Mike Leffer

At Icarus Medical Innovations, our mission is simple yet powerful: to improve lives by reducing pain and enhancing movement. We put the patient first, designing innovative orthopedic solutions that push the boundaries of 3D-printing, biomechanics, and design to create braces that provide real, lasting relief. Our approach is driven by cutting-edge technology and a commitment to innovation, but at our core, we are a company built by real people with real experiences—starting with our founder, Dave Johnson. Dave’s journey began at 15 years old, when a football injury led to a knee dislocation and early-onset arthritis decades ahead of the typical timeline. By his early 30s, facing bone-on-bone osteoarthritis, he was told his only real option was a knee replacement—a solution that came with risks, limitations, and long-term complications. Determined to find another way, Dave had an idea: what if a brace could unload the knee the same way weight loss could reduce joint stress? With that, he built his first prototype in his garage—a knee brace with built-in springs to provide real-time relief. And it worked. Seeing firsthand how this concept transformed his own mobility, Dave began refining the design, helping others with similar conditions, and ultimately launching Icarus Medical to bring true innovation to orthopedic bracing. Today, Icarus Medical leads the industry with 3D-printed, patient-centric solutions that provide custom fit, superior comfort, and dynamic support. Our braces aren’t just medical devices—they are tools to help people reclaim their active lifestyles and live without limits. With a foundation built on technology, patient experience, and relentless innovation, we are reshaping the future of orthopedic support—one brace at a time. If you’re a clinician looking to enhance your bracing program or a patient wondering if Icarus products are right for you, we’d love to connect. Feel free to send us a message or email at info@icarusmedical.com.

ARCs AI-enabled weapon sensors (AEWS) deliver critical insights from the tactical edge. This capability supports enhanced situational awareness and predictive logistics in large scale combat operations.

Bright is a global immersive learning and skill development company that uses simulations, practice, and AI/NLP-powered personalized coaching to build skilled, experienced, and fulfilled contact center teams. It’s immersive learning that transforms by enabling real practice for real life. We specialize in training simulations that develop proficiency in a variety of skills - such as empathy, de-escalation, and problem solving. Our platform also enables customers to build a software training environment using simple drag-and-drop tools that require no help from IT, helping employees more quickly develop proficiency with CRM tools, knowledge management, and more. Enabling employees to practice customer interactions and software navigation simultaneously allows them to truly develop proficiency in the holistic skill set necessary to provide a memorable customer experience. Leaders can certify that employees are ready for production by reviewing an objective learner skill proficiency dashboard along with access to insightful reporting. Our customers find that deploying Brights immersive learning model can reduce training costs between 25-50% compared to traditional training methods while growing employee productivity 20% or more, and providing a rich, new data set to undeniably prove the power and impact of learning. Customers implement Bright to achieve a wide range of improvements, from reduced training time/cost and speed-to-proficiency, to improved quality, productivity, retention, and customer satisfaction. Welcome to a more modern, human way to learn!

Previse is on a mission to save lives through the earlier detection and prevention of cancer, starting with esophageal cancer. They are actively working to get patients and healthcare providers the answers they need sooner by understanding and unlocking the power of biomarkers on cancer development and severity. Previse’s technology was made possible by grants from the National Institutes of Health (“NIH”) and developed after decades of research by the GI Early Detection Biomarker Lab at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. An esophageal cancer diagnosis is something that nobody wants to hear. Today, this cancer takes 16,000 lives in the United States each year. The primary reason - the current detection method, upper endoscopy, is both invasive and expensive, so its often not used until symptoms arise. In over 75% of cases, this is after the cancer has already spread and treatment options are limited, leading to esophageal cancer being the 3rd most lethal cancer in the United States (behind only pancreatic and lung cancer). Previses early-detection system combines a simple routine test given as part of routine care with our patented DNA biomarkers that accurately test for disease. Our system is convenient, inexpensive, and accurate, so it can be given to those at risk before cancer symptoms, empowering patients to know earlier, receive necessary treatments, and live a healthier, longer life.

Fintech startup on a mission to help people access better credit

A talent marketplace that uses innovative technology, career development, and a focus on skills-based hiring to create employment solutions for companies and remote careers for military and veteran spouses. Visit us at instantteams.com to learn more.

Privva is an award-winning, cloud-based vendor risk assessment platform delivering value for a diverse customer base across industries including legal, financial services, technology, healthcare, education, and media. The most flexible platform in the market, Privva’s solution streamlines the assessment process from authoring to automatic recurring delivery. Developed with a philosophy that risk is contextual, Privva’s adaptable features enable a tailored approach to assessing risk with an intuitive user interface that drives a responsive experience throughout the process. Privva’s Vendor Security Assessment offering centralizes security questionnaires, risk ratings and scoring of responses for third-parties that have access to enterprise networks or sensitive data. Through the use of Privva’s workflow and templates, the time it takes to assess a vendor is reduced by 75% and annual recertification can be automated. Looking upstream, Privva’s AutoAssess Solution uses machine learning technology to automate the process of responding to client security assessments. The AutoAssess solution saves law firms more than 90% of their time completing this process ensuring resources can be allocated to other critical functions of cybersecurity.

Pinkaloo is modernizing charitable giving. Through our Modern Giving accounts, we enable Employers, Community Foundations, and Retail Banks to empower their employees and customers to drive the most impact via their charitable giving. Pinkaloo’s technologies is fully managed, allowing customers to white-label the app and to promote their preferred charities to their employees and account holders. Account holders can now centralize all of their giving by funding their account when and how they want, find projects and charities that match their passions, and quickly and easily donate from their account to any charity that they want. We make budgeting easy, and come tax time, all of their receipts are in one place. That’s Modern Giving.

At Icarus Medical Innovations, our mission is simple yet powerful: to improve lives by reducing pain and enhancing movement. We put the patient first, designing innovative orthopedic solutions that push the boundaries of 3D-printing, biomechanics, and design to create braces that provide real, lasting relief. Our approach is driven by cutting-edge technology and a commitment to innovation, but at our core, we are a company built by real people with real experiences—starting with our founder, Dave Johnson. Dave’s journey began at 15 years old, when a football injury led to a knee dislocation and early-onset arthritis decades ahead of the typical timeline. By his early 30s, facing bone-on-bone osteoarthritis, he was told his only real option was a knee replacement—a solution that came with risks, limitations, and long-term complications. Determined to find another way, Dave had an idea: what if a brace could unload the knee the same way weight loss could reduce joint stress? With that, he built his first prototype in his garage—a knee brace with built-in springs to provide real-time relief. And it worked. Seeing firsthand how this concept transformed his own mobility, Dave began refining the design, helping others with similar conditions, and ultimately launching Icarus Medical to bring true innovation to orthopedic bracing. Today, Icarus Medical leads the industry with 3D-printed, patient-centric solutions that provide custom fit, superior comfort, and dynamic support. Our braces aren’t just medical devices—they are tools to help people reclaim their active lifestyles and live without limits. With a foundation built on technology, patient experience, and relentless innovation, we are reshaping the future of orthopedic support—one brace at a time. If you’re a clinician looking to enhance your bracing program or a patient wondering if Icarus products are right for you, we’d love to connect. Feel free to send us a message or email at info@icarusmedical.com.

ARCs AI-enabled weapon sensors (AEWS) deliver critical insights from the tactical edge. This capability supports enhanced situational awareness and predictive logistics in large scale combat operations.

Bright is a global immersive learning and skill development company that uses simulations, practice, and AI/NLP-powered personalized coaching to build skilled, experienced, and fulfilled contact center teams. It’s immersive learning that transforms by enabling real practice for real life. We specialize in training simulations that develop proficiency in a variety of skills - such as empathy, de-escalation, and problem solving. Our platform also enables customers to build a software training environment using simple drag-and-drop tools that require no help from IT, helping employees more quickly develop proficiency with CRM tools, knowledge management, and more. Enabling employees to practice customer interactions and software navigation simultaneously allows them to truly develop proficiency in the holistic skill set necessary to provide a memorable customer experience. Leaders can certify that employees are ready for production by reviewing an objective learner skill proficiency dashboard along with access to insightful reporting. Our customers find that deploying Brights immersive learning model can reduce training costs between 25-50% compared to traditional training methods while growing employee productivity 20% or more, and providing a rich, new data set to undeniably prove the power and impact of learning. Customers implement Bright to achieve a wide range of improvements, from reduced training time/cost and speed-to-proficiency, to improved quality, productivity, retention, and customer satisfaction. Welcome to a more modern, human way to learn!

Cantina is an agentic operating system that deploys domain-expert agents across your entire security lifecycle. From code and cloud to endpoints and identity, consolidating SIEM, EDR, SOAR, CSPM, and more, we consolidate everything into a single agentic platform. The result: security that scales as fast as your team ships.

We are a curated team of angel investors dedicated to leveraging our experiences, networks, and capital to benefit our portfolio companies.