From the Cognixion website: Cognixion Receives FDA Breakthrough Device Designation for its Brain-Computer Interface with Augmented Reality for Assistive Communication 

Cognixion ONE Axon aims to become the first FDA cleared device allowing fully paralyzed or locked-in patients to communicate via a noninvasive brain-computer interface. 

• U.S. FDA Breakthrough Device designations are granted to expedite the review of technologies with the potential to greatly impact those suffering from life threatening and debilitating diseases. 

• With Breakthrough Device designation, Cognixion ONE Axon could become available sooner to help those most in need. 

• Cognixion ONE is the first and only wireless brain computer interface (BCI) to integrate with augmented reality (AR).

May 4, 2023. Cognixion®, a leading developer of noninvasive Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) and Augmented Reality (AR) technology, announced today that its flagship device, the Cognixion ONE™ Axon, has been granted U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Breakthrough Device designation. The designation will allow the company to streamline their development and validation process with prioritized interactive feedback from FDA review staff in preparation for regulatory submission. This special FDA Breakthrough designation is awarded to devices that demonstrate the potential to provide more effective treatment of life-threatening or irreversibly debilitating diseases or conditions for which no clear alternatives exist. 

The Cognixion ONE is a revolutionary assisted reality device — the bionic combination or AI, Augmented Reality and Assistive Technology — designed to help people with severe motor impairments communicate and interact more effectively and independently with the world around them. The device utilizes electroencephalogram (EEG) technology to provide a noninvasive brain-computer interface (BCI) enabling patients with advanced disease progression to communicate their responses with their thoughts and mental attention in a wearable, augmented reality headset. Integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) such as GPT large language models that run on the device with contextual predictions, the device aims to rapidly support the user’s communication intentions and desired outcomes, providing suggestions that can be quickly selected and communicated audibly and visually on the front visor as a communication aid. 

The device has been specifically designed to help individuals with neurodegenerative conditions such as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease and MND (Motor Neuron Disease) as well as acquired conditions such as traumatic injuries and cerebral palsy that result in severe motor impairments. At present, no such cleared device exists which can allow fully paralyzed or locked-in patients to communicate once the current standard of care, eye-tracking, is no longer usable for their disease state due to ocular motor decline.  

"This FDA Breakthrough Device designation is a significant milestone, and we are thrilled to receive it for our Cognixion ONE device," said Andreas Forsland, CEO and Founder of Cognixion. "It validates the potential of our technology to make a real difference in the lives of individuals with severe motor impairments and underscores the importance of how AI can be used to assist people in everyday situations. We are excited to continue our work to bring this life-changing technology to those who need it most." 

While a number of neurotech companies are developing invasive BCI technologies including Elon Musk’s Neuralink aimed at assisting patients with communication abilities, Cognixion’s device could be prescribed and utilized without the need for surgical procedures or significant training, providing a new level of independence and autonomy to individuals who have been unable to communicate effectively due to their conditions. With planned further development, Cognixion ONE could become a one-of-a-kind platform, aggregating additional inputs to restore life changing abilities that have been lost to people with loss of language or personal agency.   

About Cognixion® 

Cognixion is a leader in brain-computer, augmented reality, artificial intelligence and natural user interface technology. The company is dedicated to improving the lives of individuals with severe motor impairments by providing cutting-edge patented technology that allows them to independently communicate and interact with the world around them. The Cognixion ONE™ device is the company's flagship product, and it has already received significant recognition for its design and potential to transform the lives of individuals with severe motor impairments. 

Strive, a technology company primarily focused on measuring and analyzing muscle data for athletes, has raised $6 million in a Series A funding round.

Future Communities led the round, with participation from previous investors such as SeaChange Fund and SeedtoB Capital.

New investors included Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor, who led the NFL in 2021 with 1,811 rushing yards and 18 rushing touchdowns, and Troy Smith, a former NFL quarterback who won the Heisman Trophy as college football’s top player while at Ohio State in 2006.

Strive works with numerous athletes and teams, including the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs and the University of Kentucky’s men’s basketball program. The company has sensors that can be inserted into compression clothing and track muscle activity to measure fatigue, load symmetry and other variables. The company offers a hardware and software platform and helps athletes train and avoid and recover from injuries.

Funding round led by Prime Movers Lab, including Northwell Health, Amazon Alexa Fund and Volta Circle

SANTA BARBARA, Calif., Nov 16, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- SANTA BARBARA, Calif., Nov 16, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Cognixion®, a neural interface startup, raised $12 million in seed funding to develop AI-powered neural interfaces that unlock speech and smart home controls for the hundreds of millions of people worldwide with communication and physical disabilities. The funding will help Cognixion develop new adaptive interfaces that make the Assisted Reality technology easier to use by everyone. Prime Movers Lab led the round with co-investors Northwell Health, Amazon Alexa Fund and Volta Circle.

Cognixion’s patented non-invasive, wireless brain-computer interface with an integrated augmented reality display, Cognixion ONE, detects the signals from the user's brainwaves associated with visual fixation on interactive objects and enables hands-free, voice-free control of AR/XR applications in the headset. Cognixion ONE is a closed-loop device that stimulates the visual cortex within the brain and reads its activity while sending control signals back to the AR application. It also integrates with leading research software.

In addition to Cognixion ONE, the company is building advanced machine learning algorithms and an AI-powered language system, which adapts to each user's unique communication style, making it more efficient at recognizing and anticipating what they intend to communicate. Equally exciting, a Cognixion headset user will be able to interface directly with Amazon Alexa from anywhere, accessing the smart assistant’s functions within the headset to interact with their environment and control smart devices, or access news, music, information and more.

“Cognixion is solving usability and accessibility issues for AR/XR and enabling new capabilities for people with disabilities today,” says Andreas Forsland, Cognixion Founder and CEO, “And in the near future, we see our innovations becoming a fundamental part of the metaverse, as a biological interface plus highly adaptive algorithms that unlock new use cases for XR.”

“We believe that technology should be inclusive and universally accessible to every individual, and everyone deserves a solution that can adapt to their needs – and that it’s possible to build ONE solution that can be personalized for communication, information access, interacting with smart devices, and everything else life has to offer,” Andreas Forsland said. “Prime Movers Lab has the same focus around making augmentative human capabilities a reality. Unlike most VCs, Prime Movers Lab is an extension of our team. In addition to the funding that they are providing, they are already helping us with hiring, marketing, government relations and building a pipeline of prospective customers.”

“Cognixion has created a breakthrough human-machine interface that accelerates and enriches human communication and connection,” Prime Movers Lab General Partner, Amy Kruse said. “You would think that Cognixion ONE is something out of science fiction if it didn’t already exist.  We believe that it will be a fundamentally life-changing and integral blend of an AI software platform with hardware to assist people of all ages who live with speech and motor disabilities, including Cerebral Palsy, Brainstem Stroke, ALS and many other conditions. Further we see the broader expansion of this platform to extend to all users to enrich life experiences, including: gaming, apps, the metaverse, and beyond. ”

“Cognixion ONE’s combination of visual stimulation and EEG reading could profoundly change the means of communication for patients with physical and neurological impairments,” said Dr. Souhel Najjar, SVP and Executive Director of the Neurology Service Line at Northwell Health. “We look forward to collaborating with the Cognixion team as they develop this technology and assess its efficacy in addressing this significant challenge.”

“Cognixion’s technology has the potential to revolutionize the way patients with impairments can communicate in a variety of settings. We believe Northwell’s investment and expertise will support Cognixion’s expansion into health care provider markets,” said Rich Mulry, President and CEO of Northwell Holdings & Ventures.

Click here to find more information about Cognixion ONE and to submit interest for pre-order.

If you’d like to work at Cognixion, click here to preview career opportunities.

About Cognixion

Cognixion is an internationally award-winning neuroscience and technology company pioneering the field of Assisted Reality.  Cognixion develops AI powered non-invasive BCI (Brain Computer Interface), assistive tech, and useful applications for people, including those affected by neurodevelopmental disorders and injuries to the brain and spinal cord. Based in Santa Barbara, California, the company develops software that helps people with communication challenges express themselves significantly faster than any other solution on the market, and provides a direct non-verbal interface to control Alexa enabled devices around the home, school and workplace.  For more information, please visit https://cognixion.com.

About Prime Movers Lab

Prime Movers Lab invests in breakthrough scientific startups founded by Prime Movers, the inventors who transform billions of lives. We invest in companies reinventing energy, transportation, infrastructure, manufacturing, agriculture and human augmentation. Portfolio investments span in-space transportation, industrial solar heat, ag tech, brain upgrades, nanostructured materials, wafer slicing, prosthetics, 3D printing, mobility, longevity and AI. For more information, please visit https://www.primemoverslab.com.

About Northwell Health

Northwell Health is New York State’s largest health care provider and private employer, with 23 hospitals, 830 outpatient facilities and more than 16,600 affiliated physicians. We care for over two million people annually in the New York metro area and beyond, thanks to philanthropic support from our communities. Our 77,000 employees – 18,900 nurses and 4,800 employed doctors, including members of Northwell Health Physician Partners – are working to change health care for the better. We’re making breakthroughs in medicine at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research. We're training the next generation of medical professionals at the visionary Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and the Hofstra Northwell School of Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies. For information on our more than 100 medical specialties, visit Northwell.edu and follow us @NorthwellHealth on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

Transformative Tech, NeuroTech, and Biohacking - Fundraising in 2020 and 2021 from Wesley King

Video Presentation of the HealthTech, Biohacking and Transformative Technology Investment Market

A research report on the state of Transformative Tech investing in 2021 by Wesley King from Coherent Capital, followed by a panel with: - Alina Trigubenko: C...

Vessel, a new at-home wellness tracker that helps users access, understand, and optimize from the comfort of home, recently announced a $8M funding round, bringing its total seed funding to $14.5M.

Vessel launched in November 2020 and has sold over 100,000 test cards.

The round was led by Monogram Capital Partners, a consumer-focused venture firm. The round included investments from Able, BFG, Cove and Sidekick; angel investors Dave Asprey (Bulletproof 360 Founder), Jared Leto (actor), Jarret John "JJ" Thomas (pro snowboarder) and Kelly Slater (pro surfer).

"The focus on wellness optimization has never been more prescient," said Jared Stein, Co-Founder & Partner of Monogram Capital. "We are strong believers in the shift toward at-home diagnostics as the next wave of innovation enabling consumers to assess and optimize their personalized nutrition needs on a far more real-time basis than the traditional annual doctor's check up. I believe Vessel is extremely well positioned to lead the way in this space and look forward to seeing the company grow as it continues to add even further functionality to its offering and build an integrated ecosystem of health services around it."

Vessel allows members to test 10 different health metrics in less than 10 minutes for around $10. Users simply pee on one of Vessel's wellness cards, scan the card using the Vessel app, and receive their "low," "good," or "high" biomarker ratings to determine what may be affecting things like their energy, stress, and immunity. Biomarkers tested include Vitamin B7 (Biotin), Vitamin B9 (Folate), hydration, Vitamin C, Cortisol, Magnesium, Ketone A (AcAc), Ketone B (BHB), pH, Creatinine, and Calcium.

The app then provides tailored plans to help users instantly understand what nutrition and lifestyle changes will make the biggest impact for them.

"The science is clear: our bodies perform better when we optimize them. I've experienced how impactful testing and optimizing your nutrient levels can be when it comes to sleep, energy, and brain function. Now, anyone can make meaningful changes without a trip to the doctor or spending thousands of dollars on lab work. The feedback we are getting from customers is phenomenal; they are feeling a difference in a matter of weeks," said Jon Carder, Founder and CEO of Vessel.

Levels constantly tracks the user’s blood sugar using a CGM placed on the back of the upper arm for two weeks.

Levels Health announced a $12 million seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz  with additional notable investors participating, including Marc Randolph (co-founder of Netflix), Dick Costolo (former CEO of Twitter and investor in Oura), Michael Arrington (founder of TechCrunch) and others.

The funds will help Levels bring its metabolic sensor application to market. The user-friendly platform pairs continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) with the Levels software suite to provide users with new, deep, and actionable insights about their health. The company’s founders strongly feel that this approach helps users build a tighter feedback loop between food, exercise, sleep and well-being.

The closed beta program provides a month-long subscription and includes two 14-day CGM sensors and access to the Levels app. The company has nearly 50K people on their waitlist.

University of Minnesota joins in academic partnership

Rune Labs, a software developer enabling the next wave of biofeedback in neuroscience therapeutics, announced a $5 million seed round led by DigiTx Partners. Other participating investors include TruVenturo, Moment Ventures, Loup Ventures and Sabbatical Ventures. Since the company’s founding in 2018, Rune Labs has raised a total of $7.3 million.

Rune Labs partners with leading medtech and pharmaceutical companies to label, organize, and analyze brain data. Rune Labs is focused on supporting neuromodulation therapies such as Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS). Current device-based therapies generate a lot of data, including directly from brain signals. The mass of data is currently underutilized in trials and patient care as DBS and TMS manufacturers do not have a way to manage brain data at a large scale.

“Over the past two decades, we have witnessed tremendous improvements in neurostimulation devices for multiple neurologic conditions. What we are now seeing is the power of the information that could be derived from these devices. The technology Rune Labs is developing with neurologic and biometric data will optimize clinical care for many individuals with debilitating neurological and mental health conditions,” said David J. Kim, Managing Director, DigiTx Partners.

Using their platform, Rune Labs can sequence brain data both longitudinally for a single patient and across multiple patients, studies, and centers to be analyzed with machine learning tools. They are able to work with industry standard systems from Medtronic and Abbott as well as mobile health apps and devices… and they are and fully HIPAA compliant.

“This round of funding, following closely on last year’s, continues to validate our approach, technology and strategy,” said Brian Pepin, founder and CEO, Rune Labs. “Strong financial backing from credible partners and world-class academic collaborators continues to position us to help better understand the brain in order to improve neuromodulation therapies that can improve the quality of patients’ lives.”

The company will use the funds to continue to invest in R&D and to develop additional products.

About Rune Labs

Rune Labs, Inc. takes brain imaging and electrophysiology data generated in the course of clinical studies and patient care and makes this data useful for neuroscience therapeutics. We partner closely with med-tech and pharma companies to help develop and deliver precision therapies for Parkinson's disease, Epilepsy, Depression, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and other brain diseases. For more information visit www.runelabs.io.

Sana Health Inc., a maker of audio-visual masks designed to treat chronic pain, raised $5.8 million in new venture funds in preparation to close out two ongoing trials for treating pain.

Sana uses Audio-Visual patterns to support general wellness, and potentially, sleep, fatigue, and pain managmenet.

According to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Denver-based company raised the round through a sale of preferred stock and convertible notes to 44 investors. The company’s goal for the round is $9 million.

The announcement came a day after Sana announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the company’s product for sale as a “general wellness” device.

In an interview with BizWest, CEO Richard Hanbury said the round is still open to investors.

Sana is currently in the middle of trials to determine if the relaxation mask, which uses audio waves to stimulate parts of the brain, can relieve the pain of fibromyalgia. There are concurrent studies going on at Duke University for fibromyalgia, and a broader neuropathy study at Mount Sinai Health System in New York.

Hanbury said a pilot study in Colorado showed that Sana’s device had three times the efficacy of the leading fibromyalgia drug, but without the side effects of the medication.

“We have a solution in an area that is desperately needed,” he said.

Hanbury expects results from those clinical studies to be available this fall, and for Sana to land market clearance as a clinical treatment during the second quarter of 2021.

The company has raised a little more than $13.63 million over six rounds since 2017, according to prior SEC filings. It is the second-largest raise in Sana’s history behind a $6.49 million round in November 2018.

Movano’s wearable will provide needle-free, real-time glucose monitoring at a glance

The $10 million in new capital will be used to finalize production silicon and help the company prepare for initial user trials.

Movano's wearable Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) currently in development

Movano has raised $10M in a bridge round led by Tri-Valley Ventures. This brings total funding since 2018 to $27M. Movano is actively developing its first product – a wearable, non-invasive continuous glucose monitor (CGM) powered by Radio Frequency (RF) technology that is painless, smart and simple.

The International Diabetes Federation estimates 463 million people with diabetes (PWD) globally. PWD are potentially at greater risk for heart disease, shorter lifespans and healthspans, kidney failure and other serious health complications. Only a small subset of PWD use a CGM today, primarily due to affordability.

“There’s a considerable disconnect between the demand for an inconspicuous and inexpensive glucose measurement solution and what’s on the market. Today, people with diabetes have two options to get a glucose reading - either prick their finger daily or wear an expensive, disposable patch,” said Michael Leabman, founder and CEO of Movano. “We plan to bridge this gap, so that measuring your glucose becomes as simple as glancing at your wrist, whether you’re a person with diabetes, pre-diabetes or a part of the greater wellness community.  We’re going to break down the current cost, usability and accessibility barriers with CGMs so that anyone can manage their glucose levels with confidence and in a way that best suits their lifestyle.”

Movano’s novel approach to glucose monitoring is centered around its patent-pending RF solution, which can be embedded in a wearable and connected to apps and the cloud. The combination of custom-built, miniature and highly flexible sensors, smart antennas and proprietary machine learning algorithms will form a glucose monitoring system that is more affordable and smaller in size than competing CGMs.

The company’s cloud-based network app will give users real-time data, including trending lines and time-in-range information. This will enable data sharing with healthcare providers, caregivers and family to optimize care routines, reinforce positive behaviors and serve as a catalyst for long-term behavioral changes. Armed with real-time knowledge about how glucose levels impact a person’s overall well-being, Movano’s solution is being designed as a valuable preventative care tool to aid users in making data-driven decisions, reducing the frequency of doctor and hospital visits.

“What makes a digital health tool effective is its ability to keep consumers engaged without disrupting their normal routine and a design that makes the wearer feel like a person, not a patient,” said Greg Hitchan, Managing Partner of Tri-Valley Ventures. “What resonated with us about Movano is its consumer-centric approach to glucose management. Its non-invasive solution, which can be included in wearable devices, enables users to get a continuous reading no matter where they are. With the potential to improve the quality of life for so many people dealing with serious health conditions related to diabetes, we see a bright future for Movano and its technology.”

Other companies of interest in the CGM startup space: Know Labs, Levels

Sun Genomics Raises Series A for Personalized Probiotics

June 29, 2020

Sun Genomics, a San Diego DTC custom probiotics company, raised $8.65m in Series A funding. Led by Sunny Jain, CEO and founder, Sun Genomics provides personalized probiotic solutions based on whole-genome sequencing diagnostics.

The round was led by Pangaea Ventures with Danone Manifesto Ventures, SOSV, Human Longevity, and Nascita Ventures joining.

Sun Genomics will use the funding to grow sales in the custom probiotics market, scale their delivery operations across the United States and international markets, and accelerate the publication of studies in partnership with academic institutions.

Sun Genomics offers the flagship product Floré, a microbiome test and custom probiotics supplement that utilizes whole-genome sequencing and ensure that customers receive a completely personalized product that is based on their unique gut profiles.

Only June 25th, we’ll be hosting a Biohacking and HealthTech Investments Pitch.

Biohacking Congress and Coherent Capital invite you to join our Virtual Meetup, a networking event for entrepreneurs, investors, and experts from BioTech and HealthTech Industries. Date and time: June 25, 11 am - 2pm PT; 2 pm - 5 pm ET, 6 pm - 9 pm GMT, 7 pm - 10 pm UK.

The Meetup will start with the Panel Discussion: "Innovations in LongevityTech, HealthTech and BioTech Industries. Opportunities for Investment". Venture Capital Investors and Entrepreneurs will discuss the topic on a virtual panel.

The second half of the meetup with feature HealthTech Startup pitches.  Each entrepreneur will have 10 minutes for their Pitch which will be followed by a Q&A session with invited VCs.

Guest Speakers:

• Adam Dakin, Managing Director, Dreamit Ventures

• Kate Batz, Managing Partner, Longevity Capital

• Meghan Cross, Partner, Amplifyher Ventures

• Max Zamkow, Partner, Third Act Ventures

• Guenther Brueggenwerth, LifeHub UK Lead Radiology, AI and Open Innovation

Venture Funds:

• Agroecology Capital

• Longevity Capital

• Dreamit Ventures

• Sartorian Ventures

• Third Act Ventures

• Amplifyher Ventures

• Astir Ventures

• SOSV

• Rising Tide

• Tau Ventures

• M. VENTURES

• Bayer LifeHub UK

At Coherent Capital, we focus on facilitating strategic investor relationships for promising, disruptive startup companies with a focus on healthtech and biohacking investments.

Immunai came out of stealth mode Thursday, May 14th with two things: a mission to map the entire immune system and its functions using machine learning, and a capital infusion of $20 million in seed funding.

Viola Group and TLV Partners, two Israeli investment firms, led the seed round for Immunai. The company is building the largest proprietary data set in the world for clinical immunological data for better detection, diagnosis and treatment of disease. By leveraging single-cell technologies and machine-learning algorithms, Immunai has mapped out millions of immune cells and their functions, Immunai CEO Noam Solomon told Crunchbase News.

Over the last several years, cell therapies and cancer immunotherapies have become the latest innovation in treatment options. Immunotherapy uses the body’s immune system to target and destroy cancer cells.

Cancers, such as melanoma and lung cancer, have responded well to immunotherapy drugs, also known as immune checkpoint inhibitors. However, the immune system is complex and it is not yet known how drugs affect immune cells. And for costly cell therapies, a slight variation in cell therapy products can have a significant influence on a patient’s response to the therapy, Solomon said.

“Drugs that improve immune response to cancer are transformational for some patients, but don’t work in 50 (percent) to 70 percent of other patients,” he said. “We are trying to understand what therapies work—when they work—by measuring the immune system at high resolutions. We can then use those insights to improve the design of combination therapies.”

Immunai leverages single-cell technologies to profile cells from a blood sample. Its proprietary database then uses machine-learning algorithms to map the hundreds of cell types and their states to create an immune profile. That profile is then used to support biomarker discovery and insights that identify how a cell responds to its changing environment.

Solomon and Immunai CTO Luis Voloch founded the company in January 2019, and were later joined by cancer immunology scientist Ansu Satpathy, and data scientist Danny Wells, a member of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy.

The company has offices in San Francisco and Tel Aviv, Israel, and has already established clinical partnerships with 10 medical centers, as well as multiple commercial partnerships for cell therapy and checkpoint blockade with biopharma companies.

Immunai closed on the new round of funding three months ago and will use it to further the development of its technology and business functions while expanding its team of scientists, engineers and machine-learning experts, Solomon said.

“We have closed a substantial contract with a Fortune 100 company and will sign a few others in the next few weeks,” he said. “We are providing partnership models with hospitals, academia, biotech and biopharma partners with a goal of finding drug-resistant biomarkers and to help partners accelerate the FDA approval of their drugs.”

Posted by Wesley King - Biohacking Banker from Crunchbase News

Braid Health, a San Francisco, CA-based digital health innovation company that develops AI-powered diagnostic tools for radiology, closed $9m in seed and Series A funding rounds. The company intends to use the funds to continue to expand operations and its business reach, as well as increase its development efforts.

The company will use Seed and Series A investment to:

• Build the healthcare industry’s most advanced, AI-driven diagnostic imaging platform,

• Develop the Braid Network, a technology platform connecting a virtual network of healthcare specialists to improve care delivery and drive cost out of the system.

Founded by Kevin Quennesson and Alessandro Sabatelli, Braid Health provides urgent care centers, health systems and retail pharmacies with an AI-powered, end-to-end diagnostic collaboration platform for radiology and the healthcare industry.

The round was led by Lux Capital with participation from 01 Advisors, and Rucker Park Capital.

Wesley King - Biohacking Investment Banker

AVG’s new fund will invest in companies building a post-COVID world

MANCHESTER, N.H.-- Alumni Ventures Group (AVG), one of the world’s most active VC firms, announced the opening of a new fund focused on investing in aiming to accelerate the world’s recovery from the COVID-19 crisis. The Post-COVID Fund will invest in ventures that either directly or indirectly address the impacts of the virus and that demonstrate strong resilience (anti-fragility) in the face of COVID- and recession-related challenges.

Target sectors include healthcare, healthtech, technology, services, data monitoring and analysis, learning, payments, communications, entertainment, and others.

“We believe this pandemic has changed our world forever.”

- Michael Collins, CEO of Alumni Ventures Group.

“Trends will accelerate. Whole new markets will emerge. Industries will be reshaped, and new approaches taken as we start to tackle the problems and opportunities inherent in our post-COVID world. Out of this crisis, we expect to see dozens of new market leaders created who will be attractive investments in both the near and longer term. We think it’s an excellent time to be a venture investor focused on this new reality.”

The 10-year venture fund is targeting an initial raise of $10 million and will co-invest exclusively with established venture firms. The fund’s portfolio will include follow-on investments in AVG’s existing portfolio of more than 430 companies, as well as new investments vetted and secured by AVG’s 16 alumni funds and team of investment professionals.

AVG offers over 20 private venture funds, primarily for alumni from leading academic institutions including Harvard, Stanford, Cornell, MIT, Princeton, Yale, and Dartmouth. The Post-COVID Fund is open to any accredited investor.

As Collins noted, “The Post-COVID Fund is a response to the fact that this virus is affecting everyone. We think all communities should come together to support problem solvers. Both AVG and our investors want to help play a role in how society moves beyond COVID-19. It’s a chance to do good for the world and do well through your portfolio.”

AVG was ranked by PitchBook as the third most active fund in the U.S. in 2019. AVG funds are private, for-profit, and not affiliated with or sanctioned by any school. For more information about AVG, visit avgfunds.com.

>> Connect with Wesley King, the Biohacking Banker with a focus on HealthTech, Wellness, and Transformative Technologies.