Participated · Series C · Nov 2025

Aspen Neuroscience is pioneering personalized regenerative medicine by converting a patient’s own skin cells into induced pluripotent stem cells and then into dopaminergic neuronal precursor cells to treat neurodegenerative diseases. Its lead candidate, ANPD001, is the most advanced autologous cell therapy in the U.S. for moderate to advanced Parkinson’s disease and has received FDA Fast Track designation. The company’s proprietary manufacturing platform integrates machine-learning-based genomic testing for rigorous quality control and scalability, and it includes a precision MRI-guided delivery device for minimally invasive transplantation. Recent clinical progress includes initiation of Cohort 3 in a Phase 1/2a trial, with earlier cohorts showing favorable safety and clinician- and patient-reported improvements without the need for immunosuppression. Aspen plans to expand its pipeline to additional neurological indications while scaling manufacturing to meet future commercial demand. Headquartered in San Diego, the private company has raised more than $340 million to date, including an $8 million grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

Participated · Series A · Jan 2025

Verdiva Bio is advancing a portfolio of next‑generation oral and injectable treatments targeting obesity and related cardiometabolic conditions, including oral and subcutaneous amylin and GLP‑1 programs. Its lead asset, VRB‑101, is an oral GLP‑1 peptide that showed best‑in‑class efficacy potential and once‑weekly dosing viability in a Phase 1 study in Australia. The company emphasizes a clinically validated proprietary oral delivery technology intended to enable patient‑friendly dosing, greater scalability, and broader access. Verdiva acquired global development and commercialization rights (outside greater China and South Korea) to its portfolio from Sciwind Biosciences in 2024. The leadership team is led by CEO Khurem Farooq and Chairman Mark Pruzanski, and includes experienced drug‑development executives such as CMO Dr. Mohamed Eid. Verdiva launched with a substantial Series A financing to advance clinical programs and expand its cardiometabolic pipeline.

Led · Seed · Sep 2024

CytoTronics develops semiconductor-to-live-cell interfaces called Pixel that provide multi-modal, single-cell resolution monitoring of viability, morphology, electrophysiology and more. The company launched early access programs for Pixel Primo and Pixel Octo, with Pixel Octo aimed at improving scalability for high-throughput discovery applications. Pixel has received a 2024 SLA New Product Award and an R&D 100 award. CytoTronics plans to expand commercial and field teams, scale manufacturing and production, and is preparing for first product shipments in 2025. The company was founded as a Harvard spinout in 2021 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. CytoTronics is commercializing a CMOS-powered drug discovery platform that provides optics-free, single-cell resolution electrical and electrochemical assays. The platform is an integrated single-cell resolution electrochemical-imaging array that produces electrical and image-like readouts from live cells without optics. Its suite of patented technologies was developed over a decade of research at Harvard and licensed exclusively to CytoTronics via Harvard Office of Technology Development. The company aims to target the roughly $20 billion low-throughput cell-based assay market and quickly progress to higher-throughput workflows to make drug-discovery research more precise, automatic, repeatable, and scalable. Seed funding of $9.25M will be used to commercialize research-demonstrated devices and advance platform development. CytoTronics has opened wet-biology and electronics labs at Agility Labs in Boston to continue R&D and further develop its platform.

Participated · Series B · Feb 2024

ProfoundBio is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing novel antibody-based therapeutics for patients with cancer. Built on internally developed, proprietary technology platforms, the company has assembled a pipeline of multiple ADC drug candidates targeting solid tumors and hematological malignancies. Its disclosed pipeline includes rinatabart sesutecan (Rina-S; PRO1184) targeting FRα, PRO1160 targeting CD70, PRO1107 targeting PTK7, and PRO1286, a bispecific ADC targeting two broadly expressed solid tumor antigens. The company intends to use the new funds to support development of its differentiated clinical-stage ADC pipeline, including the planned pivotal trial of Rina-S. ProfoundBio strengthened its board with the addition of Andrew Lam (Ally Bridge Group) and independent directors Eric Dobmeier and Enoch Kariuki. Leadership is led by CEO and co-founder Baiteng Zhao and COO/CFO Erin Lavelle.

Participated · Equity · Feb 2024

Neurona Therapeutics is developing allogeneic, off-the-shelf regenerative neural cell therapy products intended to provide long-term targeted repair of the nervous system following a single administration. Its lead candidate, NRTX-1001, comprises GABAergic interneurons and is being evaluated in two ongoing open-label multicenter Phase 1/2 trials for drug-resistant unilateral and bilateral mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (NCT05135091 and NCT06422923). The company presented updated Phase 1/2 data showing in a five-subject lower-dose cohort a median seizure reduction of 75% at six months, with four of five subjects reporting >50% reduction and two subjects reporting durable >95% reduction at 16 and 21 months; NRTX-1001 has been well tolerated and neuropsychological testing suggests absence of neurocognitive impairment. The FDA granted NRTX-1001 Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy (RMAT) designation in June 2024 based on these positive clinical data. Neurona plans to expand indications to neocortical focal epilepsy and other CNS disorders. Financially, the company has received multiple grants from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), with cumulative CIRM commitment of $18.5M across five grants, and completed a $120M private financing in February 2024 co-led by Viking Global Investors and Cormorant Asset Management. Neurona Therapeutics is a San Francisco–based clinical-stage biotherapeutics company focused on developing regenerative, allogeneic, off-the-shelf cell therapy candidates with single-dose curative potential. Its candidates are designed to provide long-term repair of dysfunctional neural networks across multiple neurological indications. The company's lead investigational candidate, NRTX-1001, is being evaluated in an ongoing open-label, single-arm Phase I/II clinical trial for treatment of drug-resistant mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE). NRTX-1001 also has potential application in Alzheimer’s disease and other disorders of the nervous system. Led by CEO Cory R. Nicholas, Ph.D., Neurona intends to use newly raised capital to advance its wholly-owned pipeline of off-the-shelf cell therapies. The company recently raised $120M and announced that Raymond Kelleher, M.D., Ph.D., of Cormorant will be joining its board of directors. Neurona Therapeutics develops neural cell therapies intended to provide long-term repair of dysfunctional neural networks in chronic neurological disorders. Its lead candidate, NRTX-1001, is a neuronal cell therapeutic derived from human pluripotent stem cells comprising GABA-secreting interneurons designed as a one-time administration to provide local long-term inhibition. The company is advancing wholly-owned, off-the-shelf neuronal, glial, and gene-edited cell therapy candidates across multiple indications, initially targeting temporal lobe (focal) epilepsy. Neurona plans a Phase 1/2a clinical study for NRTX-1001 planned to launch later this year. The company completed a $41.5M financing that will be used to advance the pipeline; total proceeds raised to date are $135 million. Neurona describes its platform as based on a novel neural cell lineage with single-dose curative potential. Neurona Therapeutics is a pre-clinical biotechnology company focused on the transplantation of selected neurons to treat intractable neurological diseases. The company develops regenerative cell-based therapeutics composed of unique cell compositions that can be precisely targeted and integrated into damaged neural circuits. Its approach emphasizes activity-dependent regulation once transplanted into host circuitry. Neurona was founded by neuroscientists and stem cell researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, including Arturo Alvarez-Buylla, Arnold Kriegstein, John Rubenstein and Cory Nicholas. The company is led by interim CEO Tim Kutzkey and launched with a $23.5M Series A financing. Neurona is based in South San Francisco, CA and remains in the pre-clinical stage.