KNOXVILLE, Tenn., April 27, 2023 — Veteran Ventures Capital’s (“Veteran Ventures”) Veteran Fund I is proud to announce its fourth investment into Phase Four, Inc. (“Phase Four”). Phase Four designs and manufactures cutting-edge plasma-based satellite propulsion systems, providing both commercial and government aerospace and defense clients greater system reliability and flexibility. Veteran Ventures’ management team is especially excited about Phase Four’s recent strides in developing two ground-breaking propulsion designs that have unique and specific national security use cases. With this additional investment, Veteran Ventures joins Phase Four’s Board of Directors.

“We are impressed with Phase Four’s traction in both commercial and national security markets, which fits Veteran Ventures’ dual-use technology thesis perfectly,” explained Steve Kiser, PhD, Veteran Ventures General Partner and new Phase Four board member. “Their technology stack and propulsion product lines are aligned with where their client segments are moving for future satellite propulsion needs. As the U.S. expands its proliferated low-earth orbit constellations and makes greater use of the cis-lunar regime, Phase Four will be leading the way to ensure all on-orbit systems have resilient, advanced maneuvering capabilities that do not rely on outdated legacy technologies nor rely on vulnerable foreign supply chains. They are making ‘maneuver without regret’ a reality.”

“We are proud of our partnership with Veteran Ventures,” remarked Beau Jarvis, CEO of Phase Four. “Their experience in working on critical national security issues within government channels and willingness to work closely with us is refreshing, and we expect more good things to come.”

“It is no secret that the demand for satellite propulsion is large and growing rapidly this decade,” Kiser continued. “Having an established provider of reliable, fuel-agnostic satellite propulsion systems is the key to serving the large volume of satellites being launched into orbit over the next several years. We look forward to working with Phase Four as they scale and deliver the next generation of in-space mobility capabilities for commercial and government spacecraft.”

About Veteran Ventures Capital, LLC

Veteran Ventures is a veteran-owned investment firm focused on investing in veteran leadership and national security dual-use technologies. Veteran Ventures recognizes the value of military experience, training, and character, providing success in all aspects of business growth and operations. For more information, please visit: www.veteranventures.us.

About Phase Four, Inc.

Phase Four is a disruptive provider of next generation electric propulsion (EP) solutions for small satellites. The company was founded in 2015 to address the demands of the rapid proliferation of satellite constellations and to accelerate the advancement of its radio-frequency thruster (RFT). The Phase Four RFT represents a revolutionary new architecture that realizes lower cost, mass-manufacturability, miniaturized power electronics, and propellant agnosticism over incumbent technologies, without compromising performance. In 2021 Phase Four’s Maxwell turn-key propulsion system achieved flight heritage and is now being regularly utilized by small satellite operators. Learn more at www.phasefour.io.

Contact: Craig Jaques
Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Veteran Ventures Capital

LONDON and MIAMI, FL, April 27, 2023 — TympaHealth has raised $23M in Series A funding, led by Octopus Ventures, to expand access to its tech-enabled hearing assessment and diagnostic solution. 

Tympa’s pioneering solution allows for fully digitized comprehensive ear and hearing health assessments to be performed across both traditional clinical and community-based settings. By creating a solution that brings ENT expertise to community settings, Tympa increases cost-effective access to care and supports earlier disease detection. TympaHealth is CE marked, FDA registered, and the only solution of its kind dedicated to the democratization of ear and hearing healthcare. 

The World Health Organization estimates that unaddressed hearing loss costs the global economy $980bn annually due to health sector costs, costs of educational support, loss of productivity, and societal costs. In the UK, over 25% of adults who report hearing problems to their primary care physician are not referred to the National Health Service hearing services or they drop out during the treatment and diagnosis process due to disjointed health pathways. This challenge has expanded since COVID-19 with waiting times for treatment reaching up to one year in the UK. The US Healthcare system faces similar problems with 14% of Americans suffering with some form of hearing loss. Hearing loss is also recognized as the single biggest modifiable risk factor for prevention of dementia and linked to increased falls and social isolation. 

“Our goal is to make ear and hearing healthcare easily accessible to everybody, on a global scale” said Dr Krishan Ramdoo, Founder & CEO of TympaHealth. “Putting the right technology and support into the hands of more healthcare professionals and community providers is the best possible place to start. The Tympa Platform has proven its benefits at every point in the healthcare value chain and with our new funding, we can expand that value to new partners and markets.”

The Tympa Platform allows a much broader range of professionals to perform digital otoscopy, microsuction wax removal, and hearing assessments. Tympa’s comprehensive examination is digitally captured in a single hearing health record, which can be shared between patients, providers, and specialists seamlessly. TympaHealth not only makes ear and hearing health services more accessible to patients, it reduces the time and cost associated with unnecessary primary care and hospital visits.

In the UK, TympaHealth has well established partnerships with providers including Walgreen Boots Alliance, Sonova, Day Lewis Pharmacy, Demant (Hidden Hearing), Bupa, and the NHS to provide treatment through its platform. 

With this funding round, Tympa is growing its team and services in the UK, across Europe and entering into the US. Tympa is also pleased to welcome industry veteran David Horowitz, formerly of Oticon as its new US Vice President of Sales.

With the recent FDA-approval for sale of over-the-counter hearing devices in the US, TympaHealth’s technology enabled service platform is well positioned to support point-of-care providers in non-traditional settings. This support will enable providers to perform fast, accurate and conclusive hearing assessments and also assist patients to make informed decisions about the purchase of hearing devices.  For more advanced diagnoses, Tympa’s cloud computing capabilities enables telehealth consultation for patients requiring specialist support (ENT/Audiology).

The oversubscribed funding round, led by Octopus Ventures, was supported by follow-on investment from existing investors and welcomes new investors Dara Capital, Rezayat investments and serial entrepreneurs Bob Davis and Jeff Leerink. 

Joe Stringer, Partner at Octopus Ventures adds “The TympaHealth proposition is a fantastic exemplar for the quality of high growth healthtech and life science businesses we have in the UK. Using a high-quality product and a proposition geared around the consumer, they are reducing the burden of ear and hearing care in an overstretched NHS, while vastly improving patient experience and outcomes. They are building exactly the kind of game changing business we look to support, and they are in a market with huge potential. We couldn’t be happier to be backing them as they seize that potential and democratize ear and hearing healthcare access globally.”

Dr. Ramdoo said, “This funding round provides us with the opportunity to expand and solve for what is a global problem of hearing loss. We are very excited to be working with Octopus Ventures as we look to scale. We have had a fantastic last year with a significant customer base and to date we have supported more than 250,000 patients. The use of proceeds will be used to accelerate development of key products and services as well as allow for growth into other markets. I am excited about what the future holds, and most importantly, our ongoing dedication to ear and hearing health, made easy.” 

About Octopus Ventures 

For the people and ideas that will change the world, because we believe you can build a better tomorrow by investing in it. We can back you at every stage of your journey, from ideas on a page through to IPO. Each year we deploy more than £200 million across five areas where we see maximum potential for impact: health, fintech, deep tech, consumer and B2B software. With many years of experience and expertise investing in each of these areas, our team can help our portfolio companies scale at speed. For us, investment is about more than money. Being truly invested is about giving time, energy and focus; working with founders to give them the best chance of success. It means a shared commitment to solving the big problems that matter. We’ve backed the likes of ManyPets, Cazoo, Depop, Elvie and WaveOptics, while others have gone on to join forces with the world’s largest businesses. We are based in London and New York with a network of partners across the U.S and Asia.

Visit octopusventures.com

Contact:
Sam Ryan 
[email protected]

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2064820/TympaHealth.jpg

SOURCE TympaHealth

Partnership offers expanded access to non-dilutive funding capital for member companies

KANSAS CITY, Mo., April 27, 2023 — Novel Capital, the fintech growth platform and innovative funding provider helping B2B businesses diversify their funding stack, today announced a partnership with gener8tor that will provide early-stage entrepreneurs with expanded access to non-dilutive financing and education.

Through its partnership with gener8tor, Novel Capital will offer member companies preferred terms and promote the growth benefits of non-dilutive alternative capital options in a startup’s funding strategy. The gener8tor Accelerator program already highlights investment education topics for startup Founders and will expand to include information on alternative capital options.

“gener8tor’s expertise in helping early-stage companies to grow and succeed is second to none, and we are confident that this partnership will give Founders new paths to fuel their capital strategy and growth,” said Keith Harrington, co-founder and COO of Novel Capital.

The partnership between Novel Capital and gener8tor represents a significant opportunity for startups and innovators across the country. Both organizations are committed to serving diverse Entrepreneurs, with over 45% of their respective companies having a minority Founder.

Within gener8tor’s more than 75 offerings, Entrepreneurs also have access to mentorship, coaching, soft skills training and creative art and music workshops.

“gener8tor looks to accelerate those companies that are often overlooked,” said Jeremy Neren, VP Platform & Entrepreneur in Residence of gener8tor. “By forming this partnership with Novel Capital, we’re able to continue our mission to accelerate a diverse range of companies through education and capital access.”

Agtools, an AgTech data platform, aims to reduce food waste and facilitate sustainable supply chain decisions. The company has partnered with gener8tor and Novel Capital separately to reach its growth goals.

“The most valuable asset for any startup is its equity, and Novel’s non-dilutive funding has been a key source of growth for so many companies — ours included,” said Charles Harrison, CFO of Agtools. “We are pleased to learn Novel is collaborating with gener8tor, the accelerator program that empowered us to launch our enterprise sales expansion.”

With access to gener8tor’s community of mentors, resources and investors and Novel Capital’s financial expertise and customizable funding options, entrepreneurs and startups will be better positioned to achieve their growth goals and bring innovative ideas to market.

Alex Linebrink, CEO and Founder of mobile box office technology, Passage adds, “Novel and gener8tor have both been critical partners through the years. The hands-on approach of gener8tor was instrumental in getting us to where we were scaling and fundable. Novel’s non-dilutive capital came at a time when we didn’t have many funding options yet. Both companies have been instrumental in our 345% growth over the last three years, and I can’t wait to see them partnered together to help more startups succeed.”

To learn more, visit Novel Capital’s website and follow the company on LinkedIn. For more information on gener8tor, visit the company’s website and follow them on LinkedIn.

About Novel Capital:
Novel Capital‘s fintech growth platform aims to break down the traditional barriers to growth faced by today’s B2B companies. Their digital experience will allow Founders to leverage future predictable revenue for access to non-dilutive capital, unlock data-driven insights, and act upon data-powered strategies that accelerate growth. The Novel platform empowers Entrepreneurs to capitalize on their momentum.

About gener8tor:
gener8tor is a global venture firm and accelerator network that supports startups, workers, employers, artists and musicians across race, place and gender. gener8tor partners with companies, governments, universities and nonprofits to operate programs and conferences in more than 41 communities across 22 states and two countries. Fast Company named gener8tor one of the Best Workplaces for Innovators in 2021 and 2022. The International Trade Council recognized gener8tor as the Global Venture Capital Firm of the Year in 2022.

Media Contact:
Emylee Eyler
BLASTmedia for Novel Capital
[email protected]
317.806.1900 ext. 139

SOURCE Novel Capital

AURORA, Colo., April 27, 2023 — Foresight Diagnostics, Inc, a leading developer of ultrasensitive cancer detection tests, announced today that it has closed an oversubscribed Series B financing round of $58.75 million. The financing was led by Foresite Capital, with participation by Civilization Ventures, Bluebird Ventures, Pear Ventures, Agent Capital, Stanford University, and The University of Colorado Healthcare Innovation Fund. The proceeds will be used to accelerate the clinical development and commercialization of Foresight Diagnostics’ cancer recurrence testing platform, PhasED-Seq™.

“We are excited and honored to be working with Jim Tananbaum, Vik Bajaj, Uplaksh Kumar, and the Foresite Capital team,” said Jake Chabon, Ph.D., CEO and co-founder of Foresight Diagnostics. “Foresite Capital brings significant operational and investment experience in cancer diagnostics and the minimal residual disease (MRD) market and are an excellent partner for us as we pursue our mission to improve the lives of cancer patients. This next chapter in our growth will be focused on expanding our support of pharmaceutical partners, furthering the clinical and regulatory claims associated with our platform, and bringing our tests to patients. For our pharma partners, these increased capabilities will support both translational research and prospective clinical trials.”

Foresight’s patented PhasED-Seq technology leverages the sequencing of phased variants for ultrasensitive and highly specific detection of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA). The approach enhances sensitivity and specificity by requiring the concordant detection of two or more distinct somatic mutations within a single DNA molecule, enabling detection of MRD ctDNA at levels below one part-per-million (<0.0001%). Over 20 clinical studies using Foresight’s technology have been published across both liquid and solid tumors and have been presented at major clinical oncology meetings such as AACR, ASCO, ASH and ICML. Following a $12.5M Series A financing, Foresight initially focused on evidence generation in patients with B-cell malignancies and PhasED-Seq has now been extensively validated in this clinical setting, including multiple studies presented at the 2022 ASH annual meeting.

More recently, the company has expanded their efforts to demonstrate the utility of their MRD testing platform in patients with solid tumors. Earlier this month at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR 2023), Foresight presented data generated using their Solid Tumor Recurrence Test showing that PhasED-Seq achieved a high confidence limit of detection (LOD95) of one part-per-million or below in the majority of blood samples. This improvement in analytical sensitivity corresponded to an approximately two-fold improvement in clinical sensitivity for MRD detection following surgery in patients with early-stage lung cancer who later relapsed compared to prior results generated using first generation SNV-based MRD approaches.

As part of this funding, Uplaksh Kumar, Ph.D., will be joining the Foresight Diagnostics board of directors. Dr. Kumar is a Venture Partner at Foresite Capital, and brings extensive experience in cancer diagnostics and operations, having formerly worked as the SVP of strategic operations and scale at GRAIL, where he launched Galleri®, the first of its kind early detection blood test. Prior to his role at GRAIL, Uplaksh was the first head of operations at Verily, and has held various leadership positions at Life Technologies, BD, LONZA, and Qiagen.

“I’ve been extremely impressed by the achievements that Foresight has made towards redefining cancer treatment and the drug development process through precision cancer monitoring,” said Kumar. “I look forward to leveraging my operational experience to help commercialize Foresight’s MRD testing platform.”

“We’re delighted to have Dr. Kumar join Foresight’s board of directors, where he will join the company’s founders, Genentech’s former SVP and Global Head for Personalized Healthcare Mark Lee, and myself as we work to improve the lives of cancer patients through innovative diagnostics,” stated Shahram Seyedin-Noor, founder and General Partner at Civilization Ventures.

About Foresight Diagnostics
Foresight Diagnostics is a privately held cancer diagnostics company and CLIA-registered laboratory. The company has developed a novel liquid biopsy testing platform for the measurement of minimal residual disease (MRD) that is significantly more sensitive than existing tests (with a detection limit below 0.0001%, or one part-per-million). The improved sensitivity of the Foresight’s MRD assays can provide actionable information to physicians and biopharmaceutical companies to enable more personalized treatment approaches for patients with solid tumors and hematologic malignancies. For more information, please visit foresight-dx.com and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.  

About PhasED-Seq
The Foresight MRD platform is based on the Phased variant Enrichment and Detection by Sequencing (PhasED-Seq™) technology. PhasED-Seq lowers the error profile of mutation detection in sequencing data by requiring the concordant detection of two separate non-reference events in an individual DNA molecule. By detecting more than one mutation, PhasED-Seq can more accurately distinguish tumor-derived cell free DNA (i.e., ctDNA) from healthy cell free DNA – enabling detection of ctDNA at levels below one part-per-million (<0.0001%). PhasED-Seq has been extensively validated in thousands of patient samples.

About Foresite Capital
Foresite Capital is a multi-stage healthcare and life sciences investment firm with approximately $3.5 billion in assets under management. The firm aims to address areas of great unmet need by funding promising healthcare and life sciences businesses at all stages of their life cycles. Foresite Capital uses a data science-driven approach to invest in companies that leverage biology and big data to transform healthcare. Founded in 2011, Foresite Capital is based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, and New York City. For more information, please visit www.foresitecapital.com.

Contact Foresight 
Phone: 720-443-3658 
Email: [email protected] 

SOURCE Foresight Diagnostics

Funding was led by Five Elms Capital.

TORONTO, April 27, 2023 — Practice Better, a leading, all-in-one practice management software platform for health and wellness professionals, announced today that it has raised a $27 million growth investment led by Five Elms Capital and follows a $1 million investment from Disruption Ventures in 2021. The investment will support the development of new integrations and strategic partnerships, as well as enhanced product features to help health professionals sustainably scale their businesses and deliver better client care. The company plans to invest in expanding its go-to-market (GTM), customer-facing, and tech teams to better support its growing customer base.

“Practice Better was born from a need to solve my own challenge to sustainably build a client-centric nutrition practice, without sacrificing my well-being,” said Nathalie Garcia, Founder of Practice Better. “This investment comes at a critical time as conventional medicine models are under tremendous pressure and the demand for proactive, alternative forms of wellness care is on the rise. I’m excited to continue to evolve the platform, grow our team, and expand into new verticals.”

Founded in 2016, Practice Better offers comprehensive practice management software for health and wellness practitioners. Its features include scheduling and appointment management, telehealth, charting, billing, client engagement, online programs, payment processing, and more. The platform is designed to help practitioners who want to save time, reduce administrative burdens, and provide better care to their clients. 

“Nathalie and the Practice Better team have experienced remarkable growth over the past six years. With over 65% of its customer growth coming from word of mouth and referrals, Practice Better has recorded a 300% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) since inception,” said Austin Gideon, Partner at Five Elms Capital. “When Practice Better was founded in 2016, it was entering a market in desperate need of innovation. Since then, the team has committed to doing things differently by putting client outcomes at the forefront of health and wellness technology and allowing the industry to break free of outdated and unscalable models. Its reputation as a disruptive force comes from years of dedication, and Five Elms Capital is thrilled to support its continued growth.”

“This funding unlocks the potential to expand our product capabilities and welcomes new strategic partnerships that will further enable our customers to deliver more supportive wellness care,” added Garcia. “In order for our customers to be successful, their clients need to be successful. We are uniquely positioned to enable more sustainable and collaborative wellness care”.

About Practice Better
Practice Better is a leading all-in-one practice management software solution transforming how health & wellness professionals run their practices and support their clients. The company serves 10,000+ customers in over 70+ countries across the globe, and processes hundreds of millions annually in payments on behalf of customers. In addition to supporting thousands of nutrition-focused practitioners and coaches, Practice Better has seen incredible adoption from other verticals within the health and wellness space including naturopathic doctors, chiropractors, mental health therapists, and other wellness professionals. Its platform empowers wellness professionals to streamline admin work, engage clients, and scale their practices beyond the traditional 1:1 model. Its consistent, best-in-class NPS score and organic growth from word-of-mouth referrals are a testament to its happy customers. For more information, visit practicebetter.io 

About Five Elms Capital
Five Elms Capital is a leading growth investor in world-class software businesses that users love. Five Elms provides capital and resources to help companies accelerate growth and further cement their role as industry leaders. Five Elms maintains offices in North America and Europe and invests in the best software platforms globally. For more information, visit fiveelms.com.

Media Contact:
Renee Rossi
[email protected]

SOURCE Practice Better

SINGAPORE, April 27, 2023 — EMURGO VENTURES (“EMV”) – EMURGO Ventures, the investment arm of Cardano blockchain founding entity EMURGO, today officially announced the Cardano EMURGO BUILD 2023 Hackathon event in partnership with DoraHacks, the world’s most active multi-chain Web3 developer community.

The Cardano EMURGO BUILD 2023 Hackathon is the largest ever Cardano blockchain-focused Web3 hackathon organized by a Cardano founding entity and will award up to $2 million in total prizes to winning participants. The hackathon will have three different tracks for participants to build their prototypes: DeFi derivatives, aggregators, and zero-knowledge (ZK). Submissions will be decided by a panel of judges from EMURGO including founder and CEO Ken Kodama, EMURGO Ventures, Cardano Foundation, Input Output Global (IOG), Binance, Republic Crypto, and Wave Financial. Participation is open to anyone interested in building decentralized applications (dApps) on Cardano, including developers, designers, and entrepreneurs.

Cardano EMURGO BUILD 2023 Hackathon will be hosted virtually and submissions will be accepted starting in early May 2023. It will be held over several weeks to allow time for participants to research, build, and submit their solutions. EMURGO and DoraHacks will also feature video workshops during the hackathon period to help participants build their Web3 projects.

“EMURGO is thrilled to host a large hackathon for the Cardano ecosystem with the support of DoraHacks and our partners. Cardano has been one of the leading blockchain networks for developer activity over the past few years which shows the high interest in building the Cardano ecosystem,” said EMURGO founder and CEO Ken Kodama. “Cardano EMURGO BUILD 2023 provides a great opportunity for anyone in the world to demonstrate their talents.”

“Cardano is one of the largest web3 ecosystems in the world. As a chain-agnostic developer community and hackathon infrastructure, DoraHacks is keen to support builders and early-stage projects from the Cardano ecosystem,” said DoraHacks Head of BD Steve Ngok. “We are excited to work with EMURGO and Cardano for the first time through a flagship virtual hackathon, and looking forward to bringing long-term value to the ecosystem.”

Registration and more submission details are here.

Interested participants can also join the official Discord channel here.

About EMURGO Ventures
EMURGO Ventures (“EMV’) is the venture capital and investment arm of EMURGO, the official commercial arm and a founding entity of the Cardano blockchain. EMV focuses on investing in and supporting innovative Web3 projects and startups that have the potential to drive the adoption and integration of blockchain technology across various industries. Through strategic partnerships and investments, EMV is working to expand the possibilities of blockchain technology and bring it closer to mainstream adoption, while also contributing to the growth and development of the broader blockchain community.

To learn more, please visit https://emurgo.io.

For more information:
Albert Kim
Global PR Manager
[email protected]
+65 6978 5823

About DoraHacks
DoraHacks is a global hackathon organizer and one of the world’s most active multi-chain Web3 developer platforms. It creates a global hacker movement and provides crypto-native toolkits to help developers around the world team up and fund their ideas and BUIDLs via hackathons, bounties, grants, grant DAOs, and public good staking. By far, more than 4000 projects from the DoraHacks community have received over $30 million in grants and other forms of contributions from supporters worldwide. A large number of open-source communities, DAOs, and more than 50 major blockchain ecosystems are actively using Dora’s infrastructure for open-source funding and community governance.

For more information, please visit https://dorahacks.io

For more information:
Steve Ngok
Head of Business Development
[email protected]

SOURCE EMURGO Ventures

Investment will support critical US clinical programs and expand executive leadership team

SANTA CLARA, Calif., April 27, 2023 — AIxMed, an early-stage smart cytology company at the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and medicine, announced that it has raised $2.75 million in a SAFE round of financing from existing investors to further develop its digital cytology platform.

Upon market launch, the AIxMed platform will target bladder cancer monitoring and assisted-diagnosis through AIxURO. “Cytology is experiencing a digital transformation like other healthcare areas have experienced,” noted Samuel Chen, co-founder and CEO of AIxMed. “With our advanced AIxURO, we aim to impact bladder cancer care for the benefit of practitioners, labs, payers, and most especially patients.”

Bladder cancer is the fourth most common cancer in US men, yields a recurrence rate of greater than 74% over 10 years, and incurs over $9 billion in national expenditure for care (sources on file). The current diagnostic standard of care is cystoscopy, where a scope is inserted through the urethra and into the bladder. Patients often perceive this time-consuming manual method as uncomfortable, and invasive, and test results are reported in qualitative terms.

Alternatively, AIxURO performs analysis using a simple, comfortable, and non-invasive urine collection sample. In addition to saving time at the point of care, cytopathologists and technicians can automatically visualize whole slides faster than they could manually scan slides. Quantitative and qualitative data, based on The Paris System (TPS), are output from AIxURO and translated into meaningful clinical insights.

Fundraising proceeds will be used to add a Chief Medical Officer to its leadership team and to support validation studies prior to FDA submission. “Our validation studies in the U.S. are currently ahead of schedule, and we outperformed our development expectations. We look forward to submitting results to the FDA in the near future,” said Mr. Chen. He also adds that the next fundraising series to support commercialization efforts is slated for late 2023.

About AIxMed

AIxMed helps Pathologists digitize cytology samples in minutes and extract clinical insights in seconds to improve patient diagnosis and care. Our first application, AIxURO, is an AI-assisted urine cytology imaging and reporting software package for bladder cancer diagnosis and surveillance based on The Paris System (TPS). We recently concluded a pilot study and the results were published in Cancer Cytopathology. It is an RUO application at this time.

To learn more, visit https://www.aixmed.com.

SOURCE AIxMed, Inc.

Visa and BMO join Barclays and Aviva as Investors in FIL

NEW YORK, April 27, 2023 — Anthemis, a specialist asset manager that creates value from driving financial systems change, today announced additional investments from institutions including  Visa and BMO for its Female Innovators Lab (FIL) Fund. Anchored by Barclays, with investment from Aviva, the fund now totals $50 million, making it the largest early-stage fintech fund focused on female founders. With this latest raise, the Fund will invest in additional early-stage companies and continue its focus on designing, sourcing, and scaling female-founded embedded finance startups.

Launched in 2019 and led by Anthemis’ Global Head of Venture Studio, Katie Palencsar, the FIL Fund actively invests in women-led startups across North America, UK and Europe. FIL’s approach is modeled on Anthemis’ embedded finance investment thesis, targeting business models that deploy financial services within a diverse set of industries including sustainability, beauty, ecommerce, and more. FIL combines Anthemis early-stage asset management capacities with a singular network of strategic investors, diversifying deal sourcing and providing peerless strategic support to the FIL portfolio. 

Through the venture studio and fund, Anthemis has sourced over 1,500 early-stage female-founded companies and shaped and funded portfolio companies like Addition (a workplace financial wellness platform), Pile (a cash management tool for businesses), and Upkeep (a marketplace for beauty treatments).

“Women are half of the world’s population, they control 70% of global household spending, profits are higher when they’re present in the c-suite, and the startups they build have a more rapid path to exit – but somehow, women-led companies still raised just two percent of all US venture investment last year. Female founder businesses are a massive market opportunity, yet chronically underfunded. FIL is purpose-built to seize that opportunity, helping women develop high-growth, high-impact startups at the intersection of finance, technology, and society,” said Palencsar. “Expanding with a partner like Visa – a world leader in digital payments – and BMO – the 8th largest bank in North America by assets – gives us the capital, strategic partners, and global reach to unlock a new cohort of women leaders blazing the trail for fintech and embedded finance.”

“Women power economies around the world, yet they remain underrepresented in the fintech sector with many barriers to overcome,” said Charlotte Hogg, Visa Chief Executive Officer, Europe. “At Visa, we believe partnering with diverse businesses, banks and fintechs is essential. Only by doing so can innovative financial and business services be nurtured that cater to the needs of all communities and underrepresented groups. We are excited to partner with Anthemis to execute on our joint purpose of supporting women’s economic advancement and to help bring the benefits of going digital to everyone, everywhere.”

As one of the earliest asset managers to establish a diversity and inclusion mandate, Anthemis is uniquely suited to lead FIL. Women account for 69% of the people across investments, 48% of portfolio company founders are women or people of color and 58% of all employees at Anthemis are women.

“BMO’s investment in Anthemis’ Female Innovators Lab Fund is aligned with our Zero Barriers to Inclusion strategy, which includes creating economic progress and removing barriers to the inclusion of women and women-owned businesses everywhere,” said Andrew Harrison, Head of U.S. Partnerships at BMO. “Through our support for FIL and the continued success of WMNfintech, North America’s largest nonprofit fintech industry program for women-led fintechs developed by BMO and 1871, we are bridging the gender gap by giving more women the opportunity to bring innovative technology forward.”

To learn more about the Female Innovators Lab Fund or to pitch the team, please visit https://www.anthemis.com/female-innovators-lab/

About BMO
Serving customers for 200 years and counting, BMO is a highly diversified financial services provider – the 8th largest bank, by assets, in North America. With total assets of $1.15 trillion as of January 31, 2023, and a team of diverse and highly engaged employees, BMO provides a broad range of personal and commercial banking, wealth management and investment banking products and services to 12 million customers and conducts business through three operating groups: Personal and Commercial Banking, BMO Wealth Management and BMO Capital Markets.

About Anthemis
Anthemis is a specialist asset manager that creates value from driving financial systems change by investing in businesses committed to resiliency, transparency, access, and equity. Founded in 2010, our deep understanding of financial systems, endless passion for emerging technologies, and steadfast commitment to social purpose inspire everything we do. By creating fertile ground for a diverse group of startups, investors, entrepreneurs, institutions, academics, and visionaries to converge, we believe we can solve the financial system’s most pressing challenges.

SOURCE Anthemis Group

AUSTIN, Texas, April 27, 2023 — Outcomes Collective Growth Capital (“Outcomes Collective”) today announced having grown their mid-stage venture capital investment platform to over $50 million in assets under management. Their focus remains to invest in scale stage software companies in the healthcare and education sectors.

Since 2018, the firm has invested in 9 companies and realized 2 liquidity events. The firm is actively seeking new investment opportunities and expects to more than double its portfolio with new investments over the next 3 years. Notable investments to date include:

• SilverCloud Health, a leading digital mental health company which significantly reduces clinical depression and anxiety symptoms in patients. SilverCloud was acquired by American Well in 2021.
• Kiddom, a digital curriculum platform and management company deployed in hundreds of school districts across the country.
• Alpha Medical, a virtual and asynchronous women’s primary care platform that is making healthcare for women more accessible and affordable.
• Amira Learning, the first speech-AI based intelligent reading platform teaching children how to read.

Outcomes Collective’s investment model is centered around two key pillars of focus within the healthcare and education sectors:

• The firm leverages their 40+ healthcare and education sector Executive Advisors to help portfolio companies acquire new customers and partners as they grow in the market.
• The firm partners with leading family office investors and notable sector executives across the country to deploy capital into mid-stage venture capital in the healthcare and education sectors.

Based in Austin, Texas and investing nationwide, Outcomes Collective invests between $2 million and $5 million in scale stage software companies in the healthcare and education sectors who have differentiated products, an initial solid customer base of market adoption, and significant growth potential in front of them. The firm can lead investment rounds or join as a syndicate participant.

The firm is led by Rohit Seth who is the sole General Partner of the firm and has nearly 25 years of venture capital investment experience with prior investment roles at a multibillion-dollar family office and leading technology corporations.

Regarding the capital expansion, Seth said: “We are grateful for the support shown to us by our limited partner investors and are excited to invest in companies driving digital change in healthcare and education. The application of next generation artificial intelligence, end user engagement through mobile and SaaS, and end user specific personalization can create meaningful change and improvements in these industries. We look forward to working with such leading companies and helping them accelerate their impact and growth objectives.” 

Please visit www.outcomescollective.com for more information or contact [email protected].

SOURCE Outcomes Collective Growth Capital