The Africa Business Investment Summit (ABIS) 2026 takes place on August 27-28, 2026, at MGM National Harbor, Washington DC Metro Area under the Patronage of His Majesty Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, King of the Asante Kingdom, in partnership with the Millennium Excellence.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 3, 2026 — A gathering of investors, business executives, and African government officials will place approximately $4 billion in investment opportunities before global institutional capital, reflecting a growing interest in the continent as investors look beyond traditional developed markets for higher returns, diversification, and long-term growth.

The Summit will open with a royal keynote from the Asante King Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, and feature institutional investors, private equity and private credit firms, multilateral development institutions, blended finance organizations, development finance institutions, sovereign representatives, policymakers, family offices, and business leaders to explore investment opportunities across infrastructure, mining, natural resources, agriculture, manufacturing, technology, energy, and other strategic sectors.

Other high-level guest includes Ghana’s Vice President, H.E. Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, ministers, governors and other senior government representatives from multiple African countries, in addition to business leaders such as Arian Simone, Co-Founder of Fearless Fund and Fred Swaniker, Founder of Sand Technologies.

“The fundamentals have changed,” said Nana Agyeman Prempeh, President of the Millennium Excellence Foundation. “As projects have been de-risked through stronger institutions, blended finance, and policy reforms, Africa’s investment opportunities offer increasingly attractive risk-adjusted returns. The market is only beginning to recognize that shift.”

The Summit reflects a broader shift in global capital allocation as institutional investors seek exposure to Africa’s expanding infrastructure, industrialization, energy transition, technology, and manufacturing sectors. Several projects are expected to benefit from government investment incentives designed to improve project economics, alongside commercial return profiles intended to attract long-term institutional capital.

In addition to plenary discussions, the program features curated deal rooms, sector-focused investment sessions, government roundtables, and private meetings designed to facilitate direct engagement between investors, policymakers, project sponsors, developers, and business leaders. The Africa Business Investment Summit serves as the commerce centerpiece of Millennium Excellence Week, a series of events recognizing leadership while strengthening commercial and investment ties between Africa and the global investment community.

Members of the public can register to attend the Summit and Millennium Excellence week at www.abis-africa.com. Members of the media must register for credentials to attend the Summit and Millennium Excellence Week  HERE.

Backed by Storm Ventures, Canaan Partners, Morado Ventures, and AME Cloud Ventures, the platform gives enterprises one platform to govern, secure, operate, and optimize every AI request

PASADENA, Calif., Aug. 3, 2026 — Actualyze AI emerged from stealth today announcing Actualyze, the foundation for enterprise AI platform, backed with $7 million in seed funding from Storm Ventures, Canaan Partners, Morado Ventures, and Jerry Yang’s AME Cloud Ventures.

The AI-native platform sits between an organization’s people, applications, and agents, and every AI model the organization uses, giving enterprises one place to govern, secure, operate, and optimize AI. Built from the ground up, the platform easily integrates with any OpenAI-compatible models, the ecosystem of AI client tools, and 3^rd party platforms, meeting the demanding needs of modern enterprises. The company’s hosted platform is now in Early Access through its Design Partner Program.

The Actualyze platform’s integrated approach, where every request flows through a governed path, allows enterprises to adopt and scale AI. Each inference request is tied to the person, team, and application behind it, then access checked, inspected, charged to the callers’ budget, and recorded before it reaches a model provider. The platform abstracts provider credentials, to provide intelligent routing and ensures the governed path is the only path while maintaining agnostic access to the rapidly changing model provider landscape.

“It’s clear that AI has become a new layer of the enterprise stack,” said Rafi Khardalian, CEO and co-founder of Actualyze AI. “A model call looks like any other API request, a key, an SDK, an invoice at month’s end, but the resemblance is the trap. The systems that govern the rest of an enterprise’s request traffic can authenticate a model call and count it, but not read the prompt inside it, know if data is leaking, know the best place to route it, or charge the call to the team behind it. So anyone with a key can call a model, and all that spend pools into one bucket with no visibility into who spent it or accountability for it. Agents raise the stakes, fanning a single task into dozens of autonomous calls. That’s the problem we built Actualyze to solve”

The platform is organized around four pillars:

• Govern. Access, approvals, budgets, and spend policy for every team and every model, defined once and enforced on every call.
• Secure. Inference scanning, guardrails, and audit trails applied inline, so sensitive data is protected before it leaves the organization.
• Operate. Curate, stage, and deploy every model in the catalog, with visibility into what’s running, where, and how it performs.
• Optimize. Virtual models route each request to the best eligible model by capability, cost, and quality, with automatic failover.

“You bet on a market this big by betting on the people who’ve already tamed one like it,” said Sean Lynch, CTO and co-founder of Actualyze AI. “We built Actualyze because enterprises need one governed path for every AI request, and this is the team that’s spent a career building the infrastructure entire businesses run through. The market is ready, and so are we.”

Khardalian and Lynch previously founded Metacloud, the managed private cloud company acquired by Cisco. They spent the past year in conversations with platform, security, and finance leaders at large enterprises, and built Actualyze around the problems those teams described.

Request access to the Design Partner Program at actualyze.ai/request-access and read the launch essay at actualyze.ai/insights/the-foundation-for-enterprise-ai-is-here.

About Actualyze AI

Actualyze AI is the foundation for enterprise AI: a platform that sits between an organization and every AI model it uses, so enterprises can govern, secure, operate, and optimize all of their AI in one place. Actualyze AI was founded by the team behind Metacloud (acquired by Cisco) and is backed by Storm Ventures, Canaan Partners, Morado Ventures, and AME Cloud Ventures. Learn more at actualyze.ai.

SOURCE Actualyze AI

An operator-led industry group focused on how AI gets deployed, measured, and governed in the contact center

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Aug. 3, 2026 — Level AI, the customer intelligence platform for contact centers, today announced the launch of their CX Advisory Board, an operator-led group of senior technology and customer experience leaders shaping how AI is deployed in enterprise customer operations. Mahesh Sogal, former VP and IT leader from Delta Air Lines, AIG, and Bank of America, joins as the founding member.

The board convenes a small group of executives across telecommunications, financial services, healthcare, travel, and other industries running large-scale technical orgs and customer operations. Members meet quarterly to discuss shared frameworks on AI governance, ROI measurement, autonomous resolution, and cross-functional deployment, as well as advise on Level AI’s innovation and product roadmap.

Level AI created this CX Advisory Board because the practitioners running enterprise AI programs carry the clearest signal on what works and what breaks. Vendor narratives, analyst frameworks, and conference keynotes have shaped the industry conversation for the last two years. The people running the deployments have had less voice in shaping it.

Mahesh Sogal brings more than 25 years of enterprise technology and transformation leadership across aviation, banking and insurance. Most recently, he served as Vice President of Technology Transformation and International Technology at Delta Air Lines, where he led enterprise-wide modernization and the development of new global technology capabilities. He established and scaled the Delta Technology Hub in Bengaluru to more than 850 professionals and served on the board of directors of SITA, a global technology provider to the air transport industry. Earlier in his career, he held senior leadership roles at AIG, Bank of America and GE Capital. He holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta.

“Enterprise AI in the contact center should be shaped by the operators accountable for outcomes—not just vendors and analysts. Level AI gives senior technology and CX leaders a room to compare notes on what’s working, what’s failing, and what the industry needs to standardize.” said Sogal.

Ashish Nagar, founder and CEO of Level AI, added: “The last two years have moved AI in contact centers from experimentation to real deployment, and the practitioners running those programs carry more useful signal than anyone. Level AI’s CX Advisory Board is where we listen to that signal, publish it, and let it shape how the category matures. Bringing Mahesh in first sets the bar for the caliber of operator we want in the room.”

The Advisory Board will grow to about six members over the next quarters, with an emphasis on senior technology and CX leaders from Fortune 500 companies operating large customer contact functions. Additional appointments will be announced later this year.

About Level AI
Level AI is the customer intelligence platform for the contact center. Level AI unifies QA, insights, coaching, automation, and AI agents on the same conversation data, so improvement across people, processes, and technology draws from the same customer truth. The company is based in Mountain View, California, and works with contact centers across financial services, healthcare, retail, telecommunications, and other industries.

Media contact:
Phyllis Fang
[email protected] 

SOURCE Level AI

Company signs customers across enterprise financial services, big tech, and other data-sensitive industries; will showcase the agentic DLP at Black Hat

NEW YORK, Aug. 3, 2026 — ORION Security, the agentic data loss prevention (DLP) platform, today announced rapid growth and continued momentum in the second quarter of 2026, marked by new enterprise customer wins and deepening partnerships. ORION Security will showcase this momentum at Black Hat USA 2026 this week.

Behind ORION Security’s rapid growth is a fundamentally different approach to data loss prevention: protecting data as it moves through a modern, AI-driven enterprise.

Enterprise Momentum Accelerates

In Q2 2026, ORION Security added a wave of new enterprise customers, extending its footprint across the Fortune 500 and into new verticals, including healthcare, and big tech, building on its existing base across insurance, manufacturing, and enterprise financial services. The momentum reflects increasing enterprise demand for an AI-native DLP platform that can be deployed to generate value and prevent data loss in minutes, not months.

“ORION Security distinguished itself by delivering accurate, meaningful, and actionable insights on day one,” said Matthew Mudry, CISO at Alera Group. “With no need for extensive tuning or onboarding, its clarity and precision instantly elevated our confidence in our data-protection posture.”

“CISOs tell us their data loss risk is exploding as shadow AI permeates their companies,” said Nitay Milner, co-founder and CEO of ORION Security. “Fighting AI-driven risk requires AI-native defense, and that’s exactly what ORION Security delivers. The market is telling us we’ve built something different. We’re closing seven-figure deals because our customers know we’re not just incrementally improving DLP. We’re leading a data protection renaissance built for AI.”

ORION Q2 2026 momentum builds upon the Series A raised in Q1 from Norwest, IBM Ventures, LAMA Partners, and others.

“At IBM Ventures, we invest in technologies that redefine core enterprise capabilities for the next platform shift,” said Emily Fontaine, global head of venture capital at IBM. “In security, that shift is clear: effective protection can no longer be retrofitted onto AI-driven workflows. It must be native to them. That belief underpins our investment in ORION Security, an AI-native DLP platform purpose-built to protect sensitive data across endpoints, SaaS, and cloud environments with far less complexity (and far greater precision) than legacy approaches.”

An AI-Native Approach, Built for Data in Motion

The ORION agentic DLP platform was built to secure data in motion. It analyzes every data movement across an organization in real time, across endpoints, browsers, SaaS applications, email, and AI tools, under a single intelligence model.

Where traditional DLP relies entirely on fragile policies, or uses AI only to improve classification, investigation, or alert triage, ORION uses AI to detect and triage data risk at scale, and to prevent actual data loss. Every movement is evaluated across data lineage, LLM-based classifications, identity, device, destination context, and user intent.

ORION customers see detections within 30 minutes of deployment, with no policy library or pre-classified data environment required. Fortune 500 customers across industries report false-positive rates around 5%, a sharp drop from the 95% common in legacy DLP, with a corresponding drop in operational burden for security teams.

Growing Partner Ecosystem

ORION Security continues to expand its channel partner and strategic alliance network to further extend its impact into the enterprise. Channel partners now include Alacrinet, Brite, Fulcrum, GuidePoint Security, Myriad360, Optiv, and SHI International. ORION also has strategic integrations in place with AWS, Google Cloud, Grip, Microsoft, Sentra, Torq, and Wiz.

ORION Security Takes the Stage at Black Hat USA 2026

ORION Security will showcase its Q2 momentum at Black Hat USA this week, giving cybersecurity leaders a firsthand look at how agentic AI is reshaping data security.

The ORION team will run live demonstrations of the platform detecting AI-driven data exfiltration intent and attempts in real time, with no policies required. ORION researchers will also lead conference sessions on stopping data exfiltration through MCP and an agentic exfiltration model, drawing on original research into how enterprises are encountering and containing AI-driven data loss risk.

Play DLP98 in booth 7708 and help ORION Data Crime Scene Investigation (DCSI) agents identify data exfiltration incidents on a Windows 98 PC confiscated from a bad actor on the IT team. Earn points and win DCSI agent gear by identifying exfiltration events before the evidence is wiped and time runs out.

Meet the ORION team and founders, join us for Donuts & DLP, become a DCSI agent, and get a printed version of the ORION Data Loss Threat Model field guide to help identify modern and traditional data loss risk.

About ORION Security

ORION Security is the agentic data loss prevention platform. Using proprietary AI agents that analyze data in motion and detect indicators of data loss risk, ORION Security delivers context-aware verdicts across every channel, including endpoints, browsers, SaaS, email, and agentic AI workflows, without rules, policies, or manual tuning. The result is dramatically reduced overhead and real incidents stopped before they become data leaks. Security teams get total visibility and control, answers instead of false positives, and data loss prevention (DLP) that continuously learns and evolves with the business. For more information about ORION Security, visit orionsec.io.

Media Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE Orion Security

LAKE FOREST, Calif., Aug. 3, 2026 — Sonorous Neurovascular, a pioneering medical device company focused on innovative solutions for cerebral venous diseases and neurovascular interventions, today announced a significant clinical milestone: the first patient enrollment in Canada under its international B-SILENT study (NCT07070089). The enrollment took place at The Ottawa Hospital under principal investigator Dr. Robert Fahed, marking an exciting step forward for the study’s global expansion.

The B-SILENT study is evaluating the investigational use of the BosSTENT™, Sonorous’ braided, self-expanding cerebral venous stent, for the treatment of debilitating pulsatile (pulse-synchronous) tinnitus caused by symptomatic cerebral venous sinus stenosis. The study is designed to generate essential safety and performance data to support a future CE Mark submission.

This Ottawa Hospital enrollment marks the first in Canada under B-SILENT and reflects the study’s growing global momentum. Site engagement across France remains strong, with patient enrollment continuing to progress steadily. Together, these milestones underscore accelerating international interest in B-SILENT and reinforce its trajectory toward supporting a future CE Mark submission.

“Achieving our first enrollment in Ottawa is an important milestone for Sonorous Neurovascular and, most importantly, for patients living with debilitating pulsatile tinnitus,” said Joel Harris, CEO of Sonorous Neurovascular. “With four sites already actively enrolling in France and now our first Canadian enrollment complete, B-SILENT is advancing exactly as planned. We are grateful to Dr. Fahed and the team at The Ottawa Hospital for their partnership, and to our study teams across France and Canada for the continued momentum. This is an exciting step forward for the program and for the patients we aim to serve.”

“As Principal Investigator for the B-SILENT study at The Ottawa Hospital, I’m encouraged by the successful enrollment of our first patient. Pulsatile tinnitus can be a debilitating and often under-recognized condition, and studies like B-SILENT are important steps toward giving physicians new tools to help patients who have limited options today. I look forward to our site’s continued contribution to this study,” said Dr. Robert Fahed, The Ottawa Hospital.

Sonorous Neurovascular continues to advance its clinical programs with strong momentum across both U.S. and international regulatory pathways, building on the company’s recent FDA Breakthrough Device Designation for BosSTENT™ and 510(k) clearance for BosCATH™. Together, these milestones reflect Sonorous’ accelerating progress toward its mission of improving the lives of patients affected by pulsatile tinnitus and other venous outflow disorders through minimally invasive, purpose-built therapies.

About Sonorous Neurovascular

Sonorous Neurovascular is a clinical-stage medical device company headquartered in Lake Forest, California, dedicated to developing transformative technologies for the treatment of cerebral venous diseases. The company’s innovative portfolio, including the BosSTENT™ (recently granted FDA Breakthrough Device Designation) and BosCATH™, aims to provide safe, effective, and purpose-built solutions that improve patient outcomes. Sonorous is actively advancing international clinical research, including the B-SILENT study (NCT07070089) evaluating the investigational use of BosSTENT™ for debilitating pulsatile tinnitus at sites in France and Canada to support CE Mark submission. For more information, visit www.sonorousnv.com.

Contact:

James D. Nonato, Vice President

Sonorous Neurovascular

Email: [email protected] 

Phone: +1 (888) 830 1445

SOURCE Sonorous Neurovascular

Fundraising reflects continued scaling of the private credit platform’s middle-market direct lending strategy

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., Aug. 3, 2026 — Manulife | Comvest Credit Partners, the private credit platform of Manulife Wealth & Asset Management, today announced that it has raised $5.4 billion of total investable capital in connection with the final close of Comvest Credit Partners VII (“CCP VII”) and related transaction vehicles, marking the largest fundraise to date for the platform.

CCP VII, the latest vintage of the platform’s flagship North American direct lending strategy, is designed to capitalize on opportunities across the middle market through a flexible, multi-faceted investment approach. The strategy invests across both cash flow and asset-based lending opportunities for sponsored and non-sponsored companies, aiming to dynamically allocate capital to attractive relative value opportunities as market conditions evolve.

“CCP VII builds on the momentum we’ve established over the past 20 years,” said Robert O’Sullivan, Global Head of Manulife | Comvest Credit Partners. “Rather than competing in the most broadly syndicated segments of the market, we focus on differentiated lending opportunities where complexity, structuring expertise, and relationship-driven origination create the potential for compelling risk-adjusted returns.”

CCP VII is already substantially deployed, demonstrating the strength and consistency of the platform’s origination engine and its ability to efficiently deploy capital while maintaining investment selectivity. CCP VII attracted commitments from both existing and new institutional investors, reflecting the continued confidence of the platform’s long-standing limited partner base while broadening its global investor relationships.

“This milestone reflects the sustained demand we’re seeing for private credit, particularly for scaled platforms in the middle market,” said Anne Valentine Andrews, Global Head of Private Markets at Manulife Investment Management. “In a dynamic market environment, institutional investors are increasingly focused on managers with the breadth of platform, sourcing capabilities, and discipline to deploy capital effectively and who seek to consistently deliver for clients. We believe through the Manulife | Comvest Credit Partners platform, we are well positioned to meet that demand, and we are grateful for the strong support CCP VII received from both existing and new limited partners.”

About Manulife | Comvest Credit Partners

Manulife | Comvest Credit Partners is a private credit platform with $21.5 billion¹ of assets under management that combines the private credit expertise and specialized capabilities of Manulife Investment Management and Comvest Credit Partners, bringing together scale, permanence, and deep market knowledge. The platform provides creative and flexible financing solutions to both sponsored and non-sponsored companies. Alongside Manulife Investment Management’s $24 billion¹ private equity program and global distribution network, the platform offers a full spectrum of private credit, supported by deep origination channels, rigorous underwriting discipline, and the financial strength of one of the world’s largest global insurers. For more information, please visit https://www.comvest.com.

About Manulife Wealth & Asset Management

As part of Manulife Financial Corporation, Manulife Wealth & Asset Management’s mission is to make decisions easier and lives better by helping people invest confidently to pursue a more secure financial future. Our strength comes from the diversity of our global asset management expertise and distribution capabilities. Our global investment teams span equities, fixed income, alternative credit, private markets, and multi-asset solutions. We provide investment, financial advice, and retirement plan services to millions of individuals, institutions, and retirement plan members worldwide. At the heart of our approach are three cultural pillars: Partner for Progress, Trust through Transparency, and Intellectual Curiosity. These values shape how we build long-term relationships, develop differentiated investment strategies, and empower advisors and clients to seek meaningful financial outcomes. Whether through cutting-edge technology, AI innovation, personalized advice, or sustainable stewardship, Manulife Wealth & Asset Management is a trusted partner helping clients navigate complexity and invest with confidence.

Not all offerings are available in all jurisdictions. For additional information, please visit manulifeim.com.

Media Inquiries
Gabriel Morales
[email protected]

SOURCE Manulife Wealth & Asset Management

State-supported medical device company invites Alabama hand surgeons to experience homegrown orthopedic innovation

MOBILE, Ala., July 31, 2026 — Simparo Inc. (DBA Simparo Surgical), an Alabama medical device company backed by an investment from Innovate Alabama, and supported by Hatch Fairhope, today announced the issuance of its fourth U.S. patent, U.S. Patent No. 12,661,103, granted June 23, 2026. The milestone underscores the strength of Alabama’s growing innovation economy and Simparo’s commitment to building advanced orthopedic technology in the state.

The newly issued patent addresses a long-standing challenge in Thumb CMC reconstruction: achieving basal joint reconstruction quickly, securely, and reproducibly. Conventional approaches often require second site tendon harvesting, drilling tunnels in the bone, and tensioning methods relying solely on approximation — steps that can add time and complexity to a procedure. Simparo’s suture-locking mechanism, the Falcon Suture Clutch, uses a one-way cinching design that lets a surgeon complete the repair to the desired tension in a controlled and incremental fashion.

“We’re proud to be an Alabama company, and proud of the support that Innovate Alabama and Hatch Fairhope has placed behind our vision,” said Chris Harber, CEO of Simparo Surgical. “This patent is a milestone not just for our team, but for what Alabama is building: a place where medical innovation is developed, protected, and delivered to the surgeons and patients who need it.”

For Alabama’s hand surgeons, the message is simple, we’re a locally grown, state-supported company producing protected, differentiated technology designed for the procedures they perform every day and for the Alabama patients they serve every day. Simparo’s portfolio now spans four issued patents covering its novel suture tensioning system and soon to be family of applications across the orthopedic field.

“We’d love to support Alabama surgeons by providing them with technological advancements to help treat their patients,” added Chris Harber. “When you choose Simparo, you’re choosing innovation that was built right here at home — and helping demonstrate what Alabama’s investment in companies like ours can achieve.”

About Innovate Alabama

Innovate Alabama is Alabama’s first statewide public-private partnership focused on small businesses, technology and innovation with a mission to help innovators grow roots here in Alabama. Innovate Alabama was established to implement the initiatives and recommendations set forth in the Alabama Innovation Commission’s report, including smart policy solutions that will create a more resilient and robust economy to remain competitive in a 21st-century world. With founding CEO Cynthia Crutchfield leading the charge, Innovate Alabama is also made up of a board of 11 innovation leaders appointed by Gov. Ivey, collaborating across sectors to advance industries, drive technology and facilitate an environment where innovation and small businesses thrive. Learn more about Innovate Alabama at www.innovatealabama.org.

About Hatch Fairhope

Hatch Fairhope is a dedicated business resource hub located in Downtown Fairhope, AL, for technology-based entrepreneurs in Baldwin County. Its mission is to support new and existing startups by providing access to resources, training, and networking opportunities to help them grow.

About Simparo Inc.

Simparo Inc. is a medical device company, headquartered in Mobile, AL focused on developing novel orthopedic devices and surgical methods for the upper and lower extremity that simplify surgical procedures, without sacrificing stability and improving the patient experience.

Media Contact:
Wendy Hebert | [email protected]

SOURCE Simparo Surgical

NEW YORK, July 31, 2026 — Neuberger Next Generation Connectivity Fund Inc. (NYSE: NBXG) (the “Fund”) has announced a distribution declaration of $0.12 per share of common stock.  The distribution announced today is payable on August 31, 2026, has a record date of August 17, 2026, and has an ex-date of August 17, 2026.

Under its level distribution policy, the Fund anticipates that it will make regular monthly distributions, subject to market conditions, of $0.12 per share of common stock, unless further action is taken to determine another amount. The Fund’s ability to maintain its current distribution rate will depend on a number of factors, including the amount and stability of income received from its investments, availability of capital gains, and the level of other Fund fees and expenses. There is no assurance that the Fund will always be able to pay a distribution of any particular amount or that a distribution will consist of only net investment income.

Due to an effort to maintain a stable distribution amount, the distribution announced today, as well as future distributions, may consist of net investment income, net realized capital gains and return of capital. In compliance with Section 19 of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, a notice would be provided for any distribution that does not consist solely of net investment income. The notice would be for informational purposes and not for tax reporting purposes, and would disclose, among other things, estimated portions of the distribution, if any, consisting of net investment income, capital gains and return of capital. The final determination of the source and tax characteristics of all distributions paid in 2026 will be made after the end of the year.

About Neuberger

Neuberger is an employee-owned, private, independent investment manager founded in 1939 with approximately 3,000 employees across 26 countries. The firm manages $613 billion of equities, fixed income, private markets, real estate and hedge fund portfolios for global institutions, advisors and individuals. Neuberger’s investment philosophy is founded on active management, fundamental research and engaged ownership. The firm is proud to be recognized for its commitment to its two constituents, clients and employees. Again this past year, we were named Best Asset Manager for Institutional Investors in the US (Crisil Coalition Greenwich) and the #1 Best Place to Work in Money Management (Pensions & Investments, firms with more than 1,000 employees). Neuberger has no corporate parent or unaffiliated external shareholders. Visit www.nb.com for more information, including www.nb.com/disclosure-global-communications for information on awards. Data as of June 30, 2026.

Statements made in this release that look forward in time involve risks and uncertainties. Such risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, the adverse effect from a decline in the securities markets or a decline in the Fund’s performance, a general downturn in the economy, competition from other closed end investment companies, changes in government policy or regulation, inability of the Fund’s investment adviser to attract or retain key employees, inability of the Fund to implement its investment strategy, inability of the Fund to manage rapid expansion and unforeseen costs and other effects related to legal proceedings or investigations of governmental and self-regulatory organizations.

Contact:
Neuberger Berman Investment Advisers LLC
Investor Information
(877) 461-1899

SOURCE Neuberger Berman

Funding will support market expansion, product development, dealer network growth and technology-enabled marketplace operations

IRVINE, Calif., July 31, 2026 — Bidbus, the online automotive marketplace that enables licensed dealers to compete in real time for vehicles directly from consumers, today announced $15 million in Series A funding. The round was led by Ibex Investors, with participation from Mucker Capital, Data Point Capital, FJ Labs, Motley Fool Ventures, Walter Ventures and existing investors.

Bidbus is building the transaction infrastructure for a more transparent and competitive vehicle-selling market. Through its live auction platform, consumers can complete a guided virtual vehicle inspection, set an expected price and receive competing bids from licensed dealerships, rather than relying on a single trade-in or instant-buy offer.

Since launch, Bidbus has served more than 10,000 vehicle sellers and reached approximately $300 million in annualized gross merchandise value. Over the past year, the company has grown sevenfold while expanding its dealer network and establishing operations across California and Texas.

Approximately 39 million used vehicles are sold in the United States each year, yet the process through which consumers sell vehicles and dealerships source inventory remains fragmented and inefficient. Sellers often receive limited visibility into actual dealer demand, while dealerships rely on costly and inconsistent acquisition channels. At the same time, dealers increasingly need access to locally sourced vehicles that match their specific inventory needs.

“Consumers should not have to visit multiple dealerships or negotiate against a single buyer to understand what their car is worth,” said Duke Yan, co-founder and CEO of Bidbus. “We built Bidbus to create a transparent marketplace where qualified dealers compete for every vehicle. This funding allows us to expand that marketplace while building the technology, operating systems and team required to scale.”

Expanding Technology, Operations and Market Coverage

The new capital will be used to expand Bidbus into additional metropolitan markets, grow its dealer network and strengthen its product, engineering and marketplace operations teams.

Bidbus will also continue investing in technology that improves virtual vehicle evaluation, auction performance and operational efficiency. This includes AI-powered seller communication, dealer recommendation tools and internal workflow automation

As Bidbus enters its next phase of growth, the company is transitioning from a founder-led operating model toward a more scalable system of functional ownership, repeatable processes and technology-enabled execution.

“Our next chapter is not simply about adding more markets or more people,” Yan said. “It is about building a marketplace and operating system that can compound—where better technology, stronger dealer participation and more efficient operations reinforce one another as we scale.”

About Bidbus

Bidbus is an online automotive marketplace that connects individual vehicle sellers with licensed automobile dealerships through a live auction platform. The company develops technology for virtual vehicle inspections, condition reporting, auction management, dealer bidding, transaction processing and marketplace operations, helping consumers access competitive dealer offers while giving dealerships a more efficient source of locally available inventory.

Bidbus is headquartered in Irvine, California, and currently operates across major markets in California and Texas. Learn more at www.bidbus.com.

Media Contact
Alex Weinberg
Chief Marketing Officer
[email protected]

SOURCE Bidbus