/Investor DB

Phase Two Ventures

Venture capital

San Diego · Pre-Seed–Seed · 11 people tracked

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Investment thesis

Phase Two Ventures believes the tools and platforms underlying biology determine what therapeutics become possible, so it funds the enabling layer rather than drugs themselves. It invests across three areas: R&D tools (instruments, reagents, consumables that make experiments faster and more reproducible), platform technologies with multiple applications (glycoengineering, spatial biology, epigenetic regulation, point-of-care cell therapy manufacturing), and AI x Bio software and autonomous agents that convert biological data into decisions. It writes first checks at pre-seed and seed, often before technology leaves the bench, and offers hands-on operator coaching on product, manufacturing, and commercial strategy. Rooted in San Diego with ties to UCSD and Salk, it favors overlooked science founders with defensible technical insight and a path from tools revenue to platform leverage.

Source: firm website, verified Oct 10, 2026.

Stage
Pre-Seed–Seed
HQ
San Diego, US
Leads rounds
Leads
Instruments
Equity
Founded
2022
Last 12 months
1 investment
Tracked investments
17

Team · 11 people

from the firm's website & public directories
Bruce Cary· Advisor

A co-founder and inventor at Mesa Biotech advancing rapid molecular diagnostics.

David Yazdi· Advisor

A scientist and entrepreneur, co-founder and CEO of Filtrous and Labifi.

Hong Cai· Advisor

Founder and former CEO of Mesa Biotech, which was acquired by Thermo Fisher Scientific.

Michael Weiner· Advisor

CEO of AbbraTech and a serial scientific entrepreneur working across genomics and diagnostics.

Yuhwa Lo· Advisor

A UC San Diego professor, inventor, and fellow of the National Academy of Inventors.

Founder mafia

2 people who came through Phase Two Ventures went on to found or lead other companies.

What they invest in

from 11 of 17 portfolio companies

Biotech ×11Healthtech ×8Deep Tech ×7AI & Machine Learning ×4Medical Devices ×4Hardware ×1New Materials ×1SaaS ×1

HQs:United States×6

Who they back

founder profiles across 9 portfolio companies
44%
solo founders
4 of 9 mapped founding teams
17%
repeat founders
of 12 founders with career history

Founding team size:solo founder×42 founders×23 founders×14+ founders×2

Where their founders studiedfrom 10 founders with education data

University of California, San Diego - Rady School of Management ×2Willamette University ×2

What their founders studiedfrom 12 founders with field-of-study data

Life Sciences ×7Engineering ×4Business & Management ×3Computer Science ×2Medicine ×2

Where their founders worked beforefrom 12 founders with career history

Omniome ×2University of California San Diego ×2

Investments · 17 tracked

founders shown can be your intro path

By year:2026 · 12024 · 12 dated

Acurionacurionhealth.com

Acurion Health develops OncoGaze, a technology that predicts clinically actionable genomic biomarkers from routine digital histology tissue slides at the biopsy stage.

AI & Machine LearningBiotechHealthtech

Andson Biotechandsonbiotech.cominSeed

Andson Biotech develops analytical tools for the analysis of biotherapeutics, aimed at supporting the discovery and development of biologic drugs.

BiotechDeep TechHealthtechAtlanta, US

Mason Chilmonczyk(Founder)inJim Filippini(Executive Officer)inRob Grier(Vice President of Operations)

BoardAndrei Fedorov(Director)Thomas O'Brien(Director)James Ross(Director)

Co-investorsGaingelsY CombinatorEquity Trust CompanyMcKesson VenturesMerck Global Health Innovation FundNorthpond Ventures+1 more

Arima Genomicsarimagenomics.comin

Arima Genomics develops DNA-based cancer diagnostics that combine genomic sequence with 3D genome structural information (via Hi-C sequencing) to detect fusions, rearrangements, ecDNA, and other structural drivers of cancer.

BiotechHealthtechMedical Devices

Sid Selvaraj(Founder & Chief Operating Officer)inTom Willis(Chief Executive Officer)inAnthony Schmitt(Senior Vice President, Science)inErin Davis(Vice President, Marketing)in

Co-investorsBerkeley CatalystIllumina Ventures

DEFINED BIOSCIENCE INCdefinedbioscience.com

Defined Bioscience develops cell culture media, growth factors, and related reagents for stem cell biology and regenerative medicine research.

BiotechDeep TechHealthtechMedical DevicesNew Materials

Steve Rees(Co-Founder, CEO)Jerome Karpiak(Co-Founder, VP of R&D)Jose M. Morachis(Founder and Board Chairman)Will Alaynick(Founder and Board Member)

Exthymicexthymic.cominApr 2024

Exthymic is a company working on cell therapy manufacturing, aiming to make cancer cell therapies more accessible to patients who currently cannot obtain them.

BiotechHealthtechSan Diego, US

Rich Stoner(Founder)inDan Knudsen(Founder)Kevin Cooksy(Founder)in

Co-investorsHAWKTAILKdT Ventures

Geltech Labsgeltechlabs.com

Automated platform for hydrogel testing across medicine, cosmetics, and agriculture applications.

Co-investorsNextFab VenturesTreeo VC

Lynx Bioscienceslynx.bioin𝕏

LynxBio (Lynx Biosciences) is a biotech company developing immuno-oncology and immunology therapies using a proprietary patient-based ex vivo disease biology platform combined with a multiomics approach for drug discovery.

AI & Machine LearningBiotechDeep TechSan Diego, US

Chorom Pak(Founder)in

Co-investorsCheckmate Capital Group LLCCove FundGreat Oaks Venture CapitalFlare Capital Partners

NanoCellect Biomedicalnanocellect.comin

Developer of microfluidic cell sorting technologies for the biotech industry.

BiotechHardwareMedical DevicesSan Diego, US

Jose Morachis(Executive Officer, Director)inNate Heintzman(Executive Officer, Director)inWilliam Alaynick(Executive Officer, Director)Chris Neary(CEO)in

BoardKenneth Hood(Director)

Co-investorsVertical Venture PartnersWarburg PincusAnzu PartnersFusionX VenturesHemisphere Ventures LLCIllumina Ventures+1 more

Navega Therapeuticsnavegatx.cominJan 2026

Navega Therapeutics develops gene therapies using zinc-finger and CRISPR-based epigenome regulation to control gene expression.

BiotechDeep TechHealthtechSan Diego, US

Fernando Aleman(Executive Officer, Director)inAna Moreno(Executive Officer, Director)inRandy Socol(Executive Officer)

Novoron Biosciencenovoron.comin𝕏

Novoron develops lipoprotein-receptor small molecule therapies aimed at repairing damage and degeneration of the brain and spinal cord, including treatments for proteinopathies and neuroregeneration following traumatic injury.

BiotechDeep TechHealthtechMedical DevicesSan Diego, US

Travis Stiles(CEO & Co-founder)inShawn Gahr(COO & Co-founder)inDavid Weiner(Executive Chairman)Ryan McMillian(CFO & Financial Strategy)

BoardMichael Goguen(Director)in

Co-investorsTwo Bear CapitalBackstage Capital

Readysetpotatoreadysetpotato.comin

Potato builds software that bridges scientific research and laboratory execution, enabling research teams to move from hypothesis to experiment to learning faster by automating the manual processes between scientific intent and real-world lab work.

AI & Machine LearningBiotechDeep TechSaaS

Merrit Savener(VP of Commercial)

Co-investorsAlumni VenturesDraper AssociatesRoble VenturesDolby Family VenturesEnsemble VC

Rybodynrybodyn.comin

RyboDyn develops breakthrough immunotherapies by identifying and targeting previously hidden disease markers through its proprietary RyboCypher™ technology platform.

AI & Machine LearningBiotechDeep TechHealthtech

Imad Ajjawi(Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer)inCorey Dambacher(Founder, President, & Chief Technology Officer)inKerry Wilson(Co-Founder & VP, Platform Development)inAshley Woodfin(Co-Founder & Bioinformatics Lead - Target Discovery)in

Co-investorsSOSVSwell PartnersHOF Capital

Other

Tracked investments with no reachable website or further public details — typically companies that wound down, renamed, or were absorbed.

Augment BiologicsMesa BiotechMorphos BioscienceScholarNexusSweetspot Diabetes

Portfolio news

latest coverage across their companies

Frequently asked questions

How many investments has Phase Two Ventures made?
Phase Two Ventures has 17 tracked investments, including 1 dated in the last 24 months.
What stage does Phase Two Ventures invest at?
Phase Two Ventures invests at the Pre-Seed, Seed stages.
What sectors does Phase Two Ventures focus on?
Phase Two Ventures focuses on AI & Machine Learning, Biotech, Deep Tech, Healthtech.
Where is Phase Two Ventures located?
Phase Two Ventures is headquartered in San Diego, US.
Does Phase Two Ventures lead rounds?
Yes, Phase Two Ventures leads investment rounds.
Who does Phase Two Ventures co-invest with?
Phase Two Ventures most often shares deals with Illumina Ventures, Gaingels, NextFab Ventures, among 21 tracked co-investors.

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