietary platform that removes pathological calcification from sites of degraded elastin to restore suppleness to tissues and organs. Its lead asset is an albumin nanoparticle conjugated with a novel anti-elastin monoclonal antibody aimed at treating heart valve and vascular calcification. The platform targets degraded elastin to deliver therapeutic payloads directly, improving efficacy, reducing systemic side effects, and providing slower release characteristics for better biodistribution. The underlying technology was developed over ~20 years at Clemson University by Dr. Naren Vyavahare in collaboration with Dr. Charles Rice. The company is South Carolina–based and has received seed funding from Kizoo Technology Capital to advance its programs. Elastrin positions its work as a potential game-changer for reversing arterial and heart damage and contributing to healthy aging.

Led · Seed · Mar 2022

Revel Pharmaceuticals is developing repair-based designer enzymes to degrade molecular damage that accumulates in aging and age-related diseases. The company is commercializing a technology platform based on work by Yale professors David Spiegel and Jason Crawford. Led by cofounder and CEO Dr. Aaron Cravens, Revel is targeting multiple diseases of aging including osteoarthritis, kidney disease, cardiovascular disease, skin aging, and complications of diabetes. Today, enzymes are applied therapeutically in only a handful of areas (for example Cerezyme, Asparaginase and DNase); Revel is reimagining enzyme therapeutics for broader repair-based approaches. The company raised Seed financing to advance its enzyme therapy pipeline toward the clinic. The funds will support progression of its repair-based enzyme programs into clinical development.

Led · Seed · Sep 2021

Underdog Pharmaceuticals is developing UDP-003, an engineered synthetic carbohydrate compound intended to remove toxic oxidized cholesterol, a driver of arterial plaque. Its product candidates are described as novel derivatives of a well-known, safe compound and are intended as simple, disease‑modifying preventive therapies for atherosclerosis, heart attack and stroke. The company was awarded an Innovation Passport under the U.K. Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway (ILAP), which the company says will enable faster patient access. Underdog expects to begin clinical trials in 2023. The firm positions its approach as treating underlying causes of age-related disease using rationally designed molecules. Recently it closed a $10 million financing round to advance its development plans.