More than 750 backers support DESLOC’s low-light self-charging solar smart lock, making it the highest-funded smart lock project on Kickstarter since 2023 based on publicly available campaign data

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 12, 2026 — DESLOC, a global smart lock brand, announced that its V150 Plus self-charging solar smart lock has completed its Kickstarter campaign, raising more than $500,000 from 755 backers.

The campaign reached its initial funding goal within one hour and surpassed $100,000 within 12 hours. By the end of the campaign, the V150 Plus had raised more than 50 times its original funding goal.

The milestone also reflects a growing shift in homeowner priorities. As smart locks add more features, battery life and charging frequency are becoming increasingly important considerations. More homeowners are looking for worry-free smart lock experiences with less charging hassle and less day-to-day maintenance, the exact pain point the V150 Plus was designed to address.

More Than $500,000 Raised for a More Worry-Free Smart Lock Experience

Smart locks today offer more features than ever, from facial and fingerprint recognition to remote access and app control. But these added capabilities also increase power consumption.

For homeowners, battery life is more than a technical specification. A smart lock is something they rely on every day, and frequent charging or battery replacement can quickly become an inconvenience.

DESLOC developed the V150 Plus around that everyday concern.

The lock combines a perovskite low-light energy-harvesting panel, a 10,000mAh battery and an intelligent power management system. Together, these technologies allow the lock to collect energy from ambient light and use it to help support everyday operation.

The V150 Plus also features 3D facial recognition, curved fingerprint recognition, built-in Wi-Fi, door-status detection and app-based remote management. The goal is to provide convenient keyless access while reducing the amount of attention users need to give to battery maintenance.

Built for Long Endurance, Verified by TÜV Rheinland

The V150 Plus has also received TÜV Rheinland Long-Endurance Certification, providing independent third-party validation of its energy management and long-endurance capabilities.

The certification was conducted in accordance with TÜV Rheinland’s 2 PfG 3330 specification.

Rather than simply testing whether the solar panel can generate electricity, the certification looks at a more practical question: Can the energy collected from ambient light meaningfully support the lock’s everyday operation?

TÜV Rheinland evaluated the V150 Plus across a range of functions, including standby power consumption, facial recognition, fingerprint recognition, remote control and daily unlocking.

Under the specified test conditions, including challenging low-light environments, the V150 Plus was able to continuously harvest ambient light and replenish its battery, helping maintain a balance between energy generation and everyday power consumption.

For consumers, the benefit is straightforward: the solar panel is not simply an added feature. It is designed to contribute meaningful power to the lock’s daily operation, helping reduce manual charging and ease the battery anxiety often associated with feature-rich smart locks.

TÜV Rheinland also evaluated environmental factors relevant to real-world front-door use, including dust and water protection, temperature and humidity changes, temperature cycling, and indoor-outdoor temperature differences.

Market Demand Meets Independent Technical Validation

The Kickstarter campaign reflects strong consumer demand for the V150 Plus, while TÜV Rheinland’s certification provides independent technical validation of its long-endurance performance.

The V150 Plus campaign suggests that meaningful smart lock innovation does not always mean adding more features. It can also mean making the technology people already use more reliable, longer-lasting and easier to live with.

More than $500,000 in crowdfunding represents strong consumer support for that direction. TÜV Rheinland’s certification adds an independent technical assessment of the V150 Plus’ long-endurance capabilities.

Together, the two milestones reinforce DESLOC’s focus on solving practical user needs and creating smart home products that require less day-to-day maintenance.

The DESLOC V150 Plus is moving toward its next stage of availability, and pre-orders for the DESLOC V150 Plus are now live.

For product updates, availability and pre-order details, visit desloc.com.

About DESLOC

DESLOC is a global smart lock brand focused on making trusted home security simpler, smarter, and more accessible. Backed by parent company DESMAN, one of Asia’s leading smart lock manufacturers with 17 years of industry experience and nearly 10 million family users worldwide, DESLOC combines proven biometric technologies, advanced security algorithms, and rigorous product testing to deliver reliable smart access solutions for modern homes.

With more than 400 industry patents, DESLOC develops smart locks designed for everyday families, homeowners, and smart home users who want strong security, keyless convenience, and long-lasting performance in an easy-to-use package.

SOURCE DESLOC

Experienced digital health executive Kelly Benning joins as CEO and Co-Founder

INDIANAPOLIS, Aug. 12, 2026 — Suvi Health announced today the launch of their Ambient AI Care Coordination Platform to bring clarity, compassion and continuity to patients’ hospital stays. The company was created by the 1842 Fund by Alloy Partners, and is presently in active collaboration with Mayo Clinic and the University of Notre Dame.

As hospitals nationwide face sustained pressure from staffing shortages, delayed discharges and increasing patient demand, Suvi Health aims to improve care delivery at critical transition points in the patient journey. Suvi Health’s ambient AI is designed to capture context, reduce friction and translate complex medical conversations into shared understanding.

By supporting recovery and discharge at the bedside and beyond, Suvi Health was founded to help care teams focus on what they do best: caring for people, not documentation, while ensuring patients and families feel heard, informed and supported during one of life’s most vulnerable experiences. Artificial intelligence is intended to augment and support clinical decision-making, not replace the expertise, judgment, and accountability of healthcare professionals.

“At its core, Suvi Health’s core principles are about fostering trust and  understanding at moments when they matter most,” said Kelly Benning, CEO and co-founder of Suvi Health. “When healthcare teams are stretched thin and families are overwhelmed, we believe technology should step in, quietly, to listen, support and help everyone move forward together toward healing and home.”

“Healthcare doesn’t need more technology competing for clinicians’ attention, it needs systems that quietly remove friction and help people stay connected during some of the most complex moments of care,” said Shawn Albert, CTO and co-founder. “We built Suvi Health’s ambient AI platform to work quietly in the background so care teams can focus less on coordination and more on patients and families.”

Suvi Health was launched by the 1842 Fund and Alloy Partners, collaborating with Mayo Clinic on co-development, design collaboration and as a first pilot site. Collaboration with researchers from Notre Dame and clinicians from Mayo Clinic Florida provided Suvi Health with the clinical insight and foundational research applied toward tackling complex healthcare delivery and AI challenges.

“At Notre Dame, our mission calls us to find solutions that support the most vulnerable, and that includes the upholding of human dignity in our healthcare system,” said Jeffrey F. Rhoads, the John and Catherine Martin Family Vice President for Research and professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering at Notre Dame. “This partnership between Suvi Health and the 1842 Fund offers a powerful tool for facilitating effective, patient-centered care, one that turns bedside conversations into a clear plan patients and families can actually understand and act on.”

“Suvi is a great example of the opportunities we seek to address through our unique ‘research co-creation’ approach,” said Mike Joslin, partner at the 1842 Fund. “Efforts like these are built around combining academic research, clinical expertise from the industry and our venture studio playbook to drive real-world impact.”

To learn more about Suvi Health, visit suvi.health.

About Suvi Health
Suvi Health is an Ambient AI Care Coordination Platform to bring clarity, compassion and continuity to patients’ hospital stays. Suvi Health’s platform creates a trusted, secure layer of support that listens with empathy to conversations between patients, families and the entire care team. Working invisibly in the background, Suvi Health bridges the gap between complex medical discussions and true understanding by aligning nurses, physicians and caregivers. Suvi Health was built by 1842 Fund and Alloy Partners in collaboration with Mayo Clinic and the University of Notre Dame. For more information, visit suvi.health.

About the 1842 Fund
The 1842 Fund invests in mission-driven, advantaged startups aligned to the strategic framework of the University of Notre Dame. In addition to investing in faculty, researcher and student startups emerging from campus, the 1842 Fund funds new startups launched from the 1842 Studio, a venture studio that co-creates de novo startups alongside university researchers and industry partners. The 1842 Fund and Studio are managed by Alloy Partners and focus on building and funding ventures that address important societal challenges tied to the mission of the University of Notre Dame. For more information, visit www.1842fund.com.

About Alloy Partners
Alloy Partners is a venture builder that co-creates advantaged startups and venture studios with corporations. Alloy Partners works with partners through their journey from defining a venture strategy to systematically conceiving, launching, investing in and scaling a portfolio of venture-backed startups. Founded in 2020 and headquartered in Indianapolis, the Alloy Partners portfolio includes over 40 companies and seven venture studios started in partnership with leading organizations, including Elanco, Huntington Bank, Eli Lilly, Capital One, Catalyst by Wellstar, Warner Bros. Discovery, University of Notre Dame and more. For more information, visit www.AlloyPartners.com.

About the University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame is the leading global Catholic research university, providing a distinctive voice in higher education. Rigorously intellectual, boldly moral in orientation and firmly embracing a service ethos, Notre Dame is rated among the top institutions of higher learning in the United States and is a member of the Association of American Universities. Founded in 1842 and located adjacent to South Bend, Indiana, the University advances human understanding through research, scholarship, education and creative endeavor to be a powerful force for good in the world. For more information, visit nd.edu.

Mayo Clinic has a financial interest in the technology referenced in this press release. Mayo Clinic will use any revenue it receives to support its not-for-profit mission in patient care, education and research.

Media Contact:
Jen Carroll
PANBlast for Alloy Partners
[email protected]

Erin Fennessy
Notre Dame Research
[email protected] 

SOURCE Alloy Partners

Oversubscribed round with proceeds to support continued clinical development

SAN DIEGO, Aug. 12, 2026 — Amplifica Holdings Group, Inc. (“Amplifica”), a privately held, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapies for hair growth, today announced the closing of an oversubscribed $26 million Series B Preferred Stock financing. The financing was led by Tasso Partners, LLC, with participation from Eli Lilly and Company, principals of Scopia Capital Management, LP, and other new and existing investors. Proceeds will be used to advance clinical development of the Company’s novel pipeline candidates, which are designed to reactivate dormant hair follicles and promote the growth of new hair. Currently marketed products are primarily intended to slow or prevent further hair loss.

“Closing this oversubscribed round reflects strong investor conviction in the science behind our injectable approach and in the size of the opportunity it addresses,” remarked Frank Fazio, President and CEO. “This capital allows us to accelerate our mission to deliver next-generation products to patients confronting the physical and emotional challenges of hair loss.”

Androgenetic alopecia is estimated to affect more than 50 million men and 30 million women in the United States. Existing daily-use treatments such as finasteride and minoxidil, though considered the standard of care, have delivered only modest improvements in hair count, and their daily-use profile introduces challenges including poor patient compliance, tolerability and side-effect concerns, and limited efficacy and applicability in women. These ongoing limitations have hindered broader adoption and further underscore the need for innovation in this space.

“Amplifica has built a proprietary portfolio of signaling molecules that regulate the hair follicle growth cycle, and this financing advances them further into clinical development,” said Wajdie Ahmad, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman. “Our discovery platform has yielded candidates that activate follicle regeneration through distinct, complementary mechanisms of action. Advancing multiple mechanisms in parallel maximizes our probability of clinical success and reinforces our leadership in hair regeneration for men and women.”

With this financing, the Company embarks on its next growth phase, focusing its attention on clinical development activities within its injectable product pipeline.

About Amplifica Holdings Group, Inc.

Amplifica is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing novel treatments to address androgenetic alopecia (hair loss), a condition estimated to affect over 50 million men and over 30 million women in the United States alone. The Company is taking a nature-inspired scientific approach using a molecular mechanism that regrows natural hair. The Company has identified and isolated unique signaling molecules that stimulate hair follicles to regrow hair. Amplifica will be initiating product development programs and clinical trials to evaluate the safety and efficacy of its core technology, as well as obtain all applicable regulatory approvals.

For more information, please visit https://amplificabio.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “contemplate,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “seek,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “target,” “aim,” “should,” “will,” “would,” or the negative of these words or other similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are based on the Company’s current beliefs and expectations. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the potential efficacy of the Company’s product candidates, the Company’s expectations with respect to development and commercialization of the Company’s product candidates, the initiation or completion of any future clinical trials. Actual results may differ from the forward-looking statements expressed by the Company in this press release, and consequently, you should not rely on these forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. Forward-looking statements contained in this announcement are made as of this date, and the Company undertakes no duty to update such information except as required under applicable law.

Contact(s)

Company
[email protected]

Media
EvolveMKD – [email protected]

SOURCE Amplifica Holdings Group, Inc.

Funding brings total capital raised to $62 million as the Company expands pharmaceutical co-development partnerships and accelerates the Hybrid Drug category

NEW YORK, Aug. 12, 2026 — Remepy, the pioneer of Hybrid Drugs, today announced the closing of a $36 million Series A financing round led by O.G. Venture Partners and M Ventures, the corporate strategic venture arm of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, with participation of existing and new investors including NFX, Vine Ventures, Qumra Capital, TechAviv, 97212 Ventures, Fresh Fund, PsyMed Ventures, Tadmor Group, Key1 Capital, and IT-Farm Corp.

The proceeds will accelerate the Company’s pharmaceutical co-development partnerships and the expansion of its Hybrid Drug pipeline and platform, as well as fund the global Phase III clinical development of Hybridopa, Remepy’s lead program for Parkinson’s disease that will commence in Q4 2026. This funding brings the total capital raised by the Company to $62 million.

Remepy partners with leading pharmaceutical companies to develop Hybrid Drugs, a new class of drugs that combine prescription medicines with personalized, AI-driven therapeutic apps. Hybrid Drugs integrate pharmacology with adaptive physical, cognitive, and behavioral interventions into a single treatment, enabling scalable, multidisciplinary care through the standard prescription model. Beyond improving patient outcomes, the platform creates significant strategic value for pharmaceutical companies by generating new intellectual property, enabling lifecycle management, differentiating existing and future drugs, and potentially increasing clinical trial success through personalized integrative treatment.

Supported by emerging FDA frameworks for drug-software combination products and regulatory alignment, the Hybrid Drug model is rapidly gaining industry momentum. The Company recently announced a strategic collaboration with Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, to develop Hybrid Drugs across multiple indications, beginning with rare tumors.

Hybridopa, Remepy’s Hybrid Drug program for Parkinson’s disease, has generated encouraging Phase IIa clinical results demonstrating improvements in both motor and non-motor symptoms, supported by peer-reviewed publications[i][ii] highlighting the biological mechanisms underlying the Hybrid Drug clinical effect. The Company is now preparing the program for global Phase III development, expected to commence in Q4, 2026. Hybridopa is an investigational product and has not yet been approved by the FDA.

Michal Tsur, PhD, and Or Shoval, Co-CEOs of Remepy, “We believe medicine is entering a new era, where every breakthrough drug will be paired with personalized intelligence to maximize its impact for every patient. Over the past year, we’ve demonstrated that this vision is achievable through clinical validation, peer-reviewed science, regulatory alignment, and partnerships with leading pharmaceutical companies. This financing allows us to advance Phase III of Hybridopa for Parkinson’s disease, and expand the Hybrid Drug model across multiple therapeutic areas.”

Ziv Kop, Managing Partner at O.G. Venture Partners (Israel), “We’re excited to lead Remepy’s Series A and support an exceptional team pioneering a new category of medicine. By bringing together biotechnology, AI, and digital health, Remepy is redefining how medicines are developed and delivered. With compelling clinical data, growing regulatory momentum, and strong validation from leading pharmaceutical partners, we believe Hybrid Drugs have the potential to transform patient care – and we’re proud to support Remepy in its next phase of growth.”

Dr. Eyal Ben Ami, Scientific Lead at M Ventures, “Remepy’s pioneering Hybrid Drugs approach reflects the growing importance and applicability of integrating AI into the delivery of health and physical medicines. Our investment from M Ventures is intended to further enable the company, underscoring our belief that this new class of medicine – that combines innovative therapeutics with AI-driven, patient-centered care – has the potential to redefine medicine. We look forward to advancing it across multiple drug classes and disease areas.”

Gigi Levi-Weiss, founding partner at NFX, “We’ve believed in Remepy’s vision since day one. The team’s ability to translate bold ideas into clinical and commercial momentum has only strengthened our conviction, and we’re excited to continue supporting the company as it enters its next stage of growth.”

About Remepy

Remepy is pioneering Hybrid Drugs, a new class of drugs combining traditional drugs with personalized, AI-driven therapeutic apps. Remepy partners with leading pharma companies to bring to market Hybrid Drugs, that integrate pharmacology with adaptive physical, cognitive, and behavioral interventions into a single treatment, enabling scalable, multidisciplinary care within a standard drug prescription model. Supported by emerging FDA frameworks for drug–software combination products and strong clinical data, this model is rapidly gaining traction. Remepy’s lead program, Hybridopa for Parkinson’s, is entering Phase III following strong Phase IIa results. Remepy is turning drugs into intelligent, software-enabled, adaptive treatment platforms. For additional information, please visit: https://www.remepy.com/   

About O.G. Venture Partners O.G. Venture Partners (OGVP) is a global, single-LP venture capital fund founded in 2017 and backed by Eyal Ofer’s Ofer Global, and focused primarily on early growth-stage investments, typically in Series B and C rounds. OGVP manages over $1.5 billion in assets under management (AUM). Its active portfolio includes companies such as Lendbuzz, Coralogix, Via, Neko Health, Connecteam, Peregrine, Superplay, and Buildots, among others.

About M Ventures
M Ventures is the strategic, corporate venture capital arm of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. From its headquarters in the Netherlands and offices in Germany, USA and Israel, M Ventures invests globally in transformational ideas driven by innovative entrepreneurs. Taking an active role in its portfolio companies, M Ventures teams up with management teams and co-investors to translate scientific discoveries into commercial success. M Ventures focuses on identifying and financing novel solutions to some of the most difficult challenges, through company creation and equity investments in fields that will impact the vitality and sustainability of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany’s current and future businesses.

http://www.m-ventures.com/

About NFX

NFX invests in seed and pre-seed founders building the next generation of category-defining companies. Our five General Partners have founded ten companies with more than $10 billion in combined exits. Since launching in 2017, we’ve backed 25 unicorns across San Francisco, Silicon Valley, and Israel. NFX manages $1.5B in assets, and we are actively investing out of our fourth fund.

Media contact:

Tsipi Haitovsky
Global Media Liaison
Remepy
[email protected] 

(1)  ^[i]Catalogna et al., 2026, Brain Communications

(2)  ^[ii] Catalogna et al., 2026, npj Parkinson’s

SOURCE Remepy

Trusted by a quarter of the Fortune 50, Skan AI delivers sustainable, reliable, and measurable AI outcomes across the most complex, regulated workflows in banking, insurance, and healthcare

MENLO PARK, Calif., Aug. 12, 2026 — Skan AI, the context graph of work for enterprise AI, today announced $63 million in funding co-led by Cathay Innovation and Dell Technologies Capital, with participation from Citi Ventures, Bloomberg Beta, State Farm Ventures®, and Wipro Ventures. The funding comes alongside the launch of Skan AI’s enterprise AI platform including the general availability of Skan AI Blueprint and Skan AI Agents. Together with Skan AI Intelligence, these products provide enterprises with a complete platform for deploying AI grounded in true context from how a business actually runs.

“Everyone is obsessed with building a better car. We think the bigger opportunity is building a better navigation system,” said Avinash Misra, Co-founder and CEO, Skan AI.

Enterprises have adopted agentic AI fast, but few are turning it into scalable value: Gartner finds only eight percent have agents in production, and 95 percent of early implementations will require a complete redesign. Both stats point to the same gap, and it isn’t simply that agents lack context. Every company filling agents with documentation and logs is discovering the same thing: the source data was never the whole truth. Skan AI fixes the source data problem at the source: delivering more than $500 million in measured uplift by grounding agents in how work actually gets done.

“Enterprise work context is becoming the foundational infrastructure layer for enterprise AI, the same way CRM became the system of record for customer relationships. Skan AI is the only company we have seen that builds that context from direct observation of work itself and carries it all the way through to agents running in production. With a fourth of the Fortune 50 already running on Skan AI, we believe this is one of the defining platform companies of the next decade,” said Simon Wu, Partner, Cathay Innovation.

The funding follows a breakout year, with Skan AI growing more than 300 percent year over year and average net dollar retention of 150 percent as customers expand across the enterprise. The company recently surpassed 25 billion work signals processed, now works with seven of the ten largest US banks, and partnered with the University of Missouri to establish a new research frontier at the intersection of AI, enterprise systems, and human work.

Skan AI, powered by NVIDIA AI Enterprise and NVIDIA NIM microservices, delivers sustainable, reliable, and measurable AI outcomes through a platform built for the complexity of real enterprise work. Its three products work as a continuous cycle, each one feeding the next:

• Skan AI Blueprint: Discovers and prioritizes AI opportunities across every system people use, including the legacy environments and regulated workflows most tools can’t reach.
• Skan AI Intelligence: Gives leaders everything they need to manage workflows at scale: process benchmarking, workforce management, and identification of technology and automation opportunities.
• Skan AI Agents: Executes autonomously against the customer’s work context, built from thousands of observed real cases, tested against reality before deployment, continuously updated as the business evolves, with human oversight and full auditability at every step.

These products are already in production at some of the world’s largest enterprises. At a top U.S. bank, Skan AI observed 11.2 million context switches and multiple variations across 1,500 finance professionals, uncovered $37 million in operational friction. The company turned those observations into context that agents could execute against, reducing cost per transaction by 32 percent, increasing throughput by 41 percent, and delivering $18 million in annualized savings. What began as 11.2 million observations of human work became the context for AI to perform that work.

“A financial institution’s real differentiation isn’t its products — it’s the decades of experience and operational know-how that shape how things get done internally. With NVIDIA platform, Skan AI observes thousands of real cases to capture how the enterprise’s best performers operate, then turns that into agents that run the work their way, all while running on infrastructure the financial institution owns and controls to be governed and auditable at every step,” said Aser Blanco, Global Head of Banking, NVIDIA.

“Skan AI has been an important partner helping us better understand how work actually happens across our operations,” said Cijo Joseph, Mitie Chief Technology & Digital Officer. “Their technology gives us unprecedented operational visibility that has dramatically accelerated our AI transformation. We’re excited to continue working together as we scale what’s possible with AI across the business.”

“The mandate for enterprise leaders right now is to identify where AI can create measurable operational advantage. That question cannot be answered unless the organization has a clear understanding of how work really gets done, said Raman Khanna, Managing Director, Dell Technologies Capital. “Skan AI has built the observation and context layer that provides that understanding, helping enterprises deploy AI more effectively and move from experimentation to measurable impact. We’re proud to support them as they continue to define this category.”

“We invest in durable advantages, and SkanAI is building an important layer of enterprise business technology by helping organizations connect the information and context behind how work gets done,” said Kate Strubhar, a State Farm Ventures® executive. “That foundation can help businesses improve collaboration, increase productivity and helps maximize the value of technologies used every day.”

Watch the Series C announcement: skan.ai/series-c

Read more from Avinash Misra, Co-founder and CEO: skan.ai/blog

About Skan AI
Skan AI is the context graph of work for enterprise AI: a continuously evolving record of how work actually happens across every system, application, and exception. Skan observes billions of real work signals and distills them into the execution logic AI needs: the sequence, the judgment calls, and the reality logs and documents will never show.

Skan AI has cleared information security review at leading Fortune 50 banks, insurance carriers, and healthcare organizations, environments where most AI tools can’t operate. Trusted by 1/4th of the Fortune 50 and 7 of the top 10 banks, Skan AI delivers average operational savings of 30 to 40 percent and more than $500 million in cumulative customer value to date.

For more information visit www.skan.ai

SOURCE Skan AI

Peak XV Partners leads the round as Blacksmith grows from 800 to more than 6,000 customers amid surging demand for faster code validation.

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 12, 2026 — Blacksmith, a cloud for validating code, has raised a $45 million Series B led by Peak XV Partners, with existing investors Y Combinator and GV also participating. The round values the company at $550 million.

The financing comes as AI coding tools are changing how quickly engineering teams produce software. Since the beginning of the year, the number of CI jobs running on Blacksmith has grown between 5% and 10% week over week. More than 6,000 companies now use Blacksmith, including Supabase, Clerk, Ashby and Mercury, up from approximately 800 when the company announced its Series A last September.

As developers adopt tools such as Claude Code, Codex and other coding agents, teams are producing significantly more code and opening more pull requests. That has put increasing pressure on the infrastructure responsible for building, testing and validating every change before it ships.

“Writing code has gotten dramatically easier. Validating it hasn’t,” said Aditya “JP” Jayaprakash, co-founder and CEO of Blacksmith. “We’re seeing teams adopt coding agents, generate several times more pull requests, and suddenly CI becomes a bottleneck. Every piece of code an agent writes still has to be built, tested, and reviewed before it can ship. That validation layer is going to become increasingly important as more software is written by agents.”

Beyond CI: the validation platform

Blacksmith started with purpose-built infrastructure that runs CI workloads dramatically faster than general-purpose cloud instances, with migration taking a one-line change to a workflow file. That remains the foundation. The broader goal is helping developers validate and merge code faster, with confidence in every change they ship.

The company recently launched codesmith, a cloud coding agent developers can delegate tasks to. Beyond building features and fixing bugs, codesmith works inside the validation loop: diagnosing CI failures, autofixing them, and keeping pull requests green. It is also the foundation for codesmith QA, which will autonomously test changes before they merge.

Where the money goes

Most of the new capital goes to compute. Blacksmith manages hundreds of thousands of cores today and plans to grow that footprint by an order of magnitude in the coming months to stay ahead of demand.

Blacksmith is hiring engineers in New York and San Francisco: https://www.blacksmith.sh/careers 

About Blacksmith

Blacksmith builds infrastructure and software for validating code. Its purpose-built CI cloud runs GitHub Actions workloads on dedicated compute with caching and storage optimized for CI. More than 6,000 companies use Blacksmith, including Supabase, Clerk, Ashby and Mercury. Blacksmith also develops codesmith, its cloud coding agent for building and validating software. The company was founded by Aditya (JP) Jayaprakash, Aayush Shah and Aditya Maru and is backed by Peak XV Partners, Y Combinator and GV. For more information, visit blacksmith.sh.

About Peak XV Partners

Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia Capital India & SEA) is a leading venture capital firm investing across India, APAC and beyond. Over the last 20 years of operations in the region, Peak XV has grown to manage over USD 10 billion in capital across 16 funds and has invested in over 450 companies. The portfolio has seen over 37 IPOs and several successful M&As to date. To know more, please visit www.peakxv.com.

SOURCE Blacksmith

• Financing will further accelerate the already successful early commercial rollout of VitaSmart™ HOPE System
• Company also advancing an active organ viability assessment tool designed to raise industry standards with a validated biomarker that gives transplant centers the data to save more organs and lives
• Funds fuel Bridge to Life’s multi-organ product pipeline and reinforce its market leadership

DULUTH, Ga., Aug. 12, 2026 — Bridge to Life™ Ltd., a market leader in organ preservation solutions and perfusion technologies, today announced the successful completion of a $110 million Series C and debt financing. The equity financing was led by new investor Soleus Capital, along with Lauxera Capital Partners and participation by Bridge to Life directors, officers, and employees; the debt financing was provided by Soleus Capital Credit Opportunities Fund. Proceeds will fuel the VitaSmart™ launch by expanding the field team and providing the working capital to reach every U.S. transplant center. The remaining funds will advance Bridge to Life’s new product pipeline, including a proprietary viability assessment tool, broadening its organ preservation portfolio, and scaling global operations. Proceeds were also used to refinance the Company’s credit facility with Perceptive Credit Funds, thereby significantly reducing the Company’s outstanding leverage and lowering its interest rate, as Bridge to Life has evolved from early development stage to a fully commercial organization.

Following its U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) De Novo clearance in January 2026, the VitaSmart™ Hypothermic Oxygenated Perfusion (HOPE) System is the first and only hypothermic oxygenated perfusion system authorized by the FDA for use in liver transplantation.

“Bridge to Life is committed to improving transplant medicine through science-based solutions that bring more organs to more patients,” said Don Webber, CEO and President of Bridge to Life™ Ltd. “This financing marks an important milestone for Bridge to Life and reflects the confidence our investors have in our technology, team, and long-term growth strategy. The VitaSmart launch has outpaced our expectations, as leading academic centers are adopting it rapidly. This financing enables us to meet that demand while advancing a pipeline that expands beyond liver transplantation to other solid organ transplants.” Webber further commented, “The Company would like to extend its appreciation for the financial support provided by Perceptive Credit Funds, through funding the Company’s VitaSmart clinical development, FDA clearance and initial commercial launch.”

“We led this financing because Bridge to Life pairs an established preservation franchise with a newly FDA-cleared perfusion platform that is already rapidly being adopted in the field, and with a credible pipeline behind it — this is a combination we believe is unmatched in the transplant category,” said Ben Lund, Partner, Soleus Capital. “We are excited to partner with Lauxera with whom we share a deep understanding of this market and conviction in Bridge to Life’s future potential.”

“We have substantial experience investing in organ transplantation devices and we have seen firsthand how difficult it is to carry a preservation technology from clinical promise through to routine practice,” said Samuel Levy, Co-Founding Partner, Lauxera Capital Partners. “Bridge to Life has done exactly that with a technology combining long-duration perfusions, class-leading ease of use, an accessible price point and outstanding clinical outcomes. These characteristics will accelerate machine perfusion adoption saving lives and reducing costs for the healthcare system.”

Creating a New Standard of Care in Perfusion

Proceeds from this financing will primarily be used to scale the company’s commercial and clinical field organizations, providing the infrastructure required to deliver VitaSmart™ to every U.S. transplant center seeking to modernize its organ preservation capabilities. In just six months, VitaSmart™ has rapidly become part of routine clinical practice as evidenced by:

• Master service agreements with a rapidly growing number of leading academic transplant centers, organ procurement organizations, and several of the nation’s highest-volume liver transplant programs, including first-time adopters of cold perfusion
• Strong customer loyalty demonstrated through a remarkable cadence of repeat orders
• A robust pipeline of additional U.S. transplant centers in the process of adopting VitaSmart™

With more than 100,000 U.S. patients currently awaiting life-saving transplants, there is a critical need to maximize the use of every available donor organ. The VitaSmart™ System directly addresses this acute shortage by expanding the pool of viable organs, helping to reduce waitlist times and save more lives.

Meeting the Unmet Need for Assessing Organ Viability

Bridge to Life is advancing a first-in-class, science-based viability assessment tool designed to set a new industry standard in transplant medicine. It aims to address one of transplantation’s most persistent challenges: currently, donated organs are accepted or declined based on a combination of visual assessment, donor characteristics, clinical judgment, and, during normothermic perfusion, surrogate measures such as lactate clearance and bile production. Bridge to Life seeks to augment these traditional measures with a more definitive, science-based evaluation of organ viability. Objective decision support at the point of evaluation can give surgeons the confidence to accept marginal and extended-criteria grafts, reduce preventable organ non-use, and standardize acceptance practice across centers.

The viability assessment tool is currently in development and under investigation, and it is not cleared for commercial sale at this time.

Expanding Product Portfolio Beyond Liver

The remaining capital will fund Bridge to Life’s broader innovation pipeline, expanding its organ preservation and perfusion portfolio beyond liver transplantation into additional organ applications over the next three years. In addition, the company is actively developing next-generation closed systems to streamline transport, thereby supporting the expansion of Bridge to Life’s global commercial footprint.

Advisors

UBS Investment Bank acted as exclusive financial advisor and placement agent to Bridge to Life in connection with the transaction. Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP acted as legal counsel for Bridge to Life in connection with the transaction.

About Bridge to Life™ Ltd.

Bridge to Life™ Ltd. is a global leader in organ preservation and perfusion technology. Driven by a commitment to science-based innovation, the company empowers transplant teams with advanced tools that expand the donor pool, streamline clinical workflows, and improve patient outcomes worldwide. VitaSmart™ joins a preservation franchise anchored by Belzer UW^®, widely regarded as the global gold standard in cold static preservation and the most extensively used cold flush solution in abdominal organ transplantation. Together, the portfolio gives Bridge to Life a differentiated position spanning both established preservation and next-generation machine perfusion.

About Soleus Capital

Soleus Capital is an investment firm based in Greenwich, CT focused on the innovative areas of life sciences, including biopharmaceuticals, medical technologies, life sciences tools and diagnostics. With approximately $3.5 billion in total assets under management as of June 30, 2026, Soleus Capital invests across the healthcare lifecycle from developmental-stage through commercial, and partners with life science companies across the capital structure with hedge fund, private equity and structured credit vehicles.

About Lauxera Capital Partners

Founded in 2020, Lauxera Capital Partners is an independent investment firm exclusively dedicated to Healthtech. Based in Paris and San Francisco, the firm is led by entrepreneurial company builders and seasoned investors. Lauxera manages more than $1 billion in assets and supports 14 portfolio companies as a hands-on operational and financial partner. Since its founding, Lauxera has championed investing for impact in pursuit of a more sustainable and effective healthcare system, tracking the positive impact of its portfolio companies on patients, providers and healthcare systems.

Product Development and Forward-Looking Statements

Pipeline programs described in this release are in development, are investigational, and are not cleared or approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or any other regulatory authority. Nothing herein should be construed as a claim of safety or effectiveness for any use that has not received clearance or approval. Commercial and clinical figures cited in this release are preliminary and unaudited as of July 24, 2026.

SOURCE Bridge to Life, Ltd.

PALO ALTO, Calif., Aug. 12, 2026 — WovenEarth Ventures held the final close of its second fund, WovenEarth Fund II, at $155M on May 29, 2026. The investment firm now manages over $330M in total AUM with the objective of delivering strategic exposure to early-stage cleantech companies with outsized return potential in energy, industry, and resilience.

“We believe we are in the midst of a massive innovation wave: We call it Cleantech 2.0,” said Jane Woodward, managing partner at WovenEarth Ventures. “We see cleantech as fundamental to the future of the global economy—it has the capacity to boost profit and reduce risk in key areas such as AI-driven electricity demand, domesticating supply chains, and the rising cost of extreme weather. In our view, cleantech companies cover a broad range of sectors and are no longer a niche investment category. We see them as better businesses that happen to be clean.”

WovenEarth seeks to fill a gap in the investment landscape. Its ambition is to build funds that generate attractive returns and expose investors to hundreds of early-stage cleantech companies, through a diversified approach of fund investments and co-investments.

WovenEarth Fund II will offer exposure to 250+ companies by investing in a select group of US early-stage cleantech funds and reserving roughly one-third of investable capital to co-invest alongside them. To date, WovenEarth Fund II has made commitments to seven funds and 20 co-investments in subsectors such as geothermal energy, battery storage, critical minerals, robotics, orchestration software, and more.

WovenEarth Fund II has a strong investor syndicate returning from WovenEarth Fund I, including The Pennsylvania State University, Glenmede, Mortenson Family Foundation, and M.A. Mortenson Companies. WovenEarth Fund II also welcomed additional partners, including foundations, family offices, and the J.M. Huber Corporation.

The firm is led by a seasoned team with decades of experience in cleantech innovation, fund investing, and direct investing, including Jane Woodward (managing partner), Denise Miller (general partner), Ashley Grosh (partner), Trina Van Pelt (partner), Alicia Virtue (partner, operations), Mauricia Geissler (senior advisor, investments), and Natasha Skok (senior advisor, operations).

About WovenEarth
WovenEarth Ventures is an investment platform that delivers strategic exposure to early-stage cleantech companies that can reinvent the future of energy, industry, and resilience. Our ambition is to give investors a curated pathway into cleantech investments with outsized return potential, using a fit-for-purpose investment strategy designed to mitigate downside and capture upside in this space.

For more information, visit wovenearth.ventures

Media & PR Contact
Trúc Nguyen
Mulberry & Astor
[email protected] 

SOURCE WovenEarth Ventures

Bullen’s Autonomous Process Optimization initiative with Phenx uses machine learning and digital twin modeling to improve manufacturing performance

EATON, Ohio, Aug. 12, 2026 — Bullen Ultrasonics, a leader in precision machining of advanced ceramics, glass and specialty materials using proprietary ultrasonic and laser-based technologies, today announced it has received a $23,100 grant through the Ohio Smart Manufacturing Program to support its Autonomous Process Optimization initiative, which applies artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to improve manufacturing operations. Bullen is working with industrial AI engineering company Phenx on the initiative. The companies will analyze approximately 2 billion data points collected from Bullen’s customized manufacturing equipment to identify opportunities to improve process stability, efficiency and consistency.

“For several years, we have invested in the infrastructure needed to capture, organize and understand the data generated by our equipment because we believed it would eventually help us make better manufacturing decisions,” said Tim Beatty, president of Bullen Ultrasonics. “This grant allows us to turn that foundation into an actionable capability. We are applying AI to a specific manufacturing challenge with the potential to improve the value we deliver to our customers.”

The project began with an analysis of Bullen’s historical production data. Following encouraging initial findings, Phenx developed a digital twin, or virtual model, of the targeted manufacturing process.

The digital twin allows Bullen and Phenx to test different algorithms and process adjustments using actual production data before introducing changes on the manufacturing floor. The current phase is focused on validating the optimization algorithm within the digital twin. Once that work is completed, Bullen plans to pilot the algorithm on one of its machines and evaluate its performance during an extended prove-out period.

“Bullen had already completed much of the difficult foundational work required for a successful industrial AI project, including collecting high-quality data and developing deep knowledge of its custom machines and processes,” said Saurabh Sarkar, founder and CEO of Phenx. “By combining that foundation with advanced modeling and machine learning, we can identify patterns that would be extremely difficult to isolate manually and safely test optimization strategies in a digital environment before moving them into production.”

If successful, the project could help Bullen reduce process variation, shorten production cycles and improve the predictability and consistency of its manufacturing operations. It could also establish a framework for applying similar AI-driven modeling and optimization capabilities to other manufacturing processes in the future.

The grant supports the project’s initial phases. Bullen is investing additional resources in continued development, hardware integration, production testing and long-term validation.

The Ohio Smart Manufacturing Program helps small and medium-sized manufacturers adopt advanced digital technologies to improve operational efficiency, productivity and competitiveness. The program is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s State Manufacturing Leadership Program and led in Ohio by the Ohio Department of Development. The University of Dayton Research Institute (UDRI) supported Bullen’s participation by conducting technical discovery and helping prepare the project for state approval.

“UDRI is a key subrecipient supporting the Ohio Smart Manufacturing Program, providing technical project assessment and financial support to help companies like Bullen accelerate the adoption of digital technologies,” said Mark McCormick, senior business development lead of the University of Dayton Research Institute. “Bullen’s initiative is a strong example of how manufacturers can apply AI and machine learning to a clearly defined operational challenge with the potential to improve manufacturing performance and deliver measurable business value.”

Bullen views the initiative as part of a broader strategy to combine the expertise of its engineers, machinists and manufacturing professionals with emerging technology. The company intends to use AI to support human decision-making, accelerate problem-solving and expand its precision manufacturing capabilities.

To learn more about Bullen’s approach to AI adoption and the foundation it is building for Industry 4.0, read “AI Integration in Manufacturing: Building the Foundation for Industry 4.0” on the Bullen website.

About Bullen Ultrasonics
Bullen Ultrasonics is a global leader in the precision machining of advanced ceramics, glass and specialty materials using proprietary ultrasonic and laser-based technologies. Its non-thermal processes enable micron-level accuracy and reduce the risk of microcracks, contamination or structural damage, supporting the production of intricate features in components used across high-performance applications. Bullen’s vertically-integrated operations include in-house tool design and custom automation, which help streamline production from prototype through high-volume manufacturing. The company holds numerous certifications, including ISO 9001, AS9100 and ITAR, reflecting its alignment with quality and traceability standards in the aerospace, defense, automotive, medical and semiconductor and MEMs industries. Founded in 1971 and with more than 50 years of experience, Bullen is recognized for its engineering responsiveness and ability to deliver consistent results in regulated, high-stakes manufacturing environments. Learn more at https://www.bullentech.com.

About Phenx
Phenx is an industrial AI engineering company that helps manufacturers apply machine learning, digital twins, and process optimization to complex production environments. Phenx develops practical AI systems that combine operational data with domain expertise to improve process stability, efficiency, and decision-making. Learn more at www.phenx.ai.

Media contact:
Michael Tebo
Gabriel Marketing Group (for Bullen Ultrasonics)
Phone: 571-835-8775
Email: [email protected] 

SOURCE Bullen Ultrasonics