A bit of backstory: I first met Em & Alex during my time at Seaside Ventures, where we had the privilege to participate in their pre-seed round. The passion of the founders, paired with the shortcomings of drug-based solutions on the market, made building conviction around Samphire incredibly easy. Ever since, the Samphire team has consistently outperformed expectations and hit each milestone ahead of schedule. Samphire’s founders, approach, and core technology were so compelling that they became our "north star" when shaping Fortify's investment thesis for Fund II. Samphire defined what an ideal Fortify portfolio company should look like—exceptional founders building deeply technical, defensible products offering 10x improvements over existing solutions. When Em reached out about their upcoming seed round, it was an immediate yes. Our conviction in Samphire has only grown, and I'm incredibly excited to back Em and Alex for the second time.