European Pension Investors Back Strategy Focused on Korea’s Rapidly Expanding Rental Housing Market

NEW YORK, June 4, 2026 — Tishman Speyer today announced the first closing of its Korea Living Venture (KLV), securing $300 million in third-party equity commitments from two blue chip European pension funds for a new fund dedicated to acquiring, repositioning, and developing multifamily and accommodation properties throughout Seoul.

The commitments from APG Asset Management N.V. (APG) and Bouwinvest provide a strong foundation for KLV, which is targeting approximately $400 million of equity commitments which would represent more than $800 million of investment capacity, including anticipated financing. The strategy underscores growing institutional conviction in Korea’s rapidly expanding rental housing sector, one of the fastest-growing multifamily markets in Asia.

APG is one of the world’s largest pension investors, managing assets on behalf of Dutch pension fund, ABP.

Bouwinvest is a leading Dutch institutional real estate investment manager focused on creating long-term value through diversified investments across global residential and real estate sectors on behalf of pension clients.

KLV will target assets near major transportation hubs with convenient access to business districts and university campuses in Seoul, Icheon, Gyeonggi-do and other high-growth neighborhoods throughout the capital region.

Leveraging Tishman Speyer’s value-add and placemaking expertise, the fund primarily focuses on existing living assets with value enhancement opportunities, while maintaining selective exposure to development projects. This integrated approach balances near-term stability with long-term growth, enabling KLV to assemble a diversified portfolio of high-quality living assets.

Seoul is experiencing a boom in rental demand, underpinned by structural socio-economic shifts such as rising housing costs, increasing single-person households, and growing numbers of foreign residents and international students. Together, these dynamics are contributing to the long-term depth and resilience of the city’s rental market.

“The Korea living sector represents a large but under-institutionalized opportunity, fueled by growing demand and constrained supply,” said Tishman Speyer’s Head of pan-Asia, Graham Mackie. “This strategy allows us to scale our presence in a high-growth market while further diversifying Tishman Speyer’s global portfolio.”

Joelin Ma, Senior Director Real Estate at APG, comments:
“Korea’s living sector is a strong example of the structural opportunities we are targeting across Asia’s developed markets. Demographic shifts, rising rental demand and the growing adoption of professionally managed accommodation continues to support strong long-term fundamentals, and we see this as an attractive way to access resilient, income-generating real estate exposure in the region. Our partnership with Tishman Speyer and Bouwinvest combines strong local execution with structural flexibility, including a potential pathway towards an open-ended core vehicle, in line with APG’s long term approach to core real estate investing.” 

Robert Koot, Director Asia-Pacific Investments at Bouwinvest, comments:
“Our Korea Living strategy reflects our strong conviction in the long-term fundamentals of one of Asia’s most dynamic and institutionally maturing residential markets. Building on our global experience in the living sector, we believe that partnering with APG and Tishman Speyer positions us very well to create a high-quality, scalable portfolio. As part of our performance strategy, we aim to contribute to the evolution of urban living by delivering sustainable, future-ready housing solutions that meet the needs of modern Korean households, while generating resilient, long-term returns for our client.”

Jorrit Sennema, Sr Portfolio Manager at Bouwinvest, comments:
“Seoul’s residential market is at an important inflection point. A significant part of the existing housing stock is ageing and no longer aligned with the needs of today’s urban population. At the same time, the rapid growth of single-person households is fundamentally reshaping demand, creating a clear need for well-designed, professionally managed living solutions. This imbalance presents a compelling opportunity to deliver modern, high-quality housing that better reflects how people live today, while driving the continued institutionalisation of the sector.”

The vehicle further builds upon Tishman Speyer’s continued global diversification strategy, which prioritizes investments in a widening range of asset classes and geographies.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to subscribe for any interests in any jurisdiction.

About Tishman Speyer (tishmanspeyer.com)
Tishman Speyer is a leading owner, developer, operator and investment manager of first-class real estate in approximately 40 key markets across the United States, Europe, Asia and Latin America. Our portfolio spans market rate and affordable residential communities, premier office properties and retail spaces, industrial and data center facilities, mixed-use campuses, and real estate credit investments. We create state-of-the-art life science centers through our Breakthrough Properties joint venture, and foster innovation through our strategic proptech investments. With global vision, on-the-ground expertise and a personalized approach, we foster innovation, quickly adapt to global and local trends and proactively anticipate our customers’ evolving needs. By embedding health and wellness, enlightened placemaking, and customer-focused initiatives such as our tenant amenities platform, ZO, and our flexible space and co-working brand, Studio, into our buildings, we enhance the experience of the people who work and live there. Since our inception in 1978, Tishman Speyer has acquired, developed, and operated 600 properties, totaling 242 million square feet, with a combined value of approximately $138 billion (U.S.). Our current portfolio includes such iconic assets as Rockefeller Center in New York City, The Springs in Shanghai, TaunusTurm in Frankfurt, and the Mission Rock neighborhood currently being realized in San Francisco.

About APG (https://apg.nl/en) As the largest pension services provider in the Netherlands APG manages approximately €601 billion (December 2025) in pension assets for 4.6 million participants. APG provides executive consultancy, asset management, pension administration and pension communication. With approximately 4,000 employees we work from Heerlen, Amsterdam, Brussels, New York, Hong Kong, and Singapore. We work for pension funds and employers in the sectors of education, government, construction, cleaning, housing associations, sheltered employment organizations, medical specialists, and architects. 

About Bouwinvest (https://bouwinvest.com/)
At Bouwinvest, we are committed to creating financial returns for our institutional clients. Originating from the Dutch construction workers pension fund bpfBOUW, we have built up a unique position as an investment manager overseeing €17.8 billion in assets (YE 2025). We offer institutional investors access to a carefully curated portfolio of Dutch direct investments and targeted global indirect investments, while also providing tailored investment opportunities. In line with our investment philosophy, we recognize that achieving long-term success and outperformance is only possible when ESG considerations are an integral part of our investment decision making, when these considerations align with delivering financial returns within our investment horizon. By integrating both, we balance the preservation and growth of future financial value for our investors while making a positive contribution to society. To us, that is real value for life.

SOURCE Tishman Speyer

National Round Draws from Field of 18,000 Startups Representing More than 55,000 Entrepreneurs Across 2,200 Universities and 130 Countries

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., June 4, 2026 — The Hult Prize Foundation today announced the ongoing Nationals Round of competition for the 2026 challenge cycle, in which for-profit ventures from around the world are competing to address the world’s most pressing challenges. The annual Hult Prize awards $1 million USD in seed funding to the winning team, backed by the Hult family – founders and owners of EF (Education First), the world’s largest private education company. 

Now in its 17th year, Hult Prize continues its open challenge format, welcoming student-led startups across all sectors and innovation areas. Each venture must align with at least one U.N. Sustainable Development Goal and demonstrate a triple-bottom-line commitment to people, planet, and profit.

This year’s competition drew 18,000 registered startups, with 2,000 teams advancing to the Nationals Round. National competitions are currently underway at 45 universities and host institutions around the world, with additional teams competing online. By June, the national stage will conclude, and 80 teams will move on to the Hult Prize Digital Incubator this summer.

“Hult Prize competitors aren’t waiting for permission to solve global problems – they’re building businesses that do it,” said Hult Prize CEO Lori van Dam. “We’re seeing extraordinary talent and ambition from students based in every corner of the world. This year, we welcomed more than 250,000 student entrepreneurs, organizers, volunteers, mentors, and judges from over 130 countries, supporting the creation of 18,000 new startup ideas. With the 2026 cycle fully underway, I’m excited to see even more purpose-driven ventures emerge and to help these founders take their businesses to the next level.”

Competition Cycle 

The competition began in September with Qualifiers, where students from more than 2,200 universities compete locally in campus-hosted events or apply online through the open application process.

Campus winners – along with top online applicants – advance to the Hult Prize Nationals. In early summer, approximately 80 teams advance to the Hult Prize Digital Incubator, where they work with global mentors to test product-market fit, refine their business strategy, and strengthen their impact frameworks ahead of the Global Accelerator. 

The top 20 startups emerging from the Digital Incubator earn a place in the prestigious, in-person Hult Prize Global Accelerator at Ashridge House in Berkhamsted, UK. There, teams receive intensive mentorship, investment-readiness support, and pitch opportunities as they prepare for the Global Finals. 

Eight teams will be revealed as this year’s Hult Prize Global Finalists on Wednesday, September 2, 2026, before pitching live for $1M USD at Ashridge House. Ashridge House – a 700-year-old royal estate in the English countryside outside London – is part of the EF ecosystem and typically hosts executive education programs and events. For the Hult Prize Global Accelerator and Finals, it is transformed into a one-of-a-kind residential startup accelerator – putting the resources, mentorship, and immersive environment of a world-class executive education and events center directly in service of the next generation of social entrepreneurs.

“At a moment when purpose and personal ambition are too often seen as competing goals, the entrepreneurs who join the Hult Prize are proving that purpose-driven, financially sustainable companies can often achieve greater scale, resilience, and long-term impact than many people assume is possible,” van Dam added. “This generation is redefining what it means to build for the public good – and investors should be paying attention.”

Building on Last Year’s Momentum

The launch of the 2026 Hult Prize competition and National Rounds follows the success of the 2025 Hult Prize, where Stick ‘Em – representing the National University of Singapore and Singapore University of Technology and Design – won the $1 million prize for its affordable STEAM kits and digital platform designed to expand hands-on learning worldwide, with a focus on underserved communities. 

Previous winners include Korion Health (2024), Banofi Leather (2023), Ecobana (2022), and a growing alumni community of ventures that have gone on to raise capital, hire globally, and scale impact in healthcare, agriculture, climate tech, education, and beyond.

About the Hult Prize

Founded in 2009 by students at the Hult International Business School, the Hult Prize is the world’s largest engine for student impact entrepreneurship. The competition challenges young founders to build scalable, sustainable companies that address the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals and create measurable social impact. The $1 million annual prize is funded by the Hult family, founders and owners of EF (Education First), who serve as title sponsor of the competition. Hult International Business School, whose leadership in entrepreneurship and experiential learning continues to inform the program, remains a valued partner. 

SOURCE Hult Prize Foundation

Un tour de table mené par Pender Ventures, avec la participation de Climate Investment, Evok Innovations et Occidental. Les nouveaux capitaux permettront d’accélérer le déploiement de la plateforme d’IA déjà en place dans cinq entreprises membres de l’OGCI et chez des opérateurs régionaux, l’expansion dans des secteurs industriels verticaux adjacents étant en cours.

CALGARY, Alberta, 4 juin 2026 — SensorUp Inc., la plateforme de veille opérationnelle qui alimente les opérations intégrées dans les industries à forte intensité d’actifs, a annoncé aujourd’hui la conclusion d’un tour de financement de croissance mené par Pender Ventures. Le tour de table a vu la participation de Climate Investment, Evok Innovations, et Occidental, un investisseur stratégique et un client.

SensorUp est la couche de veille opérationnelle pour les industries à forte intensité d’actifs : elle transforme les données de terrain, dossiers d’ingénierie et flux de capteurs fragmentés en flux de travail vérifiables et prêts à être traités par un agent. Les exploitants utilisent aujourd’hui la plateforme pour révéler les puits sous-performants avant que la production ne soit perdue, pour trier les événements de torchage et d’éventage en fonction des seuils réglementaires, pour coordonner l’état de préparation des milliers de composants, pour détecter et résoudre les fuites de méthane et pour dresser des inventaires d’émissions qui résistent à l’examen des régulateurs et des marchés financiers, le tout sur un modèle d’actif unique plutôt que sur cinq outils déconnectés les uns des autres.

Les composants durcis de la plateforme : la hiérarchie des actifs, les calculs, l’examen et l’approbation, les rapports et l’orchestration des flux de travail offrent aux clients, aux consultants et aux agents d’intelligence artificielle une base commune sur laquelle s’appuyer, avec l’auditabilité, la sécurité et l’évolutivité dont l’industrie lourde a besoin. L’ajout d’un nouveau cas d’utilisation relève de la configuration et non de la création d’un nouveau produit. C’est cette même architecture qui rend la plateforme extensible au-delà du pétrole et du gaz, dans les secteurs de la production d’électricité, des services collectifs, de l’exploitation minière et de la chimie, partout où se rencontrent des actifs distribués, des données multimodales et des opérations réglementées.

Le tour de table a été mené par Pender Ventures, une société de capital-risque qui se concentre sur les entreprises qui stimulent l’économie de l’innovation alors que les systèmes existants sont remplacés par des outils modernes. En tant qu’investisseurs, ils se concentrent sur la recherche d’entreprises proposant des solutions qui ont prouvé leur capacité à augmenter les revenus, à réduire les coûts et à améliorer les résultats.

« Les logiciels industriels attendaient une plateforme offrant à la fois une véritable différenciation architecturale et la crédibilité sur le terrain pour les déployer à grande échelle. SensorUp possède les deux », a déclaré Cheri Corbett, associée chez Pender Ventures. « Leur tissu de données basé sur l’ontologie, leur position au sein des industriels les plus exigeants du monde et la manière dont les clients les intègrent dans les charges de travail agentiques en font exactement le type d’entreprise à point d’inflexion que notre fonds a été conçu pour soutenir. En fin de compte, nous soutenons les équipes, et celle-ci a gagné la confiance des exploitants, ce qui a pris des années à construire et prendrait des années aux concurrents pour être reproduit. »

Le capital sera déployé entre trois priorités alignées sur la prochaine phase de croissance de SensorUp :

Accélérer le déploiement des clients : développer le cadre API de SensorUp, faire progresser le déploiement sans contact, et étendre l’expansion au moyen d’ateliers de prototypage structurés qui réduisent le délai de retour sur investissement de quelques trimestres à quelques semaines.

Améliorer la plateforme agentique : investir dans l’IA avancée, la modélisation et les capacités spécifiques aux secteurs verticaux, y compris les agents d’IA pour les opérations de SensorUp – les agents de niveau de production que les clients déploient au-dessus de la plateforme.

Alimenter l’expansion dans plusieurs secteurs verticaux : construire l’infrastructure de données, la capacité de mise sur le marché et le succès auprès des clients pour soutenir une base croissante de clients et l’élargissement de la portée des flux de travail fonctionnant sur SensorUp.

« Nos clients sont impatients de déployer des stratégies d’IA, mais ils ont besoin d’une plateforme et d’un partenaire de confiance pour concevoir et construire des solutions avec eux », a déclaré Julia Hole, directrice financière de SensorUp. « SensorUp a été créé dans l’environnement extrêmement complexe de la détection, de la résolution et de la mesure du méthane à l’échelle mondiale. Cette assise nous place naturellement en position de relever le prochain défi le plus pressant de nos clients en matière de données : l’opérationnalisation de l’IA pour un retour sur investissement tangible. Ce financement nous permet d’accélérer une feuille de route sous le pilotage actif de nos clients. »

À propos de SensorUp

SensorUp est le système d’action agentique pour l’industrie lourde – la plateforme de mise en œuvre de l’IA qui transforme le chaos opérationnel en une exécution orchestrée sur l’ensemble des actifs distribués, des données multimodales et des flux de travail complexes. Forgé en partenariat avec les plus grands exploitants pétroliers et gaziers du monde et renforcé par des milliers d’actifs distribués, SensorUp est aujourd’hui en production avec cinq sociétés membres de l’OGCI et une liste croissante d’exploitants régionaux, avec une expansion dans des secteurs industriels verticaux adjacents en cours. Le siège de l’entreprise se trouve à Calgary, en Alberta. Pour en savoir plus, rendez-vous sur sensorup.com.

À propos de Pender Ventures

Pender Ventures est un investisseur en capital-risque axé sur les technologies de la santé et les entreprises technologiques B2B au point d’inflexion entre la commercialisation et l’échelle. En tant qu’investisseur pratique et à forte conviction, Pender Ventures travaille en étroite collaboration avec les fondateurs afin d’accélérer la croissance et de créer des entreprises leaders dans leur catégorie.

Profondément ancrée dans l’écosystème canadien de l’innovation et capable d’investir dans toute l’Amérique du Nord, l’équipe opère à partir de bureaux situés à Vancouver, Toronto, Montréal et Calgary. Pour en savoir plus, rendez-vous sur penderventures.com.

À propos de Climate Investment

Climate Investment (CI) est un investisseur spécialisé, géré de manière indépendante, qui se concentre sur la décarbonisation de l’industrie. Il investit dans des entreprises visant à générer un impact élevé sur les gaz à effet de serre dans les secteurs à forte consommation d’énergie, en ciblant les opportunités susceptibles de permettre une réduction progressive quantifiée des émissions de carbone tout en offrant des rendements attrayants ajustés au risque. L’entreprise cherche à accélérer l’impact au moyen de nombreux investissements et collaborations. Elle fournit du capital-risque et du capital de croissance  aux entreprises,  et les soutient tout au long du cycle de vie de leur entreprise,  dans l’objectif d’avoir un impact mesurable sur les gaz à effet de serre et d’obtenir un succès financier.

L’entreprise a réalisé plus de 40 investissements dans les secteurs de l’énergie, de l’industrie, des bâtiments, et des transports. Les entreprises du portefeuille de CI proposent des solutions qui permettent d’éviter, de réduire, de recycler ou de stocker le méthane ou le dioxyde de carbone émis. L’entreprise rend compte chaque année de l’impact quantifié de son portefeuille sur les gaz à effet de serre sur la base d’une méthode qu’elle a codéveloppée avec d’autres investisseurs afin d’encourager l’adoption de mesures communes. Au cours de la période 2019-2024, les entreprises de son portefeuille ont réalisé collectivement une réduction de gaz à effet de serre de 133 millions de tonnes de CO2e1.

Climate Investment a été fondé par des membres de l’Oil & Gas Climate Initiative. Ils ont investi dans des fonds d’investissement climatique et déployé un grand nombre d’innovations de leur portefeuille, favorisant leur développement commercial précoce. Rendez-vous sur www.climateinvestment.com.

À propos d’Evok Innovations

Evok Innovations est une société de capital-risque de premier plan axée sur le climat, qui investit dans des solutions technologiques de pointe pour l’industrie lourde. Nous nous associons à des entrepreneurs exceptionnels pour mettre à l’échelle des technologies transformatrices dans nos domaines de prédilection que sont l’énergie, l’exploitation minière et les minéraux, l’optimisation industrielle, ainsi que l’adaptation et la résilience. 

Au-delà du capital, Evok offre une expertise technique approfondie, une expérience opérationnelle réelle et un accès inégalé à l’industrie grâce à son réseau de partenaires stratégiques mondiaux. Nous travaillons en étroite collaboration avec les entreprises de notre portefeuille pour rapprocher l’innovation de l’adoption par le marché, accélérer la commercialisation et créer des voies claires vers l’expansion et la sortie.

Pour en savoir plus, rendez-vous sur : evokinnovations.com.

À propos d’Occidental

Occidental est une compagnie d’énergie internationale qui produit, commercialise et transporte du pétrole et du gaz naturel afin de maximiser la valeur et de fournir des ressources essentielles à la vie. L’entreprise s’appuie sur son leadership mondial en matière de gestion du carbone pour faire progresser les technologies et les produits à faible teneur en carbone. Basée à Houston, Occidental est essentiellement active aux États-Unis, au Moyen-Orient et en Afrique du Nord. Pour en savoir plus, rendez-vous sur oxy.com.

Relations avec les médias : Trevor Cross, responsable principal du marketing produit, SensorUp Inc. [email protected]

Logo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2993585/SensorUp_Inc_SensorUp_Closes_Growth_Financing_to_Scale_its_Agent.jpg

Die Finanzierungsrunde wurde von Pender Ventures angeführt, beteiligt waren außerdem Climate Investment, Evok Innovations und Occidental. Das neue Kapital wird die Einführung der Plattform zur KI-Aktivierung beschleunigen, die bereits bei fünf OGCI-Mitgliedsunternehmen und regionalen Betreibern im Einsatz ist. Eine Ausweitung auf die angrenzenden Industriezweige ist bereits im Gange.

CALGARY, Alberta, 4. Juni 2026 — SensorUp Inc., die Operational-Intelligence-Plattform, die integrierte Betriebsabläufe in anlagenintensiven Branchen unterstützt, gab heute den Abschluss einer Wachstumsfinanzierungsrunde unter der Leitung von Pender Ventures bekannt. An der Finanzierungsrunde beteiligen sich Climate Investment, Evok Innovations, und Occidental, ein strategischer Investor und Kunde.

SensorUp ist die operative Intelligenzschicht für anlagenintensive Branchen: Umwandlung fragmentierter Felddaten, technischer Aufzeichnungen und Sensorströme in überprüfbare, für Mitarbeiter nutzbare Arbeitsabläufe. Betreiber nutzen die Plattform heute, um leistungsschwache Bohrlöcher zu identifizieren, bevor es zu Produktionsausfällen kommt, um Abfackelungs- und Entlüftungsereignisse anhand behördlicher Grenzwerte zu bewerten, die Bereitschaft für Wartungsarbeiten bei Tausenden von Komponenten zu koordinieren, Methanlecks zu erkennen und zu beheben sowie Emissionsinventare zu erstellen, die der Prüfung durch Aufsichtsbehörden und Kapitalmärkte standhalten – und das alles auf der Grundlage eines einzigen Anlagenmodells statt mit fünf voneinander getrennten Tools.

Die bewährten Komponenten der Plattform: Asset-Hierarchie, Berechnungen, Überprüfung und Genehmigung, Berichterstellung sowie Workflow-Koordination bieten Kunden, Beratern und KI-Agenten eine gemeinsame Grundlage, auf der sie aufbauen können – und das mit der Nachvollziehbarkeit, Sicherheit und Skalierbarkeit, die die Schwerindustrie erfordert. Das Hinzufügen eines neuen Anwendungsfalls ist eine Konfiguration, keine neue Produktentwicklung. Genau diese Architektur macht die Plattform über den Öl- und Gassektor hinaus erweiterbar auf die Bereiche Stromerzeugung, Versorgungsunternehmen, Bergbau und Chemie – überall dort, wo dezentrale Anlagen, multimodale Daten und regulierte Betriebsabläufe aufeinandertreffen.

Die Finanzierungsrunde wurde von Pender Ventures angeführt, einer Risikokapitalgesellschaft, die sich auf Unternehmen konzentriert, die die Innovationswirtschaft vorantreiben, indem sie Altsysteme durch moderne Tools ersetzen. Als Investoren konzentrieren sie sich darauf, Unternehmen zu finden, deren Lösungen nachweislich in der Lage sind, den Umsatz zu steigern, Kosten zu senken und Ergebnisse zu verbessern.

„Die industrielle Softwarebranche hat auf eine Plattform gewartet, die sich sowohl durch eine echte architektonische Differenzierung auszeichnet als auch über die nötige Glaubwürdigkeit in der Praxis verfügt, um sie in großem Maßstab einzusetzen. SensorUp bietet beides”, sagte Cheri Corbett, Partnerin bei Pender Ventures. „Ihre ontologiebasierte Data Fabric, ihre Position bei den anspruchsvollsten Industrieunternehmen weltweit und die Art und Weise, wie Kunden sie in agentische Workloads einbinden, machen das Unternehmen genau zu der Art von Wegbereiter, für deren Förderung unser Fonds gegründet wurde. Letztendlich unterstützen wir Teams, und dieses hat ein Maß an Vertrauen bei den Betreibern erworben, dessen Aufbau Jahre gedauert hat und dessen Nachahmung bei Wettbewerbern Jahre in Anspruch nehmen würde.”

Das Kapital wird in drei Schwerpunktbereiche investiert, die auf die nächste Wachstumsphase von SensorUp abgestimmt sind:

Beschleunigung der Kundenimplementierung: Ausbau des API-Frameworks von SensorUp, Weiterentwicklung der Zero-Touch-Implementierung und Skalierung der Expansion durch strukturierte Prototyping-Workshops, die die Zeit bis zur Wertschöpfung von Quartalen auf Wochen verkürzen.

Ausbau der agentenbasierten Plattform: Investitionen in fortschrittliche KI, Modellierung und branchenspezifische Funktionen, darunter die Operations AI Agents von SensorUp – die produktionsreifen Agenten, die Kunden auf der Plattform einsetzen.

Förderung der branchenübergreifenden Expansion: Aufbau der Dateninfrastruktur, der Markteinführungsstrategien und der Kapazitäten für den Kundenerfolg, um einen wachsenden Kundenstamm sowie den sich erweiternden Umfang der auf SensorUp ausgeführten Workflows zu unterstützen.

„Unsere Kunden sind sehr daran interessiert, KI-Strategien umzusetzen, sie brauchen aber eine vertrauenswürdige Plattform und einen Partner, der gemeinsam mit ihnen Lösungen entwirft und entwickelt”, sagte Julia Hole, Finanzvorstand von SensorUp. „SensorUp ist aus dem hochkomplexen Umfeld der Methanerkennung, -lokalisierung und -messung auf globaler Ebene hervorgegangen. Diese Grundlage versetzt uns ganz natürlich in die Lage, die nächste dringlichste Datenherausforderung unserer Kunden anzugehen: die Operationalisierung von KI für einen greifbaren ROI. Diese Finanzierung ermöglicht es uns, eine Roadmap schneller umzusetzen, die unsere Kunden aktiv vorantreiben.”

Informationen zu SensorUp

SensorUp ist das agentenbasierte Handlungssystem für die Schwerindustrie – die KI-Plattform, die betriebliches Chaos in eine koordinierte Abwicklung über verteilte Anlagen, multimodale Daten und komplexe Arbeitsabläufe hinweg verwandelt. SensorUp entstand in partnerschaftlicher Zusammenarbeit mit den weltweit größten Öl- und Gasunternehmen und hat sich in Tausenden von dezentralen Anlagen bewährt. Das System ist derzeit bei fünf OGCI-Mitgliedsunternehmen sowie einer wachsenden Zahl regionaler Betreiber im Einsatz, eine Expansion in angrenzende Industriezweige ist bereits im Gange. Der Hauptsitz des Unternehmens befindet sich in Calgary, Alberta. Weitere Informationen finden Sie unter sensorup.com.

Informationen zu Pender Ventures

Pender Ventures ist ein Risikokapitalinvestor, der sich auf Health-Tech- und B2B-Technologieunternehmen an der Schwelle zwischen Kommerzialisierung und Skalierung konzentriert. Als praxisorientierter Investor mit starker Überzeugung arbeitet Pender Ventures eng mit Gründern zusammen, um das Wachstum zu beschleunigen und branchenführende Unternehmen aufzubauen.

Das Team ist fest im kanadischen Innovationsökosystem verankert und verfügt über die Flexibilität, in ganz Nordamerika zu investieren. Es ist von seinen Niederlassungen in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal und Calgary aus tätig. Weitere Informationen finden Sie unter penderventures.com.

Informationen zu Climate Investment

Climate Investment (CI) ist ein unabhängig geführter Spezialinvestor, dessen Schwerpunkt auf der Förderung der Dekarbonisierung der Industrie liegt.Das Unternehmen investiert in Firmen , die darauf abzielen , in energieintensiven Sektoren einen hohen  Beitrag zur Reduzierung von Treibhausgasemissionen zu leisten, und konzentriert sich dabei auf Chancen, die eine skalierbare, quantifizierbare Kohlenstoffreduzierung bei gleichzeitig attraktiven  risikobereinigten Renditen versprechen. Das Unternehmen ist bestrebt, durch breit angelegte Investitionen und Kooperationen die Wirkung seiner Aktivitäten zu beschleunigen. Es stellt Risikokapital bis  Wachstumskapital für Unternehmen zur Verfügung  und unterstützt sie über ihren Geschäftslebenszyklus hinweg,  mit dem Ziel, sowohl messbare Auswirkungen auf den Treibhauseffekt als auch finanziellen Erfolg zu erzielen.

Das Unternehmen hat über 40 Investitionen in den Bereichen Energie, Industrie, Gebäude, und Verkehr getätigt. Die Portfoliounternehmen von CI bieten Lösungen an, mit denen Methan- oder Kohlendioxidemissionen vermieden, reduziert, recycelt oder gespeichert werden können. Das Unternehmen berichtet jährlich über die quantifizierten Treibhausgasemissionen seines Portfolios auf der Grundlage einer Methodik, die es gemeinsam mit anderen Investoren entwickelt hat, um die Einführung einheitlicher Messgrößen zu fördern. Im Zeitraum 2019–2024 erzielten die Unternehmen seines Portfolios insgesamt eine Reduzierung der Treibhausgasemissionen um 133 Millionen Tonnen CO2e1.

Climate Investment wurde von Mitgliedern der Oil & Gas Climate Initiative gegründet. Sie haben in Fonds von Climate Investment investiert und viele der darin enthaltenen Innovationen umgesetzt, um deren frühe kommerzielle Entwicklung zu unterstützen.Besuchen Sie www.climateinvestment.com.

Informationen zu Evok Innovations

Evok Innovations ist eine führende, auf den Klimaschutz spezialisierte Risikokapitalgesellschaft, die in Hard-Tech-Lösungen für die Schwerindustrie investiert. Wir arbeiten mit herausragenden Unternehmern zusammen, um bahnbrechende Technologien in unseren Schwerpunktbereichen Energie, Bergbau und Mineralien, industrielle Optimierung sowie Anpassung und Resilienz zu skalieren. 

Über das Kapital hinaus bietet Evok fundiertes technisches Fachwissen, praktische Betriebserfahrung und einen unvergleichlichen Zugang zur Branche durch unser Netzwerk globaler strategischer Partner. Wir arbeiten eng mit unseren Portfoliounternehmen zusammen, um Innovationen in die Markteinführung zu überführen, die Kommerzialisierung zu beschleunigen und klare Wege für Skalierung und Exit zu schaffen.

Weitere Informationen finden Sie unter: evokinnovations.com.

Informationen zu Occidental

Occidental ist ein internationales Energieunternehmen, das Erdöl und Erdgas fördert, vermarktet und transportiert, um den Wert zu maximieren und lebenswichtige Ressourcen bereitzustellen. Das Unternehmen nutzt seine weltweite Führungsposition im Bereich des Kohlenstoffmanagements, um Technologien und Produkte mit geringerem Kohlenstoffausstoß voranzutreiben. Occidental hat seinen Hauptsitz in Houston und ist vor allem in den Vereinigten Staaten, im Nahen Osten und in Nordafrika tätig. Weitere Informationen finden Sie unter oxy.com.

Medienkontakt: Trevor Cross, Senior-Produktmarketingmanager, SensorUp Inc. [email protected]

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Proprietary AI-powered market intelligence and specialized advisory services mark a structural shift in how laundromat operators and institutional investors find and launch new laundromats.

NEW YORK, June 4, 2026 — LRE Advisors is the first laundromat advisory and intelligence firm. The company is bringing proprietary AI-powered market intelligence, geospatial analytics and integrated store launch services to a $7 billion U.S. sector.

While many adjacent sectors have professionalized and consolidated, the 90-year-old laundromat industry remains largely fragmented and has, until now, lacked the meaningful tools and analytics that mature investment markets take for granted. Most operators still source locations through an equipment distributor or real estate broker, relying on intuition and dated demographic data, with no single party accountable for the full process.

“Investors in this space are committing significant capital, but their approach to vetting the business or location hasn’t improved much in decades,” said Cody Milch, head of strategic development at LRE Advisors. “We built LRE to give laundromat investors the analytical depth and end-to-end support they need to confidently underwrite a site, structure a deal and bring a store to stabilization at an attractive return.”

The platform’s analytical engine draws on a national dataset of more than 30,000 U.S. laundromat locations to benchmark prospective sites across dozens of variables — among them trade-area economics, competitive analysis, foot traffic and mobility patterns, and co-tenancy dynamics.

LRE integrates all major components of laundromat investment through a single advisory relationship, the first for the industry. The company supports clients through site identification, market intelligence, financial modeling, equipment planning and procurement, financing, buildout support, marketing and post-launch operational guidance. Its model addresses a long-standing pain point for laundromat investors: how to effectively navigate a highly fragmented industry full of process and vendor gaps.

“It’s not uncommon for our clients to move from site search to a newly built, cash-flowing store in roughly eight months. That kind of speed is tough to achieve on your own, or even with a broker,” said Inessa Ramos, investor relations manager at LRE.

LRE’s integrated service model compresses the timeline from site search to grand opening to roughly six to nine months, about half the typical pace. For multi-store operators planning expansion or new market entry, LRE provides granular location-level analysis and powerful competitive intelligence that would be impractical to build in-house. For institutional investors, family offices and private equity firms now entering the sector, the firm provides concierge-level guidance, structured due diligence, underwriting support and portfolio strategy to deploy capital systematically across markets.

Laundromats serve more than 40 million American households. Their relatively stable, recession-resistant cash flow has long attracted investors, and the asset class is now drawing growing institutional interest.

The launch comes amid a marked increase in sophisticated capital entering the sector. LRE has tracked a fivefold increase in institutional inquiries from Q2 2024 through Q4 2025, including family offices and private equity firms managing portfolios of service-based businesses. “To us, that’s a meaningful signal that the professionalization of laundromat investment is underway, and LRE is leading this transformation,” said Milch.

About LRE Advisors 

LRE Advisors is the first and only laundromat-focused advisory and intelligence firm in the United States. LRE combines proprietary AI-powered analytics with integrated advisory services spanning site selection, market intelligence, financial modeling, equipment, financing and buildout support. The firm serves new investors, multi-store operators and institutional capital deploying into the laundromat sector. LRE is backed by 70 years of laundromat industry experience through its parent company, LaundryLux, a third-generation, family-owned national commercial laundry equipment manufacturer and distributor. For more information, visit LRE Advisors.

Media Contact: 

Inessa Ramos, LRE Advisors | +1 (516) 371-4400 | [email protected] 

SOURCE LRE Advisors

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., June 4, 2026 — ARTAN Bio, a longevity biotechnology company based in St. Petersburg, Florida, today announced the completion of a $200,000 seed raise. The raise will fund preclinical advancement of ARTAN Bio’s proprietary engineered suppressor platform, which targets nonsense mutations — a class of genetic errors responsible for premature protein translation stops that underlie a wide range of aging-related and genetic diseases.

About the Technology

ARTAN Bio has developed a novel engineered suppressor tRNA system (ARTAN-102) designed to selectively recognize disease-causing nonsense codons and restore normal protein translation. Unlike broad-spectrum approaches, ARTAN Bio’s mutation-specific platform offers a targeted strategy with potential application across multiple aging-associated conditions. The company has successfully completed initial in-cell validation of ARTAN-102 via an earlier seed raise with VitaDAO.

Proceeds from the raise will fund the next stage of development, including validation of the suppressor system in animal models, advancement toward a preclinical development candidate, and intellectual property filings to protect the platform’s innovations.

Leadership Comments

“This raise marks an important inflection point for ARTAN Bio,” said Anthony Schwartz, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of ARTAN Bio. “We are building a platform with real potential to address the genetic underpinnings of aging, and we’re doing it through an open, community-driven model that hasn’t been possible before. I look forward to sharing our progress with the global longevity and DeSci community at the NFC Summit (Non-Fungible Conference) in Lisbon on June 4th.”

“Nonsense mutations represent a largely untapped vulnerability in aging and age-related disease,” said Michael Torres, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of ARTAN Bio. “Having validated our engineered suppressor system in cell models, we are now positioned to demonstrate its efficacy in vivo. This raise through VitaDAO’s decentralized science model gives us the capital and the community to take that next step.”

Anthony Schwartz, Ph.D. will present ARTAN Bio at the NFC Summit in Lisbon, Portugal on June 4th, 2026, where he will discuss the company’s platform, its VitaDAO partnership, and the decentralized science model driving its development.

About the VITARNA Token

$VITARNA tokens represent fractions of governance rights over the Mutation-Specific Codon Suppression for Aging and Longevity IP-NFT. The primary issuance is offered via the Molecule AG platform. Token holders participate in governance decisions including research prioritization, IP licensing strategy, and allocation of research funds — a model that democratizes early-stage biotech funding and aligns scientific progress with community stakeholders.

About ARTAN Bio

ARTAN Bio is a longevity biotechnology company headquartered in St. Petersburg, Florida at spARK Labs by ARK Invest. The company is developing mutation-specific codon suppression technologies to address genetic diseases and aging-related conditions caused by nonsense mutations. ARTAN Bio’s platform delivers engineered suppressor systems through clinically validated modalities to restore protein function in affected cells.

About VitaDAO

VitaDAO is a decentralized autonomous organization dedicated to funding and advancing longevity science research. VitaDAO supports early-stage research projects through its IP-NFT model, enabling broad community participation in the governance of longevity IP. More information is available at vitadao.com.

This press release is for informational purposes only. VITARNA tokens are not securities and this release does not constitute an offer or solicitation to purchase financial instruments.

SOURCE ARTAN BIO

Gunderson Dettmer, Goodwin Procter and Google Cloud collaborate to accelerate frontier tech commercialization

NEW YORK and BERKELEY, Calif., June 4, 2026 — Hivemind Capital, a leading investment firm specializing in deep technology, today announced the launch of darkmatter lab, a first-of-its-kind program and cornerstone initiative of the firm’s upcoming venture fund, designed to accelerate the commercialization of frontier technologies by supporting researchers at the earliest stages of development – before company formation. Launched in partnership with University of California, Berkeley, and with Gunderson Dettmer, Goodwin Procter and Google Cloud, darkmatter lab introduces a new model for bringing advanced research out of academic labs and into real-world applications.

The partnership was created to address the structural gaps in frontier tech funding, including declining federal research support, corporate funding that typically requires IP concessions and traditional venture capital’s inability to engage until research has already exited the university system.

“Too many of the most important breakthroughs never make it out of the lab, or take years to do so,” said Emmanuel Vallod, Head of Venture and Research at Hivemind Capital. “The most consequential work happens before a company exists, but that’s also when resources are most limited. darkmatter lab is built to support researchers at that moment, with the capital, compute and expertise needed to move from idea to deployment.”

Each selected project will receive at least $1 million in resources, including research funding from Hivemind Capital, $350,000 in compute credits from Google Cloud through its Google for Startups Cloud Program, immigration, IP and incorporation legal support from Gunderson Dettmer and Goodwin Procter, and comprehensive operating services through Berkeley SkyDeck, UC Berkeley’s platform for innovation and entrepreneurship resources.

darkmatter lab will initially support projects across high-impact areas of AI and blockchain, including AI infrastructure, agentic systems, cybersecurity, compute optimization, cryptography and decentralized systems.

“UC Berkeley has always been where foundational research becomes transformative technology,” said Rich Lyons, Chancellor of UC Berkeley. “Our researchers are working on some of the most important problems in AI and blockchain, and they deserve resources that match the ambition of their work. Hivemind understands the role research plays in driving innovation forward, and darkmatter lab is exactly the kind of partnership universities need right now: patient, research-first capital that keeps our researchers in control of their work.”

About Hivemind Capital
Hivemind Capital is a global investment group operating at the intersection of traditional finance and the onchain economy. Founded in 2021, Hivemind allocates institutional capital across a diverse set of investment strategies, and implements technology infrastructure to help assets and institutions transition onto blockchain rails with discipline, durability, and scale. Learn more at hivemind.capital.

About UC Berkeley
Founded in 1868, UC Berkeley is the world’s No. 1 public university, with 63 Nobel laureates and 50 graduate programs ranked in the nation’s top 10. Berkeley researchers advance fundamental science while addressing society’s greatest challenges — from artificial intelligence to climate change to human health. The university enrolls nearly 46,000 students, with 28% of undergraduates receiving federal Pell Grants, reflecting its commitment to access. Learn more at berkeley.edu.

SOURCE Hivemind

Already used by thousands of employees at website building platform Wix, Willow equips enterprises with 360-degree visibility of an AI agent’s activity, while securely controlling how agents access internal systems, data, and enterprise tools

HERZLIYA, Israel, June 4, 2026 — Willow, a pioneering agentic access platform has emerged from stealth with $7 million in seed funding to enable enterprises to safely adopt AI agents across the workplace without impeding innovation. The round was led by Hetz Ventures, following early angel investment from Wix Co-Founder and CEO Avishai Abrahami and President Nir Zohar, who backed Willow at its earliest stage. The funding will be used to enhance the next phase of Willow’s go-to-market while accelerating product development.

With 79% of companies introducing AI agents inside their organizations, and 73% running multi-agent systems, these digital employees are fast becoming a backbone of the modern business. However, speed of agentic adoption has not been matched by proportionate safeguards or governance; leading to misuse, mistakes and unpredictable or damaging outcomes. In one survey from this year, 65% of companies have reported agent-related incidents in the last 12 months. As AI agents become more prominent across enterprises, operating continuously in the background, and gaining access to internal tools, the need for proper oversight and control is paramount.

Willow is tackling this problem head-on; securing enterprises against the fastest-growing and least governed attack vector in the enterprise. Its governance and access layer grants organizations full visibility and control over how AI agents connect to internal systems and what actions they are allowed to perform, overseeing which AI agents employees are already using, monitoring risky or unauthorized integrations, and applying granular controls around how agents interact with enterprise systems and data.

“Currently businesses find themselves in an impossible trade-off: either lock AI down because it can’t be trusted or allow AI agents to operate with unrestrained access to systems and data and hope nothing goes wrong. Willow offers another option,” said Eyal Ben Ezra, CEO and Co-Founder of Willow. “Willow gives enterprises the control needed to adopt AI earnestly without letting it run unchecked. With complete oversight into how any AI agent is deployed, we ensure enterprises control every move an agent makes, narrowing the attack surface exponentially and providing companies with the assurance they need to roll out their AI agents.”

Avishai Abrahami, Co-Founder and CEO of Wix: “Thousands of Wix employees are using AI agents every day, and at our scale, visibility and control over those agents are absolutely critical. To accelerate AI adoption safely, we need guidelines, governance, and full visibility across the company. Willow provides exactly that.”

“The gateway between AI agents and an enterprise’s internal systems is rapidly becoming one of the most overlooked blind spots in enterprise security,” said Guy Fighel, Partner at Hetz Ventures. “What convinced us to lead this round was watching Willow solve the problem inside Wix first, at the scale of thousands of employees, before bringing it to market. Eyal, Shalev, and Idan have built something rare: a governance layer that enterprises actually deploy, rather than another framework that sits on a shelf. They’re the right team to define this category.”

Willow’s platform connects any AI agent (Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT, Codex, Gemini, n8n, custom and more), to any internal system, and includes a marketplace with over 1000 ready to use connectors, over 100 skills and over 100 plugins, all with the authorizations, access controls, audit trails, and governance enterprises require. Willow generates tools at runtime, scoped to the task, detects and governs shadow AI across the organization and runs as SaaS, dedicated cloud, or self-hosted including air-gapped.

Willow brings together former Wix employees across its leadership team, including co-founders Eyal Ben Ezra (CEO), Shalev Shalit (CTO), and Idan Chetrit (VP Platform). Over the past year, the company has worked closely with enterprise design partners including Wix, where the platform has been deployed internally across more than 5000 employees, and is already expanding deployments with multiple enterprise customers in industries like cyber security, real estate, fintech and more.

About Willow (f.k.a Webrix)

Founded by former Wix engineers, Eyal Ben Ezra (CEO), Shalev Shalit (CTO), and Idan Chetrit (VP Platform), Willow is an identity and access platform for enterprise AI agents. The company enables organizations to securely connect AI agents to internal systems with runtime permissions, centralized controls, auditability, and full attribution of agent activity. Willow is headquartered in Herzliya, Israel.

Media contact:
Gavin Horwich
[email protected] 

SOURCE Willow

DENVER, Colo., June 4, 2026 — Scotch, the platform transforming liquor retail point-of-sale (POS) operations, today announced it has raised $20 million in Series A funding led by VMG Partners with participation from First Round Capital, Lerer Hippeau and Toba Capital. The company, which has surpassed a $1 billion annual run rate in gross payment volume, will use the new capital to accelerate product development, expand its engineering and go-to-market teams and continue scaling its AI-enabled operating system nationwide.

Liquor retail, part of the $250 billion beverage-alcohol industry spanning retailers, distributors and suppliers, is one of the last major specialty retail categories yet to modernize its core systems. Many dominant POS and inventory platforms were built 30 to 40 years ago, remain largely on-premise and require extensive manual work to execute mission critical processes. Scotch is the first solution that rebuilds these workflows from the ground up with a cloud-native, AI-first architecture, uniquely built for the complexity of liquor retail. 

The company is led by Jake Bolling (CEO) and Kevin Hodges (CRO), who previously built Skupos, a startup serving convenience stores, another large retail category long constrained by antiquated technology, and Dan Chen (CTO), who spent more than a decade in the liquor industry, including as CTO of Drizly, which was acquired by Uber for more than $1 billion.

“Enterprise retailers face massive operational complexity, with many carrying anywhere from 10,000 to 25,000 SKUs sourced from more than 30 distributors,” said Jake Bolling, co-founder of Scotch. “COVID-era demand exposed the limits of manual, legacy systems, and as growth normalized, retailers were left with tighter margins, macro-driven pricing volatility and flat category growth. Retailers can no longer afford manual ordering, mispriced SKUs or hidden inventory; they need intelligent automation that streamlines workflows and allows them to focus on customer service, not IT.”

Designed specifically for liquor retail, Scotch’s all-in-one operating system automates complex workflows such as invoice reconciliation, cost change detection, SKU standardization, deal sheet matching and in-workflow analytics. By eliminating manual processes that once consumed entire weeks, Scotch drives measurable improvements in margin, capital efficiency, pricing accuracy and operational speed – giving retailers time back to focus on delivering the best customer experience.

Joey McDonald, General Manager of Sinkers Beverages, one of the largest stores in Tennessee by revenue, and a staple of East Nashville, said, “Scotch has allowed us to unify all of our revenue streams in one place. It’s boosted our productivity and, importantly, taken away the day-to-day headaches around managing our business.”

“Liquor retailers have been left out of the technology revolution for far too long, stifled by the complexity of scaling an efficient operation in the three-tier system,” said Carle Stenmark, General Partner at VMG Partners. “Scotch has already built a deeply resonant product that customers love, and VMG’s deep relationships across consumer brands, operators and technology leaders position us to accelerate their growth as they bring an AI-enabled modern operating system to tens of thousands of retailers.”

Scotch has since signed and onboarded some of the largest independent liquor retailers in the country, including The Liquor Store of Jackson Hole, Big Bear Wine & Liquor, Corkdorks and Everest Spirits Superstore. Built to handle the most operationally complex businesses in the category, Scotch is driving one of the first meaningful waves of modernization in an industry that has remained largely untouched by innovation.

About Scotch

Scotch is the all-in-one operating platform built exclusively for liquor retailers. Combining point-of-sale, automated inventory management, invoice reconciliation, and pricing intelligence in a single system, Scotch replaces the patchwork of legacy tools that retailers have relied on for decades. Founded by the team behind Skupos and Drizly, Scotch is backed by VMG Partners, First Round Capital and other leading technology investors. Scotch serves independent and large-format liquor retailers across the United States. For more information, visit scotchpos.com.

Media Relations:
[email protected]

About VMG Partners

VMG Partners was founded in 2005 to identify and support the growth of innovative companies into iconic brands that span generations. Headquartered in San Francisco, the firm invests through its two core funds, Consumer and Technology, and is guided by the thesis that progress and innovation will prevail over the status quo. VMG specializes in enterprise and founder partnerships that drive successful investments, mergers and acquisitions across beauty and personal care, food and beverage, health and wellness, pet, and technology that powers operational excellence for consumer brands. For more information on VMG Partners, please visit www.vmgpartners.com.

Media Relations:
Prosek Partners
[email protected]

SOURCE Scotch