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| Pilgrim founder Jake Adler in his startup's lab in Redwood City, California Pilgrim |
Jake Adler isn’t your average startup founder and he certainly doesn’t do average product demos.
At just 21 years old, Adler is making headlines not just for what his biotech company, Pilgrim, is building, but for how he’s chosen to prove its potential. In one of the most daring product tests in recent startup memory, Adler cut open both of his own thighs on camera to test Kingsfoil, a new kind of hemostatic wound dressing designed for the battlefield.
That raw, visceral demo captured the attention of some of Silicon Valley’s biggest names. Pilgrim has now raised $4.3 million in seed funding from a group that includes Cantos VC, Day One Ventures, Refactor Capital, and Peter Thiel’s family office, along with notable angels like Joshua Browder, Adrian Fenty, and Cory Levy.
But Kingsfoil isn’t just a stunt it’s part of a much larger plan to build a dual-use biotech company, one that serves the U.S. military now and civilian medicine later.
A Self-Test on the Edge of Regulation
In a video Adler filmed and distributed to investors, he’s seen using lidocaine to numb his thighs before creating two precise wounds with a biopsy tool. On one, he applies Kingsfoil; on the other, nothing. The goal? Demonstrate the rapid clotting and sealing ability of his clay-based dressing, which turns into a gel-like substance when applied to skin.
“There was nothing that inherently said I couldn’t test it on myself,” Adler told Truth Sider. “The same way you can get a tattoo, I’m allowed to do anything to my own body.”
He doesn’t recommend this kind of demonstration for other founders, but it made his message unmistakably clear: this is battlefield tech that works and he’s willing to bet his own blood on it.
The name Kingsfoil comes from The Lord of the Rings, referencing a healing herb. It's a nod that fits into a growing trend among defense tech founders: Palmer Luckey’s Anduril, Alex Karp’s Palantir, and now, Adler’s Pilgrim.
What is Kingsfoil and Why It Matters
Kingsfoil is Pilgrim’s flagship product: a next-generation hemostatic agent designed to rapidly clot blood, seal open wounds, and aid in healing. It’s clay-based, and according to Adler, causes no significant side effects aside from minor skin irritation.
In testing, Kingsfoil appeared to outperform standard gauze by reducing bleeding time and stabilizing wound sites more quickly. That matters a great deal in environments like military battlefields, where seconds count and medics often have only basic supplies.
Kingsfoil’s core advantage lies in its simplicity and potential speed to market. Since similar products like QuikClot are already FDA-approved, Adler believes Pilgrim may qualify for an expedited 6-month review. If regulators deem the product more novel, it could take up to 18 months.
The Investors See Something Big
One of Pilgrim’s earliest believers is Ian Rountree, General Partner at Cantos VC, who led the seed round.
“We look for people who stand out and are a little weird,” Rountree said. “Jake is exceptional. This is one of those problems hiding in plain sight.”
What attracted Rountree and others wasn’t just the dramatic demonstration. It was the dual-use model. Kingsfoil is first being positioned for military use, but Adler envisions civilian deployment as well in emergency medicine, hospitals, and even home first-aid kits.
Adler sees the Department of Defense as the “first market,” citing how their needs are often 5–10 years ahead of civilian counterparts. But his long-term vision is to build a biotech prime a term more commonly used for aerospace that develops novel tech and translates it across sectors.
Not Just One Product: The Pilgrim Portfolio
While Kingsfoil is the centerpiece of Pilgrim’s current work, Adler says two other innovations are already in development:
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Voyager: An inhalable mist intended to neutralize chemical threats like nerve agents before they enter the bloodstream. It’s being developed for military and first responder use, with potential long-term use in crowded public spaces like airports and subways.
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ARGUS: A surveillance platform that aims to detect chemical, biological, and radiological threats in high-risk areas like ports, hospitals, and farms.
Both products are still in the prototyping and lab-testing phase, but Adler believes their applications are highly scalable once validated.
Pilgrim’s team of five works from a hybrid office-lab in Redwood, California, building and iterating on these tools in-house.
From Thiel Fellow to Biotech Maverick
Before launching Pilgrim, Adler was a Thiel Fellow, awarded to young entrepreneurs who skip or leave college to build companies. His first venture focused on wearable sleep tech a project rooted in the belief that we can use real-time data to augment the body’s natural functions.
“That idea enhancing the body through tech still underpins everything I do at Pilgrim,” Adler said.
Unlike many defense startups today, which lean heavily on AI and drones, Adler is focused on the human soldier. He wants to equip warfighters, medics, and first responders with the tools they need to survive and recover and eventually make those same tools available to the average person.
What’s Next for Pilgrim?
With Kingsfoil in early clinical evaluation and FDA engagement already underway, Adler’s immediate goal is field deployment through defense contracts.
He’s not shy about the commercial ambitions either. From emergency rooms to personal trauma kits, Adler wants Kingsfoil on shelves and in homes as quickly as possible.
“We’re not just building one-off products,” he said. “We’re building a biotech institution that can serve the most urgent human needs in real time whether you’re on a battlefield or in a hospital.”
Betting on Blood and Belief
Adler’s decision to slice open his own leg might seem extreme, but it speaks volumes about the culture he’s building at Pilgrim one of conviction, speed, and a willingness to do the hard things to prove a point.
In an industry often mired in bureaucracy and long development timelines, Adler is moving fast but with purpose. With $4.3 million in fresh capital, military interest, and a proven appetite for risk, Pilgrim is one of the most watch-worthy biotech startups in the defense and dual-use space.
