WRF Portfolio Companies
Advanced Materials
EnerG2, Inc
EnerG2 engineers advanced nano-structured materials for energy storage breakthroughs. EnerG2 is currently focused on customizing electrode materials to enhance energy and power density in ultracapacitors, one of the essential engines of the new energy economy. In the future, EnerG2 materials may be used to improve natural gas, methane and hydrogen storage as well as lithium-ion batteries.
MicroGREEN Polymers, Inc.
MicroGREEN is a development stage company focused on advanced polymeric material technologies, headquartered in Arlington, WA. The company was founded to commercialize a microcellular expanded plastic technology invented at the University of Washington.
Modumetal, Inc.
Modumetal builds nanolaminate metal alloys that are stronger and lighter than steel and will replace conventional metals and composites in many applications. The materials promise exceptional structural-to-weight characteristics and the customized non-homogeneous alloys can also be produced in a highly automated fashion with programmable physical characteristics such as unusual corrosion and thermal resistance.
Biotechnology
Accelerator Corp.
Accelerator Corporation, founded in 2003, is a vehicle for disciplined and efficient investment in and management of emerging biotechnology opportunities. Located in Seattle, WA, the company identifies, evaluates, finances, and manages groundbreaking emerging life sciences opportunities. The company has established and built a largely proprietary array of sources of deal flow, as well as a key set of resources to bring to bear in the development of the best opportunities emerging from those sources.
Accium BioSciences
Accium BioSciences is the first commercial provider of Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) bioanalytical services in North America.
As a specialty CRO, we provide ultrasensitive quantitation of radiolabeled drugs and their metabolites in clinical samples with routine detection of less than 0.01 DPM in small biological samples.
Acylin Therapeutics, Inc.
Acylin is the first biotechnology company focused on developing inhibitors of cellular acylation, an enzymatic mechanism fundamental to the molecular pathology of cancer, metabolic disease, and neurodegeneration. The Company has developed a proprietary platform technology to design specific acyltransferase inhibitors based on crystal structures, novel medicinal chemical approaches, and mechanistic understanding of biological and chemical pathways.
Alder Biopharmaceuticals, Inc.
Alder's mission is to help alleviate human suffering by generating better and safer antibody therapeutics through novel technologies. Alder plays two roles:
As a biopharmaceutical company, Alder uses its proprietary technologies to uniquely identify, develop, produce and market its own antibody therapeutics. The work being done at Alder today will help those who suffer from cancer, autoimmune diseases, and inflammatory diseases;
As a licensing partner, Alder is revolutionizing the way the pharmaceutical industry discovers, develops and produces antibody therapeutics. Through various licensing agreements, Alder has used its proprietary technology to help major biopharmaceutical partners advance novel therapeutics to the clinic in less time and at lower cost. Alder's licensing strategy also includes identifying a strategic partner to assist in the development and marketing of its lead antibody product, ALD518, for Rheumatoid Arthritis and Cancer.
ARZEDA Corp.
ARZEDA has the world-leading computational enzyme design technology and is changing the way people think about biocatalysis. ARZEDA was founded by David Baker and three senior members of his lab at the University of Washington to commercialize and further develop its computational enzyme design technology. ARZEDA's team includes the inventors of the platform and brings more than 20 years of combined experience in the field of computational and experimental protein engineering.
Cardeas Pharma
Cardeas Pharma is a pharmaceutical development company targeting unmet medical needs in respiratory conditions and infections diseases.
GlobeImmune, Inc.
GlobeImmune is a private biopharmaceutical company developing targeted molecular immunogens (Tarmogens) for the treatment of cancer and infectious diseases. GI-5005 is being evaluated in patients with chronic hepatitis C infection (HCV), as both a front-line therapy in combination with standard of care, and as a monotherapy for second line salvage in interferon intolerant patients. GI-4000 is being evaluated in patients with pancreas, lung and colorectal cancers caused by mutations in the Ras oncogene product. To date, Tarmogens have been generally well-tolerated, and shown to generate antigen-specific T cell immune responses and improved clinical outcomes in patients.
Groove Biopharma Corp.
Groove Biopharma focuses on the generation of novel microRNA (miRNA) therapeutics with improved properties, such as enhanced target selectivity and higher potency. Groove Biopharma’s technology presents promising potential for treating a wide range of diseases, including cancer and a variety of metabolic disorders.
Hyperion Therapeutics, Inc.
Hyperion Therapeutics, Inc. is a privately held specialty biopharmaceutical company dedicated to improving patients' lives through the development and commercialization of therapies that address critical unmet needs and underserved patient populations. The company's initial efforts are focused in the areas of gastroenterology and hepatology.
Ikaria, Inc.
As a fully integrated biotherapeutics company, we are positioned to help advance critical care. Leveraging a combination of highly specialized insight into human biology, clinical expertise, an intimate understanding of clinical needs, and an intense level of caring allows us to achieve remarkable goals.
Oncofactor
An internally-developed Accelerator company, Oncofactor is focused on developing cancer therapeutics that disrupt signaling pathways between tumors and the immune system.
Targeted Growth, Inc.
Targeted Growth, Inc. (TGI) is a crop biotechnology company focused on developing products with enhanced yield and improved quality for the agriculture and energy industries. TGI believes its technologies will become increasingly valuable in the future as the worldwide demand for food and energy crops continues to increase.
VLST Corp.
VLST Corp. is a biotechnology company that has developed a novel and streamlined approach to speed the development of effective therapeutics for the treatment of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. The VLST platform uses novel bioinformatics and state-of-the-art proteomics to identify viral genes whose protein products function as immunomodulatory agents.
XORI Corp.
XORI (chore-ee) is a University of Washington (laboratory of Dr. Nancy Maizels) spin-out focused on developing a unique technology for the rapid discovery and development of monoclonal antibodies (MAbs). XORI plans to validate this novel technology on a variety of targets to develop superior products for the treatment of cancer, immune disorders, and infectious diseases.
Medical/Personal Care Devices
EKOS Corp.
A Bothell, WA medical device company, EKOS is developing technologies that use localized ultrasound to facilitate, enhance, or control the delivery or activation of drugs at a targeted tissue site.
Mirador Biomedical, Inc.
Mirador Biomedical is developing disposable medical devices that provide data to physicians during common medical procedures to eliminate preventable complications and make the procedures safer. Mirador Biomedical’s team consists of entrepreneurs and seasoned professionals from the medical device and software industries.
Mobisante, Inc.
Mobisante, Inc. is a privately held mHealth product and services company. Our goal is to make ultrasound imaging more affordable and accessible to help health care professionals practice better medicine and to reduce costs.
Uptake Medical
Uptake Medical is developing a novel, minimally invasive lung volume reduction technology for patients suffering from emphysema and other types of chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD).
Scientific/Industrial Instruments
nLIGHT Corporation
Based in Vancouver, Washington, nLIGHT is developing high-powered laser diodes used in industrial applications.
TraceDetect
A Seattle, WA company founded in 1998 to develop fast, low-cost, portable instruments to detect and measure trace amounts of metals in aqueous solution.
Software/Internet
Corensic
Corensic (fka PetraVM) was founded by University of Washington computer science professors Mark Oskin and Luis Ceze to build software to make multi-core computers easier to program and more reliable. The company has been funded by Madrona Ventures and WRF Capital.
Nimbic, Inc.
Nimbic (formerly Physware) today helps customers solve their signal integrity (SI), power integrity (PI) and EMI challenges in a variety of design areas including microprocessors, FPGAs, memory, wireless RF systems, analog systems, and high-speed serial and parallel channels.
Skytap, Inc.
Skytap is the leading provider of cloud-based virtual labs that deliver 100% self-service provisioning of complex IT environments without any architectural changes. Cloud computing is poised to become the defining technology of the 21st century and Skytap's goal is to make serving up virtual machines over the internet as ubiquitous as delivering html to a browser. Depending on how you look at us, we're about maximizing efficiencies, minimizing costs, eliminating unnecessary hardware, outsourcing, eco-efficient computing, and doing more with less.
TeachTown, Inc.
Seattle-based TeachTown, Inc. is dedicated to increasing the accessibility of treatments for autism and other learning disabilities. Founded in 2000 by Dr. Christina Whalen, BCBA, TeachTown brings together experts in autism research with experts in video game technology.
Prior Investments
Amnis Corp.
A Seattle-based startup founded in 1998, Amnis is developing high throughput laboratory automation tools that use a novel molecule detection technology. The Amnis platform has both molecular and cellular-based applications in research and the clinic. Acquired by EMD Millipore, the Life Science division of Merck KGaA, August 2011
Corus Pharma, Inc. (Gilead Sciences Inc.)
Based in Seattle, WA, Corus Pharma develops pharmaceutical products that address unmet needs in infectious disease and respiratory disorders. Acquired by Gilead Sciences, Inc. in August 2006.
Farecast, Inc.
This University of Washington startup uses a combination of techniques to find patterns in the variation of airline ticket prices over time and so predict future price movements. The method may also apply to hotel rooms, rental cars and other analogous markets. Acquired by Microsoft in April 2008.
Halosource, Inc.
Halosource, Inc. is a bioscience company that employs chitin/chitosan and N-halamine-based technologies to serve the water treatment, biomedical, home, and personal care markets. Initial Public Offering (LSE: HALO.L) October 2010.
Intelligent Ion, Inc.
Based in Seattle, WA, Intelligent Ion is developing a miniature mass spectrometer based on proprietary technologies developed at the University of Washington and California Institute of Technology/Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Intelligent Ion is focusing its products for applications in the chemical industry and environmental market. Assets and intellectual property were acquired by O.I. Corp. in December 2004.
Lumera Corp.
Located in Bothell, WA, Lumera develops electro-photonic components based on proprietary polymer materials licensed from the University of Washington. Initial Public Offering (NasdaqNM: LMRA) 2004.
Numinous Technologies, Inc.
Numinous Technologies was founded in 1996 to develop graphics and interactive video software. Among its founders are noted computer graphics scientists David Salesin of the University of Washington and Andries van Dam of Brown University. Acquired by Microsoft in March 1999.
Omeros Corp.
Omeros is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company committed to discovering, developing and commercializing products focused on inflammation and disorders of the central nervous system. Our most clinically advanced product candidates are derived from our proprietary PharmacoSurgery platform designed to improve clinical outcomes of patients undergoing arthroscopic, ophthalmological, urological and other surgical and medical procedures. Leveraging our clinical development experience and our expertise in inflammation and the central nervous system, we have built multiple development programs targeting large markets. By combining our late-stage PharmacoSurgery product candidates with this deep and diverse pipeline of preclinical development programs, we create multiple opportunities for commercial success. Initial Public Offering (NASDAQ OMER) October 2009.
Pacific Bioscience Laboratories, Inc./Clarisonic
Pacific Bioscience Laboratories, Inc., a Washington company incorporated in 2001, is the developer of the CLARISONIC™ Skin Care System. The system includes the CLARISONIC brush which uses proprietary sonic technology and a two-way oscillating head to safely, deeply cleanse and clarify the skin. Pacific Bioscience Laboratories' mission is to develop and market technically advanced and clinically proven products that make a clear difference in skin care. Acquired by L'ORÉAL December 2011
Pathway Medical Technologies, Inc.
Pathway Medical Technologies, Inc. was founded to develop, manufacture and market medical devices for the treatment of arterial disease. The company's initial focus is treating peripheral arterial disease (PAD) more quickly, safely and effectively than existing technologies. Pathway's initial product, the Jetstream G2™ is designed to treat the entire spectrum of disease found in the PAD patient including hard and soft plaque, calcium, thrombus, and fibrotic lesions with consistent clinical results. Acquired by MEDRAD, Inc., an affiliate of Bayer HealthCare, in August 2011.
Performant, Inc.
Based in Bellevue, Washington, Performant is developing leading-edge technology to optimize backend performance of enterprise computer systems. The company's Optibench product suite will enable customers to completely outsource the management of their information technology system's performance. Acquired by Mercury Interactive in May 2003.
Reality Based Learning Co.
A Redmond, Washington based start-up, RBL is developing standards-based educational curriculum and assessment tools delivered through the Internet. The RBL software is based upon 35 years of study by Norris Haring, a founding director of the E.E.U. Center on Human Development and Disability at the University of Washington. Acquired by McGraw-Hill Education in April 2002.