AUCKLAND, New Zealand, Feb. 23, 2023 — Aquafortus, a water technology company that purifies high salinity brines and derives valuable metals and minerals from them in the process, today announced the closing of a $17 million oversubscribed Series A1 financing led by DCVC and Novo Holdings, and joined by Universal Materials Incubator, Intrepid Financial Partners, Envisioning Partners, Burnt Island Ventures, K1W1 and NZGCP.

Until now, brine desalination has been prohibitively expensive: thermal-based evaporation, the most common technology today, is highly energy-intensive. Aquafortus uses a non-thermal, zero-liquid-discharge recovery and crystallization approach that uses 90% less energy, costs 60% less, and turns 98% of high salinity brine into fresh water, while extracting lithium, copper, magnesium salts, and other metals and minerals.

“The world must shift toward greater reuse of existing natural resources,” said DCVC Partner Jason Pontin. “The imperative is most pressing with water: every continent experienced drought last year, and many of the Earth’s largest aquifers have tipped toward depletion. DCVC enthusiastically backs Aquafortus because it is the first company to meet the dire environmental need to desalinate the toughest brines effectively and affordably.”

Aquafortus targets industries that produce significant volumes of hypersaline water: mining, oil and gas production, chemical manufacturing, and power generation. The Series A1 financing will allow the construction and deployment of a relocatable demonstration unit and commercial pilot across major US Oil and Gas basins and operators, as well as investment in core R&D.

The world generates a significant volume of industrial wastewater (380 billion m3/year). About 25% of this is hypersaline wastewater—or three times the volume of Lake Mead at its peak.

“We are committed to producing fresh water and precious metals and minerals from brines that are notoriously hard to treat,” said Daryl Briggs, CEO, Aquafortus. “We designed our technology to be both highly effective and much less demanding of energy than anything on the market: this combination can significantly improve water availability and critical mineral abundance in many regions across the world.”

Aquafortus offers value not just in what its technology delivers, but also in what it prevents. Today, heavy brines are usually disposed of as waste. When they are released into the ocean, they can interfere with the coastal ecology, and their injection into the earth is recognized as a key factor in seismic activity. Brines produced from mining operations are especially expensive to treat, but also contain massive amounts of metals and minerals that can be recovered, not wasted.

Stephen Van Helden, Principal, Novo Holdings Equity, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Novo Holdings, said: “The investment in Aquafortus and its innovative technology is in perfect alignment with our purpose at Novo Holdings, which is to improve people’s health and the sustainability of society and the planet and to generate attractive long-term returns on the assets of the Novo Nordisk Foundation. Aquafortus is reducing water insecurity while improving the environment. I am very excited about our future collaboration and our shared ambition to contribute to a more sustainable planet.”

“Aquafortus provides a revolutionary solution for a critical problem facing many industries, particularly energy,” said Skip McGee, co-founder and CEO of Intrepid Financial Partners, the leading energy merchant bank. “When we speak to energy executives across the U.S., managing produced water is a top priority. Existing solutions such as saltwater disposal wells and traditional recycling technologies will not be able to meet the challenge. New solutions are essential, and Aquafortus’s cost-effective and energy efficient technology for treating water with zero liquid discharge and monetizable mineral extraction is potentially game-changing for the energy industry.”

About Aquafortus

Aquafortus is a New Zealand headquartered technology company that develops and commercialises novel and proprietary minimal energy resource recovery technologies for high total dissolved solids (TDS) waste and process streams. The team at Aquafortus are high-calibre, global experts working to bring the most advanced zero liquid discharge resource recovery technologies to the world.

www.aquafortus.com

About DCVC

DCVC, the leading Deep Tech venture firm, backs entrepreneurs solving trillion-dollar problems to multiply the benefits of capitalism for everyone, while reducing its costs. For over twenty years, DCVC and its principals have backed brilliant entrepreneurs. By applying Deep Tech, from the earliest stage and beyond, we pragmatically and cost-effectively tackle previously unsolvable problems in nearly every industry, especially those that haven’t seen material technological progress in decades. Together, we have created tens of billions of dollars of value, while also making the world a markedly better place.

Visit us at dcvc.com or follow us on Twitter @DCVC.

About Novo Holdings

Novo Holdings is a holding and investment company that is responsible for managing the assets of the Novo Nordisk Foundation, one of the world’s largest enterprise foundations. The purpose of Novo Holdings is to improve people’s health and the sustainability of society and the planet by generating attractive long-term returns on the assets of the Novo Nordisk Foundation.

Wholly owned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation, Novo Holdings is the controlling shareholder of Novo Nordisk and Novozymes (the Novo Group companies) and manages an investment portfolio, with a long-term return perspective. Novo Holdings invests in life science companies of all stages of development and also manages a broad portfolio of equities, bonds, real estate and infrastructure assets as well as private equity investments. As of year-end 2021, Novo Holdings had total assets of USD 106 billion.

Further information: www.novoholdings.dk.

SOURCE Aquafortus

Transcend is developing one of the most promising psychoactive compounds – with previous human experience to treat PTSD

NEW YORK, Feb. 23, 2023 — Transcend Therapeutics, a biotechnology company that develops medicines to treat neuropsychiatric diseases, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), today announced that it closed its Series A funding round of $40 million. Led by Alpha Wave Global and Integrated Investment Partners, this funding round will enable Transcend to launch multiple clinical trials, including a phase II study, with its next-generation psychoactive compound. Transcend has raised nearly $42 million to date.

Transcend Therapeutics, which was founded in 2021 and incubated by leading early-stage venture studio AlleyCorp, develops next-generation psychoactive drugs aiming to benefit the more than 50 million Americans who suffer from neuropsychiatric diseases. While various psychedelics have demonstrated promise for the treatment of PTSD, Transcend focuses on a psychoactive compound that may be more accessible for the tens of millions of patients in need. Its lead compound, methylone (TSND-201), has short-acting and mild psychological effects, and thus likely requires less clinician time than other psychedelic compounds. Methylone has the potential to be used as an adjunctive treatment to existing pharmacotherapies (e.g. SSRIs), making it better suited to integrate into the existing psychiatric paradigm and healthcare infrastructure.

The Transcend leadership team has extensive experience across the full drug development lifecycle, leading to pivotal contributions on 13 FDA-approved drugs totaling $7 billion dollars in M&A and public company value. The leadership team includes:

• Kevin Ryan, Co-Founder and Chairman of Transcend, and founder and CEO of AlleyCorp, where he was co-founder and chairman of MongoDB, Business Insider, Gilt Groupe, Zola, and also previously served as CEO of DoubleClick;
• Blake Mandell, Co-Founder and CEO of Transcend, has spent most of his career working in venture capital – leading AlleyCorp’s frontier technology practice, where he helped incubate Pearl Health – and prior to that was a consultant at BCG;
• Ben Kelmendi, MD, Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Advisor at Transcend, co-director of the Yale Program for Psychedelic Science and the first scientist to receive federal funding for clinical psychedelic research in more than 50 years;
• Martin Stogniew, PhD, Chief Development Officer at Transcend, who holds 40 patents, has led development at six biotech startups leading to nine New Drug Applications and five biopharma exits valued at more than $3.5 billion; and,
• Amanda Jones, PharmD, Senior Vice President of Clinical Development at Transcend, who most recently led clinical development at Axsome Therapeutics, where she led two compounds from IND to NDA, including the first and only oral NMDA receptor antagonist approved for treating major depressive disorder in adults (Auvelity).

“Mental health diseases are one of the leading causes of disability in the United States and globally, yet available treatments are ineffective for many patients, can take weeks to kick in, and frequently have chronic side effects. At Transcend, we’re working to change that, starting by bringing a next-generation compound, methylone, to market as a potential rapid-acting, disease-modifying, non-hallucinogenic treatment for neuropsychiatric conditions like PTSD,” Transcend Therapeutics Co-Founder and CEO Blake Mandell said. “In a published clinical case series, methylone has demonstrated robust responses in patients with PTSD. This funding will enable us to more rapidly enter clinical trials, and ultimately make this – and other – life-changing medicine available to those in need.”

“The advancements being made right now around mental healthcare, and at Transcend in particular, reminds me of the internet in 1996; even the most hopeful people underestimate its impact on the world. The work that Transcend is doing has the potential to completely change how people are treated for PTSD and depression,” Transcend Co-Founder and Chairman, and AlleyCorp Founder and CEO Kevin Ryan said. “We’ve brought together the world’s leaders in drug development and psychiatric research, and together we’re pushing this industry into new, highly promising territory.”

“We need new and innovative approaches to dealing with the mental health crisis, and Transcend is unique in that it has the team and a well-characterized lead compound to make a meaningful impact in the lives of millions,” Rick Gerson, Co-Founder, Chairman, and CIO at Alpha Wave Global said. “We are thrilled to lead this Series A investment round and confident that this funding will accelerate Transcend’s work to bring methylone to market sooner, while beginning to build out a pipeline of other promising compounds.”

The Series A round was also supported by Global Founders Capital and Emerald Investment Managers, among others.

About Transcend Therapeutics

Transcend Therapeutics discovers, develops, and delivers next-generation psychoactive medicines to work toward a world in which people no longer suffer from neuropsychiatric disease. Transcend focuses on developing medicines that are accessible to a larger percentage of patients in need, specifically the tens of millions of patients who already take psychotropic medication. Transcend Therapeutics already has real-world data for its lead compound, TSND-201, demonstrating robust responses in patients with PTSD. As a Public Benefit Corporation, Transcend has pledged 10% of its founding shares toward nonprofits focused on scientific research and patient access.
www.transcendtherapeutics.com

About AlleyCorp

Founded by serial entrepreneur Kevin Ryan, AlleyCorp originates ideas, hires early teams, funds, launches, and grows each company, and maintains an integral leadership role from beginning through exit. On the incubation side, AlleyCorp-founded companies include MongoDB (NASDAQ: MDB), Business Insider, Gilt Groupe, Zola, Nomad Health, and more. AlleyCorp’s Healthcare Fund is one of the most active early-stage venture funds and incubators in New York dedicated to healthcare.
www.alleycorp.com

About Alpha Wave Global

Alpha Wave is a global investment company with offices in New York, Miami, London, Abu Dhabi, Tel Aviv, Bangalore, Jakarta, and Sydney. Its flagship global venture and growth fund, Alpha Wave Ventures, aims to invest in best-in-class venture and growth-stage companies and endeavors to be helpful long-term partners to the founders and management teams. Alpha Wave manages a variety of investment partnerships that cover several asset classes, themes, and geographies.
https://www.alphawaveglobal.com/

About Integrated Investment Partners

Integrated is a venture fund partnering with value-aligned companies transforming the health and wellbeing of our communities around the globe. Its intention is to redefine healthcare through the innovative advancement of next-generation solutions as well as disrupt legacy healthcare institutions that have not kept pace with our changing world. Integrated is committed to supporting sustainable change and donates a significant percentage of profits to Reconsider, a sister non-profit organization. Reconsider is a center for transformation that is building a bridge to ensure transformative therapies become more accessible to our communities.
https://integrated.vc/ 

Contact:
Tim Granholm 
+1-708-638-0277 
[email protected]

SOURCE Transcend Therapeutics

Emerging from stealth, chip company boasts world-class design team, develops energy efficient hardware acceleration

TEL AVIV, Israel, Feb. 23, 2023 — Chain Reaction, a semiconductor company focused on disruptive blockchain and privacy hardware, announced today that it raised $70 million in its Series C funding round led by Morgan Creek Digital and participation from Hanaco Ventures, Jerusalem Venture Partners, KCK Capital, Exor, Atreides Management, and BlueRun Ventures.

The new round brings total funding to $115 million and will be used to expand the engineering and development teams, which have grown to 100 full-time employees, including top talent from Nvidia, Mellanox, Israeli Intelligence, and TSMC. The round will expedite deployment of enterprise-grade blockchain solutions – Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) and systems. It will also scale Chain Reaction’s privacy tech solutions involving the design of cloud data center infrastructure to accelerate privacy enhancing technologies (PETs).

“Enabling real time compute on encrypted data is the holy grail of cloud computing. Chain Reaction is on the cusp of making this a reality by accelerating PETs, said Alon Webman, co-founder and CEO of Chain Reaction. “Our technology will enable enterprise and government to modernize compute infrastructure by moving private data to the cloud.”

The additional investment ensures that Chain Reaction can continue focusing on crafting and delivering products for its two target markets. Driving high-performance hardware for blockchain and privacy in data center and cloud, creating bleeding-edge solutions for markets that are still in their infancy.

“We fully expect Chain Reaction’s blockchain products will become the new industry standard in blockchain compute infrastructure, laying the foundation for all future sustainable blockchain technologies” said Mark Yusko, CEO and CIO of Morgan Creek Capital Management and Managing Partner of Morgan Creek Digital. “Blockchain is the key to securing democracy, decentralization, and freedom, but it is compute intensive. Chain Reaction’s products will shore up the value of predominant blockchain technologies and revolutionize use-cases for blockchain technologies in the not-so-distant future.”

Pasha Romanovski, Founding Partner at Hanaco Ventures, said of Chain Reaction’s Series C round, “Hanaco has believed in Chain Reaction from the get-go. We saw the potential of combining experience and expertise in analog and system design with algorithms and cryptography to engineer the future of compute infrastructure. This is just the beginning from Chain Reaction, as they make great strides in disrupting the traditional and complex market of data center, cloud, and through to edge computing hardware infrastructure.”

Chain Reaction anticipates general availability of its first blockchain hardware chips and systems in the first quarter of 2023.

To learn more about Chain Reaction, visit www.chain-reaction.io.

About Chain Reaction

Chain Reaction is engineering the future of disruptive blockchain and privacy technologies. We accelerate compute performance, enabling companies to adopt and scale solutions to the world’s most complex problems. Partnering with cloud and data centers, we transform compute infrastructure, with custom ASICs and systems that optimize for low-power, high-performance compute. Our 3PU^™ (Privacy Preserving Processing Unit) dramatically accelerates real-time operations of PETs on encrypted data, transforming the cloud into a trusted environment. We enable verticals that rely on confidential big data to use the cloud, including financial institutions, health care & big pharma, defense & government, and oil & gas. Purpose-built and custom-designed, our solutions power the next generation of secure, scalable, green computing, to help protect people, privacy, and the planet.

SOURCE Chain Reaction

 DALLAS, Feb. 22, 2023 — The FinServ Summit, presented by The Council for Inclusion in Financial Services (CIFS), will return in-person and take place in five cities across the United States in 2023. Those host cities will include Birmingham, Alabama on March 23, Detroit, Michigan on April 20, Dallas, Texas on June 22, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on August 24, and San Diego, California on September 28. Individuals seeking to attend — the FinServ Summit is geared towards financial services professionals, small business owners, property preservation professionals, and real estate brokers and agents — may register on the FinServ Summit official website at https://councilforinclusion.org/finserv-summit/register/.

This year’s summit will cover a range of topics, including diversity, equity, and inclusion best practices, economic and housing updates, and vendor relationships. In addition, during a vendor roundtable hosted by partner sponsor VRM Mortgage Services, attendees will be able to engage in Q&A and one-on-ones with staff to learn more about the company and of potential business opportunities. Attendees will conclude the event with FinServ Connect, a networking event where financial services professionals can network and establish relationships that may help grow their business.

The return to in-person FinServ Summits is possible thanks to our Partner Sponsor VRM Mortgage Services, Platinum Sponsor PCV Murcor, Gold Sponsor VRM Lending LLC, Silver Sponsor The Automation Company, and Bronze Sponsors Mortgage Bankers Association and the Mortgage Collective. Sponsorship opportunities are still available.

For more information about the summit, head to https://councilforinclusion.org/finserv-summit/

About the Council for Inclusion in Financial Services (CIFS)

CIFS increases awareness within the financial services industry of the social and economic benefits of multiculturalism in employment and supplier utilization, while also launching initiatives that promote financial literacy to help all Americans understand how to grow their personal wealth. CIFS is also an advocate for the value of diversity and inclusion and strives to engage with all sectors of financial services to cultivate an understanding and acknowledgment of how creating a more inclusive workforce, providing equal access to business opportunities, and improving financial literacy leads to business success and community well-being.

For more information about CIFS, visit https://councilforinclusion.org/

SOURCE VRM Mortgage Services

WATERLOO, ON, Feb. 22, 2023 – Mappedin, the leading platform for creating and maintaining indoor maps, is excited to announce it has raised a Series A round of funding led by Channel Equity Partners, a San Diego-based growth equity firm specifically focused on emerging category leaders in B2B SaaS.

The investment funds will be used to support Mappedin’s growth mission, enabling the business to scale its team, bolster its go-to-market efforts, expand into new industries, and continue investing in its cutting-edge technology and products. Whether leveraged directly by end-customers or through its technology partners, Mappedin is a digital foundation for the “built environment”. It provides best-in-class solutions for malls, offices, stadiums, campuses, airports, and many other venues to tackle a variety of indoor mapping use cases, including wayfinding, asset and facility management, public safety, private security, and logistics.

“We have been building a relationship with Mappedin for years and have deep conviction that, while outdoor mapping is largely “spoken for” already, the indoor mapping space is now at a critical inflection point and Mappedin is strongly positioned to execute amidst these market tailwinds. The company’s extensible platform and pre-built applications are currently helping solve key challenges across numerous venue types and use cases – and are applicable to countless more,” said Andrew Albert, Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Channel Equity Partners.

Mappedin is on a mission to enable “One Map Everywhere”. Whether it’s facilitating back-to-office initiatives, optimizing brick-and-mortar retail operations, helping travelers through complex airports, delivering fan experiences at stadiums, or powering IoT, the built environment requires accurate digital maps. Mappedin’s solutions uniquely serve this need by automating and simplifying the traditional mapping process, allowing customers to create, maintain, publish, and utilize their indoor maps at scale.

Mappedin is also delighted to announce that James Killick has joined Mappedin’s board of directors. James’ career in the geospatial industry stretches almost 40 years, 9 of which he spent running Apple Maps’ Global Partnerships team. He got his start at Etak (the first in-vehicle navigation system), was on the executive team that sold MapQuest to AOL, and also spent 9 years at Esri (one of the largest privately held software businesses in the world and the largest GIS company). His insights and guidance will be invaluable as Mappedin continues to scale and navigate the geospatial landscape.

“With CEP and James Killick at the table, I’ve never been more excited to go to work every day and build towards One Map Everywhere. The team at Mappedin has done a lot with relatively little historically – now it’s time to show what we can really do,” said Hongwei Liu, CEO and Founder of Mappedin.

About Channel Equity Partners
Channel Equity Partners (“CEP”) is a growth equity firm based in San Diego, California. CEP invests in B2B software and software-enabled services businesses in the United States and Canada. For more information, visit www.channelep.com.

About James Killick
With extensive experience in business development, product management, and product strategy, James Killick’s career spans almost 40 years working for industry pioneers throughout the geospatial industry. He currently consults as a strategic advisor and focuses on the mapping industry in his blog, Map Happenings. For more information, visit www.maphappenings.com.

About Mappedin
Headquartered in Waterloo, Ontario, Mappedin is the leading platform for digitizing indoor venues, managing spatial data, and building indoor mapping experiences. Engineered for scale and ease-of-use, Mappedin’s flexible platform and pre-built applications enable it to work with world-class venue developers, owners, operators, and tenants around the globe. For more information, visit www.mappedin.com.

SOURCE Mappedin, Inc.

Investment to Accelerate Clinic Expansion Nationwide

SAN FRANCISCO and NEW YORK and AUSTIN, Texas and OMAHA, Neb., Feb. 22, 2023 — Milan Laser Hair Removal (“Milan Laser“), the nation’s largest laser hair removal provider, today announced new strategic growth equity investments from Sixth Street, a leading global investment firm, and Wildcat Capital Management. Existing investor, Leonard Green & Partners, L.P. (“LGP”), along with the co-founders, will retain a majority interest in the company. The investment will support the acceleration of clinic expansion, marketing, and business development.

Founded in 2012 by Drs. Shikhar Saxena and Abe Schumacher in Papillion, Nebraska, Milan Laser provides laser hair removal services in a fun, engaging, and inclusive environment. Since its inception, the company has grown to more than 250 clinics in 29 states, providing more than 50,000 treatments each month and employing more than 1,700 individuals. Since 2019, Milan Laser has been backed by LGP, a leading private equity investment firm.

“We are very excited about the investment in Milan Laser. Our partnership with LGP has been fantastic and adding Sixth Street and Wildcat Capital Management to our equity investors only makes us stronger. As the largest laser hair removal company in the U.S., Milan Laser is excited about the future growth of our organization and footprint,” said Dr. Shikhar Saxena, CEO and co-founder of Milan Laser. “Sixth Street and Wildcat Capital Management believe in our vision to be the number one laser hair removal company in the world and have the resources and expertise to help our team achieve this goal.”

“Milan Laser‘s strong leadership team, commitment to offering world-class service, and well-defined plan for expansion all align with what we consider core attributes for successfully growing consumer businesses,” said Kayvan Heravi, Managing Director at Sixth Street. “We are particularly excited about Milan Laser‘s compelling vision for the future as the company continues to expand into new markets and add new verticals to its offerings, and we look forward to partnering with management, LGP, and Wildcat to support the company’s future growth.”

In the transaction, North Point investment bank is serving as financial advisor, and Latham & Watkins, LLP is serving as legal counsel to LGP and the company. Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz is serving as legal counsel to the co-founders. Sixth Street was represented by Piper Sandler & Co., and legally advised by Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP. Wildcat Capital Management was legally advised by Vinson & Elkins LLP.

To learn more about Milan Laser Hair Removal, visit www.milanlaser.com.

About Milan Laser Hair Removal
Founded in 2012 by two board-certified medical doctors in Omaha, Nebraska, Milan Laser Hair Removal is the nation‘s largest laser hair removal provider, with more than 250 locations in 29 states and 1,700+ employees nationally. Laser hair removal is all Milan Laser does, performing more than 50,000 treatments each month. Milan Laser provides life-long results for all genders and skin tones in a safe, judgment-free environment, and all Milan Laser treatments are performed by highly-trained medical professionals. For more information, visit www.milanlaser.com.

About Sixth Street
Sixth Street is a leading global investment firm with approximately $65 billion in assets under management and committed capital. Sixth Street uses its long-term flexible capital, data-enabled capabilities, and One Team culture to develop themes and offer solutions to companies across all stages of growth. The firm has more than 400 team members including over 180 investment professionals operating around the world. Sixth Street’s Consumer platform partners with management teams and provides strategic capital to companies operating across the consumer sector. Sixth Street investments in best-in-class consumer brands have included Airbnb, FC Barcelona, Legends, Mindbody/ClassPass, Real Madrid CF, the San Antonio Spurs, and Spotify. For more information, visit www.sixthstreet.com and follow Sixth Street on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.

About Wildcat Capital Management
Wildcat was established in 2011 as a single-family investment office. The firm has a long term, flexible family-office-driven approach. Wildcat seeks to partner with leading private consumer, business services, software, healthcare, and technology-enabled companies. In addition, Wildcat has both a public markets investment team and a value-add and opportunistic real estate investment team. For additional information please contact [email protected].

About LGP
LGP is a leading private equity investment firm founded in 1989 and based in Los Angeles with over $70 billion of assets under management. The firm partners with experienced management teams and often with founders to invest in market-leading companies. Since inception, LGP has invested in over 120 companies in the form of traditional buyouts, going-private transactions, recapitalizations, growth equity, and selective public equity and debt positions. The firm primarily focuses on companies providing services, including consumer, healthcare, and business services, as well as retail, distribution and industrials. For more information, please visit www.leonardgreen.com.

Media Contact:
Dana Kaufman
[email protected]
Phone: (402) 980-0998

SOURCE Milan Laser

BioSqueeze Inc. provides a natural and affordable solution for the oil and gas industry to drastically reduce methane emissions by eliminating annular gas.

BUTTE, Mont., Feb. 22, 2023 — BioSqueeze Inc., the world leader in commercial biomineralization, has raised $7.4 million in financing to accelerate its growth in sealing methane leaks in oil and gas wells across North America. Led by Valo Ventures, a leading investor in climate technologies, the round also includes participation from Zero Infinity Partners, Riverstone LLC, and Next Frontier Capital.

BioSqueeze’s innovative biomineralization technology was developed in conjunction with the Department of Energy over a 10-year period to provide the oil and gas industry with the most effective solution to eliminate fugitive emissions from oil and gas wells. Traditional remediation technologies like cements and resins are often ineffective at eliminating sustained casing pressure due to their high viscosity, difficulty bonding to casing and existing cement, and being gas cut. BioSqueeze boasts an industry leading success rate of +90 percent, with over 100 wells sealed since 2019. The company’s revolutionary technology utilizes natural soil bacteria delivered via low-viscosity, self-diverting fluids to form calcium carbonate (limestone), steadily reducing permeability to create a permanent, gas-tight seal. The result is the most effective solution for eliminating sustained casing pressure. A technology that cannot be gas cut, seals leaks as small as 1 micron wide, continuously self-diverts to ensure all channels are sealed, and forms a permanent caprock barrier stronger than cement.

The new investment will power BioSqueeze’s ability to lead the industry’s methane reduction initiatives and address the increasing demand for the company’s natural biomineralization technology. The company will accelerate its growth across North America by bolstering its fleet of mobile leak sealing vehicles, implementing real-time, remote operations from its headquarters in Butte, and developing new products in the realm of rigless deployment, enhanced oil recovery, soil stabilization, and infrastructure repair. Of particular focus is rapidly expanding operations to serve BioSqueeze’s partners throughout the United States, Canada, and the Gulf of Mexico. In addition to working with oil and gas operators, BioSqueeze Inc. will devote a portion of its new capacity to assisting state and federal efforts to plug and abandon more than 120,000 documented orphan wells with estimated yearly methane emissions equivalent to 1.3 million metric tons of CO2.

“Our technology provides the oil and gas industry with a desperately needed tool critical to reducing methane emissions,” said Mark Ranalli, President & CEO of BioSqueeze. “As recent events have highlighted, clean and reliable energy is critical to society and the environment. With the industry continuing to raise the bar identifying and remediating sources of fugitive emissions, our natural technology ensures leaks are sealed efficiently and cost-effectively to maximize the impact of funding.”

As the $4.6 trillion oil and gas industry rapidly moves to reduce its carbon footprint, methane monitoring and detection has grown at a staggering pace to identify and assess the severity of leaks, but remediation solutions have been few and far between. In the wake of increasing public and regulatory pressure to slash methane emissions due to its potency as a greenhouse gas (over 84 times the warming potential of CO2 over a 20 year period), BioSqueeze provides an immediate and impactful emissions reduction. Reducing emissions, increasing efficiency, and decreasing risk for energy producers far and wide, from multi-billion-dollar global supermajors to regional cornerstones serving clients throughout the U.S. and Canada.

“We are excited about BioSqueeze’s role in helping the oil and gas industry reduce its carbon footprint today,” said Subodh Gupta, partner at Valo Ventures. “BioSqueeze’s technology arms the oil and gas industry with a highly effective tool for eliminating methane emissions, allowing leaks to be sealed at a lower cost and delivering gains in efficiency that stretch the impact of funding. This union of impact and economics is a focal point at Valo Ventures, and we are thrilled to partner with the talented team at BioSqueeze as they apply their revolutionary biomineralization technology to reducing the environmental impact of vital energy production.”

ABOUT BIOSQUEEZE INC.
BioSqueeze’s novel biomineralization technology provides the most effective solution for eliminating methane leaks in oil and gas wells, saving time and money otherwise spent on unsuccessful remediation attempts. BioSqueeze is the world leader in commercial biomineralization, utilizing natural soil bacteria delivered via low-viscosity, self diverting fluids to form calcium carbonate (limestone), steadily reducing permeability to create a permanent, gas-tight seal. Biomineralization is effective, environmentally friendly, and has a host of applications including leak sealing, enhanced oil recovery, soil stabilization, and infrastructure repair.

For more information, visit www.biosqueeze.com or contact [email protected].

ABOUT VALO VENTURES
Valo Ventures is a thesis-driven venture capital firm investing in North America and Europe. Our mission is “investing for a brighter future” and we do this by focusing on three catalyzing megatrends: climate change, circular economy, and empowered people. We identify and support entrepreneurs who are applying technologies to create long term economic, environmental and social value.

For more information, visit valoventures.org.

James Christopherson
PR Manager
BioSqueeze
[email protected]

This release was issued through WebWire®. For more information, visit http://www.webwire.com.

SOURCE BioSqueeze Inc.

Funds to Help Company in its Mission to Protect 1% of the Earth and Scale Verifiable Biodiversity Conservation Efforts

FRUTILLAR, Chile, Feb. 22, 2023 — Lemu, creators of a community of nature lovers and stewards of environmental projects throughout the world, today announced it had raised $8 million as part of its Series A funding round.

Lemu links the digital and natural worlds, empowering people to help turn back the tides of the environmental crisis through nature-based solutions with verifiable impacts. The app allows users to support verifiable conservation programs based on a global index called LemuRank which accounts for nature-centric and anthropocentric valuations. Lemu also evaluates conservation efforts by summarizing the evidence for impact due to conservation management through a local index named LemuImpact. This leads to the facilitation of strategies and resources to democratize and scale verifiable, evidence-based conservation.

Arauco Ventures was the sole investor in the round, which brings the total raised by Lemu to $15 million. The funding will be used primarily to extend and iterate the Lemu app, amplify the app’s public launch, grow Lemu’s headcount by 50%, and enhance the development of Lemu’s impact verification methodologies, tools, and algorithms.

“There is tremendous excitement around what Lemu is doing, and with good reason,” said Gianfranco Truffello, Managing Partner of Arauco Ventures. “They are pointing the way towards a new paradigm of conservation that will allow ordinary people to make a real impact in protecting life on our planet. They’re thinking big, and they’re already demonstrating results.”

Lemu’s tools are already being put to significant use at this early stage. This past December saw the first ecosystem adoption happen through Lemu’s app by a user in the US who supported a conservation project reforesting the burnt Magila/Mkussu forest in Tanzania and will start to witness her impact.

“At Lemu, we believe that we all have an essential role to play in fighting the environmental crisis,” said Leo Prieto, founder and CEO of Lemu. “The desire to make a difference is widespread, and our app is giving people the tools they need to do exactly that. Nature-based solutions are the most efficient way to combat biodiversity loss and climate change, and Lemu is developing the tools to guide investment and amplify this impact.”

In the months since the announcement of the Lemu app, the excitement around it has grown significantly: the waiting list has 15,000 users for an app that is still invitation-only. Early users have learned from and connected with 73 conservation projects from 62 stewards in 34 countries throughout the world, representing 5.8 million hectares of protected areas.

Beyond the public launch of the app, many exciting milestones are forthcoming for Lemu, including the finalization of Lemu’s own hyperspectral nanosatellite, Lemu Nge (“Forest Eye“), unique in its kind dedicated to habitat and biodiversity observation, which will be launched by SpaceX in 2024. By the end of 2023, Lemu also plans on financing the first 100,000 hectares of biodiversity protection, the first major milestone on its path to help finance the conservation of 1% of the land surface of the planet by 2033.

For more information, visit Lemu online at le.mu.

About Lemu

Founded by South American Internet pioneer Leo Prieto, Lemu is committed to using technology to harness collective intelligence to improve life for all of Mother Earth’s inhabitants. Lemu encourages users to learn, explore, and support nature, preserving biodiversity and encouraging participation in conservation initiatives. Lemu’s goal is to be responsible for financing the conservation of 1% of planet Earth within the next 10 years.

For more information or to join the Lemu network, visit le.mu.

Contact:
David Parmet
1-888-317-4687
[email protected]

SOURCE Lemu

The company’s first nut-forward product boasts a healthier nutritional profile, better flavor, and more macadamia nuts per serving than leading competitors.

KAUAI, Hawaii, Feb. 22, 2023 — PlantBaby, the innovative nutrition company developing a portfolio of the purest plant-based products to support the nutritional journey from infancy into adulthood, announces its newest product launch Mac Nut Kiki Milk.

“Since launching Kiki Milk in December of 2021, we’ve seen a consistent rise in demand for products that are free of gums, inflammatory oils, and fillers while boasting whole-food and nutrient-rich ingredients,” said Alex and Lauren Abelin, Co-Founders of PlantBaby. “We realized no true, all-organic and real tasting mac nut milk has existed on the market so we wanted to change that and create a wildly delicious and nutritious product free of gums and fillers for everyone to enjoy. We can’t wait for everyone to taste it!”

Mac Nut Kiki Milk will be available in shelf-stable 32oz cartons. Mac Nut Kiki Milk is made exclusively with organic whole food ingredients and nourishing superfoods like organic macadamia nuts, organic cashews, organic Brazil nuts, organic sprouted pumpkin seeds, organic oats, organic coconut sugar, organic coconuts, and organic Aquamin™. Like all PlantBaby products, Mac Nut Kiki Milk ingredients are non-GMO and rigorously third-party tested to verify they are free from glyphosate and heavy metals. Additionally, Mac Nut Kiki Milk does not contain seed oils, gums, refined sugars, natural and artificial flavors, or common allergens like soy or gluten. Mac Nut Kiki Milk is also a carbon-neutral beverage.

“When we were given a bag of local mac nuts from a friend’s Big Island farm, we naturally made some mac nut milk,” said Lauren Abelin. “We were shocked how incredible this milk tasted, especially when compared to the common macadamia nut milk you can find in many stores. It’s creamy, a little nutty, a bit buttery, a tad sweet, and actually tastes like real macadamia nuts.”

According to recent studies* of the macadamia nut market, over 80% of macadamia nuts are grown conventionally with the use of pesticides. The widely used practice of spraying nuts with pesticides generally occurs when nuts are picked and shelled as opposed to during the growing process. Because nuts have such high fat and oil contents, they readily absorb these pesticides chemicals. This is why it is so important to consume organic nuts, such as the ones found in Mac Nut Kiki Milk, especially those high in fat.

“When it comes to flavor and real, clean, and organic ingredients, we’re proud that Mac Nut Kiki Milk surpasses others on the market,” said Alex Abelin. “Chocolate, Original, and now Mac Nut Kiki Milks are just the start – we’re on a mission to create the purest plant-based products to support the nutritional journey from infancy into adulthood and we’re excited for what’s to come.”

Mac Nut Kiki Milk will be available in a 6-pack of shelf-stable 32oz cartons and retail for $52, which includes free shipping to the continental U.S. Visit www.plantbaby.co, www.kikimilk.com and @kikimilkco to learn more.

* (Source: Grand View Research, Macadamia Nut Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report by Processing (Conventional, Organic), by Product (Raw, Coated, Roasted), by Distribution Channel (Offline, Online), by Region, and Segment Forecasts, 2021-2028)

About PlantBaby

PlantBaby is a future-forward nutrition movement developing a portfolio of clean-label, organic, plant-based foods, beverages, formulas, and supplements to support children on their nutritional journey from infancy into adulthood. Founded in 2020 on Kauai, Hawaii, PlantBaby is dedicated to restoring harmony in our food and agricultural systems by supporting regenerative agriculture and sourcing climate-friendly crops. In December 2021, PlantBaby launched Kiki Milk in Original and Chocolate flavors, and has since been working to expand its portfolio. PlantBaby is proud to partner with Farmer’s Footprint and Planet FWD, two organizations committed to building a healthier Planet Earth. For additional information, visit www.plantbaby.co, www.kikimilk.com and @kikimilkco.

Press Contact:
AMC Consulting
Annmarie Mercieri Colonna
8607293323
[email protected]

SOURCE PlantBaby