Participated · Equity · Aug 2024

Openwater develops a healthcare platform that integrates infrared imaging, ultrasound, and electromagnetic fields to visualize, monitor, and treat biological issues at the cellular level. Its technology can selectively destroy cancer cells while leaving healthy cells unaffected. The company applies open-source principles and consumer electronics manufacturing to reduce medical device development time and costs. Openwater collaborates with institutions including UCLA, the University of Arizona, the University of Pennsylvania, and Brown University to validate its technology across multiple medical fields. Led by CEO Mary Lou Jepsen and based in Newark, CA, the company has raised $100M in total funding and plans to use the proceeds to expand operations and its business reach.

Participated · Equity · May 2024

Ketos is a San Francisco-based water intelligence company offering real-time water analytics and intelligence. Led by CEO and Founder Meena Sankaran, Ketos uses machine learning and predictive technology to measure parts per billion specificity and standardized water metrics to improve efficiency, operations, yield, compliance, and treatment choices. Its solutions combine an industrial-grade, patented robotics system, an IoT communication framework, and an AI-enabled software platform to deliver mission-critical insights and 24/7 services. The company operates across nine countries and plans to use its newly raised capital to advance go-to-market efforts and expand its global presence. Ketos announced $10M in additional equity growth financing to support that expansion and sales strategy. Accenture participates as both an investor and a strategic resale partner, and Ketos added two new board directors and two strategic advisors to support its growth trajectory. Ketos provides a fully integrated, EPA-compliant solution that combines intelligent hardware, stable connectivity infrastructure and an interactive cloud software platform to deliver actionable water-quality and efficiency data. Its system performs real-time monitoring across parameters such as selenium, arsenic, chromium, manganese, iron and nitrates and applies machine learning models to generate predictive intelligence. The platform is positioned for use in chemical treatment optimization, public health monitoring, process control, food processing and effluent discharge compliance. Ketos emphasizes a patented, proprietary approach and intends to use new funding to scale and further advance that solution. The company was launched in 2015 and is headquartered in San Francisco, CA. To date the company has raised $30M in total financing. Ketos provides industrial, agricultural, commercial and institutional customers with a patented sensors and machine-learning analytics platform that delivers actionable, real-time water monitoring and analytics. Its KETOS Shield Fabric offers real-time water safety management with advanced warnings for contaminants and heavy-metal toxins and suggests filtration or remediation actions. The KETOS Wave Fabric delivers real-time water utilization data, leak detection and remote water supply management from inline software, plus predictive insights on distribution, flow and pressure. The platform can directly measure 20+ parameters at lab-precision levels and has analyzed over one million water quality tests across more than one million gallons with 130+ deployments in India, Mexico and the United States. Led by CEO Meena Sankaran, the company will use the Series A proceeds to expand its team and accelerate global market penetration. Energy Innovation’s Veery Maxwell will join the Ketos board as part of the financing.

Participated · Series A · Nov 2022

Juvena Therapeutics leverages artificial intelligence and insights from human stem cell biology to engineer first-in-class regenerative biologics aimed at reversing tissue degeneration. Its lead candidate, JUV-161, is in Phase 1 studies and has shown preclinical benefits in myogenesis, muscle metabolism, and strength for myopathic conditions; dosing is complete in five of six SAD cohorts and all MAD cohorts with study completion expected by January. The company recently signed a research and collaboration agreement with Eli Lilly worth more than $650 million in potential milestones, underscoring the commercial interest in its platform. Proceeds from the latest financing will fund advancement of JUV-161, expansion of its pipeline targeting neuromuscular and age-related diseases, and further development of its AI discovery capabilities. Juvena is also pursuing additional partnership opportunities and has launched a search for a new CEO as it scales. Headquartered in Redwood City, California, the company has expanded its board and clinical leadership team to support its next phase of growth. No revenue or user metrics have been disclosed, but the company positions itself as a leader in regenerative medicine.

Participated · Equity · Sep 2022

Gameto develops stem cell-derived therapies for reproductive health, with its lead program Fertilo using iPSC-derived engineered ovarian support cells to mature eggs outside the body. Fertilo is cleared for commercialization in multiple ex-U.S. jurisdictions (Peru, Mexico, Australia, Japan, India, Singapore, Guatemala, Argentina, Dominican Republic, and Paraguay) and has been used in clinics with five babies born and over 20 pregnancies recorded. The therapy shortens standard ovarian stimulation from about two weeks of daily hormone injections to 2–3 days and is the first iPSC-derived therapy to reach late-stage clinical development in the U.S. Gameto is conducting a randomized, controlled, double-blind Phase 3 trial (FIRST) at up to 20 U.S. sites with an anticipated interim readout in late 2026. Beyond Fertilo, the company is developing the ARPA-H-funded Ameno menopause program, which includes an implantable cell therapy and a next-generation vaginal ring planned for Phase 1. Gameto's platform is built on an AI-powered in vitro organoid system developed with George Church's lab, and the company has raised $127 million to date. Gameto develops Fertilo, a novel investigational in vitro maturation (IVM) solution that uses engineered ovarian support cells (OSCs) to mature eggs outside the body. The company aims to make IVF and egg freezing shorter, safer, and more accessible by reducing hormonal injections. Gameto is led by CEO Dr. Dina Radenkovic and is already using Fertilo in clinical settings in Australia and Latin America. Following discussions with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Gameto received tentative approval to proceed to Phase 3 trials subject to completion of certain assay and manufacturing requirements. The recent financing will support clinical development of Fertilo and continued commercial launches in markets where it is in use. Financially, the company reported a $33M Series B that brought total funding to $73M. Gameto is a biotechnology company using cell engineering to develop therapeutics for diseases of the female reproductive system. Its underlying cell‑engineering platform was developed in stealth under a scientific research agreement with George Church’s lab at Harvard Medical School. The company is led by Dr. Dina Radenkovic and operates out of New York City and Madrid. In January it announced three sequenced programs: Fertilo (a biologic for IVF and egg freezing), Deovo (an organoid of the female reproductive system), and Ameno (a cell‑based therapeutic for primary ovarian insufficiency and menopause). Fertilo has entered preclinical development in partnership with clinics in the US and Spain, and partner clinics named include Extend Fertility, RMA, Pozitivf, Ovation Fertility, Clinica Tambre, and Hospital Ruber Internacional. Gameto intends to use the new funding to expand operations and broaden its business reach. Gameto is developing a platform for ovarian therapeutics that targets accelerated ovarian aging to change the trajectory of women’s health and equality. Its initial focus is on addressing menopause and improving assisted fertility through three sequenced programs: Fertilo, Deovo and Ameno. Fertilo aims to improve assisted fertility with a long-term mission to eliminate infertility; Deovo is initiating drug discovery and a computational platform for ovarian aging; Ameno aims to make the medical burden of menopause optional. The company is led by CEO Dr. Dina Radenkovic with Martin Varsavsky as chairman and is based in New York City and Boston, Massachusetts. Financially, Gameto disclosed a $20M Series A and a prior $3M seed (March 2020), totaling $23M in disclosed funding.

Participated · Series B · Apr 2022

Ashvattha Therapeutics is advancing a new class of clinical-stage nanomedicine therapeutics intended to traverse tissue barriers and selectively target and reprogram activated cells only in regions of inflammation. Its targeted nanomedicine approach aims to improve precision medicine across ophthalmology, neurology, and inflammation by enabling selective modulation of diseased tissue. The company’s at-home monthly subcutaneously administered HDT for neovascular (wet) age-related macular degeneration and diabetic macular edema demonstrated a substantial reduction in treatment burden in interim data. Ashvattha is currently conducting an ongoing Phase 2 ophthalmology trial and a Phase 1/2 neuroinflammation trial and intends to use newly raised funds to complete those studies. Interim Phase 2 trial results will be presented by the principal investigator at the Angiogenesis 2025 meeting on February 8, 2025. The company was founded by Kannan Rangaramanujam, Sujatha Kannan, and Jeff Cleland and is based in Redwood City, California. Ashvattha develops hydroxyl dendrimer therapeutics (HDTs), a platform technology that chemically conjugates drugs to hydroxyl dendrimers to selectively target reactive inflammatory cells in diseased tissue. Its HDTs have demonstrated the ability to cross the blood-brain barrier and blood-retinal barrier, enabling programs in neurology, ophthalmology and systemic inflammatory conditions. Clinical-stage candidates include OP-101 (N‑acetyl cysteine conjugate) in a Phase 2 PRANA study for severe COVID-19, D-4517.2 for ocular neovascular disease, and OP-801 as an HD imaging agent for neuroinflammation; Ashvattha planned additional Phase 2 and Phase 1/2 starts in 2022 for wet AMD/DME and ALS. The company licenses the underlying HD platform from founders at Johns Hopkins and positions its pipeline around disease-cell selective delivery to increase therapeutic index. Proceeds from the announced financing and licensing are intended to advance multiple clinical-stage programs and preclinical candidates.