hfpef
(3)
Axon Therapies, Inc.
Axon Therapies is a clinical-stage medical device company developing SAVM (Splanchnic Ablation for Volume Management), a minimally invasive, implant-free catheter procedure that ablates the greater splanchnic nerve to calm an overactive sympathetic nervous system and rebalance blood volume in patients with heart failure - particularly heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). Incubated by the medtech studio Coridea and backed by leading healthcare investors, the company is advancing its Satera Ablation System through randomized, sham-controlled feasibility trials.
Zoar Engelman
Zoar Engelman is the co-founder and CEO of Axon Therapies, a clinical-stage medical device company chasing a stubborn problem: heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, a condition that has resisted nearly every drug thrown at it. A biomedical engineer with a PhD from the University of Auckland, Engelman spent two decades turning lab ideas into implantable and catheter-based devices, co-founding roughly nine ventures and helping raise more than $150 million along the way. In September 2025 he stepped up from Chief Scientific Officer to CEO as Axon closed an oversubscribed $32 million Series A to advance SAVM, an implant-free procedure that quiets an overactive sympathetic nervous system to rebalance the body's blood volume.
Fauna Bio
Fauna Bio is an AI-driven drug discovery company that mines roughly 100 million years of evolved disease resistance in mammals to find new human therapies. Founded in 2018 in the San Francisco Bay Area, it combines comparative genomics, a proprietary animal biobank, and machine learning - through its Convergence and Fauna Brain platforms - to translate the biology of hibernators and other resilient species into drug targets for conditions like obesity, heart failure, neurodegeneration, and retinal disease. Its work has attracted a partnership with Eli Lilly worth up to $494 million.