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

10/27/2025

Virginia can lead biotech manufacturing renaissance – if policymakers help

Last week, pharmaceutical giant Merck broke ground on a new $3 billion facility in Virginia that will create 8,000 construction jobs and 500 permanent manufacturing jobs. The new 400,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art plant isn’t merely the latest addition to Virginia’s rapidly growing biotech industry footprint. It’s a sign that America is making quick progress towards President

10/22/2025

Virginia Catalyst Announces Round 19 of Grant Funding

The Virginia Catalyst announced today that it is accepting letters of intent (LOI) for Grant Round 19 to fund the development and commercialization of life science projects that address major unmet needs for improving human health and advance Virginia’s economy. “We at the Virginia Catalyst are pleased to provide funding in support of the Governor’s

10/21/2025

SRI multi-party team selected as an awardee by ARPA-H to develop at-home screening for ≥30 types of cancers

SRI, along with research partners Foothold Labs and Triple Ring Technologies and commercial partner Beacon Dx Health, has been awarded up to $34 million from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) to develop technology as part of the POSEIDON (Platform Optimizing SynBio for Early Intervention and Detection in Oncology) program. This pioneering program