Led · Seed · Mar 2021

Amplicore is an early-stage biopharmaceutical company based in Cincinnati, OH, developing locally delivered and minimally invasive therapeutics for musculoskeletal diseases. The company is advancing two lead preclinical candidates, AM3101 and AM1101. AM1101 is being developed as a treatment for osteoarthritis to reduce joint pain, inhibit cartilage degradation, and promote tissue regeneration. Amplicore is leveraging a Department of Defense grant-supported study on healing of acute meniscal tear after surgical repair. The company intends to use the proceeds of its seed financing to complete preclinical development of its two lead products and position itself for a subsequent financing. Amplicore is led by Founder, President, and CEO Dr. Chia-Ying (James) Lin.

Participated · Series B · Dec 2020

Newomics Inc., based in Berkeley, Calif., develops and commercializes mass spectrometry platforms for molecular detection applications. Its core offerings include the plug-and-play MnESI platform (MnESI source + M3 emitter) that interfaces with diverse mass spectrometry instruments and combines microflow LC robustness with nanospray ionization sensitivity. The company recently announced an MnESI-MS platform for clinical diagnostics and drug discovery and is developing a multinozzle emitter array (MEA) to increase sensitivity, robustness, and throughput, targeted for market in 2021. Newomics has been expanding its sales and marketing team, filling positions, and enhancing customer support while growing collaborations with major mass spectrometer vendors, including a second co-marketing agreement with Thermo Fisher Scientific. Customers and users include organizations such as Regeneron, which used Newomics’ M3 emitter in a recent publication. The company closed a $7.9 million Series B and plans to use proceeds to launch new products, grow commercial efforts, and expand vendor collaborations.

Participated · Series A · Sep 2020

Cardea Bio is a San Diego-based company developing an electronic nose platform intended to rapidly diagnose infectious diseases. The company says the technology aims to enable fast, point-of-need detection. Cardea plans to tailor the development for use in developing countries. It received a $1.1M grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to fund this work. Michael Heltzen is CEO of Cardea Bio. Cardea Bio develops molecular biology instrumentation that leverages semiconductor technology to analyze biological samples. The company is based in San Diego. On January 12, 2021, Cardea Bio announced it raised an additional $6.5M in its Series A. The new tranche was led by 3E Bioventures Capital and included participation from existing investors. The announcement said the funding brings the Series A total to $20M. No operating metrics or other financial details were disclosed in the article. Cardea Bio builds a Tech+Bio infrastructure and chipsets based on proprietary Graphene-based Biology-gated Transistors (Cardean Transistors). Its CRISPR-Chip chipset uses CRISPR as the transistor gate to search genomes and displays results live without PCR/DNA amplification. The company positions its chipsets to stream multi-omics data in near real time, enabling new applications across health, agriculture, diagnostics, environmental monitoring, and more. Cardea runs an Innovation Partnership Program through which hundreds of companies have expressed interest in product development over the past 18 months. The company reported the first closing of an A2 financing and intends to use the capital to accelerate development of its Tech+Bio infrastructure and partner chipsets. Cardea expects the first "Powered by Cardea" products to launch in 2020 and 2021. Cardea Bio develops and commercially manufactures graphene-based digital biosensor hardware, software, and molecular infrastructure, sold under the Cardea Nanomed brand. Its ultra-sensitive graphene sensors directly measure and instantly digitize binding interactions in biological systems, leveraging graphene's stability in water and air to detect electronic-state changes when biomolecules bind. Pharmaceutical companies have been early adopters, using Cardea's platform to evaluate binding properties of therapeutic candidates and provide expert feedback on the core technology. The company plans to use the $7.8 million Series A-1 financing to grow its team and initiate strategic collaborations through the Cardea Innovation Partnership Program to co-develop and commercialize new applications. Cardea intends to establish partnerships across agricultural, industrial, and clinical research settings to expand use cases and drive product commercialization. The company is headquartered in San Diego and emphasizes replacing complex reagents and optics with portable direct electrical detection to speed time-to-results and improve sensitivity.

Participated · Series A · Apr 2020

Nelumbo develops scalable advanced materials and surface modifications, notably anti‑icing coatings demonstrated on residential refrigerators and commercial heat pumps. The company aims to optimize these materials for industrial refrigeration substrates and scale manufacturing processes for commercial adoption. With a focus on reducing energy use and greenhouse‑gas emissions, Nelumbo targets the energy‑intensive defrost cycles that account for over 20% of industrial refrigeration energy consumption. The firm positions its technology as a way to improve food quality, reduce waste, and bolster grid reliability. Nelumbo views industrial refrigeration as a key commercial opportunity and plans to advance deployments across food and beverage processing systems. The company is presented in a Hayward, Calif. dateline in the announcement. Nelumbo develops a technology platform that designs and applies precise nanostructures to surfaces in a low-cost, scalable and environmentally sustainable manner. Its technology is leveraged by large global companies to create market-defining products such as cooling systems (air conditioning and refrigeration) and performance outerwear textiles. The company’s cooling unit currently comprises two key product lines. Nelumbo intends to use recent funding to grow its cooling unit and to launch a new business line while continuing to explore and develop its advanced technology platform. The company is led by CEO Liam Berryman and is based in Hayward, Calif. Nelumbo recently raised $14M in new funding as part of a Series-A expansion. Nelumbo offers a multi-functional, customizable surface modification platform that can be integrated with base products to deliver performance advantages and access new markets. The company has targeted cooling as its first vertical, positioning its technology to improve heat-exchanger performance. Nelumbo was established in 2015 and formed out of UC Berkeley; it has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Energy, the Cyclotron Road Fellowship, the Thiel Fellowship, and Forbes 30 Under 30 for Energy. The business recently completed a move into an 8,000 sq ft Hayward, California headquarters that houses offices, an R&D lab, a testing center, and a pilot production plant capable of sending commercial-scale product directly to customers. Nelumbo says the new facility and funding will accelerate commercialization and enable strategic partnerships and product launches.

Led · Series C · Mar 2018

CARsgen Therapeutics focuses on the innovation and development of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapeutics. Its pipeline includes CT053, a fully human CAR-BCMA T-cell therapy that has received RMAT, PRIME and orphan designations in the US and EU, and CT041, a CAR‑Claudin18.2 T-cell therapy that received IND clearance and orphan drug designation from the U.S. FDA and is the first CAR‑Claudin18.2 therapy targeting solid tumors to enter clinical trials. CARsgen’s China entity received IND clearance from the NMPA for four CAR T programs, including CAR-GPC3, CAR-Claudin18.2, CAR-BCMA and CAR-CD19. The company intends to use new funding to accelerate ongoing clinical trials in China, the United States and Europe and to expand its commercial manufacturing facilities. Dr. Zonghai Li leads the company as Founder, President, CEO and CSO. Financially, CARsgen completed a USD186M Series C equity financing. CARsgen Therapeutics develops CAR-T cell therapies. The company has accumulated experience in target screening and validation, antibody screening and optimization, next-generation CAR-T technologies, and CMC process development, and has reported favorable clinical data. It signed a $60 million Pre-C financing framework agreement to support multiple CAR-T product IND filings and registration-enabling clinical advancement domestically and abroad. Management said 2018 would be a key year of accelerated development with planned filings in China and the United States. The company expects the financing and a corporate restructuring to lay a solid foundation for a future IPO. Guangliang Capital's founding partner Wang Wei publicly praised the company's technical capabilities and clinical progress. CARsgen Therapeutics is a Shanghai-based developer of CAR-T-based autologous immunotherapies focused on treating solid tumors. Its lead programs target EGFR for glioblastoma and GPC3 for hepatocellular carcinoma and lung squamous cell carcinoma. The company is enrolling patients in Phase 1 clinical studies in China for both programs, with results expected in December 2016. CARsgen plans to complete preclinical testing and file Investigational New Drug applications with the U.S. FDA for its anti-EGFR and anti-GPC3 programs by the second quarter of 2017. Led by president and CEO Zonghai Li, M.D., Ph.D., the private, venture-backed company intends to advance its CAR-T programs internationally. In January 2016 CARsgen completed a $30 million Series B to fund and advance its clinical development programs. CARsgen is a Shanghai-based immunotherapy company focused on developing chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR-T) cell therapies for liver, lung, stomach and brain cancers. Its lead program, KJgpc3-001, is a GPC3-directed CAR-T that modifies patients' T cells to target glypican-3, a protein overexpressed in most hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tumors. In preclinical studies KJgpc3-001 eradicated HCC cells, and the company plans to initiate clinical studies in collaboration with Shanghai Cancer Institute and Shanghai Renji Hospital. CARsgen is advancing CAR-T candidates for lung and brain cancers in parallel. Led by CEO Li Zonghai, M.D., Ph.D., the company emphasizes expertise in cancer biology, cancer immunology and cellular therapy technology. CARsgen recently completed a Series A financing led by BVCF, with the amount undisclosed.