# Talphera

> Talphera is a VC fund in Redwood City backing Chemical and Therapeutics. See 1 investments, check sizes, portfolio and contact details. Updated Oct 2026.

- Type: VC Fund
- Location: Redwood City, United States
- Total investments: 1
- Last investment: Sep 2015
- Lead investor: 0%
- Last updated: Oct 2026
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/acelrx-pharmaceuticals-inc.
- Website: http://www.acelrx.com

Talphera is a VC fund in Redwood City focused on Chemical and Therapeutics. AcelRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company, engages in the development and commercialization of therapies for the treatment of pain and other conditions. It offers NanoTab, a tablet for oral transmucosal administration. The company also provides Sufentanil NanoTab PCA system, a sublingual patient-controlled analgesia systemwith a drug/device combination product candidate for the management of acute post-operative pain in the hospital settings; Sufentanil NanoTab BTP management systems for the treatment option for patients with cancer pain; and Sufentanil/Triazolam NanoTab, which provides analgesia and sedation for minor outpatient procedures. It serves patients, physicians, regulators, and payers. AcelRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. was founded in 2005 and is based in Redwood City, California.

## Contacts

5 contacts available for Talphera. Shizune tracks 3 team members at Talphera. Sign up free to unlock them: https://app.shizune.co/sign-up/investor-profiles/find-team-emails/acelrx-pharmaceuticals?utm_source=investor_profile

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Chemical | 1 | 100% |
| Therapeutics | 1 | 100% |
| Biotechnology | 1 | 100% |

## Team

| Name | Title | Investments | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| James Welch | CFO | 0 | — |
| Kim Gaumer | Snr. Vice President, Regulatory and Quality Assurance; Vice President | 0 | — |
| Pamela Pierce Palmer | Co-Founder & Chief Medical Officer | 0 | — |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Encycle Therapeutics | Encycle Therapeutics is a Toronto-based biotech company exploiting a unique platform technology that enables the rapid synthesis of drug-like macrocycles or membrane-permeable nacellins. Nacellins have enormous potential to target intracellular protein-protein interactions, which are largely intractable to small molecule and biologic modulation,and can represent cheaper, oral equivalents to existing biologics (e.g., monoclonal antibodies). Encycle has collaborated with several pharmaceutical companies to complete a screening library of nacellins, many of which are cell-permeable and possess other drug-like properties. The company is also pursuing independent development of nacellins against integrin alpha-4-beta-7 (IBD) and SMURF2 (fibrosis); its lead program seeks to develop orally bioavailable inhibitors of integrin alpha-4-beta-7, which are safer and less immunogenic than marketed and investigational biologics targeting the same protein. | $2.1M | Venture - Series Unknown | Sep 30, 2015 | http://encycletherapeutics.com/ |

1 of 1 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [BDC Capital Corporation](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/bdc-capital-corporation) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/mars-investment-accelerator-fund) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Takeda Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/takeda-ventures) — VC Fund, 1 deal together

## Similar investors

### Similar stage
- [Bossa Invest](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/bossanova-investimentos) — VC Fund
- [Bpifrance](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/bpifrance) — VC Fund
- [Gaingels](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/gaing) — VC Fund

## FAQ

### What does Talphera invest in?

Talphera invests primarily in Chemical, Therapeutics and Biotechnology startups, most often at Venture - Series Unknown stage. Most of the 1 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in Canada. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### How do I contact Talphera?

Public channels for Talphera include LinkedIn and the website linked on this profile. For a verified work email and phone number, create a free Shizune account — contact data is searched across 20+ sources and validated before delivery, so your outreach lands in the right inbox.

### Who are the partners at Talphera?

The team at Talphera includes James Welch (CFO), Kim Gaumer (Snr. Vice President, Regulatory and Quality Assurance; Vice President) and Pamela Pierce Palmer (Co-Founder & Chief Medical Officer). The Team section lists each member with their title, investment count and links.

### Is Shizune's investor data accurate?

Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Oct 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.

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