Participated · Seed · Jan 2024

Odonata Health is developing a proprietary, textile-based wearable garment embedded with flexible, waterproof sensors to capture maternal and fetal biometric data, including fetal heart rate and rhythm. Signal interpretation relies on proprietary AI algorithms and deep neural networks developed initially in partnership with researchers and clinicians at the Mayo Clinic. The company aims to provide clinicians with early, non-invasive indicators of fetal distress to enable timely intervention and reduce costly hospitalizations. Proceeds from its seed financing are intended to support company formation, product development, clinical validation and regulatory submission efforts. Odonata emphasizes improving access in traditionally under-served communities and is focused on maternal morbidity and mortality reduction. Its products are not yet cleared by the U.S. FDA. Marani Health offers a digital prenatal and postpartum care platform that combines the M•other consumer mobile app with a clinical care web portal to enable two-way communication and data sharing between pregnant mothers and care teams. The M•other app includes educational resources, pregnancy tracking tools, and access to the full Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy. The company plans to develop and launch its AI-driven prenatal and postpartum care platform using personalized insights to inform and reduce the cost of care. Marani raised $7.6M in Seed funding to support that development and launch. Backers include OneAlphaNorth Capital and existing investors SWL Healthcare Ventures and TFX Capital. Ann Holder is the founder and CEO, and OneAlphaNorth Managing Director Brady Lipp joined Marani’s board as part of the financing. Marani Health (formerly Odonata Health) develops an AI-powered platform for remote pregnancy care that includes a proprietary sensing device. The company was co-founded with involvement from the Mayo Clinic and aims to improve access to care and outcomes for mothers and babies. Its platform is positioned for use in both telehealth settings and clinics to provide clinicians with more pregnancy-specific data. Marani is advancing toward clinical testing and future market introduction. The company has seen heightened demand for telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic, which it cites as driving interest in its solution. Leadership changes include the appointment of health care veteran Jodi Hubler to the board.

Led · Equity · Aug 2021

Founded in 2018 out of Swinburne University, H3D has built an automated CAD and 3D-printing platform that rapidly designs and produces custom-fit healthcare products, initially focusing on the hearing market with items like hearing aids, noise protection and custom earphones. Its proprietary software combines machine learning, advanced 3D algorithms and real-time cloud processing to let labs batch-process hundreds of complex jobs in minutes, replacing labor-intensive workflows that can take technicians up to 30 minutes per case. The company has also developed a smartphone-based 3D scanning solution that captures accurate ear scans using computer vision, AI and AR, eliminating the need for traditional ear impressions. With offices in Australia, Denmark and Ireland, H3D is beginning to extend its technology to dental labs worldwide, aiming to alleviate technician shortages and quality inconsistencies in that sector. Management positions the platform as a cornerstone for the future of AI-driven digital manufacturing in healthcare. The startup’s early backers include Swinburne University and Starfish Ventures, and it has generated meaningful commercial traction in the global hearing market. The recent capital injection will fund global dental-market expansion and the commercial roll-out of its mobile scanning product.

Participated · Equity · Feb 2021

DesignCrowd, founded in 2007 and based in Sydney, operates a design crowdsourcing marketplace and the complementary DIY platform BrandCrowd. BrandCrowd offers a library of exclusive logos (many bought upfront) plus a logo editor and DIY design tools. Customers can pay one-off fees to download logos or subscribe monthly or annually; many users use both DesignCrowd and BrandCrowd. The company leverages access to more than 800,000 designers to source and curate BrandCrowd’s library. DesignCrowd reported net revenues grew 54% year‑over‑year in 2020 and says BrandCrowd saw over five million sign‑ups in the past 12 months, with more than half of its revenue from the United States. Management plans to use new capital for hiring and product development to accelerate BrandCrowd’s growth and is preparing for a potential IPO on the Australian Securities Exchange. DesignCrowd is a marketplace that connects freelance designers with clients and potential projects. Founded in Sydney in 2007, the company operates offices in Sydney, a customer-service office in the Philippines, and a third office in San Francisco. It takes a 15 percent cut from designers and charges client fees, and it facilitated $20 million worth of projects in 2014, with about 75 percent of revenues coming from outside Australia. DesignCrowd plans to use the new funding to expand its presence in major English-speaking markets—primarily the U.S., Canada and the U.K.—and to scale sales and marketing globally. The company will double its five-person engineering team and its eleven-person customer-service team, hire additional staff in San Francisco, develop new technology, and improve customer service. Management also said it may pursue acquisitions to consolidate the market and has not ruled out a future public listing in Australia or raising capital from non-Australian VCs. DesignCrowd is an Australian crowdsourcing website that lets anyone post a design brief, set a deadline and budget, and invite the platform’s designers to submit work. Projects typically receive 25 to 100+ custom designs, and clients can give feedback and request changes before selecting a final design. The platform pays participating designers who do not win and prevents designers from seeing each other’s work until a project is completed to reduce copying and groupthink. Payments are transferred once a design is selected for use. The site has supported enterprise clients—Harvard Business School received 267 logo designs from 57 designers via the platform. DesignCrowd plans to use new funding for hiring, product development and expansion into the U.S.

Participated · Equity · Jun 2016

Aktana provides an AI-enabled decision-support platform that uses embedded AI and machine learning, refined by real-time human insight, to help life sciences commercial teams anticipate customer needs and coordinate multichannel engagement. Its platform enables personalized, channel-coordinated interactions between commercial teams and healthcare providers to drive better engagement and patient care. Aktana supports more than 100 brands worldwide and counts more than half of the world's top-20 pharmaceutical companies as customers. The company reports customer sales lift of up to 15% from its framework for intelligent engagement. Aktana is headquartered in San Francisco and maintains offices in Philadelphia, London, Barcelona, Tokyo, Osaka, Shanghai, Beijing, Sydney, and Sao Paulo. It is backed by HLM Venture Partners, Leerink Partners, SafeGuard Ventures, and Starfish Ventures. Aktana provides a decision support platform that delivers data-driven insights and suggestions directly to sales reps and coordinates multi-channel actions for global life sciences companies. Its decision support engine examines market data and cross-channel activity, identifies best actions, learns what works best, and delivers recommendations into reps' and marketing teams' CRM workflows. Founded in 2011 and led by CEO David Ehrlich, the company is based in San Francisco and also has offices in New York, Tokyo and San Diego. Aktana raised $17.5m in funding in a round led by Safeguard Scientifics, which will initially deploy up to $8.25m, with participation from existing investor Starfish Ventures and others. The company intends to use the funds to continue product development and for international expansion, with plans to open offices in China and Europe.

Participated · Series C · Jul 2015

Protagonist Therapeutics is developing oral peptides — pill versions of drugs that are today given as injectable biologics — with an initial focus on inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The company’s platform aims to stabilize peptides so they survive the acidic gut, microbiome, and digestive enzymes and reach intestinal targets. Its lead programs include PTG-100, which is in clinical trials, and PTG-200, which is in preclinical development and targets the same pathway as J&J’s Stelara. PTG-100 targets alpha-4 beta-7, the same target as Takeda’s vedolizumab, which generated more than $1 billion in global sales in 2016, illustrating the potential market. In May, Johnson & Johnson’s pharmaceutical unit committed $50 million upfront and up to $990 million in milestone payments tied to PTG-200, providing a significant financing vote of confidence. If clinical data are positive, Protagonist says oral peptide pills could lower costs, simplify logistics compared with injectables, and eventually expand beyond IBD targets. Protagonist is a Bay Area biotech developing orally stable, peptide-based drugs that are restricted to the GI compartment to treat inflammatory bowel diseases. Its lead candidate, PTG-100, selectively blocks the alpha-4-beta-7 integrin, a clinically validated target for IBD. The company says oral peptides offer differentiation from injectable monoclonal antibodies by providing localized GI exposure and improved convenience for chronic use. Protagonist plans to advance PTG-100 into human Phase 1/2 trials (the article cites advancement into trials by the end of the year and into Phase 1/2 in 2016) and intends to apply pharmacogenomics from the outset. Management envisions broader applications for its peptide platform beyond current GI indications. Financially, the company has attracted venture financing to support these programs, most recently completing a Series C round. Protagonist Therapeutics develops 'orally stable peptides' intended to replace injectable biologics for inflammatory bowel disease and other gastrointestinal disorders. The company employs a proprietary discovery platform that integrates computational tools, phage display, and peptide chemistry to discover oral peptide candidates. Protagonist is a spin-out of the University of Queensland's Institute of Molecular Biosciences and is headquartered in the USA, with discovery operations in Menlo Park, California and Brisbane, Australia. In September 2013 the company expanded its Series B private financing by $4 million, bringing the total raised in that round to $18 million. Pharmstandard International S.A. joined the Series B as a new investor, represented by Inbio Ventures. Management said the additional international investment will enable further focus on building a pipeline of development candidates and pursuing selective asset-based partnering.