News

Nanochon closes $4M Series Seed Prime

Nanochon, a Washington, DC-based orthopedic device biotech company has raised $4 million in its series seed prime fundraising round.

The round was led by The University of Virginia Licensing and Ventures Group Seed Fund, with participation from Cultivate (MD), Alumni Venture Group, and Mountain State Capital, among others.

Nanochon intends to use the funds to initiate its first in human clinical trials in the US in 2024, deepen research and development efforts, expand the company’s patent profile and grow its team.

“We’re thrilled to close our funding round and begin our clinical program,” says Ben Holmes, CEO and co-founder. “Securing this funding is one step closer towards achieving Nanochon’s goals of eliminating the need for knee replacements, and greatly shifting the paradigm of arthritic joint care.”

Nanochon will initiate a phase I trial in the US this year for its patented knee implant Chondrograft™. The device requires only minimally invasive surgery to regrow damaged cartilage and bone to stave off the need for full knee replacements which are costly and have a long recovery time.

Holmes follows, “We’ve had fantastic success in our animal studies and we’re very optimistic about future implications in human knees and other joints.”

Nanochon is a biotech and medical device company focused on developing innovative orthopedic solutions. Chondrograft™ is a minimally-invasive implant that allows for immediate weight-bearing and motion – meaning less time spent recovering. Nanochon has the potential to deliver more successful and longer-lasting recovery for patients than current standard of care. Our mission is to develop a new approach to treat cartilage replacement and repair so that the hundreds of thousands of young, active patients with joint damage can return to their lifestyles without having to undergo costly and invasive short-term fixes.

Read more here.

Recent News

04/15/2026

Gov. Spanberger and Homegrown Innovator Agrospheres Celebrate Launch of Virginia’s new Biomanufacturing Facility

AgroSpheres, Inc., a Charlottesville-based agricultural biotechnology company, officially opened its first commercial biomanufacturing facility, representing a milestone for AgroSpheres and the biotech ecosystem. Speakers at the ribbon-cutting ceremony included: Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger, AgroSpheres co-founders CEO Payam Pourtaheri and CTO Ameer Shakeel, Albemarle County Chair of the Board of Supervisors Ned Gallaway, President of the

04/08/2026

Likarda and The Tiny Cargo Company Announce Strategic Partnership to Advance Next-Generation Delivery of Biologics, Peptides and Small Molecules

Likarda, Inc., a leader in hydrogel-based drug delivery technologies, today announced a strategic partnership with Tiny Cargo, an innovator in extracellular vesicle (EV) delivery systems. The collaboration will focus on advancing the delivery of biologics and small molecules by integrating Likarda’s Core-Shell Spherification® (CSS®) platform with Tiny Cargo’s vesicle-based technologies. The partnership is designed to

04/08/2026

ReAlta Life Sciences Closes Oversubscribed $40 Million Financing Round to Advance Pegtarazimod Phase 2 Program in Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE)

ReAlta Life Sciences Inc. (“ReAlta” or the “Company”), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on safely targeting neutrophils and central components of the complement system to potentially revolutionize the treatment of inflammatory disorders, today announced the closing of an oversubscribed $40 million financing. This brings the total capital raised to date to more than $150 million.