Participated · Series A · Nov 2025

Onchilles Pharma is pioneering a new class of cancer drugs that exploit the ELANE pathway, a vulnerability tied to elevated histone H1 levels in many tumors. Its lead asset, N17350 (NEU-001), is a tumor-directed biologic shown in preclinical studies to induce rapid, selective tumor cell death and CD8+ T-cell activation across 30 cancer cell lines and 15 in-vivo models, including chemotherapy-resistant and immunologically “cold” tumors. The company has completed GMP manufacturing of more than 5,000 doses and plans to start first-in-human studies in Australia in early 2025, with U.S. enrollment expected mid-2026, aiming for clinical proof-of-concept in the second half of 2026. A second program, NEU-002, a systemic version of the therapy, is on track for development-candidate nomination in early 2026. The firm positions its ELANE-based drugs as next-generation cytotoxics that combine potent tumor killing with immune preservation and activation, potentially addressing a broad range of solid tumors. To date, Onchilles has raised $40 million in Series A financing, including the latest $25 million Series A1 tranche to fund clinical development of N17350.

Led · Debt Financing · Feb 2023

D-Wave develops quantum computing systems, software, and services and positions itself as the world’s first commercial supplier of quantum computers. The company is expanding product offerings around feature selection for AI/ML, using quantum hybrid solvers and professional services to formulate feature selection as a combinatorial optimization problem. D-Wave says this “one-shot” approach can avoid iterative model retraining and has shown early results in areas such as fraud detection and TV commercial advertising optimization. Its feature selection offering is available directly from D-Wave and in AWS Marketplace. D-Wave is also expanding its Leap real-time quantum cloud service to Israel (bringing Leap to 39 countries on March 8), giving users access to the Advantage system, hybrid solvers, and an integrated developer environment. On the corporate side it is pursuing SOC 2 Type 2 compliance and has been building its cash position by drawing from financing mechanisms such as its Equity Line of Credit. D-Wave Systems, based in Burnaby, BC and founded in 1999, develops quantum computing hardware and software and was the first company to offer a commercially available quantum computer. The company plans to use the financing to continue prototyping, development, full-scale implementation, and deployment of quantum computing systems, according to CEO Alan Baratz. The $40 million in Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) financing from the Government of Canada will support a $120 million project aimed at developing hardware and software and proving quantum advantage over classical computers. The project has also received assistance from the Sustainable Development Technologies Canada program and the Government of British Columbia, though their contributions were not disclosed. Despite raising more than $300 million USD to date and reportedly raising $40 million last year as part of a capital restructuring, D-Wave has struggled to become a sustainable company and endured a "year of reset expectations." The Globe and Mail reported the company had secured just $75 million USD in customer contracts over its lifespan, and last year’s financing cut its valuation to under $170 million USD from $450 million, reducing stakes of longtime investors. D-Wave faces increased competition from Google, Microsoft, Intel, and IBM, and the SIF funding carries targets and prerequisites that have led to stripped funding for other firms when targets were not met. D-Wave Systems develops quantum computing hardware and cloud-accessible quantum services. The company is pursuing hybrid applications that combine its quantum systems with classical high-performance computing to improve performance and lower costs versus purely classical approaches. To advance that strategy it announced a partnership with NEC to develop hybrid services that integrate NEC supercomputers with D-Wave’s quantum technology and to build applications with NEC customers. NEC will also be an authorized reseller of D-Wave cloud services, which the companies say will expand commercial access, including in Japan where D-Wave has done significant business. NEC will invest $10 million in D-Wave; the company had previously raised $204 million, according to Crunchbase. D-Wave describes the collaboration as a milestone toward fully commercial quantum applications, and the company announced that Alan Baratz will become CEO effective January 1st. D-Wave develops and delivers quantum annealing quantum computing systems and accompanying software, offering remote access for customers to build prototype applications. Its installed user base across Japan, Europe and North America is developing dozens of prototypes in optimization, machine learning and scientific research. The company launched a Quadrant business unit to deliver quantum‑inspired machine learning algorithms that run on GPUs today and are designed for its next‑generation hardware. D-Wave also runs in-person training, plans additional online learning tools, and hosts user conferences to promote collaboration. Financially, D-Wave received CAD$10M in funding and support from Sustainable Development Technology Canada and closed US$20M in previously-announced funding from PSP Investments to support development of its next‑generation system. The company is headquartered near Vancouver, Canada, with U.S. operations in Palo Alto, CA and Hanover, MD. D-Wave Systems Inc. is a Vancouver, Canada-based developer of quantum computing systems and software. The company builds commercial quantum processors and delivers systems and software intended to address national defense, scientific, technical, and commercial problems. Its products have been deployed by organizations including Lockheed Martin, Google, NASA Ames, USRA, USC, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Temporal Defense Systems. The company’s fourth-generation D-Wave 2000Q system was installed at the Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab run by Google, NASA, and USRA. D-Wave says it will use the new funding to continue delivering systems and software and to push its technology forward. The new capital brings D-Wave’s total funding to approximately USD 220m.

Led · Seed · Feb 2019

rMark Bio provides a proprietary deep learning platform that analyzes global healthcare data alongside internal clinical research data to optimize partnership and engagement strategies across a product's lifecycle. The platform is used to align real-time business strategies between R&D, product, commercialization, and external teams, reducing time and cost of data analysis. Customers include pharmaceutical companies, academic institutions, medical device companies, and investment firms; the company provides AI services to the top 20 pharmaceutical companies globally. rMark Bio has partnered with industry-leading technology and healthcare organizations. Led by Co-founder and CEO Jason Smith, the company is headquartered in Chicago, IL. It intends to use the new funding to continue expanding its global presence. rMark Bio offers Fabric, an end-to-end AI solution designed to accelerate innovation and scientific discoveries for life sciences companies. Fabric automates aggregation and preparation of data for machine learning, trains neural networks to analyze data and surface scientific insights, and exposes APIs to integrate those insights into existing applications. The platform is trained to understand petabytes of unstructured text, videos, voice, proteomics, genomic and free-form data and integrates with business apps such as Microsoft, Salesforce and Veeva as well as third-party sources including IQVIA and Symphony Health. Fabric is currently licensed and deployed in several top-20 pharmaceutical companies. Founded in 2015 by Jason M. Smith and Lev Becker, rMark Bio operates from Chicago and Seattle. The company plans to use recent funding to expand its market presence, hire key personnel and support its transition to a new headquarters at 440 N. Wells in Chicago.

Led · Equity · Feb 2014

PharmaCyte is a small-cap biotech that completed a structured financing to provide liquidity for general corporate purposes and working capital. The article indicates the company is likely in R&D or clinical trials and has limited cash reserves, making the raise material to near-term operations. PharmaCyte used a preferred-stock-plus-warrants structure commonly employed by biotechs to secure capital while managing perceived dilution. The financing terms are aggressive: the Series C preferred carries a 7% annual dividend (payable quarterly) that jumps to 15% upon a defined "Triggering Event." Warrants are exercisable at $1.00 for five years, and conversion/warrant exercise could meaningfully dilute existing common shareholders. The placement agent charged an 8% fee and obtained 150% registration coverage, creating a relatively high-cost capital structure. Executive compensation changes—equity awards equal to 300% of base salary—tie management pay to stock performance. Nuvilex is developing a Cell‑in‑a‑Box based treatment for pancreatic cancer. The company cites results from two earlier independent Phase II trials in which its therapy provided better results than gemcitabine alone and the Abraxane‑gemcitabine combination. Nuvilex is advancing clinical trials of the therapy and has secured outside funding to support that work. Chicago‑based institutional investor Lincoln Park Capital Fund agreed to dedicate at least $27 million, with an initial $2 million investment already completed and up to $25 million available to draw as trials progress. The article emphasizes the cash‑intensive nature of the biotech sector and frames this financing as critical to moving the therapy forward. Nuvilex is presented as a potential competitor to large biopharma companies such as Eli Lilly and Celgene based on its clinical data.