The Venture Codex

Led · Equity · Jan 2020

North American Helium is a private Calgary-based helium exploration and production company founded in 2013 that has drilled over 30 wells to date and holds rights to more than 5.0 million contiguous acres primarily in Saskatchewan and Utah. The company owns and operates Canada’s largest helium purification facility and reports four recent helium discoveries. NAH’s core product is domestically produced helium for high-technology applications, and it emphasizes building a reliable, long-term green helium supply for sectors such as space exploration and semiconductor manufacturing. The company plans a continuous capital investment program including acquiring seismic data, drilling 15–20 wells per year, and building additional processing and purification facilities to scale production and develop a regional green helium hub in Saskatchewan. Management recently completed financing and cites internally generated cash flow to support simultaneous development of multiple production assets and to bring additional production online in 2022. North American Helium is a Calgary-based private helium exploration and production company founded in 2013. The company explores, drills and commercializes high‑helium gas fields and says it is the only firm in the past 40 years to discover new economic high‑helium fields in North America. NAH holds rights to over 3.7 million contiguous acres and has drilled 15 wells to date, planning seismic acquisition and up to 10 additional wells in H2 2020. Proceeds from a recently closed approximately $39 million non‑brokered common‑share equity financing will be used to build a second helium purification plant at the Battle Creek field, fund an active drilling program, and for general corporate purposes. The Battle Creek purification plant, ordered from Air Liquide Advanced Technologies USA LLC, will have throughput capacity of 160 mcf/d of purified helium (20 MMcf/d raw gas) and, on commissioning (target July 2021), will be the largest helium purification system in Canada. NAH expects to start producing and marketing helium in July 2020 and aims to convert its land base into a development inventory to generate future cash flows. North American Helium (NAH) is a Calgary-based, private helium exploration and production company focused on discovering and commercializing high‑helium gas fields. The company holds over 3.6 million contiguous acres of land, primarily in Saskatchewan and Utah, and has made four new discoveries in the past three years. NAH’s core product is helium for industrial and high‑technology applications, and it expects to start producing and marketing helium in 2020. Near‑term plans include installing a single‑well mobile helium processing unit at its Cypress field to accelerate revenue generation through long‑term sales contracts and placing an equipment order for a multi‑well production plant at Battle Creek. The company closed a non‑brokered common share equity financing of approximately C$17.8 million to advance exploration and development at its Battle Creek, Cypress and Claydon fields and for general corporate purposes. Management recently appointed Neil Burrows as CFO and added Portal Capital’s Robert Mitchell to the board as part of the financing.

Participated · Equity · Sep 2010

TheraVasc is developing an oral, sustained-release formulation of sodium nitrite to improve blood flow and stimulate new blood-vessel growth in patients with peripheral artery disease, particularly diabetics. The company has an ongoing Phase 1 trial (started in July) that has enrolled three patients and hopes to enroll about 10 more before wrapping in November or December. It plans a Phase 2a trial at the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals to test efficacy in diabetics. Funding from the current raise will support the Phase 1 completion and the planned Phase 2a. The team is led by CEO Tony Giordano, who plans to split time between Cleveland and Louisiana as the company progresses. TheraVasc received a $100,000 grant from GLIDE that helped bring activity to Northeast Ohio. Management says a successful Phase 2a could position the company for acquisition or a larger venture round of $10–$20 million.

Participated · Equity · Jul 2009

COMS Interactive is a Hudson, Ohio–based provider of a SaaS disease management system focused on elderly post-acute care. Led by CEO Edward J. Tromczynski, the company offers Daylight IQ™, a SaaS product suite that combines business administration, disease management and long-term healthcare knowledge to help nursing teams reduce medical errors and address resident healthcare needs. COMS serves customers in 38 states. The company received a $21M minority investment from Summit Partners. COMS plans to use proceeds to expand its post-acute care products and services throughout North America and to advance clinical quality assurance and performance improvement initiatives. A portion of the capital will be used for redemption of COMS common stock holdings, and Summit's Mark deLaar will join the company's board. Existing investors include Zapis Capital Group, Next Sparc, LLC, and Portal Capital, LLC. COMS Interactive is a Cleveland-area spin-off of STA Healthcare that offers software and services for long-term nursing facilities to track diseases and more efficiently manage patient admissions and discharges. The company says its product can extend nursing home stays and reduce hospital visits, which increases revenue for facilities. Since April it raised fresh capital, consolidated a disparate 15-member full-time workforce into the Cleveland area, and completed a new version of its product. Edward Tromczynski joined as CEO four months ago; he co-founded PlanSoft, now part of starCITE. COMS plans to deploy the new product into eight nursing homes over the next eight weeks and will use most of the new funding to engineer and deliver the product. The company positions itself to benefit from an aging population by providing data to manage patients with multiple chronic conditions.