Wichtigste Erkenntnisse

• Zusammen mit der Seed-Finanzierungsrunde in Höhe von 8,5 Mio. US-Dollar hat das Unternehmen mehr als 16,5 Mio. US-Dollar zur Unterstützung seiner Aktivitäten eingeworben.
• Vinci Pharmaceuticals hat eine Serie-A-Finanzierungsrunde in Höhe von über 8 Mio. US-Dollar abgeschlossen, um die Herstellung, Test- und Freigabeverfahren sowie die ersten Studien am Menschen für seine Arzneimittelverabreichungsplattform EPIPLANT™ zu unterstützen.
• EPIPLANT™, die firmeneigene, episklerale Wirkstofffreisetzungsplattform mit verzögerter Freisetzung, wurde entwickelt, um die Einschränkungen intraokularer Injektionen zu überwinden.
• Eine klinische Phase-1/2a-Studie ist für 2027 geplant.

AVON-BY-THE-SEA, New Jersey, 8. Oktober 2026 — Vinci Pharmaceuticals Inc., ein auf Augenheilkunde spezialisiertes Pharmaunternehmen, hat eine Serie-A-Finanzierungsrunde in Höhe von über 8 Mio. US-Dollar abgeschlossen, während das Unternehmen die Entwicklung seiner innovativen EPIPLANT™-Verabreichungsplattform vorantreibt. Zuvor hatte das Unternehmen in der Seed-Phase 8,5 Mio. US-Dollar (ohne Zinsen auf Wandelanleihen) eingeworben, was einer Gesamtsumme von mehr als 16,5 Mio. US-Dollar entspricht.

EPIPLANT™ wurde im Labor von Dr. med. Karl Csaky, PhD, entwickelt und von der Retina Foundation of the Southwest in Dallas, Texas, lizenziert. Es handelt sich um eine firmeneigene episklerale Implantatplattform, die eine verzögerte Wirkstoffabgabe an das Netzhautgewebe ermöglicht und die mit intraokularen Injektionen verbundenen Einschränkungen überwindet. Vinci treibt das Programm unter Anleitung seines wissenschaftlichen Beirats aus Ärzten voran.

Die Finanzierung wurde von Dynagrow Capital, LLLP geleitet, mit Unterstützung von MintPharma Capital. Die Erlöse aus der Finanzierung sollen die GMP-konforme Herstellung, die Test- und Freigabeaktivitäten für das Produkt EPIPLANT™ VCI-002 sowie 2027 die Phase-1/2a-Studie unterstützen.

„Wir sind dankbar für die Unterstützung und das Vertrauen unserer Investoren und unseres Vorstands, die erkennen, dass unser EPIPLANT™-Verabreichungssystem erkennen, die Behandlung von sehkraftbedrohenden Erkrankungen zu revolutionieren und bisher ungedeckte Bedürfnisse in diesem Bereich zu erfüllen”, sagte Philip A. Gioia, Mitbegründer, Vorstandsvorsitzender und Geschäftsführer von Vinci Pharmaceuticals. „Diese Finanzierung unterstützt einen wichtigen nächsten Schritt: die Vorbereitung unserer ersten Studie am Menschen. Wir glauben, dass EPIPLANT™ das Potenzial hat, eine sichere, nachhaltige Wirkstoffabgabe an das Netzhautgewebe zu gewährleisten und die Behandlungsbelastung für Patienten und Ärzte zu verringern.”

Sarah Hassan, Geschäftsführerin bei Dynagrow Capital, fügte hinzu: „Vincis EPIPLANT stellt einen potenziellen Paradigmenwechsel für Augenärzte und ihre Patienten dar, die mit den Herausforderungen von Netzhauterkrankungen konfrontiert sind. Diese potenzielle Multi-Molekül-Plattformtechnologie mit einem nadelfreien Verabreichungssystem für kleine Moleküle könnte die Therapietreue von Patienten drastisch verbessern, bei denen derzeit aufgrund der Behandlungsbelastung eine inakzeptabel hohe Abbruchrate zu verzeichnen ist. Wir freuen uns, mit dem talentierten Team von Vinci zusammenzuarbeiten und es in dieser entscheidenden Phase bei der Weiterentwicklung von EPIPLANT VCI-002 für Patienten zu unterstützen.”

Dem Unternehmen wurden mehrere Patente für seine firmeneigene EPIPLANT™-Technologie erteilt, und es hat vorläufige präklinische Tests abgeschlossen. Vinci plant, 2027 eine erste klinische Phase-1/2a-Studie am Menschen zu starten.

Bestehende Ansätze zur Wirkstoffabgabe bei Netzhauterkrankungen erfordern häufig eine Verabreichung direkt ins Auge oder stehen vor der Herausforderung, wirksame Wirkstoffkonzentrationen im Netzhautgewebe zu erreichen. EPIPLANT™ wurde entwickelt, um diese Einschränkungen durch eine nachhaltige Wirkstoffabgabe aus einem episkleralen Implantat zu überwinden. Die bioerodierbare Plattform ist für eine Vielzahl von pharmazeutischen Wirkstoffen ausgelegt und bietet das Potenzial, verschiedene Therapien für Netzhauterkrankungen zu unterstützen.

„EPIPLANT™ sorgt für gezielte Wirkstoffkonzentrationen in der Makula und ist damit im Vergleich zu intravitrealen Injektionen, dem derzeitigen Behandlungsstandard, eine wünschenswertere Option zur Behandlung bestimmter augenheilkundlicher Erkrankungen der Netzhaut”, sagte Dr. med. Richard Lindstrom von Minnesota Eye Consultants. „Die EPIPLANT™-Technologie eröffnet zudem neue Therapiemöglichkeiten für Netzhauterkrankungen, für die es derzeit noch keine Behandlung gibt.”

Vinci Pharmaceuticals plant für 2027 eine klinische Phase-1/2a-Studie mit seinem episkleralen EPIPLANT™-System zur verzögerten Wirkstofffreisetzung. Derzeit kann das System kleine Moleküle abgeben, was eine breite Anwendung bei verschiedenen Netzhauterkrankungen ermöglicht.

Informationen zu Vinci Pharmaceuticals
Vinci Pharmaceuticals Inc. ist ein klinisch ausgereiftes Unternehmen im Bereich der Augenheilkunde, das eine neuartige, firmeneigene Plattform nutzt, um „First-in-Class”, „Best-in-Class” und „Only-in-Class”-Produkte mit differenzierten Profilen zur Behandlung bestimmter Erkrankungen der Netzhaut zu entwickeln.

Safe-Harbor
Diese Pressemitteilung enthält zukunftsgerichtete Aussagen, darunter Informationen zu zukünftigen Ereignissen, der zukünftigen finanziellen Entwicklung, Finanzprognosen, Strategien, Erwartungen, dem Wettbewerbsumfeld und regulatorischen Rahmenbedingungen. Zukunftsgerichtete Aussagen sind nicht als Garantie für zukünftige Leistungen oder Ergebnisse zu verstehen und stellen möglicherweise keine genauen Hinweise darauf dar, wann solche Leistungen oder Ergebnisse erzielt werden. Zukunftsgerichtete Aussagen basieren auf Informationen, über die Vinci Pharmaceuticals zum Zeitpunkt der Äußerung dieser Aussagen verfügt, oder auf der zu diesem Zeitpunkt bestehenden, nach bestem Wissen und Gewissen getroffenen Einschätzung der Unternehmensleitung hinsichtlich zukünftiger Ereignisse und unterliegen Risiken und Ungewissheiten, die dazu führen könnten, dass die tatsächlichen Leistungen oder Ergebnisse wesentlich von den in den zukunftsgerichteten Aussagen zum Ausdruck gebrachten oder angedeuteten abweichen.

Kontakt:
Vinci Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Phil Gioia
Mitbegründer, Vorstandsvorsitzender und CEO
E-Mail: [email protected]

HardScope Accelerates Rebel Audio’s Next Phase of AI Technology, Creator Ecosystem & Global Expansion

Newly Established Board Of Directors includes DraftKings Founder & HardScope CEO Matt Kalish, Ben Lurie, Jacob Dezarn, and Jonathan Schulman alongside Advisory Board Members Mark Burnett and Chief Creator in Residence Mike Majlak

NASHVILLE, Tenn., Oct. 8, 2026 — Rebel Audio, the AI-powered podcasting platform designed to radically simplify how podcasts are created, produced, and scaled, today announced the closing of its Series A funding round, led by creator media company and studio HardScope. The Series A, which immediately follows an initial oversubscribed seed round of $4.15M, targets a $10M close, valuing Rebel Audio at approximately $50M post-money (*with more funding to follow in a 90 day window). The funding will accelerate Rebel Audio’s product roadmap, expanding its AI infrastructure, fuel creator acquisition and marketing, and support the company’s continued growth as it sets out to build the future of the podcast industry.

Rebel Audio is building an end-to-end operating system for the next generation of podcasters and creators. The platform brings together the tools creators need to record, edit, publish, translate, distribute and monetize their content, while using AI to streamline workflows that traditionally require multiple platforms.

“I started my career in dark editing rooms, fighting the tools just to get the work done, and have been building creator tools ever since,” said Jared Gutstadt, Founder and CEO of Rebel Audio. “Rebel is the simplest version of that mission: remove the friction, give creators their time back. Matt co-founded DraftKings and scaled it into one of the biggest names in sports entertainment. He knows technology, and he knows performance marketing. That’s the fuel for our network effect.”

“Rebel Audio empowers millions of aspiring creators to make great content independently and with almost no friction,” said Matt Kalish, CEO of HardScope. “The next generation of creators will use one-stop-shop AI powered platforms to show you don’t need a big team to create and launch great content. You can get started today, all by yourself on Rebel’s technology. Empowering creators to build ambitious projects and build an audience is core to HardScope’s mission.”

The Series A follows an oversubscribed seed round that helped take Rebel Audio from stealth to public beta, leading to Rebel’s recently announced inaugural creator think tank, POD U, taking place Friday, Oct. 16 at the Rebel Chateau in Franklin, Tennessee. POD U will bring together creators, platform leaders, athletes, media executives and investors shaping the future of media with headline guests including MDMotivator, Mike “Big Mike” Majlak, Rebel Audio’s Chief Creator in Residence; Caleb Simpson; Andrew Essex, Fort Nash’s Chris Ruediger, the Ecomm Cowboys and more. The event will be moderated and produced by Jimmy Jellinek, the former Playboy and Maxim editor turned public radio producer.

Additional participants and programming details for the first-ever Pod U will be announced in the coming weeks.

Rebel Audio Board of Directors:

• Matt Kalish
• Jacob Dezarn
• Benjamin Lurie
• Jonathan Schulman

Rebel Audio Advisory Board:

• Bill Hobbs
• Mark Burnett
• Brian Edwards
• Scott Robison
• Jeff Levin
• Mike Majlak ( Rebel Audio Chief Creator in Residence)

The company’s strategic investor network includes:

• The State of Tennessee, Launch TN
• Rich Marder
• Joe McCann
• Julie Gauthier
• Capital Midwest
• Charlie Epstein
• Ben Lurie
• Jonathan Schulman

PRESS KIT AVAILABLE HERE.

ABOUT REBEL AUDIO:
Welcome to the new era of podcasting with Rebel Audio: podcasting reinvented by AI. Rebel Audio is the only tool you will ever need to start your podcast revolution. One prompt unlocks infinite connections bringing your voice and story to the world. For more information – visit www.rebelaudio.ai.

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Alana Battaglia / The Untold PR
[email protected]

SOURCE Rebel Audio

First-of-its-kind fund will provide dedicated resources for growth and new initiatives, while the Bogers hope their gift inspires others to follow.

BOSTON, Oct. 8, 2026 — MassChallenge, the No. 2 accelerator in the United States according to TIME and Statista’s 2026 rankings, today announced a $2 million gift from Amy Boger, M.D., and Joshua Boger, Ph.D., to establish and capitalize the MC Innovation Fund, the organization’s first fund dedicated specifically to growth and innovation initiatives.

The MC Innovation Fund is designed to solve a challenge Joshua Boger has seen MassChallenge encounter as it has grown: how an established organization finds the resources to pursue new opportunities when its existing resources are already committed to the work underway.

“I think it’s spectacular what the organization has accomplished. It’s exceeded the original plans. But in having that success, you also see what it could do as well,” said Boger. “It’s very hard for organizations who are substantial to make another next move in growth of their mission. They can grow what they’re doing bigger, but it’s very hard for them to grow in mission.”

The $2 million founding gift creates a dedicated source of capital for that next move designed to inspire others to join. The funds will be used exclusively for growth and innovation initiatives and cannot be used to sustain existing funded programs or subsidize MassChallenge’s general operating needs. The gift is intended to be deployed over approximately six years, giving MassChallenge the ability to begin new initiatives knowing resources will be available beyond a single budget year.

“There’s always a call on resources that’s immediate from what you’re doing,” Boger said. “Let’s solve that chicken and egg problem for MassChallenge by putting some resources that would be… used to expand the mission. And let’s not dribble them out. Let’s give them all at once.”

Boger has been part of MassChallenge almost from the beginning. He advised its founders in its earliest years, helped establish the organization’s first governing board, served as its inaugural chair and has continued to serve as a finals judge for most of MassChallenge’s history.

His experience with Alkeus Pharmaceuticals helped bring that history full circle. Boger first met Alkeus founder Leonide Saad while serving as a MassChallenge finals judge and later became executive chairman of the company. Alkeus was acquired by Tarsus Pharmaceuticals in September 2026, a milestone Boger said was “absolutely coincident” with the decision he and Amy made to give back.

“Alkeus wouldn’t have existed without MassChallenge,” Boger said. “We thought it was past time that some companies who owe some or all of their success to MassChallenge think about paying back. So this was our way of paying back.”

“Joshua has been part of MassChallenge almost from the beginning, so he understands both what this organization has accomplished and what becomes possible when we have the resources to pursue a new idea,” said Cait Brumme, CEO of MassChallenge. “This gift gives us dedicated resources to pursue growth and new initiatives as part of MassChallenge’s broader multi-year, multi-million-dollar growth plan, while ensuring we continue investing in the work already underway. And by establishing the Innovation Fund, Amy and Joshua are creating a way for others who believe in MassChallenge’s mission to help us expand it.”

The Bogers’ gift is the founding contribution to a Fund designed to grow. MassChallenge intends for the MC Innovation Fund to continue beyond the initial gift period as it attracts additional contributions, including from startup alumni and others who believe in its mission.

“We probably wouldn’t want to announce it at all because we’re not even slightly interested in credit,” Boger said. “But we do think it can be an example. Our hope is that maybe we could inspire some other people to join us in this effort because the potential is limitless.”

To learn more about the MC Innovation Fund, hear Joshua Boger share the story behind the gift, or make a contribution, visit the MassChallenge website. For questions about supporting the MC Innovation Fund, contact Steve Johnston, Head of Advancement, at [email protected].

To learn more about the MC Innovation Fund and support MassChallenge, contact Steve Johnston, Head of Advancement at [email protected].

About MassChallenge
MassChallenge is a global institution that backs startups building solutions to complex, systems-critical challenges, working where complexity is high and the path to market is hardest. Founded in Boston, Massachusetts, with offices in Texas, Israel, Switzerland and the UK, MassChallenge connects startups with the partners, programs and capital needed to accelerate commercialization and real-world impact. Since 2009, MassChallenge has supported more than 5,000 startups that have raised over $27 billion in funding and is ranked No. 2 in the United States on TIME’s list of America’s Best Incubators & Accelerators 2026. Learn more at masschallenge.org.

SOURCE MassChallenge

Life sciences executive search firm partners with Telegraph Hill Partners to identify an independent director with extensive biopharmaceutical manufacturing and operations experience.

HERNDON, Va., Oct. 8, 2026 — CollectiveMinds LLC, a retained executive search firm specializing in life sciences and healthcare, today announced its role in supporting Telegraph Hill Partners (THP) in identifying independent director candidates for Argonaut Manufacturing Services, including J.D. Mowery, who has been appointed to Argonaut’s Board of Directors. Argonaut, a portfolio company of THP and NewVale Capital and a U.S.-based contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) providing sterile fill-finish services for injectable biologics and pharmaceuticals, announced the appointment on September 30, 2026.

CollectiveMinds partnered with the board to identify candidates with deep general management, CEO, and operations experience to support Argonaut’s continued growth.

“A board search starts with understanding the experience and perspective a company needs for its next stage,” said Tara Kochis, CEO and Founder of CollectiveMinds. “J.D. brings leadership experience on both sides of biopharmaceutical manufacturing, from companies developing therapies to the CDMOs producing them. That perspective, combined with his knowledge of Argonaut through the KBI partnership, made him a strong fit. The right board member changes what a company can see coming, and J.D. brings exactly that to Argonaut.”

Mowery brings more than two decades of leadership experience across global biopharmaceutical manufacturing, CDMO operations, and biotechnology. Most recently, he served as President of the global CDMO division at Bora Pharmaceuticals. Previously, he served as President and CEO of KBI Biopharma and as a Corporate Officer of its parent company, JSR Corporation.

His career includes senior operational leadership roles at AGC Biologics, Juno Therapeutics, and Lonza, spanning biologics, cell therapy, and aseptic manufacturing. He has led organizations through capacity expansion and the transition from clinical development to commercial manufacturing.

“J.D.’s experience with both innovator companies and CDMOs brings valuable perspective and operational expertise to Argonaut’s board,” said Alex Herzick, Board Member at Argonaut Manufacturing Services. “He will be an excellent complement to our talented management team and further strengthen the company’s position as a leading, customer- and quality-focused sterile fill-finish partner.”

Mowery also serves in board and advisory roles across aseptic manufacturing, life sciences infrastructure, automation, artificial intelligence, and biotechnology.

About CollectiveMinds

CollectiveMinds LLC is a retained executive search firm partnering with life sciences and healthcare companies and their investors to recruit board members, CEOs, and senior leaders. The firm combines more than 80 years of life sciences experience with machine learning to expand the candidate pool beyond established networks, then personally contacts and evaluates each candidate. Every search considers the organization’s goals and culture alongside the experience and leadership approach the role requires. Learn more at collectivemindsllc.com.

About Argonaut Manufacturing Services

Argonaut is a California-based CDMO specializing in clinical through commercial aseptic fill-finish for injectable biologics and pharmaceuticals. Its filling capabilities support vials, prefilled syringes, and cartridges. Its two isolator-based filling lines provide advanced contamination control and sterility assurance in compliance with global regulatory standards, including EU Annex 1. Learn more at argonautms.com.

SOURCE CollectiveMinds LLC

Integrated model portfolios bring public investments, private real estate debt, and active risk management together to help financial advisors support clients’ retirement and long-term financial goals

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Oct. 8, 2026 — Redwood Investment Management, LLC (“Redwood”) is celebrating the 10-year anniversary of its Engineered Risk-Budgeted (ERB) model portfolios, marking a decade of partnering with financial advisors to put client risk expectations at the center of portfolio management. The milestone highlights the evolution of the five-model lineup, which today integrates public and private investments within a coordinated RiskFirst^® framework designed around the needs of individual investors.

That evolution is more than expanding the investment mix. It reflects Redwood’s focus on connecting portfolio construction with what clients need from their money: participation in investment opportunities, income to support their lives, and a disciplined approach to managing the risk of loss.

“For someone in retirement, a portfolio represents decades of work and the freedom to live the life they have planned,” said Richard Duff, Managing Partner and Portfolio Manager at Redwood. “We created the ERBs to give financial advisors a partner in that responsibility. Our goal is to help retirees participate in markets and remain invested with greater confidence, knowing that a disciplined process is actively addressing risk in their portfolios. The impact we seek goes beyond an investment statement: helping people spend less time worrying about their money and more time living their lives.”

Public and Private Assets. One Coordinated Portfolio.

Redwood’s approach brings private investments into the model portfolio framework alongside public-market strategies, rather than treating them as an isolated allocation. Each component has a defined purpose, with portfolio construction focused on how those components work together to pursue the investor’s objectives.

The addition of Private Real Estate Debt has expanded the ERB investment toolkit, introducing an allocation intended to support portfolio stability and provide current income, including for clients in retirement. Within the broader framework, public-market exposure, private investments, and defensive strategies serve complementary roles, with quantitative analysis informing defensive positioning as drawdown risk increases.

For clients, the objective is a portfolio that brings market participation, income needs, and risk management into the same investment conversation—not a series of disconnected investment decisions.

“The opportunity is not simply to add private assets to a model portfolio. It is to integrate public and private investments so that each has a clear role in serving the client,” said Michael Cheung, Managing Partner and Portfolio Manager at Redwood. “Our ambition is to work alongside financial advisors to pursue world-class outcomes for the people who depend on them. That starts with understanding what clients need their money to do, then managing the portfolio toward those objectives.”

A Decade of Partnership, Built Around the Client

The ERBs originated from a practical challenge facing financial advisors: combining individual investment strategies into a portfolio that reflected the expectations established with clients. Advisors who valued Redwood’s risk-management strategies needed a broader solution. Allocating among multiple managers could still produce overlapping holdings and greater exposure to the same assets than intended.

Redwood developed ERBs to connect those individual investment decisions through coordinated portfolio management. The approach marked an evolution from providing individual strategies to serving as portfolio management partners supporting advisors whose responsibilities extend beyond investing in the financial lives of their clients.

The investment philosophy has remained consistent as the portfolios have evolved. Redwood’s RiskFirst^® approach defines risk through drawdown, or the decline in a portfolio’s value from a peak to a subsequent low. Each of the five ERB models has a defined drawdown-risk tolerance that guides portfolio construction and management. These objectives are targets, not guarantees or limits on potential losses.

The anniversary recognizes both consistency and the continued development of the ERB framework: a broader investment toolkit, an integrated approach to public and private assets, and an enduring focus on the people whose lives those portfolios are designed to support.

About Redwood Investment Management 

Redwood Investment Management brings institutional-grade investment processes to all individual investors through its RiskFirst^® solutions. By prioritizing risk management, Redwood believes investment success naturally follows. These innovations include democratizing access to private debt secured by real estate with a single ticker symbol and offering turn-key asset allocation models that blend public and private investments. Redwood partners with financial advisors to deliver these solutions via Redwood mutual funds, LeaderShares^® ETFs, and Engineered Risk-Budgeted Model portfolios. With no minimums, accreditation, or paperwork, investors gain access to short-duration, 1st lien secured real estate loans, making sophisticated investing available to all. Learn more at redwoodim.com 

Important disclosure information 

Investors should carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of the Redwood Private Real Estate Debt Fund. This and other important information about the Fund are contained in the prospectus, which can be obtained at redwoodmutualfunds.com or by calling 1-888-570-0805. The prospectus should be read carefully before investing. 

This fund is an interval closed-end fund. The Fund is an appropriate investment only for those investors who can tolerate a high degree of risk and do not require a liquid investment. The Fund does not intend to list the Shares on any securities exchange and the Fund does not expect a secondary market in the Shares to develop. Because you will be unable to sell your Shares or have them repurchased immediately, you will find it difficult to reduce your exposure on a timely basis during a market downturn. All or a portion of an annual distribution may consist solely of a return of capital (i.e., from your original investment) and not a return of net investment income.

The Fund has limited operating history and the shares have no history of public trading. The Fund is classified as “non-diversified” under the Investment Company Act. As a result, it can invest a greater portion of its assets in obligations of a single issuer than a “diversified” fund. The Fund may therefore be more susceptible than a diversified fund to being adversely affected by a single corporate, economic, political or regulatory occurrence. Although the Fund does not intend to invest in companies for the purpose of effecting change or influencing or controlling management itself, the Fund invests in companies that the Adviser believes have potential for capital appreciation resulting from such changes. The Adviser’s evaluation of companies may prove incorrect, or the efforts which they invest may not be successful, or even if successful, may have unintended affects or cause the Fund’s investment to lose value.

The Redwood Private Real Estate Debt Fund is distributed by PINE Distributors LLC, which is not affiliated with Redwood Investment Management, LLC. PINE ID REDWD-5982349-10/26

Princess Gatela
VP Marketing
Redwood Investment Management
[email protected]

SOURCE Redwood Investment Management

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Oct. 8, 2026 — Welltory, the consumer health app used by 18 million people, has secured $2 million in growth financing from longtime partner Braavo Capital to expand Welltory Care, its service for people living with chronic conditions.

The financing marks the latest stage in a long-term partnership. Braavo has provided Welltory with several million dollars in growth financing over the course of the relationship, supporting its expansion into new products and markets.

Welltory Care brings together people with similar conditions, physiological patterns and daily limitations, combining peer strategies with personal data, research and medical expertise. Welltory uses digital phenotyping — the analysis of wearable data and self-reported experiences — to identify people with similar profiles and build more specialized support around their needs.

“Most health products are built for the average user, but chronic conditions aren’t average experiences,” said Veranika Zdanovich, CCO of Welltory. “With 18 million users, we can bring together people whose physiology and daily limitations are unusually similar, then build research and tools around what that specific group actually needs.”

Three months ago, Welltory launched its first Energy Lab group with 100 people experiencing post-exertional malaise (PEM). Strong engagement has led the team to plan an expansion to 500, while clinical outcomes are being collected through an IRB-approved study.

Welltory funds research and product development from its own resources, while Braavo financing will primarily support growth and recruitment for Care.

“Welltory has been a long-term partner of Braavo, and it’s incredibly rewarding to see the company continue to grow while staying true to its mission,” said Mark Loranger, CEO of Braavo Capital. “We’re proud to have played a role in that journey and to support work that can improve the health and wellbeing of millions of people.”

Over the next year, Welltory plans Care groups for migraine, long COVID and chronic fatigue, and irritable bowel syndrome.

About Welltory

Welltory helps people understand their physiology and wellbeing through wearable data and heart rate variability analysis.

About Braavo Capital

Braavo Capital is a non-dilutive financing platform for mobile app and game companies. Since 2015, Braavo has deployed more than $2 billion in growth financing to over 10,000 apps.

Media contacts: Anna Butuzova, [email protected]; Dion Pllana, [email protected]

SOURCE Braavo Capital Inc.

The firm’s latest fund extends a disciplined approach built over three decades.

BOSTON, SAN FRANCISCO, and LONDON, Oct. 8, 2026 — Growth equity firm Spectrum Equity today announced the closing of Fund XI, which raised a total of $2.5 billion in an oversubscribed, single close. Fund XI is Spectrum’s largest fund since its founding in 1994, continuing the firm’s measured approach to fund size growth. In Fund XI, Spectrum will maintain its focus on rapidly growing, capital-efficient, founder-led companies, spanning software, artificial intelligence, and data services.

“Over the last 30 years, our funds have invested across each wave of innovation, while avoiding the volatility of the hype cycles that are prevalent in our industry,” said Ben Spero, Managing Director. “For the types of businesses that Spectrum has always specialized in, AI is creating unprecedented opportunities to deliver new value for end customers. It’s also a period of rapid change and competitive pressure. We believe this will fuel new opportunities to partner with exceptional management teams that have the leadership, product vision, and execution to build durable competitive advantages.”

Spectrum takes a dedicated, hands-on approach to supporting its portfolio companies’ growth. With 78 employees at the firm and 48 active portfolio companies, the firm has the deep industry experience and resources to support the growth ambitions of each business.

“With Fund XI, we are fortunate to have the support of our long-standing limited partners, along with several new investors that we’ve been excited to build relationships with,” said Mike Farrell, Managing Director. “In addition, more than 50 of our Fund XI investors are founders, executives, or board members of companies in which Spectrum has invested. They’ve seen the firm’s consistent approach from the inside, and we’re grateful for their continued confidence.”

Fund XI will seek to invest in founder-owned companies with little or no prior institutional capital, typically investing $25 million to $250 million per company. Since 1994, Spectrum has raised over $12.5 billion in capital from limited partners across its 11 main funds, investing in more than 190 companies.

To learn more about Spectrum Equity, visit www.spectrumequity.com.

About Spectrum Equity

Founded in 1994, Spectrum Equity is a leading growth equity firm with offices in Boston, San Francisco, and London. For over 30 years, we’ve partnered with and provided strategic support to innovative companies across multiple sectors, with a focus on software, artificial intelligence, and data businesses. Notable realizations include AllTrails, Ancestry, Definitive Healthcare, GoodRx, SurveyMonkey, and Verafin. In 2026 to date, Spectrum has made investments in splose, WorkFlex, Xapien, Symmetric, and a soon-to-be-announced consumer marketplace company. For more information, including a complete list of portfolio investments, please visit https://spctrm.pe/list-of-investments, which is updated periodically and reflects investments that have been publicly announced.

SOURCE Spectrum Equity

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 6, 2026 — Meticulous announces a $15m Series A round led by Chemistry to enable every developer to ship at the speed their agents write code. At Notion, ElevenLabs, Dropbox, Wiz and LaunchDarkly, that’s no longer an aspiration: every engineer depends on Meticulous to verify their changes before merging a PR.

If you have truly exhaustive testing you can ship extremely fast with AI. If you don’t – or have testing that gives anything less than full confidence – you can’t.

‘We’re moving into an era where code generation is relatively inexpensive, but that means code review and the feedback loop become the bottleneck. Meticulous helps us simultaneously move fast and raise the quality bar.’ – Zach Davis, Director of Engineering at LaunchDarkly

Tests comprehensive enough to unlock such velocity requires:

Extreme scale & robust curation: Truly exhaustive testing requires testing at a scale orders of magnitude beyond traditional testing. Operating functionally at this scale requires a new set of technologies – deterministic browsers for zero noise, fully automated generation and evolution of the test suite, efficient test execution & curation and robust coverage guarantees.

Visibility into the full impact of the change: Determining whether a code change is good to ship requires more than just the absence of failures on pre-defined assertions but rather the ability to quickly understand and visualize the full impact of the change, and from there judge its suitability.

Meticulous solves both these issues without noise, at huge scale, and fully autonomously, making such confidence possible for the first time. The system automatically generates and maintains thousands of flows to cover every edge case across the millions of lines of code in our customer’s codebases. It will detect even a single pixel difference in the video streams of any of those flows, and thus test the logic behind them, before any production change is shipped.

“We piloted the tool, were immediately impressed and rolled it out across the entire engineering organization. Meticulous is unlike anything else, developers love it and it is now an essential guardrail of our software development process.” – Erdem Alparslan, Head of Developer Experience at Notion.

The summarised data allows engineers, PMs and designers to preview every impact before hitting merge. And it allows agents to iterate on the change prior to pushing it for human review – giving your agents visibility into realistic data over every edge case and the impact of their change upon it.

“As we move closer and closer to truly exhaustive testing we’ve observed that this allows our customers to move at unprecedented speed. We’re excited to take the platform to the next level to allow another step change in velocity for our customers,” said Quentin Spencer-Harper, CTO at Meticulous, who previously spent over a decade at Palantir. 

The round comes with additional participation from Menlo Ventures and angel investors, including Lachy Groom, formerly of Stripe; Jason Warner, co-CEO and co-founder of Poolside; Arash Ferdowsi, co-founder of Dropbox; Scott Belsky, former CPO of Adobe; Guillermo Rauch, founder of Vercel; Calvin French-Owen, founder of Segment and former engineering lead at OpenAI; Caitlin Colgrove, CTO at Hex and Jason Ginsberg, formerly Head of Engineering at Cursor and now Member of Technical Staff at xAI.

“Meticulous has built one of the most deeply loved products that I have come across in my eighteen years of investing.” – Ethan Kurzweil, Managing Partner at Chemistry and early investor behind PagerDuty, Twitch and Intercom.

Media Contact:
Emily Tsen
Chief of Staff, Meticulous
[email protected] 

SOURCE Meticulous

-Vinci Pharmaceuticals Inc. cierra una financiación de Serie A de más de 8 millones de dólares para impulsar la plataforma de administración de fármacos EPIPLANT™ 

Puntos clave

• Combinado con su ronda inicial de 8,5 millones de dólares, la empresa ha recaudado más de 16,5 millones de dólares para respaldar sus actividades.
• Vinci Pharmaceuticals cerró una ronda de financiación Serie A de más de 8 millones de dólares para respaldar la fabricación, las actividades de prueba/lanzamiento y los primeros estudios en humanos de su plataforma de administración de fármacos EPIPLANT™.
• EPIPLANT™, la plataforma epiescleral de administración de fármacos de liberación sostenida patentada de la empresa, está diseñada para abordar las limitaciones de las inyecciones intraoculares.
• Está previsto realizar un estudio clínico de Fase 1/2a para 2027.

AVON-BY-THE-SEA, N.J., 8 de octubre de 2026 — Vinci Pharmaceuticals Inc., una compañía farmacéutica especializada en oftalmología, ha cerrado una ronda de financiación de Serie A superior a los 8 millones de dólares, a medida que avanza en el desarrollo de su innovadora plataforma de administración EPIPLANT™. Anteriormente, la empresa había recaudado 8,5 millones de dólares, sin incluir los intereses de los pagarés convertibles, en una ronda de financiación semilla, alcanzando un total de más de 16,5 millones de dólares.

Desarrollado en el laboratorio del Dr. Karl Csaky (MD, PhD) y bajo licencia de la Retina Foundation of the Southwest en Dallas, Texas, EPIPLANT™ es una plataforma patentada de implante epiescleral diseñada para proporcionar una administración sostenida de fármacos a los tejidos retinianos y abordar las limitaciones asociadas a las inyecciones intraoculares. Vinci está impulsando el programa con la orientación de su consejo asesor científico, compuesto por médicos.

La financiación fue liderada por Dynagrow Capital, LLLP, con el apoyo de MintPharma Capital. Se prevé que los fondos obtenidos respalden las actividades de fabricación bajo normas de correcta fabricación (GMP), pruebas y liberación del producto EPIPLANT™ VCI-002, así como el estudio de fase 1/2a previsto para 2027.

“Agradecemos el apoyo y la confianza de nuestros inversores y de la junta directiva, quienes reconocen el potencial de nuestro sistema de administración EPIPLANT™ para transformar el tratamiento de enfermedades que amenazan la visión y abordar necesidades no cubiertas en este campo”, declaró Philip A. Gioia, cofundador, presidente y consejero delegado de Vinci Pharmaceuticals. “Esta financiación respalda un paso importante: la preparación para nuestro primer estudio en humanos. Creemos que EPIPLANT™ tiene el potencial de ofrecer una administración segura y sostenida de fármacos a los tejidos retinianos y de reducir la carga del tratamiento tanto para los pacientes como para los médicos”.

Sarah Hassan, directora general de Dynagrow Capital, añadió: “EPIPLANT, de Vinci, representa un posible cambio de paradigma para los oftalmólogos y sus pacientes que se enfrentan a los desafíos de las enfermedades de la retina. Esta tecnología de plataforma multimolécula, que incorpora un sistema de administración sin agujas para moléculas pequeñas, podría aumentar drásticamente el tiempo de adherencia en pacientes que actualmente presentan una tasa de abandono inaceptablemente alta debido a la carga que supone el tratamiento. Nos complace asociarnos con el talentoso equipo de Vinci y apoyarlo en esta etapa crucial para hacer llegar EPIPLANT VCI-002 a los pacientes”.

La empresa ha obtenido múltiples patentes que protegen su tecnología patentada EPIPLANT™ y ha completado pruebas preclínicas preliminares. Vinci tiene previsto iniciar un primer estudio clínico en humanos de fase 1/2a en 2027.

Los métodos actuales de administración de fármacos para enfermedades de la retina a menudo requieren la administración directa en el ojo o presentan dificultades para alcanzar concentraciones eficaces del fármaco en los tejidos retinianos. EPIPLANT™ se ha diseñado para superar estas limitaciones mediante la liberación sostenida del fármaco a partir de un implante epiescleral. Esta plataforma bioerosionable está concebida para albergar diversos principios activos farmacéuticos, con el potencial de dar soporte a múltiples terapias para enfermedades de la retina.

“EPIPLANT™ suministra niveles específicos de fármaco a la mácula, lo que la convierte en una opción más deseable para tratar ciertas enfermedades oftalmológicas de la retina en comparación con las inyecciones intravítreas, que constituyen el estándar de tratamiento actual”, afirmó el Dr. Richard Lindstrom, de Minnesota Eye Consultants. “La tecnología EPIPLANT™ también abre la puerta a terapias innovadoras para afecciones retinianas que actualmente carecen de tratamiento”.

Vinci Pharmaceuticals tiene previsto realizar un ensayo clínico de fase 1/2a de su sistema de administración epiescleral de liberación sostenida EPIPLANT™ en 2027. Actualmente, el sistema permite administrar moléculas pequeñas, lo que posibilita su aplicación en una amplia gama de enfermedades de la retina.

Acerca de Vinci Pharmaceuticals
Vinci Pharmaceuticals Inc. es una compañía oftalmológica con programas listos para la fase clínica que aprovecha una plataforma innovadora y patentada para desarrollar productos pioneros, líderes y únicos en su clase, con perfiles diferenciados, destinados al tratamiento de determinadas enfermedades de la retina.

Nota cautelar

El presente comunicado de prensa contiene declaraciones prospectivas que incluyen información relativa a acontecimientos futuros, rendimiento financiero futuro, proyecciones financieras, estrategias, expectativas, entorno competitivo y regulaciones. Las declaraciones prospectivas no deben interpretarse como una garantía de rendimiento o resultados futuros, ni constituyen necesariamente indicadores precisos de cuándo se alcanzarán dichos resultados o niveles de rendimiento. Estas declaraciones se basan en la información que dispone Vinci Pharmaceuticals en el momento de su formulación, o en las convicciones de buena fe de la dirección en ese instante respecto a acontecimientos futuros, y están sujetas a riesgos e incertidumbres que podrían hacer que el rendimiento o los resultados reales difieran sustancialmente de los expresados o sugeridos en dichas declaraciones.

Contacto
Vinci Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Phil Gioia
Cofundador, presidente y consejero delegado
Email: [email protected]