Aldo Carrascoso

Aldo Carrascoso (born July 19, 1978) is a Filipino entrepreneur known for founding Veem and Jukin Media.[1] He founded InterVenn Biosciences, an American pharmaceutical and biotechnology company, with Carolyn Bertozzi and served as its chief executive officer for six years.[2][3]

Aldo Carrascoso
Born (1978-07-19) 19 July 1978
Manila, Philippines
EducationAteneo De Manila University
Babson College
OccupationEntrepreneur
Known forFounder of Jukin Media, Veem

Background

Carrascoso was born and raised in the San Juan of Manila, Philippines.[1][4] His father was an engineer and a general manager of Manila International Airport, causing Carrascoso to be exposed to technology from a young age.[5]

He attended primary and secondary education at De La Salle, and completed his undergraduate studies at the Ateneo De Manila University, where he received a BS in Psychology. He then went on to earn an MBA from Babson College.[6]

Carrascoso's mother Lily died of breast cancer in 1993.[7] His frustration with the available diagnostic and treatment options was a major factor which later motivated him to enter the field of cancer treatment research.[4] After another relative was diagnosed with cancer in 2016, Carrascoso participated in a trial to determine why genomic sequencing was unable to detect cancer within his family, where he met future InterVenn co-founder Carolyn Bertozzi.[8]

When Carrascoso learned that analysis of the data from the sample would take 12 months, he became determined to develop a method to analyze samples using machine learning and artificial intelligence, eventually leading to the founding of InterVenn Biosciences.[8][9]

Career

To date, Carrascoso has participated in founding four companies.

Verego

Carrascoso co-founded Verego, a B2B matchmaking platform, in 2009. He developed the concept for the company based on work completed during his MBA.[10] Carrascoso described the platform as "Tinder for companies," comparing strategic business partnerships to long term relationships or marriage, and utilizing a matching algorithm to pair business with each other.[11]

Jukin Media

In 2009, Carrascoso also co-founded Jukin Media, a company which licenses, distributes and monetizes viral content, with Jonathan Skogmo and Josh Entman.[12] He served as CTO of the company during its early development. The platform uses a proprietary machine learning algorithm called "Riff" to generate media feeds based on viral keywords.[13]

Jukin raised approximately $6 million in funding from Samsung Ventures, BDMI, Third Wave Digital and Mandalay Entertainment chairman and CEO Peter Guber[14] and was acquired by Trusted Media Brands in 2021.[15]

Veem (formerly Align Commerce)

In 2012, Carrascoso co-founded Veem (originally named Align Commerce), a multi-channel payment platform, with Marwan Forzley.[16] He served as both CTO and COO, overseeing the development of deep learning algorithms which analyzes transactions to determine whether traditional and blockchain payment channels will be more efficient.[17]

The platform was intended mainly to make the cross-border efficiency of blockchain payment rails readily accessible to small and medium businesses.[18] It was initially funded by Silicon Valley Bank, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and later by the National Bank of Australia and Google Ventures.[19]

InterVenn Biosciences

In 2017, Carrascoso co-founded InterVenn Biosciences along with chemistry professors Carlito Lebrilla and Carolyn Bertozzi [20] The company uses artificial intelligence developed by Carrascoso for glycoproteomic analysis for early diagnosis of certain cancers.[21] InterVenn's first product was "Glori," a liquid biopsy tool for identifying malignant ovarian tumors.[22] Variations of the method have since been used to develop diagnostic tools for 24 other types of cancer, including renal, lung, liver, prostate, pancreatic, nasopharyngeal, and colorectal cancers.[23]

The company raised $45 million USD over two funding rounds in 2018 and 2020, before raising $201 million USD in a series C round led by SoftBank.[24]

References
  1. Racoma, J. Angelo (1 September 2021). "Filipino BioTech founder is changing the game in the global fight against cancer with AI, machine learning & 'glycan' research". TechNode Global. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
  2. "The Nobel Chemistry Prize Winner This Year Co-Founded a Revolutionary Startup with a Filipino Serial Entrepreneur". Esquiremag.ph. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
  3. Leuty, Ron (2 August 2021). "SoftBank, others invest $201M in Peninsula startup, next-gen cancer test". San Francisco Business Times. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
  4. "How InterVenn Biosciences CEO Aldo Carrascoso is transforming the global fight against cancer". Speed. 24 April 2022. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
  5. Grana, Rhia (12 September 2021). "They call him 'Pinoy Elon Musk' and his startup is working on changing the game in cancer detection". ABS-CBN News Channel.
  6. "Changing the game in global fight vs cancer". malaya.com.ph. 6 September 2021. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
  7. Crawford, John (22 July 2021). "When an Entrepreneur Takes on Cancer ยท Babson Thought & Action". Babson Thought & Action. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
  8. "Filipino-run biotech company develops ovarian cancer detection tool". Manila Bulletin. 11 December 2020. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
  9. "Liquid biopsy is a multibillion-dollar market, and InterVenn is looking to take advantage". PharmaVoice. Retrieved 14 February 2023.
  10. "Filipino techpreneur finds success in Silicon Valley". Manila Standard. 22 April 2017. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
  11. "Serial Entrepreneur". groco.com. 22 May 2019. Retrieved 14 February 2023.
  12. Alba, Davey. "Inside the Company That's Made Viral Videos Big Business". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
  13. Keiles, Jamie Lauren (27 December 2016). "How Jukin Media Built a Viral-Video Empire". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 14 February 2023.
  14. Spangler, Todd (12 August 2021). "Jukin Media Acquired by Trusted Media Brands, Parent of Reader's Digest". Variety. Retrieved 14 February 2023.
  15. Gilchrist, Todd (16 August 2021). "Digital Video Company Jukin Media Is Acquired by Trusted Media Brands". Los Angeles Business Journal. Retrieved 14 February 2023.
  16. Miller, Ron (28 November 2017). "Veem opens up global payments platform to developers with new API". TechCrunch. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
  17. Levy, Ari. "There's a lot of blockchain hype, but money-transfer start-up Veem is using it today". CNBC. Retrieved 14 February 2023.
  18. "Veem Rolls Out Real-Time Payment Tool for SMBs". www.pymnts.com. 25 October 2022. Retrieved 14 February 2023.
  19. "Veem raises $24 million to simplify global payments". VentureBeat. 8 March 2017. Retrieved 14 February 2023.
  20. Embudo, Franz Luwen (13 September 2021). "Filipino Innovator And Entrepreneur Revolutionizing Global Fight Against Cancer". One News.
  21. "Filipino-led company presents easier way to detect ovarian cancer". Lifestyle.INQ. 29 December 2020. Retrieved 14 February 2023.
  22. "Liquid biopsy is a multibillion-dollar market, and InterVenn is looking to take advantage". PharmaVoice. Retrieved 14 February 2023.
  23. "With a 'monopoly' on glycoproteomics, InterVenn raises $34M to push cancer diagnostic into the clinic, woos Illumina BD exec". Endpoints News. Retrieved 14 February 2023.
  24. Klearman, Sarah (12 May 2022). "Fast-growing biotech company InterVenn snags more space in South San Francisco". San Francisco Business Times. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
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