FARMINGTON, Conn., Oct. 31, 2023 — Horizon Technology Finance Corporation (NASDAQ: HRZN) (“Horizon”) (the “Company”), an affiliate of Monroe Capital, and a leading specialty finance company that provides capital in the form of secured loans to venture capital backed companies in the technology, life science, healthcare information and services, and sustainability industries, announced today that its board of directors has declared monthly cash distributions of $0.11 per share, payable in each of January, February and March 2024, and a special distribution of $0.05 per share, payable in December 2023.  The following table shows these distributions, payable as set forth in the table below, total $0.38 per share. Since its 2010 initial public offering, Horizon has paid a total of $237 million in distributions to its shareholders.

Monthly Distributions Declared in Fourth Quarter 2023

Special Distribution

When declaring distributions, the Horizon board of directors reviews estimates of taxable income available for distribution, which may differ from consolidated net income under generally accepted accounting principles due to (i) changes in unrealized appreciation and depreciation, (ii) temporary and permanent differences in income and expense recognition, and (iii) the amount of spillover income carried over from a given year for distribution in the following year. The final determination of taxable income for each tax year, as well as the tax attributes for distributions in such tax year, will be made after the close of the tax year.

Horizon maintains a “Dividend Reinvestment Plan” (“DRIP”) that provides for the reinvestment of distributions on behalf of its stockholders, unless a stockholder has elected to receive distributions in cash. As a result, if Horizon declares a distribution, its stockholders who have not “opted out” of the DRIP by the distribution record date will have their distribution automatically reinvested into additional shares of Horizon’s common stock. Horizon has the option to satisfy the share requirements of the DRIP through the issuance of new shares of common stock or through open market purchases of common stock by the DRIP plan administrator. Newly-issued shares will be valued based upon the final closing price of Horizon’s common stock on a specified valuation date for each distribution as determined by Horizon’s board of directors. Shares purchased in the open market to satisfy the DRIP requirements will be valued based upon the average price of the applicable shares purchased by the DRIP plan administrator, before any associated brokerage or other costs, which are borne by Horizon.

About Horizon Technology Finance

Horizon Technology Finance Corporation (NASDAQ: HRZN), externally managed by Horizon Technology Finance Management LLC, an affiliate of Monroe Capital, is a leading specialty finance company that provides capital in the form of secured loans to venture capital backed companies in the technology, life science, healthcare information and services, and sustainability industries. The investment objective of Horizon is to maximize its investment portfolio’s return by generating current income from the debt investments it makes and capital appreciation from the warrants it receives when making such debt investments. Horizon is headquartered in Farmington, Connecticut, with a regional office in Pleasanton, California, and investment professionals located throughout the U.S. Monroe Capital is a $17 billion asset management firm specializing in private credit markets across various strategies, including direct lending, technology finance, venture debt, opportunistic, structured credit, real estate and equity. To learn more, please visit horizontechfinance.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

 Statements included herein may constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements other than statements of historical facts included in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements and are not guarantees of future performance, condition or results and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of a number of factors, including those described from time to time in Horizon’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Horizon undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statement made herein. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release.

Contacts:

Investor Relations:
ICR
Garrett Edson
[email protected]
(860) 284-6450

Media Relations:
ICR
Chris Gillick
[email protected] 
(646) 677-1819

SOURCE Horizon Technology Finance Corporation

NORWALK, Connecticut, 31 octobre 2023 — LifeSpan Vision Ventures, une société d’investissement dédiée à la biotechnologie dans le secteur de la longévité, a annoncé aujourd’hui un investissement dans NaNotics LLC. Cette société biopharmaceutique de stade préclinique met au point des NaNots™, de nouvelles nanoparticules soustractives qui traitent les maladies en capturant et en éliminant les molécules pathogènes du sang. Les NaNots™ se distinguent des pharmacothérapies traditionnelles par leur capacité de réduire les cibles solubles sans interagir avec les formes de membrane d’une même cible, un exploit qui est généralement hors de portée des médicaments conventionnels.

L’entreprise fait progresser un pipeline de NaNots ciblant les marqueurs oncologiques et inflammatoires associés à de multiples maladies qui présentent des besoins médicaux non satisfaits importants. En outre, elle a annoncé des collaborations de recherche avec la Mass General Cancer Clinic, située au sein du Mass General Hospital, et la Mayo Clinic afin d’améliorer davantage leurs thérapies pour des cibles oncologiques spécifiques.

Harry Robb, analyste chez LifeSpan Vision Ventures, a déclaré : « Avec notre premier investissement dans le domaine de la nanomédecine, nous nous associons à NaNotics, une entreprise biopharmaceutique basée en Californie qui a pour objectif de réduire les cibles solubles du sang pour traiter une série de maladies – et potentiellement le vieillissement également. L’entreprise est soutenue par une équipe dévouée et très expérimentée qui s’engage à diriger un virage dans la médecine qui passe d’une approche basée sur les cellules à une approche basée sur les signaux. Il s’agit d’une excellente occasion d’élargir les options de traitement et nous voyons un grand potentiel dans leurs thérapies transformatrices qui aura un effet significatif sur les résultats pour les patients. »

Lou Hawthorne, PDG de NaNotics et inventeur de NaNots, a déclaré : « Lifespan Vision Ventures est un investisseur idéal pour nous, pour des raisons qui vont au-delà du capital. Lifespan Vision Ventures comprend que le vieillissement est potentiellement motivé par des facteurs solubles qui entraînent ou engendrent également des maladies reconnues par la FDA, et que les NaNots peuvent donc s’attaquer aux deux conditions. Cela fournit une voie d’approbation viable de la FDA pour une plateforme thérapeutique pour traiter le vieillissement – ce que la FDA ne reconnaît pas comme une maladie. Nous nous réjouissons à l’idée de collaborer avec Lifespan Vision Ventures pour mettre au point et commercialiser des produits thérapeutiques destinés à traiter les maladies et à étendre la portée de la santé à toute la population. »

À propos de NaNotics LLC

NaNotics LLC est une entreprise de stade préclinique établie à Mill Valley, en Californie. L’entreprise développe un pipeline de NaNots™ contre une gamme de cibles oncologiques et inflammatoires entraînant de multiples maladies représentant un besoin médical important non satisfait.

Pour en savoir plus, consultez https://www.nanotics.com/

Personne-ressource : Song Schreiber, directeur financier : [email protected]

À propos de LifeSpan Vision Ventures

LifeSpan Vision Ventures est une société de capital-risque tournée vers l’avenir, spécialisée dans les investissements dans le domaine du vieillissement et de la longévité. Notre mission est de soutenir et d’accélérer le développement de thérapies innovantes qui prolongent l’espérance de vie en bonne santé, améliorent la qualité de vie des personnes qui vieillissent et relèvent les défis liés à l’âge. Par le biais de partenariats et d’investissements stratégiques, nous visons à façonner un avenir où le vieillissement sera synonyme de vitalité, de résilience et de possibilités infinies.

Pour plus d’informations sur LifeSpan Vision Ventures, veuillez consulter le site https://www.lifespanvisionventures.com/.

Contact : Harry Robb
Mobile : +44 7795042764
[email protected]

Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2259807/LifeSpan_Vision_Ventures_Invests_in_NaNotics.jpg

SOURCE LifeSpan Vision Ventures

RADNOR, Pa., Oct. 31, 2023 — Saothair Capital Partners, LLC (“Saothair”) today announced the final closing of its inaugural fund, Saothair Fund I, L.P., with $125 million in investor capital commitments. The closing comes less than five months after launching the fundraising process and was well in excess of its initial target.

Saothair is a private equity investment firm focused exclusively on making control investments in manufacturing companies through complex corporate carve-outs, bankruptcies, out-of-court restructurings, turnarounds, and other special situations. The Saothair team leverages their decades of operational experience in manufacturing to assist their portfolio companies in driving continuous improvement in all aspects of their business.

Saothair received capital commitments from a group of highly-respected institutional limited partners that includes prestigious college and university endowments, single- and multi-family offices and outsourced CIOs. Pacenote Capital LLC served as exclusive placement agent for Saothair in connection with the fundraising.

Kevin Madden and Richard Lozyniak, Co-Founders of Saothair, commented: “We are humbled to have received such strong interest in our inaugural committed-capital fund. It was important to us as we embarked on this process to partner with the right group of investors, who understood and shared our enthusiasm for the unique nature of our investment strategy and who were looking for a long-term partnership with our firm. We are eternally grateful to Pacenote for their belief in us and our team, and for partnering with us to bring together this outstanding group of institutional investors.”

McGuireWoods LLP provided legal counsel in connection with the fundraising, and IQ-EQ served as fund administrator.

About Saothair Capital Partners

Saothair Capital Partners is a private investment firm focused exclusively on investing in lower-middle market manufacturing and industrial businesses facing unique financial or operational challenges. Saothair makes controlling equity investments in companies across a wide range of industries, including paper & packaging, plastics, metals processing, automotive or heavy truck, building products, healthcare-related products, food & beverage and other niche manufacturing. Saothair works in partnership with each of the key stakeholders invested in the long-term success of the business. For more information please see www.saothair.com.

SOURCE Saothair Capital Partners, LLC

Empowers Businesses to Integrate ESG Data Into Reporting & Decision Making, Funding Co-Led by Rho Ignition and Tola Capital

NEW YORK, Oct. 31, 2023 — ESG Flo, an AI-powered data infrastructure platform, announced today that it has secured $5.25 million in seed capital. The funding round was co-led by Rho Ignition and Tola Capital with participation from Bain & Company and Contour Venture Partners.

Sustainability teams currently spend most of their time manually collecting data and are buried by ineffective processes, often leading to errors and a waste of time and effort. ESG Flo launched earlier this year from Bain & Company’s Founder’s Studio to help businesses create a robust, auditable ESG (environmental, social, and governance) data infrastructure. The technology leverages AI automation and deep learning to gather data spread across the organization to create reporting that complies with the EU CSRD and US SEC non-financial disclosure requirements. 

“We envision a business world where ESG conversations are as important as financial ones. We’re on a mission to equip businesses with precise ESG data for integrated reporting and responsible decision making. Our new investors bring deep expertise in AI which will allow us to scale and support more businesses to take real steps in their sustainability journey,” said Patrick Obeid, founder and CEO of ESG Flo.

“Many solutions focus on the frontend presentation of ESG data, but what companies are struggling with most is ‘step zero’ of the process, which involves mapping, collecting and transforming data. This is exactly what ESG Flo accomplishes with a scalable product that uses backend technology, such as machine learning, to transform raw data into high-accuracy metrics ready for third-party verification in a matter of seconds, saving time for your sustainability team,” said Habib Kairouz, Managing Partner at Rho Ignition. 

ESG Flo targets customers in the industrial, manufacturing and infrastructure sectors that need a centralized way to manage their sustainability data given stakeholder pressure and level of ESG impact.

“Amidst the evolving landscape of ESG regulations, including the forthcoming EU CSRD reporting and non-financial disclosure requirements in the US, there is an urgent demand for a robust data infrastructure that aligns with ESG regulatory mandates. Companies with strong ESG strategies gain a competitive advantage, and ESG Flo facilitates seamless integration of environmental, social, and governance factors into decision-making. This promotes sustainable and responsible practices that benefit stakeholders, the planet and future generations,” said Karolin Beck, Venture Partner at Tola Capital.

With the new capital, ESG Flo will expand its solution to offer a CSRD and SEC readiness solution, hire best in class engineers for product development to advance its AI engine, and scale its growth and marketing team to support more customers. As part of this round, Karolin, Habib and Patrick Quinlan, a proven entrepreneur with an expertise in ethics and compliance, join the company’s board alongside Ron Kermisch of Bain & Company.

To learn more about ESG Flo, visit esgflo.com

About ESG Flo
Based in New York, ESG Flo is an AI-powered data infrastructure platform that provides customers in the industrial, manufacturing and infrastructure sectors with a solid ESG data infrastructure to manage their reporting and decision making needs. The company was founded in 2022 by Patrick Obeid, within Bain & Company’ Founder’s Studio, and has raised $5.25 million in seed funding from Rho Ignition, Tola Capital,  Bain & Company and Contour Venture Partners. For more information, visit esgflo.com.

About Rho Ignition
Rho Ignition, a division of Rho Capital Partners (“Rho”), focuses on early stage investments in disruptive and innovative technology markets, with a current focus on SaaS, AI, Healthtech, FinTech and Robotics.  Rho, founded in 1981, has invested over $2 billion in more than 300 companies across multiple waves of technology innovation. Visit www.rho.com for more information.

About Tola Capital
Tola Capital is a venture capital firm that believes in the power of software, data, and AI to transform the way the world works. Founded in 2010 by experienced software operators at the forefront of cloud computing’s rise, the firm backs entrepreneurs who have enterprise technology experience and are building disruptive, industry transforming solutions with diverse teams. Tola Capital has successfully exited numerous startups, and continues to evolve as it supports founders into the era of AI. Visit www.tolacapital.com for more information.

Media Contact: 
media@esgflo.com

SOURCE ESG Flo

Promise Robotics is the first company offering turnkey homebuilding production factories towards accelerating housing supply in both the U.S. and Canada

TORONTO, Oct. 31, 2023 — Promise Robotics, an AI company developing a cloud-based industrial production platform for robotic construction and assembly, today announced it raised USD$15 million in Series A funding, bringing its total funding raised to date to USD$25 million. This round was led by Horizons Ventures with participation from Radical Ventures, Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments), and strategic investors, including United Brotherhood of Carpenters, Relay Ventures, and Alate Partners. The new funding will help Promise Robotics commercialize its robotic factory platform to support its growing demand from homebuilders and to continue expanding  

The construction and housing development industries are facing persistent supply and labor shortages at the time we face a gap of approximately 10.7 million homes in both the United States and Canada combined according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. To bridge this gap, new home building rates would need to triple – a near-impossible feat with traditional construction technology. Accelerating housing supply with outdated solutions also runs counter to our GHG Emission reduction targets, as buildings are responsible for 38% of global GHG emissions. Over the next few years, the reduction of carbon through more efficient methods of construction is one of the biggest opportunities available to reduce our GHG footprint.

Promise Robotics AI-driven system enables the homebuilding industry to deploy automation at scale to address labor shortages, save costs, and significantly increase the speed of sustainable home production from custom single-family to multi-story buildings. The company’s AI platform turns off-the-shelf industrial robots into ready-to-deploy production systems powered by its proprietary cloud-based operating system that manages the entire production lifecycle. Promise Robotics manages the entire automation lifecycle within factories as a service, freeing customers to focus on homebuilding and growing the business — something that hasn’t been available before.

“Builders are reluctant to invest in costly factories and then endure years of trial and error to achieve operational success,” said Ramtin Attar, CEO and co-founder of Promise Robotics. “These capital and knowledge barriers have historically impeded the industry’s ability to invest in automation technology. We have melded our first-hand expertise in automated homebuilding with transformative technology innovations to remove both barriers to broader adoption.”

Founded by Ramtin Attar and Reza Nasseri, a former R&D executive at Autodesk and a distinguished Canadian homebuilder, Promise Robotics emerged less than three years ago. The venture is rooted in the founders’ extensive track record in large-scale automated home construction, having successfully completed thousands of homes operating a high-volume prefab factory out of Alberta, Canada. To enable the homebuilding industry, Promise Robotics’ robotic system aims to remove the risk for homebuilders by offering products that benefit from a decade of operational excellence, continuous improvement, and successful homebuilding. The company estimates that for every 1 million new homes, it can help the industry save $130B in cost, reduce GHG Emissions by 560MT, and generate 16,000 new categories of jobs.

“It’s hard to imagine we will be building homes the same way in 5-10 years. Promise Robotics is well-positioned to be a disruptive force in this industry,” said Kerry Liu, an investor at Horizons Ventures. “We studied the landscape and concluded that Promise Robotics was not only a technical leader, they had an immediate eye towards working with the home builder and rapid commercialization. This is not surprising given the background of the founders. We’re thrilled to support them on this journey.” 

“We’re seeing incredible momentum as the team at Promise Robotics successfully deploys AI systems to automate home construction and to bring efficiencies to an industry struggling to maintain productivity,” said Salim Teja, Partner with Radical Ventures. “Promise Robotics is now poised to transform how buildings get made, creating a more sustainable and affordable built environment.”

With the support of the company’s headcount expansion of 200% in four months, Promise Robotics is setting up its robotic production line in a micro-factory in Alberta, Canada to kickstart its partnership with several homebuilders. The company is planning to make its turnkey factory production solution available to the broader North American homebuilders in 2025.

About Promise Robotics
Promise Robotics is an AI company with a mission to enable the building industry to harness automation towards the production of more affordable and sustainable homes. The company offers turnkey ready-to-deploy industrial robotic systems powered by a proprietary cloud-based AI software platform that manages the entire production lifecycle from robotic planning to factory floor operations. Promise Robotics manages the entire automation lifecycle through its proprietary software to allow customers to focus on production. For more information, please visit www.promiserobotics.com

Media Contact
BAM for Promise Robotics
[email protected]

SOURCE Promise Robotics

AI-driven platform enables anyone to create how-to guides for any software process

BELMONT, Calif., Oct. 31, 2023 — Guidde, the video documentation platform harnessing generative AI, today announced a $11.6 million Series A funding round led by Norwest Venture Partners, joined by existing investors Entrée Capital, Honeystone Ventures, Crescendo Ventures, and new investor Tiferes Ventures. The Series A funding comes within a year of the company’s product launch, bringing its total capital raised to $15.6 million. Guidde will use the capital to expand its engineering and data science teams and grow its go-to-market team as it looks to develop its presence around the globe.

Organizations today rely on over 200 software apps on average to deliver on their mission, according to Okta’s Businesses at Work 2023 Report. As a result, employees are tasked with operating more tools with less training than ever before, negatively impacting software adoption and engagement. Video is seen as the most effective medium for driving adoption with 69% of people preferring video over text when learning about a product or service – but creating video-based knowledge at scale is still lagging behind. This is where Guidde steps in by empowering teams with AI-driven video documentation. The product leverages generative AI to enable anyone to create, edit and share how-to guides for any software or process – without requiring any prior design or video skills.

“Software apps have become essential to businesses of all types yet adoption challenges such as knowledge sharing, onboarding, training, and support remains an ongoing pain point across the board. What today’s software is missing is an effective navigation system,” said Yoav Einav, Co-Founder and CEO of Guidde.”  “At Guidde we are building the ‘Waze for software’, which helps you navigate any application using video. In today’s landscape, if users struggle to grasp a product’s functionality, they’re unlikely to remain engaged. We’ve harnessed generative AI to craft a solution that boosts application adoption, engagement, and retention rates.”

Video creation today is fragmented, lengthy and hard – it typically involves multiple tools, multiple people and entails sometimes weeks of work to produce even a single video. Guidde fuses multiple point products with the power of AI to establish a single platform that allows anyone in an organization to create, edit, publish and analyze video and documentation for any software in less time that it takes to make a cup of coffee. Combining application workflow intelligence with AI generated storyline, voiceover, motion and interactivity, the platform enables organizations to capture and deliver their know-how at scale.

“We recognized the need to accelerate onboarding and time to value for our customers and have always felt that video was the right approach,” explains Savinder Chauhan, Vice President of Support at Perforce. “Guidde has been a key enabler – not only by expediting video creation, but also by increasing our capacity to produce rich, diverse content across our portfolio. In the past, crafting a typical video would require several tools and take many hours including the video creation, overlaying graphics, recording a voiceover, etc. Now, we accomplish that in less than five minutes.”

The business applications software industry has long struggled with technical writing for complex software products, as evidenced by Guidde’s initial and impressive market velocity,” said Dror Nahumi, General Partner at Norwest Venture Partners. “Guidde’s product roadmap harnesses AI and editing technologies and creates a solid direction to streamline the creation, generation and maintenance of technical content for any organization”.

“Guidde is helping usher the Generative AI age for software. They have built a product that empowers anyone to create and share knowledge very quickly in a visual and interactive way, regardless of their technical skills or budget. We are excited to continue supporting Yoav, Dan and the team as they continue pursuing their mission” said Eran Bielski, General Partner at Entrée Capital.

Guidde has experienced rapid revenue growth since its launch late last year and is already being used by over 500 organizations such as  SentinelOne, LiveNation, Nuvei and Redis, for training, onboarding, new feature announcements, FAQs, integrations and much more.

New users and teams can sign-up and try Guidde for free here.

About Guidde

Guidde is a generative AI platform that lets anyone create video documentation for any software or process  in seconds. The company was founded in 2020 by repeat entrepreneurs Yoav Einav and Dan Sahar and is backed by Norwest Venture Partners, Entrée Capital, Tiferes Ventures, Crescendo Ventures, Honeystone Ventures, Operator Partners and notable angel investors. To learn more about Guidde, visit guidde.com.

Media Inquiries
Joseph Moses
Campaign PR
[email protected]

SOURCE Guidde

NEW YORK, Oct. 31, 2023 — LO3 Capital, a private investment firm committed to providing lower-middle market companies with transformative capital, announced today that it provided a senior subordinated debt investment to support Inspired Beauty Brands (IBB) with growth capital.

Based in New York, NY, IBB is an innovative developer and marketer of personal care products with a long standing reputation for producing high quality products and providing excellent service. IBB’s owned and operated brands include some of the most recognizable names in the industry, including HASK^®, Gray Away^®, and HnP^®. IBB’s products are sold worldwide, through retailers in North America, South America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Australia, and Asia.

“This is an exciting time for our Company,” noted Sam Maniaci, IBB’s CEO. “LO3 worked diligently to understand our vision for continued growth and innovation. Their investment will facilitate our growth while allowing us to maintain our commitment to delivering safe, healthy, and high-quality products to consumers everywhere.”

“IBB provided LO3 with an opportunity to invest in an established brand with a superbly talented management team,” said Glenn Harrison, LO3’s managing partner. “We’re excited to invest in Sam Maniaci, CEO and Jeff’s Sieglen, President leadership as they take IBB to new heights.”

About LO3 Capital
LO3 Capital is a minority owned private investment firm committed to helping lower-middle market companies grow. The firm has offices in Nashville, New York and Dallas and targets business with over $3 million of EBITDA across a variety of industries. LO3 Capital partners with management teams, business owners, and private equity firms to finance organic growth, acquisitions, recapitalizations, and ownership transitions. LO3 Capital was previously a division of Live Oak Growth Capital and continues to manage the Live Oak Growth Capital funds. For more information, please visit lo3capital.com.

SOURCE LO3 Capital LLC

Funding round is led by Thomas Tull’s U.S. Innovative Technology Fund and will help accelerate the deployment and scaling of intelligent, affordable aircraft

SAN DIEGO, Oct. 31, 2023 — Shield AI, the defense technology company building the world’s best AI pilot for aircraft, today announced it has raised $200 million in Series F funding in an oversubscribed funding round. This funding, led by U.S. Innovative Technology Fund (USIT) and co-led by Riot Ventures, with participation from Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest and returning investors Disruptive and Snowpoint, values Shield AI at $2.7 billion.

“We’re building the world’s best AI pilot to ensure air superiority and deter conflict because we believe the greatest victory requires no war. This funding accelerates the scaling of Shield AI’s products, enabling the deployment of intelligent, affordable mass—the most important non-nuclear deterrent for the next 30 years,” said Brandon Tseng, Shield AI’s President, co-founder, and former Navy SEAL.

Shield AI builds an AI pilot called Hivemind, which enables teams of intelligent aircraft to operate autonomously in high-threat environments on the edge, without the need for remote operators, command inputs, or GPS. The technology approach is similar to those in the self-driving car industry and its software stack is aircraft agnostic, allowing Shield AI to provide autonomy to a variety of form factors across the aerospace industry. This announcement comes on the heels of the company’s recent launch of its V-BAT Teams product. This product enables a single human operator to command a minimum of four V-BATs, generating real-time AI-driven flight paths, and exhibiting dynamic read-and-react behaviors autonomously. Except for lethal decision-making, V-BAT Teams can complete missions from start to finish without the need for an operator or pilot.

Concurrently, the company has been diligently working on integrating Hivemind into uncrewed fighter jets, a significant effort supported both through government programs and company R&D. In December 2022, Shield AI, along with its government partners, made aviation history by autonomously maneuvering a modified F-16 in real-world air-combat scenarios. The company continues to fly and test its autonomy on fighter jets and has more autonomous maneuver flight hours of fighter jets than any company in the world. 

“The increasing number of military conflicts we have seen over the last 18 months unfortunately paints a sobering view of our future defense technology needs and the important role AI will play,” said Thomas Tull, Chairman of USIT. “Shield AI continues to be a pioneer in this sector, driving much needed innovation by developing state-of-the art AI pilots. We are proud to continue supporting their mission as they leverage these cutting-edge technologies to deter conflict before it begins.”

The funds from the Series F round will be used to:

• Scale and deploy Shield AI’s V-BAT Teams product domestically and internationally.
• Accelerate tech integration with third-party uncrewed platforms.

“As deep-tech investors, we have seen a large swath of autonomy efforts in every realm and Shield AI has a clear lead. Battlefields are increasingly dominated by drone warfare and the enemy is doing everything in their power to make it a hostile environment, including blocking communications and GPS. Modern air forces are flying blind. Shield’s AI pilot doesn’t require GPS or communications because it’s smart and adaptable to the environment. Their AI is trainable and adaptable to many different missions and has flown teams of quadcopters, V-BATs, and modern fighter jets. The closest tech comparable we’ve seen is what Tesla is doing with their self-driving stack. Their combination of market-leading AI technology and top-tier growth is why we are excited to continue to invest in the Company,” said Stephen Marcus, Co-Founder and General Partner of Riot Ventures.

About Shield AI
Founded in 2015, Shield AI is a venture-backed defense technology company whose mission is to protect service members and civilians with intelligent systems. In pursuit of this mission, Shield AI is building the world’s best AI pilot. Its AI pilot, Hivemind, has flown a fighter jet (F-16), a vertical takeoff and landing drone (V-BAT), and a quadcopter (Nova). The company has offices in San Diego, Dallas, Washington, D.C., and abroad. Shield AI’s products and people are currently in the field actively supporting operations with the U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. allies. For more information, visit www.shield.ai. Follow Shield AI on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.

Media Contact:  Lily Hinz, [email protected] 

SOURCE Shield AI

Managed revenue grows by over 6x since its Series B in October 2020

NEW YORK, Oct. 31, 2023 — Kasa Living, Inc., the leading tech-powered hospitality brand, today announced the close of a $70 million Series C fundraise. Citi Ventures and FirstMark Capital led the all equity round with participation from new investors New York Life Ventures and Fireside Investments. All major existing investors including RET Ventures, Zigg Capital, and Ribbit Capital participated in the twice upsized and oversubscribed round.

Jonathan Langer, a seasoned industry veteran with board experience at KKR Real Estate Finance Trust (NYSE: KREF), Westin Hotels & Resorts, and Hilton Hotels & Resorts (NYSE: HLT) has joined Kasa’s Board of Directors.

Robust Financial Strength Amid Market Challenges

This funding round is a strong validation of Kasa’s proven, asset light business model especially noteworthy against the backdrop of the most challenging PropTech fundraising environment in the past decade. After the fundraise, Kasa has the strongest balance sheet in the industry which allows Kasa to go on offense to grow its property portfolio meaningfully without the need for further external funding.

Technology-Powered Hospitality

Kasa has built a truly differentiated proprietary hospitality operating system that materially improves profits for owners and enhances the experience for today’s modern travelers across a diverse range of investor-owned accommodations, including multifamily apartments, single-family homes and boutique hotels. Kasa consistently improves property profitability by >50% and uplevels property review scores meaningfully across a wide range of channels. Kasa operates the number one rated properties in their category on Tripadvisor in Seattle, Chicago, Denver, and Austin, as well as top-5 properties in San Francisco and Pittsburgh.

Strategic Partnerships Catalyze Growth

Kasa’s success in increasing profitability after taking over properties has attracted interest from a consortium of real estate investors. These partners have dedicated over a billion dollars to-date to invest in real estate powered by Kasa, setting the stage for rapid, capital-efficient expansion for the leading tech-powered accommodations company in the years ahead.

“Kasa’s proprietary operating system allows its real estate partners to adapt to changing resident and guest preferences while optimizing for profitability, safety, and visibility across multiple asset types,” said Jeff Flynn, Head of PropTech Investing at Citi Ventures. “We believe that Citi can be a valuable partner to Kasa and its real estate owners as they continue to expand their property footprint.”

“We stand at a watershed moment in the evolution of the hospitality industry. Owners are grappling with rising costs, while consumers crave a seamless, digital-first travel experience in desired locations. Kasa is bridging this gap, revolutionizing the way owners and guests alike think about accommodations. Our model isn’t just an alternative; it’s the future” said Roman Pedan, Founder & CEO of Kasa. 

Trusted by the Most Discerning Real Estate Investors

Kasa has earned the trust of some of the world’s most discerning real estate owners, including global stalwarts like Greystar, AMLI Residential, and Starwood Capital and local hospitality investors and developers in cities like San Francisco, New York, Miami and Nashville, further solidifying its position as the industry standard for alternative accommodations.

“The consumer trends behind furnished apartment rentals are very strong. The industry is at a turning point as apartment owners increasingly seek ways to harness this demand,” said Andrew Livingstone, Chief Operating Officer of Greystar, the largest manager of apartments globally, “We have been extremely impressed by Kasa’s platform and are proud to work alongside them in some of our communities. We believe Kasa has become an industry standard and are proud to have them as our recommended supplier partners for the sector.”

Investor Quotes

“Kasa is setting the industry standard in the short-term rental market, especially within institutionally owned apartment communities,” said Christopher Yip, partner at rental technology focused venture capital firm RET Ventures. “We and our limited partners who represent over 2.5 million apartment units evaluated over a dozen companies in the sector, and Kasa stood out for the strength of its trust & safety systems, the quality of its guest experience and the level of profitability that it delivers to its partners.”

“We’ve been impressed by Kasa’s relentless execution and resilience throughout a rapidly changing real estate, technology and travel market,” said Adam Nelson, Managing Director at FirstMark Capital. “Kasa has continued to impressively scale utilizing an asset-light business model which has proven to drive long-term sustainable margins and meaningful public market equity value.”

“In my three decades in the hospitality industry, I’ve seen countless innovations come and go, but Kasa’s truly unique ability to empower smaller hotel owners to excel against industry giants is an enduring game changer for the future of hospitality,” said Jonathan Langer, Founding Partner and Managing Member of Fireside Investments. “I have never seen hotels in high cost cities like New York or San Francisco operate at the margins and guest satisfaction scores that Kasa-powered properties deliver.”

Key Takeaways

• Kasa closes a $70 million Series C funding round, defying market trends.
• Proven ability to dramatically improve property profitability by >50%.
• Strategic partnerships with institutional investors pave the way for rapid expansion.

Discover a curated collection of exceptional accommodations across the U.S. at kasa.com.

For partnership opportunities to enhance your property’s profitability, visit kasa.com/property-partners.

About Kasa:

Kasa Living, Inc. is a tech-powered, flexible accommodations brand and operator founded in San Francisco in 2016 by Roman Pedan. Kasa partners with real estate owners to transform investor-owned multifamily apartments, boutique hotels, and single-family homes into professionally managed accommodations. Leveraging advanced technology and deep industry experience with a team from Airbnb, KKR, and Apollo, Kasa delivers high-quality experiences to guests of all types. For more information, visit www.kasa.com.

SOURCE Kasa Living