The Venture Codex

Participated · Seed · Dec 2025

Founded in 2023 in Basel, Switzerland, Allegria Therapeutics is building a differentiated portfolio of proprietary molecules that target the pathways driving uncontrolled mast-cell activation. The company’s lead program is advancing toward pre-clinical candidate nomination, while several discovery-stage programs are also progressing. Allegria leverages collaborations with experts such as Prof. Dr. Martin Metz at Berlin’s Charité and Ap. Prof. Dr. Philipp Starkl at the Medical University of Vienna to accelerate its research. Its small but highly experienced core team and advisory board are focused on delivering first-in-class and best-in-disease therapies for allergic and inflammatory conditions. The firm’s recent USD 5.1 million seed extension brings additional capital to support lead-program advancement and discovery efforts, positioning the company for future clinical development milestones.

Participated · Seed · Dec 2025

DigeHealth is a health-tech startup focused on transforming gastrointestinal care by continuously capturing and analyzing bowel sounds through advanced acoustics, sensor fusion, and artificial intelligence. Its miniature wearable monitors intestinal motility around the clock, turning previously untapped gut sounds into actionable, personalized digital biomarkers for clinicians and patients. The technology aims to address a wide spectrum of GI issues—from post-operative ileus and neurogenic bowel dysfunction to inflammatory bowel disease—by making disease progression and therapy success measurable both in hospitals and at home. The company plans to channel newly raised capital into product development, clinical validation, and regulatory approvals while expanding access to clinical data and recruiting top AI talent. Health-tech incubator Evoleen initiated the product’s development, underscoring the significant market opportunity as an estimated 20 % of the global population suffers from GI disorders. Financially, DigeHealth has just closed its first external funding round, a CHF 1.25 million seed raise, and no revenue or user figures have yet been disclosed.

Participated · Seed · Oct 2025

HemostOD is a pre-clinical healthcare company based in Lausanne, Switzerland that manufactures universal human blood platelets entirely ex vivo using immortalized hematopoietic stem cells and proprietary bioreactor technology. By eliminating the need for human donors, the company aims to solve chronic platelet shortages that hinder treatments ranging from cancer care to trauma response. Its platform is designed to offer safer, readily available, and scalable platelet supplies while also enabling future applications in hematology and advanced therapeutic delivery. The firm is currently transitioning from proof-of-concept research to industrialization. With the latest capital infusion, HemostOD will build a commercial-scale pilot production line and prepare for a pre-IND meeting with the U.S. FDA. These steps are intended to validate manufacturing scalability and align the product with regulatory expectations. The CHF 4.3 million seed-extension financing strengthens the company’s balance sheet as it advances toward clinical development and eventual commercialization.

Participated · Seed · May 2024

Limula builds a platform to automate and digitize ex vivo manipulation of cells to reduce the high costs and manual steps in cell and gene therapy manufacturing. The company aims to make therapies such as CAR T-cells more affordable by replacing highly skilled labour and sterile infrastructure–intensive processes. After an initial proof of concept, Limula is onboarding selected cell therapy developers to run pilots and has launched a program giving industry and academic partners early access ahead of commercial launch. The technology is intended to support transitions from pre-clinical evaluation to clinical trials and later commercial-scale manufacturing of clinical-grade cell products. Limula has signed partnerships with several research centres, including the San Raffaele Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy in Milan, to broaden application scope. The company will use the new funding to advance its software development and further roll out pilots. Limula develops an automated tool for scalable cell therapy manufacturing that integrates a bioreactor and centrifuge in a single device to enable "one-patient – one batch" personalized treatments with minimal human intervention. The technology aims to reduce the high cost of current cell therapies and help broaden access to these treatments. Limula was the grand prize winner of the BioTools Innovator 2023 Final and received a $250,000 non-dilutive award. The company participated in the BioTools Innovator accelerator, receiving individualized mentorship and industry feedback. Limula’s CEO said the program helped bridge the knowledge gap between Switzerland and the U.S. and aided in building the company’s value proposition and business strategy. Limula has developed a technology platform that automates cell therapy manufacturing in a single, compact instrument, encapsulating all process steps to reduce devices and manual interventions. The platform is intended to enable decentralised production directly in hospitals to lower costs and broaden patient access to autologous cell therapies. A multidisciplinary team of seven engineers and biologists built the system and plans to move from prototyping to industrialisation of its innovative bioreactor. Limula will establish and equip a laboratory at the StartLab incubator located in the Biopôle in Lausanne and grow its team. The startup received a Tech Seed loan from the Foundation for Technological Innovation (FIT) to finalise its demonstrator and begin a pilot phase with partners. Founded at the end of 2020, Limula aims to address current capacity limits and high production costs that restrict access to cell therapies.

Participated · Seed · May 2024

Testmate Health is a Lausanne, Switzerland-based company developing over-the-counter (OTC) at-home self-tests for sexually transmitted infections. It is led by CEO Siew-Veena Sahi and was founded in 2021. The company’s first product is a urine-based self-test for chlamydia and gonorrhea that delivers lab-quality results in less than 30 minutes. Testmate positions the device for use anywhere at any time and emphasizes diagnostic accuracy. The startup raised $6M in Seed funding to support development of the OTC STI self-test. Its team comprises experts in sexual health and diagnostics. Testmate Health is developing a rapid urine self-test that delivers at-home results in minutes for the four common sexually transmitted diseases and digitally connects users to healthcare professionals for consultation and prescription if needed. The company is finalizing its prototype, plans small-batch in-house manufacturing, and will enter pre-clinical studies at the Hopitaux Universitaires de Genève. Testmate recently closed a seed round (amount undisclosed) and received additional support from the Biopôle Start-up Fund. It will use the 90k Biopôle funds toward lab and office infrastructure, hiring commercial and regulatory consultants, and equipment to begin small-batch production of test kits. The team is simultaneously developing a go-to-market strategy in light of COVID-driven changes to the self-test landscape and aims to open a Series A at the beginning of 2023. Testmate Health is an award‑winning spin‑off of the University of Geneva building a rapid digital at‑home urine test for common STDs. The device is designed to detect chlamydia, gonorrhoea, trichomoniasis and Mycoplasma genitalium and to upload scanned results to a paired app to guide appropriate follow‑up. Its product aims to let customers skip clinic visits and avoid multi‑day waits by offering a simple, immediate self‑test. The start‑up closed an oversubscribed seed financing round totaling CHF1.6 million, with a first closing earlier in the spring and an extension to bring in additional investors. Proceeds will be used to accelerate product development and complete pre‑clinical studies of the device ahead of commercialisation. The financing also brings experienced advisers onto the governance team to support the next stages of development.