The Venture Codex

Participated · Series C · Nov 2024

TransMedics, founded in 1998, develops the Organ Care System, an investigational organ transport device designed to maintain organs in a warm, functioning state outside the body. The system aims to optimize organ health during transport, increase the number of usable donor organs, and enable living organ transplant. TransMedics recently initiated the European PROTECT trial to evaluate the Organ Care System for heart transplants. The company plans to extend the platform to other organs, including lung, liver and kidneys, and to commercialize the device. It is privately held and raised $29.75 million in Series C financing to accelerate growth, continue the PROTECT trial, and initiate new studies in Europe and the U.S. Company leadership indicated a target for European market approval early in 2007. TransMedics Group is a medical technology company built to address the need for more and better donor organs by developing portable extracorporeal warm perfusion and organ assessment technologies. The company’s Organ Care System (OCS) program focuses on preserving organ quality and assessing viability prior to transplant to potentially increase donor-organ utilization for end-stage heart, lung, and liver failure. TransMedics plans to use incremental growth capital to accelerate its commercial momentum, grow transplant volume, and improve clinical outcomes. The company said the new financing is non-dilutive and will provide financial flexibility as it scales the business. TransMedics was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Andover, Massachusetts. The company intends to use the capital to retire existing debt and support continued market expansion. TransMedics has developed the Organ Care System (OCS), a portable technology and multi-organ platform designed to maintain donor organs in a near-physiologic state outside the body to improve transplant outcomes and expand the pool of transplantable organs. The company’s OCS Heart and OCS Lung systems are CE Marked and are used by transplant centers in Europe, Australia and Canada. The OCS Heart, Lung and Liver systems are in clinical trials in the United States. TransMedics is led by Dr. Waleed Hassanein, President and CEO. The company recently closed a $51.2M growth equity financing. TransMedics develops a portable warm blood perfusion system—referred to in coverage as an Organ Care System—that keeps donor organs functioning outside the body instead of on ice. The device is positioned as a “living organ transplant” solution intended to improve organ condition prior to transplant surgery. Reported benefits include the ability to resuscitate hearts from donors after circulatory death and to identify pathologically abnormal hearts that might be missed with cold static storage. A study and accompanying editorial in The Lancet found short-term outcomes comparable to cold storage but noted the system could reveal abnormalities and that more study is needed. The privately held Boston company was launched in 1998 and has raised well over $100 million to date, leaving it well-capitalized. CEO Waleed Hassanein has publicly criticized cooler-based transport and promoted the system as a better method for organ preservation and transport. TransMedics is an Andover, Massachusetts–based medical technology company focused on extending the life-saving benefits of organ transplantation. Led by President and CEO Dr. Waleed Hassanein, the company develops the Organ Care System (OCS™) Heart and Lung devices. The OCS devices are portable preservation technologies that maintain donor organs in a near-physiologic and functioning condition from donor to transplant recipient. TransMedics closed a $36M financing to support its programs. The company intends to use the funding to complete its heart and lung FDA pivotal trials and expand global commercial activities. In conjunction with the financing, representatives from the lead investor joined TransMedics’ Board of Directors.

Led · Equity · Jul 2024

IntelePeer provides enterprise-grade, vendor-neutral AI-powered communications automation that integrates with existing business software to automate voice, messaging, and digital channels. Its platform uses generative AI and domain-specific workflows to build AI Agents and intent maps that identify high-ROI automation use cases for customers. The company has automated more than 600 million customer interactions and reports lowering the cost of an interaction ten-fold; one customer automates over 60 million inbound interactions annually with >70% full self-serve, and a Fortune 100 customer is on track to save more than $100 million in labor costs. IntelePeer says its AI business grew more than 100% year-over-year and is forecasting further acceleration. The company emphasizes responsible AI guardrails and partners with Microsoft Azure OpenAI to support secure, compliant deployments. Funding will be used to expand its AI Agent portfolio and increase investment in product, development, sales, and marketing. IntelePeer’s core product is the Atmosphere® CPaaS, which enables companies to engage customers via voice, SMS and social messaging while providing AI-enabled automation, communications routing, and on-demand analytics. The company is executing a strategy to expand beyond SIP and voice into a full omni-channel communications solutions provider. Management plans to grow organically by increasing sales, marketing, product and development headcount, and inorganically through acquisitions of complementary technologies and go-to-market assets. IntelePeer has received industry recognition from Frost & Sullivan, Gartner and IDC, underscoring its positioning in enterprise communications. Financially, the company has recently completed new financings and a credit facility to accelerate growth and innovation of its enterprise-centric Atmosphere platform. IntelePeer is a San Mateo–based Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) provider whose Atmosphere® CPaaS platform delivers global voice and messaging, communication APIs, workflow automation, and AI-enabled analytics. The platform is designed for business users so departments can automate processes, improve customer and employee experience, and engage audiences with outbound notifications. IntelePeer recently closed a $55 million credit facility that it will use to accelerate development and innovation of Atmosphere, expand platform capabilities, and drive customer acquisition and global enterprise expansion. The company said operating resources from the facility will be dedicated to continuing its growth across platform capabilities and market expansion. IntelePeer has been recognized by Frost & Sullivan and included in Gartner’s Market Guide for CPaaS, positioning it within a rapidly growing CPaaS market. IntelePeer Cloud Communications LLC is a San Mateo, California–based provider of business communications, offering cloud-based unified communications, cloud contact center, and enterprise voice services. Led by CEO Frank Fawzi, the company delivers full-service cloud calling directly integrated with Cisco Spark and provides UC enablement for Internet carriers and hosting companies. In March 2018 IntelePeer received a $15 million venture loan facility; Horizon Technology Finance Corporation funded an initial $12 million of its commitment under the facility. Horizon, a NASDAQ-listed specialty finance company, provides secured loans to venture-backed technology and related companies. The company said it will use the proceeds for general working capital purposes. IntelePeer is backed by VantagePoint Venture Partners, Kennet Partners and NorthCap Partners. IntelePeer provides hosted, on-demand rich media communications services. The company is based in San Mateo, Calif. It secured $4M in equipment financing to support its rapid growth. The financing will be used to deploy additional network infrastructure. ATEL Ventures provided the equipment financing as a secured financing provider to emerging growth companies. CFO Andre Simone said the financing helps the company scale quickly to satisfy customer needs while growing appropriately.

Participated · Series C · Apr 2021

Pica8 offers a complete, disaggregated open network enterprise software solution built around its Linux-based NOS, PICOS®, and the AmpCon™ open network services controller. Its software runs on a wide variety of white box and brite box ODM switches and is positioned as a replacement for legacy enterprise network vendors. The company says it serves well over 1,000 customers in 40+ countries. Pica8 plans to use the new capital to aggressively build out its product roadmap and scale customer engagement and support functions. Management emphasizes expanding performance, feature robustness, and lower cost for enterprise open networking and leading industry discussion on automation and disaggregation. The company presents its offering as a commercially supported end-to-end solution for access edge, campus, and private cloud data center networks. Pica8 pioneered open networking with PicOS, the first network operating system that enables customers to migrate from conventional networking to software‑defined networking (SDN) using commodity bare‑metal switches. PicOS provides extensive support for traditional switching and routing protocols and delivers SDN solutions through Pica8’s adoption of Open vSwitch (OVS). The company can supply PicOS alone, switching hardware, or both as a fully integrated end‑to‑end data center SDN solution and offers a Starter Kit designed to enable deployment in hours rather than months. Pica8 says it will use the new capital to support accelerated software development and ongoing go‑to‑market strategies to continue its momentum in the emerging SDN market. Investors and the company highlighted revenue traction in Japan and the need for local partners: Cross Head will provide business investment, training and system integration expertise for Japan, while Pacific Venture Partners (PVP), based in Taipei, Taiwan, brings industry knowledge and global resources. Pica8 is a global company headquartered in Palo Alto and has raised over $20 million to date.

Led · Equity · Jan 2020

Ostara manufactures Crystal Green® (5-28-0 with 10%Mg), a granular phosphate fertilizer that naturally releases nutrients in response to plant demand and is designed to maximize yield while reducing runoff and leaching. The company sells Crystal Green through a network of retailers and distributors across North America and Europe and serves the agriculture, turf, and ornamental sectors. Ostara emphasizes the product’s unique organic acid solubility and environmental benefits compared with conventional phosphate fertilizers. The USDA awarded the company a $7.6M grant to support increased U.S. production, signaling public-sector backing for expansion. Grant funds will be used to build a new production facility in St. Louis with capacity to produce over 200,000 tons of Crystal Green. Construction was scheduled for completion in summer 2023 to supply growers that fall. Ostara manufactures Crystal Green® — a line of highly efficient, plant-available granular phosphate fertilizers sold into agriculture, specialty, and turf markets. The company’s products are designed to increase yields, reduce phosphate tie-up, and limit runoff and leaching to protect waterways. Ostara announced a US$70 million Series C to scale North American production and complete a new manufacturing facility in St. Louis. The soon-to-be commissioned plant is planned to produce 200,000 tons per year and supply product in time for the 2024 growing season. Ostara says the expanded manufacturing base will allow it to serve more U.S. and Canadian farmers through its existing retailer and distributor networks in North America and Europe. The buildout is also expected to create dozens of new jobs in the St. Louis region and increase resiliency of the North American fertilizer supply chain. Ostara produces Crystal Green® fertilizers, described in the release as the first slow‑release phosphorus fertilizers that release nutrients in response to plant demand (Root‑Activated™ granules). The company also develops Pearl® technology to recover phosphorus and nitrogen from industrial, agricultural, and municipal water streams and transform those nutrients into its premium fertilizers. Crystal Green® products are sold into the agriculture and turf sectors through a network of established distributors in North America and Europe. Ostara says its granules increase yields, enhance soil health and significantly reduce phosphorus tie‑up and runoff, helping protect waterways. The company closed a US$20M financing to acquire and upgrade a strategically located fertilizer production facility in Missouri to significantly scale up Crystal Green® production. Participating investors named in the release include Forage Capital, Export Development Canada, ADM Capital’s advised Cibus Enterprise Fund and Wheatsheaf Group. Ostara’s Pearl® technology captures phosphorus and nitrogen from water streams and converts the nutrients into Crystal Green® continuous‑release fertilizers sold to agriculture and turf markets. Crystal Green® Root‑Activated™ granules are positioned to increase crop yields, enhance soil health, and reduce phosphorus runoff. The company sells through established distributor networks in North America and Europe and is scaling fertilizer production. As part of that scale‑up, Ostara closed the second tranche of a prior equity financing for approximately US$5.0 million in December 2019. It also closed a new US$5.0 million working‑capital credit facility to support ongoing production ramp and to augment an existing credit facility with Comerica Bank. The company frames its product as a circular solution that helps clean water while supplying regenerative fertilizer to farmers. Ostara uses its Pearl® technology to recover phosphorus and nitrogen from industrial, agricultural, and municipal water streams and transforms those nutrients into Crystal Green® fertilizers. Crystal Green® is marketed as a premium, Root‑Activated™ slow‑release phosphorus fertilizer designed to release nutrients in response to plant demand and to reduce phosphorus runoff. The company sells into the agriculture and turf sectors through an established distributor network in North America and Europe. Ostara recently scaled production, contracting additional tolling capacity in the Southwestern US and operating a Southeastern US‑based toll granulator to meet rising demand. Management reported selling more than four times the volumes of Crystal Green® compared with the prior fiscal year and expects to significantly exceed that pace. Proceeds from the current financing are intended to fast‑track production scale‑up, capacity enhancements, and to support continued growth of fertilizer and nutrient recovery system sales in the US, Europe and Asia.

Participated · Equity · Jan 2016

Talix provides Coding InSight, a SaaS-based patient risk management solution that turns structured and unstructured health data into actionable insights to drive risk adjustment and patient outcomes. The company is powered by a proprietary HealthData Engine and plans a suite of patient risk management products. Talix spun off from Healthline Networks and was formed as a wholly owned subsidiary in January 2015. Led by CEO Dean Stephens with Niraj Katwala, Murray Brozinsky, and Derek Gordon, the company is based in San Francisco, CA. Talix received $14M in funding and will use the capital to grow its core risk adjustment product, Coding InSight, and to support development of future applications. Backers include Phil Dur (representing Investor Growth Capital), Richard Harroch of VantagePoint Capital Partners, Kevin Brown of Reed Elsevier Ventures, and Mike Barber of General Electric Equity.