Participated · Series C · Jun 2025

Antheia is a biosynthesis company focused on transforming pharmaceutical manufacturing through engineered microorganisms that produce complex active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). The firm employs its advanced biosynthesis platform to generate critical drug ingredients domestically, reducing reliance on fragile global supply chains. Under an ongoing collaboration with the U.S. government’s BioMaP-Consortium, Antheia will scale commercial production of two essential pharmaceutical compounds in the United States. The company positions its technology as a solution to longstanding vulnerabilities in healthcare supply chains and aims to build a more resilient, on-shore source of medicines for the American market. To date, Antheia has secured $21 million in federal project investment dedicated to this initiative, including a recent $9 million expansion award. These funds will be deployed to increase manufacturing capacity and accelerate the company’s path to large-scale commercialization. No additional operating metrics or revenue figures were disclosed in the article.

Participated · Series D · Nov 2020

Decibel Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotech focused on developing gene therapies and precision therapeutics to restore functional hair cells in the inner ear for hearing and balance disorders. The company leverages single-cell genomics and proprietary gene therapy technologies to build a research, discovery and drug development platform aimed at restoring hearing and balance. Its lead programs include DB-OTO, an investigational gene therapy for congenital deafness due to otoferlin deficiency (in preclinical studies with clinical testing expected in 2022), and DB-020, an ototoxicity prevention candidate currently in a Phase 1B study with initial human efficacy data expected in 2021. Decibel is collaborating with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals on DB-OTO and uses cell-selective promoters to target gene expression in cochlear hair cells. The company intends to use recent financing proceeds to support clinical and preclinical studies across its pipeline. Decibel positions itself to make hearing and balance therapeutics broadly available through its focused gene therapy programs. Decibel Therapeutics has established a drug discovery, development, and translational research platform to discover and develop therapeutics that protect, repair, and restore hearing. The company is focused on advancing clinical and preclinical product candidates aimed at treating hearing loss and related disorders. Proceeds from its recent financing will be used to advance those programs and to build out its comprehensive hearing drug discovery and development platform and capabilities. Decibel states its mission is to serve the over half billion people globally living with hearing loss and related disorders. The company is headquartered in Boston, Mass. Leadership changes accompanying the financing include a new board member from GV and a new board chair. Decibel Therapeutics is building the world’s first comprehensive, integrated drug discovery, translational research, drug development, and delivery platform to protect, repair, and restore hearing. The company focuses on discovering and developing new therapies for hearing loss and tinnitus and convenes preeminent experts in the field. Decibel is collaborating with a variety of organizations to assemble audiometric, genomic, and phenotypic datasets that it says hold promising insights to accelerate the discovery of novel therapeutics. The firm emphasizes using advanced big data sciences and informatics to elucidate the complex, multifactorial biological basis of hearing loss across large and diverse populations. The company notes that currently there are no medicines available to protect, repair, or restore hearing, which frames its therapeutic mission. Decibel was launched in late 2015 by Third Rock Ventures and is headquartered in Boston, MA. Decibel Therapeutics is a newly formed hearing company focused on discovering and developing new medicines to protect, repair and restore hearing. It combines innovations in hearing science with diagnostic tools, biological insights, modeling and therapeutic delivery techniques to define the underlying biological causes of hearing loss and develop a pipeline of new drugs. The company has identified one near-term clinical candidate and several other targets for assessment. Its stated focus areas include ototoxicity in pediatric cancer and cystic fibrosis patients, noise-induced hearing loss, residual hearing preservation and improved sound fidelity for cochlear implant users, presbycusis, tinnitus, and genetic hearing loss. Decibel was co-founded by experts in inner ear biology and hearing disorders, including M. Charles Liberman, Gabriel Corfas, Ulrich Müller and Albert Edge. The company is led by Kevin Starr as chairman and interim CEO, with Michael Solomon as COO, Leslie Shinobu as CMO and Ada Silos-Santiago as VP of pharmacology, and launched with a $52M Series A financing.

Participated · Equity · Jul 2020

Innovium develops the TERALYNX family of programmable switch silicon delivering 1Tbps to 25.6Tbps throughput with telemetry, low latency, programmability and large buffers, and a roadmap that scales to 51.2Tbps+. The company reports TERALYNX 7 in continued volume production, TERALYNX 5 ramping shipments for ToR, Edge and 5G designs, and the introduction of TERALYNX 8. Innovium says its products have been adopted and validated by market-leading OEM, cloud and ODM customers, including wins, deployments and trials at a majority of the top 25 cloud customers. Financially, Innovium reported revenue growth of over 5x in 1H 2020 versus 1H 2019 and achieved over 20% market share in 50G SerDes shipments. The business is headquartered in Silicon Valley, California. The company plans to use new capital to accelerate R&D innovation and expand customer engagements worldwide. Innovium develops the TERALYNX family of data-center optimized switching silicon, delivering products ranging from 3.2Tbps to 12.8Tbps with a focus on power efficiency, programmability, radix, buffers, and low latency. The company emphasizes a grounds-up platform designed to meet rising data-center demands from public and hybrid cloud, machine learning, analytics, storage, and video. Innovium plans to use new funding to drive production and volume ramps of its TERALYNX 12.8Tbps and 6.4Tbps switch family and to continue product roadmap innovation and market expansion. The article notes the TERALYNX silicon is seeing market traction and volume deployment at several industry-leading customers. Innovium is headquartered in Silicon Valley, California and highlights a team with experience delivering multiple generations of widely deployed data-center products. The company states its products are software-compatible across the TERALYNX family. Innovium develops high-performance TERALYNX switching silicon targeted at data center networks. Its TERALYNX family delivers software-compatible products ranging from 3.2Tbps to 12.8Tbps with claims of unmatched power efficiency, radix, programmability, buffers and low latency. The company says its data center–focused design and patented innovations enable it to leapfrog competing products and position it as a leader in programmable large-scale data center networks. Innovium plans to use the new funding to accelerate commercialization of the TERALYNX 12.8Tbps switch silicon family and to execute on its roadmap. The company is headquartered in Silicon Valley, California. As of this round Innovium has raised a total of $90 million in financing. Innovium develops networking infrastructure products aimed at next‑generation data centers and is based in San Jose, California. The company focuses on building hardware and software solutions for data center networking (as described in the article). In 2015 it completed two oversubscribed financing rounds that together raised over $50 million. The financings drew participation from strategic and financial investors, and led to multiple additions to Innovium’s board. Rajiv Khemani is the company’s CEO and founder. The article does not disclose operating metrics such as revenue or users.

Participated · Series C · Mar 2020

Pliant Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing targeted therapies to slow or halt progression of multiple fibrotic diseases. Its lead small-molecule candidate, PLN-74809, is a dual selective inhibitor of αVβ1 and αVβ6 and is being evaluated in Phase 2a for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and in PSC. PLN-74809 showed tolerability in Phase 1 with a half-life supporting once-daily dosing, and has received Orphan Drug Designation from the FDA for both IPF and PSC. The company’s second candidate, PLN-1474, is an oral selective αvβ1 inhibitor targeting liver fibrosis associated with NASH and is partnered with Novartis. Pliant plans to use the proceeds from its recent financing to support continued clinical development of PLN-74809 and to advance its drug discovery programs against other fibrotic diseases. The company is based in South San Francisco, CA. Pliant Therapeutics, launched in 2016 and based in South San Francisco, develops therapies targeting the key biological pathways driving fibrosis. The company leverages a product discovery engine to halt fibrosis progression, reverse disease and restore organ function. Its therapeutic approach focuses on fibrotic tissue-specific inhibition of integrins and the TGF-β pathway. Pliant's lead small molecule is a dual selective inhibitor of the αVβ1 and αVβ6 integrins and will be evaluated in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC). The company intends to use new funds to initiate proof-of-concept clinical trials in IPF and PSC and to support ongoing drug discovery programs targeting other fibrotic diseases. It recently raised $62m in a Series B financing to support these clinical and discovery activities. Pliant Therapeutics is an early-stage biotechnology company focused on developing small-molecule inhibitors of cell- and tissue-specific integrins to block activation of TGF-β and treat fibrotic diseases. Its product engine aims to prevent and possibly reverse fibrosis across multiple organs, including lung (IPF), liver (NASH and cirrhosis), kidney, skin, heart and the gastrointestinal tract, by selectively modulating TGF-β signaling to avoid systemic side effects. The company is initially targeting idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), which the article cites as affecting approximately 200,000 people in the U.S. with about 40,000 deaths per year. Pliant has entered into a license agreement with UCSF and plans to evaluate clinical development candidates in the coming months and progress to IND-enabling studies in 2017. Management includes CEO Bernard Coulie and a founding team of UCSF researchers and medicinal chemistry experts; Third Rock Ventures launched the company and provided a $45 million Series A to fund early development. Pliant also intends to build a multicenter patient registry to expand understanding of disease natural history and to fuel biomarker discovery for efficient clinical trial design.

Participated · Series C · Mar 2018

Future Finance provides tailored loans to UK students to top up government loans and bursaries when they do not cover higher education costs. Led by CEO Alex King, the company is authorised and regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 719436). The business has funded close to £70 million in loans to date. To support growth, Future Finance closed a new £100m funding facility with Waterfall Asset Management. Prior to this facility the company had raised over €90 million in equity and £150 million in debt. The new debt facility is intended to allow the company to continue growing its student lending business. Future Finance is a private student lender that provides competitive, tailored loans to UK students whose government loans and bursaries are insufficient to cover higher education costs. Led by CEO Alex King, the company is authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in the U.K. (Firm Reference Number 719436). It recently closed a €40m Series C round of venture capital financing to support scale-up efforts. The firm has raised nearly €90m in equity and £150m in debt to date. Future Finance plans to use the funding to scale and hire top software engineering and data science/analytics talent across London, Dublin, and Chicago. The Series C was an internal round led by KCK with participation from S-Cubed, Invus, Fenway Summers and other existing shareholders. Future Finance offers tailored loans to undergraduates and postgraduates at universities across the UK, using a proprietary lending platform that factors continuation, employability and earnings into lending decisions. Led by CEO Brian Norton, the company provides financing for tuition fees and living expenses and partners with universities to deploy its product. Since launch in May 2014, Future Finance has lent nearly £25m and partnered with 33 universities across the UK. The company said it will use the new funds for growth and lending capital. The article reports the company has raised £185m in total to date. The business is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland.