Elaborate Announces $10M in Funding to Modernize Lab Results

Elaborate’s technology offers doctors a way to contextualize health data and deliver clear, action-oriented communications to their patients.

NEW YORK, Jan. 26, 2023 — Elaborate, the tool that doctors and their staff use to deliver contextualized, action-oriented lab results to patients, announced today it has raised $10 million in Seed funding. The funding round was led by Tusk Venture Partners, with participation from Founder Collective, Company Ventures, Bling Ventures, and Arkitekt Ventures, as well as renown investors such as Elliot Cohen (Pillpack, Amazon), Sara Wajnberg (Oscar), Scott Belsky (Behance, Adobe), and Sean and Peter Glass, MD (Advantia).

Today, over 44% of patients getting routine bloodwork will receive at least one out-of-range value that is not clinically relevant or an immediate cause for concern, but causes the patient to call or message their practitioner for clarification. In the past, clinical practices have withheld results from patients to ease the burden of panicked patient calls and messages. However, the recent 21st Century Cures Act mandates the electronic release of all medical records to patients, including test results, without delay. While this mandate ensures patients have access to their own health data, it has unintended consequences for a doctor’s workload, skyrocketing the number of questions patients have about their lab results.

Launched in 2021, Elaborate seamlessly integrates with a doctor’s existing electronic medical records (EMRs) to deliver patients personalized and contextualized lab results that offer insights about their health and action items in real-time. By providing contextualized health data, Elaborate reduces unnecessary back-and-forth between patient and doctor, while giving patients greater agency over their health.

“When patients receive lab results without context, they consistently do 2 things: start Googling and then reach out to their doctor in panic after they’ve diagnosed themselves with something new,” said Nicole Bocskocksy, CEO and Founder of Elaborate. “Regulation requiring the direct release of health data has the right intent, but fails to consider the extra work it creates for doctors and the poor patient experience. I’ve witnessed firsthand how doctors are bombarded by unnecessary patient questions following routine bloodwork. They spend hours of their personal time answering the same basic questions over and over again, knowing they’ll be doing it again the next time the patient gets their results. I created Elaborate with the vision of our software acting as the doctor’s trusted assistant, offering a credible, clinically-backed explanation to the patient to give doctors desperately needed relief from these administrative tasks.”

To deliver this new patient experience, Elaborate’s technology leverages underlying clinical guidelines sourced from reputable sources such as UptoDate and PubMed, as well as a medical advisory board of clinicians with years of experience at institutions like Mt. Sinai and John Hopkins. Additionally, it offers clients the option to incorporate custom protocols to fit their clinical approach. Using Elaborate’s bespoke technology, doctors reduce their administrative workload by an average of 32 mins every day, freeing up more time for in-person patient care, education, and diagnosis.

“When Nicole first came to me with the concept, I thought it would be impossible to capture the clinical nuance when interpreting these reports,” shares Amy Esposito, MD, member of Elaborate’s medical advisory board and Medical Director at Reside Health. “But what the team at Elaborate has been able to do for their clients, including my practice, is nothing short of remarkable. Because they’re plugged into the EMR, they use all of the information in the patient’s chart to summarize the key findings and help them schedule a billable followup visit if necessary. Plus they customize everything our clinical protocols for us. Our team has saved a ton of time and frustration, but even more importantly, our patients love the ease and clarity of the results.”

Acting as the doctor’s trusted assistant in delivering health data to patients is a novel concept in addressing growing practitioner burnout. “Given how strained our healthcare system already is, we can’t continue to rely on doctors to manage inboxes when they should be spending time with patients. Elaborate allows doctors to comply with new regulatory requirements around health data sharing and gives patients control of their health quickly and seamlessly” said Jordan Nof, co-founder and managing partner of Tusk Venture Partners.

Elaborate was founded in 2021 by former Oscar and Parsley Health executive, Nicole Bocskocsky. The company plans to use the funding to grow their team and deliver a more deeply embedded practitioner experience for select EMRs. Jordan Nof, Managing Partner and Co-Founder at Tusk Venture Partners, will join the Board of Directors.

About Elaborate
Elaborate is the platform for practitioners to share lab results that tell patients what their health data means and what to do next. The company’s technology integrates with doctors’ EMRs and analyzes patient data with Elaborate’s proprietary clinical insights engine, enabling doctors to send a personalized report summarizing patients’ key findings. The technology is responsible for covering 500,000 patients and has integrations live with 65+ EMRs.

Contact:
Rachel Livingston
[email protected]

SOURCE Elaborate


Spatial Labs Secures $10M in Seed Funding Led by Blockchain Capital

Additional Backing from Marcy Venture Partners to Support New Product Innovation and Continued Growth

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 26, 2023 — Spatial Labs, the leading infrastructure company powering new technologies to redefine the consumer experience for the next generation, announced today a $10 million seed funding round led by Blockchain Capital, a leading venture firm in the blockchain industry. Jay-Z’s Marcy Venture Partners has also returned to participate in this round. The close of the seed round brings the company’s total funding to over $14 million.

“Our investment in Spatial Labs reflects our view that this technology presents an unparalleled opportunity to solve some of the landscape’s most complex challenges,” said Bart Stephens, Founder & Managing Partner of Blockchain Capital. “By empowering new business models, delivering immersive experiences, and providing insights into consumer needs, Spatial Labs will continue to shape and power the future of commerce and connectivity in Web3.”

“Spatial Labs is designing next-gen technologies to connect brands to younger demographics that shop and interact with products in completely new ways. Through our technology solutions, we provide brands with rich consumer data and previously inaccessible revenue models,” said Iddris Sandu, Founder of Spatial Labs. “The consumer goods industry is at a pivotal inflection point. Partnering with ambitious, innovative investors that align with our core ethos will enable Spatial Labs to continue to deliver the tangible innovations that brands and consumers are asking for.”

The new capital will support efforts to scale and diversify Spatial Labs’ proprietary blockchain-enabled tech stack, deepen the company’s footprint across the consumer goods landscape, and expand into other industries, including media and entertainment. It will also be allocated towards a range of technical, business, and strategic team development efforts targeting C-Suite executives. These initiatives are intended to accelerate Spatial Lab’s consumer-centric product innovation and continued rapid growth.

“Spatial Labs has already demonstrated incredible innovation in technology and culture. Iddris and team have the acumen to seamlessly connect products in the physical and digital world, making products that drive user joy,” said Larry Marcus Co-Founder and Managing Director of Marcy Venture Partners.

This marks the second investment from Marcy Ventures Partners, following a pre-seed raise of $4 million in 2021 to support the debut of Spatial Labs and launch of LNQ, an innovative, state-of-the-art chip platform that uses blockchain technology to authenticate products and unlock digital twins. Additional investment came from seasoned founders and entrepreneurs, including Ron Burkle (Co-Founder of Yucaipa Capital, Founder of Soho House group), Scooter Braun (Raised in Space VC Studio), Anthony Tolliver (Former NBA Player, Principal at Wealthlete Private Equity), and Bobby Wagner (Seattle Seahawks linebacker and Partner of VC Studio Fuse Venture Partners).

Founded by 25-year-old entrepreneur and business creative Iddris Sandu, Spatial Labs is committed to creating vertically integrated hardware and software solutions that serve as a physical entry point into the digital world – while delivering real-world utility. The LNQ One Chip, a proprietary 13mm microchip, allows any item to be scaled into a traceable digital asset on the blockchain and provides owners with a digital ledger that tracks a physical item’s authenticity, origin, ownership history, real-time value and enables added benefits such as loyalty incentives, enhanced insights and more.

In addition to empowering more conscious consumption, the LNQ One Chip opens new post-secondary revenue models and is poised to completely revolutionize the brand-to-consumer relationship in the physical and digital world. This technology provides an effective end-all solution for brands, retailers, and creators to reach and engage with their core audience, resulting in increased loyalty and consumer lifetime value.

The LNQ On-Chain Network is powered by Polygon, the leading blockchain development platform offering scalable, affordable, secure, and sustainable blockchains for Web3. The two companies partnered in December to release their first official collaboration, ‘Orbs by Spatial Labs’ x Polygon, a double-layered cotton crewneck embedded with the signature LNQ One Chip. The exclusive offering features a generative graphic on the front and branding on the back. By scanning the Orb, users can view an exclusive AR experience and gain access to future drops and Spatial Labs + Polygon ticketed events.

Since its inception in 2020, Spatial Labs has delivered the most innovative hardware-software infrastructure shaping the future of commerce, consumer experience, and connectivity between brands and the next generation. For more information on Spatial Labs, please visit slabs.one.

ABOUT SPATIAL LABS

Spatial Labs (sLABS) is an industry-leading hardware/software infrastructure company powering the next generation of Web3 technology. Founded by technologist and entrepreneur Iddris Sandu, Spatial Labs is committed to driving innovation at the intersection of culture, community, connectivity, and limitless design to revolutionize the future of the human experience. The company’s first product LNQ, an innovative state-of-the-art blockchain-enabled hardware platform, was publicly launched in May 2022. LNQ aims to make the Web3 more accessible and provide creators with decentralized tools to engage with their communities through LNQ’s proprietary, real-time processing stack. To learn more, visit slabs.one.

ABOUT BLOCKCHAIN CAPITAL

Founded in 2013, Blockchain Capital is one of the earliest and most active investors in the blockchain technology industry and the crypto ecosystem. Blockchain Capital has raised seven and deployed five prior venture funds, including the first ever ICO of a venture fund (BCAP) in April of 2017. The firm is based in San Francisco and was founded by serial entrepreneurs and Silicon Valley investors Bart Stephens and Brad Stephens. To learn more, please visit www.blockchaincapital.com or follow @blockchaincap on Twitter.

ABOUT MARCY VENTURE PARTNERS

Marcy Venture Partners (MVP) was Co-Founded by Shawn Carter (JAY-Z), Jay Brown and Larry Marcus. MVP has a passion for building game-changing businesses and mass-market brands. The firm invests in Consumer & Culture with an emphasis on positive impact including sustainability, inclusivity, accessibility, empowerment and health & wellness. Our companies are led by exceptional management teams with clear vision, purpose and executional excellence. We lead or co-invest in companies that have meaningful brand values, high customer joy driven by an outstanding product, demonstrated growth and clear catalysts for the next level of scale. https://www.marcyvp.com

Media Contact:
Factory PR
[email protected]

SOURCE Spatial Labs


NEA Closes On Two Funds Totaling $6.2 Billion

Largest Pool of Capital in Firm’s History to Fuel Continued Investment in Technology and Healthcare Companies Across Stage, Sector and Geography

MENLO PARK, Calif. and NEW YORK, Jan. 26, 2023 — New Enterprise Associates, Inc. (NEA) today announced that it has closed on approximately $6.2 billion across two funds, bringing the firm’s assets under management to over $25 billion as of December 31, 2022. The new pair of funds marks a first for NEA, with one dedicated to early-stage investing and the other to venture growth-stage opportunities, reflecting the 45-year-old firm’s continuous evolution of its model over decades.

Both funds will be invested across a broad range of technology and healthcare sectors, including enterprise and consumer technology, digital health and life sciences. Consistent with the firm’s strategy over many funds, investing activities will span the entire lifecycle of company building, from incubation and seed-stage investments to fueling the growth of market leaders.

“We are deeply grateful to our Limited Partners for the trust they have placed in our team, and excited to have raised the largest pool of capital in NEA’s history at a time of great uncertainty, but also tremendous opportunity,” said Scott Sandell, Managing General Partner, NEA. “Our own performance over decades strongly affirms the importance of both peaks and troughs in a healthy ecosystem for innovation and company building, and we look forward to supporting founders at every stage with both the capital and the cycle-tested expertise NEA has always brought to bear in tough times.”

NEA’s history of steadily investing in both technology and healthcare through challenging economic environments spans decades, resulting in a deeply experienced team and affirming that innovation cycles, not market cycles, are among the most important in fueling long-term success. Working alongside founders to build strong companies that can survive and thrive in any market is a hallmark of NEA’s approach, and the firm believes that the innovation unfolding across its core sectors of focus will create abundant opportunities for investment across its new funds.

“As technology transforms every industry globally, we see an expanding opportunity set at both the early and growth stages that our team is exceptionally well-positioned to execute on given our deep domain expertise across core sectors of innovation including software, infrastructure, fintech, next-generation web technologies and artificial intelligence,” said Tony Florence, Managing General Partner, Technology.

“Healthcare innovation has never been more important than at this moment in time,” said Mohamad Makhzoumi, Managing General Partner, Healthcare. “With the industry on the precipice of dramatic change, we are eager to build on NEA’s enduring legacy of creating and investing in the next generation of tech-enabled healthcare disruptors and transformational life sciences companies.”

Sandell, who has led NEA’s investments in a broad range of technology companies for nearly three decades, enters his third investing cycle as the firm’s managing general partner with the new funds. NEA’s core investing practices will continue to be led by Tony Florence, Managing General Partner, Technology; and Mohamad Makhzoumi, Managing General Partner, Healthcare. Florence and Makhzoumi joined the firm in 2008 and 2005, respectively, and were elevated to their current roles in 2021. The long tenure among NEA’s leadership team reflects a focus on mentorship and emphasis on promoting from within that spans decades. Each of the firm’s general partners was promoted to their current role, with an average tenure of 17 years.

About NEA

New Enterprise Associates, Inc. (NEA) is a global venture capital firm focused on helping entrepreneurs build transformational businesses across multiple stages, sectors and geographies. Founded in 1977, NEA has over $25 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2022 and invests in technology and healthcare companies at all stages in a company’s lifecycle, from seed stage through IPO. The firm’s long track record of investing includes more than 270 portfolio company IPOs and more than 450 mergers and acquisitions. For more information, please visit www.nea.com.

Contact: 

NEA
Kate Barrett    [email protected]
Erica Sunkin   [email protected]

SOURCE NEA


Boldstart and gumi Cryptos Capital Co-Lead Seed Round in Ethos, Sui Blockchain’s First Experiential Digital Asset Wallet

SAN DIEGO, Jan. 26, 2023 — Ethos Wallet, a product for users to access digital assets and decentralized applications, today announced a seed round of $4.2 million led Boldstart Ventures and gumi Cryptos Capital (gCC) with additional participation from Mysten Labs, Tribe Capital, Matrixport, Charge Ventures, Builder Capital, Alliance DAO, Meltem Demirors and others. The company plans to use the funds to increase headcount, continue the development of its wallet, developer infrastructure and apps, and expand capabilities outside of traditional wallet functionality.

Ethos, co-founded by Nadia Eldeib (CEO) and Jared Cosulich (CTO), was the first application live on the Sui developer network. Sui is a layer 1 blockchain built by Mysten Labs, a team previously from Facebook’s Diem team who raised over $300M in funding. Ethos was founded on the core principle of providing users an easy-to-use and secure wallet to not only store and trade crypto, but also discover and experience other applications on the Sui blockchain. The company’s technology will also make it easier for developers to build decentralized applications on the Sui blockchain.

The Sui blockchain and the smart contract language Sui Move have advanced the technological capabilities for the blockchain developer community. The future of apps is undergoing a revolution where new, consumer-friendly and creative use cases and applications can now exist, and will be built by established consumer brands and web3 pioneers alike. Ethos is working to make this future, where apps and wallet are integrated, experiential and interconnected, possible.

In addition to its crypto wallet, the company has built and launched the first fully on-chain game on the Sui blockchain’s developer network, called Sui 8192, as well recently releasing on-chain chess and checkers games. These games are interactive and dynamic NFTs, which are also integrated and can be played directly in the Ethos wallet explorer. Sui 8192 has become one of the most popular applications on the Sui developer network, with an average of over 100,000 transactions per day.

Sui 8192 is an NFT in itself with every move recorded on-chain. 8192 is an example of how decentralized applications will evolve on Sui. The game can be discovered through the Ethos Wallet. The wallet is a place that features discoverability for games and experiences on the Sui blockchain. In addition to the wallet, you can safely pre-approve batch transactions with the Ethos Chrome extension wallet for the fastest Sui 8192 game experience, which is a capability exclusive to sui.

CEO and Co-Founder, Nadia Eldeib commented on today’s news, “When we first set our sights on developing a wallet on the Sui blockchain, it became our mission to evolve what a crypto wallet is. Currently, they are viewed as a place to store crypto assets, however, they have the capability to do much more. With Ethos, we’re working on developing, discovering and interacting with blockchain-based applications and to make those interactions safer and easier to use. We are excited for the future of Ethos and to continue working with the Mysten Labs team to grow the ecosystem in advance of the Mainnet launch.”

Sign up for Ethos Wallet at ethoswallet.xyz.

For developers looking to build applications on the Sui blockchain using the EthosConnect kit to connect to Ethos and other Sui wallets, onboard walletless users with email, get the starter app and documentation, visit here, visit here.

Investor Quotes

Ed Sim, founder and General Partner, boldstart ventures – “One of the gating factors for adoption of decentralized applications has been a lack of powerful developer tooling for builders and ease of use, security, and discovery for end users. We’re thrilled to back Nadia and Jared as Ethos Wallet will unleash a whole new class of dApp users with APIs for developers to easily build reimagined wallets with the ease of use of any web application.”

Miko Matsumura, Managing Partner at gumi Cryptos Capital – “We look for something we call gumicorn founders. This type of person has ultra-high conviction and world-class product skills needed to thrive in a bear market. Nadia Eldeib is one of those people.”

Adeniyi Abiodun, Mysten Labs Co-Founder and CPO – “It is rare to see fundamental advancements in functionality in crypto, and we believe Ethos represents just that with wallets. Partnering with the Ethos team to build user-friendly and experience-oriented infrastructure for developers and consumers in the Sui ecosystem is exceptionally exciting, and we look forward to building together.”

About Ethos

Ethos is a wallet reimagined as a home base for users on the Sui blockchain. The mission of Ethos is to provide web3 users a simple and integrated experience to store digital assets, and discover and engage with decentralized applications.

How Ethos Works

To get started, download the Ethos Wallet Chrome extension (or in the future, mobile application). After you create an account, you can start exploring applications, NFTs, and projects.

CONTACT: Peter Padovano, [email protected]

SOURCE Ethos Wallet


Suppli Raises $3.1 Million to Help Simplify and Accelerate Payments for Construction Suppliers

Seed Round Led by Equal Ventures

Funds will Bolster Suppli’s Mission of Reducing Payment Friction for Independent Suppliers in the $500 Billion Construction Materials Industry

AUSTIN, Texas, Jan. 26, 2023 — Suppli, the digital accounts receivable platform that enables construction suppliers to turn their credit department into a competitive advantage, today announced it has raised $3.1 million in seed funding. Equal Ventures led the round, with additional participation from Audacious Ventures, Dash Fund, Chase Gilbert (CEO of Built Technologies) and Ali Javid (CEO of Wrapbook).

While over $500 billion of construction materials are sold in the U.S. each year, many vendors rely on manual paperwork, homemade spreadsheets or dated software solutions that don’t address the unique workflows of this industry or meet the demands of an increasingly digital customer base. In fact, by 2024, 60 percent of material buyers will be digital natives, according to U.S. BLS Employment Projections. Currently, paying for construction materials requires, on average, more than 15 documents for each sale, it takes about 83 days to get paid in construction, and more than 40 percent of suppliers don’t offer online payment.

Enter Suppli, the only software solution that empowers independent material suppliers and distributors to turn routine account management and payment tasks into a delightful, digital customer experience that competes with national and big box suppliers.

“The big brands like Builders FirstSource, Home Depot and Lowes are hiring thousands of software engineers and investing billions in customer-facing technology to capture these modern buyers. Simply having an online payment portal isn’t enough. Suppli levels the playing field for independent vendors allowing them to offer a comprehensive solution with features like text-based payments, automated lien waiver requests, one-click deposits, full mobile-responsiveness and more,” said Ryan Ayers, Suppli co-founder. “We are 100 percent focused on material vendors which enables us to deliver these last mile features, build true integrations with industry ERPs and charge a simple flat fee similar to what most vendors pay for just basic payment processing today. With this investment, we’ll be able to significantly grow headcount, offer new services and accelerate product development.” 

Suppli also empowers construction credit and finance professionals with the modern tools they deserve to manage accounts more efficiently, freeing them to focus on value-added customer service. This is particularly critical given today’s tight labor market and the need for vendors to attract younger workers who demand the latest software.

“The construction industry has traditionally not relied upon technology and as the industry begins its digitization process, Suppli is at the forefront of that digital transformation by enabling material suppliers to digitize their payment flows and for the first time provide their customers with a payment and credit flow that they are used to seeing in their personal lives,” commented Richard Kerby, co-founder of Equal Ventures.

Suppli’s co-founders previously ran a material distributor in Texas where they experienced first-hand the challenges and complexities facing material vendors on a daily basis. “We built Suppli as the software we always wanted for ourselves but could never find,” said Thanasi Skafidas, Suppli co-founder. “Trade credit is the lifeblood of a material vendor, but is often viewed as a ‘back office’ function. Suppli turns the credit relationship into a competitive advantage by making it convenient, seamless and less risky.”

Since publicly launching in Q4 2022, Suppli’s active customer count is already in the double digits, and top material suppliers across the country, ranging from lumberyards to insulation contractors and beyond, are using the platform to power credit and payments for their combined 50,000-plus end customers. The new financing will allow Suppli to build on this momentum and expand its team and product offerings with multiple new features and financial products planned for this year.

About Suppli
Suppli is a digital accounts receivable platform that enables construction suppliers to turn their credit department into a competitive advantage. Top material vendors leverage Suppli to deliver the digital customer experience their customers demand and supercharge their credit teams with tools to get paid faster and reduce risk. Suppli is led by a veteran founding team of building materials suppliers, software engineers and financial experts.

For more information, or to schedule a demo, please visit www.gosuppli.com.

Media contact:
Scott Cianciulli
The Plunkett Group
(212) 739-6753
[email protected] 

SOURCE Suppli


Senken Raises USD $7.5 Million to Streamline and Expand Carbon Markets Offerings to the Global Climate Economy

Company’s marketplace platform launches world’s first public sale of Carbon Forwards tokens; enabling transparent investments in tokenized carbon credits from verified climate projects

BERLIN and CAPE TOWN, South Africa, Jan. 26, 2023 — Senken, the world’s largest climate finance trading platform of on-chain carbon credits, today announced that it has raised USD $7.5 million in new funding, the most significant capital raise in its industry, led by Obvious Ventures and the launch of the world’s first public sale of tokenized Carbon Forwards. Participating investors included Offline Ventures, Inflection, Kraken Ventures and Climate Capital. The funds will be used to power a transparent and liquid marketplace for the purchase, sale, and retirement of carbon credits which were previously transacted on an opaque and fragmented market.

Founded in 2021, Senken’s corresponding project credits can be bought, traded, and used to offset carbon emissions by companies looking to make impactful contributions to the climate crisis. By using blockchain technology, Senken provides its customers with additional security and transparency at the data level to ensure the quality and integrity of the offset projects. Globally, there has been strong consensus that eliminating carbon emissions is key to combating climate change. However, the path to getting there has been challenging and unstable. 

The launch of Carbon Forwards on the Senken marketplace enables transparent investments in tokenized carbon credits from verified climate projects. Carbon Forwards, a new financial instrument, allows pre-funding of climate projects that are still in development for a reduced price. These Forwards allow organizations to hedge their carbon emissions and manage their exposure to carbon prices. Senken has initiated a pilot with Vlinder who will provide 500tCO2 of forward carbon credits. These Carbon Forward credits will enable funding to reforest mangroves in Kenya. The Vlinder Kenya Blue Carbon project is a high impact restoration effort with an emission removal capacity of 731,165 tons that aims to revitalize 1,500 hectares of severely degraded mangroves in Kenya. As the world continues to focus on reducing carbon emissions and combating climate change, Carbon Forwards can help businesses focused on lessening their environmental impact by controlling financial risks and planning towards net zero. 

Despite current hyped-up demand, the carbon market is still nascent, but has enormous potential as it is expected to be worth USD $100B by 2030. A record number of investors and companies determined to transform their businesses are embracing net-zero ambitions. Therefore, there is a need for a marketplace that is transparent, reliable, and robust to combat manipulation and exploitation. In order to ensure longevity, stability, and make meaningful change towards climate solutions, Senken’s unique and progressive marketplace can educate and build the trust that is needed to be truly sustainable.

“Senken is looking to mobilize USD $10 billion in capital towards climate projects by 2030,” said Adrian Wons, co-founder and CEO of Senken. “We have developed a platform that reduces friction in the market with lowered transaction costs which in turn redirects climate funding into projects that will transparently and effectively remove carbon from our atmosphere or demonstrably avoid carbon emissions. We are excited to launch the world’s first public sale of Carbon Forward tokens, which will facilitate the pre-funding of climate projects that are still in development. This is key to helping organizations hedge their carbon emissions and manage exposure to carbon prices. It is especially rewarding to our organization that the launch of our first Carbon Forwards aims to contribute to the high impact restoration effort of severely degraded mangroves in Kenya.”

“In order to drive a future global economy that is more efficient and carbon-free, we need new frameworks and solutions to help finance the massive changes that are required,” said Andrew Beebe, managing director, Obvious Ventures. “Adrian and the team have created a powerful new model for carbon investment in a short period of time and we are proud to lead this investment round.” 

The Senken marketplace offers users access to more than 20 million tokenized carbon credits from verified climate projects. Project information, ratings, trade, pricing, and sensor technology is presented in a clear way, which makes it easy to compare, invest, and retire credits on-chain. Senken’s smart order routing mechanism can unlock silos of carbon credits, therefore, customers are charged only 1/10 of the competitors fees through offerings that are 10x the amount with the highest transparency. This makes Senken’s marketplace very compelling and interesting not only for corporates but also for institutional investors seeking exposure to this rapidly growing asset class.

“Senken aims to solve the known problems of fragmentation, bad user experience, high costs and lack of transparency. We are looking to make climate finance accessible for everyone, encouraging millions of businesses to invest in real solutions to combat and make a serious impact towards climate change,” added Wons.

Recently, Senken has been accepted to the Estainium Association (estainium.eco), a German Association of major corporates, which educates and advises users and companies on how to effectively reduce and compensate for climate-negative impacts with members like Siemens, Merck, NTT Data, Faber & Castell, and TUV Sud.

To read more about Senken’s Carbon Forwards tokens, check out its blog post here.

About Senken

Founded in 2021, Senken is climate-oriented and action-driven. The company is made up of engineers and entrepreneurs, designers and academics, innovation practitioners and investment professionals, ecosystem shapers and creative voices, united in the belief that something needs to be done in the face of climate change. For more information on Senken, please https://www.senken.io/

About Obvious Ventures

Obvious Ventures is a venture capital firm investing in startups and entrepreneurs reimagining trillion-dollar industries through a world-positive lens. Since launching in 2014, Obvious has backed over 90 companies using technology to create a smarter, healthier, more sustainable world. The fund has led investments in breakthrough companies such as Beyond Meat, Olly, Virta Health, and Recursion. Obvious was co-founded by Ev Williams, James Joaquin, and Vishal Vasishth. More information is available at obvious.com.

SOURCE Senken


Grey Wolf Therapeutics Closes Oversubscribed $49 Million Series B Financing to Advance First-of-its-Kind Neoantigen Creation Approaches

Premier Syndicate of Life Science Industry Investors led by Pfizer Ventures and Earlybird Venture Capital and including Canaan, Andera Partners, Oxford Science Enterprises and British Patient Capital

Proceeds to Support Advancement of Lead Candidate, ERAP1 Inhibitor GRWD5769, into the Clinic in 1H 2023; Continued R&D for Follow-On ERAP Inhibition Strategies

OXFORD, United Kingdom, Jan. 24, 2023 — Grey Wolf Therapeutics, a biotechnology company focused on generating entirely novel anti-tumour immune responses through targeted cancer neoantigen creation, today announced the closing of an oversubscribed $49 million Series B financing. The financing was co-led by Pfizer Ventures and Earlybird Venture Capital, and also included investment from new investors Oxford Science Enterprises and British Patient Capital and existing investors Canaan and Andera Partners. Proceeds will support the continued development of the company’s first-of-its-kind immuno-oncology approaches designed to overcome key resistance mechanisms through the creation of novel cancer antigens. This includes the anticipated advancement of the company’s lead asset, GRWD5769, into a Phase 1/2 clinical trial in the first half of 2023.

Grey Wolf Therapeutics’ unique therapeutic strategy is centered on generating entirely novel immune responses against tumours thereby overcoming key resistance mechanisms to current immuno-oncology therapy such as poor tumour recognition by T cells and T cell exhaustion. This is achieved through targeted inhibition of the endoplasmic reticulum aminopeptidases (ERAP1 or ERAP2), which drives the generation and presentation of novel and potent cancer antigens to the surface of tumour cells, in turn eliciting a de novo T cell response against tumours.

The ground-breaking research and development activities conducted by the Grey Wolf team have generated a pipeline of novel ERAP inhibition programs, led by GRWD5769, a potentially first-in-class ERAP1 inhibitor. During the first half of 2023, the company intends to initiate an adaptive Phase 1/2 clinical trial evaluating the safety, tolerability, and efficacy of GRWD5769, including a planned combination with the PD-1 inhibitor Libtayo® (cemiplimab), in a range of solid tumour types. Additionally, the company will direct a portion of the Series B proceeds to follow-on programs including efforts focused on ERAP2 inhibition and the identification of entirely novel cancer antigens that can be targeted with MHC Class I directed therapies, such as soluble T cell receptor (TCR) and TCR mimic bispecifics.

“This syndicate of leading life science industry investors brings a wealth of relevant expertise and resources to Grey Wolf at a critical time in our evolution as we prepare to enter the clinic,” said Peter Joyce, Ph.D., chief executive officer of Grey Wolf Therapeutics. “The funding these groups have committed to Grey Wolf will not only support our efforts to demonstrate clinical proof-of-concept for ERAP inhibition with our lead program, but it will also drive our continued scientific exploration in this area as we aim to further advance and broaden our pipeline of first-of-their-kind therapeutics.”

“The scientific ground being pursued by the Grey Wolf team is fertile with potential solutions for overcoming two of the most significant resistance mechanisms limiting current immune-oncology therapies – poor tumour visibility and T cell exhaustion,” said Marie-Claire Peakman, Ph.D., principal with Pfizer Ventures. “We look forward to supporting the company as it enters the clinical setting and works to develop an actionable and completely novel therapeutic approach.”

“We believe Grey Wolf is establishing the next essential pillar in oncology treatment, with the potential to overcome treatment resistance and change the game for attacking cancer,” said Rabab Nasrallah, Ph.D., principal, Earlybird Venture Capital. “Importantly, preclinical research suggests that the company’s elegant treatment approach holds great promise as a monotherapy, as well as the potential to synergistically improve outcomes when used in rational combination with other anti-cancer agents including immune checkpoint inhibitors. This flexibility further amplifies the potential breadth of impact these investigational therapeutics may have in treating patients.”

In conjunction with the financing, Grey Wolf Therapeutics has announced several new appointees to its board of directors including:

  • Sally Dewhurst, senior associate, Oxford Science Enterprises
  • Emma Johnson, investment manager, British Patient Capital
  • Rabab Nasrallah, principal, Earlybird Venture Capital
  • Marie-Claire Peakman, principal, Pfizer Ventures

About Grey Wolf Therapeutics

Grey Wolf Therapeutics is a UK- and Australian-based drug discovery and development biotechnology company spearheading a new therapeutic approach in immuno-oncology. The company’s first-of-its-kind immuno-oncology approach is centered on inhibiting the endoplasmic reticulum aminopeptidases (ERAP1 or ERAP2), which play a key role in the antigen presentation pathway. Inhibiting ERAP1 or ERAP2 generates novel cancer antigens and upregulates certain other neoantigens, resulting in the mobilisation of an entirely novel T cell response against the tumour that increases tumour visibility where current therapies are ineffective, and bypasses the challenge faced by current immunotherapy when once anti-tumourigenic T cells become irreversibly exhausted and hence ineffective. Based on this approach, the company is developing a portfolio of potentially first-in-class small molecules that inhibit ERAP1 or ERAP2. The company’s lead development candidate, GRWD5769, is a potent and selective ERAP1 inhibitor that elicits a powerful and differentiated immune response against the tumour and is entering the clinic in the first half of 2023. A second program, focused on ERAP2 inhibition, is advancing through the discovery process. The company is leveraging its leadership in neoantigen creation to unlock entirely novel cancer antigens that can be targeted with MHC Class I directed therapies, such as soluble T cell receptor (TCR) and TCR mimic bispecifics.

For more information, please visit: www.gwt.bio

Contacts:
Grey Wolf Therapeutics
Peter Joyce
Chief Executive Officer
+44 (0) 01865 292 038
[email protected]

Vida Strategic Partners (on behalf of Grey Wolf Therapeutics)
Tim Brons (Media)
415-675-7402
[email protected]

SOURCE Grey Wolf Therapeutics


Pegasus Tech Ventures Launches US $100 Million Fund with Denka Company Limited

The new fund marks the entry of the 107 year-old chemical company into the corporate venture capital ecosystem, and it strengthens Pegasus’ position as the leading venture capital firm providing “Venture Capital-as-a-Service”, with over US $2 billion assets under management, to multinational corporations and family offices. 

Denka, established in 1915, provides chemical products that are essential to contemporary society and critical to a wide variety of industries, including electronics, ICT, batteries, pharmaceuticals, and many other key sectors that are shaping the future. Through this fund with Pegasus, Denka will seek new technologies and business opportunities to advance its growth in ICT, Energy, Healthcare, and Sustainable Living by investing in startup that are developing cutting-edge innovations. The fund will invest in startups across several geographies, including the US, Europe, Israel, and Asia.

“We are excited to partner with Pegasus as we work to advance our innovation activities globally,” said Toshio Imai, President and CEO of Denka, “We value the experience that Pegasus brings working across many cultures, including Japan, the US, and Europe, and the expertise that Pegasus brings facilitating corporate innovation by investing in strategic technologies that can be valuable to Denka.”

Mr. Imai went on to say, “We will make good use of Pegasus’ extensive global network and deep technology knowledge to realize our 2023-2030 management plan, Mission 2030. Through our partnership, we will create new businesses and expand existing businesses to stay on top of the rapidly changing times.”

Anis Uzzaman, Founder and CEO of Pegasus Tech Ventures, commented, “Pegasus is the global leader as a venture capital firm focused on managing corporate venture capital funds. We now manage over 30 strategic funds with our corporate partners. We look forward to working with Denka to achieve the company’s visionary Mission 2030 management plan by connecting Denka with top-tier technology startups worldwide.”

About Denka Company Limited

Denka is a chemical manufacturing company centered around organic materials, inorganic materials, materials for electronics, high functional products and pharmaceuticals. Since its founding in 1915, Denka has worked to contribute to social development and win the trust of society through manufacturing operations centered on chemical engineering. Having celebrated its centennial year in 2015, Denka is accelerating its global business strategy to drive responsible growth.

For further details, please view https://www.denka.co.jp/eng/.

About Pegasus Tech Ventures

Pegasus Tech Ventures is a global venture capital firm based in Silicon Valley with over $2 Billion in assets under management. Pegasus offers intellectual and financial capital to emerging technology companies around the world. In addition to offering institutional investors a top-tier venture capital investment approach, Pegasus also offers a unique Venture Capital-as-a-Service (VCaaS) model for large, global corporations that wish to partner with cutting-edge technology startups. Some of the 35+ corporate partners that have partnered with Pegasus include ASUS, Aisin, SEGA, Sojitz, and NGK Spark Plugs. Pegasus has invested in over 250 companies around the world, including SpaceX, Twitter, Airbnb, SoFi, Doordash, 23andMe, Color, Carbon, and many more.

For more information about Pegasus, please check out https://www.pegasustechventures.com.

Pegasus also founded and sponsors Startup World Cup, one of the biggest and richest startup competitions in the world. Startup World Cup extends to over 50 countries across six continents, with a Grand Finale in Silicon Valley featuring a $1 million investment prize. The goal of Startup World Cup is to support regional innovation ecosystems around the world and connect them to Silicon Valley.

For more information about Startup World Cup, please check out www.startupworldcup.io.

SOURCE Pegasus Tech Ventures

Pearl Health raises $75M Series B led by a16z to accelerate growth and innovation in value-based care

NEW YORK CITY, Jan. 26, 2023 — Pearl Health, a leading technology company focused on physician enablement and risk bearing in value-based care, today announced that it has raised $75 million in its oversubscribed Series B funding round, led by Andreessen Horowitz’s Growth Fund and Viking Global Investors, with participation by AlleyCorp, SV Angel’s Growth Fund, and other leading investors. The round is comprised of $55 million in equity capital and an anticipated $20 million in a line of credit, and brings Pearl’s total funding to date to more than $100M.

“We are grateful to have the support of such esteemed investors as we continue to build technology that enables physicians to provide better care for their patients and helps our healthcare system transition from volume to value,” said Pearl Health Co-Founder and CEO Michael Kopko. “This latest round of funding, combined with our previous investments, will allow us to expand our network and accelerate the development of innovative solutions that place providers at the center of healthcare delivery and cost management.”

Pearl Health’s technology uses data science to help primary care providers focus their attention on the patients who are most likely to need it, enabling physicians and clinical staff to move toward a more proactive care model that allows them to invest in preventative care and provide more holistic, personalized treatment.

“Pearl Health arms providers with data insights and superpowers to help them manage the health of an entire patient panel,” said Vineeta Agarwala, Andreessen Horowitz General Partner, Bio + Health, and Board Director for Pearl Health. “We believe this technology should enable providers across the country to be at the forefront of our healthcare industry’s transformation towards value, achieving improved outcomes and lower total cost of care.”

Over the past year, more than 800 primary care providers across the country partnered with Pearl, resulting in more than 10x year-over-year growth and expanding the company’s reach from 10 to 29 states. This growth reflects a powerful trend in healthcare toward physician enablement technology and programs that help providers perform in new value-based care payment models.

“Pearl Health has done a great job of developing software to help providers achieve their goals around value-based care,” said Scott Kupor, Managing Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, who recently joined Pearl Health’s Board of Directors. “This new round of funding will help them significantly expand their market presence and bring their solution to a much wider audience.”

With this new round of funding, Pearl Health is well positioned to continue to expand its reach within primary care, develop new partnerships, broaden the offerings it makes available to its provider partners, and invest more in research & development to accelerate innovation.

“Patients deserve medicine aligned with their true needs,” said Pearl Co-Founder and Executive Chairman Jeffrey De Flavio, MD. “Pearl’s physicians have the tools to deliver more effective and compassionate care.”

“We are proud to support companies like Pearl Health that have the potential to drive positive change and disruption in their industries,” said AlleyCorp Founder and CEO Kevin Ryan. “We are excited to see the impact that Pearl Health will have on patient outcomes and are proud to be a part of their growth since day one.”

Read more about Pearl Health’s Series B in this blog post: 
www.pearlhealth.com/blog/news/series-b 

About Pearl Health
Pearl Health is democratizing access to value in healthcare. Led by provider enablement, risk-bearing, and technology experts, Pearl offers software and services that help providers reimagine how they visualize, understand, and care for their patients. Pearl supports primary care organizations and providers in their transition to value-based care and surfaces data and insights that help them deliver better, more proactive care, decrease total cost of care across patient panels, and optimize performance in risk-bearing models like Medicare’s ACO REACH. Since its founding in 2020, Pearl has raised more than $100M in funding from investors such as Andreessen Horowitz, Viking Global Investors, AlleyCorp, SV Angel, and Silicon Valley Bank, and has grown to serve customers in 29 states and Washington, DC. Learn more at www.pearlhealth.com 

About Andreessen Horowitz
Founded in Silicon Valley in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, Andreessen Horowitz (known as “a16z”) is a venture capital firm that backs bold entrepreneurs building the future through technology. a16z is stage agnostic, investing in seed to venture to late-stage technology companies, across industries including bio + healthcare, consumer, crypto, enterprise, fintech, and gaming. a16z has $35B in assets under management across multiple funds. www.a16z.com 

About Viking Global Investors
Founded in 1999, Viking is a global management firm that manages over $37 billion of capital for its investors. It has offices in Greenwich, New York, Hong Kong, London, and San Francisco and is registered as an investment adviser with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. For more information, please visit www.vikingglobal.com

About AlleyCorp
Founded by serial entrepreneur Kevin Ryan, AlleyCorp founds and invests in transformative companies globally. As one of the most active early-stage investors in New York, we invest primarily in pre-seed and seed rounds and make select Series A investments. We share the founder’s mindset because we’re founders too: a seasoned team of startup operators, we launch new companies every year at our New York headquarters. Companies we’ve incubated include MongoDB (NASDAQ: MDB), Business Insider, Gilt Groupe, Zola, and Nomad Health. We invest and incubate out of dedicated funds for General Technology and Healthcare, with a focus on enterprise software, marketplaces, nano & materials science, and digital health. We also operate an Impact fund. For more information visit www.alleycorp.com 

About SV Angel
SV Angel is a San Francisco-based venture fund. Over the last 30 years of helping portfolio companies like Google, Facebook, Twitter, Github, Airbnb, Stripe and many others, our core values of trust, loyalty, and integrity along with our founder-first approach has driven our strategy. We are a service organization, investing in founders who share these values. We support entrepreneurs in building lasting companies by assisting at key inflection points and leveraging our network to help them propel their businesses forward. www.svangel.com

Madison Klein
Pearl Health
(562) 310-6219
[email protected]

SOURCE Pearl Health