STARTUPS

A look inside a leading venture capital firm’s portfolio is like a lens for understanding the current state of the future of healthcare. Illumina Ventures’ is an independently-managed, healthcare-focused venture firm in a strategic partnership with Illumina, Inc. The portfolio illustrates as much about business models as it does about the science behind synthetic biology. … Read more

Hangzhou Qihan Biotechnology Co., Ltd. is innovating in transplantable cells, tissues, and organs to solve the massive organ shortage crisis. The company targets the scientific challenge of specific cell therapy by developing a multiplexable high-throughout gene-editing platform. The platform’s key feature is to reduce the immunogenicity of human stem cells, thus limiting their ability to … Read more

Taimei Technology of Shanghai completed a $176 million financing to support its AI cloud-based suite of programs for clinical trials and drug safety. The company’s SAAS platform enables clinical research collaboration between sponsors, sites, CROs, patients, regulatory agencies and third-party providers. Its latest funding was co-led by Tencent Holdings, GL Ventures (a Hillhouse subsidiary), and YF Capital, … Read more

Immvira Group Company announced this week the completion of series B financing for $58 million. The biotechnology startup focuses on the development of new generation oncolytic viruses as potential cancer therapeutics. Immvirva attracted a number of biotech investors. This round of financing was led by Huagai Capital, with participation by Apricot Capital, Cowin Capital. The funds … Read more

Quantgene started in 2015 in a small UC Berkeley Lab under the leadership of Jo Bhakdi and Dr. Monika Hagen. Their theory was that most disease can be detected far earlier than today by introducing quantitative science and a new level of precision into medical practice. Since then, the Quangene team has spent over 4 … Read more

54gene was founded in 2019 by Dr. Abasi Ene-Obong to address a large gap in the global genomics market: nearly 90% of genetic material used in pharmaceutical research is Caucasian. African genetics data represents a tiny fraction of genomics data – despite the fact that Africans and people of African ancestry are more genetically diverse … Read more

Growth in the artificial intelligence (AI) healthcare market is expected to reach $6.6 billion by 2021—that’s a compound annual growth rate of 40% from just a few years ago. One expression for why this matters can be found in a startup that is innovating in AI with the promise to accelerate drug design, discovery, and … Read more

VeriSIM Life (VSL), a San Francisco-based biotechnology startup, builds artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled biosimulation models to accelerate drug development. The company’s BIOiSIM tool is an in-house technology that enables simulation and prediction of drug disposition in human and animal bodies. The company’s goal is lofty. VSL is attempting to model whole human biology to solve, in … Read more

Concerto HealthAI, a SymphonyAI Group portfolio company, is innovating in real world data (RWD) and AI solutions for precision oncology. The company’s mission is to bring together unique data assets, AI-based technologies, and top outcomes research and data science talent. Concerto HealthAI’s focus is on revolutionizing clinical and outcomes research to accelerate the insights benefiting … Read more

Admetsys is developing what can be described as an artificial pancreas for patients requiring precise glucose control in a hospital setting. I spoke with Jeff Valk, CEO, who aptly walked me through his company’s technology and its vital importance for, “The most metabolically variable humans on earth.” To put at-risk patients on a solid ground … Read more