Chaos Labs Works with Major Decentralized Finance Clients including Aave, BENQI, Osmosis, and dYdX

NEW YORK and TEL AVIV, Israel, Feb. 21, 2023 — Chaos Labs, the first highly automated economic security system for crypto protocols, today announced that it has raised $20M in seed funding led by Galaxy and PayPal Ventures, with participation from Coinbase, Uniswap, Lightspeed, Bessemer, Hashkey and top angels such as Balaji Srinivasan and Naval Ravikant. Chaos Labs will use the funding to expand its offerings and build out its suite of risk and security products. In its first year of operations, Chaos Labs has partnered with major Decentralized Finance (“DeFi”) customers, including Aave, Chainlink, Uniswap, BENQI, and Osmosis, to secure and optimize the protocols against manipulation and black swan market events, while also offering capital optimization recommendations.

Protecting crypto protocols against economic system exploits and insufficient risk parameters has never been more important, and new security paradigms are required. According to The Block, total funds lost in 2022 to DeFi exploits reached $2.05 billion, a 48% increase from 2021 as malicious actors and nation states are using increasingly creative methods to exploit on-chain protocol vulnerabilities. Chaos Labs was founded to solve this, securing protocols against economic vulnerabilities and market manipulation events. The company is the first automated risk management platform for crypto, operating best-in-class security practices including robust agent- and scenario-based simulations. Working with Chaos Labs, teams can optimize user capital efficiency and more quickly adapt to ever-changing crypto markets – helping them stay competitive without compromising on the security of their protocol.

“As the world moves from the opacities of traditional finance to a more open DeFi system, financial risk management must advance accordingly,” said Chaos Labs’ CEO and Founder, Omer Goldberg. “At Chaos Labs, we believe that every DeFi protocol must regularly conduct robust risk testing to verify and validate that their economic system is secure against hackers and unanticipated volatility. We’ve built a team of expert security and infrastructure engineers, and we’re working to solve for this by bringing world-class security and risk practices in running simulations of millions of economic scenarios on-chain.”

Chaos Labs Risk Solution Platform:

Chaos Labs’ risk suite can help protect DeFi protocols of all structures from malicious attacks with preventative measures and monitoring tooling.

• Optimize Risk and Capital Efficiency: Chaos Labs arms teams and communities with protocol-specific simulation models to understand the impact of varying parameter settings on protocol capital efficiency and risk. The underlying methodology and inputs are shared for transparency so that the testing process and output results are clearly understood and communicated. Chaos Labs’ state-of-the-art scenario simulation engine can recreate specific attack strategies to test and discover their applicability and profitability—as well as suggest risk mitigation tactics that should be implemented in response.
• Streamlined Risk Assessments: Similar to a smart contract audit, but focused on economic vulnerabilities. Developers experimenting with new economic systems and money flows can work with Chaos Labs to analyze how market shifts (e.g., liquidity, oracles, volatility, etc.) may influence or break their protocols’ economic design.
• Spend Optimization: DEXs compete rigorously to scale liquidity available to users to attract trading volume. Chaos Labs’ simulation engine helps protocol teams strategically set incentive spending to maximize ROI on lower budgets, extending runway through turbulent markets.

Growth & Adoption

Since it was founded in October 2021, Chaos Labs has grown rapidly and won marquee industry clients including Aave, BENQI, Osmosis, and dYdX. The Aave community approved Chaos Labs to engage the protocol for enhanced Aave V3 risk optimization and mitigation. Chaos Labs provided Aave with a first-of-its-kind, public risk parameter recommendation tool—engaging and educating the community on risk-related decisions. Chaos Labs was also awarded an Aave grant for developing a health and liquidation risk analytics dashboard, and more recently, the community voted for Chaos Labs to significantly expand risk analysis and management to Aave V2 markets and help streamline the transition from V2 to V3. The company has also worked with dYdX, creating an asset listing portal to support adding new assets. Additionally, it received a grant from the Osmosis Grants Program to build new incentives optimization models and tools in collaboration with Hathor Nodes. Following the collaboration, Chaos Labs released two public-facing dashboards on incentives program optimization.

“The success of crypto depends upon on-chain risk management and mitigation, and Chaos Labs is the type of software-solution the industry needs,” said Mike Giampapa, General Partner at Galaxy Ventures. “We believe Chaos Labs plays a critical role in building standardized practices for protocol safety as more assets move on-chain. We’re thrilled with what they’ve accomplished in their first year and can’t wait to see how they drive economic safety and security across the industry.”

“As crypto development accelerates and the landscape grows in complexity, so does the range of potential exploits and hacks,” said Amman Bhasin, Partner at PayPal Ventures. “Chaos Labs addresses this by arming protocols, investors, and users with a suite of risk management and optimization tools to protect against these vulnerabilities. We’re excited to invest in Chaos Labs as it aims to solve one of the most critical risk vectors in crypto and DeFi.”

About Chaos Labs

Chaos Labs is the first automated economic security system for crypto protocols utilizing state-of-the-art monitoring and simulations. The company aims to scale crypto adoption by providing protocols with custom and automated economic security tooling that verifies a protocol’s durability and stability in any market condition. Chaos Labs’ tooling allows core teams and community members to better monitor protocol health and risks in real-time to execute mainnet changes before a potential vulnerability is exploited. With Chaos Labs, teams can protect user funds from market-based attacks and optimize capital efficiency. For more information, visit www.chaoslabs.xyz.

Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2006500/Omer_Goldberg_Headshot.jpg

Contacts
Ben O’Neill
VP, Business Operations
[email protected]

SOURCE Chaos Labs

Vivery, from the Thierer Family Foundation, now provides the first completely contiguous find food map across Illinois so food banks and pantries can provide comprehensive information online for neighbors to easily find and access food nearby.

CHICAGO, Feb. 21, 2023 — Vivery, the digital technology from the Thierer Family Foundation, announced today that it has reached agreement with all 8 Illinois food banks to power the first cohesive find food map that covers 100% of the food insecure population in the state. Vivery was created in collaboration with the Greater Chicago Food Depository to address the nuanced challenges of the food assistance ecosystem at scale. Unlike other find food tools, Vivery removes ‘invisible borders’ around each food bank’s coverage area, creating a contiguous map of all food resources available in the state. This ensures that no matter where a neighbor searches in Illinois, they will always find detailed and accurate pantry and program information online to meet their unique needs, schedules, and circumstances.

“Adopting Vivery allows us to reach more neighbors experiencing food insecurity throughout Northern Illinois and connect them with the food they need to thrive. Many of our neighbors use mobile devices to search our network for pantries and programs,” said Julie Yurko, President and CEO, Northern Illinois Food Bank. “Vivery’s Find Food map is mobile-friendly and helps us interact more effectively with our neighbors.”

With Vivery’s ability to centralize and easily manage food resource information, food banks gain visibility into neighbors’ needs and preferences, providing them with valuable insights beyond demographics to identify coverage gaps, plus program and food sourcing opportunities.

“What’s so powerful about this journey with Vivery is knowing that we’re working towards providing the most robust information possible,” said Kate Rowland, Director of Partner Impact, St. Louis Area Foodbank. “What we’re looking forward to most with this adoption are the neighbor and community insights we will be able to gain with this platform. Having the capabilities to understand what resources, food, and opportunities are being searched for will fuel our organization in working towards a nutritionally secure Missouri and Illinois.”

The eight food banks in Illinois engaging with Vivery to support more than 1 million neighbors facing hunger are:

• Greater Chicago Food Depository
• River Bend Food Bank
• Northern Illinois Food Bank
• St. Louis Area Foodbank
• Peoria Area Food Bank
• Eastern Illinois Foodbank
• Tri-State Food Bank
• Central Illinois Foodbank

“We are delighted to see how in just a few months since we officially launched Vivery, our vision of equalizing access to food has become a reality in our home state of Illinois,” said Nasrin Thierer, Founder of the Thierer Family Foundation. “I’m very proud of what we have accomplished, but this is just the start as we work to extend this technology nationwide to help everyone live their best lives.”

2022 was a notable year for the Vivery team with the announcement of US market availability, recognition as a winner of the 21st Annual Chicago Innovation Awards together with the Greater Chicago Food Depository, and the launch of Vivery Idea Lab pilots to test new ideas for equalizing access to food regardless of circumstances.

About Thierer Family Foundation
The Thierer Family Foundation was founded by Nasrin and Mark Thierer in December 2015, with a mission to increase the impact of nonprofits by helping them leverage technology to be more effective, efficient, and sustainable. The foundation strategically funds innovative technology projects to modernize access to food and significantly change the way an organization can serve their target audience. By investing in technology, the Thierer Family Foundation can greatly impact an organization’s reach, help organizations deliver on their mission, and ultimately serve more people. Their hope is that this approach will pave the way for other funders to see the value of investing in technology within the nonprofit sector. Head to https://thiererfamilyfoundation.org/ to learn more.

Media Contact
Vivery from the Thierer Family Foundation:
Andrea Oliveira
(458) 206-6478
[email protected]

SOURCE The Thierer Family Foundation

KANSAS CITY, Mo., Feb. 21, 2023 — Facility Ally, a sports facility and eatertainment management software company, has closed a $700,000 pre-seed funding round led by Slabotsky Family Office. The funds will be used to build out Facility Ally’s development, sales and marketing teams.

For sports facilities and leagues, Facility Ally provides a central hub for reservations, memberships, payment, waivers and more. It helps streamline operations and prevent double bookings while enabling facilities and leagues to grow. There are approximately 100,000 sports facilities in the U.S. and leagues, tournaments and facilities are a $70 billion industry.

“Almost every facility out there uses four to eight different software programs to manage their facilities — one for leagues, one for calendars; lessons, coaches, camps, clinics,” says Facility Ally founder Luke Wade. “We’ve already seen tremendous demand for an all-in-one software solution for facility and league management. This funding will allow us to rapidly grow our user base across the U.S.”

Facility Ally clients include Kansas City’s Hy-Vee Arena, which uses the software to manage its dozen courts and numerous other sports and training facilities. Steve Foutch, CEO of Foutch Brothers and owner of Hy-Vee Arena, previously invested in Facility Ally and advised on creation of the software.

Chicken N Pickle, a rapidly growing pickleball eatertainment destination which currently operates seven locations in four states with five more in development, uses Facility Ally to manage their pickleball leagues. As pickleball continues to explode in popularity throughout the country, Facility Ally frequently receives in-bound inquiries from new facilities in need of their product.

“I’ve seen how quickly groundbreaking softwares can scale,” says Noah Slabotsky of Slabotsky Family Office, which has successfully launched multiple software startups. “If the market is ready for it and the product is right, you can save people money and make their lives easier. Facility Ally has everything it takes to scale and we’re thrilled to have partnered with Luke to make that happen.”

Wade initially conceived of and developed Facility Ally to manage his own adult recreational sports business, KC Crew, which currently has 20,000 participants across basketball, golf, pickleball, cornhole, volleyball, shuffleboard, futsal, softball, kickball, karaoke and e-sports leagues. He left a position as a full-time developer to create the initial version of the Facility Ally software himself and grow KC Crew.

After struggling to find a development team to expand and refine his product, Wade leveraged tech enabled services company Full Scale to provide the programming talent needed to create a comprehensive software-as-a-service product for sports facilities and leagues. Full Scale also invested in Facility Ally in 2018.

“Luke is a truly savvy entrepreneur to have recognized that software he developed for his own league could itself be a scalable business,” says Matt DeCoursey, CEO of Full Scale. “It’s a testament to his leadership that he was able to grow both businesses through the pandemic and I’m confident this round of funding will catapult Facility Ally to further success.”

Press release source: Facility Ally. Learn more at facilityally.com

Media Contact:
Jason Simms
860-526-1555
[email protected] 

SOURCE Facility Ally

Investment vehicle supports start-ups focused on the reduction of carbon emissions in aviation through sustainable aviation fuel research, technology and production

Fund starts with more than $100 million investment from United and its inaugural corporate partners like JPMorgan Chase, GE Aerospace, Honeywell, and Air Canada

Customers can now see an estimate of each flight’s carbon footprint in their search on United’s website and app and can also contribute to supplement United’s investment in the United Airlines Ventures Sustainable Flight Fund when buying a ticket – first 10,000 people to add to the fund receive MileagePlus® miles as a thank-you

United has already invested in the future production of three billion gallons of SAF – the most of any airline in the world*

CHICAGO, Feb. 21, 2023 — In an effort to rally businesses and consumers, United today launched the United Airlines Ventures Sustainable Flight Fund ^SM, a first-of-its-kind investment vehicle designed to support start-ups focused on decarbonizing air travel by accelerating the research, production and technologies associated with sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

The fund starts with more than $100 million in investments from United and its inaugural partners** Air Canada, Boeing, GE Aerospace, JPMorgan Chase, and Honeywell. Through the fund, these and potentially additional corporate participants will invest alongside United in SAF technology and production start-ups identified by United. In the past two years alone, United Airlines Ventures has invested in start-ups such as Cemvita, Dimensional Energy, and NEXT Renewable Fuels.

And in a first among U.S. airlines, anyone who buys a ticket on the United website or app now has the option to contribute to supplement United’s investment in the fund. The first 10,000 people who choose to contribute will each receive 500 MileagePlus Miles as a thank-you.

SAF is an alternative to conventional jet fuel that, on a lifecycle basis, reduces greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with air travel compared to conventional jet fuel alone. SAF, which currently must be blended with conventional jet fuel to meet regulatory requirements for use within the aircraft, is being made from used cooking oil and agricultural waste, and, in the future, could be made from other feedstocks including household trash or forest waste. To date, United has invested in the future production of over three billion gallons of SAF – the most of any airline in the world.***

“Solving climate change is doable but it requires hard work and real leadership,” said United CEO Scott Kirby. “This fund is unique. It’s not about offsets or things that are just greenwashing. Instead, we’re creating a system that drives investment to build a new industry around sustainable aviation fuel, essentially from scratch. That’s the only way we can actually decarbonize aviation.”

UAV Sustainable Flight Fund

The UAV Sustainable Flight Fund is open to investment by corporations across industries and the fund will prioritize investment in new technology, advanced fuel sources and proven producers, all in an effort to scale the supply of SAF. Partners of the fund also have the potential to gain preferential access to environmental attributes associated with United’s supply of SAF.

Companies interested in joining the fund can visit united.com/ventures.

United has already made investments in or signed purchase agreements with companies using a variety of ingredients and technologies to produce SAF, including feedstocks like ethanol, animal byproducts, forestry and crop waste, and municipal waste, as well as early-stage, promising technologies like synthetic biology and power to liquids. United Airlines Ventures will move selected existing SAF investments to establish the UAV Sustainable Flight Fund portfolio.

Consumer Awareness and Call to Action

United is also educating consumers about their air travel carbon footprint and giving them the option to take action.

Starting today on United.com and the United app, United becomes the first U.S. airline to show customers an estimate of each flight’s carbon footprint in their search. Green shading will indicate a lower-carbon option on a per economy seat passenger basis in a customer’s chosen itinerary. A flight’s carbon footprint is measured in kg CO2e (kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent) and United’s estimates, which could differ from actual flight emissions, are based on aircraft type, flying time, seat capacity and the number of people and cargo on a given flight.

And consumers who book travel through United for travel within or from the U.S. will now see an option to contribute to supplement United’s investment in the UAV Sustainable Flight Fund before check-out. Customers have the choice to contribute $1, $3.50 or $7.00.****

The default option for customer contributions is set at $3.50 to illustrate the potential impact of customer action at scale: if the 152 million people who flew on United in 2022 each contributed just $3.50 to the UAV Sustainable Flight Fund, that would be enough to design and build a SAF refinery capable of producing as much as 40 million gallons of alternative fuel annually.*****

The Federal Government Recognizes the Value of SAF

The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act includes the largest governmental climate change investments in U.S. history – a new blender’s tax credit specifically for SAF along with other critical incentives for clean energy and carbon capture – that will help spur an increase in SAF infrastructure and supply while lowering costs for SAF consumers.

The U.S. military currently uses nearly five billion gallons of jet fuel annually and the Department of Defense will use a jet fuel blend containing at least 10% SAF by 2028 because of the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act.

And according to the U.S. Department of Energy, the country’s vast feedstock resources are enough to meet the projected SAF demand of the entire U.S. aviation industry.

United’s Commitment to Net Zero Emissions by 2050

United aims to be 100% green by reducing its GHG emissions 100% by 2050, without relying on traditional carbon offsets. In addition to the UAV Sustainable Flight Fund, United has launched a SAF purchasing program called the Eco-Skies Alliance and established a venture fund – United Airlines Ventures – to identify and invest in companies and technologies that can decarbonize air travel. These strategic investments include carbon capture, hydrogen-electric engines, electric regional aircraft and air taxis.

About United

United’s shared purpose is “Connecting People. Uniting the World.” From our U.S. hubs in Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, New York/Newark, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., United operates the most comprehensive global route network among North American carriers. United is bringing back our customers’ favorite destinations and adding new ones on its way to becoming the world’s best airline. For more about how to join the United team, please visit www.united.com/careers and more information about the company is at www.united.com. United Airlines Holdings, Inc., the parent company of United Airlines, Inc., is traded on the Nasdaq under the symbol “UAL”. For further information about our environmental impact, review United’s Corporate Responsibility Report and Annual Report on Form 10-K, available at crreport.united.com and ir.united.com.

MileagePlus Footnote Regarding Miles Awarded for Customer Contributions

Must be a MileagePlus member to receive miles. MileagePlus membership is free.

United Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 relating to, among other things, plans and projections regarding the company’s financial position, results of operations, market position, capacity, fleet, product development and business strategy as well as the company’s ESG goals, targets, commitments, strategies and initiatives and related business and stakeholder impacts. All statements that are not statements of historical facts are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on historical performance and current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections about our future financial results, plans, objectives, goals, targets, commitments, strategies and initiatives and involve inherent risks, assumptions and uncertainties, known or unknown, including internal or external factors that could delay, divert or change any of them, that are difficult to predict, may be beyond our control and could cause our future financial results, plans, objectives, goals, targets, commitments, strategies and initiatives to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, the statements. These risks, assumptions, uncertainties and other factors include, among others, any failure to meet stated ESG goals, targets, commitments, strategies and initiatives in the time frame expected or at all as a result of many factors, including changing societal, market, competitive, regulatory or stakeholder expectations; any delay or inability of United Airlines or the United Airlines Ventures Sustainable Flight Fund (the “SFF”) to realize the expected benefits of the proposed transaction, including from a delay or failure of any project to be fully developed or become operational or to produce sustainable aviation fuel or other ESG-related product in the amounts contemplated or at all, or from a delay or failure of any technology to be fully developed or become functional or marketable or to serve the purpose for which it was designed, or a failure of the SFF to achieve any return on an investment by the SFF, or a realization of a partial or total loss of any investment by the SFF. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Forward-looking statements in this press release should be evaluated together with the many risks and uncertainties that affect United’s business and market, particularly those identified in the “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and “Risk Factors” sections in United’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, as updated by our subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Risks and uncertainties related to United’s environmental compliance, climate commitments and climate strategy are further described in Part I, Item 1A. Risk Factors of United’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022—”We are subject to many forms of environmental regulation and liability and risks associated with climate change and may incur substantial costs as a result. In addition, failure to achieve or demonstrate progress towards our climate goals may expose us to liability and reputational harm.”

The statements included in this document are made only as of the date of this document and except as otherwise required by applicable law or regulation, United Airlines undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, changed circumstances or otherwise. In particular, United Airlines reserves the right to change, amend, supplement or abandon some or all of the statements regarding goals, targets, commitments, strategies, initiatives, intentions and other statements from time to time without notice.

In addition, some of our disclosures in this press release are estimates or based on assumptions due to inherent measurement uncertainties. For example, United’s statement that it has already invested in the future production than any airline in the world is based on publicly available future purchase agreements for SAF of certain airlines as of the date hereof.

* Based on publicly announced airline offtake agreements for future purchases of SAF
** References to “partner” refer to UAV Sustainable Flight Fund “limited partners”
*** Based on publicly announced airline offtake agreements for future purchases of SAF
**** Customers will not have any interest in United’s investments made with customer contributions (which will be commingled with United’s other investments in the UAV Sustainable Flight Fund), and customers will not participate in any gains or losses associated with United’s investments in the UAV Sustainable Flight Fund.
***** United derived these approximated figures based on an illustrative capital expenditure benchmark of $200,000 per barrel per day to build a SAF production facility.

SOURCE United Airlines

Funds raised will fuel growth and innovation of complete EV powertrain systems, and scale manufacturing of EV batteries and electric motors

PROVO, Utah, Feb. 21, 2023 — Hypercraft Inc., among the industry’s first and leading providers of complete electric drive systems for vehicle manufacturers, announced today the successful raise of $6.5 million in seed funding at a post-money valuation of $51.5 million. The round was led by RevRoad Capital, with participation from individual investors and early customer angels. 

“Hypercraft is a high-growth company that we’ve had our eye on for over a year now,” said David Mann, managing director at RevRoad Capital. “Their leadership team combines innovative manufacturing experience and real-world business ingenuity to provide vehicle manufactures a path to electrification. We’re thrilled to partner with Hypercraft, as it disrupts the rapidly growing EV sector in a variety of industries.”

“We’re incredibly excited about this new injection of funding and what it means for the rapid growth of our business and operations,” said Jake Hawksworth, Hypercraft co-founder and CEO. “Electric vehicles and battery technology are advancing at a breakneck speed right now and we’re grateful that RevRoad Capital sees our vision for an electric future powered by Hypercraft. Electric propulsion is the future, not only of transportation, but of performance. We’re here to lead the charge for our customers and to help steer the narrative toward all the exciting benefits of EV.”

Hypercraft plans to deploy funds toward hiring additional engineering staff, EV battery research and development and capital expenditures to support scaled manufacturing. The company is collaborating with 17 unique vehicle manufacturers across multiple transportation segments, including marine, automotive, government, racing and commercial.

Hypercraft has notably worked within the racing industry and its sanctioning bodies to effectively durability-test the performance of Hypercraft’s complete EV powertrain systems in extreme conditions. Affirming Hypercraft’s innovations, the company landed in the top five of the SEMA Launch Pad in 2022, and also helped launch the first all-electric EV-spec class series for Ultra4 and King of the Hammers. Hypercraft also partnered with Canadian race car company Scalar Performance to debut Scalar’sSCR1 — a NASA-sanctioned amateur spec race car, based on the Toyota GR86 and powered by a 245kW Hypercraft electric drive system.

In 2022 Hypercraft acquired Stealth EV, launched the HyperPack EV battery, and gained traction within the marine space with customers like Halevai boats and Mayla Yachts.

Hypercraft’s raise will support its founding purpose: to advance the electrification of transportation, with a focus on the high-performance capabilities of EV.

For more information, please visit: www.hypercraftusa.com and www.revroadcapital.com.

Media inquiries, please contact: [email protected].

About Hypercraft

Hypercraft, Inc. builds and sells complete electric drive systems to a variety of B2C and B2B buyers, including customers in the on-road, off-road recreation, racing, resto-mod, fleet and marine industries. Their systems — built with all-new parts — include motors, battery management (BMS), high voltage junction box, high and low voltage wiring, CAN bus connectivity, software, display and throttle. Batteries are also included in the package price, and Hypercraft designs and builds their HyperPack™ batteries in capacities ranging from 20kWh to 120 kWh.

About RevRoad Capital

RevRoad Capital is an early stage venture fund that backs entrepreneurs disrupting tech-enabled sectors. RevRoad Capital partners closely with RevRoad LLC which provides 24 months of venture services, corporate partners, and investors to help visionary founders grow their companies. RevRoad Capital actively invests in entrepreneurs to help them scale and operate in dynamic and rapidly growing markets.

SOURCE Hypercraft

 Funding enables completion of ongoing Phase 1/2 study of bispecific antibody HMB-001 in Glanzmann Thrombasthenia, initiation of pivotal studies, start and conclusion of Phase 1/2 study of HMB-VWF in von Willebrand Disease, as well as future pipeline evolution.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark and BOSTON, Feb. 21, 2023 — Hemab Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing the first prophylactic therapeutics for serious, underserved bleeding and thrombotic disorders, today announced the closing of an oversubscribed $135 million Series B financing. Access Biotechnology led the round, with participation from new investors Deep Track Capital, Avoro Ventures, Invus, Rock Springs Capital, and Maj Invest Equity, as well as all current investors Novo Holdings, RA Capital Management, and HealthCap.

“Hemab is fundamentally reimagining the treatment paradigm for underserved bleeding and thrombotic disorders. This financing will allow us to progress our clinical programs for the first prophylactic treatments for Glanzmann Thrombasthenia and von Willebrand Disease, delivering functional cures for patients in need,” said Benny Sorensen, MD, PhD, CEO & President of Hemab. “We’re grateful for this robust syndicate of investors who support our approach of leveraging validated advanced technologies and deep insights into the biology of clotting to overcome decades of scientific stagnation.”

The financing will support Hemab’s scientific and corporate growth plans through 2025, including completion of an ongoing Phase 1/2 clinical study of lead candidate HMB-001 in Glanzmann Thrombasthenia, initiation of pivotal studies, start and completion of Phase 1/2 clinical evaluation for HMB-VWF in von Willebrand disease, and future pipeline evolution in accordance with the company’s Hemab 1-2-5™ strategic guidance—targeting development of 5 clinical assets by 2025.

“Strong investor confidence—in this case, an upsized round and more than $200 million in demand—is a testament to the expertise of the Hemab team, their validated scientific approach, and the opportunity to bring long-overdue innovation to patients living with severe bleeding and thrombotic diseases,” said John Maraganore, PhD, Chair of Hemab’s Board of Directors.

“As founding investor and the company’s largest shareholder, we are excited to support Hemab in the next phase of its plan to build the ultimate clotting company, with a Nordic foundation and global footprint,” said Jørgen Søberg Petersen, MD, PhD, MBA, Partner at Novo Holdings.

Hemab also announced Dan Becker, MD, PhD, Managing Director at Access, and Uya Chuluunbaatar, PhD, Partner at Avoro Ventures, will also join as Directors. Christine Borowski, PhD, Vice President at Access, will join as a Board Observer.

“We are thrilled to partner with Hemab’s exceptional leadership to advance a pipeline of transformative new medicines for areas of high unmet need in hemostatic disorders,” said Dr. Becker.

About Hemab Therapeutics
Hemab is a clinical-stage biotech company developing the first prophylactic therapeutics for serious, underserved bleeding and thrombotic disorders. Based in the US and Denmark, Hemab is progressing a pipeline of monoclonal and bispecific antibody-based therapeutics to transform the treatment paradigm for patients with high unmet need. The company’s strategic guidance, Hemab 1-2-5^TM, targets the development of 5 clinical assets by 2025 to deliver long-awaited innovation for patients with Factor VII Deficiency, Bernard Soulier Syndrome, Von Willebrand Disease, Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia (or Osler-Weber-Rendu disease), Congenital Antithrombin III Deficiency, and other serious disorders. Learn more at hemab.com.  

About HMB-001
HMB-001 is bispecific antibody that binds and stabilizes endogenous factor VIIa (FVIIa) with one antibody arm and TLT-1 on activated platelets with the other arm. This allows for accumulation of FVIIa in the body, recruitment of FVIIa directly to the surface of the activated platelets where it is known to facilitate clotting, and avoidance of clotting activity in the absence of tissue damage. HMB-001 was designed to be a first-in-class prophylactic treatment for Glanzmann Thrombasthenia with potential for other debilitating rare bleeding disorders. It entered Phase 1/2 clinical evaluation in late 2022, with initial data expected 2H 2023. 

SOURCE Hemab Therapeutics

The venture capital firm joins dozens of other investors in new Layer 1 project

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 20, 2023 — Today, Shima Capital is delighted to announce its investment in Monad Labs, which is building a new Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible smart contract platform. Shima Capital, a web3 venture capital firm founded by Yida Gao, contributed to the $19 million seed funding round that was led by Dragonfly Capital, with additional contributions from Placeholder Capital, Lemniscap, Finality Capital, and angel investor Naval Ravikant.

Monad is a Layer 1 EVM-compatible blockchain that is rethinking what can currently be done on EVM chains, including Ethereum itself. Keone Hon, co-founder and CEO of Monad Labs, told TechCrunch, “We’re ultimately building a platform to optimize both consensus and execution […] which ultimately results in a system that can process a billion transactions per day and 10,000 transactions per second.”

“The world of web3 is ready and waiting for a platform to replace Ethereum‘s high costs and low throughput,” said Yida Gao, who is also Managing General Partner at Shima Capital. “We believe Monad can be that platform by re-imagining the EVM with lower fees, higher speeds, and more complex app integrations. Keone and the entire Monad Labs team are well positioned to tackle this issue.”

Monad Labs is the team that supports Monad the blockchain, and with help from his own team, Yida Gao is excited to continue supporting Monad Labs as they navigate new territory in the quest to unseat Ethereum as the unquestioned leader in decentralized applications. Shima Capital adds value for portfolio companies by advising on technology, token economics, marketing, and by making further introductions to their vast network of partners.

For more on Shima Capital, visit www.shima.capital. For more on Monad, visit www.monad.xyz.

About Shima Capital

Shima Capital is a leading early stage VC firm, founded by Yida Gao in 2021, investing in disruptive blockchain companies. The fund is deeply focused on taking a hands-on approach and working closely with its portfolio companies to provide the most sweat equity per dollar invested. As teams in Web3 push the frontier of innovation, Shima helps hire talent, build community, amplify narratives, and foster the acceleration of technical research and development. Shima is composed of seasoned investors, accomplished operators, and former founders who align on a mission to support all-star teams with building and scaling generational companies. For more https://shima.capital/

Contact:
***@shima.capital

Photo(s):
https://www.prlog.org/12952083

Press release distributed by PRLog

SOURCE Shima Capital

Over 14 Million People Trust FocusPoint International Daily to Provide Time-Sensitive Emergency Assistance Services Globally

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Feb. 20, 2023 – FocusPoint International (FocusPoint), the critical event management company that specializes in Emergency Response as a Service (ERaaS), announced today that it has secured $20M in committed financing from Dalton Capital. The capital raised by FocusPoint is in response to an increase in demand from a growing customer base in the satellite emergency notification device (SEND) vertical, with an emphasis on the emerging satellite-enabled smartphone segment. With a long history of supporting the travel risk management and emergency assistance needs of large multinational organizations, international NGOs, university study abroad programs, and leisure travelers alike, FocusPoint expanded into the SEND space in a big way when it secured a commercial relationship with Globalstar, Inc. in 2021 to provide on-demand emergency response for Globalstar’s lineup of SPOT devices.

When asked to comment on the relationship with FocusPoint, Globalstar’s CEO, David Kagan said, “FocusPoint has successfully and effortlessly met every demand we’ve ever thrown at them. They were easy to integrate with and continue to impress us at every turn.  Our customers all over the world are happy with FocusPoint, and so are we.”

The committed capital comes as FocusPoint has secured several new commercial relationships in the satellite-enabled emergency SOS segment and has a strong pipeline that will be implemented over the next quarter.  Recent partnership announcements with NTN (non-terrestrial network) communications company, Skylo and rugged smartphone maker Bullitt Group, who launched a satellite-enabled device with two-way messaging at this year’s CES show in Las Vegas, are helping to drive awareness of FocusPoint’s world-class ERaaS offering. “I have been continually impressed with FocusPoint’s exponential growth and ability to scale with seamless integration regardless of the size of the opportunity,” said Darrell Parsons, Principal of Dalton Capital and Chairman of the Board of Directors. “This unique ability has positioned FocusPoint for unprecedented growth in the SEND market and aligns perfectly with our investment strategy at Dalton Capital,” added Parsons. 

FocusPoint is an agnostic player in the world of cellular and satellite-enabled emergency SOS services.  The company’s ERaaS commercial offering includes 24/7 multilingual contact centers, and a proprietary SaaS platform called PULSE™, that enables device monitoring, emergency SOS alert validation, and escalation to emergency services based on the proximity of the device.  FocusPoint’s true market differentiator comes from its fully funded and indemnified service guarantee, the Overwatch & Rescue (O&R) plan.  Unlike traditional insurance products, FocusPoint’s service guarantee doesn’t require customers to pay deductibles or expenses up front and then seek reimbursement through a claims process.  Customers simply pay a one-time annual fee and (when needed) activate the emergency SOS function on a connected device to trigger the lifesaving benefits of the Overwatch & Rescue plan.  Key benefits include point-of-incident medical evacuations, response to hazardous summer and winter sports, search and rescue (SAR), response to natural disasters, terrorism, riots, strikes, and civil commotion, repatriation of mortal remains, and so much more.  Overwatch & Rescue reduces and, in many cases, eliminates the financial exposure associated with a rescue.

The growth capital secured by FocusPoint will be used to expand capacity and allow the company to take on new customers in the satellite-enabled emergency SOS space.  “We’ve seen a tremendous amount of interest from major players in this emerging market, said Peter Martin, Global CEO of Dalton Capital and Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors.  “Our financial commitment to FocusPoint will allow the company to grow rapidly ahead of their client’s needs, but our commitment doesn’t stop here, and by all accounts, the company’s growth won’t stop any time soon either,” added Martin.

FocusPoint will be at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain, at the end of February to support Bullitt Group and the launch of the Motorola defy, amongst other partners and prospects looking to engage FocusPoint and its ERaaS solution.

ABOUT FOCUSPOINT INTERNATIONAL

FocusPoint International (FocusPoint) is an industry-leading critical event management company that combines 24/7 multilingual assistance centers with proprietary technology and innovative indemnity solutions to provide a robust Emergency Response as a Service (ERaaS) solution to channel partners and end users alike. The company specializes in the full provision of satellite and cellular device monitoring and emergency escalation services, search and rescue, medical and security evacuation services, and crisis response services in support of people, assets, and organizations on the move. FocusPoint’s ethos and mission are one and the same, to encourage people on the move to live life to the fullest and assist our customers when unforeseen events trigger the need for emergency response. 

ABOUT DALTON CAPITAL

Dalton Capital’s portfolio of businesses has adopted a forward-thinking advancement strategy related to software and technology infrastructure that provides diverse solutions for a broad range of complex safety risks and security issues globally.

For more information regarding the contents of this release, please contact Stephen Anderson with FocusPoint directly at [email protected].

SOURCE FocusPoint International

STAVANGER, Norway, Feb. 20, 2023 — Gateway.fm, the first truly decentralized blockchain infrastructure node provider, has raised $4.6 million USD in a combined seed funding round led by Lemniscap, with participation from CMT Digital Ventures, the LAO DAO, Folius Ventures, TRGC, Metaweb Ventures, Very Early Ventures, Factor Ventures, Fantom Foundation and Unstoppable Domains Ventures, among others.

The funding will be used to expedite product development and the provision of advanced staking services while driving user acquisition and recruitment efforts, with a particular emphasis on scaling the company’s engineering department.

Across the blockchain sector, the node infrastructure landscape has been largely dominated by a few select industry players. In today’s multi-blockchain environment, there is a pronounced market demand for infrastructure products and services supporting multiple blockchains. Moreover, there is a growing class of fintechs looking to expand their service scope and break into the blockchain space. To do so requires robust, reliable infrastructure.

As a leading Web3 infrastructure company, Gateway.fm is focused on building decentralized RPC solutions that don’t rely on centralized services such as Amazon Web Services (AWS). To date, the company has received strong market validation for its ‘Grow’, ‘Access’ and ‘Jumpstart’ solutions from a range of notable industry heavyweights including 1inch, Gnosis, Ethereum Foundation, NEAR and Polygon Labs.

The Gateway Grow solution is built for institutional staking validators across several Proof-of-Stake (POS) chains like Ethereum, Gnosis and IXO. Gateway Access is the company’s dedicated, cost-effective RPC node service built for scale, which currently supports ETH, Fantom, NEAR and Gnosis. Gateway Jumpstart enables new blockchains, appchains and protocols to accelerate mainnet launch and drive user adoption.

Cuautemoc Weber, Co-Founder and CEO of Gateway.fm said: “Today’s announcement represents a firm stamp of approval for our product suite from a collection of top global investment visionaries. Alongside Igor Mandrigin, my Gateway co-founder and CTO, I’ve felt that the spirit of decentralisation at the heart of the Web3 movement has been undermined by limited access to scalable infrastructure. No more. We want to provide reliable node infrastructure, best-in-class validators and robust dev tooling to help Web3 projects scale at pace, while enticing financial institutions and enterprises to explore blockchain technology with confidence.”

Roderik van der Graaf, Founder of Lemniscap, said: “At Lemniscap, we have a keen interest in driving forward sophisticated multi-chain infrastructure and tooling. With a set of elite-grade, next-gen tools, Gateway is broadening the inclusivity, availability and reliability of blockchain networks and protocols. The team is composed of distinguished leaders across the fields of blockchain, distributed software, fintech, information security and telecommunications – providing excellent infrastructure solutions tailored to projects’ networking needs, while facilitating a new wave of Web3 innovation.”

About Gateway.fm

Gateway.fm is the first truly decentralised high-performance blockchain infra/node provider, building globally distributed, multi-chain infrastructure designed to help Web3 projects scale seamlessly without allocating resources to configuring or maintaining servers.

About Lemniscap

Lemniscap is an investment firm specializing in investments in emerging crypto assets and blockchain startups. Since its founding in 2017, Lemniscap has funded multiple investments in the crypto blockchain space, on the core belief that blockchain technology will upend traditional business models, resulting in profound changes in the world economy. The Lemniscap team consists of talented people with backgrounds in financial markets, PE/VC, technology and entrepreneurship. For more information, visit https://lemniscap.com/.

Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2005138/Gateway.jpg

SOURCE Gateway.fm