Funding profile · AI drug formulation

Lavo Life Sciences

No Form D on record, one undisclosed database entry for a Pre Seed round, and $1.49 million in federal grants that are the only dollar figures with a primary source behind them.

$1.49MFederal grants on record, NSF SBIR Phase I and II, 2023 to 2027
$0Form D filings found for Lavo Life Sciences in SEC EDGAR
UndisclosedPre Seed round amount, per funding database, dated Dec 15, 2023
1Named investor across all reported rounds (BBQ Capital)

Data as of September 25, 2026. Company-reported and database-reported figures are labeled.

Rounds at a glance

When Round Amount Investors Source
Feb 2023 Y Combinator, Winter 2023 Not disclosed Y Combinator YC data
Sep 2023 NSF SBIR Phase I $274,990 National Science Foundation NSF
Dec 15, 2023 Pre Seed Not disclosed BBQ Capital Database
Jul 2025 NSF SBIR Phase II $1,213,322 National Science Foundation NSF

What the filings show

No Form D appears for Lavo Life Sciences, under either the Inc or LLC name, in SEC EDGAR’s full text search, which was checked across every form type on September 25, 2026. What does exist are two National Science Foundation award records, which function here as the closest thing to a primary filing.

Lavo Life Sciences Inc · NSF SBIR Phase I · awarded Sep 13, 2023

Award ID
2227936
Amount
$274,990
Program
Biotechnology, SBIR Phase I
Principal investigator
Derek Metcalf
Period
Sep 15, 2023 to Aug 31, 2024
Record
National Science Foundation award search, ID 2227936

Lavo Life Sciences Inc · NSF SBIR Phase II · awarded Jul 11, 2025

Award ID
2451698
Amount
$1,213,322
Program
Bioinformatics, SBIR Phase II
Principal investigator
Derek Metcalf
Period
Jul 15, 2025 to Jun 30, 2027
Record
National Science Foundation award search, ID 2451698

Reading the filings

  1. No Form D on record.SEC EDGAR’s full text search returns zero hits for “Lavo Life Sciences” under any form type as of Sep 25, 2026. That does not prove no equity was ever sold. A company that raises under an exemption that does not require Form D, or that simply never filed one, looks identical in this search to a company that raised nothing.
  2. The pre seed round is a database entry, not a filing.The only trace of a priced round is a funding database listing a Pre Seed round dated Dec 15, 2023, naming BBQ Capital as investor, with no amount disclosed. No press release or SEC filing corroborates it.
  3. The grants outweigh the disclosed venture money.The two NSF SBIR awards total $1,488,312, that is $274,990 plus $1,213,322, and are the only dollar figures anywhere in this record backed by a primary government source. No disclosed venture round beats that total.
  4. The filer name does not match consistently either.Federal registration lists the entity as “LAVO LIFE SCIENCES INC,” a Delaware corporation founded November 2022. A separate SBIR company database lists the same firm as “Lavo Life Sciences LLC.”
  5. Revenue estimates do not reconcile.One aggregator estimates $5.4M in 2024 revenue and about 36 employees as of 2026, yet the same page also lists 3 employees for 2024 and separately states that no funding has been reported for the company at all, despite the pre seed database entry and the NSF grants both being on record elsewhere.
  6. The site went dark sometime after February 2026.The Wayback Machine’s last successful capture of lavo.ai, showing a live product called Crystal Console, is dated Feb 9, 2026. As of Sep 25, 2026 the domain does not resolve.

Commercial signals

Signal Detail Source type
Product Crystal Console, a web platform for AI-powered crystal structure prediction of small molecule drugs. Company-stated
Accelerator Y Combinator, Winter 2023 batch. Independent
Non-dilutive funding $1,488,312 across two NSF SBIR awards, 2023 to 2027. Public record
Named pharma partners None found in the public record. Not found
Customers and revenue No verified figures; one aggregator’s self-contradictory estimate only. Unverified
Site status lavo.ai unreachable as of Sep 25, 2026; last live capture Feb 9, 2026. Observed

What to watch

  • Whether Lavo restores lavo.ai or makes any statement about its status.
  • Whether a Form D ever appears for the reported Pre Seed round.
  • Activity on NSF award 2451698, funded through June 30, 2027 regardless of the company’s commercial status.
  • Confirmation of the entity’s correct legal form, Inc versus LLC.

The Lavo Life Sciences story on Healthcare DiscoveryHealthcare Discovery

Related companies

  • Mederva: Shared investor: Bbq Capital. A San Francisco startup that pairs health coaching with licensed clinicians and bills the work through a patient's own insurance, aiming to turn a doctor's fifteen
  • Angstrom AI: Also in Drug Discovery and Delivery. A University of Cambridge spinout building generative AI molecular simulations meant to substitute for wet lab chemistry in early drug development
  • Convexia: Also in Drug Discovery and Delivery. A two person, Y Combinator backed startup that wants AI agents to do the job of a pharma business development team: find overlooked drugs, judge them, and eventually
  • b12 Labs: Also in Drug Discovery and Delivery. A two person, then three person, chemistry lab in San Francisco building AI agents that plan chemical reactions and hand the resulting protocols to robots

Sources

  1. Public recordNSF award abstract, SBIR Phase I, award 2227936National Science Foundation · Sep 13, 2023
  2. Public recordNSF award abstract, SBIR Phase II, award 2451698National Science Foundation · Jul 11, 2025
  3. Public recordSEC EDGAR full text search for Lavo Life Sciences, zero Form D resultsSEC EDGAR · accessed Sep 25, 2026
  4. Public recordLavo Life Sciences federal awardee registration (SAM.gov data)HigherGov · accessed Sep 25, 2026
  5. IndependentLavo Life Sciences: AI for drug formulation, company pageY Combinator · accessed Sep 25, 2026
  6. IndependentLavo Life Sciences LLC, SBIR company profileinknowvation · profile last edited Dec 9, 2023
  7. IndependentLavo Life Sciences (AI, Biotechnology): funding, investors and signalsBounce Watch · accessed Nov 14, 2025
  8. IndependentLavo Life Sciences revenue and team size estimateGetLatka · accessed Sep 2, 2026

Compiled from SEC and NSF public records and published reports as of September 25, 2026. Form D notices report offerings under Regulation D and this search found none for Lavo Life Sciences; the absence does not by itself confirm no equity was sold. Healthcare Venture Capital Fund holds no position in Lavo Life Sciences. This page is not an offer to sell or a recommendation to buy any security.