Dr. Hina Chaudhry of VentriNaya.
Overview
After placing second at the Cure by Deerfield Middle East Health Accelerator in Qatar, NYC-based biotech VentriNaya is advancing its regenerative gene and cell therapy programs for cardiovascular disease while preparing for fundraising and regulatory milestones.
VentriNaya, a New York City-based preclinical biotech startup, is developing scalable, off-the-shelf regenerative gene and cell therapy platforms for cardiovascular disease. The company’s programs aim to encourage regeneration of heart tissue following injuries such as myocardial infarction, with a focus on repairing damaged myocardium rather than solely slowing disease progression.
VentriNaya’s vision and compelling storytelling recently earned the company second place at the Cure by Deerfield Middle East Health Accelerator’s Demo Day in Qatar, where 13 companies pitched their businesses to a judging panel of regional healthcare, investment, and policy stakeholders, along with approximately 150 audience members. As the competition’s runner-up, VentriNaya is now in full fundraising mode, applying the accelerator's learnings to its investor pitch decks.
In an exclusive interview with Cure, founders Hina Chaudhry, MD and Sangeetha Vadakke Madathil (V.M), PhD spoke about their experience being part of the accelerator, key insights they gained while putting their pitch narrative together, and the company's next steps.
Read about the Accelerator program winner here.
From Personal Roots to Regenerative Purpose
VentriNaya’s origin story goes way back. “I was seven years old and saw my dad collapse with a heart attack in our driveway, and that moment changed the course of my life,” shared Dr. Chaudhry. This experience became the driving force behind her career and the eventual founding of VentriNaya. “For me, this isn’t just a company—it’s the culmination of 30 years of scientific work driven by a very personal experience.”
Even the company’s name, VentriNaya, carries meaning. Dr. Chaudhry explained that ‘Naya’ means ‘new’ in Hindi, so the name intends to communicate the idea of a new heart ventricle while also reflecting the South Asian heritage of both founders.
VentriNaya’s mission is getting these regenerative discoveries to patients through a commercial pathway. “Otherwise, the work just remains academic, or it gets licensed to someone who may not understand the science the way we do,” she explained, adding that she and her co-founder feel strongly that they should remain hands-on with their company.
Distilling Three Decades Into Five Minutes
In many ways, the Cure by Deerfield Middle East Health Accelerator experience reshaped how VentriNaya’s founders thought about telling their story. Dr. Chaudhry and Dr. Madathil found the accelerator’s hybrid program to be very holistic, covering everything from case studies to business models to negotiation strategy. "We are basically academic researchers, so having that level of industry exposure was incredibly valuable for us.”
While preparing for her Demo Day pitch in Qatar, Dr. Chaudhry learned how to translate complex science into a focused, high-impact story. For Dr. Chaudhry, the hardest part was condensing 30 years of science into a five-minute pitch that could still make an impact. "I had no idea how different pitching is from an academic lecture until I was stopped at five minutes, mid-sentence," she added.
The real turning point for VentriNaya’s pitch came during rehearsals for Demo Day. Dr. Chaudhry was advised to open with a photo of her father, rather than end with the anecdote, which ultimately changed the emotional impact of the entire presentation. By sharing her personal story early in the pitch, Dr. Chaudhry was able to anchor decades of research into a single defining moment. "That kind of coaching was invaluable, because it taught us how to communicate our science in a way investors can actually absorb," she noted.
Turning Momentum into Milestones
Following their positive experience in Qatar, Dr. Chaudhry and Dr. Madathil plan to establish a strategic subsidiary in the country to leverage funding and regional manufacturing, while keeping their holding company based in the U.S. They also view Qatar as a gateway to new markets. "We are very determined that our therapies should help patients in the South Asian part of the world as well, because heart disease is epidemic," Dr. Chaudhry said.
With the accelerator behind them, VentriNaya’s focus has shifted from pitching to execution. Following Demo Day and the conclusion of the program, the founders are focusing their efforts on fundraising and are actively speaking with venture capitalists. "We are finalizing the FDA pre-IND paperwork for our gene therapy program and preparing to follow with our cell therapy application," Dr. Chaudhry added.
At the same time, development of their product continues. The company is currently working to develop a peptide-based targeting strategy to ensure that their therapies are delivered specifically to the heart.
