Participated · Series B · Nov 2023

Noon Academy is a Saudi online integrated learning platform that combines social and gamification features. The platform enables collaborative learning through study groups, peer participation, competitions, and interaction with teachers and classmates. Its product emphasizes engagement and social learning mechanics to support group-based study. The company recently completed a $41 million Series B financing. The round was co-led by Wa'ed Ventures and Raed Ventures, with participation from Nahlat Alarab Holding, Qyem Development Holding, Sanabil 500, Endeavor Catalyst, Riyadh Valley Company, STV, and Steadfast Venture Capital. No operating metrics or specific future plans were provided in the article.

Participated · Series B · Oct 2020

Prokarium is developing a synthetic‑biology platform that re‑engineers a proprietary strain of Salmonella with bespoke synthetic circuits to deliver diverse therapeutic payloads. Its lead program targets bladder cancer and is intended to offer an alternative to BCG with immune‑driven, long‑lasting antitumor effects. Prokarium is advancing that lead oncology program into clinical development this year. The company is building a bactofection platform to deliver novel payloads, including RNA, via its proprietary bacteria. Prokarium announced a partnership with Ginkgo Bioworks to leverage Ginkgo’s Foundry and Codebase for strain engineering and platform optimization. The company also added two scientific advisors, Professor Adrian Hayday and Sam Chang, as it transitions to a clinical‑stage company. Prokarium is based in London, UK and announced a $30 million financing to support these plans. Prokarium is a privately-held biotechnology company focused on developing novel immunotherapies and vaccines based on an engineered microbial platform. Its lead oncology program is a microbial immunotherapy targeting non-muscle invasive bladder cancer, planned to enter the clinic in 2022. The company is also leveraging its platform with the Wellcome Trust for phase 1 and phase 2 clinical evaluation of a combination typhoid and paratyphoid vaccine. Prokarium said the new financing will support advancement of the bladder cancer program and expansion of its pipeline across multiple solid tumours. The company is headquartered in London and recently strengthened its leadership team. Prokarium also announced executive promotions and the appointment of Hyam Levitsky, MD, to its Board of Directors. Prokarium develops oral microbial immunotherapies and vaccines delivered as capsules or sachets, aiming to elicit mucosal, systemic and cellular immunity. Its lead programme, Entervax™, is a bivalent oral vaccine against enteric fever based on the Vaxonella® platform and combining the proprietary ZH9 strain with a novel strain targeting Salmonella Paratyphi A. ZH9 has been safely administered to 351 individuals, including 101 children, in the UK, US and Vietnam. The company plans a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 1 study in the UK and an age-descending, dose-escalation Phase 1b study in an endemic region in South Asia, with dosing planned to start in the first half of 2020. Prokarium is also developing microbial immunotherapies for solid tumours and oral vaccines against Chlamydia trachomatis and Yersinia pestis (the latter in collaboration with the UK government). The company emphasizes oral delivery as easier to distribute and administer than injectable vaccines, potentially increasing vaccination rates in endemic regions. Prokarium is a UK-based synthetic biology company that has developed Vaxonella, an oral thermostable vaccine delivery platform. Vaxonella enables thermostable microbes to be taken orally to produce vaccines inside the body’s immune cells, triggering mucosal and cellular immunity with minimal side effects and at lower cost than injectable vaccines. The platform offers 12-week thermostability at 40°C, which improves transport to remote locations and access to underserved markets. Prokarium’s pipeline targets Chlamydia, Clostridium difficile and enteric fever (typhoid and paratyphoid), and includes a plague vaccine entering a phase 1 clinical trial under an SBRI contract funded by the UK Department of Health and Social Care and managed by Innovate UK. The company operates a dual business model of in-house vaccine development and out-licensing of the Vaxonella platform and is expanding R&D into immuno-oncology. Prokarium plans to grow its team and pursue partnerships with global biopharmaceutical companies to commercialize its thermostable oral vaccines and immunotherapies.

Led · Series B · Mar 2020

SecuLetter is an information security firm based in Seoul, South Korea, that builds products to detect, diagnose, analyze and block malicious code attacks using proprietary reverse-engineering diagnostic technology. Led by CEO Lim Chasung, the company provides solutions aimed at threats that are difficult to catch with signature- and behavior-based security tools. It plans to expand its product lineup and develop offerings that incorporate AI-based malware detection and CDR (Content Disarm & Reconstruction). SecuLetter intends to use new capital to strengthen its R&D capabilities. The company’s funding status and recent valuation are publicly reported in the fundraising coverage. No operating metrics (revenue/users) were disclosed in the article.

Led · Series B · Feb 2020

Eureka builds software that applies AI and machine learning to large external and internal data sets to produce financial and market intelligence. Its financial intelligence products enable credit and risk scoring by leveraging telecom and alternative data, open banking, and transaction data. Its market intelligence offerings provide continuous country-level panels for digital and location intelligence. Eureka also offers data science infrastructure, including the DS2 Feature Store and AI Learning Fabric, to help teams deliver data science at scale. The company works with Fortune 500 customers across telecom, banking, insurance, e-commerce and transport. Founded in 2016, Eureka has offices in eight major cities across Asia, the United States, the Middle East, and Africa, and says the recent financing will fuel rapid growth and expansion of its offerings. Eureka Ai is a Singapore-based artificial intelligence enterprise software startup. According to ACRA filings accessed by DealStreetAsia – DATA VANTAGE, the company has raised an additional $500,000 in fresh funding. The article identifies the company as offering AI enterprise software but does not provide details on the investors, valuation, or funding instrument. The coverage is a short filing-based report published by DealStreetAsia’s DATA VANTAGE. No operating metrics, past rounds, founding year, or future plans are mentioned in the article. Eureka has built a proprietary AI enterprise software platform called Spectrum that organises mobile telecom data to deliver actionable intelligence for mobile operators and enterprise partners. The platform enables enterprises across industries including banking, insurance, transportation, and FMCG to partner with mobile operators to offer more relevant and personalized services and acquire customers. Eureka is deploying on operators across Southeast Asia, India, and the Middle East, covering a collective mobile subscriber base of over one billion customers, and is expanding into Europe and the US. The company operates engineering and technology teams in Bengaluru, Seattle, Singapore, and Jakarta and plans to grow its Bengaluru development team. Management says the new capital will support international expansion and further develop Eureka’s product portfolio. Eureka is also a member of Mastercard’s Start Path later-stage startup engagement programme.

Led · Series C · May 2016

Sol Voltaics is a Lund, Sweden-based solar technology company developing SolFilm™, a patented low-cost thin-film composed of billions of Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) nanowires intended to increase conventional solar panel efficiencies. Led by CEO Erik Smith, the company has confirmed manufacture of nanowires using its low-cost Aerotaxy® process. Sol Voltaics is in the final stages of technology optimization and expects to send samples to partners by the end of 2018. It closed $21.3m in funding to support its next steps. The company intends to use the funds to accelerate commercialization and scaling of its SolFilm technology. Sol Voltaics develops a high-volume production platform for its patented Aerotaxy® nanowire thin-film process aimed at improving the efficiency and sustainability of conventional solar modules. The company is commercializing a tandem-layer nanowire solar film and recently announced alignment of gallium-arsenide nanowires in a thin film that should enable materially higher PV module efficiencies. Led by CEO Erik Smith, Sol Voltaics intends to use new funding to accelerate commercialization of its technology. The business combines materials engineering and scalable manufacturing methods to produce nanowire-enhanced photovoltaic films. Financially, the company secured equity and grant funding in its latest financing to support product development and market rollout. Sol Voltaics, based in Lund, Sweden, develops Solink™, a gallium arsenide nanomaterial additive designed to boost the light‑to‑electricity conversion of crystalline silicon and thin‑film solar modules. The company plans to use the recent financing to move Solink into pilot production and scale toward commercial output. Management, led by CEO David Epstein, projects commercial production of Solink‑enhanced modules beginning in 2015 with volume production in 2016. The product is intended for integration into solar modules to increase efficiency. In conjunction with the round, Sol Voltaics added Thomas Moe Borseth of Umoe and Kang Sun (former CEO of JA Solar and CEO of Amprius) to its board. Sol Voltaics is a Lund, Sweden-based company that develops a new type of material and production method intended to reduce the cost of producing electricity from solar cells. It is developing a rapid fabrication process for gallium arsenide (GaAs) nanowires in which each wire functions as a solar cell. The company intends to use newly raised funds to further advance its products. Sol Voltaics originated from nanotechnology research at Lund University and was founded in 2008. It is led by CEO Bo Pedersen and has several existing corporate and venture backers.