Vaxess Technologies

Vaxess Technologies, Inc.

Company type	Private
Industry	Biotechnology, Pharmaceuticals
Founded	December 1, 2011 (2011-12-01) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
Founder	Michael Schrader, Livio Valenti, Kathryn Kosuda, Patrick Ho
Headquarters	Cambridge , United States
Key people	Rachel Sha (CEO)
Products	MIMIX sustained dermal delivery system, vaccine patches
Number of employees	42

Vaxess Technologies, Inc. was established in December 2011 by four Harvard graduate students—Michael Schrader, Livio Valenti, Kathryn Kosuda, and Patrick Ho—building upon technology created by David Kaplan and Fiorenzo Omenetto. The firm specializes in vaccine development through its exclusive MIMIX sustained dermal delivery system, which enhances thermal stability, boosts effectiveness, and simplifies administration to improve worldwide vaccine distribution.

Michael Schrader completed his MBA at Harvard Business School in 2012; Livio Valenti studied at the John F. Kennedy School of Government; Kathryn Kosuda served as a postdoctoral fellow in chemistry at Harvard; and Patrick Ho earned a J.D. The startup rapidly gained acclaim, securing $25,000 in Harvard’s 2012 Business Plan Contest and $70,000 from the Harvard President’s Challenge for Global Health. Additionally, Vaxess was a semi-finalist in MIT’s $100K Entrepreneurship Competition and reached finalist status for two MassTLC Awards in 2013.

In May 2013, the company raised $3.75 million during its Series A round from Norwich Ventures and angel investor Jeffrey Walker. Later that year, Vaxess transitioned from Harvard’s Innovation Lab to LabCentral located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. By December 2013, the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center granted Vaxess a $1 million Accelerator Loan to support expansion of its research and development efforts.

Co-founder Livio Valenti earned recognition on Forbes’ 2014 "30 Under 30" list within Science & Healthcare. That same year, seasoned vaccine industry expert George Siber joined as chair of the Scientific Advisory Board, with additional advisory appointments including Thomas Monath and Russell Middaugh.

In 2015, Vaxess received a $1 million Verizon Powerful Answers Award acknowledging its novel vaccine delivery solution. The company secured $6 million in grants from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2017 to propel development of polio and measles-rubella vaccines utilizing the MIMIX platform.

November 2022 saw Vaxess announce a $27 million Series B funding round alongside positive phase 1 clinical trial outcomes for its influenza vaccine patch reported in December. In 2023, the company entered into a partnership with AstraZeneca to co-develop mRNA vaccines delivered via skin patches aimed at pandemic influenza.

In May 2024, Vaxess completed a $12 million capital raise and appointed Rachel Sha as chief executive officer. The subsequent year brought an additional $9 million investment to advance its drug delivery patch technology targeting GLP-1 therapeutics, accompanied by new clinical data demonstrating successful semaglutide administration through its microarray patch.

Headquartered in Kendall Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Vaxess maintains a workforce of roughly 42 employees dedicated to revolutionizing vaccine accessibility through cutting-edge technologies and strategic collaborations.

Technology

At the core of Vaxess’s operations lies proprietary technology pioneered by Tufts University Professors Fiorenzo Omenetto and David Kaplan. This platform employs fibroin—a silk-derived protein—to stabilize vaccines during transport and storage without requiring refrigeration, effectively removing the need for cold chain logistics. Partnering with vaccine manufacturers, Vaxess aims to develop heat-stable vaccines with a target commercial launch set for 2019. This advancement provides a significant edge in the vaccine market by overcoming essential logistical barriers faced globally.