Venture In The South

When TendoNova inventors and co-founders at Georgia Tech and Emory solved a big tendon problem in sports medicine, the NFL Players Association decided to invest. That was the starting point for launching the Ocelot Nano, an innovative medical device for treating tendenopathy, a chronic non-healing tendon injury. A minimally invasive device for outpatient treatment for chronic tendon injuries that is better, cheaper and faster than existing solutions. CEO Mark Samuels tells the development and launch story as Tendonova prepares to scale for an exit. 

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Existing predictive models for drug behavior in the human intestine have been hit or miss, leading to unpredicted failure of drug development at the cost of billions. Altis Biosystems has developed a proprietary intestinal model with human stem cells that dramatically improves the predictive capability of drug effects and toxicity in the intestine and thus can substantially reduce the cost of drug development failure. CEO Ben Scruggs  has 16 of the top 20 Big Pharma companies as customers as the Altis human intestinal model dominates pre-clinical drug testing for intestinal effects and toxicity. (recorded 9/8/23)

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Nirvana Sciences has innovated traditional flow cytometry, a longstanding cellular diagnostic tool, in a unique and powerful way to dramatically increase the efficiency and utility of this tool for a wide range of diagnostic problems. Through development of proprietary bright narrowband fluorescent markers (or dyes), NS has enabled a magnitude increase in the number, fidelity and efficiency of cell markers that can be measured from a single sample. This has positioned NS with strong IP for an acquisition by a major diagnostics company.

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As an epicenter for innovative startups, the  Central Texas Angel Network is the largest angel network in all of Texas. CTAN Chairwoman Laurie Cercone gives us a tour of CTAN detailing their modus operandi, geographic reach, and deal flow process.  Now expanding beyond Texas and offering virtual memberships to capitalize their deal flow, we are excited to see how the Central Texas Angel Network continues to  grow!

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Modern Ritual is developing an innovative approach to teledermatology, connecting primary care providers to dermatologists to review high quality images of suspicious skin lesions. CEO and Co-founder Elianna Goldstein explains that MR is focused on 2 innovations in providing a simple and easy process for expert dermatology opinions on skin lesions seen by your primary care provider. The first innovation is obtaining a high quality image of a suspect skin lesion using a dermoscope in the primary care provider's office. Dermoscopy, also known as dermatoscopy or epiluminescence microscopy, is the examination of skin lesions with a dermatoscope. It is a tool similar to a camera to allow for inspection of skin lesions unobstructed by skin surface reflections under magnification. The second innovation is rapid remote review of the high quality image by a dermatologist to determine next steps, if any. All with a single visit to your primary care provider. 

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Tech Coast Angels has been a major catalyst in helping build the startup ecosystem in Southern California. With more than 425 members and three angel funds, TCA has the wherewithal and financial ability to fund and help start-ups at the seed, bridge and early A-round. They seek great startups and entrepreneurs in the US and Canada with a particular emphasis on entrepreneurs located in California. TCA is affiliated with more than 50 other angel groups throughout the country and can syndicate deals with them. Providing more than just money, TCA brings connections, knowledge, mentoring and operational assistance to bold early-stage entrepreneurs with game-changing ideas. David Friedman is the current Chairperson at TCA and explains the TCA process and approach to working with founders as well as the ins and outs for TCA investors. He invites direct contact at [email protected].

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Proaxion is transforming the industrial workplace at the intersection of technology and teamwork with IOT sensing solutions for rotating manufacturing equipment to maximize industrial uptime. CEO Eric Murray explains Proaxion's innovative predictive maintenance strategy. ProAxion is transitioning to a 'Hardware as a Service' subscription model from their existing SaaS model, which features state of the art networked digital sensors, simplified software adoption and sophisticated cloud analytics to drive exceptional machine health to avoid unplanned downtime. While facing multiple challenges during the pandemic and the ensuing supply chain contraction, Proaxion has set the stage for growth with 29% YoY growth in subscription revenue for 1H 2023 and a successful funding round as they roll out their state of the art Gen5 sensor and invest in further software development. 

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6AM City has pioneered the hyperlocal media market growing from 1 to 26 markets since 2017 with 60-80% YoY revenue growth. COO and co-founder Ryan Heafy explains their focus on hyperlocal news ex-politics, crime and punishment that has notched them ~1.8MM subscribers with an open rate of >40% in 2023. They target ~85% local and ~15% national advertisers with a highly engaged and educated audience with disposable income. With a forecast of ~$28MM top line for 2025, they are targeting $50MM in revenue as their next major milestone with an exit target of $100MM as they reach toward 150 target markets.

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GoPivot has found its sweet spot, creating a new standard in the Corporate Wellness and Safety industry by leveraging the latest advances in data analytics and behavioral science. CEO Don Doster describes the GoPivot cutting-edge platform, mobile-first approach, and modern incentives to motivate employees to reduce OSHA incidents, improve health and wellness, and achieve other behavioral improvements. The GoPivot approach eliminates pointless rewards, misfit solutions, and wasted dollars. It’s how their FitWarrior participants lose an average of 25 pounds, and how safety clients reduce OSHA incidents by 60%. GoPivot's approach is so effective that they make a commitment to every client: If your people don’t change, you don’t get charged.

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E75: David reviews 5 headline new items in Venture: 
1) The Startup Bear Market,
2) The Exit Drought,
3) The US Federal Reserve actions
4) AI, is it a bubble?
5) Earthquakes in the Crypto markets
(recorded 7/16/23)

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