Participated · Series D · Dec 2020

Pear Therapeutics develops digital prescription therapeutics (PDTs), including reSET and reSET-O for substance and opioid use disorders and Somryst for chronic insomnia. The company has been integrating digital biomarkers, machine-learning algorithms and sensor-based technologies into its platform. Pear has secured payer coverage decisions, including Massachusetts’ Medicaid program (MassHealth) for reSET and reSET-O, and has conducted studies demonstrating reSET-O’s cost-effectiveness and impact. Financially, Pear added $20 million to a Series D in March, bringing that round to $100 million. Pear is pursuing a public listing via a SPAC merger with Thimble Point Acquisition Corp. and has a PIPE accompanying the deal. Thimble Point’s sponsor had committed $23 million to the PIPE and Pear announced up to $50 million in additional capital from a Thimble Point affiliate ahead of the merger; the PIPE’s minimum gross proceeds are expected to be $175 million. The SEC has accepted Thimble Point’s registration statement and a shareholder vote on the combination was set but delayed to Nov. 30 after the new capital was announced. Pear Therapeutics develops prescription digital therapeutics (PDTs) that are intended to treat disease via software delivered to patients’ mobile devices. The company has three FDA-authorized commercial products—reSET for Substance Use Disorder, reSET-O for Opioid Use Disorder, and Somryst for chronic insomnia—and a broader pipeline of product candidates. Pear says it develops PDTs in a GMP-compliant environment, tests them in randomized controlled trials, and designs them to collect real‑world data for clinicians and payors. The company cites publications showing potential improved health outcomes and decreased treatment costs for users of its PDT reSET-O. Pear is using its Series D financing to accelerate reimbursement coverage for its three FDA-authorized products and to create what it describes as the first market access pathway in the PDT industry. The company’s stated goal is to increase access to PDTs by adding them to standard formularies to reach large U.S. patient populations (citing ~20 million with substance/opioid use disorders and ~30 million with chronic insomnia). Pear Therapeutics develops prescription digital therapeutics (PDTs) and has commercialized three FDA-authorized products: reSET, reSET-O, and Somryst for substance use disorder, opioid use disorder, and chronic insomnia, respectively. The company has built an end-to-end platform to discover, develop, and deliver PDTs and recently launched PearConnect, a virtual care experience combining telemedicine visits with a patient service center for PDTs. Pear says its three commercial products address large U.S. markets (more than 20 million patients for substance and opioid use disorders and over 30 million for chronic insomnia) and are being launched to accelerate revenue growth. The company plans to use new financing to accelerate reimbursement coverage and create the first market access pathway in the PDT industry, and to reinvest proceeds into its pipeline and platform. Pear collaborates with innovators across therapeutic areas including specialty psychiatry and neurology and describes a robust pipeline of product candidates. Pear Therapeutics is a developer of prescription digital therapeutics (PDTs) with a pipeline of software-based therapeutic products and candidates. The company currently has three FDA‑authorized PDTs: reSET for substance use disorder, reSET‑O for opioid use disorder (which received Breakthrough Designation), and Somryst for chronic insomnia (reviewed via 510(k) and FDA’s Software Precertification Pilot Program). Pear aims to advance commercialization of its authorized products and continue developing additional digital therapeutics. The company announced a credit facility intended to support working capital, repayment of existing debt, and general corporate purposes, including commercialization activities. Pear describes itself as focused on delivering clinically validated software therapeutics to improve patient outcomes and provide tools for clinicians and payers. Pear Therapeutics develops prescription digital therapeutics (PDTs) using a biopharmaceutical approach and randomized clinical trials to generate safety and efficacy data for FDA authorization. The company has two FDA-authorized PDTs: reSET for Substance Use Disorder and reSET-O for Opioid Use Disorder. reSET was commercially launched with commercial partner Sandoz (a division of Novartis) in November 2018, and reSET-O received FDA marketing authorization in December 2018 and was the first PDT to receive Breakthrough Designation. Pear's pipeline includes development-stage therapeutics across therapeutic areas, including severe psychiatric and neurological conditions. Its PDTs are intended for use alone or in combination with pharmaceuticals and to be reimbursed by insurers using traditional pharmaceutical/device pathways. Pear plans to use new capital to support global commercialization of the reSET suite, fund its clinical-stage pipeline, and opportunistically acquire additional assets.

Participated · Equity · Dec 2014

Qualtré is a developer of Bulk Acoustic Wave (BAW) silicon MEMS inertial sensors and MEMS gyroscopes. It launched two BAW MEMS gyroscopes in 2014 that the company says received strong customer acceptance. Qualtré’s BAW gyros offer higher accuracy and superior shock and vibration immunity at competitive price points, targeting harsh industrial and high-performance consumer environments. The company’s proprietary BAW designs and scalable HARPSS process technology enabled differentiated 3-axis and 1-axis gyros that are being supplied to leading customers. Applications include inertial navigation, platform stabilization, robotics, unmanned vehicles, sports measurement, medical wearables and the Internet of Things. Qualtré will use new funding to expand sales and marketing, scale operations and extend product development to support new customers and additional applications. Qualtré designs next-generation silicon MEMS inertial sensors based on a patented Bulk Acoustic Wave (BAW) sensor architecture and a High Aspect Ratio Polysilicon/Single-Crystal Silicon (HARPSS) process. Its technology targets superior price/performance and environmental tolerance versus alternative sensor approaches. Qualtré is partnered with Alps Electric to launch its first product, a 3-axis gyro aimed at the industrial market, which the company says offers best-in-class vibration/shock performance and a 2x price/performance advantage. The company plans to leverage HARPSS as a cost-reduction path to address consumer markets and enable applications like indoor navigation, location-aware services, and image stabilization. Qualtré was named one of EETimes’ top ten MEMS/Analog start-ups to watch in 2014. The company is headquartered in Marlborough, Massachusetts. Qualtre develops solid-state silicon MEMS-based motion sensor solutions built on proprietary multi-axis bulk acoustic wave (BAW) MEMS gyroscope technology. The company targets consumer-electronics applications including game controllers, mobile handsets, digital still and video cameras, 3D remote controls, and portable navigation systems. Its BAW MEMS approach is described as scalable to future generations that could serve energy exploration, automotive, and other high-reliability markets. Qualtre emphasizes best-in-class performance, ruggedness, and cost for portable devices. Founded in 2008 and based in Marlborough, the company recently reported a $3 million financing, indicating continued external support for development. Qualtré develops solid-state silicon MEMS motion sensors built on a differentiated bulk acoustic wave (BAW) gyroscope architecture. The company plans to launch multiple products that leverage the same design building blocks to serve both high-volume consumer and industrial markets. Management says the BAW approach provides performance scaling, environmental robustness, and improved intellectual-property and supply assurance versus tuning-fork gyros. The new financing will be used to develop products targeted at applications that benefit from the combination of robustness, performance, and cost optimization. Qualtré traces its technology to research by CTO and founder Dr. Farrokh Ayazi at Georgia Tech's Integrated MEMS Laboratory. The company was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Marlborough, Massachusetts. CEO Edgar Masri said Qualtré is seeing strong interest from top-tier customers and strategic partners. Qualtré Inc., founded in 2008 and headquartered in Marlborough, Massachusetts, develops solid-state silicon MEMS motion sensor solutions. Its core product is a proprietary multi-axis bulk acoustic wave (BAW) MEMS gyroscope technology. Initial target applications include game controllers, mobile handsets, digital still and video cameras, 3D remote controls for audio/visual devices, and portable navigation systems. The company builds on research by CTO Dr. Farrokh Ayazi at Georgia Tech’s Integrated MEMS Laboratory and is led by CEO Edgar Masri. Qualtré has raised an additional $10M in venture capital and intends to use the funds for product launch, expansion of sales and supply-chain infrastructure, and development of new products based on its technology.

Participated · Series E · Jan 2011

Stoke delivers gateway solutions that enable mobile operators to manage traffic growth and increase the efficiency, reliability, and scope of mobile data services. The company is led by President and CEO Vikash Varma and is based in Santa Clara, CA. Stoke received a US$5M strategic investment from Samsung Venture Investment Corporation to support its growth in the worldwide LTE market. The article identifies the investment as strategic but does not specify instrument details beyond that. Stoke is backed by venture capital firms and carriers including Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Sequoia Capital, Focus Ventures, and NTT Docomo. No revenue, user metrics, or prior round financial amounts are disclosed in the article. Stoke, founded in 2004 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California, designs and manufactures systems and hardware for mobile communications infrastructure. Its products support 3G, 4G and Wi‑Fi carrier networks and are designed to improve speeds and make networks more secure. The company’s hardware targets bandwidth efficiency as carriers face rapid growth in connected mobile devices and mobile data traffic. Keating Capital noted industry demand for 4G/LTE and Wi‑Fi over the next 5–10 years and said Stoke is well positioned to take advantage of that growth. Financially, the most recent transaction was a $3.5 million secondary purchase of common shares by Keating Capital from certain Stoke employees; Stoke did not issue new securities or receive new capital. Keating was the sole investor in the transaction and joins existing preferred-stock holders Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Sequoia Capital and Docomo Capital as investors in Stoke. Stoke builds mobile broadband infrastructure solutions that provide 3G and LTE capabilities and help network operators transition to 4G. Its products are designed to reduce information overload on carrier networks by improving scalability, flexibility, and cost. The company cites strong demand driven by rapid smartphone adoption and forecasts of massive growth in connected devices. Stoke closed 2010 with revenues four times those of 2009 and was expecting triple‑digit growth in the following year. It plans to use the new funding to double its size in 2011. Total funding to date is $92 million. Stoke builds hardware that provides mobile carriers the technology to let phones access different wireless networks including 3G, GSM, CDMA, Wi‑Fi and WiMax. Its systems converge wireless coverage and let phones seamlessly detect different networks and automatically switch based on location and availability. The product targets carriers facing massive increases in mobile data traffic from applications, video, and music. Stoke says the new funds will be used to support continuing partnerships with mobile carriers. Financially, the company has raised $15M in a Series D, bringing total funding to $65M. Prior rounds include a $20M Series C in 2007, a $19.8M Series B in 2005, and a $10M Series A.