Participated · Series A · Mar 2023

Volastra Therapeutics is a New York-based clinical-stage drug discovery company focused on exploiting chromosomal instability (CIN) to treat cancer. The company in-licensed Amgen’s sovilnesib (AMG650), an oral, first-in-class small-molecule KIF18A inhibitor, receiving an exclusive worldwide license (ex-China) to develop and commercialize the drug. Sovilnesib is in Phase 1 for platinum-resistant high-grade serous ovarian cancer, triple-negative breast cancer and other solid tumors with TP53 mutations, and has FDA fast-track designation for platinum-resistant high-grade serous ovarian cancer. Volastra also develops its own KIF18A inhibitor, VLS-1488, and plans to advance clinical development of both sovilnesib and VLS-1488 in 2023. In parallel with the in-license, the company closed a $60 million Series A financing. Volastra has a multi-year collaboration with Bristol Myers Squibb worth up to $1.1 billion for CIN-based synthetic lethality discovery and a partnership with Microsoft to develop AI for high-throughput histopathological identification of CIN. Volastra Therapeutics develops novel therapies and discovery tools aimed at halting or preventing cancer metastasis by exploiting insights into chromosomal instability (CIN). The company uses proprietary computational and experimental approaches and a technology suite to bulk-measure and exploit vulnerabilities in chromosomally unstable cancer cells. The recent financing will support further build-out of that technology platform and advance drug discovery programs to block metastasis. Volastra has announced collaborations with Dewpoint Therapeutics to discover molecules that block immuno-suppressive signaling in CIN-high tumors and with Microsoft to develop AI algorithms to detect and predict metastatic potential in tissue samples. The company was co-founded by Lewis Cantley, Olivier Elemento and Samuel Bakhoum, and is led by CEO Charles Hugh-Jones. Volastra is based in West Harlem, N.Y. Volastra Therapeutics is focused on developing therapies specifically for metastatic cancers by targeting pathways related to chromosomal instability. The company leverages pioneering science from the Cantley and Elemento labs at Weill Cornell Medicine and the Bakhoum lab at Memorial Sloan Kettering. Volastra uses an extensive library of organoids derived from metastatic cancer samples to validate targets, advance first-in-class clinical candidates, and identify biomarkers to stratify patients. The team aims to shift the treatment paradigm for advanced disease, where metastasis drives the majority of cancer deaths. Volastra is rapidly advancing multiple programs toward the clinic and operates out of Johnson & Johnson Innovation, JLABS @ NYC. The company was founded by Drs. Lewis Cantley, Samuel Bakhoum, and Olivier Elemento and is led by an experienced board including Executive Chair Sandra Peterson.

Participated · Seed · Sep 2013

Vacatia provides consumer-facing products including resort condominium rentals, subscription-based travel products and timeshare resales, and delivers B2B solutions through Vacatia Partner Services. Its B2B offerings include rental, resale, subscription membership products and property management for timeshare resorts. The company says it will continue to develop and adopt new technology solutions for both its B2C and B2B markets and pursue acquisitions to increase profits and enhance customer service. In connection with the financing Vacatia finalized agreements to acquire Liberté Management Group and to serve as manager for Gold Point Resort. Vacatia now manages 15 resorts with 30,000 owners across seven states. The company was founded in 2013 and is led by CEO Caroline Shin. Vacatia is a San Francisco-based resort marketplace serving vacationing families. The platform features hospitality, timeshare, and premier independent resorts, focusing on fully managed and professionally serviced timeshare and resort-condominium complexes. The company was founded in 2013 and is led by Caroline Shin, with Chairman Keith Cox, President Michael Burns and CMO Mike Janes. Vacatia is a member of the American Resort Development Association (ARDA). The company intends to use the new funding to continue building out its new service, recruit select new team members and expand geographically. Vacatia operates an online secondary marketplace that connects timeshare sellers and buyers and focuses on professionally managed resort rentals. Users create free accounts, list resale shares, and Vacatia supplements listings with resort information and offers a verification process to elevate listings. When buyer and seller agree, the platform introduces a title company to handle escrow and closing, and Vacatia takes a percentage of the sale proceeds as its fee (the article gives a 10% example: $1,000 on a $10,000 sale). The company has a preferred broker program that halves sales fees for participating brokers. Vacatia differentiates itself from other listings sites (eBay, Redweek, Sellmytimesharenow.com) by maintaining a free, open and liquid marketplace for sellers, buyers, brokers and developers. Vacatia raised $5 million in seed funding from a group of investors including Spencer Rascoff, Erik Blachford and venture firms such as Maveron and Bee Partners. Founder and CEO Keith Cox says the company plans to expand beyond resale listings into primary developer and homeowners association listings to enable direct purchases from developers.