SUNNYVALE, Calif, May 24, 2023 — Figure, an AI Robotics company building general purpose humanoid robots, today announced its $70 million Series A funding round. This new funding will be used to accelerate the development of Figure 01 (the company’s autonomous humanoid robot), build out Figure’s AI data pipeline for autonomous operations, and drive towards commercialization. The round is led by Parkway Venture Capital and joined by participating investments from Brett Adcock, Aliya Capital, Bold Capital Partners, Tamarack Global, FJ labs, and KUKA Robotics CEO Till Reuter. This funding news comes on the heels of Figure’s emergence from stealth.

Figure is building humanoid robots designed for initial deployment into the workforce to address labor shortages and to support supply chain on a global scale. In recent months, Figure made notable hires across AI, Controls, Manipulation, Perception, and Commercial Operations. Figure’s latest hire, Bob Klunk, joined the team as Head of Warehouse Solutions to help bring Figure 01 into its first real world application. Bob, former SVP of Operations at Geodis, is a fulfillment operations veteran and brings over two decades of warehouse experience to the team.

“We’re focused on investing in companies that are pioneers in AI technology, and we believe that autonomous humanoid robots have the potential to revolutionize the labor economy. We are impressed by the rapid progress that Brett and the team of industry experts at Figure have made in the last year and are thrilled to be a financial partner to provide resources to accelerate the commercialization of Figure 01” says Jesse Coors-Blankenship, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Parkway Venture Capital.

“Figure’s near-term goal is to deploy humanoids into the workforce, and we believe that the structured, repetitive, and often dangerous tasks in warehouses are a great potential first application. This investment round will support the testing of early warehouse solutions and gives us the ability to move and iterate quickly ahead of commercial operations. I look forward to growing this strategic partnership with Parkway and all participating investors to support the success of Figure” says Brett Adcock, Founder and CEO of Figure.

In the last twelve months, Figure reached significant milestones including:

• Brought on industry leading robotics experts such as Dr. Jerry Pratt as Figure’s CTO, who has been involved in humanoid robotics development for over 20 years.
• Scaled an organization of 50 employees with over 100 years of Humanoid and AI experience spanning disciplines of AI, Manipulation, Perception, Robot Controls, Software, Electrical, and Mechanical Engineering.
• Successfully completed the build, integration, and testing of the alpha prototype of Figure 01.
• Defined commercialization efforts for Figure’s first applications in industries where labor shortages are the most severe, such as manufacturing, shipping and logistics, warehousing, and retail.

About Figure

Figure is an AI Robotics company developing autonomous general purpose humanoid robots. Our Humanoid is designed for initial deployment into the workforce to address labor shortages, jobs that are undesirable or unsafe, and to support supply chain on a global scale. Figure is a team of 50 employees based in Sunnyvale, California.

For more information about Figure, visit www.figure.ai.

SOURCE Figure AI Inc.

COLOGNE, Germany and NEW YORK, May 24, 2023 — Sastrify, the next generation platform for buying and managing SaaS subscriptions, today announced it has raised a $32 million Series B financing round led by Endeit Capital, with participation from Simon Capital and previous investors HV Capital, FirstMark Capital, and TriplePoint Capital. The company will use the additional funds to scale the global team focused on the United States and Europe and further accelerate product development to support mid-market and enterprise customers.  Sastrify has been a strong force in Europe since first launching in mid-2020, growing more than 400% in the past year fueled by a focus on clear return on investment for its customers.

SaaS sprawl continues to pose a significant risk to companies worldwide. According to industry research, more than $200 billion and 3.9 billion working hours will be wasted on software buying in 2023, while one in five companies will have experienced a cyber event related to shadow IT. According to Sastrify data, the typical company overspends by more than thirty percent on their SaaS costs and wastes more than 400 hours per year on managing their SaaS contracts.

The Sastrify platform allows users to centralize, visualize, and automate their entire SaaS procurement journey. Sastrify powers SaaS procurement for fast-growing companies like sennder, OnRunning, Babbel, and Pleo and is positioned to continue to expand its services in the US, already serving US customers such as Capchase, a non-dilutive financing provider to SaaS companies. 

The fundraising coincides with Sastrify’s expansion of its core product offerings to provide automated Usage Analytics as well as the launch of the Sastrify Marketplace, which includes flexible payment and financing options. Sastrify and Capchase also recently announced a partnership to provide flexible financing for SaaS licenses.

With the launch of Sastrify’s exclusive pre-negotiated commercial offerings via their Marketplace, teams can find and evaluate tools, streamline their procurement processes, optimize their SaaS stacks, and make insights-driven decisions. With Sastrify’s expanded Usage Analytics, companies benefit from having full transparency into their SaaS stack—visibility which in turn allows them to eliminate unnecessary or bad-fit tools and discover better alternatives.

“We’ve built a platform that enables procurement, finance, and IT teams to fully optimize all aspects of their software procurement,” said Sastrify CEO and co-founder Sven Lackinger. “Our hundreds of customers around the world have validated our platform as the comprehensive SaaS procurement solution. We’re positioned to grow our team, and continue to work with companies to focus and accelerate their efforts to reduce their risk, save hours per week, and save up to seven figures on their SaaS costs.”

“As a result of the rise of SaaS Solutions, accelerated Digital Transformation due to Covid and the current global economic climate, scalable SaaS management has become table stakes for running a successful company. We believe Sastrify’s platform is very well positioned to capitalize on this trend,” said Philipp Schroeder, partner at Endeit Capital,” said Philipp Schroeder, partner at Endeit Capital.

“FirstMark invests in companies like Airbnb, Pinterest, and Shopify that can transform massive markets with technology. Sastrify’s accelerated growth and compelling product/market fit with global customers has cemented our belief in the company’s position to be the #1 global SaaS procurement solution,” said Adam Nelson, Managing Director, FirstMark.

For more information, visit Sastrify.com

About Sastrify

Sastrify is a digital procurement platform for Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) products. Founded in 2020 by serial entrepreneurs Maximilian Messing and Sven Lackinger, Sastrify helps companies get the best deals when buying and renewing SaaS subscriptions. The Sastrify  platform enables procurement, tech, and finance teams to work together seamlessly, benefitting from best in class buying processes, partnerships with leading SaaS vendors, and an ever-growing database of price benchmarks. Backed by Endeit, FirstMark, and HV Capital, Sastrify supports hundreds of clients globally, including OnRunning, Pleo, and Capchase.

Logo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2081451/Sastrify_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Sastrify

• Danish start-up developing immunotherapies designed to fight the tumors from within
• Financing supports GMP and toxicology studies and will advance InProTher’s first-in-class cancer immunotherapy into First-in-Human clinical trials
• Strengthens team with appointment of industry heavyweights Dr. Sven Rohmann as Chairman and Dr. Hamina Patel as CMO

COPENHAGEN, Denmark, May 24, 2023 — InProTher, an early-stage biotechnology company developing effective immunotherapies targeting the Human Endogenous Retroviruses (HERVs), today announces that it has raised EUR 6M Seed funding from private investors, with participation from the European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund. The financing will enable InProTher to advance its lead drug candidate, IPT001, a first-in-class immunotherapy against solid tumors, into clinical development.

Incubated at the BioInnovation Institute (BII) and seeded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation, InProTher was established to develop immunotherapies designed to overcome the limitations of cancer vaccines. InProTher is targeting the Human Endogenous Retroviruses (HERVs) to treat cancer. HERVS are well recognized as tumor specific antigens, but until now, have been undruggable. InProTher is targeting HERV tumor antigens with powerful technology that stimulates both arms of the immune system, the humoral and the cellular response. The Company delivers the immunogen by using Adenoviral and RNA vectors.

InProTher has generated robust pre-clinical, proof-of-concept data that demonstrates therapeutic potential for multiple oncology indications including pancreatic, ovarian, breast and prostate cancer. It plans to enter First-In-Human (FIH) trials in 2024. 

To support its growth, InProTher has appointed Dr Hamina Patel, MD, as Chief Medical Officer, and Dr Sven Rohmann, MD, PhD, MBA as Chairman of the Board of Directors.

Jordi Naval, Chief Executive Officer of InProTher said: “InProTher is shifting the paradigm in cancer immunotherapy and is at an exciting phase of growth. Our aim is to unlock the full potential of immunotherapy in cancer.  We believe InProTher can solve the limitations of current cancer vaccines, as our pre-clinical data has shown that our immunotherapy induces higher tumor control, survival rate and tumor efficacy, compared to other competing approaches. I am very pleased to welcome Sven and Hamina to InProTher. Their expertise and track record of success will be invaluable as we accelerate the development of our lead candidate into clinical development.”  

Hermann Hauser, the EIC Fund Board member commented: “The EIC Fund has established itself as a strong force in EU deep-tech investments. This unique form of financing via EIC combining grants and equity is proving itself highly attractive to Europe’s most promising start-ups.”

Dr Sven Rohmann, newly appointed Chairman added: “I am thrilled to have joined the Board of Directors of InProTher at this time of company expansion. The Company is working on cutting-edge technology at the forefront of cancer immunotherapies, and I look forward to taking this technology into clinics.”

Dr Patel has over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry with proven track record of leadership roles in clinical development, oncology and global commercialization, having previously held positions as Director of Drug Development, Oncology, at Johnson and Johnson, where she helped build a broad and differentiated portfolio of indications for the cancer drug VELCADE. Dr Rohmann is experienced in General Management and leadership and has a track record in raising funds for SMEs and public companies. He has extensive international experience in M&A, business and corporate development, clinical development, strategic marketing and portfolio management in small- and large-scale Venture Capital Financing at Merck, Novartis and MPM Bio IV NVS Strategic Fund.

The Seed round of EUR 6M includes private investors and a convertible loan from EICF. InProTher is planning to raise an additional Series A to finance the pivot from preclinical to clinical development.

About InProTher

InProTher is a biotechnology company based in Copenhagen, Denmark. The vision of InProTher is to lead the development of novel immunotherapies that target the Human Endogenous Retroviruses (HERVs) as tumor-specific antigens. InProTher will solve bottlenecks and unleash the full potential of immuno-oncology, not only in terms of cancer vaccines but also in further expanding the use of checkpoint inhibitors to multiple indications and patient populations.

To date, InProTher has put in place a world-class scientific team and created an emerging product development pipeline, including a leading programme targeted to enter clinics in 2024.

Initial investors in InProTher include the BioInnovation Institute (Novo Foundation), and Vaekstfonden (Denmark).

About the EIC Fund

The European Innovation Council Fund from the European Commission is an agnostic Fund: it invests across all technologies and verticals, and all EU countries and countries associated to Horizon Europe. It provides the investment component of the EIC Accelerator blended finance.

The EIC Fund aims to fill a critical financing gap and its main purpose is to support companies in the development and commercialisation of disruptive technologies, bridging with and crowding in market players, and further sharing risk by building a large network of capital providers and strategic partners suitable for co-investments and follow-on funding.

The Fund pays particular attention to the empowerment and support of female founders as well as the ambition to reduce the innovation divide among EU countries.

SOURCE InProTher

Investment round led by Bank of America with significant participation from Pivot Investment Partners and ING Ventures

NEW YORK, May 24, 2023 — OpenFin, the operating system (OS) of enterprise productivity, today announced that it has secured $35 million in Series D investment. The latest funding round was led by Bank of America with significant participation from Pivot Investment Partners and ING Ventures. Additional investors in the round include CME Ventures, CTC Venture Capital, SC Ventures and Tribeca Early Stage Partners.

The investment will be used to help accelerate the adoption of OpenFin OS across the financial industry and beyond. OpenFin’s web-based OS is becoming a de facto standard in financial services for powering next-generation applications and digital experiences for employees and clients. The software is now used at more than 3,800 banks, wealth, and asset management firms in 60+ countries.

The funding round comes during a period of record growth for OpenFin driven by rapid adoption of OpenFin Workspace, the visual interface of OpenFin OS. Introduced in 2021, OpenFin Workspace includes an app launcher, notification center, universal search, an enterprise browser with default interoperability, and app store capabilities. These components help unify and simplify the end user experience across both internal and 3rd party apps, significantly enhancing productivity and reducing operational risk.

According to multiple recent surveys from Forbes Technology Council, Harvard Business Review¹ and others, end users experience anywhere from 2 to 4 hours of lost productivity each day, often referred to as the “toggle tax”. The wasted time stems from employees using anywhere from 7 to 35 apps a day, toggling between those apps thousands of times a day, and individually searching apps an hour a day. This translates to a cost of millions or tens of millions of dollars a year in lost productivity depending on the size of an organization.

Dinkar Jetley, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Pivot Investment Partners, said: “OpenFin provides the financial industry with a truly open workspace platform that is unrivaled when it comes to app distribution, security, interoperability, scale and governance. We have backed OpenFin’s vision since 2015 and are delighted to support the company as they expand across the financial sector and beyond.”

Last year, OpenFin announced its expansion into the government sector via a strategic partnership and investment from In-Q-Tel (IQT).

Mazy Dar, CEO of OpenFin said: “This is a significant milestone in OpenFin’s mission to enable openness, app interoperability and end user productivity across the financial industry. OpenFin Workspace is empowering financial institutions to transform experience for their employees and their customers, replacing traditional browsers with an enterprise browser designed for work. We’re delighted to welcome Bank of America as our newest strategic investor and we’re grateful for the continued support from Pivot Investment Partners and so many other existing investors.”

Other major OpenFin investors include Bain Capital Ventures, Barclays, DRW Venture Capital, HSBC, J.P. Morgan, NYCA Partners and Wells Fargo Strategic Capital.

About OpenFin

Move Fast. Break Nothing. OpenFin is The Operating System of Enterprise Productivity, enabling app distribution, workspace management and workflow automation. OpenFin OS currently runs at more than 3,800 banks and buy-side firms with thousands of internal apps and apps from the global vendor community. OpenFin investors include Bain Capital Ventures, Barclays, In-Q-Tel, CME Ventures, CTC Venture Capital, DRW Venture Capital, HSBC, ING Ventures, J.P. Morgan, NYCA Partners, Pivot Investment Partners, Standard Chartered and Wells Fargo Strategic Capital among others. The company is based in New York with an office in London and presence in Hong Kong and Singapore.

¹ Harvard Business Review: How Much Time and Energy Do We Waste Toggling Between Applications? https://hbr.org/2022/08/how-much-time-and-energy-do-we-waste-toggling-between-applications 

Media Inquiries:
Mitra Roknabadi
[email protected]

SOURCE OpenFin

Additional investors include American Family Ventures, among others

HAMILTON, Bermuda and ONTARIO, Canada, May 23, 2023 — Chelsea Avondale (“Chelsea Avondale” or the “Company”), a home insurance group that develops and deploys scientific risk models to underwrite personal property risk with precision and speed, today announced that it has secured Series C funding from a group of leading investors. The funding round was led by MSD Partners, L.P. and also included American Family Ventures, among others.

The new funding will be used to support the continued growth of Chelsea Avondale’s Canadian homeowners insurance portfolio, which is underwritten through the Company’s wholly owned subsidiary, Max Insurance, and distributed through Max’s network of independent brokers. It will also be used to support Chelsea Avondale’s strategic international expansion. In conjunction with the completion of the investment round, Dan Bitar, Managing Director and co-head of MSD Growth, has joined the Chelsea Avondale board of directors.

At a time when many brokers and policyholders are struggling to find affordable capacity, Chelsea Avondale’s unique approach to personal property risk offers prices and coverage to many policyholders that traditional carriers cannot match. By applying its granular and scientific approach to underwriting, the Company is able to provide a highly efficient quote, bind, and policy administration process for brokers and policyholders.

“We are thrilled to partner with the Chelsea Avondale team to support the continued expansion of their innovative and differentiated approach to property insurance,” said Dan Bitar, Managing Director and Co-Head of MSD Growth. “Chelsea Avondale’s passion for precision pricing and risk management, coupled with a strong track record of exceptional underwriting results, creates a tremendous runway for future growth. This investment is emblematic of MSD Growth’s strategy of serving as a flexible, long-term partner to growth businesses with proven business models and large market opportunities.”

“Chelsea Avondale’s culture is driven by tenured risk managers and scientists with decades of reinsurance experience,” said Kyle Beatty, Managing Director of American Family Ventures. “Their knowledge and expertise in dynamically modelling and managing all catastrophic and non-catastrophic risk is truly impressive. Their proprietary approaches enable the company to delineate risk with exceptional precision, particularly for homes exposed to wildfires and flooding. Further, this team has fully rebuilt its insurance operating system, thereby removing unnecessary operating expense and creating a step-change in user experience for both agents and policy holders.”

“MSD Partners and American Family Ventures are industry leaders in supporting transformational ideas in insurance. We are fortunate to have such partners that deeply understand the value of our approach and are committed to helping us advance the development and application of risk science in the property insurance market,” said Nilesh Vasani, CEO of Chelsea Avondale.

About Chelsea Avondale

Chelsea Avondale has developed Skynet, a precision risk technology for property & casualty insurance, by going back to the scientific principles that cause insurance claims. The first implementation of Skynet was completed in Chelsea Avondale’s wholly owned insurance company in Canada – Max Insurance. Chelsea Avondale also partners with industry leaders to proliferate the global impact of scientific underwriting.

Learn more at chelseaavondale.com

About Max Insurance

Max Insurance is based out of Ontario, Canada, and offers homeowners, tenants, landlords and condo insurance in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario through its network of independent brokers.

Max’s focus is on providing personal property insurance at a fair price. Whether it’s a home, cottage, condo, or apartment, Max believes its duty is to provide policyholders with protection for what matters most.

Learn more at maxinsurance.ca

About MSD Partners

MSD Partners focuses on maximizing long-term capital appreciation across three core areas of investing expertise – Credit, Real Estate, and Growth Equity. It is an affiliate of BDT & MSD Partners, a merchant bank with an advisory and investment platform built to serve the distinct needs of business owners and strategic, long-term investors. Since 2010, BDT & MSD Partners’ affiliated funds have deployed more than $50 billion across their investment strategies. For more information, visit www.bdtmsd.com

About American Family Ventures

American Family Ventures is the corporate VC arm of American Family Insurance. American Family’s pioneering attitude and decades of success allow the firm the opportunity to invest in seed through growth stage companies that are redefining the future of the insurance industry. AFV aims to help create category-leading companies through minority equity positions, active partnership and collaboration, an extensive Insurtech network, and a comprehensive platform of value-add programs.

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

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2083427/Chelsea_Avondale_Logo.jpg

Media Contacts:
Chelsea Avondale / Max Insurance
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (246) 832-3341

MSD Partners
Sara Evans / Matthew Glasser
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (312) 529-6548 / (312) 385-2883

American Family Ventures
Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Chelsea Avondale Ltd.

super{set} startup studio portfolio company’s seed funding round was led by Forerunner Ventures with participation from Ulu Ventures

Raise will enable boombox.io to accelerate product development on the way to becoming the winning creator platform for musicians globally

SAN FRANCISCO, May 23, 2023 — boombox.io, a collaboration platform for music makers, announced today it has closed $7 million of seed capital. The round was led by Forerunner with participation from super{set} startup studio and Ulu Ventures.

Launched in November 2022, boombox.io is a platform where music producers can store, version, and track all of their music files; collect time-stamped feedback on audio files; communicate on the go with iOS/Android apps; manage splits for songwriting and recordings; and create simple legally-binding contracts for song ownership.

boombox.io leverages Generative AI to enrich and extend a musician’s creative process with Boombot, a friendly, AI-powered collaborator that generates new ideas and fleshes out partial ones to make music creation more dynamic, faster and smarter. Boombot helps users spitball lyrics and song titles, suggests chord progressions, and turns them into MIDI files creators can pull directly into their digital audio workstation. Purpose-built workflows enable creators to track and manage AI-generated ideas and evolve them on the fly with each other. 

The $7M seed funding will enable boombox.io to build out its team, accelerate product development, build new partnerships, and continue serving a base of committed and fanatic early customers. 

“As a musician and engineer, I felt the creator economy was long on hype and short on tools for creators. We aspired to build a platform that gives music makers an all-in-one platform to collaborate like GitHub, connect like LinkedIn, and earn revenue from music,” said co-founder and CEO Tom Chavez. “There are a lot of tools that solve little pain points in the creative process, but ours is, to our knowledge, the first end-to-end solution to enable musical creators to collaborate, connect, and earn revenue from their art.”

“boombox.io is grounded in the idea that we can reimagine the best of workplace productivity software specifically for music producers, so they can better harness their creativity and take ownership of their work — rather than wrestle with disparate apps and storage systems that weren’t built for their needs,” said Brian O’Malley, Managing Partner at Forerunner. “It’s helmed by tech industry leaders with a track record of building great businesses and musicians with a deep appreciation for the production process, who together saw an opportunity in the gap between the tools they use daily for work and those used to collaborate on their craft. It’s easy to see how boombox.io will immediately land with users, and then continue to grow with them over time.”

While growing to become the default platform for music makers globally, boombox.io plans to release a desktop app this year for simpler file backup, automation of submissions to performing rights organizations (PROs), and video features to support live sessions with collaborators.

“boombox.io has blown me away with its features and integrations,” said Lucas Banker, Head of Partnerships at boombox.io and long-time music producer who has worked with Selena Gomez, Sting and others. “This is what so many of us have been waiting for: a system for musicians that helps us create beautiful art and get it out in the world. It’s like Dropbox on steroids but with so much more, built by people who know how music is made.” 

ABOUT boombox:

boombox.io elevates and empowers musicians to create cooler, more inspiring art. With user-friendly tools that integrate seamlessly with the modern musician’s digital toolbox, boombox.io gives musicians an all-in-one platform to collaborate, create, and connect with other artists. With boombox, they can choose how and when to engage with their fans and earn money doing what they love. Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned pro, boombox.io helps musicians everywhere unleash their creativity and take their art to the next level.

For more information about boombox, please visit boombox.io. Sign up today and get your first 4GB of storage free. 

CONTACT:
Jackie Zupsic
[email protected]

SOURCE boombox.io

AI-powered customer support platform for virtual voice agents and conversational intelligence gets boost with new funding

FORT WORTH, Texas, May 23, 2023 — SmartAction, a top-tier AI platform provider specializing in advanced Intelligent Virtual Agents (IVA) and conversational AI solutions, is proud to announce the successful closing of a new round of funding. This latest funding round brings the current strategic growth capital amount to an impressive $38 million, signifying a major milestone for the company. The funds will help advance the company’s AI-powered technology platform and expand its commercial team to meet the growing demand for its customer support solutions.

“Our primary objective at SmartAction is to revolutionize customer support capabilities, providing consumer-facing enterprises with the ability to handle complex agent interactions in a cost-effective manner, while gaining valuable insights into their customers,” said Kyle Johnson, CEO of SmartAction. “Our clients choose our services because we excel in building brand loyalty and driving significant improvements in key customer metrics, as well as contact center ROI.”

The funding round was led by existing investors TVC Capital and Staley Capital with the support of ORIX Corporation USA.

“We are thrilled to invest in SmartAction’s growth, as we firmly believe that the company’s offering is exceptional and highly valuable within the conversational AI market,” said Jeb Spencer, Managing Director of TVC Capital. “With the industry rapidly evolving and supporting increasingly complex virtual interactions, we are confident that SmartAction is well-positioned to capitalize on this opportunity and further expand its reach.”

“SmartAction has built one of the most robust IVA and conversational AI solutions in the market and has an exceptional client base,” said Renny Smith, Managing Partner at Staley Capital. “This additional capital will allow the company to continue its impressive growth trajectory, funding additional Sales and Marketing resources, as well as Engineering talent for building product line extensions.” 

SmartAction’s Distinctive Approach
SmartAction stands out in the industry due to its business and delivery model, centered around fostering genuine partnerships with its clients. Unlike traditional service providers, SmartAction goes beyond simply delivering a solution—it collaborates closely with each business to design a customized customer journey. From the initial build to ongoing maintenance, SmartAction remains dedicated to its clients throughout the lifespan of their accounts. SmartAction acts as an extended team by continuously monitoring systems and calls, providing invaluable support. This collaborative approach sparks innovation, as SmartAction recognizes that true breakthroughs often emerge from the art of collaboration.

About SmartAction
SmartAction^® is the industry leader in purpose-built AI-powered Virtual Agents for customer service in the contact center industry. Our innovative technology and CX services enable frictionless conversational AI experiences over voice, chat, and text, freeing up live agents to handle human-necessary and high-priority conversations. Our satisfied clients, including AAA, DSW, Electrolux, and Choice Hotels, have consistently ranked us as the top Virtual Agent provider on Gartner Peer Insights. As a result, we have established ourselves as the go-to solution for companies looking to improve customer support capabilities, drive brand loyalty, and achieve significant improvements in key customer metrics and contact center ROI.

About TVC Capital
TVC Capital is a San Diego-based growth equity firm with over $235 million under management. TVC is focused on investments in and acquisitions of business-critical software firms. TVC targets a wide spectrum of software sectors and industry verticals that are poised for growth and consolidation. The TVC team is led by operating executives with more than 80 years of experience growing technology companies into market leaders. Current and past investments include Accordent Technologies, Docupace, MediaPlatform, Levels Beyond (Reach Engine), Del Mar DataTrac, Centage, Perspectium, Limeade, LiquidPlanner, Mercent, Celigo and ReverseVision. For more information, visit www.tvccapital.com.

About Staley Capital
Staley Capital invests in growth-stage B2B technology companies that provide “better, faster, cheaper” solutions with compelling and demonstrable value propositions. Based in Boston, the firm’s team of investment professionals and advisors have over 25 years of experience investing in and operating B2B technology and consumer-focused businesses together, as well as a deep understanding of consumer trends and the tools enterprises need to better serve their customers. Some of Staley Capital investments include Olo, Zeta Global, MNTN, Acclaris and Aspen Marketing Services.

About ORIX Corporation USA
Since 1981, ORIX USA has served the middle market with creative and flexible capital solutions, delivering through a capital base that combines the strength of its balance sheet with funds from third-party investors seeking access to attractive alternative investments. With a focus on private credit, real estate and private equity, ORIX USA and its subsidiaries — ORIX Advisers, ORIX Capital Partners, Signal Peak Capital Management, Boston Financial, Lument, Real Estate Capital and NXT Capital— have approximately 1300 employees across the U.S. ORIX USA and its family of companies have $85.1 billion in assets, which include $27.4 billion of assets under management, $47.1 billion in servicing and administration assets, and approximately $10.6 billion in proprietary assets, as of March 2023. Its parent company, ORIX Corporation, is a publicly owned international financial services company with operations in 28 countries and regions worldwide. ORIX Corporation is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (8591) and New York Stock Exchange (IX). For more information, visit orix.com.

Contact Information:
Media contact: Ashley Nicole Bard
Phone: +1 424-478-9923
Email: [email protected]

SOURCE SmartAction

LOS ANGELES, May 23, 2023 — Steno, the tech-enabled provider of legal support services, announces the close of a $15M Series B funding round, led by Left Lane Capital. The company has raised a total of $38.5M, including a Series A round completed in fall 2020 led by Trust Ventures.

Greg Hong, Dylan Ruga, and Dan Anderson co-founded Steno in 2018 with a mission to revolutionize the legal support service industry by rebuilding the traditional court reporting agency model. Steno’s flagship product, DelayPay, enables law firms to defer service costs until their case resolves, solving a long-standing cash flow problem for lawyers.

Dylan Ruga, Steno’s Co-Founder and a law firm owner himself, explained, “As a plaintiff attorney, I found myself in a spot where all of my working capital was tied up in case costs. I couldn’t grow my business, there were no court reporting agencies that would defer costs until my cases settled, and securing litigation financing was resource-draining for my staff. I called Greg and Dan with the idea, and Steno took shape.”

Greg Hong, Co-Founder and CEO added, “We realized there was a real solution here to meaningfully improve the way lawyers can operate their firms by offering highly-reliable services underpinned by purpose-built technology and a financing layer. It was a massive opportunity to build a best-in-class service layer in this $17B traditionally-analog market.”

As part of its Series B fundraise, Steno also announces a strategic investment from Clio Ventures, the direct investment arm of Clio, the world’s largest legal technology platform servicing 150,000 legal professionals. “We’re thrilled to welcome Clio as a strategic partner during our 2023 expansion,” said Hong. “Building an integration within Clio’s legal practice management platform enables shared customers to access all of their case activities in real time, removing common administrative hurdles and freeing up valuable time for their clients.” The companies anticipate launching an integration later this year.

Steno built its momentum in light of the pandemic, which catalyzed an industry-wide reckoning of its relationship to technology for legal proceedings. From 20 employees to over 100 in under a year, the company stood at the forefront of remote deposition technology with Steno Connect, the purpose-built video conferencing platform. It has since expanded its offering to a suite of products designed to enable law firms and court reporters to focus on the work that matters most.

“Steno has found phenomenal product-market fit with its online legal services marketplace and DelayPay product,” said Jason Fiedler, Managing Partner at Left Lane Capital. “They are enabling law firms to take on more volume with greater efficiency, and the business is more than doubling market share year over year as a result.”

In the past year, Steno launched its rapidly-growing concierge e-filing and service of process, a natural extension of the essential services law firms need on deferred-payment terms.

The Series B funding will allow Steno to continue growing its footprint in new markets across the country, develop adjacent service channels for its clients, and expand its tech team to pursue a mission of transforming the way legal support services are consumed.

To learn more about Steno or to request information about its services, visit: www.steno.com.

About Left Lane Capital: Founded in 2019, Left Lane Capital is a New York-based global venture capital and growth equity firm investing in internet and technology companies with a consumer orientation. Left Lane’s mission is to partner with extraordinary entrepreneurs who create category-defining companies across growth sectors of the economy, including software, healthcare, e-commerce, consumer, fintech, edtech, and other industries. Select investments include GoStudent, M1 Finance, Wayflyer, Bilt, Masterworks, Blank Street, Talkiatry, Tovala, and more. For more information, please visit www.leftlanecap.com.

Media Contact:
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SOURCE Steno

PUYALLUP, Wash., May 23, 2023 — Builders Capital announced today that it has raised an additional $500 Million of new capital to address the needs of home builders and developers, in addition to the $300 Million announced last week. This new capital will help Builders Capital continue their rapid growth and fill the gap in new home construction financing left behind from the recent banking challenges. Builders Capital is preparing to originate billions in new construction loan volume in the back half of the year for builders and developers across the country.

“We’ve always served a very important role in the capital stack for builders, but the demand for our offerings has accelerated even faster due to recent banking disruptions and builder confidence continuing to climb,” said Rob Trent, Builders Capital CEO.  According to the latest Redfin analysis, New home construction currently accounts for almost 30% of the active for-sale listings in the U.S. (up from the typical 10%). Limited existing housing inventory has put a renewed emphasis in New Construction and with the continued pressure on re-sale inventory, that demand is expected to continue.  “Builder confidence hit a 10 month high this month, and we’re seeing an influx of interest from builders scrambling to find a reliable lender that understands their businesses and can deliver the types of loans they need. We’re uniquely positioned to deliver on that need and scale rapidly to meet the demand,” said Trent. 

Builders Capital has grown from a small regional lender to a national private lending powerhouse, differentiating themselves from most private lenders by focusing their products specifically for homebuilders and developers. “Our strong track record of loan performance and our market leading platform provide us unique access to the capital markets; that reliable access to capital allows us to consistently deliver for our customers,” said Arik Prawer, Co-President and head of Capital Markets at Builders Capital.

 About Builders Capital

Builders Capital is the nation’s largest private construction lender, offering innovative financing solutions to a wide spectrum of developers and homebuilders. Loan products include options for Acquisition, Development, Construction, and Bridge financing, in the form of single asset loans, portfolio loans, and revolving credit facilities. In addition to financing opportunities, Builders Capital borrowers can leverage national accounts for material purchase discounts, and access cutting edge technology for project management, accounting, and BIM technology tools. Builders Capital is headquartered in Puyallup, Washington, with regional sales offices across the country. The management team at Builders Capital brings over 100 years of expertise in residential construction lending, home building, real estate development, and loan servicing.

To learn more about Builders Capital, visit www.builderscapital.com

SOURCE Builders Capital