Participated · Seed · May 2022

Rellevate, Inc. is a digital fintech company that offers banking and payment services aimed at American workers. Its product suite, offered primarily via employers, includes the Rellevate App / Digital Account with Earnings Credit, a Visa debit card, ATM access, Pay Any-Day to access earned wages between payroll cycles, Bill Pay, Send and Instant Send Money, and gift and incentive cards. The company positions its Digital Account as an employer-provided Financial Wellness benefit to help employees access earned wages between payroll cycles and to enhance employee acquisition and retention. Rellevate closed a $4 million Series Seed Preferred round led by Naples Technology Ventures and plans to use the funds to focus on market expansion and to scale its platform. Additional investors included Connecticut Innovations, IAG Capital Partners, Cherrystone Angel Group, Texas HALO Fund and Tamiami Angel Fund, among others. Adam Schneider of Naples Technology Ventures will join Rellevate’s board to support product, technical implementation and growth strategies.

Participated · Seed · Sep 2021

Lady Technologies' first product, kegg, is a wearable fertility tracker and pelvic floor trainer that analyzes vaginal data by measuring changes in cervical mucus. The company says its form factor enabled it to collect the largest dataset on cervical fluid changes, which it uses to power a proprietary vaginal health platform. kegg provides actionable insights for women on fertility and intimate health and to date has supported 50,000 women and families on their trying-to-conceive journeys. With new capital, the company plans to invest in its proprietary technology and research and development focused on cervical mucus and adjacent vaginal health markers. Lady Technologies intends to expand kegg's applications beyond trying-to-conceive to postpartum care, contraception (including non-hormonal approaches) and detection/support around infections. The company emphasizes a personalized, data-driven approach to surface previously overlooked vaginal health information. kegg develops a small egg-shaped intravaginal device called the kegg and a companion smartphone app to analyze cervical fluid and help users pinpoint their fertility window. The device has a "tail," vibrates to indicate test start and completion, and the reading takes about two minutes; results and cycle insights appear in the app where users can log notes and LH tests. Users are instructed to take the test once a day within the same two-hour window, except during their period or within eight hours of intercourse. The kegg device also functions as a kegel ball for pelvic floor exercises and helps users track their cycles. The company plans to use the new funding to expand services into perimenopause, menopause, postpartum care and infections, and to grow research collaborations and pilots; the article does not disclose revenue or user metrics. Lady Technologies’ product kegg is an egg-shaped, FDA-registered device that measures electrolyte/impedance changes in cervical fluid to detect the hormonal shift around ovulation and also functions as a connected Kegel trainer. The device pairs with a companion app, uploads anonymized/pseudonymized impedance readings to the cloud, and uses algorithms to provide personalized fertile-window predictions. Kegg records at least one fertile window per user to personalize predictions, and the company holds numerous patents on the device design and operation. The startup sold the device in a U.S. launch priced at $275 and built a roughly 2,000-strong community during its beta period. Lady Technologies has provided devices for an independent clinical study and says fertility instructors and doctors are using kegg for patient monitoring. The company plans international expansion (Singapore in late October, then Japan and Canada next year) and is exploring subscription services and expanded research/health-monitoring use cases.

Participated · Series A · Jun 2021

Allotrope Medical develops StimSite™, an FDA-cleared smooth muscle stimulation device that leverages surgeons’ existing laparoscopic and robotic instruments to identify and locate the ureter during pelvic operations. The company is led by founder and CEO Albert Huang, MD, and is based in Houston, TX. StimSite™ is positioned as an intraoperative tool to reduce ureteral injury risk by improving ureter visualization. Allotrope Medical intends to use newly raised funds to accelerate its commercialization plans. The company closed a $4M Series A financing to support those efforts. No operating metrics were disclosed in the article. Allotrope Medical is a Houston-based medical device company developing an innovative surgical device intended to identify ureters and decrease the rate of injury during surgery. The company is led by Founder and CEO Albert Huang MD and is advancing the device through continued development funded by a recent financing. The round was led by Houston Health Ventures with syndication support from the Houston Angel Network; the amount raised was undisclosed. In conjunction with the financing, David Franklin, Managing Director of HHV, will join the Board of Directors alongside Donald Gonzales MD (Founder/CMO, Spirox Inc.) and Mira Sahney (former SVP and GM, Gynecology and ENT Divisions, Smith & Nephew). Allotrope said it will use the funds to continue device development and is targeting commercial availability in late 2018. No operating metrics or prior funding details were disclosed in the article.

Led · Series A · May 2021

Sonnest is a pre-clinical healthcare company developing Electrast™, a voltage-activated ultrasound imaging drug that circulates inactive and is selectively activated in the myocardium. Electrast™ is intended to enable quick, cost-effective point-of-care evaluation of cardiac perfusion without ionizing radiation or toxic dyes. The technology was developed by cardiologists and chemical engineers at Drexel University with grant funding from the Coulter‑Drexel Program and the inventors partnered with serial healthcare entrepreneurs. The company plans to advance Electrast™ into the clinic, confirm the drug’s safety profile, and generate proof-of-principle ultrasound images in human patients similar to those made in pigs and dogs. Proceeds will also be used to expand the team and complete GMP manufacturing. The CEO, Peter Boyd, noted the financing gives the company resources to move from animal labs into human patients and referenced his prior exit to Edwards Lifesciences.

Participated · Seed · Feb 2021

VenoStent is a Houston, TX–based clinical-stage medical device company developing SelfWrap, a bioabsorbable perivascular wrap placed around arteriovenous access sites during fistula-creation surgery. The wrap is intended to accelerate usability and increase the durability of AV fistula sites for chronic kidney disease patients requiring hemodialysis by mimicking the arterial environment in veins and leveraging the body’s healing mechanisms. The company is led by CEO Tim Boire, Ph.D., and COO Geoffrey Lucks. VenoStent recently completed its Series A financing at $20M, including a $4M investment from Norwest Venture Partners. It was also awarded a $3.6M SBIR Phase II grant from the NIH to help fund a planned multi-center, 200-patient randomized controlled trial in the U.S. The company intends to use the funds to support clinical development and the RCT to validate SelfWrap's impact on fistula usability and durability. VenoStent is a clinical-stage, venture-backed therapeutic medical device company developing a bioabsorbable wrap, SelfWrap, to transform outcomes in vascular surgery, starting with hemodialysis access. SelfWrap is intended to improve the usability and durability of arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs) used by chronic kidney disease patients for dialysis. The company recently closed a $16M Series A financing to support clinical and manufacturing work. VenoStent plans to use the funds to expand its US pivotal trial and scale manufacturing capabilities as it pursues FDA approval. The company has been granted an Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) from the FDA for its US clinical trial, SAVE-FistulaS. VenoStent is led by CEO Tim Boire, Ph.D., and has previously received funding from KidneyX, the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, Y Combinator, Health Wildcatters, and Texas Halo Fund. VenoStent’s core technology is polymer engineering protected by patents; its first product, SelfWrap, is a slip-on bioresorbable wrap intended to address the 55–65% vascular access surgery failure rate in hemodialysis patients. The company aims to complete first-in-human clinical work and conduct studies to support Breakthrough Device Designation (BDD) and an Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) submission. Proceeds from the recent round will be used to grow the team, scale quality control and manufacturing processes, and strengthen clinical and reimbursement positions. VenoStent has participated in Y Combinator’s Summer 2020 batch and is led by Co-Founder and CEO Tim Boire, Ph.D., with Geoff Lucks as Co-Founder and COO. Its funding to date exceeds $6M, which includes non-dilutive grants and prize awards alongside prior equity investments.