The Venture Codex

Participated · Equity · Jul 2026

Celea Therapeutics is focused on advancing deupirfenidone (LYT-100), a deuterated form of pirfenidone, as a potential new standard of care for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and other fibrotic lung conditions. Deupirfenidone has Orphan Drug Designation from the U.S. FDA and the European Commission and completed a Phase 2b (ELEVATE IPF) trial that demonstrated potential stabilization of lung function over at least 26 weeks, with open-label extension data suggesting effects through 52 weeks. The company plans to initiate the pivotal global Phase 3 SURPASS-IPF head-to-head trial versus pirfenidone in early Q3 2026. Celea was founded by PureTech Health and is based in Boston. The company announced a $180 million financing to fund the planned Phase 3 program and further development activities.

Participated · Series B · Oct 2024

Seaport Therapeutics develops medicines that use its Glyph platform to route drugs through the gut’s lymphatic vessels, enhancing bioavailability while limiting systemic exposure. The company’s lead non-CNS program is GlyphCele, an investigational Glyphed oral prodrug of the COX-2 inhibitor celecoxib designed to restore gut lymphatic function implicated in metabolic diseases and pancreatic cancer. Preclinical studies show GlyphCele can repair lymphatic damage, improve metabolic markers, and potentially suppress tumor spread by delivering therapy directly to lymphatic tissue. While Seaport’s core pipeline remains focused on neuropsychiatric medicines, the firm is expanding the platform’s reach into metabolic and oncologic indications through external, non-dilutive funding. There are currently no approved oral drugs that directly target the lymphatic system, positioning Seaport to pioneer a new disease-modifying approach. The company recently secured up to $15 million in ARPA-H support, providing runway for continued preclinical and early clinical development; no revenue, user, or commercialization metrics were disclosed in the article.

Participated · Equity · Apr 2023

Vedanta's lead program, VE303, is an orally administered live biotherapeutic product comprising a defined consortium of eight bacterial strains, developed to prevent recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection. VE303 is produced from pure, clonal bacterial cell banks to yield a standardized powdered drug product and has received FDA Orphan Drug designation (2017) and Fast Track designation (2023). The registrational Phase 3 RESTORATiVE303 trial is randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled with a 2:1 randomization and a primary endpoint of CDI recurrence rate at Week 8. RESTORATiVE303 is enrolling across more than 150 sites in about 20 countries, has passed a DMC interim analysis recommending continuation, and is expected to complete enrollment in H2 2026 with topline data in H1 2027. Vedanta is funding the trial through the recent $60M financing package and supplemental BARDA funding. The company intends the RESTORATiVE303 study to form the basis for a Biologics License Application to the U.S. FDA.

Participated · Series B · Dec 2022

Sonde Health builds a vocal biomarker platform that uses advanced audio signal processing, speech science and AI/machine learning to detect subtle vocal changes tied to physiology. The company maintains a health‑labeled voice dataset of over 1.2 million samples from more than 85,000 subjects across four continents. Sonde offers enterprise products and licenses its platform for telehealth, pharma, remote patient monitoring, and consumer/medical devices, and it can embed technology into device chipsets for passive monitoring. Its Health Checks include respiratory fitness (detects conditions like asthma from six seconds of voice; users engage 2+ times per week) and mental fitness (detects signs of depression and anxiety from 30 seconds of voice; users engage 3+ times per week). Sonde is developing additional vocal biomarkers for MCI, COPD and general health using a research‑build‑validation methodology with clinical partners. The company intends to deepen its respiratory and mental health monitoring, expand into new health conditions and geographies, and accelerate commercial growth using the new funding. Sonde Health is developing a voice-based technology platform that uses acoustic analysis of seconds of voice to generate vocal biomarkers and persistent brain, muscle, and respiratory health measurements. Its proprietary technology is designed to run on consumer devices such as smartphones and smart speakers to enable disease screening and management. The company reports it has collected voice and health data from over 10,000 subjects as part of ongoing platform validation. Sonde intends to expand its technology across multiple health conditions and device types and to accelerate validation into neurological, respiratory, and cardiovascular diseases as well as other health and wellness conditions. The company plans to commercialize its offerings to provide broader access to timely health information and support new models of precision and preventative medicine. The announcement was datelined Boston and notes that Sonde was co-founded by PureTech Health.

Participated · Series B · Jul 2020

Vor Biopharma pioneers engineered hematopoietic stem cells (eHSCs) that remove biologically redundant proteins so transplanted stem cells become invulnerable to complementary targeted therapies while tumor cells remain susceptible. Its lead candidate, VOR33, lacks CD33 and is intended to improve the therapeutic window and effectiveness of CD33-targeted therapies for acute myeloid leukemia. The company plans to use the financing to advance VOR33 into first-in-human clinical trials, deepen its portfolio, and accelerate validation of additional targets for its platform. Vor’s approach aims to change the treatment paradigm for both hematopoietic stem cell transplants and targeted therapies such as ADCs, bispecifics, and CAR-Ts. A proof-of-concept preclinical study for the lead program has been published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Vor is based in Cambridge, Mass., and holds a broad IP base including in-licenses from Columbia University; Siddhartha Mukherjee serves as Vor’s Scientific Board Chair. Vor Biopharma's core product approach uses an engineered hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) technology platform to enable targeted immunotherapies for hematologic malignancies. The company is advancing a lead HSC-based candidate for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) toward the clinic. Vor says its platform can expand the reach of targeted immunotherapies, enable new dosing paradigms, and improve the therapeutic window and patient safety. Proceeds from the recent financing will be used to advance the lead candidate and to further build the company’s pipeline against hematologic cancers. Vor was co-founded by PureTech Health and Siddhartha Mukherjee and collaborates with leading scientists and institutions in stem cell and immunology research. The company is publicly reported from Boston.