Le Fonds II, associé aux capitaux levés par le biais de véhicules d’investissement connexes, a atteint 680 millions de livres sterling d’engagements de capital et permettra de financer l’acquisition et la livraison de plus de 6 000 logements destinés à la location (« BTR ») à travers le Royaume-Uni. Le Fonds II est partiellement mobilisé et comprend trois grands ensembles de logements locatifs en cours de construction, dont deux à Manchester et un à Basildon.

La clôture réussie du Fonds II marque une étape importante dans l’expansion continue de la plateforme britannique de Starlight et témoigne de la confiance des investisseurs dans la stratégie BTR de la société, son excellence opérationnelle et sa rigueur dans la mise en œuvre de ses projets. Le Fonds II a suscité une forte participation de la part d’un groupe diversifié d’investisseurs institutionnels internationaux issus d’Europe, de la région Asie-Pacifique et du Canada, comprenant à la fois des commanditaires existants et plusieurs nouveaux investisseurs. Au début de cette année, le Fonds a également obtenu un engagement important de la part de la National Housing Bank de Homes England, ce qui renforce l’adéquation de la stratégie avec les efforts déployés à l’échelle nationale pour accroître l’offre de logements locatifs, dont le besoin se fait cruellement sentir.

« La clôture réussie du Fonds II témoigne de la forte conviction des investisseurs institutionnels quant à la stratégie de Starlight dans le secteur résidentiel britannique et des opportunités que nous continuons à percevoir sur ce marché », a déclaré Raj Mehta, président de la division Global Markets chez Starlight Investments. « Nous sommes reconnaissants du soutien constant de nos partenaires actuels et ravis d’accueillir de nouveaux investisseurs sur la plateforme. » « Grâce à ces capitaux engagés, nous sommes bien placés pour continuer à livrer des logements sur les marchés du Royaume-Uni qui souffrent d’une pénurie chronique. »

« Le Fonds II étant désormais clôturé, nous nous concentrons désormais sur la mise en œuvre et la prochaine phase de croissance de notre plateforme immobilière résidentielle au Royaume-Uni », a déclaré Jonnie Milich, responsable du secteur résidentiel britannique chez Starlight Investments. « Nous avons constitué un important portefeuille de projets, une équipe locale expérimentée et un ensemble croissant de complexes immobiliers à différents stades de leur cycle de vie : construction, mise en location et exploitation. » « À mesure que nous continuons à développer notre portefeuille de projets et à mettre en service de nouveaux complexes résidentiels, notre portefeuille nous placera parmi les quatre premiers opérateurs BTR du Royaume-Uni en termes de taille. »

La plateforme britannique élargie de Starlight est dédiée au secteur du BTR (logement locatif à long terme), avec pour objectif de livrer des milliers de nouveaux logements dans les grandes villes régionales et sur les principaux marchés de la périphérie londonienne, qui connaissent une pénurie marquée de logements locatifs. Avec 12 programmes immobiliers BTR, allant de la phase de développement à celle de la location active et de l’exploitation, la plateforme a pour objectif de proposer des logements locatifs gérés de manière professionnelle sur des marchés caractérisés par une forte demande locative et des fondamentaux économiques solides.

Depuis plus de trois décennies, Starlight figure parmi les leaders mondiaux de l’investissement immobilier et de la gestion d’actifs, affichant des performances éprouvées et une gestion responsable dans l’ensemble de ses stratégies immobilières. Starlight poursuit son expansion à l’échelle mondiale, en assurant la gestion et en réalisant des investissements pour le compte de partenaires institutionnels sur plusieurs continents.

À propos de Starlight Investments

Starlight Investments est une société d’investissement immobilier et de gestion d’actifs de premier plan à l’échelle mondiale, classée au, dont le siège social est situé à Toronto, dans l’Ontario, au Canada. société privée spécialisée dans la détention, la promotion et la gestion d’actifs immobiliers, qui gère plus de 70 000 logements collectifs et plus de 7 millions de pieds carrés de surfaces commerciales, avec un encours sous gestion (AUM) de CAD  30 milliards de dollars , Starlight propose une gamme de véhicules d’investissement couvrant diverses stratégies immobilières. La mission première de Starlight consiste à trouver un équilibre entre son expérience et sa curiosité visionnaire afin de générer un impact positif tant pour les investisseurs que pour les communautés. Chez Starlight, nous investissons de manière à générer un impact.

Pour en savoir plus, rendez-vous sur www.starlightinvest.com, ou rejoignez-nous sur LinkedIn.

Contact : Raj Mehta, président, Marchés mondiaux, +1-647-725-0498, [email protected] ; Jonnie Milich, Responsable du secteur résidentiel au Royaume-Uni, +44-7930-373-945, [email protected] ; Gwen McGuire, Directrice de la communication, [email protected]

Fund II’s successful closing represents a significant milestone in the continued expansion of Starlight’s UK platform and reflects investor confidence in the company’s BTR strategy, operational excellence, and disciplined execution. Fund II attracted strong participation from a diverse group of global institutional investors from across Europe, APAC, and Canada, including both existing limited partners and several new investors. Earlier this year, the Fund also received a major commitment from Homes England’s National Housing Bank, reinforcing the strategy’s alignment with country-wide efforts to increase the supply of much-needed rental housing.

“The successful close of Fund II reflects the strong institutional conviction behind Starlight’s UK residential strategy and the opportunity we continue to see in the market,” said Raj Mehta, President, Global Markets, Starlight Investments. “We are grateful for the continued support of our existing partners and pleased to welcome new investors to the platform. With the capital committed, we are well positioned to continue delivering homes in chronically undersupplied markets across the UK.”

“With Fund II now closed, our focus is on execution and the next phase of growth for our UK residential platform,” said Jonnie Milich, Head of UK Residential, Starlight Investments. “We have built a significant pipeline, an experienced local team and a growing portfolio of communities moving through construction, lease-up and operations. As we continue to advance our pipeline and bring new communities online, our portfolio will place us among the UK’s top four BTR operators by scale.”

Starlight’s broader UK platform is dedicated to the BTR sector, with a vision to deliver thousands of new homes across major regional cities and key London commuter belt markets experiencing pronounced rental housing undersupply. With 12 BTR communities spanning development through to active leasing and operations, the platform is focused on delivering professionally managed rental housing in markets supported by strong rental demand and economic fundamentals.

For more than three decades, Starlight has been a leading global real estate investment and asset management firm, delivering proven performance and responsible management across its real estate strategies. Starlight continues to broaden its global footprint, managing and investing on behalf of institutional partners across several continents.

About Starlight Investments

Starlight Investments is a leading global real estate investment and asset management firm headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. A privately held owner, developer and asset manager of over 70,000 multi-residential suites and over 7 million square feet of commercial property space with CAD $30 billion in AUM, Starlight offers a range of investment vehicles across various real estate strategies. Starlight’s guiding mission is to balance its tenure with visionary curiosity to create positive impact for investors and communities alike. At Starlight, we invest with impact.

Learn more at www.starlightinvest.com or connect with us on LinkedIn.

Contacts: Raj Mehta, President, Global Markets, +1-647-725-0498, [email protected]; Jonnie Milich, Head, UK Residential, +44-7930-373-945, [email protected]; Gwen McGuire, Director, Communications, [email protected]

Fonds II erreichte zusammen mit dem über ergänzende Anlagevehikel eingeworbenen Kapital Kapitalzusagen in Höhe von 680 Millionen Pfund und wird den Erwerb und die Fertigstellung von mehr als 6.000 „Build-to-Rent”-Wohnungen („BTR”) in ganz Großbritannien unterstützen. Der Fonds II ist teilweise investiert und umfasst drei bedeutende Mietwohnanlagen , die sich derzeit im Bau befinden, darunter zwei in Manchester und eine in Basildon.

Der erfolgreiche Abschluss von Fonds II stellt einen bedeutenden Meilenstein beim weiteren Ausbau der britischen Plattform von Starlight dar und spiegelt das Vertrauen der Investoren in die BTR-Strategie, die operative Exzellenz und die disziplinierte Umsetzung des Unternehmens wider. Der Fonds II stieß auf großes Interesse bei einer vielfältigen Gruppe globaler institutioneller Anleger aus ganz Europa, dem asiatisch-pazifischen Raum und Kanada, darunter sowohl bestehende Kommanditisten als auch mehrere neue Investoren. Anfang dieses Jahres erhielt der Fonds zudem eine bedeutende Zusage von der National Housing Bank von Homes England, was die Übereinstimmung der Strategie mit den landesweiten Bemühungen zur Erhöhung des Angebots an dringend benötigten Mietwohnungen unterstreicht.

„Der erfolgreiche Abschluss von Fonds II spiegelt das starke Vertrauen institutioneller Anleger in die britische Wohnimmobilienstrategie von Starlight wider und die Chancen, die wir weiterhin auf diesem Markt sehen”, sagte Raj Mehta, President, Global Markets, bei Starlight Investments. „Wir sind dankbar für die anhaltende Unterstützung unserer bestehenden Partner und freuen uns, neue Investoren auf der Plattform begrüßen zu dürfen. Dank des zugesagten Kapitals sind wir gut aufgestellt, um weiterhin Wohnraum in den Märkten in ganz Großbritannien bereitzustellen, in denen seit langem ein Angebotsmangel herrscht.”

„Nachdem Fonds II nun geschlossen ist, liegt unser Fokus auf der Umsetzung und der nächsten Wachstumsphase unserer britischen Wohnimmobilienplattform”, sagte Jonnie Milich, Leiter des Bereichs „UK Residential” bei Starlight Investments. Wir haben eine umfangreiche Projektpipeline aufgebaut, ein erfahrenes Team vor Ort zusammengestellt und verfügen über ein wachsendes Portfolio an Wohnanlagen, die sich derzeit in den Phasen Bau, Vermietung und Betrieb befinden. Da wir unsere Projektpipeline weiter ausbauen und neue Wohnanlagen in Betrieb nehmen, wird uns unser Portfolio gemessen an der Größe zu einem der vier größten BTR-Betreiber Großbritanniens machen.”

Die umfassendere britische Plattform von Starlight ist auf den BTR-Sektor ausgerichtet und verfolgt das Ziel, Tausende neuer Wohnungen in größeren regionalen Städten sowie in wichtigen Märkten des Londoner Pendlergürtels zu schaffen, in denen ein ausgeprägter Mangel an Mietwohnungen herrscht. Mit 12 BTR-Projekten, die von der Entwicklungsphase bis hin zur aktiven Vermietung und zum Betrieb reichen, konzentriert sich die Plattform darauf, professionell verwaltete Mietwohnungen in Märkten anzubieten, die durch eine starke Mietnachfrage und solide wirtschaftliche Fundamentaldaten gekennzeichnet sind.

Seit mehr als drei Jahrzehnten ist Starlight ein weltweit führendes Unternehmen im Bereich Immobilieninvestitionen und Vermögensverwaltung, das bei all seinen Immobilienstrategien eine nachweislich erfolgreiche Performance und eine verantwortungsvolle Verwaltung gewährleistet. Starlight baut seine weltweite Präsenz weiter aus und verwaltet und investiert im Auftrag institutioneller Partner auf mehreren Kontinenten.

Über Starlight Investments

Starlight Investments ist ein weltweit führendes Immobilieninvestitions- und Vermögensverwaltungsunternehmen mit Hauptsitz in Toronto, Ontario, Kanada. Starlight ist ein in privatem Besitz befindliches Unternehmen mit Sitz in , das als Eigentümer, Entwickler und Vermögensverwalter von über 70.000 Wohneinheiten in Mehrfamilienhäusern und einer Gewerbeimmobilienfläche von über 7 Millionen Quadratfuß tätig ist. Mit einem verwalteten Vermögen (AUM) von CAD  30 Milliarden $ bietet Starlight eine breite Palette an Anlageinstrumenten für verschiedene Immobilienstrategien an. Die Leitmission von Starlight besteht darin, seine langfristige Ausrichtung mit visionärer Neugier in Einklang zu bringen, um sowohl für Investoren als auch für die Gemeinden positive Auswirkungen zu erzielen. Bei Starlight investieren wir mit Wirkung.

Erfahren Sie mehr unter www.starlightinvest.com oder verbinden Sie sich mit uns auf LinkedIn.

Kontakt: Raj Mehta, Präsident, Global Markets, +1-647-725-0498, [email protected]; Jonnie Milich, Leiter des Bereichs Wohnimmobilien in Großbritannien, +44-7930-373-945, [email protected]; Gwen McGuire, Leiterin der Abteilung Kommunikation, [email protected]

SINGAPORE, Sept. 10, 2026 — DeepCtrls recently completed a new Series B+ financing round, led by CATL, with strategic investment from Aramco Ventures, alongside participation from Taiping Innovation Investment, GF Xinde Investment Management and Fosun Capital. Existing investors, including Source Code Capital and Forebright Capital, also increased their investments.

Over the past two months, DeepCtrls has completed three consecutive financing rounds. The strong investor momentum reflects a broader industry shift: AI is moving from the digital world into the physical world, while energy and computing infrastructure are becoming critical foundations for the continued growth of AI. Physical AI is emerging as a key technology pathway for transforming this infrastructure.

DeepCtrls is a pioneer and leader in the industrial application of Physical AI for energy systems. Since its founding, the company has focused on the deep integration of AI and physical principles, building a proprietary technology platform powered by its PhyAI™ Physical AI Engine. The technology enables AI to perceive, predict, make decisions and optimize in real time within real-world physical environments, extending AI capabilities from the digital world into complex physical systems.

After years of technology development and industrial deployment, DeepCtrls has successfully advanced from technology validation to large-scale commercial adoption, serving more than 390 leading enterprise customers worldwide and becoming one of the earliest companies globally to achieve industrial closed-loop control powered by Physical AI.

As demand for AI computing continues to accelerate, DeepCtrls is expanding the application of Physical AI from industrial energy systems into computing infrastructure. The company has launched solutions including intelligent liquid cooling control and computing-energy coordination, providing more intelligent and adaptive energy infrastructure to support the continued growth of AI computing.

CATL, a global leader in the new energy industry and a long-standing strategic customer of DeepCtrls, is further strengthening collaboration with the company through this investment. The partnership will deepen exploration across AI and new-energy applications, create more industrial scenarios for Physical AI deployment, and accelerate the integration of technological innovation with real-world industrial needs.

The investment from Aramco Ventures reflects its conviction in DeepCtrl’s Physical AI technology and supports the company’s continued development and international growth.

Li Hui, Founder and CEO of DeepCtrls, said:

“The next phase of AI will be defined by the ability to control complex systems in the real world. Energy and computing are the two foundational infrastructures of AI development. By connecting computing and energy through Physical AI, DeepCtrls is transforming energy systems from a constraint on AI growth into intelligent infrastructure that enables the continued evolution of AI — ultimately building the AI brain for the infrastructure of the AI era.”

About DeepCtrls

DeepCtrls is pioneering the next evolution of AI — from Generative AI that creates and reasons in the digital world to Physical AI that understands, optimizes and controls the physical world. Founded by a team with deep research roots at Tsinghua University and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, DeepCtrls has developed the proprietary PhyAI™ Physical AI Engine, enabling autonomous optimization and closed-loop control for complex energy and computing infrastructure.

Recognized within the global AI ecosystem, DeepCtrls has been accepted into the NVIDIA Inception Program, supporting its continued innovation in applying AI to real-world industrial systems. Backed by leading investors including Tencent, Sequoia China, Source Code Capital and Forebright Capital, DeepCtrls serves more than 390 enterprise customers worldwide, including Tencent, ByteDance, NVIDIA, TSMC, LG and PTT, with deployments across Asia, the Middle East, Europe and North America.

For more information, visit http://www.deepctrls.com/en. 

SOURCE DeepCtrls

-Adani Airports captará aproximadamente 1.000 millones de dólares en capital primario de destacados inversores globales

La inversión de fondos gestionados por Alpha Wave Global, Premji Invest, Temasek y BlackRock valora a AAHL en aproximadamente 18.000 millones de dólares antes de la inversión.

Resumen del editor

• Adani Airport Holdings Limited (AAHL) ha firmado acuerdos vinculantes para captar ₹9.825 crores (aproximadamente 1.000 millones de dólares) de capital social primario de un consorcio de inversores líderes nacionales e internacionales.
• La transacción valora a AAHL en aproximadamente 18.000 millones de dólares antes de la inversión, estableciendo un importante referente de valoración institucional externa para la plataforma aeroportuaria.
• El consorcio inversor está compuesto por Alpha Wave Global, Premji Invest, Temasek y fondos gestionados por BlackRock. Tras la finalización de los tres tramos, los inversores poseerán en conjunto aproximadamente el 5,54% de AAHL.
• Los fondos se destinarán a la modernización del aeropuerto y a la ampliación de su capacidad para atender a unos 200 millones de pasajeros anuales, al desarrollo integrado de Adani Airport City, que contempla aproximadamente 22 millones de pies cuadrados de desarrollo de uso mixto en su primera fase, y a la continua expansión de los servicios de asistencia en tierra y las actividades no aeronáuticas de AAHL.

AHMEDABAD, India, 9 de septiembre de 2026 — Adani Airport Holdings Limited (AAHL), una filial de Adani Enterprises Limited (AEL) y uno de los mayores operadores aeroportuarios privados de la India, ha firmado acuerdos vinculantes para captar ₹9.825 crore (aproximadamente 1.000 millones de dólares) de capital social de un consorcio de inversores integrado por Alpha Wave Global, Premji Invest, Temasek y fondos gestionados por BlackRock. Esta transacción valora a AAHL en aproximadamente 18.000 millones de dólares antes de la inversión y representa una de las mayores inversiones de capital social de instituciones financieras en el sector de infraestructura aeroportuaria de la India.

La participación de un consorcio de inversores nacionales e internacionales a largo plazo representa un importante respaldo institucional a la escala, las capacidades operativas y el potencial de crecimiento a largo plazo de AAHL. La inversión aporta capital institucional a largo plazo al negocio en un momento en que el sector de la aviación de la India está entrando en una fase sostenida de crecimiento de pasajeros, expansión de capacidad e inversión en infraestructura.

AAHL y los inversores han suscrito un Acuerdo de Suscripción de Acciones y un Acuerdo de Accionistas en virtud del cual los inversores suscribirán nuevas acciones de AAHL en tres tramos, y se espera que el último tramo se complete en julio de 2027. Una vez completados los tres tramos, los inversores poseerán colectivamente aproximadamente el 5,54 % de AAHL.

Los fondos se destinarán a tres prioridades estratégicas: la expansión y modernización de la infraestructura aeroportuaria en toda la cartera de AAHL; la aceleración del desarrollo de ecosistemas integrados de Adani Airport City alrededor de sus aeropuertos con el desarrollo de aproximadamente 22 millones de pies cuadrados de desarrollo de uso mixto planificado en la primera fase; y la expansión de los negocios orientados al pasajero y otros negocios no aeronáuticos, incluido nuestro negocio de asistencia en tierra. Se espera que estas inversiones aumenten la capacidad para atender a unos 200 millones de pasajeros al año, profundicen la monetización comercial, mejoren la experiencia del pasajero y fortalezcan aún más el ecosistema aeroportuario integrado de AAHL.

Esta transacción se produce tras la exitosa colocación privada de acciones (QIP) de AEL por valor de ₹15.000 crore en julio de 2026, la mayor QIP realizada por una empresa no financiera en la India. En conjunto, estas transacciones reflejan el acceso continuo de la cartera de Adani a importantes fuentes de capital institucional a largo plazo, tanto nacional como global.

“Esta alianza marca un hito importante en el desarrollo de la plataforma de Adani Airports, y nos sentimos privilegiados de contar con inversores tan destacados y con visión de futuro en este camino”, declaró Jeet Adani, director no ejecutivo de Adani Airport Holdings Limited. “El sector de la aviación en la India es uno de los principales motores del crecimiento del PIB del país. Cada expansión de la conectividad aérea impulsa el comercio, el turismo, el empleo y el desarrollo regional mucho más allá de las puertas del aeropuerto. Con el respaldo de estos socios, seguiremos invirtiendo para anticiparnos a ese crecimiento, ampliando nuestra infraestructura, los desarrollos urbanos y los negocios no aeronáuticos para construir una de las plataformas aeroportuarias integradas líderes en el mundo”.

“Seguiremos desarrollando las capacidades de AAHL para convertirla en la plataforma aeroportuaria más grande del mundo”, declaró Arun Bansal, consejero delegadode Adani Airport Holdings Limited. “Esta ambición se ve impulsada por las oportunidades de crecimiento exponencial en toda la India, el creciente poder adquisitivo del consumidor indio y el dinamismo de nuestros proyectos urbanísticos como potentes catalizadores económicos en los principales centros urbanos del país. Agradecemos profundamente a nuestros socios su confianza y esperamos continuar trabajando juntos en este camino para construir una plataforma aeroportuaria de primer nivel para la India”.

Los principales asesores de la transacción fueron Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, AZB & Partners, JSA Advocates and Solicitors, TT&A Advocates and Solicitors, Jefferies India Private Limited, SBI Capital Markets Limited y Ernst & Young LLP.

La transacción está sujeta a las condiciones precedentes habituales, incluida la obtención de las aprobaciones correspondientes.

The investment will help advance shovel-ready housing projects, bringing safe, stable housing within reach for more local families.

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Sept. 9, 2026 — Health Net, one of California’s most experienced Medi-Cal managed care health plans and company of Centene Corporation (NYSE: CNC), today announced a $2 million investment in Stanislaus Equity Partners, Inc. (STEP) to help more residents access safe, stable, affordable housing. The multi-year grant will provide flexible gap financing for 50 affordable housing projects already in the local pipeline, helping move shovel-ready developments closer to completion.

STEP will use the grant to support affordable housing projects across Stanislaus County, prioritizing developments that are ready to move forward but face funding shortfalls. By filling these gaps, the investment aims to unlock additional public and private resources, helping bring more affordable units online faster and strengthen housing stability in the region.

“Stable housing is inseparable from good health,” said Dorothy Seleski, Medi-Cal Plan President at Health Net.  “When families have a safe and affordable place to call home, they have a stronger foundation for their health, their future and their ability to thrive. By partnering with Stanislaus Equity Partners, we’re helping to fill the funding gap, create pathways to safe, affordable housing—so individuals and families can thrive, not just survive.”

Recognizing that access to safe, affordable housing is foundational to long-term health and well-being. Stanislaus Equity Partners will deploy the funding through grants, forgivable loans and low-interest loans. These flexible financing tools will accelerate affordable housing development and help reduce displacement risks for Stanislaus County residents.

“Stanislaus County has experienced the real and lasting impacts of California’s housing crisis,” said Jessica Filbrun, CEO of Stanislaus Equity Partners. “This investment from Health Net is a powerful example of how the health care sector can be a partner in building healthier communities. By supporting affordable housing, we’re investing in the well-being of working families, seniors, and vulnerable neighbors throughout our county.”

According to the California Housing Partnership, more than 12,700 low-income households in Stanislaus County do not have access to an affordable home, and 81% of extremely low-income households spend more than half of their income on housing costs, placing them at severe risk of housing instability and homelessness.

“Stanislaus County has experienced the real and lasting impacts of California’s housing crisis,” said Assemblymember Juan Alanis. “This investment from Health Net is a powerful example of how the health care sector can be a partner in building healthier communities. By supporting affordable housing, we’re investing in the well-being of working families, seniors, and vulnerable neighbors throughout our county.”

This investment builds on Health Net’s broader commitment to supporting the conditions people need to live healthier lives, including access to stable housing and essential community resources. Through strategic investments and trusted local partnerships, Health Net continues working to help California communities become stronger, healthier and more resilient.

About Health Net
Founded in California more than 45 years ago, Health Net, LLC (“Health Net”), a company of Centene Corporation, believes that every person deserves a safety net for their health, regardless of age, income, employment status or current state of health. Today, we provide health plans for individuals, families, businesses of every size and people who qualify for Medi-Cal or Medicare. With more than 117,000 of our network providers, Health Net serves more than three million members across the state. We also offer access to substance abuse programs, behavioral health services and managed healthcare products related to prescription drugs. We make these health plans and services available through Health Net and its subsidiaries: Health Net of California, Inc., Health Net Life Insurance Company and Health Net Community Solutions, Inc. These entities are wholly owned subsidiaries of Centene Corporation (NYSE: CNC), a leading healthcare enterprise committed to transforming the health of the communities we serve, one person at a time. Health Net and Centene Corporation employ more than 5,700 people in California who work at one of five regional Talent Hub offices. For more information, visit www.HealthNet.com.

SOURCE Health Net, LLC

Investment led by Companion Fund, launched by Mars and Digitalis Ventures, comes as Sparkle surpasses 600 franchise licenses awarded and enters its next phase of national expansion.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Sept. 9, 2026 — Sparkle Grooming Co. (Sparkle), the wellness-focused dog grooming franchise pioneering the Quick-Service Pet Care (QSPC) category, today announced it has secured $6 million in strategic growth financing led by Companion Fund, the venture capital fund managed by Digitalis Ventures in partnership with Mars Petcare.

The investment comes as Sparkle enters its next stage of national growth after surpassing 600 licenses awarded in just 24 months to multi-unit franchise partners nationwide. The financing will help strengthen the platform behind that momentum, giving Sparkle greater capacity to support franchise partners, accelerate expansion and scale the system with discipline.

“The significance of this investment goes well beyond the capital,” said Ben Crawford, co-founder and CEO of Sparkle Grooming Co. “Digitalis brings deep experience across pet care and animal health, along with a perspective that is highly relevant to where we believe this industry is going. Their investment is meaningful validation of the model we are building and gives us additional resources to strengthen the business for what comes next.”

Sparkle was founded to modernize a highly fragmented category by making routine hygiene and grooming a more consistent part of a dog’s overall wellness. Its QSPC model combines recurring memberships, standardized operating systems, proprietary technology and a hospitality-driven customer experience designed to move the category from a transactional service to a routine, trusted care experience while creating a more repeatable business model for franchise owners.

“What stood out to us about Sparkle was the combination of a differentiated consumer proposition and a team that understands how to build and scale a franchise system,” said Ben Jacobs, partner at Digitalis Ventures. “They have demonstrated strong early adoption while remaining focused on the capabilities required to build a durable business over the long term.”

With 10 salons currently open and a growing pipeline preparing to launch across the country, Sparkle is entering its next phase of unit expansion. The company expects to finish 2026 with at least 20 salons open and more than 30 additional openings planned for 2027. Sparkle also continues to pursue select multi-unit franchise partners in priority markets.

For franchise opportunities and more information about Sparkle, visit sparkledogcare.com.

About Sparkle Grooming Co.

Founded in 2022, Sparkle Grooming Co. is a wellness-focused dog grooming franchise redefining routine pet care through a modern, membership-driven model. As the creator of Quick-Service Pet Care (QSPC), Sparkle combines high-quality hygiene and grooming, proprietary technology and hospitality-led service to create a more consistent, trusted care experience for pets, pet parents and franchise partners. Learn more at sparkledogcare.com.

About Digitalis Ventures

Digitalis Ventures invests in companies addressing complex problems in human and animal health. Through its Companion Funds, the firm invests in companies leveraging science, technology and design to improve animal health and supports founders across stages of company development. Companion Fund was launched by Mars and Digitalis to back companies using science, technology and design to improve the lives of pets, pet owners and veterinarians. Learn more at digitalisventures.com.

SOURCE Sparkle Grooming Corp.

Aqua gives wealth managers and fund sponsors an integrated system for building, managing, and scaling alternatives programs

NEW YORK, Sept. 9, 2026 — Aqua, a next-generation alternatives infrastructure solution, today announced the launch of the industry’s first turnkey alternative investments platform(TAIP), along with $18.8 million in total funding.

The company raised a $3.8 million seed round backed by Google’s AI Fund, Y Combinator, and others, followed by a $15 million Series A led by Arthur Ventures with participation from Alumni Ventures. Aqua plans to use the funding to accelerate business and platform development, expand its engineering and partnership teams, and deepen integrations across custodians and fund sponsors.

Designed to help wealth managers, RIAs, banks, trust companies, and fund sponsors build, manage, and scale institutional-quality alternatives programs, Aqua replaces the disconnected marketplaces, manual workflows, and spreadsheets most firms rely on today.

Aqua brings fund creation, operational workflows, investment lifecycle management, marketplace access, document intelligence, and investor servicing into one unified environment, enabling firms to build their own alternatives strategy and scale it on their terms.

“Demand for alternatives has grown fast, but most firms are still trying to meet client needs with spreadsheets, fragmented processes and manual solutions,” said Rohan Marwaha, Co-Founder and CEO at Aqua. “Firms have already transformed the way they manage traditional investments through technology. As access to alternatives becomes increasingly democratized, they need similar infrastructure to build repeatable, scalable alternatives strategies. We built Aqua around the way today’s advisors operate, so they can develop customized alternatives programs without having to manage the systems behind them.”

The platform reflects a shift underway across the industry. The first phase of growth in alternatives centered on expanding access. The next phase focuses on delivering the scalable infrastructure firms need to manage alternatives successfully. Aqua is the bridge between the two.

“Many firms still think a marketplace is the same thing as an alternatives strategy. It isn’t,” said David Coyle, Head of Growth at Aqua. “Advisors need more than access to alternatives; they need a repeatable way to educate clients, manage operations, and deliver alternatives with confidence as part of a broader wealth strategy. Aqua is the enablement engine ushering in the next generation of alternative investing.”

Aqua’s leadership team brings together decades of experience in wealth management and fintech. Before founding Aqua, Rohan Marwaha built solutions across technology and alternative investments for major alternative asset managers, while David Coyle has driven tech adoption at advisory firms for over 25 years. Head of Growth Partnerships Joe Ujobai spent more than 35 years in financial services and technology, with leadership roles in private banking and international expansion. The combined track record shapes how Aqua approaches the alternatives infrastructure problem: not as outsiders building for the industry, but as operators solving challenges from the inside.

Demand is already accelerating for access to Aqua’s integrated alternatives solution, with additional partnerships with major firms to be announced in the coming weeks.

To learn more about how Aqua is redefining alternatives infrastructure for wealth management, register to join the upcoming live webinar on September 23rd.

About Aqua
Aqua is an alternatives infrastructure platform built to simplify how alternative investments are built, managed, and scaled, enabling wealth managers, RIAs, banks, trust companies, family offices, and asset managers to run the full alternatives lifecycle through a unified operating platform. By bringing together fund creation, investment lifecycle management, marketplace capabilities, document intelligence, and operational workflows, Aqua helps firms move beyond fragmented point solutions and build alternatives programs they own outright.

CONTACT: Joe Steuter  [email protected] 

SOURCE Aqua

More than 5,000 companies have signed up for Lightfield since launch in November, deploying AI agents that build pipeline, work deals, and manage customers from a shared, living record of their business.

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 9, 2026 — Lightfield today announced a $47 million Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz, including participation from Maverick Capital, Coatue, Audacious, Alumni Ventures, Greylock, and Lightspeed Venture Partners.

CRM was designed for people to type into, not for agents to work from. For forty years, customer relationships have been translated into fields, stages, and notes — a record of whatever someone had time to enter, stored in a structure agents can’t reason from.

Agents can now do the work those systems were built to track, but they cannot do that work reliably from data entered by hand. When layered onto legacy CRMs like Salesforce or HubSpot, agents inherit incomplete fields, stale close dates, and notes written from memory after the call — and produce work companies cannot verify or trust. Solving this requires a new system of record designed for deep understanding, not AI features added to the old one.

Lightfield builds a comprehensive record from every customer interaction, captured as it happens, and structured so agents can understand what is true and predict what happens next. Every person and every agent at a company works from the same accurate, current picture of every customer: what they said, who said it, and how it changed the state of the business. Knowledge that once lived in one person’s head or one team’s tool becomes the context the whole company operates on.

“Agents don’t fail because the models aren’t capable. They fail because the data they work with is incomplete, inaccurate, and missing the structure needed for comprehension,” said Keith Peiris, cofounder and CEO of Lightfield. “Lightfield builds a world model of the business from every customer interaction, so every person and every agent works from the same understanding of what’s true and what happens next.”

Adopted by more than 5,000 companies in under a year

Since launching in November 2025, more than 5,000 companies have signed up for Lightfield, from high-growth early-stage startups to scaling companies with hundreds of users on the CRM.

“Building a system of record is one of the hardest things to do in software, because you have to earn a customer’s trust before they’ll hand you the data that runs their business,” said Joe Schmidt IV, Partner at Andreessen Horowitz. “This team earned it with thousands of companies in under a year.”

A CRM built for agents to understand your business

Four technical differentiators separate Lightfield from legacy CRM.

A record that updates itself. Lightfield ingests every customer interaction – email, calendar, calls, Slack, LinkedIn – and structures it into the record on its own.

A world model of the business. Lightfield connects every interaction to the people, deals, and accounts it touches, and preserves how each one changed over time. The result is a business world model that agents can reason and predict from, not a table of fields.

An agent harness for reliable work. Agents operate through a standardized SDK, run analysis in a code sandbox, and are monitored by evals that hold output quality consistent. The same request returns the same quality of work, not a different output each run.

An open platform. Every record is fully readable and writable through API, MCP, and CLI, so companies can build automations and agents on their customer data and connect Lightfield to the tools they already run. Anything a person can do in the product, an agent can do too.

“Every platform shift produces a new system of record. Salesforce defined it for the cloud era, and Lightfield is defining it for the agent era,” said Alex Rampell, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz. “Companies building with agents need more than a CRM with AI features. They need a system designed from the ground up for agents to work from. That’s what Lightfield has built.”

About Lightfield
Lightfield is reimagining CRM as a business world model, designed for agents to understand your company and perform work you can trust. It builds a comprehensive, trusted record of customer interactions from calls, emails and meetings – giving every person and every agent the same understanding of what’s true about their business. Companies use Lightfield to close deals faster, automate prospecting, diagnose performance gaps, and ramp new sellers with agents. More than 5,000 companies have signed up since Lightfield launched in November 2025. Learn more at lightfield.app.

About Andreessen Horowitz
Andreessen Horowitz (aka a16z) is a venture capital firm that backs bold entrepreneurs building the future through technology. We are stage agnostic: We invest in seed to venture to growth-stage technology companies, across bio + healthcare, consumer and enterprise apps, crypto, fintech, infrastructure, and companies building toward American dynamism. a16z has over $90B under management across multiple funds.

SOURCE Lightfield