The Venture Codex

Participated · Seed · Jan 2026

FluxWorks is a hardtech startup focused on manufacturing contactless magnetic gears that eliminate lubricants and reduce wear, debris, and maintenance, making them well-suited for harsh or micro-gravity environments. Its flagship product line, Celestial Gear, targets in-space manufacturing and other extreme-condition use cases. By removing the need for lubricants and physical contact, the gears can operate reliably across wide temperature ranges and in vacuum conditions where traditional mechanical systems fail. Founded in 2021 by CEO Bryton Praslicka in College Station and now headquartered in Conroe, the company has steadily attracted non-dilutive capital, including a Texas Space Commission grant, the 2024 Technology in Space Prize backed by Boeing and CASIS, and a $1.2 million NSF SBIR Phase II award. The newly secured seed funding will support commercialization of Celestial Gear and help overcome critical hardware bottlenecks for national-security and industrial customers. While revenue and user metrics have not been disclosed, FluxWorks positions itself at the intersection of frontier technology and national-security infrastructure, with plans to scale production for both terrestrial and orbital markets.

Led · Series A · Nov 2025

Founded in 2019, Charlottesville-based Poppy Flowers operates a technology-driven marketplace that matches couples with local floral designers whose style, budget, and vision align with their needs. The company has already served more than 6,000 couples nationwide, positioning itself as a fast-growing player in the $71 billion U.S. floral industry. Poppy’s platform streamlines the traditionally fragmented wedding-florist experience by handling design matching, logistics, and fulfillment. With fresh capital, the team plans to accelerate an expansion into business-to-business offerings, roll out new technology features, and hire key leadership roles. Management believes these moves will widen its customer base beyond consumer weddings and deepen engagement with professional florists. Investors cite the company’s clear category leadership and scalable model as reasons for continued support. Financial details beyond the most recent and prior capital raises were not disclosed in the article.

Participated · Equity · Oct 2025

BlastPoint offers an AI-powered customer intelligence platform designed to help businesses better understand, reach, and serve their customers through auditable, hallucination-free predictive analytics that use only permission-granted data. Its technology is used across 13 verticals—most notably utilities and financial services—within a $13 billion addressable market. The platform supports programs that match financially struggling customers with assistance options such as income-capped payment plans and balance forgiveness. BlastPoint reports more than 2× year-over-year growth, 100 % customer retention, and coverage that touches nearly one-quarter of U.S. households. Future plans include building next-generation prediction technology while maintaining ethical AI standards and expanding solutions that improve equitable customer engagement. With a proven track record in energy and finance, BlastPoint positions itself as a trusted partner for organizations seeking responsible AI solutions.

Led · Equity · Jun 2025

Akadeum Life Sciences pioneers flotation-based cell separation technologies that enable more effective, scalable, and gentle cell isolation. The company commercialized industry-first innovations including scalable negative selection, multiplex separation, microbubble-based nucleic acid extraction, and a high-capacity T cell separation chamber. It recently launched a GMP-compliant product suite designed for use in clinical trials and demonstrated the ability to integrate microbubbles into many existing cell therapy manufacturing tools. Akadeum says its platform has shown therapeutic relevance in preclinical animal models for cancer treatment and is driving adoption through data showing more viable cells, higher yields, and easier workflows versus conventional methods. The company announced a $20M+ financing to scale commercial operations and especially to support customers entering clinical trials. Akadeum has gained industry momentum and engagement from partners and customers including Catalent, Charles River Laboratories, ElevateBio, and Lonza. Akadeum Life Sciences develops a floatation-based, microbubble separation platform (Buoyancy Activated Cell Sorting, BACS™) for sample preparation in research, diagnostics, and cell therapy. Its technology floats target cells, nucleic acids and other biological targets to the top of a sample to enable capture, addressing volume and throughput restrictions of existing methods. The company was the first to commercialize BACS microbubble kits for cell isolation applications. Akadeum positions its solutions as exceeding the performance, system cost, and scalability of current technologies. Future plans stated in the article include advancing global commercialization, developing new business-to-business partnerships, and expanding R&D and new product development. The company is located in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Akadeum Life Sciences develops technology that enables fast, easy removal of target cells from biological samples. Its product uses BACS™ (buoyancy-activated cell sorting) with tiny floating "microbubbles" and disposable microbubble collectors to acquire target cells. The microbubbles are introduced into samples, attach to target cells such as T cells, B cells, or cancer cells, and gently float them to the top for easy capture and removal. The company was founded in 2014 and is led by CEO Brandon McNaughton and CTO John Younger; it is based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Akadeum raised $1M in seed funding and will use the funds to continue product development and increase sales and marketing. The company plans a Series A financing round in 2016.

Participated · Series B · Dec 2024

PhotoniCare develops the OtoSight Middle Ear Scope, an FDA-cleared medical device that uses optical coherence tomography (OCT) high-resolution depth imaging to detect and characterize middle-ear fluid even in the presence of ear wax. The device is intended for frontline clinicians in pediatrics, family medicine, and urgent care to improve diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring of middle ear infections. OtoSight has unique CPT codes and has served more than 26,000 patients, indicating early commercial traction and a potential new revenue source for providers. The company has published three peer-reviewed manuscripts and has a large randomized controlled clinical trial (RCT) underway to support reimbursement strategy and broader adoption. PhotoniCare recently formed a manufacturing partnership with Gentex Corporation and relocated its headquarters from Champaign, Illinois to Grand Rapids, Michigan to work more closely with that partner. The company will use new funding to support the ongoing clinical trial, ramp production and sales of OtoSight, and complete its planned $9 million Series B close. PhotoniCare's core product, the TOMi Scope, is the first and only otoscope using Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) to visualize and characterize fluid in the middle ear through the intact eardrum. The device measures fluid density even in the presence of wax, providing objective data to inform diagnosis of middle-ear infections. The TOMi Scope received FDA clearance in January. A 70-patient study with Children’s National demonstrated 91% sensitivity and 90% specificity for detecting middle-ear fluid. PhotoniCare plans to expand its executive team, ramp manufacturing, execute its sales and marketing plan, fuel AI development for real-time decision support, and expand reimbursement activities and customer support. Financially, the company announced new funding including a $5.2M Series A and a $2.1M Phase II SBIR grant to support commercial expansion and AI work.