Cleary’s approach helps companies create a holistic employee experience while saving on cost, eliminating unnecessary point solutions as remote and hybrid work show staying power.

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 31, 2023 — Cleary, the digital employee experience platform for distributed teams, has closed a $4.5m seed funding round led by Moonshots Capital, with participation from Liberty City Ventures, Crosslink Capital, Seachange Fund, and Quiet Capital, among others. This seed round follows an initial capital raise of $3m as part of Cleary’s pre-seed fundraise.

Already serving as the digital employee experience platform for companies such as Flexport, DoorDash, Cadre, Favor, Dandy, and Shippo, Cleary will look to expand its footprint to meet the immense need for optimized employee journeys in the modern workplace.

“With over one billion knowledge workers worldwide and a rapidly-expanding need for cohesive employee experience amongst hybrid workforces, we’re thrilled to announce this fundraise as a step towards bringing these capabilities to more companies who view their people as their greatest asset,” says Thomas Kunjappu, CEO and co-founder, Cleary.

“The tailwinds of the COVID pandemic continue to shift workplace expectations among knowledge workers, and companies that provide essential tools for remote work will thrive in the years to come. In addition to a superior product, Cleary has extraordinary leadership from founders with deep domain expertise, and that’s what ultimately leads to success and why we are so excited to partner with Thomas and Ryan,” says Kelly Perdew, General Partner at Moonshots Capital.

Cleary streamlines the employee journey through its Internal Communications, Culture, and productivity features. “Cleary is truly an all-in-one solution that improves all employee touchpoints at our company,” said Andrew Weiss, Director of Internal Communications, Dandy. “From onboarding to culture-related internal content, Cleary has enabled us to seamlessly operate as a distributed team while eliminating several other tools from our HR technology stack, reducing app fatigue and minimizing operational costs.”

Specific capabilities of Cleary include company news and updates, org charts, cross-functional team management, an internal wiki, internal search, events, and public recognition, among others. Cleary also enables customizable employee journeys for onboarding, department transfers, and more, helping People teams save time and provide a cohesive experience for employees. 

“With a sizable portion of our employees participating in hybrid work, we needed ways for employees, especially new hires, to connect with one another and feel a sense of belonging. Cleary has enabled us to remain connected and engaged as a company, even when people are not seeing each other in person every day. It creates a bit of a home base,” said Rita Ramakrishnan, Chief People Officer, Cadre.

Before starting Cleary, co-founders Thomas Kunjappu and Ryan O’Donnell led the development of internal people tools at Twitter. Inspired by the success of these applications and their centrality to the digital employee experience there, they founded Cleary to bring this approach to companies of all sizes, not just large enterprises. With this latest round of funding, Cleary aims to completely disrupt the legacy intranet market through further optimization of its modern approach to employee engagement technology.

To learn how your company can get started with Cleary, please visit gocleary.com/start.

About Cleary

Cleary’s mission is to inspire more productive, connected, and engaged employees. Founded in 2017 and headquartered in San Francisco, Cleary is driving the future of work through experience platforms for distributed teams. For more information or to get started with Cleary, please visit www.gocleary.com.

SOURCE Cleary

Nexus is Building the Platform that Powers Support-a-Creator Programs for Live Service Games and the Content Creators who Play Them

AUSTIN, Texas, Jan. 31, 2023 — Nexus, a platform powering Support-a-Creator programs for live service video games, has today announced it has secured $10 million in funding in a round led by Griffin Gaming Partners, one of the world’s largest venture funds specializing in gaming, with participation by Sony Innovation Fund and Valhalla Ventures, and existing Nexus investors including Pace Capital, and S3 Ventures. This round is also joined by world-class content creators including CohhCarnage and Berleezy, whom Nexus is proud to have on board.

Nexus’s in-game software enables video game developers to build fully native Support-a-Creator programs into their games – via API-driven sales attribution and referral systems – letting development teams focus on perfecting their game while Nexus manages global payouts, taxes as well as performance data and analytics. Nexus is also in lockstep with the game’s marketing and influencer relation teams to provide support on establishing influencer relationships, marketing, and activations.

“This investment will allow us to continue building out the self-service side of the Nexus platform, which will enable rapid implementation of Support-a-Creator programs – helping publishers and content creators succeed in the ever-evolving video game industry,” said Justin Sacks, CEO of Nexus. “We are grateful for the support of our investors and are excited to use this funding to bring even more value to our creator and game dev partners.”

The round of funding comes on the heels of a number of newly launched Support-a-Creator programs for publishers like Capcom and Hi-Rez Studios and in games like Bloons TD 6 (Ninja Kiwi), Fangs (Hidden Leaf Games), Splitgate (1047 Games), among others. Since launching, these publishers have shared data that speaks to the overwhelming efficacy of their Support-a-Creator programs like increased playtime, improved conversion of non-purchasers, re-engagement of players who had stopped spending, and increased spending of regular purchasers.

“We’re excited to back Justin and the team at Nexus bringing the best of performance marketing to gaming influencers. We see Nexus’ technology and know-how as best-in-class at enabling creator programs for games. These programs can make all the difference in reaching players authentically in an increasingly crowded marketplace,” shared Nick Tuosto, Managing Director and Co-Founder of Griffin Gaming Partners.

“We believe creators and influencers are core to the future of entertainment, particularly in areas like live service games. We are thrilled to support Nexus as they strengthen the relationship between publishers, content creators, and gamers by streamlining services to align all three critical parties,” said Joseph Tou, Managing Director-US, Sony Ventures.

About Nexus

Nexus, launched in 2020, is building Support-a-Creator software for video game developers. Its’ platform-agnostic API enables the implementation of a suite of sales attribution and referral systems in which their interests are aligned with that of content creators; leading to improved content creator relationships, a more engaged player base, and fully trackable and lower marketing costs. The team is composed of longtime industry members (Curse, Fandom, Amazon, Twitch) and is working with a diverse set of live service video game Publishers from across the industry to introduce Support-a-Creator programs in their games.

About Griffin Gaming Partners

Griffin Gaming Partners is a leading venture capital firm, focused on the global gaming and web3 markets, with over $1 billion in assets under management. The firm was founded by Peter Levin, Phil Sanderson, and Nick Tuosto, with LionTree as a strategic partner to the Fund. GGP invests in seed through growth stages at the intersection of content, infrastructure, social platforms, and game-related web3 companies.

About Sony Ventures Corporation

Sony Ventures Corporation manages Sony Innovation Fund (SIF), which invests in all stages of emerging technology companies as well as in startups solving global environmental challenges.  SIF engages with pioneering startups to help fuel the development of disruptive technologies, launch new businesses, and contribute to the environment while seeking return on investment.  Sony Ventures Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation, is headquartered in Japan.

Contacts
Justin Sacks
[email protected]

A press kit for Nexus can be found here.
To apply for open roles at Nexus, please visit here.

SOURCE Nexus

STEINBACH, MB, Jan. 31, 2023 — RocketRez, a leading ticketing and business operations software platform powering mid-market tours and attractions, today announced the close of a US$15 million Series B funding round with Level Equity, a New York City-based growth investor focused on best-in-class software pioneers. Charles Chen from Level Equity will join the RocketRez Board of Directors as part of this transaction, joining Blueprint Equity from its previous funding round.

With this funding, RocketRez will accelerate its ability to provide incredible end-to-end guest experiences in new market verticals, and extend the capabilities for leading tours and attractions already in its portfolio such as Maui Ocean Center, Xtreme Xperience, Aquarium of the Bay, and Governors Island. Beyond engineering and software development, this new investment will enable RocketRez to continue adding key leadership positions and expand its sales capabilities as it looks to new vertical markets and geographies. RocketRez will also continue to develop its partnerships and integrations.

Overcoming economic challenges builds confidence among investors

Over the past two years, and during the global COVID-19 pandemic, RocketRez more than doubled its growth including its portfolio of clients, dollars transacted through its platform, employee count, and geographic reach. This acceleration in growth when the travel and tourism industry was facing existential challenges caught the attention of Level Equity.

Together, RocketRez and Level Equity will bring data-focused enterprise-level ticketing and business intelligence to mid-market tours and attractions. As tours and attractions transition from legacy technology toward digital maturity, RocketRez enables operators to leverage data from every touchpoint along the customer journey to enhance their on-site guest experience.

“We believe in RocketRez’s vision and their high-growth potential as demonstrated by the marquee clients they’ve onboarded and retained during these challenging times,” said Charles Chen, Partner at Level Equity. “Global tourist attractions have weathered the storm in part due to the innovative solutions provided by RocketRez. They understand that technology and data are what will power their vision for the ultimate guest experience.”

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innovative guest experiences driven by customer data

“The ability to capture data from multiple digital touchpoints gives operators more robust insights into customer behavior that cannot be achieved with disconnected sets of technology services,” said RocketRez CEO John Pendergrast. “Level Equity’s investment into RocketRez will help us accelerate more fulsome digital solutions that will deliver even better guest experiences for our customers and will enable us to expand our geographic reach.”

“Online and on-site ticket purchases, mobile ticket scanning, retail and food and beverage purchases, email and SMS communication, and various other interactions are all part of a single customer journey. With that information, an operator can make faster, smarter decisions about how to deliver a better guest experience, based on each visitor’s preferences. Large operators have built their own platforms but for mid-market operators they need to buy an all-in-one software platform and that’s what RocketRez delivers,” continued Pendergrast. 

RocketRez is an all-in-one ticketing and operations platform geared toward mid-market tours and attractions with revenues of $2 million to $200 million which includes functionality for online and on-site ticketing through ecommerce, Point-of-Sale and contactless kiosk channels, revenue management, business intelligence, customer management as well as retail and food and beverage sales.  It also includes partnerships with industry leading services for payments, hardware, channel management and peripheral software services that add value to the platform and customers.

About RocketRez

RocketRez powers mid-market tours and attractions and enables data-driven guest experiences with an all-in-one cloud ticketing and operations software platform. RocketRez maintains its company headquarters in Canada, where its engineering, operations, and marketing teams are based, and has a distributed salesforce throughout North America and expanding into Europe. RocketRez primarily serves mid-market clients in several key industries: boat tours and ferries, zoos and aquariums, attractions and theme parks, and museums and galleries.  For more information about RocketRez, visit www.rocketrez.com.

About Level Equity

Level Equity is a private investment firm focused on providing capital to rapidly growing software and technology-driven businesses. Level provides long term capital across all transaction types in support of continued growth. The firm has raised $3.0 billion in committed capital, has backed over 100 companies since inception, and has offices in New York, NY, San Francisco, CA, and Greenwich, CT.  For more information about Level Equity, visit www.levelequity.com.

Sarah Coombs for RocketRez, 416-729-8550, [email protected]

SOURCE RocketRez, Inc.

Investment underscores OneSignal’s continued innovation in omnichannel customer messaging and engagement technology 

SAN MATEO, Calif., Jan. 31, 2023 — OneSignal, the world’s leading customer engagement platform, today announced a new strategic investment from ServiceNow Ventures, extending the company’s recent $50M Series C investment announced in September 2022. The additional funds will be used to accelerate OneSignal’s go-to-market initiatives with a focus on omnichannel messaging and orchestration capabilities. The investment highlights ServiceNow Ventures’ commitment to nurturing companies creating next-generation software solutions that address key enterprise challenges.

“A strong multi-channel presence is one of the most effective strategies for businesses to engage their stakeholders – buyers, users, employees – anyone who is a critical part of the enterprise value chain,” said George Deglin, CEO and co-founder, OneSignal. “The investment from ServiceNow Ventures allows us to continue scaling our automated omnichannel messaging platform even further so we can integrate more use cases and expand our global footprint to help organizations engage better.”  

In OneSignal’s State of Customer Messaging 2022 Report, nearly two-thirds of organizations surveyed said that mobile push notifications are currently the most important customer engagement channel for their business. Moreover, the ability to personalize notifications results in a 259% higher engagement rate than notifications that don’t use personalized content. OneSignal offers self-service engagement and personalization capabilities across push notification, email, SMS, and in-app channels to enable users to gain a competitive edge and better compete in today’s market.

“Changes in today’s market landscape have made it tougher and more expensive to acquire new customers and retain talent,” said Terence Chesire, vice president of customer and industry workflows at ServiceNow. “OneSignal addresses both challenges with use cases that help organizations engage more effectively with internal and external stakeholders, such as employees and customers. We look forward to supporting their growth as they continue to develop innovative solutions that unlock business potential and help deliver seamless customer and employee experiences.”

ServiceNow has also recently selected OneSignal as its SMS and push notification provider for its Knowledge 2023 event, adding to OneSignal’s more than 6,000+ customer list.

Company Updates  

Following OneSignal’s initial Series C investment, the company has continued to invest in its platform to bring more multi-channel customer engagement capabilities to market. Earlier this year, OneSignal introduced Journeys, an easy-to-use visual workflow builder to provide customized user experiences.

In September 2022, OneSignal announced a strategic partnership with Google Cloud Platform, allowing developers and marketing teams to easily create a customer engagement experience native to the Google Cloud environment and purchase OneSignal services through the Google Cloud Marketplace, leading to increased brand awareness and new audiences.  

Industry Accolades  

The ServiceNow investment comes on the heels of an incredibly successful 2022 where OneSignal achieved a 3-year growth percentage of 648.8%, earning the company a spot on the Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Companies and the 2022 Deloitte Technology Fast 500™ lists. The company was also named the winner of the 2022 App Growth Awards in the App Engagement Platform category, San Mateo start-up of the year by Hackernoon and a winner of the 2022 Saas Awards for the best SaaS product for loyalty and retention. OneSignal is a leader across the categories of Push Notification, Marketing Automation, and Mobile Marketing on G2.com, and is recognized as the Market Leader in the Push Notification Software category for the Fall 2022 Customer Success Report published by FeaturedCustomers.

To learn more, please visit OneSignal.com.  

About OneSignal 

OneSignal is the market-leading customer engagement solution, powering omnichannel customer journeys across mobile and web push notifications, in-app messaging, SMS, and email. The powerful and easy-to-use platform enables over a million businesses to deliver 11 billion messages daily. OneSignal supports 500,000 mobile applications – nearly 15% of all apps – enabling companies in 140 countries, including Zynga, USA Today, Bitcoin.com, Upwork, Tribune, and more. OneSignal was founded in 2014 as a mobile app development company by Y Combinator alums George Deglin and Long Vo, and is venture-backed by SignalFire, Rakuten Ventures, Y Combinator, HubSpot, and BAM Elevate. The company is based in San Mateo, California, with offices in London and Singapore. 

Media Contact 
Dex Polizzi 
[email protected] 

SOURCE OneSignal

As Reproductive Rights are Defunded and Debated Nationally, TBD Health Aims to Democratize Access to Inclusive Sexual Care

NEW YORK, Jan. 31, 2023 — TBD Health, a sexual healthcare provider revolutionizing the medical landscape through unparalleled digital and in-person clinical care, today announced a $4.4 million seed round led by Tusk Venture Partners, with participation from Springdale Ventures, Human Ventures, Expansion VC, Starbloom Capital, Hyphen Capital, and The Community Fund along with several strategic angels. With this new financing, TBD Health is expanding to all 50 states, democratizing access to its sexual healthcare offerings, consisting of at-home STD testing and emergency contraception available via telehealth or in-person in its Las Vegas Care hub.

“At a time when women’s rights are being challenged by our government, it was critical for us to build a sex-positive healthcare company that makes it easy for people to prioritize their health,” said Daphne Chen, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of TBD Health. “As someone who has experienced firsthand the judgment that doctors and clinicians pass when it comes to sexual health, it’s our mission to create a safe space for people to seek inclusive, trauma-aware care, as well as treatment and resources on their own terms, regardless of where they live.”

Recent CDC data found that one in five people in the U.S. have an STD, almost half of all new STDs are among people aged 15-24, and numbers are continuing to surge. TBD Health takes a new approach to supportive sexual healthcare by making users feel empowered rather than embarrassed or uncomfortable, starting with an at-home STD screening kit that reduces all the stigma, anxiety, and inaccessibility that usually comes with it.

This investment enables the company to expand its hybrid model of treating clients through its physical care hub, where all clinicians are sensitivity trained and trauma-aware, and telehealth offerings. TBD Health provides end-to-end service with personalized clinician care, counseling, and actionable next steps following test results. Previously, TBD Health solely provided at-home testing services in Washington, Arizona, Nevada, Massachusetts, Florida and Connecticut. After navigating clinical and regulatory hurdles that accompany operating in new states, TBD Health will now be able to provide a comprehensive care offering for the entire country.

“More and more we’re seeing local sexual health clinics nationwide shuttering due to lack of funding and resources. This leaves an immense strain on those who urgently need care,” said Stephanie Estey, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of TBD Health. “We seek to be a solution for those living in sexual health care deserts and beyond by offering a more accessible and approachable way to taking care of your sexual health.”

“Since Roe v. Wade was overturned last year, it’s critical people must have accessible options to reproductive and sexual healthcare,” said Bradley Tusk, Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Tusk Venture Partners. “We are proud to back TBD Health as they establish new standards for care through its STD testing kits, availability of emergency contraceptives with next-day shipping nationwide, and an in-person care hub in Las Vegas.”

TBD Health is expanding offerings within sexual wellness and launching innovative partnerships with employers, universities, and other digital health companies in 2023. To learn more about TBD Health, visit https://www.tbd.health/

ABOUT TBD HEALTH:

TBD Health was co-founded by Stephanie Estey and Daphne Chen, two longtime friends, after they found comfort in one another after the countless questions related to sex, sexual health – and, too often, experienced judgment and stigma at the doctors. TBD Health is a hybrid sexual healthcare platform intended to offer sex-positive, supportive sexual healthcare, making it a routine, easy part of taking care of yourself. The company’s platform offers at-home and in-clinic screenings, emergency contraception, education and counseling, and has plans to expand offerings.

SOURCE TBD Health

The company is known as the number one basketball lifestyle media brand in America

IRVINE, Calif., Jan. 31, 2023 — Ballislife, a well-known basketball and lifestyle media company, today announced the completion of a $2.7 million round of fundraising. The Series A funding, led by Oakvale Sports Investco out of London, England, puts the company at a $20 million pre-money valuation. Traditionally Oakvale Capital takes an interest in businesses in the igaming industry. Still, Sanford Loudon, a partner at the investment group, said they took a chance on Ballislife because they saw the vision.

“Oakvale Ventures partnered with big names from the gaming industry like Johnny Hartnett, Paddy Power, and industry investors Amaury de Sadeleer of Mount Media and Gabriel Demirci of Growthbox Ventures,” said Loudon. “We’re excited about our investment into Ballislife as we believe it’s forged a unique position in the sports social media landscape with some of the highest quality content and event creation out there.”

Created in 2005 as a brand highlighting basketball players on its platform, Ballislife has grown from a “Mixtape” outlet to respected basketball apparel, media, and event management company. Hosting events like the annual Ballislife All-American Game, Ballislife Jr. All-American Camp, and the Eastbay Funk Dunk Contest, the Southern California-based company prides itself on creating unique in-person experiences for basketball fans across the country. With the new funding, company leaders look forward to adequately monetizing their existing and growing properties, like expanding their marketing partnerships and athlete influencer network. To propel their vision forward, Founder and CEO Matt Rodriguez said they’ve already built out their sales and creative team with crucial hires of Susan Jaget (Sales Director) and Victor Bernedo (Creative Director).

“My co-founder Arek Kissoyan and I started Ballislife with the help of our team literally from the ground up with no outside funding whatsoever,” said Rodriguez. “Now that the brand we’ve created has grown in popularity, we want to continue growing our team and building upon our legacy. I’ve always believed resources can help you make some good mistakes.”

Beyond the growth of company operations, Ballislife looks forward to garnering more success from its partnerships with other industry-leading brands like Nike, Red Bull, Amazon, Chime, and Adidas. As a result, the company saw a more than 940% year-over-year growth in revenue of partnership deals in 2022.

More About Ballislife

Founded in 2005, Ballislife has been the uncontested leader in producing high school basketball mixtapes. Expanding beyond content production and distribution, media, and event management, Ballislife is now the #1 basketball lifestyle brand in America. Ballislife’s social networks are followed by millions of fans, and has more than 5.8 billion views across all platforms. For more information, visit www.Ballislife.com.

Media Contact
Amber Weyers/ PR Account Manager
[email protected]

SOURCE ballislife, inc.

Standard Investments leads round with participation from Munich Re Ventures, Moore Strategic Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners and Zeev Ventures

Company also appoints two new board members

NEW YORK and TEL AVIV, Israel, Jan. 31, 2023 — Sentra, a cloud data security  company, today announced the completion of a $30 million Series A funding round led by Standard Investments with participation from Munich Re Ventures (MRV), Moore Strategic Ventures, Xerox Ventures and INT3 as well as existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners and Zeev Ventures. The new financing, secured just 18 months after the company was founded, brings the total capital raised to over $53 million. The company also announced that Standard Investments’ Peter Marturano, technology sector head, and MRV’s Oshri Kaplan, managing director, will be joining its Board of Directors.

Sentra enables security teams to gain full visibility and control of cloud data, as well as protect against sensitive data breaches across the entire public cloud stack. This funding will enable Sentra to increase its market presence, invest in its technology and partner ecosystem and, grow its team to meet the accelerating demand of Sentra’s cloud-native data security solution around the globe.

“With the growing complexity of securing information in today’s data-driven economy, Sentra’s experienced leadership team and impressive product innovation engine make them extremely well-positioned to address this urgent need at scale,” said Yaron Ben David, chief digital officer, Standard Industries. “We look forward to working with the Sentra team as they execute on the company’s mission to enhance data security for cloud-driven organizations around the world.”

“In the 18 months since its founding, Sentra’s clear vision and operational efficiency have quickly translated into real value for customers, making its security solution critical to the modern cloud data stack,” said Amit Karp, partner at Bessemer Venture Partners. “The need for Sentra’s solution is going to continue to grow as organizations further embrace digital transformation. As a long-time investor, we have the utmost trust in Sentra’s team to meet these challenges and lead the cloud data security space.” 

Raising the Bar for Data Security in the Cloud
By 2025, Gartner estimates that over 95% of new digital workloads will be deployed on cloud-native platforms, up from 30% in 2021. Data overload and the adoption of cloud infrastructures have transformed the way engineers and applications interact with data, which often leads to moving, duplicating, or changing sensitive data assets. The majority of business leaders simply do not know where their organization’s sensitive data is, and the growth of the data attack surface leads to more sensitive data being exposed or leaked. Sentra allows businesses to regain control over their data vulnerabilities and shrink the data attack surface by finding all cloud data, classifying it according to sensitivity, and then offering actionable remediation plans for data security teams.

“As we help our customers understand and protect petabytes of data, this capital will help us accelerate our plans to enable organizations to get the most out of their data by keeping it secured at all times,” said Yoav Regev, co-founder and CEO of Sentra. “This is just the beginning for Sentra. I am extremely proud of what our team has accomplished to date and look forward to achieving our shared goals in 2023 and beyond.”

Fortifying Sentra’s Board
The addition of Marturano and Kaplan brings tremendous value and industry expertise to Sentra’s Board of Directors. Marturano leads Standard Investments’ efforts in the technology, media, and telecommunications sectors across both later-stage private and public markets. Serving as one of the lead investors across the cyber and insurtech sectors at MRV, Kaplan has worked with numerous early stage companies in the boardroom, and has helped them scale through partnerships and high-value growth initiatives.

Created and led by experienced entrepreneurs and veteran leaders of the Israel Defense Forces’ Unit 8200, Sentra is a member of the Cloud Security Alliance and was recognized last year by Gartner as a Sample Vendor for Data Security Posture Management in the Hype Cycle™ report for Data Security 2022. For more information, please visit the website, read the company blog or follow on LinkedIn.

About Sentra
Sentra is a data security platform that helps organizations discover and remediate the top data security risks in their public environments. Sentra automatically detects if sensitive data is vulnerable due to misconfigurations, over-permissions, unauthorized access, data duplication or other security issues. The company was founded in 2021 and is co-headquartered in New York City and Tel Aviv. For more information, please visit www.sentra.io.

Media Contacts:
Brianna McGarry
Bateman Agency for Sentra
[email protected]
+1-717-881-6123                                           

SOURCE Sentra

Additional raise co-led by Eight Roads Ventures, Nufarm, and others will advance Enko’s pipeline of leading crop health molecules

MYSTIC, Conn., Jan. 31, 2023 — Enko, the crop health company, today announced that it has raised additional funding from Eight Roads Ventures (a global proprietary investment firm backed by Fidelity), Nufarm, Endeavor8, and Akroyd LLC. This raise, which follows Enko’s initial close of $70 million in July 2022, brings the company’s overall capital raised to date to $150 million. Enko will use the new funds to advance the company’s product pipeline of novel crop protection chemistries and provide critical solutions for large scale global food security challenges.

“The cracks in our global food system are impossible to ignore, and ag-bio companies like Enko are at the leading edge of applying new digital tools to drive innovation and future proof our food supply,” said Dr. Prem Pavoor, Senior Partner, Head of India & Healthcare Investments, Eight Roads Ventures. “By investing in better crop protection, we can help improve yields, reduce waste, and create more sustainable food systems for our growing population in an increasingly unstable world. In challenging macroeconomic environments, we need to lean into essential systems like agriculture.”

Since its start in 2017, Enko has generated hundreds of leading molecules across all categories of crop protection through its ENKOMPASS™ technology platform, which combines DNA-encoded library screening with machine learning and structure-based design to quickly find new, better performing and more targeted chemistries. Enko’s product pipeline is currently led by a range of herbicides that are breaking cycles of weed and pest resistance and are being developed to reduce environmental load compared to current solutions.

“These funds will help us to amplify our efforts to bring effective new crop protection solutions to market,” said Jacqueline Heard, CEO of Enko. “Farmers worldwide are struggling with mounting challenges exacerbated by climate change. Enko is working to help growers cost-effectively adapt and mitigate key challenges to the food chain around the world: pesticide-resistant weeds, fungus, and pests.”

The additional funding follows a year in which Enko announced its Series C funding round, as well as continued partnerships with three of the largest agricultural companies in the world – Bayer, Syngenta, and Nufarm.

About Enko
Enko Chem, Inc. designs safe and sustainable solutions to farmers’ biggest crop threats today, from pest resistance to new diseases by applying the latest drug discovery and development approaches from pharma to agriculture. Enko (formally registered as Enko Chem Inc.), is headquartered in Mystic, Connecticut. For more information, visit enko.ag.

About Eight Roads Ventures
Eight Roads Ventures is a global proprietary investment firm backed by Fidelity, managing over $11 billion of assets across China, India, Europe, Israel, Japan and the U.S. Eight Roads 50-year history of investing includes partnerships with over 300 healthcare and technology companies globally. Some of Eight Roads Ventures’ global investments include Alibaba, Beam Therapeutics, Cipla Health, Denali Therapeutics, Immuneel Therapeutics, Innovent Biologics, Insilico Medicine, Laurus Labs, Medbanks, Semma Therapeutics and WuXi PharmaTech

Media Contacts
Mission North for Enko
[email protected]

SOURCE Enko

Emerging from stealth with $10 million seed funding, Guardz makes cybersecurity accessible with its holistic solution that protects small businesses 

TEL AVIV, Israel, Jan. 31, 2023 — Guardz, the cybersecurity company building a safer digital world for small businesses, today launched from stealth to secure and insure small companies across the globe, filling an increasingly critical market gap amid a rising tide of cyberattacks. Guardz has raised $10 million in seed funding led by Hanaco Ventures, with participation from iAngels, GKFF Ventures, and Cyverse Capital. The funding will allow Guardz to expand its product, develop its cyber insurance line of business, and scale its go-to-market distribution channels.

Small businesses are the backbone of the U.S. economy, creating countless jobs, supporting local communities, and providing crucial services. Yet these small companies seldom have access to the same cybersecurity personnel, expertise, and resources as large enterprises. Most available cybersecurity solutions are too cumbersome to deploy, too complicated to understand and maintain, and too costly to obtain. As a result, small businesses are often left unprotected and without cyber insurance, making them prime targets for malicious cyber actors. Recent years have seen 43% of cyberattacks aimed at small businesses with nearly $7 billion in reported losses, resulting in service disruption, reputational damage, and revenue loss, and often leading to the permanent closing of doors.

“Hackers are acutely aware of small businesses’ cyber vulnerabilities; nowadays, it’s not a matter of if they’ll be targeted, but when. Our complete solution helps companies with lean IT, as well as MSPs, to combat these rising threats, and we’ve already witnessed tremendous results with the hundreds of small businesses currently secured by Guardz,” said Dor Eisner, CEO and Co-Founder of Guardz. “We have worked tirelessly to create a solution that not only impacts the security and longevity of businesses, but helps protect the ecosystem at large, and we are eager to continue developing our offering to secure further companies across the globe.”

The Guardz all-in-one platform is purpose-built to provide real-time cybersecurity protection and insurance for small companies, many of whom sit in high-risk industries possessing sensitive data, such as law, healthcare, financial services, retail, and more. The accessible solution propels businesses from zero or low cyber protection to comprehensive security, defending against the top attack vectors including: cloud applications, web browsing, cyber awareness, devices, emails, and compromised data. The Guardz platform automatically monitors a company’s external and internal digital footprint to continuously analyze cybersecurity risks and remediate threats at the click of a button from one dashboard. Guardz also makes cyber insurance accessible to small businesses who were previously ineligible due to a lack of comprehensive cybersecurity protection.

“With the rise of Attacks-as-a-Service, the ongoing shortage of cyber talent, and the increasingly lucrative nature of targeting smaller businesses, the market is well-primed for a holistic cyber solution that addresses the unique challenges and imminent threats facing these companies,” said Alon Lifshitz, Founding Partner at Hanaco Ventures. “We are excited to take part in Guardz’s journey as it makes headway in addressing and alleviating the crisis of high cyber vulnerability for small businesses everywhere.” 

“The rise and democratization of ransomware and phishing attacks is hurting SMBs the most as they are currently the least protected, making this a huge and entirely underserved market,” said Shelly Hod Moyal, Founding Partner of iAngels. “With their first-hand experience building and commercializing successful cyber products, Dor Eisner and Alon Lavi are perfectly positioned to lead Guardz’s one-stop-cyber-shop for small businesses. We’re excited to partner with the Guardz team as they work to empower SMBs with the necessary tools to protect themselves.”

About Guardz

Guardz is a holistic cyber security and insurance solution designed for small businesses. Its all-in-one, affordable platform is on guard 24/7, and is easy to use for both in-house IT personnel and MSPs. With cutting-edge technologies stacked into a robust platform, Guardz’s solution continuously monitors businesses’ digital landscapes to protect their entire range of assets, enables them to react to cyber risks in real time with swift remediations, and provides cyber insurance for peace of mind. Guardz was founded in 2022 by Dor Eisner and Alon Lavi along with a team of cyber and insurance experts who combine innovation, experience, and creativity to create a safer digital world for small businesses.

For more information, visit the Guardz website: https://guardz.com/

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SOURCE Guardz