Participated · Seed · Jul 2026

BrandRank.AI provides an Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) SaaS platform focused on measuring brand visibility, vulnerability, and content readiness in AI-generated answers. The company combines automated recommendations across content, search, reputation, product claims, and advertising strategy with hands-on client support and has expanded into AI-assisted content creation through its acquisition of Averi. Its roadmap includes capabilities for accuracy verification, anti-hallucination monitoring, brand risk alerts, a Brand Health Index, and enterprise trust analytics geared toward agentic AI systems. In just over two years the company has worked with nearly 100 brands and organizations, joined the NVIDIA Inception Program, and was named Nestlé Canada's 2026 Startup of the Year; it was also named a Representative Vendor in Gartner's 2026 Market Guide for Answer Engine Visibility Tools. Key customers cited include Nestlé, Procter & Gamble, Goodwill International, National Public Media, Kroger, Mars, the American Medical Association, and Better Business Bureau chapters. The company intends to use the new seed proceeds to accelerate enterprise growth, expand delivery and vertical solutions, and integrate Averi to move customers from insight to execution across AI answer engines.

Participated · Seed · Mar 2025

Surgicure Technologies develops medical devices to improve airway management and patient safety, with a patented flagship product called the Horseshoe. The Horseshoe is designed to provide more reliable endotracheal (ET) tube securement, prevent facial pressure injuries, and enable more effective oral care. The technology was originally invented by army respiratory therapists and redesigned by founder Irena King. Surgicure targets clinical settings such as critical care, burn/trauma care, and patient evacuation or transport where improved securement and streamlined workflows can reduce adverse events. The company is female-owned and was founded in 2019; it is working to commercialize its solution and scale adoption across diverse medical environments. Surgicure recently closed a financing round to support commercialization efforts.

Participated · Series B · Aug 2023

Astrocyte Pharmaceuticals is a privately held, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company based in Groton, Conn., focused on developing novel cerebroprotective therapeutics. Its lead candidate, AST-004, has shown efficacy across diverse small and large animal brain injury models and is being evaluated for a broad array of acute brain injuries including stroke and traumatic brain injury. Astrocyte is currently conducting Phase 1B clinical safety studies of AST-004 and is preparing for Phase 2 efficacy studies in 2024. The company is also assessing AST-004 in preclinical models of Alzheimer's disease to explore potential benefits in chronic neurodegenerative conditions. The announced financing will be used to accelerate clinical development of AST-004 and further preclinical assessment in Alzheimer's disease. Astrocyte positions its approach as a potential way to reduce astrocyte-induced excess inflammation and provide neuroprotection in combination and precision medicine strategies. Astrocyte Pharmaceuticals is advancing novel neuroprotective therapeutics intended to reduce brain injury from stroke, traumatic brain injury, concussion and other neurodegenerative conditions. Its lead therapeutic is based on technology licensed from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. The company completed a Series A financing that raised $6 million. Proceeds from the round will be used to advance the lead program into Phase 1 human trials. Astrocyte describes itself as focused on addressing an unmet need for drugs that limit neurodegenerative brain injury. No operating metrics were disclosed in the article. Astrocyte Pharmaceuticals is a privately held drug development company focused on small‑molecule neuroprotective therapeutics for stroke, traumatic brain injury/concussion, and neurodegenerative disorders. The company is committed to proving the neuroprotective benefits of enhancing astrocyte function and advancing related therapeutic agents. Its lead program is AST‑004, which the company and investors cite as having promising preclinical efficacy and a novel mechanism of action. Astrocyte completed a Pre‑A financing that raised over $2.3M to support its development plans. The company intends to use proceeds to advance its first program into clinical studies. The press release also notes research support from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NIH) and the Department of Defense under specific award numbers.

Participated · Seed · Jun 2021

AOA Dx is a NYC-based company developing a detection test for ovarian cancer using its GlycoLocate™ platform. The platform focuses on glycolipids and tumor marker gangliosides and harnesses novel biomarkers through data science to improve early detection. Led by CEO and co‑founder Oriana Papin‑Zoghbi, the company’s initial focus is ovarian cancer. AOA Dx plans to use the new capital to open new lab facilities, expand its prospective ovarian cancer clinical trial (OVERT), and develop GlycoLocate into additional cancer areas. The company raised $17M in the latest round led by Good Growth Capital and has now raised $24M in total. Investors in the round include RH Capital, Y Combinator, Astia Fund, Adaptive Capital Partners, Gore Range Capital, LongeVC, The Helm, VU Venture Partners, FemHealth Ventures and diagnostic investors such as Labcorp Venture Fund. AOA Dx is developing AKRIVIS GD, a liquid‑biopsy assay intended to enable accurate early detection of ovarian cancer. In a landmark peer‑reviewed study in the Journal of Precision Medicine, the technology showed over 90% accuracy for detecting ovarian cancer, including early‑stage disease. The company says AKRIVIS GD has high sensitivity and specificity and would be the first available tool to enable early detection of ovarian cancer. AOA plans to use new funding to further develop the next generation of AKRIVIS GD and to expand its team. Teams are based in Boston, New York, and London, and the company participated in Y Combinator’s program in 2021. The work responds to a large unmet need: roughly 225,000 women are diagnosed annually and late detection drives high mortality, while early detection can dramatically improve five‑year survival rates. AOA is developing AKRIVIS GD, a blood-based liquid biopsy intended to detect ovarian cancer at earlier stages. The company reports that its proof-of-concept demonstrates high accuracy across all cancer stages and epithelial ovarian cancer subtypes. AOA says its technology detects 53% more patients with early-stage disease compared with the current standard, CA 125. The team partnered with Professor H. Uri Saragovi of the Lady Davis Institute/McGill University to develop the test. AOA is part of Y Combinator’s summer 2021 batch and raised seed funding to advance development. The company plans further prospective patient clinical trials and to pursue FDA regulatory processes to bring the test to market.

Participated · Seed · Jan 2021

S’More’s core product deliberately blurs profile photos (and initially blurs video chat) so users must interact before images fully reveal, aiming to foster more meaningful relationships. The startup recently launched a completely rebuilt app with real-time conversation prompts and a paid option to promote profiles. New features include blurred video chat and other multimedia elements on the product roadmap such as video, audio, and games. The app has seen early traction with 160,000 downloads in its first year and “thousands” of paying users, including a 50% increase in subscriptions after the January relaunch. Funding has been used to assemble a named “founding team” (chief architect, head of operations, head of product and design, senior developer). S’More is also pursuing content strategy, producing “anti-superficial” dating content and running a celebrity dating show on Instagram Live with 60 episodes so far. S’More is a relationship dating app that blurs profile photos and unlocks images and private content as users engage, prioritizing personality, values, and conversation over initial looks. Its matching algorithm recommends profiles based on location, age, sexual orientation, interests, opinions, values, hobbies, gender identities and learned attraction preferences. Profiles support more than 20 criteria with interactive icons and multimedia, and the app uses required photo verification and a publicly visible behavior-based rating score to reduce catfishing and encourage higher-quality community behavior. The company positions itself as a disruption to swipe-based dating apps and aims to elevate online dating standards toward relationship-focused experiences. S’More currently has a public waitlist of over 8,000 singles and has opened national sign-ups at smoredate.com. Founder Adam Cohen Aslatei brings experience from Chappy (Bumble’s gay app) and The Meet Group and has consulted for several social discovery companies.