KickStart Venture Services, the life-sciences startup program and accelerator from Innovate Carolina, awarded commercialization grants to UNC-affiliated startups GeneVentiv Therapeutics and Elipsys.
The historical article explains that the grants, worth up to $50,000 each, were intended to help translate UNC-Chapel Hill intellectual property toward commercial development. It also describes KickStart’s role in providing early-stage funding, accelerator resources and connections to investors and service providers.
Mireya McKee, PhD, director of KickStart.
Spring 2022 Grant Recipients: GenVentiv Therapeutics and Elipsys
GeneVentiv was described at the time as a pre-clinical gene therapy company focused on blood diseases and disorders. The article references GENV-HEM’s then-current positioning for hemophilia A and B with or without inhibitors, FDA Orphan Drug Designation, and a Letter of Support from the National Hemophilia Foundation. It also notes the company’s historical hemophilia arthropathy program and identifies Damon Race and Chengwen Li as founders.