It begins with a light. Not just the light of an incandescent bulb, but the illumination of vision, the clarity of purpose, and the glow of a better future imagined into being. The legacy of Spencer Trask, both man and firm, is a beacon that has lit the world through its belief in bold ideas and the entrepreneurs capable of making them manifest.
Spencer Trask recognized the potential of Thomas Edison’s incandescent light bulb in the 1870s. As president of the Edison Electric Light Company, the predecessor to Consolidated Edison, Trask provided critical financial backing that turned Edison’s invention into the foundation of global electrification. This bold investment brought light to homes, powered industries, and transformed society, setting the stage for the modern age.
In the 1990s, we continued this legacy by partnering with Gordon Gould, the inventor of the laser. Alongside Gould’s head of light optics research, Dave Huber, and our Chairman, Kevin Kimberlin, we co-founded Ciena Corporation. At a time when the internet was in its infancy with only two web servers worldwide, Ciena’s laser-based fiber-optic technology, known as dense wavelength-division multiplexing, revolutionized connectivity.
Ciena’s breakthrough earned recognition from The Optical Society in 1996 as “the real dawn of the Internet.” Today, its systems power nearly 99% of global internet traffic—proof of what’s possible when visionary innovators and bold investors come together.
The high-capacity networks enabled by Ciena’s fiber-optic technology, built on Gould’s laser innovations, now serve as the backbone for artificial intelligence. These systems facilitate the massive data flows that AI relies on to process, learn, and innovate. From smart cities to autonomous systems, our contributions to connectivity are driving AI’s transformative impact across industries and improving lives worldwide.
“First to See the Light” reflects our ability to spot groundbreaking ideas early and our dedication to turning them into realities that deliver lasting impact. From Edison’s light bulb to Ciena’s fiber optics and the AI-driven future, Spencer Trask & Co. remains committed to fostering innovation that illuminates the path forward. We seek visionaries who dare to dream big and partner with them to create a brighter, more connected world.
Optical innovator in the world
Of the world’s largest telecom providers served
Of IP traffic relies on optical amplification
Gordon Gould, the inventor of the laser, and his firm joined David Huber and Spencer Trask & Co. to found the first company that deployed mass-capacity light amplification technology that powers the Internet.
The optical amplifier ushered in the Information Age and powers the Age of AI.
Columbia University student Gordon Gould invented the optical amplifier (the laser) and co-founded Optelecom Inc., the world’s first optical networking company.
To scale this technology, Optelecom, Dave Huber (Optelecom’s head of light optics research) and Kevin Kimberlin founded Ciena Corp. Their venture released the world’s first mass-capacity optical telecom system (Dense WDM), recognized by The Optical Society of America: “That first commercial DWDM system was ‘the real dawn of the Internet.'”
Today, global communications rely on the optical amplification systems that Ciena pioneered and deployed, with WDM systems now carrying virtually all Internet data transfers worldwide. As a result, AI systems can access unprecedented amounts of data to enable large-scale LLM model training, real-time inference processing, and customer interaction – all via optical networks. With Ciena as the leading innovator, optical amplification became the common basis of all major telecom and hyperscale providers, a foundation of the Internet, and power for the Age of Intelligence – the defining technological revolutions of our time.
Our venture with Dr. Jonas Salk developed and tested an immune-based cell therapy that became the first FDA-approved cancer vaccine.
Non-infectious viral vaccines.
Dr. Jonas Salk revolutionized medicine by creating vaccines that provide protection without causing the disease they prevent—the breakthrough that made safe, non-infectious viral vaccination possible.
Salk and Kevin Kimberlin founded The Immune Response Corp to apply this non-infectious approach against cancer and AIDS. The firm patented a cancer vaccine demonstrating 90% protection against lethal malignancies. This technology, a fusion of dendritic cells and cancer antigens, was the basis of the first FDA-approved cell-based immunotherapy.
Over 40,000 men with prostate cancer have received this treatment, which proves especially effective for African-American patients who experience a 48% improved survival benefit. The same team and facility also produced clinical and commercial supplies of the first approved gene therapy, the CAR-T drug Kymriah.
These breakthrough approvals prompted the FDA Commissioner to declare: “New technologies such as gene and cell therapies hold out the potential to transform medicine and create an inflection point in our ability to treat and even cure many intractable illnesses.”
Million business entities
Billion relationships
Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500
Jennifer Besciglie’s company merged with our AI venture to become the first real-time supply chain risk monitoring company, reaching unicorn status.
Machine learning plus the mathematics of chaos theory revealed structure from social, web and dark web data for the first real-time, supply chain risk monitoring service.
With chaos physics pioneer, Dr. Minh van Duong, we built the artificial intelligence platform at the core of Interos.ai. With it, Interos.ai created the world’s largest business relationship graph with approximately 350 million entities, representing 18 billion business relationships.
The Covid-19 pandemic and the breakdown of globalization put Interos at the center of the greatest realignment of world trade since World War II. Supply chain resilience, a market that Interos pioneered, has grown from a standing start three years ago to the point where 75% of American businesses now plan to install automated supply chain monitoring. As the leader in this exploding field, Interos reached Unicorn status and raised a total of $300 million investment from Accenture, Venrock, Knight Dragon, Kleiner Perkins, Coupa, Blue Owl, Revolution Partners, and John Doerr.
Years experience in semiconductor manufacturing
Simulation models developed
3-D simulations using NVIDIA chips
What began as a bold idea to simulate chipmaking in a virtual factory grew into a transformative force in semiconductor manufacturing, accelerating the rise of the AI era.
AI and simulation could eliminate chip defects before making them.
As integrated circuits shrink and complexity increases, design errors become increasingly costly. The solution emerged when Regis McKenna (Apple’s marketing architect) venture fund partners introduced Kevin Kimberlin to Raj Raheja.
Raheja, having built IBM’s first U.S. fab, had a solution to the chip industry’s biggest problem.He would simulate the entire semiconductor design and manufacturing process—arguably the most complex set of processes in the world economy—before the chip was made. Undeterred by the difficulty, he and Spencer Trask & Co. formed DFMsim Inc., with support from Tom Caulfield (now CEO of GlobalFoundries).
They hired CEO Anantha Sethuraman who assembled a team with over 120 years of combined semiconductor experience. They created 300 modules to address every aspect of design-to-manufacturing, a Virtual Factory simulation that became the first AI company in semiconductor manufacturing.
Over the past several years, DFMsim technology was integrated into Applied Materials’ AiX platform, conceived by Sethuraman. The global leader supporting nearly every chip produced, Applied Materials is deploying DFMsim/AiX technology to customers to drive the Age of Intelligence.
As we enter the angstrom era of chip design, simulations originating from DFMsim are essential for making advanced AI and quantum computing semiconductors. As a result, DFMsim technology isn’t just participating in the AI revolution—it’s actively shaping it, one chip design at a time.
Dr. Jack Wennberg, with support from Spencer Trask & Co. and others, transformed the U.S. healthcare system from opinion-based to evidence-based practices through data and patient empowerment.
An estimated 20-30% of U.S. medical procedures, tests, and therapies were unnecessary.
Dr. Jack Wennberg identified this systemic problem and created the Dartmouth Atlas of Geographical Variation to document treatment disparities. When his Foundation for Informed Medical Decision-Making faced collapse, George Bennett and Chris McKown formed Health Dialog with backing from Spencer Trask & Co.
Wennberg’s academic insights were then transformed into practical solutions, building a company that delivered evidence-based medical information to 24 million people. Health Dialog grew to 2,000 employees and $330 million in revenue before the British United Provident Association acquired it for $775 million.
World Bank President Jim Yong Kim recognized this achievement as “new forms of knowledge with the power to reshape a major field of human practice.” Beyond Health Dialog’s direct impact, their evidence-based studies and adoption by the largest payers and most influential policy-makers drove the formation of the Affordable Care Act, which provides health insurance through ACA-specific avenues to over 45 million Americans. Most significantly, Wennberg’s pioneering Evidence-based Medicine work, with Health Dialog as its major supporter, has saved approximately 18 million lives and improved care for hundreds of millions around the world.
Startups funded through SeedInvest
Raised by SeedInvest portfolio companies
Value for Circle following SeedInvest acquisition
The inclusive crowdfunding investment platform, founded by Ryan Feit, merged and exchanged ownership with the creator of the first USD Coin, the global internet money system that has facilitated $25 trillion in transactions.
Frictionless digital currency creates the monetary infrastructure for the AI economy.
Spencer Trask & Co. negotiated the license for and funded SeedInvest at inception. It grew into the largest equity crowdfunding platform in the U.S., connecting 850,000 investors with over 500 startups.
The firm exchanged shares with Circle Internet the week before the launch of the USDC, making Spencer Trask and Seedinvest shareholders the first investors in the world’s most trusted stablecoin.
Circle created the leading blockchain-based USDC, a programmable money that enables instant, low-cost global transactions. By reducing immigrant remittance fees from 7% to below 2%, USDC addresses real-world inefficiencies while building the monetary rails for the AI-powered global economy. This is but one example of the inevitable digitization of money and the need for trusted, transparent, regulated infrastructure from Circle
Following Spencer Trask’s investment, Circle’s traction has been remarkable:
The Circle IPO is a landmark moment for the future of the global financial system. USDC represents the emerging “Internet of Money.” Traditional financial systems, built on 1970s technology with multi-day settlement periods, are fundamentally incompatible with the instantaneous nature of AI-powered services.
Ryan Feit, founder and CEO of SeedInvest.
Citations for Osiris’ foundational paper
Sale price of Osiris’ cellular matrix product line
The stem cell discovery by Dr. Arnold Caplan became the first approved cell drug.
Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) orchestrate healing throughout the body, throughout our lives.
Dr. Arnold Caplan and Kevin Kimberlin formed Osiris Therapeutics to develop MSC-based therapies.
Osiris obtained a patent on the MSC and characterized it in a Science paper that has been cited more than any other in the history of medicine.
The firm brought the first MSC product to market in the U.S. and achieved the first FDA approval for an MSC drug. Its products, including Osteocel, the first product in the U.S. market containing MSCs, and Grafix – with a 71% healing rate for non-healing diabetic foot ulcers, the leading cause of amputation – are standards of care. Its cure for graft vs. host disease was the first stem cell drug approved in the world.
Osiris sold Osteocel for $50 million, sold its MSC portfolio to Mesoblast for $100 million plus royalties, and the rest of the firm was acquired by Smith and Nephews for $660 million.
Today, a search for MSC (mesenchymal stem or stromal cell) in Clinical Trials.gov lists over 1,700 clinical studies, covering 1,338 conditions, a scope unprecedented in the pharmaceutical industry.
U.S. lawyers reached
Legal documents in the combined library
Customers in 100 countries
To democratize the law, our venture with Ed Walters merged with its overseas counterpart to form the first global legal database.
Comprehensive legal intelligence from AI-powered search and predictive analytics.
“Three guys over a cocktail napkin” founded Fastcase with Spencer Trask & Co. as the first institutional investor and largest shareholder. The service provides access to the entire corpus of U.S. law—all 50 states, federal and appellate courts, the U.S. Code, Federal Register, and complete Congressional Record.
Using predictive analytics and AI-enhanced tools, Fastcase delivers unprecedented insights into these millions of legal documents, including case-prediction indicators for judges, venues, and opposing attorneys.
To strengthen its technology, Fastcase acquired Judicata—a legal search firm funded by Peter Thiel and led by Blake Masters (Zero to One author and now COO of Thiel Ventures) with the Judicata senior team joining Fastcase.
Fastcase created the world’s largest legal database by merging with its international counterpart, vLex to serve the world’s largest lawyer subscriber base. The combined firm serves 3.8 million users across more than 100 countries.
Finally, in June 2025, Clio acquired vLex-Fastcase for $1 billion in cash. This integrates the firm’s global research and AI capabilities with Clio’s practice-management platform to democratize legal access for practitioners and the public.
Ed Walters, Fastcase co-founder
Most diagnosed cancer – breast cancer
Of BRCA1/2 carriers develop cancer
Gene tests predicting mental health meds response
Our biotech venture with Dr. Walter Gilbert was the very first genome company in the world. We discovered the BRCA1 gene associated with hereditary breast and ovarian cancer, shifting medicine from treating symptoms to predicting and preventing the root causes of disease.
Gene mutations predispose people to disease.
Dr. Walter Gilbert conceived the Human Genome Project, enabled by the gene mapping tool that Mark Skolnick and colleagues invented to find the Breast Cancer Gene—BRCA1. Gilbert and Skolnick partnered with Spencer Trask to launch Myriad Genetics and develop genome-based diagnostics
Myriad discovered BRCA1, which Dr. James Watson called it “the most exciting story in medical science.”
The company achieved three additional genomic medicine milestones: the world’s first genetic testing laboratory, the first genetic cancer prognosis test, and the first FDA-approved DNA-repair drug and diagnostic combination. Another breakthrough, GeneSight, helps doctors select effective mental health medications based on patients’ unique genetic profiles.
These innovations enable people to make informed decisions and live longer, healthier lives. With them, Myriad has saved tens of thousands of lives. By understanding the fundamental role genes play in human health, Myriad led the shift in medicine from treating symptoms to predicting and preventing disease.
Proven reduction in health plan total cost of care and value
Tailored meals delivered annually
Health plan clients
Stefany Shaheen, supported by Spencer Trask & Co., co-founded an evidence-based nutrition coaching venture and created a comprehensive Food-as-Medicine platform to enhance outcomes and reduce costs for chronic conditions. The startup was acquired by fintech company NationsBenefits.
Evidence about “food as medicine” and personalized nutrition coaching helps people change unhealthy habits and improve their health.
When Stefany Shaheen struggled to manage her young daughter’s Type 1 diabetes, she partnered with George Bennett, who had transformed healthcare as CEO of Health Dialog. Together, they created the Good Measures Index to provide objective guidance on nutrition’s health impacts.
Backed by Spencer Trask & Co., they launched the first platform combining personalized nutrition, clinical coaching, and an evidence-based approach. Clients include Verily (Google’s healthcare initiative) and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care.
A major Tufts University study demonstrated that a nationwide “Food is Medicine” program could prevent 1.6 million hospitalizations annually and save billions in healthcare costs. So Good Measures is a rare solution that is both cost-effective and cost-saving.
NationsBenefits, which delivers 25 million meals annually to over 100 health plans, acquired Good Measures to create the first platform to integrate fintech, healthcare, and measurable outcomes.
This forms the first nationally scaled system for evidence-based nutrition, coaching, and meal delivery, directly addressing the obesity crisis while reducing both medical costs and preventable deaths.
Spencer Trask recognized the potential of Thomas Edison’s incandescent light bulb in the 1870s. As president of the Edison Electric Light Company, the predecessor to Consolidated Edison, Trask provided critical financial backing that turned Edison’s invention into the foundation of global electrification. This bold investment brought light to homes, powered industries, and transformed society, setting the stage for the modern age.
In the 1990s, we continued this legacy by partnering with Gordon Gould, the inventor of the laser. Alongside Gould’s head of light optics research, Dave Huber, and our Chairman, Kevin Kimberlin, we co-founded Ciena Corporation. At a time when the internet was in its infancy with only two web servers worldwide, Ciena’s laser-based fiber-optic technology, known as dense wavelength-division multiplexing, revolutionized connectivity.
Ciena’s breakthrough earned recognition from The Optical Society in 1996 as “the real dawn of the Internet.” Today, its systems power nearly 99% of global internet traffic—proof of what’s possible when visionary innovators and bold investors come together.
The high-capacity networks enabled by Ciena’s fiber-optic technology, built on Gould’s laser innovations, now serve as the backbone for artificial intelligence. These systems facilitate the massive data flows that AI relies on to process, learn, and innovate. From smart cities to autonomous systems, our contributions to connectivity are driving AI’s transformative impact across industries and improving lives worldwide.
“First to See the Light” reflects our ability to spot groundbreaking ideas early and our dedication to turning them into realities that deliver lasting impact. From Edison’s light bulb to Ciena’s fiber optics and the AI-driven future, Spencer Trask & Co. remains committed to fostering innovation that illuminates the path forward. We seek visionaries who dare to dream big and partner with them to create a brighter, more connected world.
The optical amplifier ushered in the Information Age and powers the Age of AI.
Columbia University student Gordon Gould invented the optical amplifier (the laser) and co-founded Optelecom Inc., the world’s first optical networking company.
To scale this technology, Optelecom, Dave Huber (Optelecom’s head of light optics research) and Kevin Kimberlin founded Ciena Corp. Their venture released the world’s first mass-capacity optical telecom system (Dense WDM), recognized by The Optical Society of America: “That first commercial DWDM system was ‘the real dawn of the Internet.'”
Today, global communications rely on the optical amplification systems that Ciena pioneered and deployed, with WDM systems now carrying virtually all Internet data transfers worldwide. As a result, AI systems can access unprecedented amounts of data to enable large-scale LLM model training, real-time inference processing, and customer interaction – all via optical networks. With Ciena as the leading innovator, optical amplification became the common basis of all major telecom and hyperscale providers, a foundation of the Internet, and power for the Age of Intelligence – the defining technological revolutions of our time.
Optical innovator in the world
Of the world’s largest telecom providers served
Of IP traffic relies on optical amplification
Non-infectious viral vaccines.
Dr. Jonas Salk revolutionized medicine by creating vaccines that provide protection without causing the disease they prevent—the breakthrough that made safe, non-infectious viral vaccination possible.
Salk and Kevin Kimberlin founded The Immune Response Corp to apply this non-infectious approach against cancer and AIDS. The firm patented a cancer vaccine demonstrating 90% protection against lethal malignancies. This technology, a fusion of dendritic cells and cancer antigens, was the basis of the first FDA-approved cell-based immunotherapy.
Over 40,000 men with prostate cancer have received this treatment, which proves especially effective for African-American patients who experience a 48% improved survival benefit. The same team and facility also produced clinical and commercial supplies of the first approved gene therapy, the CAR-T drug Kymriah.
These breakthrough approvals prompted the FDA Commissioner to declare: “New technologies such as gene and cell therapies hold out the potential to transform medicine and create an inflection point in our ability to treat and even cure many intractable illnesses.”
Machine learning plus the mathematics of chaos theory revealed structure from social, web and dark web data for the first real-time, supply chain risk monitoring service.
With chaos physics pioneer, Dr. Minh van Duong, we built the artificial intelligence platform at the core of Interos.ai. With it, Interos.ai created the world’s largest business relationship graph with approximately 350 million entities, representing 18 billion business relationships.
The Covid-19 pandemic and the breakdown of globalization put Interos at the center of the greatest realignment of world trade since World War II. Supply chain resilience, a market that Interos pioneered, has grown from a standing start three years ago to the point where 75% of American businesses now plan to install automated supply chain monitoring. As the leader in this exploding field, Interos reached Unicorn status and raised a total of $300 million investment from Accenture, Venrock, Knight Dragon, Kleiner Perkins, Coupa, Blue Owl, Revolution Partners, and John Doerr.
Million business entities
Billion relationships
Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500
AI and simulation could eliminate chip defects before making them.
As integrated circuits shrink and complexity increases, design errors become increasingly costly. The solution emerged when Regis McKenna (Apple’s marketing architect) venture fund partners introduced Kevin Kimberlin to Raj Raheja.
Raheja, having built IBM’s first U.S. fab, had a solution to the chip industry’s biggest problem.He would simulate the entire semiconductor design and manufacturing process—arguably the most complex set of processes in the world economy—before the chip was made. Undeterred by the difficulty, he and Spencer Trask & Co. formed DFMsim Inc., with support from Tom Caulfield (now CEO of GlobalFoundries).
They hired CEO Anantha Sethuraman who assembled a team with over 120 years of combined semiconductor experience. They created 300 modules to address every aspect of design-to-manufacturing, a Virtual Factory simulation that became the first AI company in semiconductor manufacturing.
Over the past several years, DFMsim technology was integrated into Applied Materials’ AiX platform, conceived by Sethuraman. The global leader supporting nearly every chip produced, Applied Materials is deploying DFMsim/AiX technology to customers to drive the Age of Intelligence.
As we enter the angstrom era of chip design, simulations originating from DFMsim are essential for making advanced AI and quantum computing semiconductors. As a result, DFMsim technology isn’t just participating in the AI revolution—it’s actively shaping it, one chip design at a time.
Years experience in semiconductor manufacturing
Simulation models developed
3-D simulations using NVIDIA chips
An estimated 20-30% of U.S. medical procedures, tests, and therapies were unnecessary.
Dr. Jack Wennberg identified this systemic problem and created the Dartmouth Atlas of Geographical Variation to document treatment disparities. When his Foundation for Informed Medical Decision-Making faced collapse, George Bennett and Chris McKown formed Health Dialog with backing from Spencer Trask & Co.
Wennberg’s academic insights were then transformed into practical solutions, building a company that delivered evidence-based medical information to 24 million people. Health Dialog grew to 2,000 employees and $330 million in revenue before the British United Provident Association acquired it for $775 million.
World Bank President Jim Yong Kim recognized this achievement as “new forms of knowledge with the power to reshape a major field of human practice.” Beyond Health Dialog’s direct impact, their evidence-based studies and adoption by the largest payers and most influential policy-makers drove the formation of the Affordable Care Act, which provides health insurance through ACA-specific avenues to over 45 million Americans. Most significantly, Wennberg’s pioneering Evidence-based Medicine work, with Health Dialog as its major supporter, has saved approximately 18 million lives and improved care for hundreds of millions around the world.
Frictionless digital currency creates the monetary infrastructure for the AI economy.
Spencer Trask & Co. negotiated the license for and funded SeedInvest at inception. It grew into the largest equity crowdfunding platform in the U.S., connecting 850,000 investors with over 500 startups.
The firm exchanged shares with Circle Internet the week before the launch of the USDC, making Spencer Trask and Seedinvest shareholders the first investors in the world’s most trusted stablecoin.
Circle created the leading blockchain-based USDC, a programmable money that enables instant, low-cost global transactions. By reducing immigrant remittance fees from 7% to below 2%, USDC addresses real-world inefficiencies while building the monetary rails for the AI-powered global economy. This is but one example of the inevitable digitization of money and the need for trusted, transparent, regulated infrastructure from Circle
Following Spencer Trask’s investment, Circle’s traction has been remarkable:
The Circle IPO is a landmark moment for the future of the global financial system. USDC represents the emerging “Internet of Money.” Traditional financial systems, built on 1970s technology with multi-day settlement periods, are fundamentally incompatible with the instantaneous nature of AI-powered services.
Ryan Feit, founder and CEO of SeedInvest.
Startups funded through SeedInvest
Raised by SeedInvest portfolio companies
Value for Circle following SeedInvest acquisition
Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) orchestrate healing throughout the body, throughout our lives.
Dr. Arnold Caplan and Kevin Kimberlin formed Osiris Therapeutics to develop MSC-based therapies.
Osiris obtained a patent on the MSC and characterized it in a Science paper that has been cited more than any other in the history of medicine.
The firm brought the first MSC product to market in the U.S. and achieved the first FDA approval for an MSC drug. Its products, including Osteocel, the first product in the U.S. market containing MSCs, and Grafix – with a 71% healing rate for non-healing diabetic foot ulcers, the leading cause of amputation – are standards of care. Its cure for graft vs. host disease was the first stem cell drug approved in the world.
Osiris sold Osteocel for $50 million, sold its MSC portfolio to Mesoblast for $100 million plus royalties, and the rest of the firm was acquired by Smith and Nephews for $660 million.
Today, a search for MSC (mesenchymal stem or stromal cell) in Clinical Trials.gov lists over 1,700 clinical studies, covering 1,338 conditions, a scope unprecedented in the pharmaceutical industry.
Citations for Osiris’ foundational paper
Sale price of Osiris’ cellular matrix product line
Comprehensive legal intelligence from AI-powered search and predictive analytics.
“Three guys over a cocktail napkin” founded Fastcase with Spencer Trask & Co. as the first institutional investor and largest shareholder. The service provides access to the entire corpus of U.S. law—all 50 states, federal and appellate courts, the U.S. Code, Federal Register, and complete Congressional Record.
Using predictive analytics and AI-enhanced tools, Fastcase delivers unprecedented insights into these millions of legal documents, including case-prediction indicators for judges, venues, and opposing attorneys.
To strengthen its technology, Fastcase acquired Judicata—a legal search firm funded by Peter Thiel and led by Blake Masters (Zero to One author and now COO of Thiel Ventures) with the Judicata senior team joining Fastcase.
Fastcase created the world’s largest legal database by merging with its international counterpart, vLex to serve the world’s largest lawyer subscriber base. The combined firm serves 3.8 million users across more than 100 countries.
Finally, in June 2025, Clio acquired vLex-Fastcase for $1 billion in cash. This integrates the firm’s global research and AI capabilities with Clio’s practice-management platform to democratize legal access for practitioners and the public.
Ed Walters, Fastcase co-founder
U.S. lawyers reached
Legal documents in the combined library
Customers in 100 countries
Gene mutations predispose people to disease.
Dr. Walter Gilbert conceived the Human Genome Project, enabled by the gene mapping tool that Mark Skolnick and colleagues invented to find the Breast Cancer Gene—BRCA1. Gilbert and Skolnick partnered with Spencer Trask to launch Myriad Genetics and develop genome-based diagnostics
Myriad discovered BRCA1, which Dr. James Watson called it “the most exciting story in medical science.”
The company achieved three additional genomic medicine milestones: the world’s first genetic testing laboratory, the first genetic cancer prognosis test, and the first FDA-approved DNA-repair drug and diagnostic combination. Another breakthrough, GeneSight, helps doctors select effective mental health medications based on patients’ unique genetic profiles.
These innovations enable people to make informed decisions and live longer, healthier lives. With them, Myriad has saved tens of thousands of lives. By understanding the fundamental role genes play in human health, Myriad led the shift in medicine from treating symptoms to predicting and preventing disease.
Most diagnosed cancer – breast cancer
Of BRCA1/2 carriers develop cancer
Gene tests predicting mental health meds response
Evidence about “food as medicine” and personalized nutrition coaching helps people change unhealthy habits and improve their health.
When Stefany Shaheen struggled to manage her young daughter’s Type 1 diabetes, she partnered with George Bennett, who had transformed healthcare as CEO of Health Dialog. Together, they created the Good Measures Index to provide objective guidance on nutrition’s health impacts.
Backed by Spencer Trask & Co., they launched the first platform combining personalized nutrition, clinical coaching, and an evidence-based approach. Clients include Verily (Google’s healthcare initiative) and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care.
A major Tufts University study demonstrated that a nationwide “Food is Medicine” program could prevent 1.6 million hospitalizations annually and save billions in healthcare costs. So Good Measures is a rare solution that is both cost-effective and cost-saving.
NationsBenefits, which delivers 25 million meals annually to over 100 health plans, acquired Good Measures to create the first platform to integrate fintech, healthcare, and measurable outcomes.
This forms the first nationally scaled system for evidence-based nutrition, coaching, and meal delivery, directly addressing the obesity crisis while reducing both medical costs and preventable deaths.
Proven reduction in health plan total cost of care and value
Tailored meals delivered annually
Health plan clients
Transforming medicine from opinion-based to evidence-based practices through data and patient empowerment.
DISCOVERY – Scientific analysis revealed that 20-30% of U.S. medical procedures were unnecessary, with treatment rates varying dramatically by region despite similar patient outcomes.
INNOVATORS – Dr. Jack Wennberg uncovered this systemic problem and created the Dartmouth Atlas of Geographical Variation to visualize treatment disparities. When his Foundation for Informed Medical Decision-Making faced collapse, George Bennett and Chris McKown formed Health Dialog and teamed up with Kevin Kimberlin of Spencer Trask & Co.. They transformed Wennberg’s academic insights into practical solutions by building a company that served 24 million people with evidence-based medical information. Health Dialog grew to 2,000 employees and $330 million in revenue before its $775 million acquisition by BUPA.
IMPACT – As World Bank President Jim Yong Kim noted, Wennberg’s work represents “new forms of knowledge with the power to reshape a major field of human practice.” Beyond the difference made by Health Dialog, their evidence-based mission inspired and influenced the formation of the Affordable Care Act, which now provides health insurance to over 40 million Americans.
BRIGHT IDEA – After simulating the entire design and production process of integrated circuits, DFMsim introduced the first AI-driven solution in semiconductor manufacturing. DFMsim’s groundbreaking idea was to create a virtual factory to bridge the long-standing gap between chip design and production.
INNOVATORS – The solution to this monumental problem emerged after Regis McKenna, the marketing whiz behind Apple, resigned as partner at Kleiner Perkins, to start a venture fund with Kevin Kimberlin as his largest partner. Managing partners, Amiel Kornel and Steve McGrath, joined Spencer Trask & Co. and introduced Kimberlin to Raj Raheja.
As part of the team who built the first U.S. fab for IBM in Fishkill, NY, Raheja a unique insight for solving a major problem. He wanted to simulate the entire semiconductor design and manufacturing process in a virtual factory to eliminate chip defects. His idea took root when he and Spencer Trask & Co. formed DFMsim Inc., supported by $3 million from Trask and Tom Caulfield, now CEO of GlobalFoundries.
Under the leadership of CEO Anantha Sethuraman, DFMsim assembled a team with over 120 years of combined experience in semiconductor manufacturing. They developed 300 simulation modules, each addressing a specific aspect of the design-to-manufacturing process. A major break came in 2008 when DFMsim acquired GPU technology to deliver 3-D simulations using NVIDIA chips, an industry first in silicon design visualization.
DFMsim’s innovations were protected by numerous patents, including inventions in process simulation frameworks, semiconductor process control, and predictive modeling in semiconductor processes. Integrated into their flagship Virtual Factory simulation, including SMARTdepo, SMARTlitho, and SMARTyield, they laid the groundwork for the first AI company in semiconductor manufacturing.
IMPACT – DFMsim’s technology has been integrated into Applied Materials’ AI platform called AIx (Actionable Insight Accelerator). As the global leader providing materials, equipment, and engineering solutions for nearly every chip produced today, Applied Materials is leveraging DFMsim’s simulations to drive the Age of Intelligence.
The AIx platform is revolutionizing semiconductor manufacturing with capabilities including:
The impact of DFMsim’s technology extends far beyond improving chip yields. As we enter the angstrom era of chip design, the ability to simulate and optimize at nano-scale is becoming essential for advances in GPUs for AI, quantum computing, and neuromorphic chip innovations.
DFMsim’s technology is not just participating in the AI revolution – it’s actively shaping it, fab by fab, chip design by chip design.
120
years experience in semiconductor manufacturing
300
simulation models developed
1st
3-D simulations using NVIDIA chips
Democratizing the Law
DISCOVERY – The flagship Fastcase service tapped into the entire corpus of U.S. law, encompassing all 50 states, all federal and appellate courts, the U.S. Code, the Federal Register from its inception, and the complete Congressional Record. By leveraging predictive analytics and AI-enhanced tools, Fastcase enabled unprecedented insight into millions of pages of legal documents. Users gained exclusive analytical capabilities, such as case-prediction indicators related to judges, venues, adversaries, and attorneys, as well as metrics on gender diversity within law firms.
INNOVATORS – Spencer Trask & Co. was the first institutional investor and ultimately became the largest shareholder of the company, demonstrating early confidence in Fastcase’s vision and technology. To further strengthen its technological infrastructure, Fastcase acquired Judicata, a legal-search firm originally funded by Khosla Ventures and Peter Thiel and run by Blake Masters (fmr. COO of Thiel Ventures). The Judicata senior team remained with Fastcase, ensuring continuity of expertise and innovation.
IMPACT – Fastcase merged with vLex in a transaction backed by private equity leaders Bain Capital and Oakley Capital, creating the world’s largest law-firm subscriber base and amassing more than one billion legal documents. The combined platform now serves 3.8 million users in over 100 countries, offering intelligent access to the most extensive repository of legal and regulatory information worldwide.
In June 2025, Clio, one of the world’s leading legal technology companies, signed a definitive agreement to acquire the vLex-Fastcase enterprise in a cash and stock deal valued at US $1 billion. This landmark acquisition will integrate Fastcase’s global research and AI capabilities with Clio’s practice-management platform, accelerating delivery of comprehensive, data-driven tools that further democratize access to the law for practitioners and the public alike.
3.8 million
U.S. lawyers reached
> 1 billion
legal documents in the combined library
100
Customers in 100 countries
Good Measures
DISCOVERY – Evidence-based “food as medicine” and personalized nutrition coaching offer a cost-saving alternative to weight-loss drugs, helping people change unhealthy eating habits and improve overall health.
INNOVATORS – When Stefany Shaheen struggled to manage her young daughter’s Type 1 diabetes, she partnered with George Bennett—who had already transformed the healthcare industry with Health Dialog, growing it from a $30 million to a $775 million enterprise. Together, they created the Good Measures Index to provide objective guidance on how nutrition affects health. Backed by Spencer Trask & Co., they launched the first platform to combine personalized nutrition, clinical coaching, and innovative technology.
IMPACT – To tackle the obesity crisis and reduce both medical costs and preventable deaths, NationsBenefits and Good Measures introduced the first nationally scalable system for evidence-based nutrition coaching and meal delivery. Good Measures’ clients include Verily, Google’s healthcare initiative; Harvard Pilgrim Health Care; and Tufts University, which conducted a major study showing that a nationwide “Food is Medicine” program could prevent 1.6 million hospitalizations each year and save billions in healthcare costs—a truly rare solution that is both cost-effective and cost-saving.
*Good Measures was acquired by NationsBenefits, a leader in healthcare benefits and fintech solutions. This merger combines Good Measures’ Food as Medicine expertise with NationsBenefits’ reach, delivering 25 million meals annually to over 100 health plans. Together, they form the first platform to fully integrate fintech, healthcare, and measurable outcomes.
2:1 ROI
proven reduction in health plan total cost of care and value
25 million
tailored meals delivered annually
100
health plan clients
SeedInvest
DISCOVERY – Spencer Trask & Co. recognized two breakthroughs converging at the start of the 2010s: equity crowdfunding that could open venture opportunities to the general public, and a fully backed digital dollar that could move those investments instantly. By linking these insights, Spencer Trask articulated a new thesis: combine open-access venture investing with instantaneous, border-less settlement to create a capital market that moves as fast as innovation itself.
INNOVATORS – Spencer Trask & Co. negotiated the license for the SeedInvest platform at its inception, becoming one of its major Series A investors in the process. SeedInvest grew into a network of 850,000 investors who have bought into 500 startups. In 2018, by acquisition, SeedInvest received 9 million Series E Preferred shares in Circle Internet, the week after Circle launched its U.S. Dollar stablecoin (USDC).
IMPACT – Circle powers a leading blockchain-based USDC with a mission to raise global prosperity through a frictionless exchange of value. Addressing markets such as reducing immigrant remittance fees from the standard 7% to below 2%, the USDC payment volume in 2020 was equal to 50% of PayPal’s total. Today, it is the most trusted and fastest growing stablecoin. According to the CEO, the USDC will surpass PayPal in transacted dollar value in a few years. Following a $400 million investment by Fidelity Management and Blackrock, the combined firm was valued at $9 billion.
In June 2025 Circle completed its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange, raising about $1.05 billion at $31 per share and finishing its first trading day at $83.23, which implied a market capitalization near $8 billion. The listing delivered substantial liquidity to SeedInvest shareholders and underscored the platform’s ability to identify and nurture companies that redefine global finance.
250
companies funded through SeedInvest
$1.5 billion
raised by SeedInvest portfolio companies
$9 billion
value for Circle following SeedInvest acquisition
Interos
DISCOVERY – Artificial intelligence (AI) plus chaos theory mathematics reveals structure from unstructured social, web and dark web data.
INNOVATOR – With chaos physics pioneer, Dr. Minh van Duong, we built the artificial intelligence platform at the core of Interos, the first real-time, supply chain risk monitoring service. With it, Interos created the world’s largest business relationship graph with approximately 350 million entities, representing 18 billion business relationships.
IMPACT – The Covid-19 pandemic exposed the fragility of supply chain interdependencies. The resulting breakdown of globalization put Interos at the center of the greatest realignment of world trade since World War II. Supply chain resilience, a market that Interos pioneered, has grown from a standing start three years ago to the point where 75% of American businesses now plan to install automated supply chain monitoring. As the leader in this exploding field, Interos reached Unicorn status based on a $100 million investment from Accenture, Venrock, Knight Dragon and Kleiner Perkins.
350
million business entities
18
billion relationships
2022
Deloitte's Technology Fast 500
Osiris
DISCOVERY – Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are a building block for making and repairing all the structural tissues in the human body–including cartilage, bone, ligaments, marrow, muscles, and more.
INNOVATOR – Dr. Arnold Caplan first identified MSCs and realized their enormous therapeutic potential. Spencer Trask & Co. and Caplan founded Osiris Therapeutics and created the network that enabled its growth as the industry leader in regenerative medicine. Osiris validated the regenerative potential of MSCs in a foundational paper cited more than 27,000 times.
IMPACT – In an early trial, MSC therapy became the first allogeneic cell therapy to be granted compassionate use, saving 160 children from the highly fatal graft-versus-host disease. Osiris then developed a cellular matrix product line that was acquired by Smith and Nephews for $660 million.
MSCs are currently being tested to treat >1000 different medical conditions, more than any other drug ever.
27,000
citations for Osiris’ foundational paper
$660 million
Sale price of Osiris’ cellular matrix product line
>1000
medical conditions are being tested with MSC treatment
Myriad
DISCOVERY – Isolate the mutated genes that predispose the greatest number of people to disease, the most dangerous elements of the human genome.
INNOVATORS –The Human Genome Project was conceived by Nobel-prize winner, Dr. Walter Gilbert, and enabled by Mark Skolnick’s search to find the Breast Cancer Gene. With Spencer Trask, Gilbert and Skolnick started Myriad Genetics, the first firm to develop products from the human genome.
Myriad Genetics discovered the Breast Cancer Gene BRCA1 – “the most exciting story in medical science” as James Watson put it. A woman knowing her risk could take steps to mitigate or eliminate cancer before it appeared.
Based on this discovery, Myriad created three genomic medicine milestones: the firm built the world’s first genetic testing lab; offered the first genetic cancer predisposition test; and marketed the first DNA-repair drug and diagnostic combination.
With these services, women who know their BRCA status can make informed decisions and live longer, healthier lives. For instance, DNA-repair drugs like PARP inhibitors are very effective for patients with BRCA1/BRCA2 mutations, but of no value to others. Therefore women with the gene mutation can expect to benefit from PARP inhibitors, while those without it should save time and money, and seek other options.
Another test, GeneSight helps doctors select effective mental health medications, based on the patient’s unique genetic profile. This category-leading pharmacogenomic test predicts how a person will respond to 64 medications commonly prescribed for depression, anxiety, ADHD, and other psychiatric conditions.
IMPACT – Myriad diagnostics have saved the lives of tens of thousands of women, the most well known being Angelina Jolie. By understanding the fundamental role that genes and molecular insights play in human health, Myriad is leading the transformation of medicine from treating symptoms, to predicting and preventing diseases related to the human genome.
2nd
most diagnosed cancer - breast cancer
87%
of BRCA1/2 carriers develop cancer
1.5 Million
Gene tests predicting mental health meds response
Ciena Corp
DISCOVERY – The optical amplifier ushered in and powers the Information Age.
INNOVATORS – Columbia University student Gordon Gould invented the optical amplifier (the laser). He then co-founded Optelecom Inc., the world’s first optical networking company to develop it into “optical amplification and wave mixing” system. Gould’s head of light optics research, Dave Huber, and Kevin Kimberliln of Spencer Trask & Co founded Ciena Corp., when only 2 web servers existed in the world. With the release of the first dense WDM system, the firm popularized the optical amplifier and ushered in the Information Age.
Their contribution to powering the Internet was recognized by The Optical Society (OSA) in their History of Optics over the past century.
“In the decade from 1996 to 2005, breakthroughs in fiber optics and networking transformed society and laid the groundwork for the global Internet.”
The OSA selected1996 as the beginning of this societal transformation because:
“That first commercial DWDM system was ‘the real dawn of the Internet.'”
IMPACT – Ciena’s dense WDM powered the explosive growth of the internet and made Ciena the fastest growing firm in its first year of operation in American business history.
Today, nearly 99% of all traffic is transported by the optical amplifiers at the heart of WDM systems.
#1
optical innovator in the world
85%
of the world’s largest telecom providers served
99%
of IP traffic relies on optical amplification
Spencer Trask
Mr. Spencer Trask supported Thomas Edison’s development of the light bulb – the very symbol of a bright idea. As President, Trask ran the first electric power company, thereby launching the infrastructure of modern civilization by which billions of people obtain the benefits of electricity.
In addition, Trask sponsored Edison’s recorded music venture at the beginning of the music industry. He also funded the birth of wireless communication and served with Guiliamo Marconi on the Board of Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company.
As Chairman and majority shareholder, Spencer Trask saved The New York Times from bankruptcy by hiring Adoph Ochs who built The Times into the most influential newspaper in the world.
With partners including John Foster Peabody and John Moody, he built Spencer Trask & Co. into a Wall Street powerhouse. In fact, an advertisement for the firm appeared on the first page of the very first edition of The Wall Street Journal.
Personally, he had a “generosity so great that he sheltered and fed all his friends, rich and poor alike, provided they possessed talent and ability.” He and his wife turned their home, Yaddo, into a sanctuary for artistic creativity – for writers, composers, painters, poets – from Truman Capote, Sylvia Plath, Leonard Bernstein, to Mario Puzo. A poet who knew him described Trask as a person with “Cool gray matter and a warm red heart.”
Beyond the arts, the Trask’s were known for supporting women’s rights. As founding director and treasurer of The National Arts Club, he insisted on admitting women. He also helped start and run the Teachers College, then a women’s college, and now the leading educational institution in America as part of Columbia University.
Though his Puritan humility kept him out of the limelight, we owe a great deal to Spencer Trask.
Today, we strive to live up to his legacy – discovering big ideas and helping transform them into ventures to improve the human condition.
The Immune Response Corporation
DISCOVERY – Non-infectious viral vaccines.
INNOVATOR – In the history of medicine, few figures have had as profound an impact on human health and wellbeing as Dr. Jonas Salk. His polio vaccine breakthrough was the culmination of centuries of research, dating back to Louis Pasteur discovering inoculation. However, Salk’s method was different. He found a way to protect people from viruses without giving them the very disease the vaccine was designed to prevent.
Using this no-infection method, Salk worked with Kevin Kimberlin of Spencer Trask to develop cancer vaccines and an immunotherapeutic to slow or prevent AIDS. They patented and conducted preclinical studies on a cancer vaccine that demonstrated a startling 90% protection against lethal malignancies.
IMPACT – A fusion of dendritic cells and the cancer antigen, their technology formed the basis for the first FDA-approved cell-based immunotherapy. Over 40,000 men with metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer have received the treatment, and it appears especially effective for African-American men who receive a 48% improved survival benefit compared to white men.
The team and facility making this immunotherapy also made clinical and commercial supplies of the first approved gene therapy, the CAT-T drug Kymriah.
The first approved cell-base immunotherapy and gene therapy prompted the FDA Commissioner to say, “New technologies such as gene and cell therapies hold out the potential to transform medicine and create an inflection point in our ability to treat and even cure many intractable illnesses.”
The noninfectious vaccine approach developed by Jonas Salk eliminated polio from the developed countries, his flu vaccine mitigated the effects of influenza for the past 75 years, and finally, the cancer vaccine developed at his Immune Response Corporation led the way to gene, cell-based, and immune therapy innovations that will impact human health for generations. In summary, Salk released the last step in enabling the most important preventative medicine – non-infectious viral vaccination.
