{"data":{"type":"company_profile","id":130590,"entity_id":"wefunder:company:130590","attributes":{"canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/invvax","generated_at":"2026-06-22T18:27:50Z","updated_at":"2026-06-22T05:03:42Z","entity_ids":{"company":"wefunder:company:130590","slug":"wefunder:company_slug:invvax"},"profile_visibility":{"owner_published":true,"public_search_results":true,"site_search_listed":true,"privacy_mode":"promote","invite_only":false},"provenance":{"source":"wefunder_public_company_profile","as_of":"2026-06-22T18:27:50Z","claims":{"total_amount_raised":{"source":"FrontCompanySummary#amount_raised","last_verified_at":"2026-06-22T05:03:42Z","as_of":"2026-06-22T18:27:50Z","confidence":"high"},"total_investors":{"source":"FrontCompanySummary#number_of_investors","last_verified_at":"2026-06-22T05:03:42Z","as_of":"2026-06-22T18:27:50Z","confidence":"high"},"active_raise_states":{"source":"Fundraise.visible(nil, nil)","last_verified_at":"2026-02-12T18:21:04Z","as_of":"2026-06-22T18:27:50Z","confidence":"high"},"latest_fundraise_state":{"source":"Fundraise.visible(nil, nil).order(funding_started_at)","last_verified_at":"2026-02-12T18:21:04Z","as_of":"2026-06-22T18:27:50Z","confidence":"medium"}}},"company":{"id":130590,"entity_id":"wefunder:company:130590","slug":"invvax","name":"InvVax","tagline":"We use a new genetics platform to develop better vaccines for flu, COVID-19, etc","story":"*To our knowledge, this is the only universal flu vaccine targeting invariant sequence of influenza, but there could be, in theory, others that we do not know about.Source: Vision Research Reports.To our knowledge, we are the only company focused on invariance. There could be others we do not know about.Forward-looking projections are not guaranteed.Forward-looking projections are not guaranteed.","location":"Pasadena, CA","website":"https://www.inv-vax.com","total_amount_raised":124203,"total_investors":120,"is_funded":true,"is_active":true,"quality_score":2,"related_urls":["https://wefunder.com/invvax","https://www.inv-vax.com"]},"media":{"share_image_url":"https://uploads.wefunder.com/uploads/company/header_media_photo/130590/xxl_blob.jpg","logo_url":"https://uploads.wefunder.com/uploads/company/logo/130590/large_blob","header_media_url":"https://uploads.wefunder.com/uploads/company/header_media_photo/130590/standard_blob.jpg","cover_photo_url":"https://uploads.wefunder.com/uploads/company/header_media_photo/130590/standard_blob.jpg","profile_video_url":"https://wefunder.wistia.com/medias/hce0r7wt36"},"links":{"company_url":"https://www.inv-vax.com"},"highlights":[],"quick_facts":[{"index":1,"claim_id":"claim-fact-1","value":"Huge global market for these vaccines: Universal flu - $22B; COVID-19 - $5B"},{"index":2,"claim_id":"claim-fact-2","value":"Chance to make an enormous societal impact"},{"index":3,"claim_id":"claim-fact-3","value":"Patented durable and universal flu vaccine"},{"index":4,"claim_id":"claim-fact-4","value":"Major smashes: Moderna, BioNTech, Novavax: Invest in the next one!"},{"index":5,"claim_id":"claim-fact-5","value":"Backed by Life Science Angels - #1 US angel group (CB Insights), Sand Hill Angels, Tech Coast Angels"},{"index":6,"claim_id":"claim-fact-6","value":"Funded by the DoD and the NSF"}],"team":[{"id":3391431,"entity_id":"wefunder:company_role:3391431","user_entity_id":"wefunder:user:2830583","role":"founder","name":"Arthur Young","title":"CEO","bio":"PhD from a top 5-medical school; Postdocs at Harvard and UCLA; Pioneered a powerful new viral genetics platform applicable to vaccines and therapies","avatar_url":"https://uploads.wefunder.com/uploads/company_role/custom_photo/3391431/square_blob.jpg?1727105295","profile_url":"https://wefunder.com/arthur.young.1","linkedin_url":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/arthur-young-b7913876/","related_urls":["https://wefunder.com/arthur.young.1"]},{"id":4075815,"entity_id":"wefunder:company_role:4075815","user_entity_id":"wefunder:user:5030432","role":"employee","name":"Nima Shiva","title":"Head of Business Development","bio":"Managing Director, Convergent Ventures; Founder, Encode Bio; Co-founder, Neurion Pharmaceuticals","avatar_url":"https://uploads.wefunder.com/uploads/company_role/custom_photo/4075815/square_blob.jpg?1770926139","profile_url":"https://wefunder.com/nima.shiva","linkedin_url":"https://linkedin.com/in/nima-shiva-49123011","related_urls":["https://wefunder.com/nima.shiva"]},{"id":3395494,"entity_id":"wefunder:company_role:3395494","role":"employee","name":"Olga Petrauskene","title":"Director","bio":"COO, Diagnosticcs Biosystems; Produced an HIV and flu diagnostic with Applied Biosystems that is sold in 60 countries","avatar_url":"https://uploads.wefunder.com/uploads/company_role/custom_photo/3395494/square_blob.jpg?1700672730","linkedin_url":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-olga-petrauskene-ph-d-mba-7b9a24b/","related_urls":[]}],"featured_investors":[{"id":6120,"entity_id":"wefunder:company_investor_profile:6120","investor_profile_id":3078707,"investor_profile_entity_id":"wefunder:investor_profile:3078707","subject_entity_id":"wefunder:user:3616218","name":"Priya Balachandran","avatar_url":"http://uploads.wefunder.com/uploads/user/avatar/3616218/medium_edb5e88a49acee9e204220230622-52-1pmnr19.jpg","profile_url":"https://wefunder.com/priyabalachandran","endorsement_quote":"InvVax is fundamentally changing the way in which antiviral vaccines are developed. Leveraging years of technical and commercial experience in the space, the InvVax team has developed a breakthrough platform that significantly increases the vaccine hit rate against current, emerging and future variants of viruses such as Influenza, Hepatitis and SARS-COV-2. InvVax is collaborating with leading global researchers in the space to apply their best knowledge and move the technology to the next phase of commercialization \u0026amp; implementation. The platform can be extended to address rapid vaccine development for other viruses and future pathogens. Arthur Young, with his deep knowledge in viral genomics, Nima Shiva, with his proven track record in the biotechnology entrepreneurial space and Olga Petrauskene, with her extensive experience in viral diagnostics, create an outstanding team to bring forth a compelling platform to address the public health threat of viral infectious diseases globally.","investment_total":2500,"investment_info":"Invested $2,500 this round","is_lead_investor":true,"related_urls":["https://wefunder.com/priyabalachandran"]}],"investor_memos":[],"tab_counts":{"posts":11,"ask_questions":12,"featured_investors":1,"faq_entries":5},"active_fundraises":[{"id":79868,"entity_id":"wefunder:fundraise:79868","state":"successful","offering_type":"4(a)(6)","funding_type":"note","structure":"convertible_note","security_type":"debt","currency":"USD","testing_the_waters":false,"min_purchase":100,"max_purchase":9,"funding_target":1235000.0,"minimum_target":"50000.0","maximum_target":"1235000.0","funding_started_at":"2023-07-20T17:29:51Z","funding_closed_at":"2024-04-30T04:03:29Z","auto_close_at":"2024-04-30T03:59:59Z"},{"id":79869,"entity_id":"wefunder:fundraise:79869","state":"successful","offering_type":"4(a)(6)","funding_type":"note","structure":"ttw","security_type":"","currency":"USD","testing_the_waters":true,"min_purchase":100,"max_purchase":9,"funding_target":1235000.0,"minimum_target":"50000.0","maximum_target":"1235000.0","funding_started_at":"2023-01-31T20:19:34Z"}],"latest_fundraise":{"id":79868,"entity_id":"wefunder:fundraise:79868","state":"successful","offering_type":"4(a)(6)","structure":"convertible_note","testing_the_waters":false,"can_invest_now":false,"funding_started_at":"2023-07-20T17:29:51Z","funding_closed_at":"2024-04-30T04:03:29Z","terms":{"eb":"$7.5M","nb":"$10M","txt":"valuation cap"}},"recent_posts":[{"id":172797,"entity_id":"wefunder:feed_item:172797","type":"FeedItem::Update","visibility":"public","title":"InvVax Wefunder campaign closing soon!","preview":"https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/17/opinions/bird-flu-pandemic-threat-covid-mammals-yassif/index.htmlIt's shocking to say this, but we could be standing on the precipice of yet another pandemic. Influenza H5N1, a.k.a. \"bird flu,\" normally infects wild birds (such as ducks, geese, etc.) and farmed chickens, but does not normally infect mammals, including humans. However, there have been a couple of outbreaks of H5N1 among humans in the recent past. H5N1 originated in Hong Kong in 1997, and has caus...","published_at":"2024-04-22T20:05:18Z","author_name":"Arthur Young","url":"/feed/172797","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/feed/172797"},{"id":172242,"entity_id":"wefunder:feed_item:172242","type":"FeedItem::Update","visibility":"public","title":"InvVax makes it first foray into cancer!","preview":"I'm excited to announce that we've expanded our pipeline into cancer! This will be very early-stage R\u0026D. As a graduate student (yes, over 20 years ago), I had an idea to treat cancer by exploiting a universal feature of all cancers, which is the aberrant regulation of the Rb-E2F pathway. (This was the main topic of my PhD research.) E2F is a protein that drives cells into DNA replication, and Rb restrains E2F. Thus, E2F is the \"gatekeeper\" that determines whether a cell divides or not, and Rb...","published_at":"2024-04-05T18:40:35Z","author_name":"Arthur Young","url":"/feed/172242","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/feed/172242"},{"id":171398,"entity_id":"wefunder:feed_item:171398","type":"FeedItem::Update","visibility":"public","title":"Critical comparison of optimal flu vaccine modality","preview":"Greetings everyone,We're happy to say that our pivotal flu vaccine mouse study with Duke University is underway! Funded by an NIH grant through the Duke CIVICs program (Collaborative Influenza Vaccine Innovation Centers), we're comparing our adenoviral-vectored flu vaccine, already proven to work well, to mRNA as well as to peptides. As you almost certainly know, mRNA was the difference-maker that got the COVID-19 vaccine into clinics and played a major role in ending the pandemic. Many compa...","published_at":"2024-03-08T22:30:42Z","author_name":"Arthur Young","url":"/feed/171398","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/feed/171398"},{"id":171251,"entity_id":"wefunder:feed_item:171251","type":"FeedItem::Update","visibility":"public","title":"A new modality: Antibodies as prevention","preview":"Announcing solid progress toward our goal!Hello everyone,We're pleased to report substantial progress on our stable prophylactic antibodies (spAbs) work!As you might know, we received funding from the National Science Foundation just over two years ago to work on a project which is only tangentially related to our vaccine work, but is arguably the most exciting work in our pipeline. Namely, we are designing an antibody (Ab) backbone that is so extremely stable that our Abs can be given prophy...","published_at":"2024-03-02T19:18:59Z","author_name":"Arthur Young","url":"/feed/171251","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/feed/171251"},{"id":170436,"entity_id":"wefunder:feed_item:170436","type":"FeedItem::Update","visibility":"public","title":"New COVID-19 Vaccine is Subpar","preview":"The news is out\u0026nbsp;- this year's COVID-19 vaccine is just 54% effective:\u0026nbsp;https://www.statnews.com/2024/02/01/updated-covid-vaccine-effectiveness/That puts it in the range of the annual flu shot, which averages 40% effectiveness, at times is as high as 60%, and sometimes is as low as 20%. What does that mean, from a mathematical standpoint? (As an aside, you might hear the word \"effectiveness\" on occasion and other times, \"efficacy.\" The former is more a measure of natural world data, w...","published_at":"2024-02-08T18:43:55Z","author_name":"Arthur Young","url":"/feed/170436","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/feed/170436"},{"id":170186,"entity_id":"wefunder:feed_item:170186","type":"FeedItem::Update","visibility":"public","title":"KingsCrowd Capital's Investment into InvVax","preview":"Hello everyone,I'm excited to share some groundbreaking news with our InvVax community. KingsCrowd Capital has made a solid investment in InvVax during our current Wefunder round, and we've been awarded a stellar 4.3 rating on their platform. This is a monumental endorsement of our work and vision at InvVax.Understanding KingsCrowd CapitalKingsCrowd Capital is at the forefront of equity crowdfunding analysis, providing independent, AI-powered ratings and analytics for the online private marke...","published_at":"2024-01-24T18:55:28Z","author_name":"Arthur Young","url":"/feed/170186","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/feed/170186"},{"id":170038,"entity_id":"wefunder:feed_item:170038","type":"FeedItem::Update","visibility":"public","title":"InvVax Video Update","preview":"Hi everyone,I'm thrilled to share a recent video interview that highlights the innovative work we're undertaking at InvVax. This conversation is an engaging overview of our mission and the exciting investment opportunity available to those who wish to join us in this groundbreaking venture.In the video, you'll hear about our unique approach at InvVax - tackling the challenge of rapidly mutating viruses like influenza and COVID-19. We focus on developing vaccines that target crucial, unchangea...","published_at":"2024-01-17T20:54:10Z","author_name":"Arthur Young","url":"/feed/170038","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/feed/170038"},{"id":169830,"entity_id":"wefunder:feed_item:169830","type":"FeedItem::Update","visibility":"public","title":"InvVax's Year in Review: Pioneering Partnerships, Innovative Research, and Grant Triumphs in 2023","preview":"Hello Everyone,As we step into a new year, I want to share a personal reflection on the significant milestones and progress we've made at InvVax in 2023. It's been a year of growth, discovery, and collaboration, and I'm proud to recount these highlights with you.Firstly, we welcomed Nima Shiva, MBA, as our new Head of Business Development. Nima's impressive background, with a Bachelor’s in Neuroscience and Physiology from the University of California, San Diego, and an MBA from the Marshall S...","published_at":"2024-01-09T19:06:36Z","author_name":"Arthur Young","url":"/feed/169830","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/feed/169830"},{"id":169726,"entity_id":"wefunder:feed_item:169726","type":"FeedItem::Update","visibility":"public","title":"Elevating Impact in Global Health Innovation","preview":"It is very difficult, in this season of gladness and joy, to share with you this tragic story of a beautiful young girl, fully healthy, who perished just one day after being diagnosed with the flu.Read Article at Today.comStories like these are a sober reminder – indeed, a spark lit under me –motivating me to work double overtime to make the InvVax product a commercial reality. If there is a girl like Teresa, there are 650,000 more who succumb each year to the flu worldwide; and what is my ti...","published_at":"2023-12-29T19:55:36Z","author_name":"Arthur Young","url":"/feed/169726","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/feed/169726"},{"id":169104,"entity_id":"wefunder:feed_item:169104","type":"FeedItem::Update","visibility":"public","title":"Exciting Update: InvVax Early Bird Opportunity Extended!","preview":"Hello Everyone!I hope this message finds you well. I'm thrilled to share some exciting news with you regarding our ongoing Wefunder campaign.As many of you know, we launched our campaign with an early bird offer that has garnered significant interest and support. In response to this overwhelming demand and to show our appreciation for your enthusiasm, we've decided to extend our early bird terms.Originally, our early bird offer included a 35% discount and a $7.5 million pre-money valuation ca...","published_at":"2023-12-06T13:01:38Z","author_name":"Arthur Young","url":"/feed/169104","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/feed/169104"},{"id":168923,"entity_id":"wefunder:feed_item:168923","type":"FeedItem::Update","visibility":"public","title":"InvVax secures Duke U CIVICs grant!","preview":"InvVax Celebrates a Major Milestone: Duke University CIVICs Grant Awarded!We are thrilled to announce that InvVax has been awarded a significant grant from Duke University's Collaborative Influenza Vaccine Innovation Centers (CIVICs) program. This two-year grant, amounting to $400,000, marks a pivotal moment in our journey towards revolutionizing influenza vaccination.Background on the Grant:The CIVICs program, an initiative by Duke University, is designed to foster innovative approaches in i...","published_at":"2023-11-29T18:37:56Z","author_name":"Arthur Young","url":"/feed/168923","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/feed/168923"}],"q_and_a":[{"id":270574,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:270574","question":"Hey Arthur, this is a super cool company. Love what you’re focused on. Congratulations on the recent Duke grant win. Way to go! Would you please consider answering a few questions that I have? I noticed that the intention for some of the money resulting from this capital raise is to expand your work on other viral pathogens. Could you explain why you’re focused on expanding to other viral pathogens when it seems like the development costs of addressing your primary use cases are already extremely high. Why does it make sense to explore other viruses when it may be hard to raise enough capital to develop vaccines for your two evidenced-based primary use cases (the flu and covid)? What is your confidence that the company will be able to continue to raise capital? Are you currently in any discussions with private equity companies and/or individual angel investors? Are you anticipating any further non-dilutive funding? Based on the company self-description, it sounds like the company’s existing burn rate is about 56k per month, but expected to drop to about 40k per month. Is this correct? What is the company’s current burn rate and what is driving the ~16k per month reduction?","author_name":"Justin Olson","votes":2,"created_at":"2023-12-03T18:53:32Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/invvax#question-270574","answers":[{"id":270593,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:270593","answer":"Hi Justin, Thanks for these great questions! We've been branching out to other pathogens beside flu virus for a few reasons. First, we've completed all the preclinical proof-of-concept studies for our flu vaccine with the exception of two experiments, which we are going to do with our Duke grant. Since we're outsourcing these mouse studies, and since beyond that point, it's a lot of \"waiting\" around while our product goes through the long regulatory process, there's a lot of time and opportunity to do basic R\u0026amp;D on other indications. Second, this other R\u0026amp;D costs orders of magnitude less capital than our flu vaccine, and can be done as we're out raising money for flu without significantly adversely impacting our flu development. Third, we want to position our company to be able to generate IP on invariant targets in other viruses similar to what we did for flu, so that we could have possible opportunities for licensing to Pharma as another revenue stream that could come as or more quickly than flu. We are confident that additional capital will come at a level which will enable us to achieve our goals. We have had a few promising discussions with Big Pharma who are interested in our flu product, and if we could ink a deal here it would be a game-changer. We're eagerly awaiting the experiments under the Duke grant which we hope will raise our prospects on that front. Also, we have other grants that have a strong likelihood of getting funded. We also have a product development endeavor with the NIH that could result in funding for regulated manufacturing for our flu vaccine (the single biggest cost prior to Phase II clinical trials). Calculating monthly burn rate is an inexact science, and to be perfectly candid, it is a little hand-waving at best. We took on another full-time research staff, so the burn rate goes up on that note, but on another note, we just purchased a (quite) expensive mutant library for some antibody work we're doing after which our research expenses will decrease somewhat. And some months are a lot more than others. On average though, we're running through about $50k a month. Hope that helps! Feel free to reach out with any additional questions.","author_name":"Arthur Young","votes":3,"created_at":"2023-12-04T03:46:22Z"}]},{"id":273755,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:273755","question":"Hey Arthur, me again. It was really exciting to see the company's recent update, great work! And thank you for the detailed answer below. Would you mind commenting on how many months of runway InnVax has given it's approximate burn rate going forward? It's unclear to me exactly how expenses net out, given various grant funding sources (I'm not familiar with how distributions work or how far along on the timeline the various grants are). Thanks!","author_name":"Justin Olson","votes":1,"created_at":"2024-01-12T18:07:04Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/invvax#question-273755","answers":[{"id":273830,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:273830","answer":"Hey Justin, We're being powered mostly by federal grants right now, so our runway is based on that. We're burning approx. $60k a month, and are guaranteed at least 2.5 more years from grants. But, it's a relatively fluid situation; for example, we expect to receive a new 2 year grant pretty soon.","author_name":"Arthur Young","votes":3,"created_at":"2024-01-13T05:38:00Z"}]},{"id":273728,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:273728","question":"Does your patent apply to the technology in general, or just to your flu vaccine?","author_name":"Michael Fowlie","votes":1,"created_at":"2024-01-12T10:16:33Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/invvax#question-273728","answers":[{"id":273739,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:273739","answer":"Hi Michael, Thanks for asking. Our two patents are on the flu vaccine composition. It's very difficult to patent a method these days. However, we've got flu covered because we know no one else is going to find superior (or equal) targets, since we surveyed the whole genome and took the 11 best targets. As for the technological platform, we're underway in applying it to other viruses to meet unmet medical needs. The platform is quite labor-intensive and tricky, which makes it difficult for other people to repeat it/compete with us just based off of what we published. So, we're pretty confident we have a leg up on any possible competition out there. Hope that answers your question!","author_name":"Arthur Young","votes":4,"created_at":"2024-01-12T15:06:50Z"}]},{"id":272867,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:272867","question":"Hello, As a critical care respiratory therapist, now physician assistant, I have dealt with so many of these respiratory viruses; h1n1, covid, other flu strains dealing with the sickest of patients. This research/tech could be ground breaking if you are able to succeed. You mentioned patents, how many patents do you have/what roughly is it protecting? I've heard and seen many pharma companies attempt various things that would be ground breaking, only to not occur. From an investment standpoint, i've seen a fair share of high risk/high reward scenarios. Why will your company suceed/stand out from the other companies out there?","author_name":"Adam Sampson","votes":1,"created_at":"2023-12-31T13:16:04Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/invvax#question-272867","answers":[{"id":273305,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:273305","answer":"Hi Adam, Sorry for the delayed response. We do have two patents that have been granted for our flu vaccine, which is protecting the eleven sequence stretches in flu which are invariant (cannot be mutated without lethal consequence to virus). These sequence stretches make up the composition of our vaccine, such that it is not susceptible to viral mutational escape like all other flu vaccines are. There are a few possible answers to your question about why we believe we will succeed. First, we have a clear plan forward for developing our flu vaccine which is based upon extensive preclinical testing in relevant animal models. Second, we are backed by solid federal funding, which is funding not only our flu vaccine but other disease indications. Third, we are in the process of being shepherded by DMID (Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, a branch of the NIH) to develop a Product Development Plan in preparation for regulated manufacturing and clinical trials. Fourth, we have numerous great and innovative ideas for extending our platform to other viruses, and we even have the nondilutive funding which is driving that research. Thus, we are not a \"one-trick pony.\" I hope that answers your questions! Feel free to reply to this reply if you have any more. Happy New Year!","author_name":"Arthur Young","votes":4,"created_at":"2024-01-06T22:17:30Z"}]},{"id":266791,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:266791","question":"Given the amount of funding you've raised and the length of time you have been around, what can you offer in the way of confidence of the 36 month strategy to an IPO or partnership (and why those two as a target in 3 years time?). Sorry to sound skeptical but it's a very different market and considering your dilutive and non-dilutive funding, what's changed to make you think this is going to happen more now?","author_name":"Ethan B","votes":1,"created_at":"2023-10-25T06:03:09Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/invvax#question-266791","answers":[{"id":269791,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:269791","answer":"Hi Ethan, of note, we have begun outreach to large pharmaceutical companies seeking partnerships or licensing of our technology, and we have already met with interest from a couple of overseas large Pharma. They would like to see some data comparing mRNA to our viral vector, as the former is such a hot thing right now! (as it is a potent biological tool for vaccines, which I'm sure you know from COVID). We've obtained funding to execute that very experiment, and are already underway! We're confident that either way the experiment goes we have ammunition to go back to these Pharma cos. to possibly land upon something of great value.","author_name":"Arthur Young","votes":0,"created_at":"2023-11-22T17:11:20Z"}]},{"id":307919,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:307919","question":"any updates?","author_name":"Adam Sampson","votes":0,"created_at":"2025-05-10T00:52:28Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/invvax#question-307919","answers":[{"id":307924,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:307924","answer":"Hi Adam, thanks for asking and thanks for your support! Apologies for not sending a more recent update. Stay tuned for something in the next few days.","author_name":"Arthur Young","votes":0,"created_at":"2025-05-10T02:21:53Z"}]},{"id":277520,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:277520","question":"Hi Mr. Young, My family members and I have made an initial investment of around $5K thus far. While considering investments, we often have discussions regarding deals. We were wondering If the InvVax team is using Ai in their R\u0026amp;D? If so, is it of benefit at this stage? Thank you!","author_name":"Michael Celaya","votes":0,"created_at":"2024-02-28T01:35:28Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/invvax#question-277520","answers":[{"id":277524,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:277524","answer":"Hi Michael, Yes, thank you very much for your support! We aren't currently using AI in our R\u0026amp;D, but I get asked this a lot. I think if we were to have someone on our staff, or someone we are associated with, who has experience in this area, it could potentially be of benefit. But, I must admit: I don't know enough about AI to know exactly how it would fit into our company's pathway. But I am open to suggestions!","author_name":"Arthur Young","votes":0,"created_at":"2024-02-28T03:11:55Z"}]},{"id":276547,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:276547","question":"Mr. Young, Thank you for response. I have two follow up questions regarding a possible exit scenario: 1) If your company does a Public Offering, what valuation would be your target? 2) If InvVax goes the route of an Acquisition -or- a Big Pharma Licensing Deal followed by an acquisition, What valuation range do you envision as being an acceptable target?","author_name":"Michael Celaya","votes":0,"created_at":"2024-02-17T12:10:26Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/invvax#question-276547","answers":[{"id":276549,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:276549","answer":"Hi Michael, An IPO for a vaccine company similar to ours would seek for a valuation in the $200-400M range. For acquisition of the product by Big Pharma, it depends on the stage of our product in its clinical development, but we would likely seek a valuation in the $500M - $1B range. Acquisition of the entire InvVax company would carry a still higher price tag. Hope that helps!","author_name":"Arthur Young","votes":0,"created_at":"2024-02-17T14:04:54Z"}]},{"id":276536,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:276536","question":"Hello Mr. Young, My family and I initially invest $3K -$10K in a company that we believe has a strong probability of success. If all goes well, What is your preferred exit strategy and timeline for InvVax? Thank you for your response!","author_name":"Michael Celaya","votes":0,"created_at":"2024-02-17T03:02:13Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/invvax#question-276536","answers":[{"id":276546,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:276546","answer":"Hi Michael, Thanks for asking! We envision three different possibilities for an exit for InvVax. First, we could do an IPO either post-Phase 1 clinical trials or post-Phase 2. The former would be around 2027 and the latter around 2028. Second, we could undergo an acquisition by Big Pharma. This would probably be post-Phase 2, so could happen around 2028. Third, we could work out a licensing deal for one or more of our products with Big (or Medium-sized) Pharma. This would be the quickest exit for us, with a possibility of a deal as early as later this year. Of note, these are not mutually exclusive: for example, we could arrange a licensing deal later this year and be acquired by Big Pharm 4 years from now. Hope that answers your question! Feel free to shoot me over any more questions.","author_name":"Arthur Young","votes":0,"created_at":"2024-02-17T11:19:50Z"}]},{"id":274143,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:274143","question":"Continued ... So, have you tested the sequences or mRNA sequences in a protein-folded data set? Have you been able to ask for help from Google DeepMind AlphaFold to perform this computation? Have you queried the genomes of possible micro-biomes?","author_name":"Justin D Kruger","votes":0,"created_at":"2024-01-18T03:28:09Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/invvax#question-274143","answers":[{"id":274144,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:274144","answer":"Our epitopes (vaccine targets) are T cell epitopes, not antibodies, meaning that it is a short linear sequence that is recognized by immune cells rather than a 3-dimensional structure. So, we don't need to consider protein folding. We haven't BLASTed other microbiological species, but we do know that influenza virus has little homology to other organisms other than its close relatives, for example Influenza B virus and Influenza C virus.","author_name":"Arthur Young","votes":0,"created_at":"2024-01-18T03:36:04Z"}]},{"id":274132,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:274132","question":"I have a computer engineering background and a few friends are doing bio-informatics. As I understand what you are working on, you have found a sort of set of 'gatekeeper keys' or 'foundation blocks' of genetic sequences that, if these change or are mutated, then critical infrastructure for the virus to operate stops working. You then use mRNA vaccines to teach the immune system to target these sequences that are invariable or, rather, functionally immutable because then you A.) don't need to update the vaccine as regularly, possibly never, and b.) if the immune cells cause damage to this segment, then the virus might go inert more quickly? If I understand this correctly, then my question is: have you looked at the broadest possible human genome to see if any of these sequences you have identified intersect with human genetics or functionality? Would any of these mRNA sequences teach the immune system to target human cells and our microbiome or interfere with any human functionality?","author_name":"Justin D Kruger","votes":0,"created_at":"2024-01-18T00:37:14Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/invvax#question-274132","answers":[{"id":274139,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:274139","answer":"Hi Justin, Very good questions, and thanks for your support. For the most part, you have it right. Except that, it isn't so much that by targeting these \"immutable\" sequences immune cells make the virus go inert more quickly -- viruses \"go inert\" essentially any time a vaccine targets them, it's just that all other flu vaccines target mutable sequences, so if the virus mutates them (thereby escaping the vaccine) it gets along just fine. The InvVax vaccine targets sequences that, were the virus to mutate them, it would self-destruct -- just as you said, because \"critical infrastructure for the virus to operate stops working\" -- so the virus is unable to mutate around our vaccine. We've BLASTed our vaccine sequences against the human genome (basically you ask the NCBI website to look for sequences that are similar to your query sequence, amongst any species that you want), and none of our sequences closely match human genome sequence. So, we're not too afraid that our vaccine will target human cells. Hope that helps! Feel free to reach out with any add'l questions.","author_name":"Arthur Young","votes":1,"created_at":"2024-01-18T02:10:38Z"}]},{"id":266449,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:266449","question":"Hello, how are you? I have a strategy we can implement on your campaign to increase the number of backers and supporters. Please come after me so we can\u0026nbsp;talk\u0026nbsp;about\u0026nbsp;it. https://www.fiverr.com/s/8jjKoo","author_name":"Qorsim Pro","votes":0,"created_at":"2023-10-22T07:00:15Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/invvax#question-266449","answers":[]}],"faq":[{"question":"Given the amount of funding you've raised and the length of time you have been around, what can you offer in the way of confidence of the 36 month strategy to an IPO or partnership (and why those two as a target in 3 years time?). Sorry to sound skeptical but it's a very diffe...","answer":"Hi Ethan, of note, we have begun outreach to large pharmaceutical companies seeking partnerships or licensing of our technology, and we have already met with interest from a couple of overseas large Pharma. They would like to see some data comparing mRNA to our viral vector, as the former is such a hot thing right now! (as it is a potent biological tool for vaccines, which I'm sure you know from COVID). We've obtained funding to execute that very experiment, and are already underway! We're co..."},{"question":"Hey Arthur, this is a super cool company. Love what you’re focused on. Congratulations on the recent Duke grant win. Way to go! Would you please consider answering a few questions that I have? I noticed that the intention for some of the money resulting from this capital raise...","answer":"Hi Justin, Thanks for these great questions! We've been branching out to other pathogens beside flu virus for a few reasons. First, we've completed all the preclinical proof-of-concept studies for our flu vaccine with the exception of two experiments, which we are going to do with our Duke grant. Since we're outsourcing these mouse studies, and since beyond that point, it's a lot of \"waiting\" around while our product goes through the long regulatory process, there's a lot of time and opportun..."},{"question":"Hello, As a critical care respiratory therapist, now physician assistant, I have dealt with so many of these respiratory viruses; h1n1, covid, other flu strains dealing with the sickest of patients. This research/tech could be ground breaking if you are able to succeed. You me...","answer":"Hi Adam, Sorry for the delayed response. We do have two patents that have been granted for our flu vaccine, which is protecting the eleven sequence stretches in flu which are invariant (cannot be mutated without lethal consequence to virus). These sequence stretches make up the composition of our vaccine, such that it is not susceptible to viral mutational escape like all other flu vaccines are. There are a few possible answers to your question about why we believe we will succeed. First, we ..."},{"question":"Does your patent apply to the technology in general, or just to your flu vaccine?","answer":"Hi Michael, Thanks for asking. Our two patents are on the flu vaccine composition. It's very difficult to patent a method these days. However, we've got flu covered because we know no one else is going to find superior (or equal) targets, since we surveyed the whole genome and took the 11 best targets. As for the technological platform, we're underway in applying it to other viruses to meet unmet medical needs. The platform is quite labor-intensive and tricky, which makes it difficult for oth..."},{"question":"Hey Arthur, me again. It was really exciting to see the company's recent update, great work! And thank you for the detailed answer below. Would you mind commenting on how many months of runway InnVax has given it's approximate burn rate going forward? It's unclear to me exactl...","answer":"Hey Justin, We're being powered mostly by federal grants right now, so our runway is based on that. We're burning approx. $60k a month, and are guaranteed at least 2.5 more years from grants. But, it's a relatively fluid situation; for example, we expect to receive a new 2 year grant pretty soon."}]}}}