Participated · Series C · Apr 2017

ALung Technologies develops the Hemolung Respiratory Assist System (RAS), a minimally invasive artificial lung that removes carbon dioxide independently of the lungs using a process called Respiratory Dialysis®. The company focuses on low‑flow extracorporeal carbon dioxide removal (ECCO2R) to treat patients with acute respiratory failure. The Hemolung RAS has been used to treat hundreds of patients outside the United States since 2013 and received FDA Expedited Access Pathway designation in 2015. ALung plans to use new funding to support a U.S.‑based pivotal clinical trial aimed at FDA approval and broader availability in the United States. The company is privately held and headquartered in Pittsburgh; it was founded in 1997. The recent financing strengthens clinical and commercialization plans while adding strategic partners to its board and advisory ranks. ALung Technologies is a privately held Pittsburgh-based developer and manufacturer of low-flow extracorporeal carbon dioxide removal (ECCO2R) technologies, notably the Hemolung RAS which uses a Respiratory Dialysis® process. The Hemolung RAS is positioned as a dialysis-like alternative or supplement to mechanical ventilation for acute respiratory failure, with applications in ARDS and COPD. The company reports CE mark clearance in 2013, global clinical adoption at leading centers, and that hundreds of patients have been treated with the technology. ALung is pursuing a share of the estimated $6 billion acute respiratory failure market. The company plans to use recent financing to support continued commercialization and to complete work required to obtain IDE approval for a U.S.-based clinical trial following its Expedited Access Pathway (EAP) designation. ALung was founded in 1997 and is backed by individual investors and venture firms named in its filings. ALung Technologies develops and manufactures the Hemolung Respiratory Assist System (RAS), a low‑flow, minimally invasive extracorporeal carbon dioxide removal (ECCO2R) device. The Hemolung provides Respiratory Dialysis® as an alternative or supplement to mechanical ventilation with indications including acute exacerbation of COPD and ARDS. The device was tested at 43 hospitals in 13 countries and following a successful clinical trial in Germany received regulatory clearances in Europe and Canada. ALung initiated a controlled launch in mid‑2013 and has accelerated commercial roll‑out in Germany, the UK, France, Canada, and Australia. The Hemolung RAS is currently approved in 29 countries across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia‑Pacific. The company says it will use new financing to accelerate global commercialization of the technology. ALung Technologies develops extracorporeal respiratory assist devices, principally the Hemolung Respiratory Assist System (RAS), a dialysis-like extracorporeal carbon dioxide removal (ECCO2R) system. The Hemolung RAS provides Respiratory Dialysis® as a simple, minimally invasive alternative or supplement to mechanical ventilation and has indications for ARDS and acute exacerbation of COPD. The device is approved for sale in Europe and Canada, and ALung has established direct commercial operations in Germany, France, and the United Kingdom while entering additional markets through distribution partners. The company intends to use new capital to support global commercialization and to further develop next-generation products and platform technologies for less-invasive extracorporeal lung support. To date ALung has raised $56 million in equity capital, and the recent financing will primarily support the global launch of the Hemolung RAS. ALung's lead product, HemoLung, is an extracorporeal artificial lung that removes carbon dioxide from blood while infusing oxygen via a catheter into the femoral or jugular vein. The device is intended for patients with acute respiratory failure to help them avoid mechanical ventilation. Four months after receiving CE Mark approval, ALung is commercializing HemoLung in Germany, France, the UK and Canada and plans sales in Canada and Australia. The company has set up 10 reference centers, is hiring clinical specialists and support staff, and is seeking distributors in Europe, Canada and Australia. ALung estimates a patient population of about 900,000 and a market opportunity of roughly $4.6 billion. The company was started in 1997 by Dr. Brack Hattler and Bill Federspiel.

Participated · Series D · Apr 2016

OnShift is a Cleveland, Ohio-based developer of human capital management software for the long-term, post-acute care market. Santa Monica-based private equity investor Clearlake Capital led a strategic funding round in the company. Financial details of the strategic investment were not disclosed in the article. The provided article text is behind a paywall and cuts off before OnShift's full statement on the funding. No operating metrics, valuation, or use-of-proceeds were included in the available text. OnShift is a Cleveland, OH-based provider of cloud-based human capital management software and services for the healthcare industry. Led by CEO Mark Woodka, the company offers products for hiring, scheduling and workforce analysis tailored to post-acute care and senior living providers. Its offerings combine software and services to support hiring, workforce scheduling and analysis. Clients named in the article include Senior Living Communities, HCF Management, Altercare and Friendship Village. OnShift closed an $18M Series D and intends to use the funds to expand product development and accelerate sales and marketing. OnShift offers SaaS and mobile staff scheduling and labor management software designed for long-term care and senior living providers. Its platform predicts and prevents overtime and understaffing, reduces time spent on scheduling and managing open shifts, and integrates with time-keeping, HR, clinical, and payroll systems. The company reports growth to over 1,000 customer sites in the past year. Market demand has been driven by Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement cuts, Affordable Care Act changes, and an aging population, which have increased provider focus on labor costs. OnShift plans to use new financing to accelerate research and development and expand sales and marketing to increase its presence in the healthcare market. Management positions the product as an easy-to-use scheduling solution with a tightly integrated communications platform that delivers fast ROI. OnShift develops web-based staff scheduling and shift management software for long-term care and senior living providers. Led by CEO Mark Woodka and based in Cleveland, OH, the product integrates with time-keeping, HR, clinical and payroll systems. It helps customers control labor costs by preventing overtime, managing open shifts and maintaining appropriate staffing levels. The software predicts and prevents overtime and understaffing while dramatically reducing time spent on scheduling and managing open shifts. The company plans to use new capital to accelerate sales and marketing and expand its presence in the healthcare industry. OnShift offers web-based staff scheduling and shift management software for long-term care companies and other healthcare organizations. Its platform is designed to reduce labor costs by preventing overtime, mitigate regulatory compliance risk, and improve efficiencies through automated scheduling and open shift management. The company is Cleveland, Ohio–based and serves healthcare employers seeking to optimize workforce scheduling. OnShift closed a $2.3M venture capital financing to support its growth. The company intends to use the funds to accelerate sales and marketing efforts and increase its market share in the healthcare industry. In conjunction with the funding, Michael Stubler of Draper Triangle Ventures will join OnShift’s Board of Directors.

Participated · Series B · Feb 2016

Label Insight is a Chicago-based provider of product transparency solutions that offers a SaaS transparency platform for CPG product information. The platform covers more than 80% of top-selling food, pet, and personal care items in the U.S. and uses proprietary data science and machine learning to capture product labeling information and create more than 22,000 unique custom attributes per product. Its technology powers analytics, marketing, merchandising, and ecommerce solutions for customers across the retail, brand manufacturer, government, and technology industries. Customers include more than 25 top CPG companies and 12 leading retailers. The company plans to use the funds to hire data science professionals, continue product development, and accelerate customer growth. Label Insight is led by CEO Paul Schaut. Label Insight provides a product data platform that adds proprietary smart attributes—nutrients, allergens and other metadata—to basic food and beverage product information, enabling CPG brands and retailers to gain deeper insights into their assortments. Led by CEO Anton Xavier, the company supports retailer-customized data views and participation in industry efforts such as the SmartLabel™ transparency initiative. Label Insight also works with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on ingredient and nutrient analysis initiatives. The company will use the new funding to develop new products, broaden custom data views and expand its data science capabilities. The investment includes strategic partnership aspects that will allow KPMG member firms to offer clients access to Label Insight’s platform and help the company enter new markets and build relationships with retailers, manufacturers and government agencies. To date Label Insight has raised a total of $14m.

Participated · Series C · Aug 2014

Poppin offers colorful, affordable office products and furniture sold direct-to-consumer via its website and through a growing corporate business. Its client roster includes LinkedIn, Rent the Runway, Squarespace, Warby Parker, and the NFL Network, and it serves over 4,000 corporate clients. The company has expanded into wholesale partnerships with national retailers such as The Container Store, Crate & Barrel, Staples, Urban Outfitters, and more than 90 college bookstores, reaching over 1,400 retail locations by back-to-school season. Poppin’s product line includes more than 150 product styles and the team is about 60 people. The company declines to disclose revenue or detailed sales figures. Poppin plans product and site improvements including more user-generated content and enhanced customization and re-ordering features. Poppin operates an e-commerce catalog of design-forward office furniture, accessories, supplies and recently added categories like wall art and lighting. The company serves both consumers and a growing B2B channel, offering free "work stylists" and serving corporate clients including Fab.com, Kate Spade, LinkedIn, Pandora, Rachel Zoe Media Group, SalesForce Marketing Cloud and Warby Parker. On the B2B side the average order size is around $700. Poppin is headquartered in New York with about 32 employees there and roughly half a dozen in China where products are manufactured; it plans to add roughly a dozen more staff by year-end. The company declined to disclose revenue or growth metrics beyond describing performance as "hockey stick"-like. With new funding it plans to expand its product lineup further and move beyond pure e-commerce into brick-and-mortar and other online retail partnerships. Poppin operates an e-commerce store focused on colorful, style-oriented office products and bundles, with site features that let customers browse by color, category, or bundle and use a reordering tool for repeat purchases. The company positions itself to make buying and using office products an extraordinary experience and targets a supposed $300 billion office product market. Poppin plans to expand beyond small supplies into higher-margin furniture and other workplace essentials to boost profitability. The article notes slim margins on items like binders and post-it notes, motivating the move into big-ticket furniture such as desks, chairs, and couches. Co-founder Chris Burch, an investor in Jawbone, PowerMat, and Voss Water, is cited in the coverage. Poppin aims to court large employers that value well-designed, ergonomic office furnishings.

Participated · Series C · Mar 2013

ShareThis offers publishers sharing widgets, developer tools, an analytics dashboard detailing social sharing trends, and advertiser tools for targeted campaigns across its network. Its proprietary SQI (Social Quality Index) ranking metric lets publishers compare performance to peers, and the company plans to develop an SQI version for mobile. To unify web and mobile experiences, ShareThis acquired Socialize and will make Socialize’s app solution the new default, bringing in a Social SDK that adds likes, comments, shares and activity feeds to apps. Socialize had grown to 800 apps across 67 million unique devices and just signed its first enterprise contract with Warner Bros.; it had earlier reported 150 live apps and ~10 million end users last spring. ShareThis serves 2.3 million publishers, its tools reach 95% of the U.S. Internet audience each month (over 200 million uniques), grew revenues 155% in 2012 and expanded headcount from 50 to 95. The company plans international expansion in 2013, including European offices and a further headcount increase of two to three dozen. ShareThis offers a single widget that enables readers to share posts by email or by posting to social networks such as Digg, Delicious, MySpace and Newsvine. The widget is compared in the article to AddThis and is used across publisher sites. A newly released version adds publisher analytics so site owners can track usage. The company reports the widget sees over 100 million views per month from more than 26 million unique visitors after launching in November 2007. Despite strong usage, ShareThis has not yet generated revenue. CEO Tim Schigel said the company expects to start generating revenue in 2008 and is exploring options from paid services to advertising. ShareThis provides a sharing button and browser bookmark that opens a pop-out window letting users post articles to a range of social news sites and social networks. Publishers can install the ShareThis button as plugins for WordPress and other blogging platforms and use its tracking service to monitor where users submit posts. The company says more than 27,000 publishers have installed the button, including AllThingsD, Mashable and CrunchGear, and that sites embedding it receive more than 100 million monthly pageviews from over 26 million unique monthly visitors. ShareThis reports rapid early adoption, claiming more than 500 sites join per week since launching two months earlier and noting strong click-through rates for publishers. ShareThis raised $6 million last year from Blue Chip Venture Company, Illinois Ventures, DFJ Mercury, Queen City Angels and RPM Ventures. Tim Schigel led Blue Chip’s investment and has since become the company’s chief executive.