Participated · Seed · Jul 2026

Accipiter Biosciences applies artificial-intelligence tools developed at the University of Washington’s Institute for Protein Design to engineer proteins capable of binding multiple cellular targets simultaneously. The company runs both partnered programs (including collaborations and license agreements with Pfizer and Kite Pharma) and internal drug-development programs, with a current focus on immunology-related conditions alongside a lead oncology program. Its Pfizer agreement included an upfront payment and the potential to earn over $330 million in milestones and royalties, and the Kite/Gilead collaboration is similarly structured. Accipiter launched in March 2023 and has grown its team to 22 employees, planning to expand to about 30 within the next six to twelve months. With the recent $10.5 million seed top-up (bringing total raised to about $23.2 million), the company intends to accelerate advancement of three to four programs into clinical trials versus its original plan of one or two.

Participated · Seed · Jul 2026

Dopl Technologies develops a distributed telerobotic ultrasound ecosystem that includes Traverse (a remote robotic ultrasound system), Dopl Connect (a secure connectivity and data platform), and SonoFlex (a distributed clinical workforce and workflow management solution). The company also operates an interim service, CareBridge, which provides traveling sonographer coverage and has delivered up to a 90% reduction in patient wait times where it operates. Dopl has completed FDA pre-submission engagement, established a 510(k) regulatory pathway, and holds patented technology. The business estimates a significant market opportunity, citing a roughly $40 billion annual reimbursement opportunity for U.S. hospitals as telerobotic imaging scales. With more than $8 million in total funding following its $6.3 million seed, Dopl is pursuing product verification, clinical evaluation, regulatory clearance, and initial pilot deployments. The team, founded in 2022 and headquartered in Bothell, includes clinicians and engineers with experience from organizations such as Butterfly Network, Philips, Microsoft, Amazon, and NVIDIA.

Participated · Seed · Oct 2024

Archon Biosciences emerged from stealth to commercialize engineered protein "antibody cages" (AbCs) that scaffold and multiply the effective binding of antibodies to targets. The company uses a proprietary protein design platform built on generative design and simulation tools licensed from Baker Lab at the University of Washington. Archon couples that platform with rapid in-house manufacturing and testing to accelerate biologics development and believes AbCs can turn marginal antibody interactions into robust therapeutic effects. The work underpinning AbCs is documented in a paper published in Science and the startup was spun out as the first company from Baker Lab. Archon is led by co-founder and CEO James Lazarovits and is based in Seattle. Financially, the company announced a $20 million seed financing and has additionally received about $7 million in grants from various institutes and government agencies.

Participated · Seed · Aug 2024

Talus Bioscience developed MARMOT, a proprietary platform that integrates AI, next‑generation proteomics, synthetic chemistry, and computational biology to discover and optimize modulators of transcription factors. MARMOT uses the company’s dataset for transcription factor activity—the article states it is currently the largest in the world—and enables rapid identification of candidates from billions of compounds in live, unmodified human cells. The platform replaces time‑consuming high‑throughput screens and is designed to discover and optimize modulators for any given transcription factor target. Talus is advancing internal therapeutic programs, including Brachyury‑driven cancers and an undruggable transcription factor implicated in prostate cancer, and is sourcing partners to progress dozens of promising candidates discovered to date. The company employs a growing team of more than a dozen experts across proteomics, biochemistry, computational biology, and machine learning. Talus was founded in 2020 and is based in Seattle. Talus Bioscience is building a drug discovery platform to find compounds that affect transcription factors, proteins that interact with DNA to turn genes on and off. The platform is aimed at targeting transcription factors implicated in cancer and other diseases. Recent grant funding is intended to accelerate development of that discovery platform. The company is led by CEO Alex Federation, a biochemist and computational biologist, and CTO Lindsay Pino, who has expertise in biochemistry and machine learning. Talus has pursued both non-dilutive grant funding and venture capital to advance its work. Financially, the startup has raised venture capital and grant awards to support platform development. Talus Bioscience builds a drug-discovery platform (MARMOT) to find compounds that modulate transcription factors and thereby affect gene activity. The platform purifies transcription factors from hundreds of samples in ~20 minutes and pairs the assays with software to read how compounds change the regulome. Talus is in early exploration of partnerships with biopharma while also working on its own drug targets, including transcription factors implicated in childhood cancer and adult solid tumors. The company was founded in 2020 by Alex Federation and Lindsay Pino out of work at the Altius Institute and the University of Washington. Talus has 13 employees and recently hired Michelle Briscoe as COO. Financially, the company reported $2.75M in NIH small business grants plus $7M in venture funding led by NFX (a $9.75M total raise) and previously received a $255,000 NSF grant and $1.5M in pre-seed VC led by Fifty Years.

Participated · Series B · Aug 2024

Outpace Bio develops engineered T cell therapies using AI-powered protein design to program immune cells for improved function inside patients with solid tumors. The company is advancing an internal pipeline of programmed T cell product candidates, led by CEO and co-founder Marc Lajoie, PhD. Its lead program, OPB-101, is a mesothelin-specific CAR T cell enhanced by Outpace’s OUTSMART™, OUTLAST™, OUTSPACER™, and OUTSAFE™ technologies. OPB-101 is on track for IND clearance and first dosing in 2025 for patients with advanced platinum-resistant epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer. Proceeds from the recent financing will be used to advance multiple candidates to early clinical proof-of-concept and to expand the company’s plug-and-play technology platform for future programs. The company is based in Seattle, WA. Outpace Bio is developing a platform to create next-generation smart cell therapies by applying protein design and synthetic biology. The company combines the design of improved biological functions with cellular control modalities to harness cellular biology's complexity and improve safety and efficacy of cell and gene therapies. Founded by Lyell co-founders Marc Lajoie and Scott Boyken and a scientific team spun out of Lyell Immunopharma, the team has spent the past two years addressing challenges facing anticancer T cell therapies. Outpace is expanding beyond T cells to bring its technology across the broader cell and gene therapy field. The company closed a $30m Series A financing and intends to use the funds to demonstrate proof of principle for its platform. It also entered a collaboration with Lyell Immunopharma for joint research and potential development and commercialization of an immune cell therapy for cancer.