Upkara accelerates its mission to eliminate cold chain reliance and improve global health equity through the use of innovative biomolecule stabilization technology

ANN ARBOR, Mich., May 16, 2023 — Upkara, a leading biomedical technology company, announced today that it has secured $9 million in Series A funding, including additional investment from prominent businessman and philanthropist, Bill Parfet, along with industry veteran, Paul Meister, former Chairman of Thermo Fisher Scientific.

Upkara’s patented technology is revolutionizing the way biomedical industries tackle cold-chain challenges by eliminating them. By enabling ambient temperature storage and transportation of therapeutic and research tools, Upkara’s breakthrough biopreservation technology has far-reaching applications in reagents, biobanking, and human health, and has the potential to significantly improve access to vital therapeutics and research tools.

Upkara is currently collaborating with reagent companies to incorporate its technology into manufacturing processes. Biomolecules stabilized by the Upkara process can be stored and shipped at ambient temperatures, reducing waste, increasing efficiency, and improving sustainability. As such, Upkara-stabilized reagents provide significant cost savings to manufacturers while enhancing customer appeal.

“We are thrilled to have the continued support of Bill Parfet, who has been an invaluable partner to Upkara since his initial investment,” says Upkara Founder and Professor Pravansu Mohanty. “His extensive experience and expertise in the industry have been instrumental in helping us bring our technology to market, and we are grateful for his ongoing commitment to our mission.”

Paul Meister, former Chairman of Thermo Fisher Scientific, also recognizes the transformative potential of Upkara’s technology. “I am excited to partner with Upkara, whose unique solution has the potential to transform the biomedical industry,” he says. “Upkara’s technology has the potential to improve sustainability, reduce waste and increase research efficiency across the entire life science’s industry, and, ultimately, ameliorate patient outcomes and global health equity by facilitating global distribution of pharmaceuticals.” 

With the additional investment, Upkara is poised to accelerate its growth trajectory, continue to develop and commercialize its groundbreaking technology, and make an even greater impact in the field of biomedical technology and biopreservation.

“We are thrilled to have the support of Paul Meister and Bill Parfet as we work to bring our technology to a wider audience and revolutionize the industry,” added Mohanty. “Their investment and expertise will help us achieve our mission of improving access to vital therapeutics and research tools.”

For more information about its innovative biopreservation technology or partnering with Upkara, visit upkara.com. 

ABOUT UPKARA

The dream of creating technologies to advance health equity was born from a think tank founded by University of Michigan Professor Pravansu Mohanty. In early 2022, Upkara, Inc. emerged from the incubator with the aim of commercializing a novel biopreservation technology. Today, Upkara is revolutionizing the biomedical industry with its innovative biopreservation technology that improves access to therapeutics and research tools by enabling ambient temperature storage and transportation. Imagine what you can accomplish when you break free from the cold chain.

MEDIA CONTACT

Laura Bronsart
(734) 215-5345 
[email protected]

SOURCE Upkara

COLUMBUS, Ohio, May 16, 2023 — River (river.com), a Bitcoin technology and financial services startup, announced today a $35 million equity round. This series B funding was led by Kingsway Capital. Other investors included Peter Thiel, Goldcrest, Cygni, M13, Valor Equity Partners, Esas Ventures, and Alarko Ventures.

River is on a mission to champion an honest and robust financial system through the use of Bitcoin, the world’s only incorruptible digital money. River is a one-stop-shop for any person or business interested in Bitcoin. They offer a suite of Bitcoin services, including Bitcoin brokerage with zero-fee recurring orders, full-reserve custody, mining, and a Bitcoin wallet that supports both on-chain and Lightning Network transactions.

“We’re seeing another wave of Bitcoin interest, largely driven by business and institutional adoption,” says Alex Leishman, River CEO. “It’s not fueled by hype. This year’s bank failures and bailouts have been a wake-up call, revealing the cracks of the traditional financial system and reminding us why Bitcoin is so important—it’s a secure path to a stronger and more transparent global economy. Adopting Bitcoin with a trusted partner is no longer the speculative choice, but rather the prudent one.”

Last year River announced the launch of River Lightning—an enterprise API that allows companies to easily integrate with the Lightning Network. River Lightning is already utilized by a number of crypto apps, including El Salvador’s Chivo wallet, to enable instant Bitcoin payments.

Demand for Lightning transactions has grown rapidly in the last year and has accelerated to new levels in recent weeks by rising on-chain fees. In addition to serving individuals and businesses directly, River intends to serve as the Bitcoin payments back-end for the industry. Part of this funding round will be used to further build out the B2B River Lightning segment.

“River has become the premier Bitcoin brand in the United States. We have deep Bitcoin expertise, focus, and frankly, we do things right,” says Leishman. “Unlike many crypto companies and regional banks for that matter, we have not taken shortcuts or reckless risks with our regulatory strategy and product offering. We’re a mission-driven company with full-reserve Bitcoin custody, and will continue to play our part in moving society towards a brighter economic future powered by Bitcoin.”

About River

Founded in 2019, River is a Bitcoin technology and financial services company. River offers the full suite of Bitcoin brokerage, custody, and mining services in one easy-to-use mobile app and on River.com. The company is also a leader in Lightning infrastructure, powering Lightning transactions for other exchanges and wallets in the crypto ecosystem.

To learn more, please visit River.com or follow them on Twitter @River.

CONTACT: [email protected]

SOURCE River

HALETHORPE, Md., May 16, 2023 — Fzata, Inc. will be showcased at upcoming conferences for the ongoing Series A raise supporting the first-in-class Bioengineered Probiotic Yeast Medicines (BioPYM™) modality. Elizabeth Smith, Fzata’s Chief Business Officer, will be pitching and available for in person partnering at the following events:

RESI, The Westin Copley Place, 3^rd Floor, 10 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA. Innovator’s Pitch Challenge (IPC). Pitching in Session 2 on Monday, June 5, 10:00-11:00 a.m.

The BIO International Convention, Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, Boston, MA. Fzata selected as NIH Innovation Zone Company. Pitching on Tuesday, June 6, 11:15 a.m., Room 104A.

Women in Bio –Greater Boston’s 8th Annual Lobster Pot, 101 Seaport Avenue, Boston, MA.
Pitching on Wednesday, June 7, 12:00-6:00 p.m.

Fzata’s BioPYM capsules will be life changing for those suffering with gastrointestinal disorders who routinely self-inject or require infusions of their biologic medicines. The BioPYM modality will be a game changer for biologic manufacturing, distribution and administration, replacing fragile conventional biologics with a stable oral capsule. BioPYM is designed to work “on-site” in the gut for treatment of gastrointestinal disorders like infectious diseases, inflammation, IBD, diabetes, and visceral pain. FZ002 for C. diff. infection, first-in-human phase I clinical trial is targeted for 2024. Readout will help clinically derisk all following BioPYM drug candidates.

Dr. Zhiyong Yang, President and CEO of Fzata, commented, “Fzata has been honored to be an NIH SEED company and selected for the Innovation Zone at BIO. NIH’s outstanding support of BioPYM validates the very strong science underpinning our first-in-class biologics modality. We are also grateful to Women in Bio and RESI for providing us with such great venues to pitch. BioPYM is poised to disrupt the biologics space and provide an impactful alternative that will enable at home access to biologic therapies to all patients.”

About Fzata, Inc.: Fzata (www.Fzata.com) is a privately held near-clinical biopharmaceutical company. The Company owns two proprietary platforms: one to generate fully humanized multi-specific antibodies and a second, BioPYM, for localized delivery of live recombinant yeast therapeutics to treat gastrointestinal related diseases and disorders. The preclinical pipeline is deep with over 10 drug candidates.

For additional information about Fzata, visit www.fzata.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

For Investment opportunities or partnership inquires please contact:

Elizabeth Smith, PhD, MBA
E-mail: [email protected]
1.240.904.5127

SOURCE Fzata, Inc.

Harness Co-founder Rishi Singh Unveils Breakthrough Technology That Will Forever Eliminate the Need to Write Test Code Manually

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., May 16, 2023 — SapientAI, creator of AI Test Coder, emerged from stealth today with $5 million in seed funding from 8VC, Correlation Ventures and GTMfund. SapientAI combines the power of generative AI with a code intelligence “co-pilot” to manage and generate test code for developers. Led by CEO/founder Rishi Singh (co-founder of DevOps platform company Harness), AI Test Coder generates precise test code to help developers build products faster and ensure releases are consistent across all platforms – without compromising quality.

Starting today, software developers can download SapientAI AI Test Coder as a free plugin by visiting https://www.sapient.ai 

“With AI Test Coder, developers can work with greater confidence knowing they have a ‘partner’ to reliably generate quality software applications reliably – making generative AI an invaluable technology at their disposal,” says Singh. “ChatGPT has incredible capabilities but relies largely on preconceived notions to generate its output. We’re adding deeper analysis and contextual understanding to help the AI generate test code based on the desired outcomes of the developer.”  

“SapientAI brings a game-changing approach to the software test market with its combination of software intelligence and generative AI,” according to 8VC Partner Bhaskar Ghosh. “Rishi is an absolutely formidable repeat founder, having already built a high-value enterprise company focused on developers. It’s a rare gift for the enterprise community that he wants to build another company focusing on developers – this time by helping them succeed in their new role as QA managers as the phenomenon of “shift-left” continues to grow. With Rishi’s proven leadership, and the incredible team he has assembled, SapientAI is singularly well-positioned to accelerate the push towards accelerated, high-quality software development.”

The “shift left” movement aims to bring testing and quality assurance forward to identify and resolve bugs sooner. As a result, developers are now responsible for quality control and balancing speed and quality at once. However, writing test code is time-consuming, prone to human error, and a major roadblock to building better software faster.

AI Test Coder is available for free to developers as an IDE plugin to help them focus on building great applications — not manually writing code. It is the first and only test code generator to combine generative AI and code intelligence to provide software developers with a testing “co-pilot.” Far from only creating code, AI Test Coder ensures that the test code is correct, with no guesswork. 

AI Test Coder works by:

• Inspecting Code: AI Test Coder instantly inspects all software code to understand the full spectrum of the software testing environment for underlying issues. It identifies incorrect assumptions before generating any test code. The contextual analysis identifies costly errors and bugs before they wreak havoc across applications. 
• Predicting Code Issues: AI Test Coder leverages code intelligence to understand existing code and automatically identify patterns where new software issues may arise. It locates where code changes will have an effect before generating the test code. It eliminates wasted time spent manually debugging code and frees developers to build great applications. 
• Generating Test Code: Primed with code insights, AI Test Coder generates test code with a deep understanding of complex software environments for highly accurate and reliable tests. It knows what needs testing in each application, regardless of the environment. Developers don’t have to write and manage test codes repeatedly or resort to trial and error, as they would using only generative AI. 

“Generative AI is revolutionizing how people will develop software,” according to Singh. “We’re focusing on creating a new test code-generating process that works smarter by anticipating potential issues. With AI Test Coder, developers now have a supportive test assistant to manage the entire test and quality lifecycle.” 

About SapientAI

SapientAI is the creator of AI Test Coder, the only platform to combine contextual insights, code intelligence and generative AI to write valid test code within complex environments automatically. It manages the entire test spectrum and runs quality-ensuring tests without requiring the developer to write a single line of test code. AI Test Coder enables developers to do what they do best, maximizing productivity and business value.

Olivia Heel
[email protected]

SOURCE SapientAI

Impact fund strengthens investment thesis and secures nearly $170 million in second fund, almost doubling the $88 million raised in Fund I

OAKLAND, Calif., May 16, 2023 — Illumen Capital, an impact fund of funds addressing systemic inequity by reducing racial and gender bias in investing, has successfully raised a $168 million Fund II, allowing the firm to further scale its efforts to build a more optimal and inclusive asset management industry.

Illumen Capital II, LP will combine its investment capital with evidence-backed tools and strategies designed to help fund managers reduce racial and gender bias, while aiming to optimize their financial performance.

“Following our nation’s racial reckoning in the summer of 2020, institutional investors made bold proclamations of investing in diverse managers and entrepreneurs; unfortunately funding of diverse-led entities has receded drastically over the past year,” said Daryn Dodson, Managing Director of Illumen Capital. “Today’s close of Illumen Capital’s Fund II reflects the strength of our thesis, limited partners’ trust in the firm’s differentiated strategy, and the incredible value that overlooked and underestimated managers can bring to investors.”

Ford Foundation, and W.K. Kellogg Foundation led the fund, which had capital from over 100 investors, showcasing a breadth of interest and belief in Illumen Capital’s mission of leveraging powers as investors to reduce bias in venture capital and private equity decision-making.

“Advancing equity and inclusion in asset management goes beyond breaking down barriers and diversifying the talent in the field. It’s about broadening perspectives, expanding ideas, and strengthening strategies for better outcomes across the board,” said Ford Foundation Head of Mission Investments Roy Swan. “Illumen Capital’s evidence-backed approach to help fund managers optimize their performance is much needed, and this round of funding signals that the strategy is working.”

Illumen Capital’s Fund II was oversubscribed, surpassing the initial target by nearly $20 million, enabling the firm to further scale its efforts developed following the completion of its $88 million Fund I. Showcasing a high conviction in thesis and strategy, this fund seeks to invest across four themes: Education, Health & Wellness, Climate & Sustainability and Financial Inclusion. Furthermore, Fund II aims to deepen relationships with many managers from Fund I, creating stronger leverage points surrounding their active engagement in bias reduction work.

About Illumen Capital 
Illumen Capital is a Black-owned and led manager dedicated to achieving racial and gender equity across investing. Illumen Capital invests in venture, growth and private equity funds, and then works closely with fund managers to install a set of strategies and tools designed to reduce racial and gender bias in the hiring, investment, and company support processes. This research-informed bias reduction program – developed through a strategic relationship with Stanford SPARQ – empowers fund managers to expand their investable landscape and better support entrepreneurs who have historically been overlooked and underestimated.

NOTICE TO RECIPIENTS

THIS DOCUMENT IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND SHOULD NOT BE RELIED UPON AS INVESTMENT ADVICE. This document has been prepared by Illumen Capital Management, LLC (“Illumen”) and is not intended to be (and may not be relied on in any manner as) legal, tax, investment, accounting or other advice or as an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities of any investment product or any investment advisory service. The information contained in this document is superseded by, and is qualified in its entirety by, such offering materials. This document may contain proprietary, trade-secret, confidential and commercially sensitive information. U.S. federal securities laws prohibit you and your organization from trading in any public security or making investment decisions about any public security on the basis of information included in these materials.

REFERENCES MADE TO ENDORSEMENTS BY ANY THIRD-PARTY PROVIDER TO INVESTMENT WITH ILLUMEN ARE NOT INDICATIVE OF FUTURE PERFORMANCE AND DOES NOT IMPLY ANY GUARANTEED LEVEL OF SERVICE, SKILL OR TRAINING. Investors should not rely on endorsements for any purpose and should conduct their own review prior to investing. 

THIS DOCUMENT IS NOT A RECOMMENDATION FOR ANY SECURITY OR INVESTMENT. References to any portfolio investment are intended to illustrate the application of Illumen’s investment process only and should not be used as the basis for making any decision about purchasing, holding or selling any securities. Nothing herein should be interpreted or used in any manner as investment advice. The information provided about these portfolio investments is intended to be illustrative and it is not intended to be used as an indication of the current or future performance of Illumen’s portfolio investments.

AN INVESTMENT IN A FUND ENTAILS A HIGH DEGREE OF RISK, INCLUDING THE RISK OF LOSS. There is no assurance that a Fund’s investment objective will be achieved or that investors will receive a return on their capital. Investors must read and understand all the risks described in a Fund’s final confidential private placement memorandum and/or the related subscription documents before making a commitment. The recipient also must consult its own legal, accounting and tax advisors as to the legal, business, tax and related matters concerning the information contained in this document to make an independent determination and consequences of a potential investment in a Fund, including US federal, state, local and non-US tax consequences.

PAST PERFORMANCE IS NOT INDICATIVE OF FUTURE RESULTS OR A GUARANTEE OF FUTURE RETURNS. The performance discussed in this document is not necessarily indicative of future performance, and you should not assume that investments in the future will be profitable or will equal the performance of past portfolio investments. Investors should consider the content of this document in conjunction with investment fund quarterly reports, financial statements and other disclosures regarding the valuations and performance of the specific investments discussed herein. 

DO NOT RELY ON ANY OPINIONS, PREDICTIONS, PROJECTIONS OR FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS CONTAINED HEREIN. Certain information contained in this document constitutes “forward-looking statements” that are inherently unreliable and actual events or results may differ materially from those reflected or contemplated herein. Illumen does not make any assurance as to the accuracy of those predictions or forward-looking statements. Illumen expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to update or revise any such forward-looking statements. The views and opinions expressed herein are those of Illumen as of the date hereof and are subject to change based on prevailing market and economic conditions and will not be updated or supplemented.

SOURCE Illumen Capital

The leader in Data Activation ranks number four on the Enterprise Tech 30 list in the mid-stage category.

SAN FRANCISCO, May 16, 2023 — Hightouch, the leading Data Activation platform, today announced it has been named to the fifth annual Enterprise Tech 30—a definitive list of the most promising, private enterprise tech companies across all stages of maturity. Hightouch ranks number four on the list of the ten companies in the mid-stage category.

The Enterprise Tech 30 brings to light the Enterprise startups who have the most potential to meaningfully shift how enterprises operate for the better. Companies are inducted into the elite community through a selection-only process based on a successful background and substantial reach in enterprise technology. Nearly 600 venture-backed private enterprise tech companies across various stages were considered in the two-phase process by 96 Venture capitalists and 27 Corporate Development teams. Inductees to the ET30 are on a fast track of growth to change how business is done and are expected to be future IPOs and multi-billion dollar exits.

The companies are categorized by total capital raised. The Giga stage includes companies that have raised $1 billion or more; early-stage includes companies that have raised $35 million or less; mid-stage from $35 million to $150 million; and late-stage includes $150 million or more.

In 2022, Hightouch experienced remarkable growth and established itself as the go-to product for data activation at enterprises and start-ups alike. Hightouch built on its core Reverse ETL product line and introduced a groundbreaking new suite of features called Customer Studio to democratize access to the data warehouse. The team is pioneering a new architecture for Customer Data Platforms (CDP) called a Composable CDP. This approach enables any company to execute highly targeted and personalized marketing, sales, or support – with a near-zero implementation time. This advancement enables companies to move at record pace and unlock the full potential of their cloud investments to drive hyper-personalized customer journeys. With a strong focus on delivering exceptional value and a customer-centric mindset, Hightouch expanded its customer base to include leading organizations such as Warner Music Group, Chime, Cars.com, and more. Additionally, strategic partnerships were formed with key cloud providers like Snowflake, Databricks, Amazon, and Google.

Reflecting on the company’s achievements, Tejas Manohar, Co-CEO of Hightouch, expressed, “2022 has been a transformative year for Hightouch, marked by our unwavering dedication to empowering marketing teams and businesses with the tools they need to unlock the full potential of their data.” Kashish Gupta, Co-CEO of Hightouch, added “We are thrilled to have witnessed rapid growth in our customer base and the realization of our vision for the new era of CDPs. We remain committed to driving innovation and delivering unparalleled value to our customers in the years to come.”

“Wing‘s Enterprise Tech 30 list recognizes the most promising private, venture-back companies. These companies are leaders in their category, driving the change and innovation in the marketplace today to meet the needs of tomorrow,” said Peter Wagner, Founding Partner at Wing Venture Capital and founder of the Enterprise Tech 30. “Congratulations to all of the listees—they serve as the backbone of how businesses operate and are paving the way for business transformation.”

For more information on the research methodology, additional insights, and to view the results, visit enterprisetech30.com.

About the ET30
The Enterprise Tech 30 List, facilitated by Wing Venture Capital, definitively names the top 40 most promising private companies in enterprise technology, as determined by leading venture capitalists in the sector. It shares the knowledge of the venture capital and corporate development communities to determine which Enterprise startups have the most potential to meaningfully shift how tech enterprises operate for the better.

About Hightouch
Hightouch is a leading provider of Data Activation and Customer Data Platform (CDP) solutions, enabling marketing and data teams to activate customer data directly from their data warehouse to over 150+ destinations like ad platforms and CRMs. Hightouch is used by leading organizations like Cars.com, Spotify, TripAdvisor and GameStop to unlock a fast, flexible, and scalable CDP alternative by enabling them to activate audiences and other customer data points directly from their organization‘s single source of truth – the data warehouse out to the many business tools it is needed in.

For more information, visit https://hightouch.com/

About Wing Venture Capital

Founded in 2013, Wing works with ambitious founders to enable the AI-first transformation of business. We invest early, before it‘s obvious, leading Seed and Series A financings and engaging deeply with our signature company-building skills and resources. The current Wing portfolio includes some of today‘s most important enterprise technology companies such as Snowflake, Cohesity, Pinecone, and Gong.
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For more information, visit: www.wing.vc

SOURCE Hightouch

Unitea’s approach to the next generation of engagement for fans, artists, and brands delivers in terms of real-world value via rewards and digital tools to enhance real life experiences

MIAMI, May 16, 2023 — Unitea, the only engage-to-earn music platform built to deepen connections between artists, brands, and fans, today announced a seed round of $7M, led by 1st Class Guernsey, Chaos Capital, TokenSociety, and Fuel Venture Capital. Boasting a board of directors featuring industry titans like Pitbull (Armando Perez) and Claude VonStroke (Barclay Crenshaw), Unitea’s unique platform is innovating the way fans engage digitally within the music industry. By way of an in-app economy, Unitea encourages users to create content with music and branded filters from their favorite artists to earn rewards, creating actionable data for artists and brands and deepening their connections with fans. In the time since the pre-seed round started in 2020 Unitea has accomplished over 2,000 reward activations. Now that the round is closed, Unitea will leverage funds raised to further expand the capabilities of their platform within the music industry and beyond.

Though investments in this type of engage-to-earn technology continue to climb, realizing tangible value has continued to be a challenge across industries. Unitea has created engage to earn platforms in partnership with Procter & Gamble, while also activating through the Unitea App with 42 music festivals including Breakaway, Gem & Jam, and Dirtybird Campout, all while keeping centralized around the technology driving their engage-to-earn model. Unitea fans share music and create content to earn digital tokens called Karma that can be redeemed for exclusive rewards, from custom digital assets to concert tickets and artist meet and greets. The tangible value of rewards drives authentic engagement, which in turn delivers valuable data around fan interactions to artists and brands using the app. Ultimately, this creates a continuous cycle of authentic connections, rewards, and relationships that is poised to fundamentally change the way consumers interact with their favorite artists. By providing reward mechanisms both in the digital and physical space, collaboration with festivals provides a win-win scenario, giving users on the platform unique access to exclusive opportunities at events while also giving festival promoters and performing artists a new audience to reach out to.

“We’ve cracked the code on deriving meaningful benefits through engage-to-earn within the music space. Unitea gives digital assets real purpose across the engagement cycle, empowering artists and brands to cultivate and grow a passionate fan base organically,” said Ketan Rahangdale, CEO of Unitea. “With the support of our investors, Unitea is primed to make fan engagement more authentic, in a way that benefits everybody in the ecosystem. Whether it’s a musician, an artist, or a popular brand, Unitea makes it possible to gamify the engagement process and provide value across the board.”

Unitea’s unique technology has taken a foothold in the music industry and investors have noticed the incredible value that can be derived from organic engagement data. With 12 investors in total participating in the seed rounds, both from traditional venture capital firms and staples in the music industry, continual investment in the platform has been paralleled with validations as to its future potential.

“The unique combination of digital and real-world incentives for fans, along with a rewarding social network, has primed Unitea to take over the music industry. Today’s fans are looking for a different level of interaction from the brands they love, and this technology finally makes that possible,” said Simon Nicholls, Chairman of 1st Class Guernsey. “The level of engagement data collection that is possible with Unitea’s platform is incredibly enticing, and we’re excited to be a part of this movement as it grows.”

The music industry is about to undergo a revolution led by those who matter most, the fans and the artists, and Unitea is ready to lead the charge. In the future, Unitea looks forward to acting as a utility and community building platform for Web3 music collectives such as Dirtybird Flight Club, Dippies and Gay Aliens Society. To learn more, please visit: https://unitea.com/.

About Unitea
Unitea is an engage-to-earn platform that deepens connections between artists and their fans while giving brands access to invaluable advertising opportunities that enhance the end-user experience. The app incentivizes music fans to support their favorite artists in exchange for blockchain- authenticated rewards while providing a platform built for meaningful connection and artist innovation. Unitea believes that data and relationships belong to the people who build them, and developed the Karma Economy ecosystem to help creators regain control of their audience insights. Fans are incentivized to share their data as a way to earn Karma, while Unitea’s transparent data policy encourages ethical data use. Brands use that data in advertising, and artists can also access the data for invaluable insights into their fanbase.

SOURCE Unitea

ATMORE, Ala., May 16, 2023 — UB Community Development, LLC (UBCD), a community development partner of United Bank, announced that it provided $6 million in New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) allocations toward construction of a new 77,376-square-foot facility at the University Charter School located in Livingston, Alabama.

Dr. JJ Wedgworth, Head of School of University Charter School, stated, “UCS is honored to be able to partner with UB Community Development, LLC, on our new facility project as we grow our impact in Sumter County. We are extremely grateful to have a beautiful new state-of-the-art facility to house our students and support the greater needs of the Sumter County community. With the allocation of tax credits from UB Community Development, LLC, it allows us to expand, offer new programs and customize our space to create learning environments that best match student needs.”

The new facility will provide twenty-six general instruction classrooms, all designed to be flexible in nature and positioned to take advantage of adjacent shared collaboration areas. Offices, conference rooms, areas for student and teacher resources as well as private counselors’ areas, a nurse’s station, a gymnasium and a 200 to 250-seat cafeteria will be included. The cafeteria is positioned to take advantage of an outdoor learning space to accommodate a farm to table educational garden.

Alex Jones, President of UB Community Development, LLC, stated, “Supporting an educational project of this caliber is core to who we are at UBCD. I am not sure today we can even begin to fully grasp the long-term impact this school will have on this community and its children. UBCD was excited to help play a small role in the project.”

University Charter School was established in 2018 and is located on the campus of the University of West Alabama. It offers Pre-K through Twelfth grade. The new facility will allow UCS to increase its enrollment from 605 to 815 students. UCS prepares students for college, career, and life through personalized learning plans and project-based learning. Its curriculum is based on a rigorous and integrated Science, Technology, Reading, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STREAM) focus.

About UB Community Development
UB Community Development’s strong history and experience in New Markets Tax Credit transactions, coupled with our passion for improving the communities around us, make UBCD Alabama’s premier financial partner for economic and community development. Through our NMTC projects, Community Facilities Lending Program and Community Housing Capital Fund, UBCD is working with community development partners in the fields of healthcare, education, manufacturing, public works, affordable housing and more. For more information about UB Community Development, visit our website at www.UBCommunityDevelopment.com.

SOURCE United Bancorporation

NEW YORK, May 16, 2023 — Northwind Group, a Manhattan-based real estate debt fund manager and private equity firm, today announced that it provided a $100 million senior A-Note as part of a $207 million senior lease-hold mortgage. The loan was secured by the Hudson Hotel, a 24-story, former 878-key hotel which is being converted into 441 multifamily units and 51,474 square feet of retail space. The property is located on 58^th street between 8^th and 9^th Avenue in the heart of the Columbus Circle submarket of Manhattan. The property was acquired by a repeat borrower of Northwind Group and was originally capitalized by Montgomery Street Partners as the fee holder and Parkview Financial who provided a leasehold mortgage in 2022.

This loan is being provided by Northwind Group as part of its recently launched A-Note financing product, a vehicle that is targeted to provide the most senior tranche of the capital stack on real estate transactions. This pool of capital can be provided as an A-Note or Loan-on-Loan and will be available for all major asset types across the country, with a major focus on residential transactions, with loan size of $50 million and above.

Northwind Group provided the A-Note with flexible terms, which will provide the owner and existing lender with the required capital to complete the conversion project. Northwind Group remains committed to lending in New York City and is actively providing capital to quality borrowers with well-located assets.

“Northwind Group is excited to provide our A-Note loan, as we recognize a big gap in the market for financing due to commercial banks stepping back from regulatory and macro issues,” said Ran Eliasaf, founder and managing partner of Northwind Group. “We are pleased to work with experienced sponsors and financing counter parties like Parkview Financial and Montgomery Street Partners to deliver much-needed rental units due to the significant shortage of new rental products in Manhattan. We look forward to also continuing to provide senior financing to other lenders.”

About Northwind Group
Northwind Group, founded in 2008 by Ran Eliasaf, is a Manhattan based real estate private equity firm with $3 billion in AUM that invests primarily in debt instruments through its discretionary closed-ended debt funds. For further information, go to www.northwind-group.com.

About Parkview Financial
Parkview Financial is a direct private lender specializing in ground-up commercial and residential real estate financing. Through a private real estate debt fund, Parkview provides short-term bridge and construction loans secured by first trust deeds to developers throughout the United States.

About Montgomery Street Partners
Real estate investment firm that makes controlling and non-controlling investments in real estate assets, general partner positions, and real estate operating companies. MSP invests across all real estate product types and across domestic geographies.

SOURCE Northwind Group