From healthtech startups, to hormone-balancing snacks, companies from across the United States will compete for seed money at the annual San Diego event

SAN DIEGO, Sept. 13, 2023 — Women rock. Period. And six female founders who have created innovative products ranging from energy bars that help to optimize hormones to a reusable period cup that inserts like a tampon, will soon have their chance to pitch for seed money and support during the Women’s Fast Pitch finals. The competition will take place on Day 2 of the 10th annual Women’s Venture Summit, a conference aimed at helping female founders gain access to capital. The two-day event is happening on Sept. 28-29, 2023, at the Cooley LLP and Joya Conference Center at 10265 Science Center Dr. in San Diego. Tickets are available.

Sponsored by Cooley LLP, The Impact Seat Foundation and Holland & Knight, the Women’s Fast Pitch competition made its way across five U.S. regions this summer, and will conclude in San Diego where one founder will win $10,000 in seed money, approximately $30,000 worth of in-kind business services, and exposure to a new investor network.

“This year’s finalists will bring health and wellness innovation to the center stage at the Women’s Venture Summit. Their products are proof that the 2.1% of the total capital invested in venture-backed startups going to women is not enough,” said Flossie Hall, CEO of Stella, the event organizer and a San Diego-based nonprofit organization that has helped more than 500 women launch and scale their businesses through courses, advisement and access-to-capital events. “Women’s Fast Pitch competition and Women’s Venture Summit are our biggest efforts toward our mission of connecting women with more access to funding and have helped us facilitate more than $100 million in funding to date.”

The 2023 Women’s Fast Pitch finalists are:

• Northeast: Elina Furman of Kahlmi, Stamford, CT

Kahlmi educates parents on the nurturing, neurological, and cognitive aspects of baby massage through the first interactive massage tool and an educational content platform.

• Southeast: Debbie Dickinson of Thermaband, Miami, FL

Thermaband Zone is a smart wearable device providing a personal thermostat and cooling capabilities, supplemented with health data to understand your body.

• Midwest: Corinne Vargas of SMARTCharts, Chicago, IL

SMARTCharts helps to automate documentation workflows for clinicians in speech, occupational, and physical therapies while providing personalized patient progress visualizations.

• Northwest: Joelle Tudor of CathConnect, Seattle, WA

The CathConnect device is a patent-pending device to provide patients with a safer alternative to traditional indwelling urinary catheters.

• Southwest: Julie Gordon White of MenoWell Menopause Energy + Protein Bars, Berkeley, CA

MenoWell Energy + Protein Bars are delicious nutrient-dense, plant-based bars formulated with the Meno Transition Trifecta of Organic Maca to optimize hormones.

• Wildcard: Cindy Belardo of Sunny, Indianapolis, IN

The Sunny Cup + Applicator is a reusable period cup that inserts like a tampon using the reusable applicator.

By bringing together women founders and investors and giving them access to a pitch competition, inspiring workshops and powerful panelists, Stella is moving toward its goal of wealth creation and equal opportunity for women. This year’s Women’s Venture Summit keynote speakers who will provide insight on how to keep the momentum going are Elizabeth Gore (Co-founder of Hello Alice), Mac Conwell (Founder of RareBreed Ventures), Nicola Corzine (Executive Director of the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center) and Dr. Silvia Mah (Founder of Stella).

Sponsors of Women’s Venture Summit include Ad Astra Ventures, San Diego & Imperial SDBC, DLA Piper, Cooley LLP, The Impact Seat Foundation, Knobbe Martens, NSP Studio, She Invests!, Teknos, TriNet and UBS.

To view the full 80-speaker lineup for the two-day event, please visit https://www.womensventuresummit.org/. Now available, general admission tickets start at $299.00 and VIP tickets start at $599.00. Follow the conference at @wearewvs on social media.

About Stella:

Founded in 2012, Stella connects women founders and investors to the right resources–at the right time–in their journeys. From ideation to funding to exit, women founders and investors look to Stella for its powerful constellation of support made up of an inclusive community, curriculum, access to capital events including the annual Women’s Venture Summit, advisory services and funding opportunities. Let’s connect the stars together. For more information, please visit stella.co.

Media Contact:
April Enriquez
[email protected]
805-816-4833

SOURCE Stella

Investment will support rapid growth of Sempre’s life sciences and payer networks and expansion into adjacent product areas

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 13, 2023 — Sempre Health, the leading solution for behavior-based healthcare pricing, today announced $20M in additional funding from three new investors, including Cencora Ventures and Echo Health Ventures. Existing investors including the Blue Venture Fund, UPMC Enterprises and Industry Ventures also participated.

This comes at an important time for the millions of Americans who struggle to afford their life-saving medications, many of whom have benefited from Sempre programs that drive a more than 20% improvement in adherence and Net Promoter Score^® of 95, a testament to the high level of satisfaction Sempre patients have with the company’s dynamic discount and SMS-based adherence solutions.

Unlike traditional coupons and cash card programs, Sempre aligns multiple healthcare stakeholders to dynamically adjust a patient’s out-of-pocket costs at the point of dispense based on individual adherence and benefit design. With the new funding, Sempre will accelerate growth of its two-sided network of pharma manufacturers and health plans, launch products for new populations, and significantly grow the number of patients helped by the unique solution.

Cencora Ventures, formerly known as AB Health Ventures, the corporate venture fund of Cencora Inc., understands the importance of medication adherence in driving healthcare outcomes and believes Sempre’s differentiated solution can drive meaningful impact.

“Cencora is committed to advancing innovative solutions that better enable medication access and affordability in support of patient health,” said Leslie Donato, EVP, Chief Strategy Officer at Cencora. “Sempre’s unique business model has the ability to evolve traditional market access approaches for life sciences companies and drive substantial improvement in medication adherence.”

Echo Health Ventures is a purpose-driven strategic venture capital and growth equity firm focused on accelerating transformational healthcare innovation on a national scale. Echo invests to grow great healthcare companies by building strong relationships between enterprises and innovators to meet the needs of tomorrow’s healthcare consumers in an economically sustainable way.

“Echo Health Ventures invests in companies that address the complexity of healthcare head-on and deliver better health and member experiences while reducing overall costs,” said Jose Guerola, Principal at Echo Health Ventures. “We look forward to partnering with Sempre to support their work to align healthcare stakeholders to improve patient health and deliver better outcomes.”

The participation of existing investors, including Blue Venture Fund, UPMC Enterprises, and Industry Ventures, further demonstrates their continued confidence in Sempre Health’s mission and growth trajectory.

“Since our founding, we’ve remained focused on helping people afford and take their medications as prescribed,” said Anurati Mathur, CEO of Sempre Health. “We are excited to work with investors representing every major stakeholder in the pharmaceutical value chain, who recognize the significance of Sempre’s approach and are committed to fundamentally changing how medications are accessed in the United States.”

About Sempre Health
Sempre Health works with leading health plans and life sciences companies to reduce what patients pay for their medications. Based on several internally and externally validated studies, Sempre Health boosts medication adherence by greater than 20%, dramatically improving the health of millions of people and potentially saving hundreds of billions of dollars in avoidable medical costs.

Learn more at www.semprehealth.com.

About Cencora
Cencora is a leading global pharmaceutical solutions organization centered on improving the lives of people and animals around the world. We partner with pharmaceutical innovators across the value chain to facilitate and optimize market access to therapies. Care providers depend on us for the secure, reliable delivery of pharmaceuticals, healthcare products, and solutions. Previously known as AmerisourceBergen, our new name, Cencora, unites our 46,000+ team members under one identity in pursuit of a shared purpose: We are united in our responsibility to create healthier futures ^SM. Cencora is ranked #11 on the Fortune 500 and #21 on the Global Fortune 500 with more than $200 billion in annual revenue.

Additional information about Cencora Ventures can be found at http://cencoraventures.cencora.com.

About Echo Health Ventures
Echo Health Ventures drives systemic health care transformation through hands-on, purpose-driven strategic venture capital and growth equity investing. Echo Health Ventures drives systemic health care transformation through hands-on, purpose-driven strategic venture capital and growth equity investing. Echo prioritizes long-term partnerships and impact, with a focus on accelerating portfolio companies’ growth and bringing their innovations to scale nationally.

Learn more at www.echohealthventures.com.

Media Contact:
Michele Fox
[email protected] 

SOURCE Sempre Health

GREENWICH, Conn., Sept. 13, 2023 — Hunt Scanlon Media is convening hundreds of private equity and venture capital leaders, chief talent officers and executive recruiters to its ‘Optimizing Talent for Growth’ summit at the Julia Morgan Ballroom in San Francisco on October 18, 2023.

“Private equity and venture capital firms face unique challenges in attracting top professionals to lead their portfolio companies through periods of innovation and growth,” said Christopher W. Hunt, president of the media concern.

Hunt Scanlon’s ‘Private Equity and Venture Capital Recruiting Summit’ series explores the pivotal role of human capital in driving success and growth during disruptive times. This latest installment examines cutting-edge approaches to identify, acquire, and nurture transformational talent.

Hunt Scanlon is drawing on the expertise of 17 private equity and venture capital leaders from a diverse group of companies, including GV (Google Ventures), Vista Equity Partners, General Catalyst, New Enterprise Associates, FFL Partners, Gryphon Investors, Generate Capital, Oaktree Capital Partners, Mainsail Partners, and Genstar Capital, among many others.

Conference Highlights:

• Leveraging Executive Talent Networks for Growth
• Addressing the Leadership Gap: Succession Strategies for Future-Proofing Organizations
• The Future of Private Equity Talent: Skills and Roles in a Digital Age
• The Power of Enhanced Interview Techniques in Today’s Talent Landscape
• Human Capital Diligence: The Key Success Factor in Deals
• The Talent Challenges of Moving In and Out of Growth Cycles

To purchase a ticket to the event or to claim a last-minute sponsorship, visit PE/VC Conference San Francisco October 2023 – Hunt Scanlon Media or contact Erik Boender at [email protected]

About Hunt Scanlon Media

Hunt Scanlon Media has been informing the senior talent management sector for over 34 years. Our global news and market intelligence data comes in many forms, including daily newswires, talent leadership reports, newsletter briefings, global executive leadership conferences, and social media alerts.

SOURCE Hunt Scanlon Media

Financing Round, Joined by Current Investment Partners, to Drive Global Expansion and Advance R&D for Additional Product Lines

TEL AVIV, Israel, Sept. 13, 2023 — UBQ Materials, climate tech developer of advanced materials made from waste, today announced it has closed $70 million in funding, led by Eden Global Partners. Additional participants in the financing were return investors in the company, including TPG Rise Climate, TPG’s Rise Fund, Battery Ventures, and M&G’s Catalyst strategy.

The investment will support the company’s commercial, sales, and marketing scale up, as UBQ Materials continues its global expansion. This will include additional facilities in Europe and North America, alongside the impending opening of UBQ’s industrial-scale facility in Bergen Op Zoom, Netherlands. The new facility will have an annual production capacity of 80,000 tons of UBQ™, converting 104,600 metric tons of waste annually into a new raw material.

“We have long admired what the team at UBQ has built and are firm believers in the potential of the company’s groundbreaking waste conversion technology,” said David Dwek, Chief Executive Officer of Eden Global Partners. “At Eden, we partner with visionary companies working to shape a better future for their industries and our world, and UBQ is a pioneer in its space with the power to redefine global sustainability at scale. We believe the market opportunity for UBQ’s materials is enormous and look forward to supporting UBQ’s world-class management team as they continue to grow the business.”

UBQ Materials’ bio-based thermoplastic, UBQ™, serves as a sustainable alternative to fossil-based plastics. UBQ Materials converts residual household waste diverted from landfills or incineration, including all organics, into an advanced thermoplastic material that is both climate-positive and highly recyclable. Leading industry brands have already integrated UBQ™ into durable and semi-durable products such as car parts, footwear, pallets, display stands, panels and planters, with customers including Mercedes-Benz, PepsiCo, and McDonald’s.

“UBQ as a sustainable material option can have a huge impact – but only with mass adoption. This means building UBQ facilities on a world-scale, which requires significant expansion and funding,” said Albert Douer, Co-CEO and Chairman of UBQ Materials. “Adding Eden Global Partners to our heavy-hitting investor list fuels our rapid growth trajectory as we continue to invent new material solutions that will expand humanity’s ability to use waste as a raw material.”

Over 3 billion tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) are expected to be produced annually by 2050 while current approaches to waste management continue to contribute to climate change. Landfills are the third largest human source of methane, a Greenhouse Gas (GHG) 84 times more powerful than carbon dioxide over 20 years, while incineration emits 1.7 kg CO2eq for every kilogram of MSW incinerated. Every kilogram of Israeli-manufactured UBQ™ replaces 1 kg of oil-based plastic, diverts 1.3 kg of waste from landfills and incinerators, and prevents up to 11.7 kg of CO₂eq emissions measured over a 20-year time horizon.

“UBQ has pioneered a fully sustainable resource, pivotal for existing manufacturing industries across endless applications,” said Jack (Tato) Bigio, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of UBQ Materials. “Beyond major brands adopting UBQ™, our compounding partners have become integral to our ecosystem allowing us to further expand our ‘Made with UBQ™’ applications and international footprint, driving a true circular economy.” 

UBQ Materials is investing significantly in its R&D, developing new product lines to meet functional and performance requirements to serve the building and construction, consumer durables, automotive, and logistics and supply chain industries.

About UBQ Materials Ltd.

UBQ Materials Ltd. closes the loop between the ecosystems of waste and materials. Through its advanced conversion technology, UBQ Materials Ltd. has created the world’s first bio-based thermoplastic, UBQ™, made entirely from residual waste, including all organics and hard-to-recycle materials. A sustainable plastic substitute, UBQ™ preserves finite resources, diverts waste from landfills and incinerators and prevents emissions. A certified B Corp, UBQ Materials is expanding globally to provide the world’s largest businesses and consumers with a climate positive solution for a circular economy.

Learn more by visiting www.ubqmaterials.com.

Media Contact
FINN Partners for UBQ Materials
Nicole Kaufman Grubner
Nicole.grubner@finnpartners.com
+972-58-444-5418

About Eden Global Partners

Eden Global Partners, located in New York City, is committed to building lasting relationships with entrepreneurs shaping a better world. The firm’s strategic financial guidance and extensive network of capital partners help companies scale, innovate, and develop sustainable, long-term value. Eden’s core mandate is to find the most impactful companies in the world and deliver flexible capital solutions, whether in the form of its own capital or alongside Eden’s global network of like-minded partners. For more information about Eden, visit www.edengp.com or www.linkedin.com/company/eden-global-partners. 

Media Contact
H/Advisors Abernathy for Eden Global Partners
Shawn Pattison / Sydney Gever
[email protected] / [email protected]
212-371-5999

SOURCE UBQ Materials Ltd.

Illuminate Financial, Madrone Partners, Exor Ventures 
and others invest in N5 
New investment will propel U.S. market entry and global growth 

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, Sept. 13, 2023 — Fintech startup, N5 has secured the backing of a number of high profile investors, on the strength of its potential to save financial institutions billions of dollars a year.

U.S. financial institutions lose an estimated $272B each year through inefficiency and missed opportunities resulting from fragmented and siloed technologies and processes, perpetuated and exacerbated by ‘software entropy’. N5 was founded by experts from the banking sector specifically to solve that problem, and is already doing so with customers in other parts of the world. With this new investment, the company plans to enter the U.S. market.

The new investors are:

• Illuminate Financial, a venture capital firm whose LPs include JP Morgan, Citi, Barclays, BNY Mellon and S&P Global;
• Exor Ventures, the venture investment arm of Exor NV, a holding company controlled by the Italian Agnelli family, shareholders of Ferrari, Stellantis, CNHI and The Economist;
• Madrone Capital Partners, a private equity firm associated with the Walton family, majority partners of Walmart;
• LTS Investments, the investment holding of the Lehmann, Telles and Sicupira families;
• ArpexCapital, the investment office of Stone founders Andre Street and Eduardo Pontes.

The company’s N5 Now platform integrates on the back end channels, processes and systems that are usually otherwise siloed, such as CRMs, BPMs, incentives, and Omnichannel. This helps financial institutions ‘join the dots’ and so improve productivity, the customer experience and cost-effectiveness. The platform is designed to free institutions from the complexity of their legacy systems, and tangible results are normally evident within 100 days of its deployment.

Global customers including Mastercard, Santander, Credicorp, Zurich Insurance, Atlas Bank, N26 and Sudameris already work with N5 in Latin America and Europe, and the new investment, of a confidential value, will be used to translate and tailor the N5 Now platform for the needs of the U.S. market. The company plans to make a high profile appointment to lead North American operations, as well as fill a further 800 roles globally.

N5 CEO, Julian Colombo says: “The market is currently served by some of the largest names in enterprise tech, but in spite of their scale, none offer the full suite of services provided by N5, and none has a product that is specifically geared for the financial services industry. It is our ability to fill this niche, already proven in other parts of the world, that has enabled us to attract such high profile investors for this next phase of our growth.”

About N5 Now
N5 Now is a software company for the financial industry. Founded in August 2017 by executives mainly from the banking sector, it offers several solutions through its platform, enabling its clients to achieve full digitization, regardless of their technological starting point. Currently experiencing rapid expansion, the company is registering atypical growth rates of 200% per year. In their portfolio of platform and services clients are companies such as Mastercard, Santander, Credicorp Bank, Zurich, Sudameris, N26, Farmers Insurance, Atlas bank and BCP.

SOURCE N5 LLC

Raising nearly $5 billion over the last 1.5 years to fuel its global expansion, the latest financing will support the growth of a 120MW hyperscale data center campus in Jakarta

The company celebrated its financing achievement with the unveiling of its Jakarta data center expansions in a ribbon cutting ceremony with Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan and local community leaders

HERNDON, Va., Sept. 13, 2023 — EdgeConneX^®, the pioneer in global Hyperlocal to Hyperscale Data Center Solutions, announces the successful execution of a landmark $403.8 million deal in Sustainability-Linked Senior Facilities, accelerating the company’s expansion plans and green initiatives for its Jakarta, Indonesia data center footprint. This inaugural transaction paves the way for increased sustainability capabilities, including power efficiency, renewable energy sources, and enhanced safety measures for EdgeConneX to develop multiple data centers in the region that will bring the Indonesian hyperscale campus in Jakarta to over 120MWs. 

In addition, the company unveiled the planned expansions of its Jakarta data center campus in a ribbon-cutting ceremony, welcoming honored guests, including Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan. Other dignitaries involved in the ceremonies included regional officials and local community leaders, along with EdgeConneX Co-founder and CEO Randy Brouckman and Managing Director for APAC Kelvin Fong.

As the largest city in Indonesia and with a population of over 33 million people, Jakarta is an essential gateway to Southeast Asia for commerce, trade, and technology. With extensive fiber, power density, low-latency interconnectivity, and global peering options, Jakarta is a high-growth market with significant opportunities for cloud giants to accelerate their cloud access, content delivery, and connectivity services.

Leveraging EdgeConneX Sustainability Strategy, the innovative deal includes Offshore U.S. Dollar borrowing. This format provides for margin adjustments when EdgeConneX meets certain Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) concerning the Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) of its data centers, the use of renewable electricity, and achieving safety goals. These KPI targets align with EdgeConneX Customer, People, Planet strategy, which includes a holistic sustainability policy supporting the company’s goal of becoming a carbon-, waste- and water-neutral data center provider by 2030. This forward-leaning plan includes EdgeConneX developing and operating a data center platform powered by 100% renewable energy.

Quotes:

• Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, Coordinating Minister of Maritime Affairs and Investment of Indonesia
  “Indonesia has a forward-looking agenda in the areas of industrialization, decarbonization, affordable and high-quality education, economic equity, digitalization, and infrastructure. Therefore, state-of-the-art facilities like those developed by EdgeConneX are crucial in attracting and fostering connectivity, cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), and other critical IT applications from leading companies. By continually promoting an ecosystem of cutting-edge technology, Indonesia’s economy will continue to grow rapidly. Importantly, this progress will be achieved with a strong commitment to sustainability, ensuring a greener and more resilient future.”
• Randy Brouckman, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of EdgeConneX
  “We are extremely grateful to our customers who are driving the demand for the significant data center capacity expansions necessary to support the digital economy of Indonesia. We are also grateful for our local partners’ support in Jakarta. We couldn’t execute our vision to become Indonesia’s premier data center operator without their capabilities, local relationships, and market expertise that they bring.”
• Joe Harar, Chief Financial Officer of EdgeConneX
  “This financing unlocks increased flexibility and provides EdgeConneX with the rapid funding capacity to support our customers’ custom-built data center solutions globally. With nearly $5 billion raised over the last 18 months, we are well established to execute upon our existing data center expansions and strongly positioned to secure land quickly and the necessary resources to support our customers’ data center requirements in the future.”
• Wewoen Willyani Salim, Director at Indies Capital Partners
  “As we embrace the digital era, Indonesia is witnessing a transformative shift in economic growth. By enabling the digital economy through expanded cloud computing and data center infrastructure such as in the EdgeConneX facilities, we are unlocking new doors of opportunity, empowering businesses, and propelling our region towards a brighter future.”
• Philbert Shih, Founder and Managing Director of Structure Research
  “Entry into Indonesia gives EdgeConneX presence in three of the largest countries in the world outside the United States. Indonesia has strong demographics, a rapidly rising homegrown technology sector, and in-country hyperscale infrastructure, and it is early in the adoption curve for outsourced infrastructure services like cloud and data centers. Indonesia has tremendous long-term upside, and Jakarta is central to this growth. Indonesia is home to all the major US and Chinese hyperscale clouds, and an emerging social media and webscale tier that will combine to create incredible volumes of demand for hyperscale data centers.”

For more information on EdgeConneX Jakarta data centers, download the data sheet HERE.

About EdgeConneX
Backed by EQT Infrastructure, part of the global investment organization EQT, EdgeConneX provides a full range of sustainable data center solutions worldwide. We work closely with our customers to offer choices in location, scale, and type of facility, from Hyperlocal to Hyperscale. EdgeConneX is a global leader in anytime, anywhere, and any scale data center services for a diverse portfolio of industries, including Content, Cloud, Networks, Gaming, Automotive, SaaS, IoT, HPC, Security, and more. With a mission predicated on taking care of our customers, our people, and our planet, EdgeConneX strives to Empower Your Edge. For more information, please visit edgeconnex.com.

SOURCE EdgeConneX

NEW YORK, Sept. 12, 2023 — After defying market volatilities and achieving outsized returns in 2022, Hi2 Investment Management LLC (Hi2 Cayman Fund SPC – Series B SP) has been selected as the winner of Best Overall Credit Fund category by the users of Hedgeweek and Private Equity Wire.

Powered by Hedgeweek, a leading information provider for the hedge fund community, and with fund manager data provided by Bloomberg, the Award rewards fund performance and service provider excellence within hedge fund emerging managers. Winners are recommended by Bloomberg based on 2022 Calendar Year fund performance and voted by the hedge fund community. 7,800 votes were cast in total with 39% of those coming from Managers, 22% Allocators and 39% from Service Providers.

Hi2 Global Private Credit Fund invests in global private credit strategies, including consumer installment loans, auto inventory backed loans, and short-term cash loans, providing a long-term and diversified fixed income portfolio.

In 2022, extremely high prices and an overall strong economy led the Federal Reserve to take drastic measures, implementing a rapid succession of rate increases unseen since the early 1980s.

Despite the market downturn, the Fund was able to successfully achieve favorable returns given its niche focus on high growth consumer sectors in emerging markets. This is achieved through the strategy of catching the tailwind of high technology penetration levels in emerging markets in Southeast Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America.

According to Jerry Wang, Founder and CEO of Hi2 Global, “The Fund structures notes to protect our investments, which contributes to consistent returns for our investors.”

Despite volatilities in the stock market, redemptions reducing liquidity, pressure in the private credit market and investors seeking risk premium, the Fund’s capital flow turned positive by the end of 2022 and AUM has been on a steady increase in 2023. The Fund is backed by collateral, guarantee and subordination structure, and provides stable yield, high liquidity and low correlation with traditional asset classes.

In addition to its focus on high-yield, low risk returns, Hi2 Global is committed to seeking investment opportunities with embedded ESG themes, such as financial inclusion, sustainable consumption, healthcare innovation and environmental protection.

As a firm focused on financial inclusion in emerging markets, Hi2 Global is a proud signatory of the Principles of Responsible Investment (PRI).

“We believe in the power of financial inclusion to promote social inclusion and mobility,” said Wang. “Through our direct lending programs, we lend to Small Business Owners, especially those with female founders and those that enable job creation in low-income communities.”

Hi2 Global adheres to the Principles of Responsible Investment and is committed to long-term social and environmental impacts.

Heading into the last quarter of 2023, the Fund aims to continuously seek long-term high returns opportunities that benefit investors, the environment and the global economy.

With capital consistently flowing into the emerging market consumer credit sector, the Fund will tap into growing opportunities in markets such as Egypt, Pakistan, and Colombia to diversity geopolitical risk.

According to Wang, the Fund is also looking into expanding into other business models such as factoring and payroll bank lending to diversify its investments and reduce risk.

Looking forward, the firm plans to continue investing in its team, technology, as well as building up its back office in risk management and compliance. The Fund will continue its focus on consumer credit while promoting financial inclusion in emerging markets.

SOURCE Hi2 Investment Management

BEIJING, Sept. 12, 2023 — BlueRun Ventures China (“BRV China” or “company”), a leading early-stage technology-focused venture firm, today announced that it is changing its English brand to Lanchi Ventures. The company has launched a new website www.lanchiventures.com to provide greater clarity and differentiation from BlueRun Ventures (BRV), the venture capital firm headquartered in Silicon Valley.

Back in 2005, BRV saw that entrepreneurship and technology innovation will be a global phenomenon. It opened its China offices, contributing to the growth of local entrepreneurship ecosystem. BRV China differentiates by investing early, focusing on technology and taking a long-term view in partnering with Chinese founders. Over the past 20 years, it has invested in nearly 200 early-stage tech start-ups in China.

“During the past 20 years, BRV shared the same brand and investment philosophy with investment teams from various geographic regions, all of which had a positive impact on the growth of BRV China,” said Jui Tan, Managing Partner of Lanchi Ventures. “We appreciate the support that BRV provided all those years. We will continue to embrace our Silicon Valley heritage and maintain a disciplined and systematic investment approach.”

Since entering China, BRV China team has used a distinctive Chinese brand and will continue using it as it is well recognized by Chinese entrepreneurs in China. BRV China and BRV are separate entities and have been managed independently since 2010.

“Our mission for supporting Chinese entrepreneurs remains unchanged since our inception in 2005. We will continue to focus on early-stage venture investment and helping Chinese entrepreneurs to go global,” said Jui Tan.  

About Lanchi Ventures

Lanchi Ventures (formally known as BlueRun Ventures China) is a leading early-stage venture firm with offices in Beijing and Singapore. Having its heritage in Silicon Valley since 1998 and entered China in 2005, Lanchi Ventures has managed over $2 billion through multiple USD and RMB funds. Lanchi Ventures focuses on investing in entrepreneurs who create a sustainable impact through technological innovations. The firm has invested in nearly 200 portfolio companies, including Li Auto (NASDAQ: LI), QingCloud (688316.SH), WaterDrop (NYSE: WDH), Energy Monster (NASDAQ: EM), Mogujie/Meilishuo (NYSE: MOGU), Qudian (NYSE: QD), Ganji/58.com, PPTV, Guazi, Gaussian Robotics, Yi Auto, Nanyan, etc. The firm has been recognized as the “No.1 Early-Stage Investment Firm” in China by Zero2IPO and ChinaVenture, and “Consistent Performing Venture Capital Fund Manager” by Preqin. For further information, please visit https://www.lanchiventures.com.

SOURCE Lanchi Ventures

CHICAGO, Sept. 12, 2023 — Calling all Founders, entrepreneurs, and visionaries! LeadrPro invites you to join us at the upcoming Founders Roundtable event in downtown Chicago, a unique opportunity to connect with fellow Founders and industry leaders while gaining invaluable insights, strategies, and perspectives during these uncertain economic times.

Hosted by Chris Sheng, the Founders Roundtable promises a candid and authentic discussion format, where seasoned entrepreneurs share their war stories, fundraising experiences, and strategies for sustainable growth. This one-of-a-kind event will be followed by an engaging audience Q&A session, giving attendees a chance to pose questions to some of the brightest minds in the business world.

**Sponsored by Industry Titans: K&L Gates, Plug and Play, Mucker Capital, and LeadrPro**

Event Details

Date: Thursday, September 21, 2023
Time: 3:00 – 4:30 PM CST
RSVP to receive location details: https://lu.ma/chicago_roundtable

Don’t miss out on this unparalleled opportunity to connect, learn, and grow with fellow founders and industry experts.

Join us and rub shoulders with Founder Roundtable participants, including:

– Erich Kerekes, Hallow App (Series C, $105MM)
– Jennifer Glaspie-Lundstrom, Tandym ($60MM)
– Sami Ahmed, Hunt Club (Series B, $52MM)
– Dave Jacobs, Homethrive (Series B, $38MM)
– Danny Freed, Blueprint (Series A, $14MM)
– Chris Sheng, LeadrPro (undisclosed)

Moderating this dynamic conversation will be Cliff Bersani, Investor at Mucker Capital, ensuring that the discussion touches on critical topics including founder war stories, fundraising strategies, sustaining growth during economic downturns, maintaining a healthy company culture in times of uncertainty, and what lies ahead for the business landscape in 2024.

About the Participating Companies:

– Hallow App: A Catholic prayer and meditation app that fosters spiritual growth.
– Tandym: A pioneering private-label credit card company.
– Hunt Club: A talent agency that leverages subject matter experts to find the perfect hires.
– Homethrive: A healthcare service provider offering support for employee caregivers, aging adults, and individuals with special needs.
– Blueprint: Empowering mental health clinicians with personalized results through measurement-based care.
– LeadrPro: The first marketplace directly connecting buyers with sellers of software.

Past editions of the Founders Roundtable have attracted notable participants, including:

– Eddie Martucci, Akili Interactive (NASDAQ: AKLI)
– Joshua Lee, Ardius (acquired by Gusto)
– Alex Canter, Nextbite (acquired by SBE)
– Paul Sellew, Little Leaf Farms (Series D, $435MM)
– Roei Yellin, 8fig ($197MM raised)
– Nathan Latka, Founderpath ($161MM raised)
– Eric Johnson, Membersy ($106MM raised)
– And many more…

Know someone who deserves a seat at a future Roundtable? Nominate a founder by emailing [email protected]

The Founders Roundtable will next be in New York in October, San Francisco in November, and Denver in December. The series has already been filmed in Los Angeles, Austin, and Boston.

For further information and media inquiries, please contact:

Chris Sheng
[email protected]   
310-766-9073

About the Hosts

With a deep understanding of the challenges and triumphs faced by the entrepreneurial community, we have come together to create an environment where open, honest, and insightful conversations can flourish. Our commitment to fostering a supportive ecosystem for entrepreneurs is at the heart of the Founders Roundtable event.

About the Sponsors

K&L Gates (https://www.klgates.com/), Plug and Play (https://www.plugandplaytechcenter.com/), Mucker Capital (http://www.muckercapital.com/), and LeadrPro (https://www.leadrpro.com/) are renowned leaders in their respective industries, dedicated to supporting innovation and entrepreneurship. Our sponsorship of the Founders Roundtable demonstrates our continued commitment to fostering growth and collaboration within the B2B startup community.

SOURCE LeadrPro