OVERLAND PARK, Kan., April 18, 2023 — Tesseract Ventures announced today that the company has been awarded a direct-to-Phase II Small Business Innovation (SBIR) grant by the Space Force through AFWERX.

The research proposal, submitted under the 23.4 SBIR cycle, has been approved for a $1,250,000 contract for research and development (R&D) at Space Launch Delta 45 at Patrick Space Force Base, FL, and at Cape Canaveral, FL.

Under this grant, Tesseract will further develop their Tesseract Smart Space, Prism hardware and Mosaic software to create a multi-dimensional common operating picture of the launch environment. These tools will enable Space Force to accurately track machines, people and objects on the base, and create a clearer understanding of launch conditions through next generation data visualization.

Prism’s real time location tracking hardware works with Mosaic’s data analysis software to collect and parse data from across the spaceport. These work to track inventory, equipment status, staff locations, environmental conditions and much more. This information can then be used to visualize a digital twin of objects such as rockets, or the entire space port. Armed with a data-enhanced picture that can be viewed from multiple vantage points in the Tesseract Smart Space, teams will get up-to-the-minute insights into a vast array of conditions that can enhance safety, increase efficiency and produce better outcomes.

John Boucard, Tesseract Ventures CEO said, “At Tesseract Ventures, we are driven by a sense of duty and purpose to make a positive impact on the world through the development and deployment of cutting-edge technology—for exactly the right customer at exactly the right time. Our SBIR Phase 2 relationship with the United States Space Force is an incredible opportunity to leverage our innovation studio, For All Kind, to accelerate the development of advanced 21st century wearable robotics, data visualization in all dimensions, and digital twin technology. It is an honor to be part of this contract.”

About Tesseract Ventures
Tesseract Ventures was founded in 2018 by John Boucard, a veteran inventor, engineer and technologist. The company enables businesses to defy the boundaries of space and time through next-generation technologies. Robots, smart spaces, wearables and radically connected platforms are just some of the tools created by Tesseract in its mission to make industries smarter, better connected and more efficient. The company is based in Tampa, FL and Overland Park, KS. For more information, visit www.tesseractventures.io.

SOURCE Tesseract Ventures

Acquisition Includes Six Autism Centers in Connecticut and Massachusetts and Establishes Major Physical Presence for Cortica in Northeastern U.S.

Company also Acquires Melmed Center, a Leading Developmental Pediatrics Group in Arizona

SAN DIEGO, April 18, 2023 — Cortica, the leading physician-led autism services company that treats the whole child and helps children with developmental differences thrive, has closed a $75 million financing and acquired Springtide Child Development. The funding round was led by Deerfield Management and Optum Ventures. In the acquisition of Springtide, a premier integrated data-driven autism provider in the Northeast, Springtide’s investors have rolled their equity entirely into Cortica. Cortica has also acquired the Melmed Center, a leading developmental pediatrics clinical and research group based in Arizona. The company now owns and operates 23 integrated autism centers across the country.

Additional new investors include RA Capital Management and Echo Health Ventures, alongside existing Cortica investors Longitude Capital, .406 Ventures, Questa Capital, Ajax Health, Aperture Venture Partners, and the Autism Impact Fund.

“We’ve been very impressed with Springtide’s product and clinical quality. Our combination brings together two leaders in whole-child autism care and enables us to extend Cortica’s medical model to Springtide’s centers,” said Neil Hattangadi, M.D., Co-Founder and CEO of Cortica. “We’ve also long admired the Melmed Center’s research and clinical capabilities and are thrilled to welcome them into Cortica as our platform for growth in Arizona. We’re honored to have Deerfield, Optum, RA, and Echo join our investor syndicate, which now includes five of the country’s leading health plans. This represents an important validation of our clinical outcomes, payer cost savings, and custom technology platform Axon.”

“Springtide and Cortica share the same passion and holistic approach to serve children and families living with autism and neurodevelopmental differences,” said Jia Jia Ye, Springtide’s Founder and CEO. “Our entire organization is energized to come together as one company, enabling us to provide even more services and care to those who depend on us as trusted partners.”

“As a physician, former state Medicaid chief executive, and national health plan executive, I couldn’t be more excited about Cortica’s national leadership role in defining integrated care for children with autism as a new category for value-based care,” said Julian Harris, M.D., Operating Partner at Deerfield. “The investment in Cortica and acquisition of our portfolio company Springtide will also accelerate the value-based care agreements that both companies have in the Northeast. Cortica’s validated whole-child care model delivers better outcomes at lower cost and represents the future of autism therapy.”

Since its founding in 2017, Cortica has grown into an organization with more than 1,600 employees, including pediatric neurologists, developmental pediatricians, epileptologists, pediatric nurse practitioners, speech language pathologists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, music therapists, board certified behavior analysts, registered behavior technicians, social workers, marriage and family therapists, care navigators, and more. The company has also built the Cortica Innovation Network, a team of researchers and physicians who conduct outcomes research and are a global leader in clinical trial recruitment. Their work advances the neurodevelopment field and informs the Cortica Care Model with the latest breakthroughs in therapy and medical care. Through Cortica’s organic growth and new acquisitions, the company will serve more than 10,000 neurodivergent children and their families this year.

About Cortica Inc.
Cortica’s mission is to design and deliver life changing care – one child, one family, one community at a time. Cortica was founded to fix the fragmented journey families typically navigate while seeking diagnoses and therapies for their children. The company seamlessly blends neurology, research-based therapies, and technology into comprehensive care programs. Cortica’s coordinated approach leads to best-in-class member satisfaction and empowers families to achieve long-lasting, transformative results. For more information, please visit corticacare.com.

About Deerfield Management
Deerfield is an investment management firm committed to advancing healthcare through investment, information and philanthropy. The Firm works across the healthcare ecosystem to connect people, capital, ideas and technology in bold, collaborative and inclusive ways. For more information, please visit deerfield.com.

About Optum Ventures
Optum Ventures is the independent venture fund of UnitedHealth Group. Optum Ventures invests in digital health companies that use data and insights to help improve consumers’ access to healthcare services and how care is delivered and paid for, and that make the health care system more reliable and easier to navigate. For more information, visit optumventures.com.

Media contact: Dan Tarman [email protected]

SOURCE Cortica Inc.

HONG KONG, April 18, 2023 — Huayi Tencent Entertainment Company Limited (“Huayi Tencent Entertainment“, the “Company“; Stock code: 419.HK; together with its subsidiaries collectively known as the “Group“) and its subsidiary “Shaanxi Yizhinuo Information Technology Company Limited” (the “Echartnow“) are pleased to announce that they entered into the Capital Increase Agreement with Zhangjiagang Yitang Equity Investment Partnership (Limited Partnership) (the “New Investor“). The Capital Increase Agreement stated that based on the valuation of Echartnow at RMB600 million before the completion of the Capital Increase, the New Investor has conditionally agreed to make a capital contribution in total of RMB40 million in cash to acquire 6.25% equity interests of Echartnow.

Echartnow to be benefited from the strong background of state-owned investor

Echartnow has experienced rapid growth in revenue and development in the past two years, and has successfully built up the businesses of digital marketing services for pharmaceuticals. In order to further support the long-term growth of Echartnow, management of the Group considered that it is currently the appropriate timing to introduce a new financial investor. The New Investor, Zhangjiagang Yitang Equity Investment Partnership (Limited Partnership), is principally engaged in equity investment, investment management, asset management, technology promotion and application services in the form of private equity funds. Its ultimate controller is Zhangjiagang High-tech Zone Investment Holding Company Limited, an investment holding company which is a state-owned entity in Zhangjiagang City, Jiangsu Province of the PRC. The Capital Increase from a state-owned entity is a proof of the Group’s development achievements of Echartnow. With this Capital Increase, Echartnow will be able to benefit from the additional government, business and networking resources from the New Investor, enabling Echartnow to occupy the leading position in China’s digital healthcare marketing market.

The Capital Increase from the New Investor also justifies the Group’s decision to acquire Echartnow. Since the Group acquired Echartnow in April 2021, it has gradually developed and has quickly become the core business of the Group. Its total operating revenue and gross profits in 2022 have reached approximately HK$608 million and HK$336 million respectively. Upon completion of the Capital Increase, the equity interests in Echartnow owned by the Group will have been diluted to less than 50%, but the Group will still retain control over the operations of Echartnow in the future. Therefore, Echartnow will continue to be treated as subsidiaries of the Group, and accordingly the revenue and the financial results of Echartnow will continue to be consolidated into the Group’s consolidated financial statements.

Echartnow is planning for IPO within five years, which will significantly boost the Group’s return

Upon completion of the Capital Increase, Echartnow’s entity value will be enhanced to RMB640 million, representing an approximately 2.6-times increase in value comparing to the implied value as reflected by the Group’s investment costs up to RMB90 million for a 51% interest before the Capital Increase, which proved that the Group has successfully transformed to internet healthcare businesses with the market recognition of the outstanding performance of Echartnow, and its future value will be far beyond that.

With the execution of the Capital Increase Agreement, the Group and the New Investor also entered into the Echartnow Shareholders’ Agreement, in which Echartnow shall use all endeavours to achieve the initial public offering on a reputable securities exchange (namely the Shanghai Stock Exchange, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, the Science and Technology Innovation Board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, the Stock Exchange, the New York Stock Exchange or NASDAQ) within 5 years. The Group will make every effort to realise the IPO of Echartnow, and promote the continuous growth of Echartnow with the goal of maximising the shareholder value.

Strong in execution, the Group’s management aims to become a leading digital healthcare marketing enterprise in the PRC

Mr. Yuen Hoi Po, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of Huayi Tencent Entertainment, said, “The Group is very pleased to bring in a new investor for Echartnow. Looking back at the beginning of 2021, the Group’s management had the foresight to foresee the development potential of internet healthcare market in the PRC, and seized the opportunity and made a strategic move to transform into the internet healthcare sector. The Group has achieved such remarkable results in a short period of time, which proved that the Group’s management has great insights. The Group has established a firm foothold in the internet healthcare and digital healthcare marketing sector, and is on its way to becoming the market leader.”

Mr. Yuen Hoi Po also pointed that, “After the past two years’ dedicated development, Echartnow has been continuously upgrading, expanding in scale, and has rapidly become one of the core businesses of the Group. The capital increase from the New Investor with state-owned background has fully verified the great confidence to the prospects of Echartnow. Looking forward, the Group will further drive the long-term growth of Echartnow’s performance target so that Echartnow can continue to thrive, and be successfully listed within five years. The Group will use all endeavours to maximise the value of the Group and Echartnow for the benefit of our shareholders.” 

About Huayi Tencent Entertainment Company Limited

Huayi Tencent Entertainment Company Limited (Stock Code: 00419.HK) conducts businesses mainly in internet medical healthcare sector, which include “Echartnow”, a digital marketing services platform for pharmaceuticals, and “Meerkat Health”, a platform for smart healthcare services, striving to provide a series of online healthcare services and to build an internet healthcare platform ecosystem.

For more information about Huayi Tencent Entertainment, please visit the official website of the Group: http://www.huayitencent.com.

This press release is issued by Joint PR Consultants Limited on behalf of Huayi Tencent Entertainment Company Limited.

SOURCE Huayi Tencent Entertainment Company Limited

Augmentir announces its latest funding round and continued organizational growth to help power the future manufacturing workforce with AI.

HORSHAM, Pa., April 18, 2023 — Augmentir, provider of the world’s only AI-based connected worker solution, announced today that it has completed a new financing round and is expanding its team to support the company’s accelerating growth.

Augmentir is known for its one-of-a-kind, industry-leading connected worker technology, that harnesses the power of AI to digitize and optimize frontline work based on worker capability and task complexity. This technology adds precision to workforce development by helping manufacturers identify opportunities to improve training and optimize upskilling and reskilling programs. In February, Augmentir announced that it expanded its AI platform to incorporate Generative AI and other foundational technologies underpinning ChatGPT. This addition represents another step forward in the company’s AI-first journey, and unlocks even greater potential for manufacturers looking to improve support for their frontline workforce.

The new financing round, led by Gardner Lewis Asset Management, includes participation from Lerer Hippeau, Pritzker Group Venture Capital, and the Company’s founding team. The investment will be used to expand Augmentir’s global sales and marketing efforts while accelerating product development and innovation.

“We’re thrilled to be able to raise capital at a significant increase in Augmentir’s valuation, at a time when peers are struggling in the market,” said Russ Fadel, CEO of Augmentir. “Our exponential growth is a result of our commanding AI-based competitive advantage, and has given us a leadership position in the Connected Worker space.”

In addition to the funding news, Augmentir has also announced organizational growth, including two new additions to the Company’s leadership team. Kiyomi Otani joins the team as Vice President of Operations bringing with her two decades of experience in technology leadership. Carsten Hunfeld, who previously led Augmentir’s sales efforts in the DACH region, will become the Company’s Director for EMEA, as the Company ramps up its efforts in that region. Augmentir experienced an employee growth rate of over 50% in the last twelve months to advance its mission of empowering frontline workers with next-generation software solutions.

Augmentir’s suite of AI-powered connected worker tools helps industrial companies deliver effective, individualized skills management, training, digital workflows, and collaboration for today’s more dynamic industrial workforce. These capabilities, built on top of Augmentir’s patented “Smart” AI foundation, close the loop between training and work execution to deliver the data and in-line insights necessary to continuously improve operational excellence day-over-day, year-over-year.

About Augmentir

Augmentir™ is the world’s only Smart Connected Worker solution. Augmentir’s software includes a complete suite of connected worker capabilities, connectors to business systems, and broad extensibility that enable manufacturers to digitize their frontline operations, reduce onboarding time, and increase workforce productivity. Companies in manufacturing, service, energy, and construction leverage Augmentir’s suite of tools to deliver effective skills management, training, digital workflow, and collaboration for today’s more dynamic industrial workforce. For more information, please visit www.augmentir.com.

SOURCE Augmentir, Inc.

LOS ANGELES, April 18, 2023 — Nativo, the most advanced content technology platform where advertisers and publishers distribute brand stories at scale, today announced it has secured a total of up to $25MM of structured capital from Capital IP. The funding will further accelerate Nativo’s position in automating the distribution of content in a non-interruptive, fully integrated experience within trusted environments.

As third-party cookies begin to disappear and the advertising industry continues to shift, brands are more focused on consideration where content plays a key role. With Nativo’s patented technology and insights platform—which has seen incredible market response—Nativo is uniquely positioned to connect brands with their ideal audience to drive consideration. This latest round of funding indicates the next phase of growth for Nativo to expand upon their technology, differentiated ad formats and insights platform.

“We are very pleased to have secured this financing from Capital IP, which allows us to accelerate Nativo’s growth and development without diluting our employees and shareholders,” said Rob Leff, Chief Financial Officer at Nativo. “Recent industry trends are favoring Nativo’s value proposition and with this funding we will continue to make investments in our technology and talent to ensure Nativo remains a leader in driving consideration through content.”

“Nativo has built impressive technology that incorporates machine learning and artificial intelligence to help automate and improve the performance of branded content and its distribution. We are thrilled to partner with the company going forward as they focus on driving towards a Rule of 40 and continue to accelerate their leadership position,” said Aron Dantzig, Partner at Capital IP.

About Nativo

At Nativo, we create new possibilities for digital advertising. We enable brands and publishers to harness the power of content to bridge the gap between awareness and action, making genuine connections between advertisers and their audiences. Our patented technology leverages machine learning and artificial intelligence to automate the distribution of content in a non-interruptive, fully integrated experience within trusted environments, and delivers deep insight into content performance – all working together to drive better connections with today’s digital consumer. Our mission at Nativo is to bridge the gap between awareness and action through content – not more ads, and ignite the power of connections. 

Founded by Justin Choi in 2010, Nativo is an Asian American-owned technology company certified by NMSDC as a Minority Business Enterprise holding more than a dozen patents, working with more than 3,500 premium publisher websites around the globe. Learn more www.nativo.com.

About Capital IP Investment Partners:

Capital IP Investment Partners (“Capital IP” or “CapIP”) is a minority co-founded specialty credit firm focused exclusively on investments in technology and technology-enabled businesses. Our collaborative approach to investing, combined with our technology-industry expertise, allows Capital IP to assess the intrinsic value of growing technology businesses and to offer a range of novel, creative financing solutions. The Capital IP team has a long, proven history of providing flexible structured credit to companies in the technology sector, and continues to lead the industry in financial innovation. The principals of CapIP have historically invested over $1.3 billion in innovative, emerging companies. For more information on Capital IP Investment Partners, please visit: www.capitalip.com.

SOURCE Nativo

NANJING, China, April 18, 2023 — Recently, Chamlion, which focuses on the digitalization of the full process of dentistry, announced that it has completed the B round fundraising of 236 million yuan. This round of fundraising was led by 3H Health, followed by Vertex Ventures China, existing shareholder Zhencheng Capital, and Taihe Capital served as the financial advisor. The fundraising will be mainly used for the further expansion of the company’s domestic and overseas business, including the in-depth promotion and upgrade of their existing product line, to consolidate the company’s leading position in the field of dental digitalization.

Prior to this, Chamlion has successively secured tens of millions of yuan in the A round fundraising invested by Shandong Yinling Industry Investment Co., Ltd. and the 140 million yuan in the A+ round fundraising exclusively invested by Zhencheng Capital. In addition to the B round fundraising, the company’s cumulative fundraising exceeds 400 million yuan.

Chamlion focuses on realizing the digitalization of the entire process of dentistry with a new generation of technology, and provides one-stop dental 3D printing digital solutions. In May 2021, the company completed rebranding from “Chamlion Laser” to “Chamlion Technology”, and at the same time started an in-depth business model transformation, changing from a traditional 3D printing equipment supplier to a cloud printing service model. Chamlion applies the hardware as a service (HaaS) model in the field of dental 3D printing, intelligently connects 3D printers to the Internet, and builds a large-scale distributed dental manufacturing cloud factory, connecting the data-design-manufacturing process of dental processing, and building a digital service platform for the full process of dentistry.

Technology drives the continuing upgrade of the digital workflow

Benefiting from its solid R&D capability, Chamlion empowers the entire chain of dental processing with superior technology to achieve digital upgrades. Chamlion has developed DLP resin 3D printers to replace traditional manual plaster models; Chamlion applied metal 3D printers to replace manual casting processes; Chamlion has developed heat treatment furnaces, polishing machines and other post-processing equipment to greatly shorten post-processing time and fully cover the entire process of dental production and processing. At present, the installed capacity of Chamlion’s metal 3D printers has exceeded 1,000, leading the dental 3D metal printing market.

Through constant customer feedback, Chamlion recognizes the need to develop intelligent software solutions to meet the needs of highly developed 3D workflows and the ever-sophisticated hardware in the market place. Chamlion has successively developed 3D printing control software, 3D printing data processing software, and AI intelligent design software for dental production. Among them, the dental AI intelligent design software, based on artificial intelligence and big data, adopting graphic recognition algorithms and greatly improving the design efficiency through automatic matching. What is more, based on the shortage of skilled dental design and data processing workers in the industry, Chamlion has established a design team and data processing team of hundreds of people, built a global data center, and provided dental crowns and bridges for B-end dental lab clients around the world, offering digital design services for dental products such as crowns, partial frameworks, invisible orthodontics, etc.

In addition to software and hardware, materials are another core element that restricts the digitization of dental processing. Chamlion is making rapid and deep progress in the field of advanced materials in dentistry, gradually laying out the upstream raw material market, independently researching and developing metal powder, photopolymer resin, polishing salt and other materials, and promoting the construction of Chamlion’s entire industrial chain eco-system.

Using cloud service platform to create a new eco-system of digital dentistry

At present, 3D printing technologies applied in dentistry mainly include 2 categories. Metal 3D printing is mainly used to manufacture metal crowns, partial frameworks etc., and DLP resin printers are mainly used to make dental models, temporary crowns, implant guides, invisible orthodontic models, etc. According to the TMR report, by the end of 2025, the global dental 3D printing market will reach 3.441 billion USD, an increase of 16.5%. Obviously, 3D printing has brought opportunities for digitization of the industry. With the increasing maturity of 3D printing technology, the application of 3D printing technology in the entire dental field will be more in-depth and extensive, driving the digital, standardized and large-scale development of the dental industry.

Relying on the “Internet” + 3D printing, with Chamlion cloud service platform as the core, and in-house dental software, equipment, and materials as the cornerstone, Chamlion creates a new digital dentistry eco-system for dental processing. Rather than the digital upgrade of a single element, the cloud factory model can realize the continuous optimization and upgrade of software, hardware and materials in the eco-system, and also realize the coordinated development of the upstream and downstream industrial chains. Moreover, it can realize the integration of resources, the substantial improvement in efficiency, and the significant reduction of costs.

At present, digitalization has become the consensus of upstream and downstream enterprises in the dental industry, and 3D printing is the best technology to realize this. Chamlion cloud platform can provide inclusive dental 3D printing services. Users can choose digital design, data processing, 3D printing, post-processing and other services on demand without huge equipment and labor cost. Users just need to send task requirements through the Chamlion cloud platform, and the digital design team can carry out industrial CAD design and data processing online. The intelligent production scheduling system of the cloud platform will assign the printing tasks to the optimal cloud factory to complete the production of semi-finished or finished products. Finally, through a smart logistics system, the products can be quickly delivered to users. It is reported that Chamlion has entered 27 countries, and has established more than 260 cloud factories around the world, with a daily production of 80,000 dental crowns and 8,000 partial frameworks, providing services for 1,500 dental labs.

Based in China and with a global layout, Chamlion has successively established branches in Vietnam, the United States, France, Turkey, built sales networks and companies covering many countries and regions around the world, and established localized and digital manufacturing centers. It is estimated that by the end of 2023, the number of global cloud factories will exceed 300, providing dental products to 30 million users around the world.

With the digital service platform as the core, Chamlion is driven by technology R&D and distributed manufacturing cloud factories. With horizontal expansion, Chamlion continues to upscale its superior products and services. Starting from removable partial dentures, it expands into resin teeth, zirconia blocks, invisible orthodontics and other new dental products. It also vertically extends the upstream and downstream industrial chains, continues to use technology to drive the upgrade of the entire industrial chain, enhancing the overall competitive advantage, and striving to build a new digital dental eco-system and leads the new digital wave of the industry.

3H Health Investment said: The dental industry is facing opportunistic transformation, and the global dental supply chain is developing in the direction of digitalization, intelligence and intensification. Digging deep into vertical scenarios and providing complete software and hardware solutions is the cornerstone of dental supply chain integration. Chamlion focuses on dental processing scenarios and is committed to providing digital and intelligent overall solutions for the dental industry. It adopts the cloud factory model to empower the global dental processing market and improve the overall level of the industry.

3H Health is very pleased to have the opportunity to become the lead investor of this round fundraising, and firmly supports Chamlion to deeply participate in the structural opportunity of the integration of the global dental supply chain with innovative solutions of “Intelligent Manufacturing in China“. With the efforts of the company’s professional team, we are optimistic that Chamlion will become a leader in supply chain integration and digital processing in the global dental industry, and 3H Health looks forward to creating a new chapter in the future dental industry with Chamlion.

Zhijin Xia, managing partner of Vertex Ventures China, said that with the self-developed 3D printing and digital design technology, as well as the rapidly expanding business model, Chamlion will be able to greatly improve the efficiency of the dental processing industry and contribute to the oral health of Chinese people. With the simultaneous expansion of the company both at home and abroad, we believe that Chamlion will become a great enterprise leading the transformation of the industry.

Jianwei Li, founding partner of Zhencheng Capital, said: Since the beginning of the A+ round of cooperation between Zhencheng Capital and Chamlion team, the management team has been firmly promoting 3D printing services and digital transformation of dentistry, and has achieved good results so far: The service income has increased by more than 10 times. Zhencheng’s domestic business is developing rapidly, and is also laying out the global market, and the competitive advantage is more obvious. We welcome the B-round investors 3H Health and Vertex Ventures China to join us. We believe that with the support of more high-quality investors, Chamlion will be able to go further in the direction of dental digitalization, 3D printing service and globalization.

SOURCE Chamlion

—Leading near real-time carbon management and accounting platform round led by Fifth Wall and a national US Energy Company—

RENO, Nev. and LUXEMBOURG, April 18, 2023 — nZero, the leading near real-time carbon management and accounting platform, today announced that it has closed a $16 million Series A funding round that will enable the company to scale amid a global call for better, more accurate tracking and reporting of energy, financial, and greenhouse gas emissions data across the public and private sectors. The influx of funding arrives as more organizations worldwide strive to use data to implement and reach climate change goals. The round was led by both Fifth Wall—the largest asset manager focused on improving, future-proofing, and decarbonizing the built world—and a national US energy company. Additional investors include Piedmont Capital Investments, Inc. with limited partner Henry Kravis, founder and co-chairman of KKR.

“We have a proven track record in providing the best near-real-time, granular data across all scopes of emissions, which business and government leaders can use for operational and capital planning, leveraging tax credits, and the evolving reporting standards. Since our inception, we’ve aggregated more than 1 billion data points across 12,000 buildings and 10,000 vehicles, all being tracked by nZero, and this is just the beginning of our upwards trajectory,” said Adam Kramer, CEO of nZero. “Our next chapter will enable us to grow as a data authority and bring our tech platform to scale, deepening our work with Fortune 500 companies, municipalities, government agencies and NGOs.”

nZero is the only 24/7 carbon management solution with the ability to sync automatically, analyze, and manage carbon emissions across Scopes 1, 2 and 3 on a granular level, ultimately pairing financial and emissions data and insights that empower true business change. Offering continuous 24/7 tracking, nZero captures hour-by-hour emissions changes in an easy-to-use platform to help clients track, manage, and report out their sustainability goals. Since launching its services in April 2021, nZero has worked with various corporate, agriculture and government entities globally to help them understand their actual carbon impact and develop the most financially efficient and sustainable emissions reductions plans.

“nZero is experiencing significant tailwinds and, in turn, unprecedented growth from a global call for improved, more accurate ESG reporting. Their market-leading team is setting the new industry standard for how energy, financial, and greenhouse gas emissions data is tracked and managed across the public and private sectors,” said Jennifer Place, Principal on the Climate Technology Investment Team at Fifth Wall. “We’re supporting a startup that is leveraging technology to transform how companies and governments plan and set climate goals and adjust operations accordingly to reach those goals. Truth through better data is the fundamental reason we are backing nZero.”

To learn more about nZero, please visit https://nzero.com.

About nZero
nZero is a near real-time (NRT) carbon management and accounting platform that gives NGOs, government agencies and organizations the accurate emissions data they need to reach net zero, communicate their story, and make smart decisions that benefit the health of the planet. Unlike carbon management offerings who rely on third-party data and opaque averages, nZero gathers accurate, first-party, contextual data into a comprehensive view, making it simple for organizations to pinpoint opportunities within their operations to implement carbon reduction actions and spend smarter along the way. nZero’s awards and recognitions include the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada (EDAWN) Existing Industry 2022 “Leader in Sustainability” Award, Business Intelligence Group’s 2022 Sustainability Product of the Year Award, a place on TIME Magazine’s 2022 Best Inventions List in the Sustainability Category, as well as an honorable mention on Fast Company’s 2022 World Changing Ideas List.

About Fifth Wall
Founded in 2016, Fifth Wall, a Certified B. Corp, is the largest asset manager focused on improving, future-proofing and decarbonizing the built world. Since 2016, Fifth Wall has raised the third-most capital of any venture firm globally ($2.9B), according to SEC Form D filings. With approximately $3.2B in commitments and capital under management, Fifth Wall is backed by a global mix of more than 110 strategic limited partners from more than 15 countries, including BNP Paribas Real Estate, British Land, CBRE, Cushman & Wakefield, Hilton, Hines, Host Hotels & Resorts, Kimco Realty Corporation, Lennar, Lowe’s Home Improvement, Marriott International, MetLife Investment Management, MGM Resorts, Related Companies, Starwood Capital, Toll Brothers, and others. This consortium represents one of the largest groups of potential partners in the global built world ecosystem, resulting in transformational investments and collaboration with portfolio companies to cut emissions, improve efficiency, and maximize returns. Founded in Los Angeles and headquartered in New York City, Fifth Wall’s other offices include San Francisco, London and Singapore. For more information about Fifth Wall, its limited partners, and portfolio companies, visit www.fifthwall.com.

SOURCE nZero

Now valued at $10 million, THE LNK helps ethnically diverse brands overseas compete on a global stage using powerful marketing and AI tools

TORONTO, April 18, 2023 – THE LNK announces it has closed a $1 million seed capital raise in funding. This follows the startup’s initial public launch in late 2022 as the first global affordable luxury marketplace to exclusively represent ethnically diverse indie brands. Founded by Canadian entrepreneur Sonya Gill, THE LNK helps brands overseas sell and market directly to North American consumers, giving them much-needed exposure and tools to break through in a statured market. As a smart marketplace, online aggregator, and lead generation platform, THE LNK uses powerful marketing and AI tools to recommend relevant, high-quality, hidden gems from around the world to customers based on profile and shopping habits. THE LNK will include brands from India to Indonesia, Dubai, Morocco, Turkey, Lithuania, Vietnam, and Africa, specializing in women’s and men’s fashion, cultural fashion, functional beauty, skincare, and accessories.

The funding round was led by Reetu Gupta (Chairwoman and Ambassadress, The Gupta Group) and Suraj Gupta (Founder, Rogue Insight Capital), with participation from Manny Bahia (Founder, Daily Hive), Basem Hanna (Founder, Almega Corp. and TerrAscend), Mona Patel (Founder, Vasant Cosmetics), and other private investors. THE LNK will allocate the capital to further web development, expanding their team, and continuing to redefine eCommerce for unique indie brands around the world. 

Tied to this funding, Gill announces that THE LNK welcomes Stephanie Mark as the company’s new Head of Merchandising and Content Strategy, also known as the Co-Founder of luxury media company, Coveteur. Meanwhile, Gill remains backed by an established advisory board, including two recently announced members, Richard McMahon, Former Chief Strategy Officer of Bed, Bath and Beyond, and Alvina Patel, Former VP of Marketing of Farfetch.

“I’m incredibly grateful for the outpour of support from investors coming in from various industries. The seed will allow us to remove hurdles that brands on our platform face, giving them  more opportunities, new connections and exciting possibilities,” said Sonya Gill, Founder and CEO of THE LNK. “Until now, it was impossible for indie brands overseas to successfully market to consumers in North America. They had beautiful products but not the tools or expertise to break through all the noise online. Thanks to years of research and development, and overcoming the many challenges of international commerce, we’ve successfully built this unique global marketplace, doubling as a marketing portal, to help close this gap.”

How THE LNK “Closes the Gap”:

• Lead Generation: Offers merchants a lead generation platform that allows them to bid on keywords and create competitive retargeting campaigns at half the cost of other channels such as Facebook or Google.
• Highlight Top Products: Allows brands to highlight top-rated products, select merchandise for promotions, and the ability to offer specific incentives to customers via email or text.
• Aggregator Model: Brings in merchants through their existing websites so they can control their offerings and immediately populate THE LNK with all their products (descriptions, images, sizes, etc.) with the click of a button.
• User Experience: Only allows trusted merchants on the platform and optimizes online shopping experiences with an intuitive search and recommendation engine.
• Trust and Transparency: Provides credibility to less known brands who struggle with building trust, while handling shipping, returns, tax and duties, which can otherwise be confusing for shoppers.

The overseas market alone is valued at $1.7 trillion and continues to grow. Meanwhile, there is a massive addressable market for this shopping platform given the population of North Americans identifying as non-white is rapidly growing. Now shoppers from ethnic backgrounds who are searching for “fusion wear”, for example, can easily find something high-quality, truly unique, and with reasonable shipping timelines free of unexpected duties.

THE LNK vets thousands of indie labels for quality and logistics excellence and compiles only the best for consumers to shop. THE LNK has already recruited nearly 450 brands selling anywhere between 50 and 300 SKUs each and partnered with Canadian logistics company E-Shipper to deliver items from around the world within days to the customer’s front door.

About THE LNK

THE LNK was founded by Canadian entrepreneur Sonya Gill in 2022 as the first global affordable luxury marketplace to exclusively represent ethnically diverse indie brands. THE LNK closes the gap for these diverse indie brands overseas and helps them sell and market directly to North American consumers. As a smart marketplace, online aggregator, and lead generation platform, THE LNK uses its next-generation marketplace technology to recommend high-quality hidden gems around the world and gives these brands a winning chance to be discovered in an otherwise saturated market. THE LNK includes nearly 450 brands from India and other countries it is currently expanding to such as Indonesia, Dubai, Morocco, Turkey, Lithuania, Vietnam, and Africa, specializing in women’s and men’s fashion, cultural fashion, functional beauty, skincare, and accessories.

Find out more at www.thelnk.co and shop at www.shopthelnk.com.

SOURCE THE LNK

Formerly r2c, Semgrep rebrands and realigns for rapid growth in a funding round led by Lightspeed

SAN FRANCISCO, April 18, 2023 — Semgrep, a code security solution designed for engineering-centric security programs, today announced $53M in Series C funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. With added participation from previous investors Felicis Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, and Sequoia Capital, this round brings the company’s total funding to $93M to date. Semgrep is designed for engineers – software and security alike – who need to maintain a fast cadence of software development and solve the root causes of security issues. Semgrep uniquely enables developers at all levels and security teams to customize their code scanning (no PhD required), which results in ROI significantly beyond that of traditional code scanning tools.

Companies need both security and velocity in their software development, but legacy tools were designed for older programming languages and development cycles where releases were months apart, rather than hours. With the rise of DevOps, 60% of engineers release code twice as quickly than traditional development processes, however improved speed comes with a cost: Almost half of enterprises knowingly release insecure code.

Semgrep solves these challenges with its engineer-centric approach: surfacing security findings during software development that are relevant to a given engineer. Once findings are presented, engineers can easily remediate, edit noisy rules, and provide feedback to the security team to strengthen security policies, thus making the security process collaborative.

“Our users are looking for complete security solutions rather than point solutions,” said Isaac Evans, Founder and CEO at Semgrep. “This round of funding will enable us to extend our application security platform to cover the entire modern development process, all built on top of the Semgrep engine, so as to profoundly improve software security and reliability for all.” 

“From our very first conversation, it was clear that Semgrep is not a traditional enterprise security company,” said Will Kohler, Partner at Lightspeed. “The Semgrep user base is passionate and engaged. Their product is customizable, scalable, and ultimately helpful for modern security teams. It was a no-brainer for us to get involved and we’re enthused to watch them grow their market share and develop additional products for modern security teams.”

Semgrep will use the Series C funds to invest in its product roadmap, expand its sales and growth marketing efforts, and expand internationally.

Rebranding r2c to Semgrep
The company’s funding round is coupled with the change in the company’s name from r2c to Semgrep. Since its launch in 2020, Semgrep has become the tool of choice for modern security teams looking to eliminate entire classes of vulnerabilities. The rise of Semgrep and its broad acceptance within the developer-focused security community has differentiated the company’s product. This rebrand is recognition of Semgrep as the technology layer that is underpinning the company mission now and going forward.  This is one small step in the company’s journey to reduce organizational tension between developer productivity and code security.

Rob Picard, Security Lead at Vanta said, “It’s easy enough to write rules for Semgrep that security and other engineering teams often reach for it to solve complex problems. The flexibility is a huge win, and the library of managed rules means we only have to write our own when we have custom problems.”

For additional information on this announcement, please see Isaac Evans’ blog post to learn more.

Semgrep is also hiring in a number of positions. For more information, on positions in the Bay Area and remote work, please see job openings.

About Semgrep
Semgrep is an open-source platform for scanning code for security, reliability, & other issues. Semgrep’s mission is to profoundly improve software security and reliability by bringing world-class security tools to engineers—software and security alike. It’s Semgrep’s conviction that the security process must enable rapid software development, instead of hindering it. Semgrep is funded by Felicis Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Redpoint Ventures, and Sequoia Capital, and has become an essential safeguard for code at customers like Snowflake, Dropbox, and more.

SOURCE Semgrep