Participated · Equity · Apr 2025

Caris Life Sciences is a next-generation AI TechBio company and precision medicine pioneer that provides comprehensive molecular profiling through Whole Exome and Whole Transcriptome Sequencing. The company launched MI Cancer Seek after receiving FDA approval; it is the first and only simultaneous WES/WTS-based assay with FDA-approved CDx indications for molecular profiling of solid tumors in adult and pediatric patients. In 2024 Caris commercially launched Caris Assure, a minimally invasive, blood-based assay using a circulating Nucleic Acid Sequencing (cNAS) approach to analyze cell-free DNA and RNA as well as genomic DNA and mRNA from white blood cells to distinguish somatic tumor, incidental clonal hematopoiesis and incidental germline variants. Caris combines sequencing power, big data and AI/machine learning to build a large-scale, multimodal database and computing capability to analyze the molecular complexity of disease. The company says it will use its platform to deliver next-generation precision medicine tools for early detection, diagnosis, monitoring, therapy selection and drug development and to bring its science and technologies to more patients. Financially, Caris closed a $168 million growth capital round and has raised $1.86 billion in capital since 2018. Caris Life Sciences develops comprehensive molecular profiling that analyzes DNA (whole exome sequencing), RNA (whole transcriptome sequencing), and protein biomarkers to reveal a patient’s molecular blueprint for selecting therapies. The company applies sophisticated AI and machine learning to identify proprietary signatures that classify cancer at the molecular level and predict patient response. Caris maintains a molecular database of over 455,000 tumor profiles, including more than 350,000 profiles with matched molecular data and clinical outcomes. Founded in 2008, the company positions itself as a leading innovator in precision medicine. Caris plans to use new capital to repay outstanding debt, enhance its precision medicine platform, and for general corporate purposes. Since 2018 the company has raised approximately $1.7 billion in capital. Caris Life Sciences provides molecular profiling services that assess DNA, RNA and proteins to create a molecular blueprint that supports personalized cancer treatment decisions. The company combines its service offering, Caris Molecular Intelligence®, with its proprietary AI analytics engine, DEAN™, to analyze the whole exome, whole transcriptome and complete cancer proteome. Caris couples these molecular data with mature clinical outcomes on thousands of patients to generate insights for patients, physicians, payers and biopharmaceutical organizations. The company is headquartered in Irving, Texas and has offices in Phoenix, Denver, New York and Basel, Switzerland, providing services across the U.S., Europe, Asia and other international markets. David D. Halbert leads the company as Chairman and CEO. The business emphasizes integrating molecular science and artificial intelligence to advance precision medicine. Caris Life Sciences develops molecular profiling and analytics to guide precision oncology decisions, offering whole exome and whole transcriptome sequencing and proteome analysis. Its product suite includes MI Exome™ and MI Transcriptome™ sequencing, Caris MAI™ (Molecular Artificial Intelligence) and the DEAN™ analytics engine. Caris Pharmatech provides Just-In-Time clinical trial solutions and a network of over 200 research-ready oncology sites to speed site activation and patient enrollment. Headquartered in Irving, Texas, the company also has offices in Phoenix, Denver, New York and Basel and serves markets in the U.S., Europe, Asia and other international regions. The company will use new capital to fund continued growth in precision medicine, accelerate product development and pursue initiatives in the clinical trial and biopharmaceutical markets. Caris is led by Chairman and CEO David D. Halbert. Caris Life Sciences is an Irving, Texas-based provider of molecular science focused on precision medicine through molecular profiling of DNA, RNA and proteins. The company advances a suite of offerings including Caris Molecular Intelligence®, the ADAPT Biotargeting System™, and the DEAN™ AI analytics engine that together support its Next Generation Profiling™. Next Generation Profiling™ aims to analyze the whole exome, whole transcriptome and complete cancer proteome and couple that molecular data with mature clinical outcomes to deliver more precise treatment recommendations. Caris offers services throughout the U.S., Europe, Asia and other international markets. Led by Chairman and CEO David D. Halbert, the company plans to continue development of Next Generation Profiling™ and expand commercial, clinical and R&D laboratory capacity. In January 2018 it raised $150M in funding provided as senior secured debt and convertible notes to support development and other strategic initiatives.

Participated · Series B · Jul 2024

Cardurion Pharmaceuticals is a clinical-stage biotech focused on discovering and developing novel therapeutics for cardiovascular diseases. Its two lead programs are a first-in-class phosphodiesterase-9 (PDE9) inhibitor, CRD-750, and the first clinical-stage CaMKII inhibitor, CRD-4730. CRD-750 is being evaluated in two Phase 2 trials enrolling 640 patients across HFrEF and HFpEF populations, and CRD-4730 has an ongoing Phase 2 trial for catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT). The company plans to expand cardiovascular indications for its portfolio, progress internal discovery programs, and acquire additional therapeutic assets. Proceeds from the recent financing will also be used to scale the team and build cardiovascular drug-development capabilities. Cardurion is headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts, with discovery and research facilities in Shonan, Japan. Cardurion Pharmaceuticals is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing next-generation therapeutics for heart failure and other cardiovascular diseases by targeting cardiovascular signaling pathways. The company’s pipeline includes a PDE9 inhibitor and a CaMKII inhibitor program. Cardurion plans to advance its first-in-class PDE9 inhibitor into a major Phase 2 trial in heart failure and to initiate first-in-human studies for its CaMKII inhibitor across several cardiovascular indications. The recently announced financing will support thoughtful advancement of the pipeline, scaling of the team, and creation of an industry-leading platform. Cardurion was founded by physician-scientist Michael E. Mendelsohn and has facilities in Boston, Massachusetts and Shonan, Japan. Cardurion Pharmaceuticals is a biotechnology company developing novel, next-generation therapeutics for the treatment of heart failure and other cardiovascular diseases. Its lead clinical program is CRD-733, a novel phosphodiesterase-9 (PDE9) inhibitor in development for both forms of heart failure. The company also has two discovery programs focused on unique molecular targets for other cardiovascular diseases, including rare and more common arrhythmia disorders. Cardurion was founded by physician-scientist Michael E. Mendelsohn and pursues unique drug discovery and development programs in cardiovascular medicine. The company operates facilities in Boston, Massachusetts and Shonan, Japan. It has existing investor Takeda Pharmaceuticals and has consummated a private investment from Polaris Partners; the securities issued are unregistered and subject to applicable exemptions under U.S. securities laws.

Participated · Series E · May 2023

Carmot Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on discovery and development of disease-modifying therapies for metabolic diseases such as obesity and diabetes. The company uses a Chemotype Evolution drug discovery platform to identify novel incretin receptor signaling targets. Its pipeline includes three clinical candidates: CT-388 (once-weekly dual GLP-1/GIP receptor modulator), CT-868 (once-daily dual GLP-1/GIP receptor modulator) and CT-996 (oral small-molecule GLP-1 receptor agonist). The company aims to produce significant weight loss and improved glycemic control through its therapeutics. Carmot plans to use the new funding to strengthen its broad portfolio of clinical and preclinical assets that modulate gut hormones central to energy homeostasis. The company is led by CEO Heather Turner and is based in Berkeley, California. Carmot applies its proprietary Chemotype Evolution platform to discover peptide-based and small-molecule therapeutics targeting metabolic diseases and oncogenic pathways. Its metabolic pipeline includes CT-388, a once-weekly dual GLP-1/GIP modulator in Phase 2, CT-868, a fully biased GLP-1/GIP modulator in Phase 2, and CT-996, an oral small-molecule GLP-1 receptor agonist in Phase 1, alongside several preclinical programs. The company also pursues novel covalent inhibitors and oncology programs internally and with partners. Carmot highlights a collaboration with Amgen that supported development of sotorasib (LUMAKRAS). The company is headquartered in Berkeley, Calif., and is advancing its incretin-focused programs toward later-stage clinical readouts. The recent financing is intended to accelerate clinical development across its pipeline. Carmot Therapeutics is a Berkeley-based biotechnology company applying its Chemotype Evolution (CE) drug discovery platform to develop peptide-based and small-molecule therapies for metabolic diseases. Its lead programs are dual GLP-1/GIP receptor modulators, including CT-868 (lead) and CT-388. The company plans to initiate a 26-week dose-ranging Phase 2 study for CT-868 and Phase 1–2 studies for CT-388 early in 2021, involving more than 300 patients. Carmot reports that CT-868 showed a potentially favorable pharmacology in Phase 1 and preclinical data indicate both CT-868 and CT-388 are powerful insulin sensitizers. The CE platform has been used in partnerships, including a discovery collaboration with Amgen that contributed to AMG 510. The $47 million Series C financing will support the planned clinical programs and broader development efforts. Carmot positions its dual incretin modulators as potential best-in-class candidates for type 2 diabetes, obesity, and fatty liver disease. Carmot applies a proprietary Chemotype Evolution drug‑discovery approach to identify internally developed and partnered drug candidates across multiple therapeutic areas. Its lead program is a dual GLP‑1R/GIPR agonist for type 2 diabetes, which the company plans to advance through early clinical proof of concept. The company also advances preclinical leads in diabetes, obesity, and fatty liver disease and is expanding efforts targeting de‑ubiquitinating enzymes. Carmot has identified leads against class‑B GPCRs, protein‑protein interactions, and de‑ubiquitinating enzymes and is progressing a portfolio toward clinical development in metabolic disease and oncology. It maintains collaborations with Amgen and Genentech and recently relocated its headquarters to Berkeley, CA while keeping a research site in Mission Bay, San Francisco. The company indicated the new financing, together with non‑dilutive revenue, will fund near‑term development and program advancement. Carmot Therapeutics is a drug discovery company founded in 2008 by Drs. Stig K. Hansen and Daniel A. Erlanson and based in San Francisco. The company commercializes and further develops Chemotype Evolution, a patent‑pending, target-directed compound library platform built on a unique fragment-assembly approach invented at Sunesis Pharmaceuticals. Chemotype Evolution is being used to identify promising drug candidates for inflammatory, metabolic, and neurological diseases. Earlier in 2010 Carmot closed a Series A financing from The Column Group to advance its platform and received an exclusive license to Chemotype Evolution from Sunesis. In December 2010 the company received equipment financing from Leader Ventures to support its operations. Carmot's stated focus is advancing its platform and progressing identified drug candidates.

Participated · Equity · Sep 2022

Deep Instinct is the first company to apply deep learning to cybersecurity, offering a natively architected, prevention-first threat prevention platform. The company says its platform stops >99% of threats before other solutions see them, reducing detection noise and false alert storms. Deep Instinct positions its product to improve SOC team productivity and lower total cost of ownership for customers. The firm intends to use investor support to accelerate growth and drive adoption of a prevention-first model across enterprises. It currently protects customers across North America, Europe, and APAC; enterprise customers tripled in 2022 and it has strategic wins with numerous Global 2000 companies. The article does not disclose revenue or other financial metrics. Deep Instinct offers a prevention-first cybersecurity platform that applies deep learning to stop ransomware and other malware across hybrid environments. Its Deep Instinct Prevention Platform is designed to add multilayered protection to existing security stacks. The company says it will use the new funding to further penetrate the market. Deep Instinct raised $62.5M in the reported financing. As part of the announcement, Lane Bess—who has more than 35 years of experience in cybersecurity and was formerly CEO of Palo Alto Networks and COO of Zscaler—took over as CEO effective immediately. Co-founder Guy Caspi moved from CEO to Board Chair and became Chief Product Officer. Deep Instinct offers an end-to-end deep learning framework and platform designed to predict, prevent, and analyze cyberattacks across endpoints and networks. Its platform is positioned to protect organizations at multiple touchpoints and has expanded enterprise adoption rapidly. The company reports protecting customers across North America, Europe, and APAC, with enterprise customers tripling in the prior year and strategic Global 2000 wins in Q1 2021. Led by CEO Guy Caspi and Chairman Lane Bess, Deep Instinct intends to use the new funds to accelerate its growth plans for 2021 and beyond. The company has raised a total of $200M to date following this round. Deep Instinct applies deep neural network algorithms to cybersecurity, using end-to-end deep learning to identify and stop known and unknown malware, including zero-days and advanced persistent threats. Its system ingests raw data from servers, mobile devices and endpoints and is largely autonomous, with automated processes handled by its "deep learning brain." The company sells primarily to enterprise customers, both directly and via partners such as HP, which bundle or resell its solutions. Deep Instinct emphasizes cross-OS protection and claims higher detection and lower false positives than traditional machine-learning approaches that rely on human feature extraction. Management says the product can prevent first-seen, unknown attacks and is already used to counter rising spyware, ransomware and file-less attacks. The longer-term plan is to build a consumer-facing version of the product. The company is profitable, and highlights strategic relationships with large tech partners. Deep Instinct is a Palo Alto, Calif.-based company that applies deep learning to cybersecurity. Led by CEO and co-founder Guy Caspi, the company offers a deep learning platform that detects malicious behavior across multiple vectors and provides adaptive defenses for endpoints, servers, and mobile devices. The company raised $32M in a Series B financing led by CNTP, with participation from strategic investors including Nvidia, Coatue Management, and existing investors. It plans to use the funds to accelerate deployments in the U.S. and global markets. Mohsen Moazami, founding MD of CNTP and a former Cisco executive, was added to Deep Instinct’s board of directors in connection with the round.

Participated · Series B · Jan 2022

Metagenomi is described in the article as a gene editing startup. The company recently completed an initial public offering. That IPO raised $94 million. The article does not provide details on the company’s product pipeline, operating metrics, investors, founding year, or location. The mention of Metagenomi appeared as a brief item in a biotech news roundup. Metagenomi develops next-generation gene editing systems and a proprietary metagenomics-powered discovery platform to find and adapt novel cellular machinery for therapeutic use. Its toolbox aims to produce ultra-small, highly specific editors with reduced immune risk for in vivo applications. The company is advancing wholly owned lead therapeutic programs through preclinical development toward clinical proof-of-concept and has initiated nonhuman primate in vivo gene editing studies. Metagenomi plans to nominate additional therapeutic targets to expand its pipeline using an automated discovery engine and its versatile gene editing toolbox. It cites successful partnerships with Moderna and Ionis Pharmaceuticals and reports a healthy cash runway to support near-term milestones. The company states its goal is to develop potentially curative therapeutics that can edit DNA where current technologies cannot. Metagenomi leverages a proprietary metagenomics-powered discovery platform to identify and adapt naturally evolved gene editing systems that are ultra-small, efficient, and highly specific. The company develops a toolbox of next-generation gene editing systems intended to enable edits where current technologies cannot, with applications across in vivo and ex vivo therapeutic programs. Metagenomi plans to advance its lead gene editing programs through preclinical development and into the clinic and to expand its manufacturing, automation, and AI infrastructure. Its pipeline targets metabolic, cardiovascular, and CNS diseases, as well as immuno-oncology, and the company also intends to make its systems available to partners. The firm emphasizes decreased risk of immune response and high specificity as differentiators for its platforms. Financially, the company has raised a total of $300 million to date. Metagenomi develops proprietary CRISPR-based gene‑editing systems discovered via a metagenomics-powered discovery platform that reveals novel cellular machinery from otherwise unknown organisms. The company adapts these naturally evolved systems into therapeutic tools for partners and to fuel its own pipeline of potentially curative medicines. Metagenomi says its toolbox enables editing where current technologies cannot and aims to match the best technology to unmet medical needs. The recent Series A extension will support expansion of the team and development of the company’s therapeutic pipeline. Leadership highlights plans to advance both in vivo and ex vivo therapies toward the clinic. The company frames its goal as revolutionizing gene editing to benefit patients worldwide.