[ { "id": 674, "name": "TAXA Biotechnologies", "slug": "taxa-biotechnologies", "former_names": [ "Glowing Plant" ], "small_logo_thumb_url": "/company/thumb/missing.png", "website": "http://www.taxa.com", "all_locations": "San Francisco, CA, USA", "long_description": "The TAXA platform has been specifically designed to enable anyone to perform metabolic engineering of plants without stepping into a lab. We provide access to protein engineering, DNA assembly, transient experiments and stable transformation as a service. The best thing is that anything \"Powered by TAXA\" is designed to be free from expensive regulatory approval, meaning the products are available for sale or distribution to consumers in the United States immediately after they are developed. For a detailed list of the experiments which can be run on our platform please see the Services page.\r\n\r\nOur vision is a world where bio-engineering is as easy and commonplace as mobile application development is today. Game-changing technologies, like genetic engineering, should not be the exclusive preserve of large corporations and a wealthy elite. Democratizing the tools of creation enables anyone, anywhere, to genetically engineer plants and will unleash a wave of creativity to power an environment where ultimately what we create is limited only by our imagination. The TAXA platform is our next step in the realization of that dream\r\n\r\nWe are also the team behind the first synthetic biology crowdfunding project, raising $484k on Kickstarter to make real glowing plants: www.glowingplant.com", "one_liner": "We enable cheaper, faster, and better genetic engineering of plants.…", "team_size": 2, "industry": "Healthcare", "subindustry": "Healthcare -> Consumer Health and Wellness", "launched_at": 1398907752, "tags": [ "Agriculture", "Genetic Engineering", "Biotechnology" ], "tags_highlighted": [], "top_company": false, "isHiring": false, "nonprofit": false, "batch": "Summer 2014", "status": "Inactive", "industries": [ "Healthcare", "Consumer Health and Wellness" ], "regions": [ "United States of America", "America / Canada" ], "stage": "Early", "app_video_public": false, "demo_day_video_public": false, "app_answers": null, "question_answers": null, "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/taxa-biotechnologies", "api": "https://devasheeshg.github.io/yc-api/batches/summer-2014/taxa-biotechnologies.json", "year_founded": null, "city": "San Francisco", "country": "US", "linkedin_url": "", "x_url": "", "fb_url": null, "cb_url": "https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/glowing-plant", "github_url": null, "logo_url": null, "app_video_url": null, "dday_video_url": null, "company_photos": [], "primary_partner": null, "founders": [ { "user_id": 4228, "full_name": "Antony Evans", "title": "Founder/CEO", "founder_bio": "COO at Wild Earth.", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/antonyevans/", "x_url": "https://twitter.com/yogantony", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/8ff92e50fff7361b10fb9af4832ea5daf6cf8610.jpg" } ], "jobs": [], "news": [], "launches": [] }, { "id": 1097, "name": "Lygos", "slug": "lygos", "former_names": [], "small_logo_thumb_url": "/company/thumb/missing.png", "website": "http://www.lygos.com", "all_locations": "San Francisco, CA, USA", "long_description": "Performance materials company that used proprietary biology and chemistry to develop sustainable, high-performance ingredients and polymers. The company raised more than $200 million, scaled manufacturing, and commercialized products across agriculture, cleaning, personal care, and other specialty-materials markets. Lygos ultimately concluded through two strategic sales (DOD-funded organization, BioMADE and other strategic acquirers).", "one_liner": "Lygos (W16) built and commercialized sustainable, high-performance…", "team_size": 55, "industry": "Healthcare", "subindustry": "Healthcare -> Industrial Bio", "launched_at": 1451966715, "tags": [ "Synthetic Biology", "Climate", "Biotechnology" ], "tags_highlighted": [], "top_company": false, "isHiring": false, "nonprofit": false, "batch": "Winter 2016", "status": "Active", "industries": [ "Healthcare", "Industrial Bio" ], "regions": [ "United States of America", "America / Canada" ], "stage": "Growth", "app_video_public": false, "demo_day_video_public": false, "app_answers": null, "question_answers": null, "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/lygos", "api": "https://devasheeshg.github.io/yc-api/batches/winter-2016/lygos.json", "year_founded": 2011, "city": "San Francisco", "country": "US", "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/company/lygos", "x_url": "https://twitter.com/LygosBiotech", "fb_url": null, "cb_url": "https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/lygos", "github_url": null, "logo_url": null, "app_video_url": null, "dday_video_url": null, "company_photos": [], "primary_partner": null, "founders": [ { "user_id": 105981, "full_name": "Eric Steen", "title": "Founder/CEO", "founder_bio": "Eric Steen founded Lygos (YC W16) and spent 15 years building it from a DOE laboratory spinout into a commercial performance-materials company. As CEO, he raised >$200M, built a multidisciplinary org (100+), scaled manufacturing, launched products across multiple markets, and led two strategic sales. Eric holds a BS in Biomedical Engineering from Brown and a PhD in Bioengineering from the joint UC Berkeley–UCSF program, and completed the Management of Technology program at Berkeley Haas.", "is_active": false, "linkedin_url": "http://www.linkedin.com/in/EricJSteen", "x_url": "", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/ba52b9d2c2d947368776afa722d9177fc9cf0f0d.jpg" }, { "user_id": 108759, "full_name": "Jeffrey Dietrich", "title": "Founder", "founder_bio": "Jeffrey Dietrich received his Ph.D. in BioEngineering from UC-Berkeley working in Jay Keasling’s lab to develop new biomanufacturing technologies. Jeffrey then co-founded and was CTO at Lygos (YC W16), which raised over $40MM in equity financing and $10MM in Federal awards to commercialize industrial biochemicals. He has also served on advisory boards for Department of Energy- and National Science Foundation-backed institutions and is an inventor on 17 patents or patent applications.", "is_active": false, "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreydietrich", "x_url": "", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/c8c7c48935aa982efc7a88f6c4904c63c31d93dc.jpg" } ], "jobs": [], "news": [ { "title": "Lygos and Ginkgo Bioworks Announce Partnership to Optimize Production of Biobased Specialty Chemicals - Lygos", "url": "https://lygos.com/lygos-and-ginkgo-bioworks-announce-partnership-to-optimize-production-of-biobased-specialty-chemicals/", "date": "Nov 11, 2022" }, { "title": "Cannabis Researchers Seek to Unlock the Healing Power of Pot - WSJ", "url": "https://www.wsj.com/articles/cannabis-researchers-seek-to-unlock-the-healing-power-of-pot-11630674984?st=4yw1hujrn3rvzs6&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink", "date": "Sep 07, 2021" } ], "launches": [] }, { "id": 1513, "name": "Solugen", "slug": "solugen", "former_names": [ "Solugen", "Bioperoxide" ], "small_logo_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/8d4235cadbab6a51a7bfa10e7b2877bdb12a26fe.png", "website": "https://solugen.com/", "all_locations": "Houston, TX, USA", "long_description": "Solugen is decarbonizing the chemistry of everyday life with enzymes and innovative metal catalysts. Our new to the world Bioforge platform technology can produce high value chemical goods that are biobased and carbon negative, at cost on par with current technologies. We are making sustainable chemistry accessible to all living things, to ensure a prosperous world exists for generations.\r\n", "one_liner": "Decarbonizing the chemicals industry.", "team_size": 200, "industry": "Healthcare", "subindustry": "Healthcare -> Industrial Bio", "launched_at": 1478579436, "tags": [ "Manufacturing", "Climate", "ClimateTech", "Biotechnology", "Industrial" ], "tags_highlighted": [], "top_company": false, "isHiring": false, "nonprofit": false, "batch": "Winter 2017", "status": "Active", "industries": [ "Healthcare", "Industrial Bio" ], "regions": [ "United States of America", "America / Canada", "Remote", "Partly Remote" ], "stage": "Growth", "app_video_public": false, "demo_day_video_public": false, "app_answers": null, "question_answers": [ { "question": "How did your company get started? 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If you truly succeed, what will be different about the world?", "answer": "1 million mini-mill Bioforges producing all of the basic chemical building blocks the world needs, from recycled waste streams like carboard." } ], "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/solugen", "api": "https://devasheeshg.github.io/yc-api/batches/winter-2017/solugen.json", "year_founded": 2017, "city": "Houston", "country": "US", "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/company/solugen/", "x_url": "https://twitter.com/solugen", "fb_url": null, "cb_url": "https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/solugen", "github_url": null, "logo_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/8d4235cadbab6a51a7bfa10e7b2877bdb12a26fe.png", "app_video_url": null, "dday_video_url": null, "company_photos": [ "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/attachments/b4577fd11d19032f9be9506a1460430105d89eff.png" ], "primary_partner": { "name": "Jared Friedman", "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/people/jared-friedman" }, "founders": [ { "user_id": 132865, "full_name": "Sean Hunt", "title": "Founder/CTO", "founder_bio": "Sean Hunt is the co-founder and CTO of Solugen, Inc., a renewable chemicals company based in\nHouston, TX. 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Operators input stem cells, and our platform turns them into specific cells such as neurons and heart cells over multiple weeks.\r\n\r\nLast year, patients were cured of Parkinson’s, vision loss, and Type 1 diabetes using stem-cell derived cells. We need 1000x the global capacity to produce these cells, and treat millions of patients. But today these Regenerative Medicines are produced by hand, meaning they’re too expensive and don’t scale.\r\n\r\nMytos has fully automated production of these cells, making it scalable. We have our first manufacturing deal - neurons for treating Parkinson’s - and we’re in conversations with majority of the other top players.", "one_liner": "Robotic human cell manufacturing", "team_size": 26, "industry": "Healthcare", "subindustry": "Healthcare -> Industrial Bio", "launched_at": 1525313281, "tags": [ "Hardware", "IoT", "Biotech", "Automation", "Biotechnology" ], "tags_highlighted": [], "top_company": false, "isHiring": true, "nonprofit": false, "batch": "Summer 2018", "status": "Active", "industries": [ "Healthcare", "Industrial Bio" ], "regions": [ "United Kingdom", "Europe", "Remote", "Partly Remote" ], "stage": "Early", "app_video_public": false, "demo_day_video_public": false, "app_answers": null, "question_answers": null, "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/cytera-cellworks", "api": "https://devasheeshg.github.io/yc-api/batches/summer-2018/cytera-cellworks.json", "year_founded": null, "city": "London", "country": "GB", "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/company/mytosbio/", "x_url": "https://twitter.com/mytosbio", "fb_url": null, "cb_url": "https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/cytera-cellworks", "github_url": null, "logo_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/47b55852a1fff0b5b096b7decf0a07ed6cdb0636.png", "app_video_url": null, "dday_video_url": null, "company_photos": [], "primary_partner": null, "founders": [ { "user_id": 150597, "full_name": "Ali Afshar", "title": "Founder/CEO", "founder_bio": "CEO and Co-Founder of Mytos. \n\nI'm a mixture between a scientist and an engineer, having solved challenges both using physics/chemistry, as well as through building hardware and software. 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Volta is transforming the way biological research and analyses are performed, allowing scientists to focus on what they do best -- pushing the boundaries of biology.\r\n\r\nAs a collective of scientists and builders working at the intersection of engineering and biology, we imagine a world where extracting vital information from biological samples is as simple as pressing a button. That's our vision, and we're turning it into reality.\r\n\r\nOur HQ is in Boston’s Seaport, where we develop and manufacture our technology. We believe in cross-functional collaboration and continuous learning – whether your interest is in biology, MechEng, CompEng, or simply joining a fast-growing startup striving to make the world a better place, we'd love to welcome you to our team. Check out some of our blog posts to learn more about work life at Volta. 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Please describe your product and what it does or will do.\n", "answer": "A high throughput automation system for Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) sample preparation using digital microfluidic chip technology." } ], "question_answers": [ { "question": "How did your company get started? (i.e., How did the founders meet? How did you come up with the idea? How did you decide to be a founder?)", "answer": "In 2018, Volta Labs was born in the halls of MIT with a clear mission: to unlock the utility of genomics for the world.\\\\Previously nestled in the vibrant hub of Kendall Square, known as \"the most innovative square mile on the planet,\" we quickly became immersed in the dynamic biotech culture. After numerous conversations with other scientists and hours of research, we discovered that trailblazing biologists were being held back by the constraints of existing automation tools, particularly in the realm of DNA sequencing. While DNA readout technologies surged ahead, the upstream steps of sample preparation (sample prep) lagged behind.\\\\During Founder Udayan Umapathi’s graduate stint at the MIT Media Lab, what began as a humble printed circuit board to manipulate colorful droplets soon evolved into a solutionfor the notorious \"sample prep bottleneck.\" Propelled into action, we secured funding from top-tier VCs and got to work." }, { "question": "What's the history of your company from getting started until the present day? What were the big inflection points?", "answer": "Since the company was funded coming our YC in Winter 2019, our focus has been laser-sharp in the lab, where we've been busy inventing and constructing groundbreaking fluidic and sample manipulation technologies. We embrace an anti-disciplinary approach, tackling the toughest challenges by seamlessly integrating instrumentation, fluidics, software, biology, and chemistry. While we're currently channelling our energies into sequencing sample prep, our grand vision extends beyond – envisioning a future where a single universal machine automates the lion's share of biological workflows in genomics, proteomics, and synthetic biology.\\\\At Volta, we're not just shaping the future of genomics; we're engineering it. Join us in harnessing the power of biology and technology to change the world." }, { "question": "What is the core problem you are solving? Why is this a big problem? What made you decide to work on it?", "answer": "We are in the midst of a genomic revolution. From 1999 to 2000, the Human Genome Project generated the first “draft” human genome, which cost \\~$300 million across 20 labs worldwide. It took another three years, and hundreds of millions of dollars, to produce a human genome that was \\~90% complete, as complete as the technologies for sequencing DNA allowed at the time. In 2023, a scientist can sequence a genome at a bench for hundreds of dollars in a day. The adoption of sequencing technologies across new applications only continues to accelerate as it becomes easier, faster, and cheaper. \\\\Despite these advancements, preparing samples for sequencing remains a significant bottleneck. We believe that disruptive innovations are needed in sample prep to unlock the true utility of genomics. With the new reality of the $200 genome (sequencing cost alone), sample prep is becoming a more significant burden on labs than ever before. " } ], "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/volta-labs-inc", "api": "https://devasheeshg.github.io/yc-api/batches/winter-2019/volta-labs-inc.json", "year_founded": 2018, "city": "Boston", "country": "US", "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/company/volta-labs-inc", "x_url": "https://twitter.com/voltalabsinc", "fb_url": null, "cb_url": "https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/volta-labs-a9c8", "github_url": null, "logo_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/373e91d473569c304899f7cec638ddc0b46d10d6.png", "app_video_url": null, "dday_video_url": null, "company_photos": [ "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/attachments/b174dc71f1ac1b5b04ae4d55f5100d5bef2f19b8.png", "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/attachments/7bb2e9324a7753b95d0c687a8a5d98b14165bf0a.png" ], "primary_partner": null, "founders": [ { "user_id": 11802, "full_name": "Udayan Umapathi", "title": "Founder", "founder_bio": "As the founder and CEO of Volta Labs, Inc., I have over five years of experience in creating and scaling a company that is transforming the field of sequencing sample prep. With a background in entrepreneurship, engineering, design and biology, I have a unique perspective and skill set that enables me to bridge the gap between different disciplines and domains.\n\nAt Volta Labs, we are building a disruptive product that streamlines the entire process of preparing samples for any sequencing technol", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "http://linkedin.com/in/udayanu/", "x_url": "https://twitter.com/uday1489", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/e36948027c0c8b60f053b0afec83af2bc19a7b3f.jpg" } ], "jobs": [], "news": [ { "title": "Volta Labs Launches Electrowetting-Based Automated NGS Sample Prep Platform | GenomeWeb", "url": "https://www.genomeweb.com/sequencing/volta-labs-launches-electrowetting-based-automated-ngs-sample-prep-platform", "date": "Feb 07, 2024" }, { "title": "Volta Labs and Integrated DNA Technologies Partner to Advance Target Enrichment Workflows", "url": "https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/volta-labs-and-integrated-dna-technologies-partner-to-advance-target-enrichment-workflows-302052365.html?tc=eml_cleartime", "date": "Feb 06, 2024" }, { "title": "Volta Labs and Watchmaker Genomics Partner to Simplify and Optimize NGS Library Prep", "url": "https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/volta-labs-and-watchmaker-genomics-partner-to-simplify-and-optimize-ngs-library-prep-302052367.html?tc=eml_cleartime", "date": "Feb 05, 2024" }, { "title": "Volta Labs Launches Callisto to Revolutionize Genomics and Sample Prep", "url": "https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/volta-labs-launches-callisto-to-revolutionize-genomics-and-sample-prep-302049915.html", "date": "Feb 01, 2024" }, { "title": "Volta Labs grabs $20 million to address a growing genomics bottleneck – TechCrunch", "url": "https://techcrunch.com/2022/03/18/volta-labs-grabs-20-million-to-address-a-growing-genomics-bottleneck/", "date": "Mar 18, 2022" } ], "launches": [ { "id": 78341, "title": "Volta Labs - A genomics applications company revolutionizing sample prep", "tagline": "Unlocking the utility of genomics for the world", "body": "**_tl;dr_** - Volta Labs introduces Callisto, a groundbreaking genomics sample preparation system. With its push-button simplicity, Callisto transforms sample prep unlike anything else in the past 15 years, offering a revolutionary and hands-free experience. Checkout the [**_product here._**](https://www.voltalabs.com/product)\n\n[Volta Labs](https://www.voltalabs.com/product) is a group of antidisciplinary scientists and builders working at the intersection of engineering and biology. With the release of Callisto, we brought to life a sequencer agnostic platform that spans from the raw biological sample to sequenceable molecules. We have done this by reinventing the full stack — hardware, software, chemistry, and biology. At Volta, we’re not just shaping the future of genomics, we are engineering it.\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=78341&key=user_uploads/11802/3c27fa33-e647-497c-997f-4c09284f47b6)\n\n\\\n[🤔](https://emojipedia.org/thinking-face) **The Problem** \n\nGenomic sequencing has made remarkable strides since its inception in 1990, with continuous advancements in both sequencing and data analysis over the past three decades. However, the process of preparing samples for sequencing has seen limited innovation during this time. Despite the tremendous progress in sequencing technologies, the sample preparation phase remains a bottleneck, often taking multiple days and requiring skilled lab technicians and expensive instruments.\n\n**✅ The Solution - The CallistoTM Sample Prep System**\n\nAt Volta, we aim to reduce time and complexity with the introduction of our flagship product, Callisto – a benchtop instrument with many pre-optimized applications that reduces operational requirements and costs in the laboratory and clinic that were previously cost-prohibitive. This innovation addresses the longstanding challenges that have hindered efficiency and accessibility in genomics, making it a game-changer for the industry.\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=78341&key=user_uploads/11802/ae8be7a4-5028-465f-a3f4-ea4d05dabc30)\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=78341&key=user_uploads/11802/da90f1f1-fd22-49a5-b025-5814ed501736)\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=78341&key=user_uploads/11802/c2fd28d3-6988-410b-a677-d20a6f0c1eae)\n\n**✨ Benefits**\n\nCallisto is set to revolutionize laboratories, seamlessly combining efficient nucleic acid extraction with push-button library creation. Explore some of the many advantages that Callisto introduces to the field of genomics sequencing:\n\n* Can be operated without specialized training and takes minutes to set up\n* Sequencer agnostic\n* All-in-one, benchtop solution that allows users to press start and walk away\n* Speeds up and simplifies both short- and long-read sequencing preparations\n* Out of the box, pre-optimized applications\n\n\n\n🤝 **Our Ask**\n\n* **Connect us with companies and individuals in life sciences and beyond.** Feel free to connect on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/udayanu) or [send me an email directly](mailto:hello@voltalabs.co)\n* Volta is growing fast and looking for talented engineers as we ramp up production - software, mechanical and electrical. **Our immediate need is for a Software Engineering Lead, Electrical Lead and a Head of Manufacturing.**  [Apply here](https://www.voltalabs.com/careers) or [send me an email](https://hello@voltalabs.co) directly if you want to refer a friend.", "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/launches/KNZ-volta-labs-a-genomics-applications-company-revolutionizing-sample-prep", "votes": 4, "created_at": "2024-02-12T03:20:46.409Z" } ] }, { "id": 13346, "name": "UrbanKisaan", "slug": "urbankisaan", "former_names": [], "small_logo_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/46e8aa32e04a21d9a5ef18ccaae02b6b9ddea65d.png", "website": "https://www.urbankisaan.com", "all_locations": "Hyderabad, Telangana, India", "long_description": "UrbanKisaan is an AI-for-plant-biology company. We build foundation models and the physical infrastructure that trains them.\r\n\r\nShipping a single new seed variety takes about ten+ years. Two on germplasm, three on crosses and selection, three or four on field trials, one on regulatory. Inside that decade, prediction and experiment never properly meet. DNA is abundant, phenotype data is scarce and unpaired, and the cycle never trains itself.\r\n\r\nWe closed that loop.\r\n\r\nThree foundation models cover the upstream science. \r\n\r\nAadi is a 48-layer transformer trained from scratch on the public and proprietary corpus of plant genomes; it reads plant DNA and ranks variants before any wet-lab spend. \r\n\r\nJeeva is the genotype-to-phenotype model that turns a seed and a target environment into yield, flowering, maturity, and height with confidence intervals plus per-locus attribution. \r\n\r\nAkash is the geospatial backbone - it maps every pixel of every field to crop class and growing condition.\r\n\r\nTwo pieces of physical infrastructure close the downstream half. \r\n\r\nGeneRush is a controlled-environment chamber engineered for speed: extended photoperiod, optimized temperature, integrated phenomics. Wheat reaches anthesis in 38 days. Breeding programs run 4–6 generations a year instead of 1–2. \r\n\r\nGrowRush takes that same chamber to commercial production scale, where every harvest is also a labelled phenotype training pair flowing back to Jeeva. The unit is paid for by what it grows; the science works because the unit is identical to the chamber the AI was trained on.\r\n\r\nEvery cycle produces proprietary genotype-to-phenotype data the next generation of models needs. The ten-year breeding cycle compresses toward three. We are already commercial", "one_liner": "Foundation models and autonomous chambers for plant biology", "team_size": 53, "industry": "Industrials", "subindustry": "Industrials -> Agriculture", "launched_at": 1583951636, "tags": [ "Biotech", "Agriculture", "AI", "Sustainable Agriculture", "Biotechnology" ], "tags_highlighted": [], "top_company": false, "isHiring": false, "nonprofit": false, "batch": "Winter 2020", "status": "Active", "industries": [ "Industrials", "Agriculture" ], "regions": [ "India", "South Asia" ], "stage": "Early", "app_video_public": false, "demo_day_video_public": false, "app_answers": null, "question_answers": null, "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/urbankisaan", "api": "https://devasheeshg.github.io/yc-api/batches/winter-2020/urbankisaan.json", "year_founded": 2020, "city": "Hyderabad", "country": "IN", "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/company/urbankisaan/", "x_url": "https://twitter.com/urbankisaan", "fb_url": "https://www.instagram.com/urbankisaan/", "cb_url": "https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/urbankisaan", "github_url": null, "logo_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/46e8aa32e04a21d9a5ef18ccaae02b6b9ddea65d.png", "app_video_url": null, "dday_video_url": null, "company_photos": [], "primary_partner": null, "founders": [ { "user_id": 274784, "full_name": "Vihari Kanukollu", "title": "Founder", "founder_bio": "Forbes 30 under 30 Asia, Co-Founder and CEO @urbankisaan. Farmer at heart.", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/kvihari/", "x_url": "https://twitter.com/VihariKanukollu", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/ca737070b84dc650f12c0b8bf1d53fa40e77ff82.jpg" }, { "user_id": 274818, "full_name": "Srinivas Chaganti", "title": "Founder", "founder_bio": null, "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/chaganty/", "x_url": null, "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/902ee56ad5f6506bb68372c3b903ab36af1fd867.jpg" }, { "user_id": 423053, "full_name": "Dr. Sairam Reddy Palicherla", "title": "Founder", "founder_bio": "", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/sairam-reddy-3788647/", "x_url": "", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/0462f3c4752a5d961c541a77a36c25257d7e57f1.jpg" } ], "jobs": [], "news": [ { "title": "Y Combinator Backed UrbanKisaan Receives Investment From BASF VC", "url": "https://inc42.com/buzz/y-combinator-backed-urbankisaan-receives-investment-from-basf-vc/", "date": "Jul 13, 2021" } ], "launches": [] }, { "id": 24705, "name": "Sensible Biotechnologies", "slug": "sensible-biotechnologies", "former_names": [ "Genbiotics" ], "small_logo_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/45d14c57e3b4e2739c65c0bb84a511608548ffa2.png", "website": "https://sensible.bio", "all_locations": "Oxford, England, United Kingdom", "long_description": "The future of mRNA therapeutics is hampered by manufacturing challenges and unless solved, its exciting potential may never be realised. Sensible enables the next generation of mRNA medicines by turning living cells into factories producing abundant, highly stable and non-immunogenic mRNA in a scalable and cost-effective way.", "one_liner": "Unlocking the next generation of mRNA medicines", "team_size": 55, "industry": "Healthcare", "subindustry": "Healthcare -> Therapeutics", "launched_at": 1680519323, "tags": [ "Synthetic Biology", "Biotech", "Manufacturing", "Therapeutics", "Biotechnology" ], "tags_highlighted": [], "top_company": false, "isHiring": false, "nonprofit": false, "batch": "Summer 2021", "status": "Active", "industries": [ "Healthcare", "Therapeutics" ], "regions": [ "United Kingdom", "Europe", "Remote", "Partly Remote" ], "stage": "Early", "app_video_public": false, "demo_day_video_public": false, "app_answers": null, "question_answers": null, "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/sensible-biotechnologies", "api": "https://devasheeshg.github.io/yc-api/batches/summer-2021/sensible-biotechnologies.json", "year_founded": 2021, "city": "Oxford", "country": "GB", "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/company/sensible-biotechnologies/", "x_url": "https://twitter.com/sensible_bio", "fb_url": "https://www.facebook.com/SensibleBiotechnologies", "cb_url": "https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/sensible-biotechnologies", "github_url": null, "logo_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/45d14c57e3b4e2739c65c0bb84a511608548ffa2.png", "app_video_url": null, "dday_video_url": null, "company_photos": [], "primary_partner": { "name": "Jared Friedman", "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/people/jared-friedman" }, "founders": [ { "user_id": 327676, "full_name": "Miroslav Gasparek", "title": "Founder", "founder_bio": "I am Miro, CEO and Co-Founder of Sensible Biotechnologies. We build a cell-based platform for cost-efficient and scalable production of high-quality mRNA to unlock next generation of mRNA medicines.\n\nMy background is in computational modeling of biological systems and bioengineering. I have worked on developing Slovak national biosecurity policies - I am passionate about building biotech ecosystem in Eastern Europe. I studied Bioengineering at Imperial College London and Engineering at Oxford.", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/miroslavgasparek/", "x_url": "https://twitter.com/MiroGasparek", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/d25e01e0699856449f168b5f4aa9f2e1383bd123.jpg" }, { "user_id": 475409, "full_name": "Marian Kupculak", "title": "Founder", "founder_bio": "I am Marian, the Chief Scientific Officer and co-founder of Sensible Biotechnologies. We are building a new platform for cost-efficient and scalable manufacturing of high-quality mRNA.\n\nI have more than 9 year of experience in biochemistry and molecular biology, more specifically in cellular engineering and downstream processing. I am interesting in engineering cells to produce high-quality proteins and nucleic acids.\n\nI did my PhD in Biochemistry at the University of Oxford, UK. ", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/marian-kupculak-34468a85/", "x_url": "", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/e253a90c972be4ed5e591a638f3473284857f69c.jpg" } ], "jobs": [], "news": [ { "title": "Sensible Biotechnologies Partners with Ginkgo to Develop Novel mRNA Manufacturing Platform", "url": "https://www.genengnews.com/topics/bioprocessing/sensible-biotechnologies-partners-with-ginkgo-to-develop-novel-mrna-manufacturing-platform/", "date": "Apr 04, 2023" }, { "title": "Ginkgo partners up with Sensible Biotechnologies to forge mRNA manufacturing platform – Endpoints News", "url": "https://endpts.com/ginkgo-partners-up-with-sensible-biotechnologies-to-forge-mrna-manufacturing-platform/", "date": "Apr 03, 2023" }, { "title": "Sensible Biotechnologies And Ginkgo Bioworks Announce Partnership To Make In Vivo RNA To Unlock The Promise Of RNA Therapeutics", "url": "https://www.forbes.com/sites/johncumbers/2023/04/03/sensible-biotechnologies-and-ginkgo-bioworks-announce-partnership-to-make-in-vivo-rna-to-unlock-the-promise-of-rna-therapeutics/", "date": "Apr 03, 2023" }, { "title": "Developing a Novel mRNA Manufacturing Platform with Sensible Biotechnologies - Ginkgo Bioworks", "url": "https://www.ginkgobioworks.com/2023/04/03/developing-a-novel-mrna-manufacturing-platform-with-sensible-biotechnologies/", "date": "Apr 03, 2023" }, { "title": "Sensible Biotechnologies Announces Partnership with Ginkgo Bioworks to Develop Novel mRNA Manufacturing Platform", "url": "https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sensible-biotechnologies-announces-partnership-with-ginkgo-bioworks-to-develop-novel-mrna-manufacturing-platform-301787563.html", "date": "Apr 03, 2023" } ], "launches": [ { "id": 70713, "title": "Sensible Biotechnologies: Engineering cells to make better mRNA 🧬", "tagline": "mRNA. Made better.", "body": "At Sensible Bio, we are turning living cells into cost-efficient factories for manufacturing high-quality mRNA to unlock the full potential of mRNA therapeutics and vaccines.\n\n### **tl;dr**\n\nMessenger RNA (mRNA) is a promising biological platform for both vaccines and therapeutics. Today, all mRNA is synthesised via cell-free processes, which are expensive, cumbersome, and cannot produce mRNA with sufficient quality for many of its promising clinical applications. **We engineer cells to produce high-quality mRNA in a scalable and cost-efficient fashion to meet the growing demand for mRNA in novel vaccines and therapies.**\n\n### **The Problem: Cell-free mRNA manufacturing**\n\nCurrently, mRNA production completely relies on In Vitro Transcription (IVT), a cell-free process involving numerous proprietary and expensive enzymes and reagents. This method also requires multiple intricate steps, laborious purification procedures, and cannot be scaled to large reaction volumes.\n\nImportantly, IVT-based mRNA manufacturing generates highly immunogenic double-stranded RNA (dsRNA), which is posing risks in some of the most important applications of mRNA such as in gene editing and cancer. Moreover, it is difficult to produce and purify long mRNA sequences via IVT; this creates major obstacles for other promising mRNA modalities like self-amplifying mRNAs, which could significantly reduce the high amounts of mRNA needed for many of its therapeutic applications.\n\n**To truly unleash the power of mRNA more efficient, affordable, and effective mRNA manufacturing methods are needed.**\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=70713&key=user_uploads/89898/0eb9ee01-1c73-46bd-b15f-3bc3376e2176)\n\n## **The Solution: Cell-free mRNA manufacturing (not done)**\n\n**We are utilizing the processes in the living cells, which have been producing high-quality mRNA for millions of years.** By combining natural cellular processes with cell engineering, we build a scalable platform to produce high-quality mRNA cost-effectively.\n\nOur platform enables the production of **longer mRNA**, while addressing the problem of **immunogenic double-stranded RNA** inherent in IVT.\n\nBy removing the need for expensive and proprietary reagents, we enable **cost-effective mRNA manufacturing** and improve access to mRNA technology. Also, the **scalability** of cell-based mRNA production strengthens biosecurity and supply chain resilience.\n\nOur objective is to become a partner for all pharma and biotech companies striving to produce the next generation of mRNA therapies and vaccines.\n\n## **The Platform**\n\nOur platform combines the principles of **cell engineering**, **computational** **biology** and **precision** **fermentation**. We exploit and optimise the selective packaging of the mRNA of interest into specific protein complexes. This enables a specific encapsulation of mRNA, prevents mRNA contamination and simplifies its downstream processing.\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=70713&key=user_uploads/89898/01d827a8-d966-4616-a155-5a029401da1d)\n\n## **Team**\n\nSensible Bio was founded in August 2021 by **Miroslav Gasparek** (CEO) and **Dr Marian Kupculak** (CSO).\n\n**Miro** holds a Bioengineering degree from Imperial College London and conducted research at Imperial College, Caltech and Stanford. He worked with several TechBio VCs and advised public and private institutions in Central Europe on life science R&D. Miro also advised the Slovak Ministry of Health and the Board Member of the World Health Organization on biosecurity and innovation.\n\n**Marian** has a PhD in Molecular Biology from Oxford, where he focused on genetic engineering and cancer. He has more than 9 years of full-time wet-lab experience with cellular engineering. He has worked at the leading European research centres, including the University of Oxford, the University of Gothenburg, and Vienna BioCenter.\n\nOur leadership includes the **global leaders in mRNA manufacturing**, as well as in **clinical development and strategy**. We also assembled a fantastic team of bioengineers and scientists from across the globe.\n\n## **Traction**\n\nUsing our proprietary technology we have demonstrated the **capability to produce the mRNA**. Additionally, we have secured a major [co-development partnership with Ginkgo Bioworks](https://www.ginkgobioworks.com/2023/04/03/developing-a-novel-mrna-manufacturing-platform-with-sensible-biotechnologies/). We also set up collaborations with leading research institutions across the globe. Sensible Biotechnologies has established lab operations in **Oxford, United Kingdom** and **Bratislava, Slovakia**. We have obtained **10 Letters of Intent** for our mRNA from the biotech companies and research groups that would like to test it.\n\nOur **scientific advisory board** includes world-leading synthetic biology, mRNA manufacturing, and clinical experts and our mentors include the top life science executives.\n\nOur investors include **specialist** **TechBio** **funds** and leading **biotech executives** investing as angels.\\\n\\\nWe're excited to be working on unlocking the full potential of mRNA technology. Are you interested? Get in touch at [**info@sensible.bio**](mailto:info@sensible.bio).\n\nDo you want to build the platform for making better mRNA with us? Drop us an email at [**careers@sensible.bio**](mailto:careers@sensible.bio) We are hiring **synthetic biologists**, **bioprocess** **engineers**, **mRNA Quality Control experts**, **RNA computational biologists**, and **machine learning engineers.**", "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/launches/IOX-sensible-biotechnologies-engineering-cells-to-make-better-mrna", "votes": 19, "created_at": "2023-04-03T16:24:05.337Z" } ] }, { "id": 24795, "name": "SFA Therapeutics", "slug": "sfa-therapeutics-inc", "former_names": [ "SFA Therapeutics, Inc." ], "small_logo_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/5873834b208e59808a81e6f7b65403be4dd9fc78.png", "website": "https://sfatherapeutics.com/", "all_locations": "Philadelphia, PA, USA", "long_description": "SFA Therapeutics is creating therapeutically-tailored oral drugs that regulate the immune system; with a focus on autoimmune diseases and cancers that originate from chronic inflammation. There are over 300 million patients who suffer from autoimmune diseases. Our treatment is designed to block the root cause of many of these chronic inflammatory diseases, with safe oral drugs. We have strong clinical data from a phase 1b clinical trial in psoriasis, and human data in pancreatic cancer, uveitis and NASH. we have a total of 9 drugs in our pipeline and 15 patents.", "one_liner": "Regulating the immune system to block cancer & autoimmune diseases", "team_size": 4, "industry": "Healthcare", "subindustry": "Healthcare -> Therapeutics", "launched_at": 1624038758, "tags": [ "AI-powered Drug Discovery", "Anti-Aging", "Biotech", "Health & Wellness", "Biotechnology" ], "tags_highlighted": [], "top_company": false, "isHiring": false, "nonprofit": false, "batch": "Summer 2021", "status": "Active", "industries": [ "Healthcare", "Therapeutics" ], "regions": [ "United States of America", "America / Canada", "Remote", "Partly Remote" ], "stage": "Early", "app_video_public": false, "demo_day_video_public": true, "app_answers": [ { "question": "What is your company going to make? Please describe your product and what it does or will do.", "answer": "SFA Therapeutics, Inc is a biotech with a novel immunomodulatory platform that is focused on the intersection of NF-kB and Ras in the treatment of chronic inflammatory diseases and oncogenesis (the onset of cancer), respectively.\r\n\r\nOur vision is to change the practice of Medicine by treating chronic inflammatory conditions that result in cancer, such as hepatitis, which progresses to liver cancer, and pancreatitis, which progresses to pancreatic cancer, by blocking the primary inflammatory pathways with our discoveries..\r\n\r\nSFA is developing small molecule drugs originally derived from human GI bacterial metabolites, which have been shown to modulate the immune system through a complex cascade that affects several important molecular pathways, ultimately downregulating NF-kB and RAS, which control involved in inflammation and carcinogenesis. This platform has led to the development of six drugs to treat immuno-inflammatory diseases, using psoriasis as a proof-of concept for autoimmune diseases and chronic liver diseases that are caused by inflammation, including Hepatitis B virus-mediated chronic liver disease, NASH and Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC), the most common form of liver cancer. SFA’s two most advanced assets are SFA001 and SFA002, for liver disease and autoimmune diseases, respectively. SFA002 has an approved IND and is ready to enter into clinical trials in patients.\r\n\r\nOur plan is to develop these drugs through phase 2 and create phase 3-ready assets, to license to pharma and biotech partners, in exchange for license fees, royalties and milestone payments." } ], "question_answers": [ { "question": "What is the core problem you are solving? Why is this a big problem? What made you decide to work on it?", "answer": "**A completely new approach to treating autoimmune disease, by treating the underlying disease instead of suppressing the immune system.**" }, { "question": "What is your long-term vision? If you truly succeed, what will be different about the world?", "answer": "**Functional cures for autoimmune diseases**" } ], "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/sfa-therapeutics-inc", "api": "https://devasheeshg.github.io/yc-api/batches/summer-2021/sfa-therapeutics-inc.json", "year_founded": 2016, "city": "Philadelphia", "country": "US", "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/company/sfa-therapeutics/", "x_url": "http://twitter.com/@sfatherapeutics", "fb_url": null, "cb_url": null, "github_url": null, "logo_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/5873834b208e59808a81e6f7b65403be4dd9fc78.png", "app_video_url": null, "dday_video_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/video_event/54/1630622959176-jk4w3wwvw0d-f58b3002cf397d2525b1bb3d6d1730f5/a59a8aa25f19cd002185361ca819f8f1.mp4?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAQC4NIECABPQ2AHNW%2F20261020%2Fus-west-2%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20261020T022700Z&X-Amz-Expires=3600&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=1a82d296f6033595c026decfb74b9b1415c1ae3edfd3026b91f734a2409882a6", "company_photos": [], "primary_partner": null, "founders": [ { "user_id": 470235, "full_name": "Ira Spector", "title": "Founder", "founder_bio": "Dr. Spector is the co-founder of SFA, a microbiome-derived pharmaceutical company focused on new advancements in the treatment inflammatory diseases. An experienced drug developer with over 30 years of experience, he helped develop 34 drugs and 12 medical devices, including Enbrel, Effexor, Protonix, Prevenar, Ozurdex, Botox for Overactive Bladder, Chronic Migraine and Cerebral Palsy. He holds BS degrees in Physics and EE from Washington University, an MBA from Drexel, and a PhD from Rutgers.\n", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/ira-spector-00414310/", "x_url": "", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/8d17c573b2d929f75bf6ca2e9f4e2cb586e95cd7.jpg" }, { "user_id": 475228, "full_name": "Alla Arzumanyan", "title": "Founder", "founder_bio": "MS is Microbiology,\nPhD in Biotechnology,\nAssistant Professor at Temple University,\nCo-Founder and Co-Inventor at SFA Therapeutics, Inc.\nPerformed a case-control, Proof-of-Activity Human study to evaluate treatment effect of SFA002 drug (proprietary of SFA Therapeutics, Inc.) on patients with plaque psoriasis.\nWorked with Axella Research on pre-IND application for SFA002.\nWorked with HEC (Sunshine Lake Pharma Co., China), Theravectys, and ThirdLaw LLC (still collaborating with the latter)", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/alla-arzumanyan-66a79a18b", "x_url": "", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/c53d726559d2b7621f20dc5e8b2195b813db97fc.jpg" }, { "user_id": 475711, "full_name": "Mark Feitelson", "title": "Founder", "founder_bio": "Mark Feitelson received his Ph.D. in Microbiology/Immunology from UCLA. He began his work with hepatitis B at Stanford University, and was then recruited to the Fox Chase Cancer Center by Dr. Baruch Blumberg (Nobel laureate). In 1991, Dr. Feitelson moved to Thomas Jefferson University, and in 2007, to Temple University as a Professor of Biology. His work has been supported by NIH, industry and foundations. He has more than 150 publications and 180 abstracts. He is also CSO of SFA Therapeutics. ", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-feitelson-707771a", "x_url": "https://twitter.com/feitelson", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/3192ca2979c1fea02c4df51becafcb0e76d2b53d.jpg" } ], "jobs": [], "news": [ { "title": "SFA Therapeutics Announces Updated Psoriasis Data", "url": "https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2023/11/09/2777360/0/en/SFA-Therapeutics-Announces-Updated-Psoriasis-Data-for-SFA-002-Bridge-Financing-and-Foundational-Patent.html", "date": "Nov 09, 2023" }, { "title": "SFA Therapeutics announces results for SFA-002 from Phase", "url": "https://www.globenewswire.com/en/news-release/2023/08/14/2724489/0/en/SFA-Therapeutics-announces-results-for-SFA-002-from-Phase-1b-Cohort-1-clinical-trial-for-treatment-of-mild-to-moderate-psoriasis.html", "date": "Aug 14, 2023" }, { "title": "Short-chain fatty acids in cancer pathogenesis | Cancer and Metastasis Reviews", "url": "https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10555-023-10117-y#Fun", "date": "Jul 11, 2023" }, { "title": "Treat Disease, Not the Symptoms", "url": "https://www.appliedclinicaltrialsonline.com/view/treat-disease-not-the-symptoms", "date": "Mar 07, 2023" }, { "title": "A biotech CEO’s favorite ‘F’ word At SFA Therapeutics, patients are the “focus” ", "url": "https://sfatherapeutics.com/sfa-therapeutics-ceo-ira-spector-profiled-in-pharmavoice/", "date": "Jan 26, 2023" } ], "launches": [] }, { "id": 25449, "name": "Alixia", "slug": "alixia", "former_names": [ "Guided Clarity" ], "small_logo_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/ff4093c59629c7638e73b36eb069911e0922c140.png", "website": "http://www.alixia.com", "all_locations": "San Francisco, CA, USA", "long_description": "Our compounds disrupt the metabolic and\r\ninflammatory triggers in both cancer and quasi-cancerous\r\ncells in the tumor microenvironment. By impacting multiple cell\r\ntypes, we are enabling effective, lasting cancer treatments.", "one_liner": "Targeting the Tumor Ecosystem to address cancer drug resistance.", "team_size": 2, "industry": "Healthcare", "subindustry": "Healthcare -> Therapeutics", "launched_at": 1648247483, "tags": [ "Biotech", "Therapeutics", "Drug discovery", "Oncology", "Biotechnology" ], "tags_highlighted": [], "top_company": false, "isHiring": false, "nonprofit": false, "batch": "Winter 2022", "status": "Active", "industries": [ "Healthcare", "Therapeutics" ], "regions": [ "United States of America", "America / Canada" ], "stage": "Early", "app_video_public": false, "demo_day_video_public": false, "app_answers": null, "question_answers": null, "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/alixia", "api": "https://devasheeshg.github.io/yc-api/batches/winter-2022/alixia.json", "year_founded": 2022, "city": "San Francisco", "country": "US", "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/company/alixia-therapeutics/", "x_url": "", "fb_url": null, "cb_url": null, "github_url": null, "logo_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/ff4093c59629c7638e73b36eb069911e0922c140.png", "app_video_url": null, "dday_video_url": null, "company_photos": [], "primary_partner": null, "founders": [ { "user_id": 287726, "full_name": "Olof Mollstedt", "title": "Founder", "founder_bio": "", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/olof-mollstedt-95b4a1/", "x_url": "", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/56244742a9432a1e8ccb215b0bd26d98230bea8e.jpg" }, { "user_id": 293836, "full_name": "Helen Chen", "title": "Founder", "founder_bio": "Cancer & aging researcher | entrepreneur| mentor | ", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/helen-y-chen-7951641/", "x_url": "", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/dcfd0dfa105260c79bd854eac50dc82cda36da04.jpg" } ], "jobs": [], "news": [], "launches": [] }, { "id": 26427, "name": "Eugit Therapeutics", "slug": "eugit-therapeutics", "former_names": [ "EUGIT Tx", "EUGIT Therapeutics", "Eugit", "Eugit Therapeutics Inc" ], "small_logo_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/a88b74cc086730f852f068c605f2dcaa54b40a16.png", "website": "http://www.eugittx.com", "all_locations": "San Francisco, CA, USA; South San Francisco, CA, USA", "long_description": "Eugit Therapeutics targets the issue of non-specific drugs that cause toxicity and clinical trial failures, affecting millions with tissue-specific inflammatory diseases. TAGHOME delivers drugs with precision to diseased tissues using T cell receptors, enhancing safety and improving efficacy. Our initial focus is on the 3.1 million U.S. individuals with Inflammatory Bowel Disease, aiming to initiate clinical trials within two years.\r\n\r\nCofounded by George Church (Harvard) and funded by Y Combinator (S22).", "one_liner": "Enabling Tissue Targeting of Therapies", "team_size": 2, "industry": "Healthcare", "subindustry": "Healthcare -> Therapeutics", "launched_at": 1656718658, "tags": [ "Cell Therapy", "Synthetic Biology", "Therapeutics", "Oncology", "Biotechnology" ], "tags_highlighted": [], "top_company": false, "isHiring": false, "nonprofit": false, "batch": "Summer 2022", "status": "Active", "industries": [ "Healthcare", "Therapeutics" ], "regions": [ "United States of America", "America / Canada" ], "stage": "Early", "app_video_public": false, "demo_day_video_public": false, "app_answers": null, "question_answers": null, "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/eugit-therapeutics", "api": "https://devasheeshg.github.io/yc-api/batches/summer-2022/eugit-therapeutics.json", "year_founded": 2022, "city": "San Francisco", "country": "US", "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/company/eugit", "x_url": "", "fb_url": null, "cb_url": null, "github_url": null, "logo_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/a88b74cc086730f852f068c605f2dcaa54b40a16.png", "app_video_url": null, "dday_video_url": null, "company_photos": [], "primary_partner": { "name": "Jared Friedman", "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/people/jared-friedman" }, "founders": [ { "user_id": 588526, "full_name": "Nizar Batada", "title": "Founder/CEO", "founder_bio": "Nizar is the co-founder and CEO at EUGIT, which he started with George Church in 2022. He is an expert in cancer research, genomics and bioinformatics and has published over 25 articles in peer-reviewed journals such as Nature and has obtained nationally competitive grants. Prior to EUGIT, he was a scientist at 23andMe and a tenure track lecturer at the University of Edinburgh, UK. Nizar grew up in Toronto and obtained his PhD in Biophysics from Stanford.", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://linkedin.com/in/nizar-batada", "x_url": "", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/aa4ec5a091a22bc8ded999621c25385540ddb3cb.jpg" } ], "jobs": [], "news": [], "launches": [ { "id": 64275, "title": "EUGIT Therapeutics – Next generation T cell based cancer immunotherapy", "tagline": "Engineered gamma delta T-cells for off-the-shelf treatment of cancers", "body": "We are a therapeutics company that is developing immune cell based therapy for treatment of breast, ovarian and prostate cancers.\n\n**Problem**\n\nCancer remains an unsolved problem – it is expected that 1.8M new cancer cases and 0.6M cancer deaths will occur this year in the US (source CDC). Although development of immunotherapies such as checkpoint inhibitors and CAR-T cells have shown remarkable clinical success, they work for only a few cancer types. In particular, they do not work for some of the most common types of cancers in women (breast and ovarian) and men (prostate).\n\n**Solution**\n\nBuilding upon the discoveries of the founders, EUGIT Therapeutics is engineering cancer-fighting immune cells known as the gamma delta T cells which overcome the limitations of existing cancer immunotherapies.\n\n**How it works**\n\nWe take blood from healthy donors and isolate a specific type of immune cell called the gamma delta T cell and then endow them with cancer fighting activity via gene engineering. Our engineered T cells can be used off-the-shelf and ready for infusion into cancer patients.\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=64275&key=user_uploads/588526/a5ffcb03-a060-4080-9d9b-df2e92e6e72f)\n\n**Founders**\n\n[George Church](https://www.linkedin.com/in/george-church-2b86301/) (Co-Founder and Scientific Advisor): George is a Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and leads Synthetic Biology at the Wyss Institute. His innovations have contributed to nearly all \"next generation\" DNA sequencing methods and companies (CGI-BGI, Life, Illumina, Nanopore). This plus his lab's work on chip-DNA-synthesis, gene editing and stem cell engineering resulted in founding additional application-based companies spanning fields of medical diagnostics ( Knome/PierianDx, Alacris, AbVitro/Juno, Genos, Veritas Genetics ) & synthetic biology / therapeutics ( Joule, Gen9, Editas, Egenesis, enEvolv, WarpDrive ). \n\n[Nizar Batada](https://www.linkedin.com/in/nizar-batada/) (Co-Founder and CEO): Nizar is a cancer biologist with over 20 years of experience working in genomics and cancer research. He did his PhD at Stanford and postdoc with George Church. Previously, he was a tenure track group leader at the University of Edinburgh where he directed a research lab that focused on cancer immunology. Before founding EUGIT therapeutics, he was a senior scientist at 23andMe’s Therapeutics division. The current work he is pursuing at EUGIT therapeutics is based on his discovery of a subtype of tumor infiltrating gamma delta T cells that are associated with good clinical outcomes in breast cancer. ", "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/launches/Gih-eugit-therapeutics-next-generation-t-cell-based-cancer-immunotherapy", "votes": 20, "created_at": "2022-07-01T19:56:00.640Z" } ] }, { "id": 29475, "name": "Evolvere BioSciences", "slug": "evolvere-biosciences", "former_names": [], "small_logo_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/dd3489b7e5a5f2d3f7cc49de65917a83134da0a3.png", "website": "https://www.evolverebiosciences.com/", "all_locations": "Oxford, England, United Kingdom", "long_description": "🦠🤖 We use our computational models to make next-generation antibiotics that outcompete bacterial evolution and precisely target pathogenic bacteria, without harming good microbes or human cells. \r\n\r\n☠️ Current antibiotics stop working because bacteria evolve resistance to them. This makes drug-resistant bacteria a looming global health crisis - already killing more people than malaria and AIDS and it is getting exponentially worse 📈. \r\n\r\n🧬 Our approach leverages co-evolutionary protein-protein interaction datasets combined with AI to forecast bacterial mutations and create ‘future-proof’ antibiotics, addressing antibiotic resistance before it develops. This changes the game for how frequently society will need to make new antibiotics and how long our new antibiotics will be able to treat patients 👩‍⚕️.\r\n\r\nWe are a team of biochemists and evolutionary biologists who met at the University of Oxford. ", "one_liner": "Making Next-Generation Antibiotics that Outpace Bacterial Evolution", "team_size": 3, "industry": "Healthcare", "subindustry": "Healthcare -> Therapeutics", "launched_at": 1723833827, "tags": [ "AI-powered Drug Discovery", "Biotech", "Therapeutics", "AI", "Biotechnology" ], "tags_highlighted": [], "top_company": false, "isHiring": false, "nonprofit": false, "batch": "Summer 2024", "status": "Active", "industries": [ "Healthcare", "Therapeutics" ], "regions": [ "United Kingdom", "Europe" ], "stage": "Early", "app_video_public": false, "demo_day_video_public": false, "app_answers": null, "question_answers": null, "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/evolvere-biosciences", "api": "https://devasheeshg.github.io/yc-api/batches/summer-2024/evolvere-biosciences.json", "year_founded": 2021, "city": "Oxford", "country": "GB", "linkedin_url": "", "x_url": "", "fb_url": null, "cb_url": null, "github_url": null, "logo_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/dd3489b7e5a5f2d3f7cc49de65917a83134da0a3.png", "app_video_url": null, "dday_video_url": null, "company_photos": [], "primary_partner": null, "founders": [ { "user_id": 1571195, "full_name": "Adam Winnifrith", "title": "Founder/CEO", "founder_bio": "Evolvere (S24), CEO & Co-Founder, MBioChem Oxford, I work at the intersection of bioengineering, protein AI, and automation. E.S.B", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://linkedin.com/in/adam-winnifrith-b438ab182", "x_url": "", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/47621187f511483c88214b24dcbe246a6c35c1f5.jpg" }, { "user_id": 1653867, "full_name": "Piotr Jedryszek", "title": "Founder/CTO", "founder_bio": "S24, Evolvere Biosciences, CTO and Co-founder, background in Bio and CompBio", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://linkedin.com/in/piotr-jedryszek-085991180", "x_url": "", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/72e7c8ae1b67c791b656651e8d8c8af2fcf314a2.jpg" }, { "user_id": 1627026, "full_name": "Weronika Slesak", "title": "Founder", "founder_bio": "CSO at Evolvere (S24). Oxford biologist using evolution as an engineering tool.", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://linkedin.com/in/weronika-slesak", "x_url": "", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/58fdd6f9b378d1a0e78b405fcdd0d2f7eb601783.jpg" } ], "jobs": [], "news": [], "launches": [] }, { "id": 29959, "name": "Uncommon Therapeutics", "slug": "uncommon-therapeutics", "former_names": [], "small_logo_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/791a2a1e71f62bafa47311d3711d9cab4712eea4.png", "website": "https://uncommontherapeutics.com", "all_locations": "San Francisco, CA, USA", "long_description": "Our founder Noah, an experienced tech entrepreneur, was directly impacted by a severe genetic disease when his daughter was diagnosed with Rett Syndrome, a disease that afflicts 1 in 10,000 girls. Using an innovative polytherapy strategy, we’ve successfully improved her quality of life, and have designed new therapeutics that each could be worth billions and together could deliver a cure.", "one_liner": "A Disease Focused Biotech, Building Multiple Billion Dollar Drugs", "team_size": 2, "industry": "Healthcare", "subindustry": "Healthcare -> Therapeutics", "launched_at": 1740166772, "tags": [ "Gene Therapy", "CRISPR", "Biotechnology" ], "tags_highlighted": [], "top_company": false, "isHiring": false, "nonprofit": false, "batch": "Winter 2025", "status": "Active", "industries": [ "Healthcare", "Therapeutics" ], "regions": [ "United States of America", "America / Canada", "Remote", "Partly Remote" ], "stage": "Early", "app_video_public": false, "demo_day_video_public": false, "app_answers": null, "question_answers": null, "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/uncommon-therapeutics", "api": "https://devasheeshg.github.io/yc-api/batches/winter-2025/uncommon-therapeutics.json", "year_founded": 2024, "city": "San Francisco", "country": "US", "linkedin_url": "", "x_url": "", "fb_url": null, "cb_url": null, "github_url": null, "logo_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/791a2a1e71f62bafa47311d3711d9cab4712eea4.png", "app_video_url": null, "dday_video_url": null, "company_photos": [], "primary_partner": { "name": "Jared Friedman", "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/people/jared-friedman" }, "founders": [ { "user_id": 1883658, "full_name": "Noah Auerhahn", "title": "Founder/CEO", "founder_bio": "Serial Entrepreneur Building Therapies and New Biz Models for Rare Disease", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/noahauerhahn/", "x_url": "", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/4e34b75273ea4671f2164eda22e1e988ee2388da.jpg" }, { "user_id": 1967780, "full_name": "Ryan Lim", "title": "Founder", "founder_bio": "Biotech entrepreneur and biomedical scientist specializing in modeling neurological disorders using stem cells, in vivo models, and computational biology to drive breakthroughs in neurological diseases", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlimphd", "x_url": "", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/9c15bdfc25499f8bf1197bea4e37a0939dbb6405.jpg" } ], "jobs": [], "news": [], "launches": [ { "id": 87905, "title": "💊🧠🧬 Uncommon Therapeutics - A Disease Focused Biotech", "tagline": "Developing multiple high‐value ($b) therapeutics per disease, combining new tools and deep expertise to deliver cures", "body": "### **TL;DR**\n\nNoah, an experienced tech entrepreneur, was directly impacted by a severe genetic disease when his daughter was diagnosed with Rett Syndrome, a disease that afflicts 1 in 10,000 girls. Using an innovative polytherapy strategy, we’ve successfully improved her quality of life, and have designed **new therapeutics that each could be worth billions and together could deliver a cure.**\n\nOur _uncommon_ approach to biotech includes deep respect for the complexities of biology and disease, but belief that **many of the orthodoxies of biotech can be challenged by ideas from tech**.\n\n### **Why Now?**\n\n**AI is unlocking every field and biotech is no different.** However in bio the value will not go to the platform builders, but the users of the tools and the drug assets they create. Today it is easier and cheaper than ever to build better drugs. \n\nMeanwhile, biotech is no longer a closed system. So many of the core modality IP (mAbs, ASOs, mRNA, Car-T, CRISPR, etc) have expired or will expire by the time a drug comes to market. There are mature CROs for every stage of drug development from screening to running studies. And there are experts available to consult who have built at the platform companies that spent billions refining these tools.\n\nAt Uncommon we believe now is the best time ever to build a disease focused biotech. **So while Biotech may not get the first 1 person billion dollar company, in this AI-driven open source system, it may deliver the first 2 person one.**\n\n### **Why Us?**\n\n_“Start companies to solve personal problems” —_ Michael Seibel\n\nImagine while you are building your high flying tech company, your 18 month old daughter starts to lose the ability to walk, speak, use her hands, and will soon develop a cascade of maladies (seizures, breath holding and hyper ventilation, scoliosis and on) – this is Rett Syndrome. Over the months that followed **Noah dedicated himself to this problem, reading over 300 papers in the first 9 months alone, speaking with every expert until he became one**. We identified multiple repurposed drugs, not commonly used for Rett, that while not curative could immediately push back against the skill loss and successfully give her a higher quality of life. Today, **Ellie is 5 and in the top 1% of people with Rett**. While still limited, she is happy, walking around, not in pain, without seizures, and is learning to read and communicate with her eye gaze device.\n\n**Expertise unlocks traction**: With just $1M, we utilized the best tech and modality expertise to design three novel therapeutics that target the underlying cause of the disease, **all of which are now working in patient cells**.\n\n### **Results in Patient Cells**\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=87905&key=user_uploads/1883658/f4e6dd78-3631-4692-98d9-49b57c43479a)\n\n### **Team**\n\n**Noah Auerhahn** (Co-Founder & CEO) - Noah bootstrapped his first company and sold it to Rakuten for $15M and raised over $75M for his second company. In 2021 his daughter was diagnosed with Rett Syndrome. He dedicated himself to becoming an expert on the disease and then identifying disease modifying-therapies, personally investing over $1M into those efforts. He is deeply involved across every aspect of Uncommon’s drug development efforts.\n\n**Ryan Lim, PhD** (Co-Founder & CSO) - Ryan is a biotech entrepreneur and biomedical scientist with over 10 years of experience in neurological diseases. At Uncommon he’s pioneering gene-editing, ASO, and small-molecule therapies for Rett Syndrome. He led AI-driven drug discovery efforts, taking a therapeutic candidate from initial discovery through IND-enabling studies on its way to ALS patients at Modulo Bio, and at UCI identified a repurposed compound that is currently in Phase II trials for Huntington’s disease.\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=87905&key=user_uploads/1883658/05663633-8048-49a0-b826-f0320e58af04)\n\n### **Asks**\n\n* Please share this post on your socials and help spread the word.\n* Intro’s to biotech execs who are forward thinking on rare disease and could be good future or present partners in our efforts!", "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/launches/Mrp-uncommon-therapeutics-a-disease-focused-biotech", "votes": 23, "created_at": "2025-02-21T20:01:59.726Z" } ] }, { "id": 30673, "name": "Nexa Labs", "slug": "nexa-labs", "former_names": [], "small_logo_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/489fd97ad45ee1d6d874c7a99792bf1552ebddc2.png", "website": "https://nexa.farm/", "all_locations": "San Francisco, CA, USA", "long_description": "Nexa is developing the solution for cattle monitoring, leveraging implantable microchips that collect more comprehensive biometrics than anything else on the market. Our accompanying AI-driven animal health engine empowers farmers with early disease detection, reproductive insights, GPS tracking, and more. \r\n\r\nWe're saving farmers time and money while collecting the world's largest cattle health dataset. We believe that cattle farming should be a science, not an art - this will secure the world's food supply and increase economic output that billions of people depend on.", "one_liner": "Implantable microchips and AI for cattle monitoring", "team_size": 3, "industry": "Industrials", "subindustry": "Industrials -> Agriculture", "launched_at": 1755009056, "tags": [ "Livestock Health", "Medical Devices", "Agriculture", "AI", "Biotechnology" ], "tags_highlighted": [], "top_company": false, "isHiring": false, "nonprofit": false, "batch": "Summer 2025", "status": "Acquired", "industries": [ "Industrials", "Agriculture" ], "regions": [ "United States of America", "America / Canada" ], "stage": "Early", "app_video_public": false, "demo_day_video_public": false, "app_answers": null, "question_answers": [ { "question": "How did your company get started? (i.e., How did the founders meet? How did you come up with the idea? How did you decide to be a founder?)", "answer": "We all met as undergrads at Caltech. Before becoming co-founders, we became close friends. We are brought together by a shared desire to build technology that impacts real people in America and beyond." } ], "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/nexa-labs", "api": "https://devasheeshg.github.io/yc-api/batches/summer-2025/nexa-labs.json", "year_founded": 2025, "city": "San Francisco", "country": "US", "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/company/nexafarm", "x_url": "", "fb_url": null, "cb_url": null, "github_url": null, "logo_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/489fd97ad45ee1d6d874c7a99792bf1552ebddc2.png", "app_video_url": null, "dday_video_url": null, "company_photos": [ "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/attachments/2300cc908a88477ba3d0333b549e0c55584ccdfd.png" ], "primary_partner": { "name": "Diana Hu", "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/people/diana-hu" }, "founders": [ { "user_id": 2198327, "full_name": "Zarif Azher", "title": "Founder/CEO", "founder_bio": "Previously built medical devices, biosensors, and AI for healthcare. Now building microchips for cattle monitoring! ", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/zarif-azher-260b401bb/", "x_url": "https://x.com/ZarifAzher", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/8780345b330950408619a690b45f87e77adcd24c.jpg" }, { "user_id": 2852618, "full_name": "Kenneth Chan", "title": "Founder", "founder_bio": "Prev @ Caltech. Now building the future of livestock health monitoring.", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenneth-chan-340a6032a", "x_url": "https://x.com/kennychan256", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/49841de0f9346c82b1774acbb96c5444b2460071.jpg" } ], "jobs": [], "news": [], "launches": [ { "id": 92930, "title": "Nexa Labs: Implantable Microchips for Cattle Monitoring", "tagline": "We empower cattle farmers with early disease detection and reproductive insights.", "body": "**TLDR:** Nexa builds implantable “FitBits” + AI for cattle monitoring. We empower farmers with early disease detection and reproductive insights that save them time and money.\n\nhttps://youtu.be/goioQTngpSU\n\n**Problem**\n\nEfficiently monitoring cattle health and reproduction is critical to maintain farm profitability. But the traditional practice of manually inspecting animals doesn’t scale - labor costs add up, while farms miss disease outbreaks and breeding cycles. Disease alone causes \\~$100 billion in losses yearly for cattle farms globally.\n\nExisting tech for monitoring cattle includes external wearables like collars and ear-tags. Being outside thick cattle skin, these can’t accurately track useful biometrics beyond “activity” (a glorified step-count). There’s also boluses, pill-shaped devices that sit in the cow stomach. But these are super expensive, have short battery life, and can’t be used for beef cattle.\n\n**Solution**\n\nNexa is building implantable microchips that go underneath the skin in the ear of cattle. We analyze vital biometrics - like temperature, heart rate, blood oxygen, activity, GPS location, and more - that other systems miss, to empower farmers with early disease detection and reproductive insights. And because our electronics operate at millimeter scale, we benefit from low production costs and pricing up to 70% cheaper than current solutions.\n\nOur hardware also enables collection of the world’s largest cattle health dataset - so, we can develop foundation models that can unlock new possibilities in farm management and livestock pharma. \n\nWe’re currently launching our dairy pilot program - if you know any dairy farmers based in the USA, please send them our way at [admin@nexa.farm](mailto:admin@nexa.farm) :)\n\n**About Us**\n\nWe’re a team of Caltech dropouts with backgrounds in bioengineering, electrical engineering, CS, math, and physics. We want to build technology that makes a tangible impact on the lives of real people in America and beyond.  \n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=92930&key=user_uploads/89898/0ae16cce-d4d4-40c1-b80d-7079d433d8e6)\n\n", "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/launches/OAs-nexa-labs-implantable-microchips-for-cattle-monitoring", "votes": 24, "created_at": "2025-08-12T15:36:19.597Z" } ] }, { "id": 30856, "name": "Scoop", "slug": "scoop", "former_names": [], "small_logo_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/70fc9c8245a9de2b245841faf07e0530dd3f51a1.png", "website": "https://scooplabs.ai", "all_locations": "San Francisco, CA, USA", "long_description": "We’re building AI agents that speed up drug trials by automating the manual consolidation and document prep required for every IND submission. Today, biotechs spend months stitching together reports from contractors and internal teams just to file and get to their first-in-human trial.", "one_liner": "Automating regulatory submissions for life sciences", "team_size": 2, "industry": "B2B", "subindustry": "B2B", "launched_at": 1762725446, "tags": [ "B2B", "Biotech", "Compliance", "AI", "Biotechnology" ], "tags_highlighted": [], "top_company": false, "isHiring": false, "nonprofit": false, "batch": "Fall 2025", "status": "Active", "industries": [ "B2B" ], "regions": [ "United States of America", "America / Canada" ], "stage": "Early", "app_video_public": false, "demo_day_video_public": false, "app_answers": null, "question_answers": null, "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/scoop", "api": "https://devasheeshg.github.io/yc-api/batches/fall-2025/scoop.json", "year_founded": 2025, "city": "San Francisco", "country": "US", "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/company/scoopcpg/", "x_url": "", "fb_url": null, "cb_url": null, "github_url": null, "logo_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/70fc9c8245a9de2b245841faf07e0530dd3f51a1.png", "app_video_url": null, "dday_video_url": null, "company_photos": [], "primary_partner": { "name": "Tom Blomfield", "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/people/tom-blomfield" }, "founders": [ { "user_id": 822396, "full_name": "Vincent Park", "title": "Founder/CEO", "founder_bio": "CEO and Co-founder @ Scoop. Previously at Persona and Dropbox.\n\nWorking on Scoop to help speed up drug trials, starting with IND filings, to help companies bring life-saving treatments to market faster.", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://linkedin.com/in/vpark", "x_url": "", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/689facc831f3923fa62a1e4575b13dab3e406e64.jpg" }, { "user_id": 476131, "full_name": "Jay Kwon", "title": "Founder/CTO", "founder_bio": "Co-founder and CTO @ Scoop.\n\nEx-Google Search applied AI (Gemini CoT), supported IND and Phase III clinical trial design for ALS therapy at Corestem, prev at Genentech and CJ Bioscience. MS in Computer Science and Biotechnology from Penn.", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/soonjae/", "x_url": "", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/c6d4e3bea7c64f6ca250ea094b791ae99f673df2.jpg" } ], "jobs": [], "news": [], "launches": [ { "id": 95349, "title": "Scoop: AI agents that speed up drug trials, starting with IND filings", "tagline": "We create ready-to-submit regulatory documents so new therapies can reach clinical trials faster", "body": "Hey everyone, we’re Jay and Vincent.\n\ntl;dr: Scoop uses AI to automate the paperwork required to start and maintain human drug trials, reducing timelines from months to days.\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=95349&key=user_uploads/476131/f682e615-6b6a-487a-b532-58158884d410)\n\n**The Problem**\n\nBiotechs spend months preparing the documentation required to start human trials. Most of the time goes into organizing results, rewriting information across many documents, and keeping everything consistent.\n\nCompanies often hire Contract Research Organizations(CROs), which run clinical trials and also help prepare these submissions. But their document assembly process is still manual and slow, so timelines stretch and costs rise.\n\nEvery update requires repeating the same work. This delays trials and wastes $$$ before a single patient is treated.\n\n**The Solution**\n\nScoop turns your internal data and study reports into a continuously updated submission workspace.\n\nOur system generates the draft documents in the required structure, keeps everything consistent when new data comes in, and flags anything that needs review. Teams focus on approving content, not assembling it.\n\nWhat used to take months can now be completed in days.\n\n**Impact**\n\nWe're compressing IND assembly from the order of months to days. For a typical biotech, that means:\n\n* Getting to first-in-human trials 2-5 months faster\n* Saving $100K+ in CRO fees per submission\n* Reducing rejection risk through automated compliance checks\n\n**About Us**\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=95349&key=user_uploads/476131/5591f53a-d15a-449b-857d-c723e3535665)\n\nWe met at UPenn 16 years ago (yes, it’s been a minute) and have been best friends ever since.\n\nVincent led AI-powered document processing for Fortune 10 companies at Persona, automating KYB/KYC workflows at massive scale. Previously, he was a tech lead at Dropbox.\n\nJay was a tech lead in Google Search AI and previously worked at biotechs including Genentech, and has helped file INDs and led statistical design work for a Phase 3 ALS clinical trial. He holds two MS degrees in both Biotechnology and Computer Science.\n\nWe've seen both sides of this problem: the AI capabilities that can solve it and the regulatory complexity that makes it hard.\n\n**Our Ask**\n\nWe’d love warm introductions to regulatory leads at biotechs or CROs who want to accelerate IND preparation and modernize their submission workflows.\n\n📨 [founders@scooplabs.ai](mailto:founders@scooplabs.ai)\n\nThanks!", "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/launches/Ont-scoop-ai-agents-that-speed-up-drug-trials-starting-with-ind-filings", "votes": 53, "created_at": "2025-11-10T02:17:36.817Z" } ] }, { "id": 30925, "name": "Paceline Bio", "slug": "paceline-bio", "former_names": [ "Play Health" ], "small_logo_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/52ae3355c425a5e6bfaad9876e3d186dff23a243.png", "website": "https://paceline.bio/", "all_locations": "Boulder, CO, USA", "long_description": "Paceline Bio runs the research and clinical ops layer behind biotech and pharma company who want to move fast, starting with biospecimen collection, logistics, and storage. We're built to get you from scope to signature in just one day so you can accelerate your programs.", "one_liner": "Biospecimen logistics & operations layer to accelerate drug dev", "team_size": 3, "industry": "Healthcare", "subindustry": "Healthcare", "launched_at": 1760457684, "tags": [ "AI-powered Drug Discovery", "Biotech", "Drug discovery", "Biotechnology" ], "tags_highlighted": [], "top_company": false, "isHiring": false, "nonprofit": false, "batch": "Fall 2025", "status": "Active", "industries": [ "Healthcare" ], "regions": [ "United States of America", "America / Canada", "Remote", "Partly Remote" ], "stage": "Early", "app_video_public": false, "demo_day_video_public": false, "app_answers": null, "question_answers": null, "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/paceline-bio", "api": "https://devasheeshg.github.io/yc-api/batches/fall-2025/paceline-bio.json", "year_founded": 2025, "city": "Boulder", "country": "US", "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/company/paceline-bio/", "x_url": "https://x.com/playhealthco", "fb_url": null, "cb_url": null, "github_url": null, "logo_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/52ae3355c425a5e6bfaad9876e3d186dff23a243.png", "app_video_url": null, "dday_video_url": null, "company_photos": [], "primary_partner": { "name": "Nicolas Dessaigne", "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/people/nicolas-dessaigne" }, "founders": [], "jobs": [], "news": [], "launches": [] }, { "id": 31532, "name": "Atlas Discovery", "slug": "atlas-discovery", "former_names": [ "Rhizome Bio" ], "small_logo_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/6e6c174c3a8e56844bf81efbc8b8532b4e509f73.png", "website": "https://atlasdiscovery.bio", "all_locations": "San Francisco, CA, USA", "long_description": "", "one_liner": "AI-native pharma company", "team_size": 3, "industry": "Healthcare", "subindustry": "Healthcare -> Drug Discovery and Delivery", "launched_at": 1782247231, "tags": [ "AI-powered Drug Discovery", "Drug discovery", "Biotechnology" ], "tags_highlighted": [], "top_company": false, "isHiring": false, "nonprofit": false, "batch": "Summer 2026", "status": "Active", "industries": [ "Healthcare", "Drug Discovery and Delivery" ], "regions": [ "United States of America", "America / Canada" ], "stage": "Early", "app_video_public": false, "demo_day_video_public": false, "app_answers": null, "question_answers": null, "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/atlas-discovery", "api": "https://devasheeshg.github.io/yc-api/batches/summer-2026/atlas-discovery.json", "year_founded": 2026, "city": "San Francisco", "country": "US", "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/company/atlas-discovery", "x_url": "https://x.com/atlasdiscovery0", "fb_url": null, "cb_url": null, "github_url": null, "logo_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/6e6c174c3a8e56844bf81efbc8b8532b4e509f73.png", "app_video_url": null, "dday_video_url": null, "company_photos": [], "primary_partner": { "name": "Ankit Gupta", "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/people/ankit-gupta" }, "founders": [ { "user_id": 774885, "full_name": "Shaamil Karim", "title": "Founder/CEO", "founder_bio": "Excited about AI for predictive biology", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaamil-karim/", "x_url": "https://x.com/shaamilkarim1", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/46de7a475d51ebe79a88352728e36af1849266d8.jpg" }, { "user_id": 2088957, "full_name": "Christian Gensbigler", "title": "Founder", "founder_bio": "Previously MTS at Origin Bio (YC w26), theoretical biology at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, math at Dartmouth ", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-g-a2594029", "x_url": "", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/09fc09f66416e77a682ab3ae047ba7f436df4d44.jpg" } ], "jobs": [], "news": [], "launches": [ { "id": 107031, "title": "Atlas Discovery: AI-native pharma company", "tagline": "Autonomous research agents and models for drug development", "body": "TL;DR: We’ve built the foundations of a pharma in the age of superintelligence: data partnerships, biology models and autonomous research agents. We have SOTA results on finding overlooked drugs and predicting clinical trial success rates. \n\nHey everyone! We ([Sanjukta Bhattacharya](https://www.linkedin.com/in/sanjukta-b-82b541198/), [Christian Gensbigler](https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-g-a2594029a/), and I) started Atlas Discovery to get treatments to patients who need them most.\n\n**The problem:** Today's pharma works for only \\~150 diseases. Below roughly $150M in expected revenue a program never gets funded, because the cost of developing a drug is fixed by the knowledge work it requires, not the size of the market. 10,000+ diseases remain without an approved treatment even where the biology is tractable. Meanwhile, there are 100,000+ existing drugs, and barely 1% of the drug-disease combinations have ever been tried. The bottleneck is no longer supply of compounds; it's the judgment needed to search that space and run the trials, and the removal of human coordination costs.\n\n**Our** **thesis** is that AI will drop the cost of drug development enough to push the viable threshold from \\~$150M toward \\~$15M, opening a \\~$500B market incumbents have structurally ignored. A company built for that world needs three things: proprietary data, models that predict clinical trial outcomes, and agent systems that replace knowledge work. We use agents to repurpose existing drugs for the long tail of diseases, then run the clinical trials faster and cheaper. \n\n**Progress**: In three months we've built the first version of all three layers. Data: an 8 figure LOI with an AI lab and 6 figures in contracted revenue. Models: state-of-the-art clinical trial prediction results published at three conferences,. Agents: three rare disease foundations are now testing drugs surfaced by our agents. \n\nOn drug repurposing using agents, we see nearly 5x improvement over current frontier LLMs. Read more about this benchmark [here](https://atlasdiscovery.bio/repurposingbench.html).\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=107031&key=user_uploads/774885/cf98d216-1d2c-45a0-99c9-ef87d2b7b296)\n\n\nWe've also shown that models trained on in vitro cell data (Latin for \"in glass\") and mouse data can translate to gains in predicting patient response to drugs in human clinical trials.\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=107031&key=user_uploads/774885/6813bfeb-e5c9-47ec-9b9e-89362cf8eb15)\n\nWe’ve also shown SOTA results in being able to predict clinical trial success when trained on over 100,000 clinical trials data and evaluated on a held out set of 10,000 trials. Read more [here](https://atlasdiscovery.bio/clinical-trial-prediction-with-ai-agents.html)\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=107031&key=user_uploads/774885/23aff312-7161-4be9-b4af-3273d469bd5d)\n\nWe’ve presented our research in 3 top conferences (ICLR, CSHL, ICML) and shown that new AI architectures like discrete diffusion can learn these gene expression patterns and predict response to treatments with over 10x improvement in accuracy while training on 50x less data.\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=107031&key=user_uploads/774885/fa2a6593-751d-448b-a67b-e232e3e07ffb)\n\nReach us at [founders@atlasdiscovery.bio](mailto:founders@atlasdiscovery.bio)\n\nBlog: blog", "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/launches/RqJ-atlas-discovery-ai-native-pharma-company", "votes": 7, "created_at": "2026-07-24T17:07:56.608Z" } ] }, { "id": 32587, "name": "TareBio", "slug": "tarebio", "former_names": [], "small_logo_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/9e770bbea41518001119968d389d0d3e35ce7abe.png", "website": "https://tarebio.com/", "all_locations": "San Francisco, CA, USA", "long_description": "Our platform develops personalized or population-level vaccines for any disease in weeks by changing only one input: the immune imprint. Instead of trying to predict which antigens might work, we read out immune cells already fighting the disease in the body and reverse-engineer antigens that activate them. We've already run our platform end-to-end and created a vaccine that cured cancer in mice.", "one_liner": "Vaccines for any cancer or infection in weeks.", "team_size": 1, "industry": "Healthcare", "subindustry": "Healthcare -> Drug Discovery and Delivery", "launched_at": 1785462754, "tags": [ "Vaccines", "Synthetic Biology", "Biotechnology" ], "tags_highlighted": [], "top_company": false, "isHiring": false, "nonprofit": false, "batch": "Summer 2026", "status": "Active", "industries": [ "Healthcare", "Drug Discovery and Delivery" ], "regions": [ "United States of America", "America / Canada" ], "stage": "Early", "app_video_public": false, "demo_day_video_public": false, "app_answers": null, "question_answers": null, "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/tarebio", "api": "https://devasheeshg.github.io/yc-api/batches/summer-2026/tarebio.json", "year_founded": 2026, "city": "San Francisco", "country": "US", "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/company/tarebio/", "x_url": "", "fb_url": null, "cb_url": null, "github_url": null, "logo_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/9e770bbea41518001119968d389d0d3e35ce7abe.png", "app_video_url": null, "dday_video_url": null, "company_photos": [ "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/attachments/96525419f2b8f6b4da09d8c897eb1c8553bef26f.png" ], "primary_partner": { "name": "Ankit Gupta", "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/people/ankit-gupta" }, "founders": [ { "user_id": 431020, "full_name": "Eta Atolia", "title": "Founder/CEO", "founder_bio": "Founder & CEO, TareBio (YC S26). MD-PhD from UCLA-Caltech, where she built a novel platform that develops vaccines for any cancer or infection in weeks, funded by the Gates Foundation. BS in Biology from MIT. Conducted research at the Koch Institute, Harvard Medical School, and the Weizmann.\n\nSelect Awards: UCLA MD-PhD Merit Scholar, UCLA TDG Senior Fellow, MIT iGEM Gold Medal, MIT IDEAs winner, MIT Dean Advisory Group, WhiteHouse Science Fair, Bessie Lawrence Scholar, Intel STS Finalist", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/eta-atolia/", "x_url": "https://x.com/eatolia", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/1b89afa4d7ba0012222ebc57912ad8e652db40bd.jpg" } ], "jobs": [], "news": [], "launches": [ { "id": 108804, "title": "TareBio: Vaccines for any cancer or infection in weeks", "tagline": "We make personalized or population-level vaccines reverse-engineered from the immune system. We have already cured cancer in mice and are vaccinating our first patient within the year.", "body": "**TL;DR:** Our platform develops **personalized** or **population-level** vaccines for **_any_ disease** in weeks by **changing _only one input_**: the immune imprint. Instead of trying to predict which antigens might work, we read out immune cells already fighting the disease in the body and reverse-engineer antigens that activate them. We've already run our platform end-to-end and created a vaccine that cured cancer in mice. We will be vaccinating our first patient within a year.\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=108804&key=user_uploads/431020/46cdbd4d-72d9-4231-a781-01a886dd82a4)\n\nView our launch video here: \n\n**The vaccine bottleneck**\n\nFor 200+ years, vaccines have been designed using the same workflow: study a pathogen or tumor, _predict_ which antigens might trigger protection, vaccinate, and hopefully generate a good immune response. This works for simpler infections. It has struggled for decades on complex diseases like HIV, TB, Hep C, and nearly _every cancer_. Currently, vaccine design is treated as a prediction problem.\n\n**What we do differently**\n\nInstead, we treat it as a readout problem. The **immune system has _already solved_** antigen selection in the body, it knows what it's responding to and the best immune cells for the job. So, we flip the whole process around:\n\n1. Capture the immune cells already responding to a cancer or infection, the \"**immune imprint**\"\n2. Use this imprint to directly identify, or “**reverse engineer**”, activating antigens\n3. Build a **vaccine** from those antigens\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=108804&key=user_uploads/431020/31744f0e-4a44-4aa9-aa2e-29d174a8d30a)\n\nThe same platform works for **_any_ disease** by changing one input: the immune imprint. Function over prediction, no constrained search space, and the output is a vaccine that can generate durable immunity in the body, not a transient antibody conjugate or cellular therapy.\n\n**Proof**\n\nWe built the full platform in mice and ran it end-to-end: identified antigens from the immune imprint of the cancer, designed a vaccine from them, and **cured lymphoma in mice.** Nothing about the technology is specific to lymphoma, it generalizes to any cancer or infection. We are using our technology to create both personalized (n=1) and population-level vaccines.\n\n**Why us**\n\nI'm Eta Atolia, founder and CEO. I built this platform over the last 8 years as part of my MD-PhD at UCLA-Caltech with funding from The Gates Foundation. Before this, I did my undergrad at MIT with most of my time dedicated to cancer immunotherapy and infectious disease research at the Koch and HMS. Our scientific advisory board includes Darrell Irvine, PhD (Vice Chair of Immunology at Scripps, Former MIT Professor of 22 years, world-renowned vaccine engineer), Manish Butte, MD, PhD (Chief of Immunology at UCLA and expert rare disease clinician), and John Glaspy, MD, MPH (Endowed Chair and Medical Director of Integrative Oncology at UCLA).\n\n**Our ask**\n\nWe are actively working with organizations and individuals to create both population-level vaccines and personalized treatments.\n\nHelpful things as we build:\n\n* If you have **patient tumor** **or** **blood samples**, please reach out.\n* Intros to **biotech + pharma** and **vaccine teams** for partnerships.\n* **Immunologists, oncologists, infectious disease specialists,** and **ML engineers** who want to build this with us.\n\nIf any of this resonates, reach out at [contact@tarebio.com](mailto:contact@tarebio.com).\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post&id=108804&key=user_uploads/431020/e32e6406-ca9a-4740-9a77-48dd31f02e7f)\n\n", "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/launches/SIu-tarebio-vaccines-for-any-cancer-or-infection-in-weeks", "votes": 13, "created_at": "2026-08-04T14:27:01.936Z" } ] }, { "id": 35652, "name": "Primordiant", "slug": "primordiant", "former_names": [ "SuperRadiant", "Primordiant (Formerly SuperRadiant)" ], "small_logo_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/15a7e2a5caa04595d7620cd8161f3b2cffd00a51.png", "website": "https://primordiant.com", "all_locations": "San Francisco, CA, USA", "long_description": "Every instance of intelligence occurring in nature is embodied. Scientific intelligence is no different. We are building general-purpose robotic experimentalists: systems that unite scientific reasoning and physical action to iterate toward discovery by observing, hypothesizing and experimenting.", "one_liner": "Embodied Scientific Intelligence", "team_size": 3, "industry": "Industrials", "subindustry": "Industrials -> Manufacturing and Robotics", "launched_at": 1788918386, "tags": [ "Robotics", "Energy", "Advanced Materials", "AI", "Biotechnology" ], "tags_highlighted": [], "top_company": false, "isHiring": false, "nonprofit": false, "batch": "Fall 2026", "status": "Active", "industries": [ "Industrials", "Manufacturing and Robotics" ], "regions": [ "United States of America", "America / Canada" ], "stage": "Early", "app_video_public": false, "demo_day_video_public": false, "app_answers": null, "question_answers": null, "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/primordiant", "api": "https://devasheeshg.github.io/yc-api/batches/fall-2026/primordiant.json", "year_founded": 2026, "city": "San Francisco", "country": "US", "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/company/superradiant/", "x_url": "https://x.com/primordiant", "fb_url": null, "cb_url": null, "github_url": null, "logo_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/15a7e2a5caa04595d7620cd8161f3b2cffd00a51.png", "app_video_url": null, "dday_video_url": null, "company_photos": [ "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/attachments/0fdde8c9f16afd7cc12bd170bdeebde94754b105.png" ], "primary_partner": { "name": "Aaron Epstein", "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/people/aaron-epstein" }, "founders": [ { "user_id": 3125500, "full_name": "Owen Tower", "title": "Founder/CEO", "founder_bio": "Founder at Primordiant (formerly SuperRadiant). PhD in Physics from Brown, where he invented novel algorithms to discover phase transitions in random-field Ising models, in addition to using micro and nanofluidics to study analogous system experimentally. Research experience at NASA JPL and CERN/LHC. Trained in nanofabrication, microfluidics, and ML methods including PINNs and reinforcement learning.", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/owen-tower-270630133?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app", "x_url": "https://x.com/owentower1", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/70a067e2bb7ef406f9c749791c05d5312086e47e.jpg" }, { "user_id": 3083156, "full_name": "Cooper Niu", "title": "Founder/CTO", "founder_bio": "PhD in Physics from Brown University. Created ALBERT, an autonomous AI particle physicist that proposes, verifies, and iteratively refines physics theories; given pre-1990 data, it recovered the top quark's mass and properties in under an hour. Previously researched neutrinos at Fermilab on the NOvA experiment. Featured in APS Physics Magazine: https://physics.aps.org/articles/v19/119", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/cooper-niu", "x_url": "", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/9ff31e1e94545e82247fe8f4a13b65e32eceda53.jpg" }, { "user_id": 2759626, "full_name": "Benedict Quartey", "title": "Founder", "founder_bio": "Founder at Primordiant. PhD in Computer Science from Brown University, where I invented novel methods for building generally capable, verifiable robots and spatial world models. Previously developed AI systems that combined learning, reasoning, and planning for reliable long-horizon autonomy at the Boston Dynamics Robotics & AI Institute.", "is_active": true, "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/benedictquartey", "x_url": "https://x.com/Benedict_Q", "avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/a1b9e290e4926a87fa1477ca9d2d8d77e235d399.jpg" } ], "jobs": [], "news": [], "launches": [] } ]