Monthly Archives: November 2023

Low-carbon Investor Nexus Development Capital Increases Capital Commitments to $50 Million, Funds North America’s First Zero-Emission Hydrogen Ferry Fleet, SWITCH Maritime

The significant growth infusion will accelerate the company’s ability to develop and scale low-carbon infrastructure in key markets including hydrogen, biochar, and carbon capture

NEW YORK, Nov. 16, 2023 — Nexus Development Capital today announced a second capital raise, bringing total managed capital to $50 million. A market leader in funding energy transition and low-carbon infrastructure assets, Nexus Development Capital will use the growth infusion to continue providing small-check investments to sustainable infrastructure solutions, helping to bridge the gap between project concept and implementation.

As its sixth investment, Nexus Development Capital has funded SWITCH Maritime, a pioneer that is bringing the first zero-emissions ferry fleets to North American waters.

“SWITCH Maritime’s first vessel, Sea Change, addresses a critical market gap in reaching zero emissions for the maritime industry and provides a much-needed early demand signal in the new hydrogen economy,” said Ashlynn Horras, Senior Vice President of Nexus Development Capital. “Our team is focused on providing roadmaps for deploying and scaling rising low-carbon sectors, like hydrogen, as well as additional emerging solutions including waste-to-energy and biofuels.” 

Despite widespread electrification of ground and air transport, ferry fleets in the U.S. still currently run on diesel, which not only emits carbon emissions and particulates into the air, but also introduces contaminates into waterways. Electrification of ferry fleets will be critical, but faces barriers in battery size and availability of charging infrastructure.

As cities and ports look to meet new mandates around phasing out diesel and decarbonizing heavy-polluting industries like the maritime industry, SWITCH will be debuting its flagship zero-emissions vessel, the Sea Change, in the San Francisco Bay. The 75-passenger ferry, powered by hydrogen fuel cells and batteries, will provide zero-carbon transit along San Francisco’s downtown waterfront. As part of its investment strategy, Nexus Development Capital’s investment in SWITCH Maritime will prove the Sea Change’s functionality, enabling SWITCH to expand its fleet and replicate the technology throughout the broader United States.

“The maritime industry is one of the hardest to decarbonize sectors, but there are viable technologies and business models that can be deployed today to start transitioning fleets,” said Pace Ralli, CEO of SWITCH Maritime. “After nearly a decade of searching for the right capital partner to support our early stage risk profile and high capital needs of project development, we’re thankful to have found Nexus Development Capital. As a mission-based fund with a clear, long-term view on the future of the low-carbon economy, they have provided us with a critical starting block to prove our business model, and grow into an entirely new carbon-‘net-zero’ market for the maritime industry.”

The funding comes at a time when despite the growing appetite for low-carbon infrastructure, many traditional investors avoid funding newer technologies, or projects that are not yet shovel-ready, leaving a “valley of death” for project developers. With a focus on accelerating new, low-carbon solutions, Nexus Development Capital’s unique investment model fills a much-needed market gap by providing funding for developers to prove their business model, complete development activities, grow their teams, and commercialize their technologies. After two years of sustained growth, Nexus Development Capital has established itself as a market leader in funding renewable and circular economy assets. Nexus Development Capital has invested in sustainable agriculture, recycling, carbon capture, renewable natural gas, biochar, and hydrogen. By filling an investment void between venture and infrastructure capital, the company provides its partners with the technical, operational, and development expertise to achieve scale.

“Nexus Development Capital is committed to helping teams develop projects with low-carbon technologies, and to proving that their platforms can meet the risk appetite of institutional infrastructure investors,” said Josh Kaufman, CEO of Nexus Development Capital. “This new capital infusion allows us to help companies, like SWITCH, achieve the scale required to make material environmental impacts.”

About Nexus Development Capital

Nexus Development Capital is dedicated to providing capital and expertise to teams developing sustainable infrastructure projects. As a market leader in funding energy transition and circular economy assets, Nexus Development Capital’s partnership model enables developers to prove their business model, complete development activities, grow their teams and commercialize their technologies. Nexus Development Capital is a partner of Nexus PMG, the industry-leading firm focused on providing world-class advisory services to infrastructure investors. To learn more, visit www.nexusdevcap.com/.

About SWITCH Maritime

Established in 2018, SWITCH Maritime LLC (“SWITCH”) is focused on enabling private and public municipal ferry operators to more easily transition away from their carbon-intensive diesel-powered fleets, while reducing operating and fueling costs over the lifetime of their vessels. By offering operators capital-efficient access to fuel cell and battery electric zero-emissions vessels along with packaged fueling/charging solutions, SWITCH helps operators overcome the complexity of the rapidly evolving technology and regulatory landscape. SWITCH has successfully developed and operationalized Sea Change, the first commercial hydrogen fuel cell powered ferry in the U.S., and plans to grow its fleet of zero-carbon vessels in key ferry markets. Additional information can be found at: https://www.switchmaritime.com/

Media Contact
[email protected]

SOURCE Nexus Development Capital


Mikel Anderson Signs Agreement to Acquire Voting Control of Greenlite Ventures

BOCA RATON, Fla., Nov. 15, 2023Greenlite Ventures, Inc. dba Game Time Productions (OTC Pink: “GRNL”) has announced the signing of a Term Sheet with renowned inventor and scientist Mikel Anderson that will give Greenlite up to 100% of all present and future revenues generated by Anderson’s products and patents. If the deal is completed, Anderson will receive a new series of Preferred Stock granting him voting control of Greenlite along with 20 million restricted shares. The Preferred Shares currently owned by Chairman Russ Elbaum and CEO Adam Pennington that are convertible into 75 million common shares will be retired.

Mikel Anderson is the inventor and manufacturer of a wide array of breakthrough products and delivery systems that have begun disrupting the food, beverage, cosmetics, and wellness industries. His “Dosing Cap” technology, which is protected by numerous patents, has thousands of applications for the improved delivery of vitamins, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and beverages. He is currently producing Mushroom Elixirs as well as Kava and Kratom drinks for several well-known celebrities and athletes that have become instant successes in their space. Some of his most recent pioneering breakthroughs include “EggHead Nutrition” Protein Bars and Protein Powders made from premium egg-whites and a new line of unique energy, focus and “feel good” drinks called Beverly Hills Herbal Company. Anderson has recently begun work with independent testers on mushroom formulations and delivery systems that can potentially treat addiction, PTSD, and other forms of anxiety and depression.

The newly signed Agreement, when finalized, will supersede and greatly expand Anderson’s previous Consulting Agreement with Greenlite. The joint mission is to consolidate as much of Anderson’s business interests into Greenlite as possible, including all newly created revenue streams. “This is exactly what we were hoping for when we signed Mikel to be our Director of Product Development”, said Adam Pennington, Greenlite CEO. “As we fully grasped the life changing potential and magnitude of his inventions and patents, along with the extraordinary revenue streams his new celebrity branded products have generated right out of the box, we realized that the greatest thing we could do for our shareholders was to bring as many of those patents and businesses into Greenlite as quickly as possible. This Agreement is a gigantic step toward accomplishing that goal.” 

Mikel Anderson concluded, “I believe Greenlite is the best possible home for my team and our products on many levels. Over the last few months, I have gotten to know everyone involved with Greenlite and we’ve quickly built a strong mutual trust and respect for each other’s capabilities. On top of that we have great synergies with Game Time’s pro sport licensing businesses, and we are very close to launching new branded beverages with a number of Game Time’s existing clients. The Company’s share structure could not be better and our two-year Game Time audit has just been completed.  We are positioned to raise the money we need without using convertible debt instruments that are excessively dilutive to shareholders’ interests.  The enormity of the opportunities we are pursuing and attempting to fully develop is going to require talent, teamwork and total dedication from top to bottom and I am extremely confident that we are building an organization that will be more than up to the task.”

ABOUT GAME TIME PRODUCTIONS  Game Time Productions is a rapidly rising player in the Sports Licensing and Merchandising markets through the acquisition of Game Time Watches and Game Time Bands. Game Time is the leader in licensed sports watches having active, ongoing license agreements with the NFL, MLB, NHL, NASCAR, and WWE, along with several iconic athletes and brands. The Company recently entered the health and fitness arena through the acquisitions of Altitude Chambers and Altitude Wellness, which are the flagship brands for the Game Time Performance division. GRNL also recently formed Game Time Media, Inc, to develop its podcast content and distribution networks, along with its social media, public relations and media outreach efforts. For more information please visit gametimeproductions.com

SAFE HARBOR STATEMENT 

This press release contains certain “forward-looking statements,” as defined in the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 195, that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and the actual results and future events could differ materially from management’s current expectations. The economic, competitive, governmental, technological and other factors identified in the Company’s previous filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements in this press release. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information future events or otherwise.

No information contained in this press release should be construed as any indication of the Company’s future revenues, results of operations, or stock price. 

Contact: 
Russ Elbaum
631 561 3401
[email protected] 

SOURCE Greenlite Ventures, Inc.


NERD Focus Kicks Off Equity Crowdfunding Round on StartEngine

With big ambitions for national footprint expansion and product innovation, NERD Focus powers fundraising efforts among investors and customers.

FREEHOLD, N.J., Nov. 15, 2023 — NERD Focus – the fast-growing energy drink with powerful nootropics and performance-boosting nutrients – announces the kickoff of its Regulation Crowdfunding raise on StartEngine. This marks a significant milestone for NERD Focus as the brand invites investors and enthusiasts alike to join the journey towards redefining the energy drink industry, while bringing the original “Think Drink” to more locations nationally and driving product innovations.

NERD Focus has been at the forefront of disrupting the functional beverage market with its unique approach to providing a safer alternative to energy and focus. Instead, the company has developed a science-backed formula that harnesses the power of nootropics, adaptogens, and natural caffeine sources to provide clean, sustained energy and enhanced mental acuity for those who need it most – from college students to healthcare workers to professional athletes.

“This marks an important step in our growth journey by opening up an opportunity for our community and supporters to become shareholders in NERD Focus,” said Beverage USA Co-Founder, Rocco LaVista, who has been at the brand’s helm and driving growth since 2020. “Our mission has always been to help people achieve peak mental performance while staying health-conscious. This campaign with StartEngine will help us to continue building on the momentum that’s seen us attract sponsorship partners including the New Jersey Devils, San Antonio Spurs and UFC bantamweight champion, Aljamain Sterling.”

NERD Focus’s crowdfunding campaign will be hosted on StartEngine, a leading equity crowdfunding platform that empowers individuals to invest in innovative startups and growth-stage companies. Investors can participate in this unique opportunity to become a shareholder in a company resharing the energy drinks industry while sharing in the potential for future growth for as little as $399.

On the heel of retail growth across Texas, New Jersey and the New York Metro area, where it is available at over 3,500 convenience stores, bodegas, and grocers, NERD Focus invites everyone who shares their vision for a more effective energy drink to join them in this crowdfunding campaign. To learn more and invest, please visit this link.

To learn more about NERD Focus, visit the website at https://nerdfocus.com/, and use the store locator to shop the beverages near you.

About NERD Focus:
In 2006, a student at the University of Texas at San Antonio on the path to med school witnessed his colleagues rely on highly caffeinated energy drinks with potentially dangerous ingredients to increase mental stamina and focus. With the help of his professors, they created a “Think Drink” and within weeks, had students lining up outside of his campus apartment to purchase his new drink – NERD Focus. NERD™ became established and began selling on college campuses in Texas directly to students, building a grassroots network of distributors and fans. After creating a very loyal following at Texas universities and local retailers, NERD™ was acquired by Beverage USA in 2020 to invest into scaling the beverage brand nationwide. For more information about NERD Focus, visit NERDFocus.com and follow us on Instagram and Facebook

Media contact: [email protected]

SOURCE NERD Focus


CFX Labs Closes $9.5 Million Seed Round to Continue the Rapid Transformation Of Global Payment Processing and Monetization

Funds to be Used on Expansion of International Payment Network Serving More Than 350 Million People; Projects to Expand to More Than 1.2 Billion Individuals

CHICAGO, Nov. 15, 2023 — CFX Labs, a future leader in the monetization of rapid and secure international payments markets currently operating a nationwide payment network, announced it has raised $9.5 million in seed funding. CFX Labs raised funds from a diverse array of strategic partners including Shima Capital, Decasonic, Antalpha, CMT Digital, Corazon Capital, Hard Yaka, Kraken Ventures, New Form Capital, Metropolitan Capital Bank & Trust amongst others in an oversubscribed round.

More than one billion people globally rely on being able to make secure, fast and inexpensive domestic and international remittance transfers. CFX Labs’s funding round will provide resources to expand its network reach and continued development of innovative technologies supporting international payments.

Operating at the intersection of financial services, point of sale and digital assets, CFX Labs is revolutionizing stablecoin settlements globally with a fiat payment platform that enables users to move money instantly across borders. The company’s offerings include the MoveMoney™ embedded wallet, which enables users to send and receive fiat instantly from brick and mortar locations across the U.S. at network affiliated locations including Walmart, CVS, Walgreens and Rite-Aid and others.

One in seven people globally rely on remittances. According to the U.S. Federal Reserve (link source) the average cost of sending a remittance from the U.S. to other countries was 5.41 percent of the notional value of the transaction. High costs, slow settlements, and limited accessibility, significantly impact households that rely on remittances. These factors also affect smaller businesses that make infrequent global payments to suppliers. Reducing unnecessary costs and improving access to more secure funds has the potential to stimulate economic growth, enhance global commerce, improve international remittances, and reduce inequality.

“Bringing together an accomplished team of industry executive leadership from the likes of PayPal, MoonPay, Sardine, Robinhood, ABN AMRO Bank, Feeding America, and world class technical development, this seed round represents the conviction our investors have in our platform and its potential,” said Nick Cavet, co-founder and CEO of CFX Labs. “CFX is not just accelerating the movement of money; we’re transforming the very fabric of the global money movement to unlock entirely new monetization opportunities for the real producers and consumers of our shared economy.”

There has never been a better moment to initiate more meaningful and transformative financial systems around the world, and it starts with better access to efficient, secure and rapid payment transfers. CFX Labs’ payment network stands to expand beyond remittances internationally between the Americas, to global international money transfer and remittances, a market valued in trillions of dollars.

“We are eager to support CFX Labs as they reimagine and transform the global payment processing market with the industry’s most advanced and intuitive technology,” said Sam Yagan, Co-Founder & Managing Director of Corazon Capital. “CFX Labs has the potential to reshape the multi-trillion dollar global payments market through its vertically integrated platform that empowers everyone to easily access and take control of their payment transfer needs.”

CFX Labs partners with both emerging brands and established retail leaders to monetize the movement of money with a unique revenue share model.

About CFX Labs
Established in 2021, CFX Labs Inc. is a U.S.-based fintech innovator enabling 350 million global users leverage state-of-the-art blockchain within a secure closed-loop system, to significantly reduce traditional international remittance costs, fraud, and settlement times. Projected to expand its network to over 1.2 billion individuals by the end of Q2 2024, CFX integrates with key payment infrastructures in the United States, Mexico, Brazil, India, Nigeria, and additional African countries. The platform ensures transactional security and compliance through robust AML / KYC measures, thereby offering a secure, efficient, and user-centric experience for global money movement. MoveMoney.com and MoveMoney.mx are brands operating under CFX Labs Inc. CFX Labs’s offering is available at major national retailers in the U.S., with more than 90,000 locations including Walmart, CVS, Walgreens, and Rite-Aid as part of the Green Dot network. To learn more about CFX Labs, please visit www.cfxlabs.com.

SOURCE CFX Labs


Transcend Secures Investment from Citi to Accelerate Global Deployment of Enterprise-wide Inventory Optimization Solutions

Banking Giant Joins Growing Roster of Top-tier Banking Groups as a Transcend Client

NEW YORK, Nov. 15, 2023 — Transcend, a leading provider of liquidity, funding, and collateral optimization solutions, welcomes Citi as their latest investor.

The investment was made through Citi’s Strategic Investments arm, which invests in innovative fintech companies globally that are strategically aligned to Citi’s institutional businesses.

Citi’s funding will continue to support Transcend’s global roll-out of its solutions including its groundbreaking optimization technology. Citi is the third global bank to invest in Transcend, which was formed in 2013 by Bimal Kadikar, along with other institutional investors.

Additionally, a long-term business agreement will enable Citi as a client to significantly enhance the efficiency of how it deploys cash and collateral across its global network.

The Transcend solution harmonizes and integrates activity across Bi-lateral, Cleared, and Triparty collateral requirements and allows allocation of the best collateral.  

“The industry-wide solutions that Transcend is developing have the promise to dramatically shift the efficiency and profitability of the entire industry and we’re glad to play our part in facilitating these advances,” said Alain Verdickt, Head of collateral optimization at Citi. 

In the last two years, Transcend has seen significant growth across the global banking community. The company has added additional board members, expanded their European branch, and added a number of industry & technology experts to its global team.

“Transcend is excited to welcome Citi as an investor and a client,” said Bimal Kadikar, Founder and CEO of Transcend. “Additionally, we are delighted that Citi’s funding will allow us to expand our solutions, which are already yielding tremendous savings for the industry.”

The use of collateral has moved beyond operations and is now being seen as a strategic enterprise-wide business opportunity. The streamlining of collateral and funding is already helping financial institutions save tens to hundreds of millions of dollars annually. Transcend continues to be at the forefront of these industry innovations with its cross-triparty collateralization and other solutions for institutional market participants.

About Transcend
Transcend is on a mission to help global market participants achieve next-level performance results through innovative solutions that enhance liquidity, funding, and collateral decisions. With a growing roster of world-class banks, broker-dealers, asset managers, and custodians as clients, the firm is quickly becoming the gold standard for inventory analytics, optimization, and automation within a business line or across the enterprise. Led by a team of 145+ domain experts, Transcend addresses an array of complex financial, operational, and regulatory concerns challenging the capital markets industry. For more information, visit transcendstreet.com and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

About Citi
Citi is a preeminent banking partner for institutions with cross-border needs, a global leader in wealth management and a valued personal bank in its home market of the United States. Citi does business in nearly 160 countries and jurisdictions, providing corporations, governments, investors, institutions, and individuals with a broad range of financial products and services.

Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com | Twitter: @Citi | LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/citi | YouTube: www.youtube.com/citi | Facebook: www.facebook.com/citi

SOURCE Transcend

Kinto Raises $5 Million to Launch First KYC’d Layer 2 Blockchain for Financial Institutions and Decentralized Protocols

Funds to fuel Kinto’s network-native KYC and investor accreditation checks, allowing institutions offer traditional financial services on-chain and access capital in Ethereum

ORLANDO, Fla., Nov. 15, 2023Kinto, the first KYC’ed Layer 2 blockchain capable of supporting both financial institutions and decentralized protocols, announced today it has raised $5 million in two funding rounds to power its future as a secure and compliant network for financial apps on Ethereum.

Of the $5 million, $1.5 million came from a pre-seed round led by Kyber Capital Crypto, a SALT family venture fund. A second $3.5 million round was led by Kyber Capital Crypto, Spartan Group, and Parafi, with additional investors including Skybridge, Kraynos, Soft Holdings, Deep Ventures, Modular, Tane, and Robot Ventures. The funds will go toward team expansion and network development.

“We believe that a fully KYC’ed Layer 2 on top of Ethereum is an inevitability, and we have extremely strong conviction that Kinto is the right team to execute this vision. We are excited about the opportunity to invest, partner, and support them as they grow,” said Alex Klokus, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Kyber Capital Crypto.

Kinto enables providers to conduct network-native KYC and investor accreditation checks compliant with U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) requirements, allowing them to access the abundant capital in Ethereum by offering traditional financial services on-chain

Kinto protects both the privacy and assets of users. Its KYC mechanism encrypts all personal information and stores it with a third party, shareable only at user request. In addition, every app is insured on Kinto, shielding users from untraceable exploits and anonymous scams. Finally, Kinto offers developer incentives that make it the perfect place to launch new applications.

“With built-in insurance, KYC, and fraud monitoring, Kinto provides the ideal environment for finance to thrive,” said Ramon Recuero, CEO and Co-founder of Kinto. “Traditional finance users and institutions can finally access the wealth of liquidity available in the Ethereum ecosystem in a fully compliant and vetted environment.”

About Kinto

Kinto is the first KYC’ed Layer 2 capable of supporting both modern financial institutions and decentralized protocols. Safe, compliant, and decentralized, Kinto is a fast, low-cost, and secure network that meets the requirements of both DeFi and traditional finance. And with native-level KYC, built-in insurance, and developer incentives, Kinto provides attractive infrastructure for users, builders, and investors from both worlds. Learn more at https://kinto.xyz/.

SOURCE Kinto


OCOchem Raises $5 Million in Seed Funding Led by TO VC

The climate tech company’s innovation converts CO2 and water into sustainable platform molecules for use in agriculture, energy, and transportation

RICHLAND, Wash., Nov. 15, 2023Carbon conversion startup OCOchem has raised $5 million in Seed funding from lead investor TO VC. INPEX Corp. (IPXHF.NaE), the LCY Lee Family Office, and MIH Capital Management also participated in the round. These investors join Halliburton Labs, Halliburton Company’s (NYSE: HAL) energy and climate tech accelerator, which has been supporting OCOChem’s scaling since 2021. 

Using its proprietary technology, the Richland, Wash.-based company is commercializing a new way to make highly versatile carbon-neutral platform molecules by electrochemically converting recycled carbon dioxide (CO2), water and clean electricity into formic acid and formate chemicals. A wide variety of essential chemicals, materials, and fuels that are conventionally made from fossil fuel-based hydrocarbons can now be made more sustainably and more affordably using this building block molecule. 

OCOchem will use the newly raised funds to scale its modular carbon conversion technology to industrial proportions and build a pilot plant for commercial demonstration operations. Industry, energy, and agricultural producers can purchase formic and formates made using OCOchem’s technology to reduce the carbon intensity of everyday products from feed and fibers to fuels and fertilizers — at the same or lower cost as similar products made from petrochemicals.

“Using OCOchem technology and clean electricity, we can now do what plants and trees have been able to do for billions of years — convert CO2 and water into useful organic molecules using clean energy. But unlike photosynthesis, we can do it faster and more efficiently at a lower cost, using much less land,” said Todd Brix, co-founder and CEO of OCOchem.

Joshua Phitoussi, Managing Partner of TO VC, said, “We’re incredibly excited about the new industrial paradigm that is being opened by electrochemistry thanks to the relentless drop in cost of renewable energy. Finally, we can create a circular carbon economy, where recycled CO2 becomes the easier and most cost-effective feedstock to produce a myriad of chemicals that are crucial to the world economy. OCOchem is at the forefront of that transition, reframing the thinking around CO2 and producing something vital from it. As a first product, green formic acid is a very interesting molecule given its diverse use applications in existing agriculture and industrial markets, but also in future CO2 and hydrogen storage as well as transportation markets. TO VC is proud to be partnering with OCOchem to make its mission of keeping fossil fuels in the ground a reality.”

In addition to investing in the company, INPEX, Japan’s largest oil and gas exploration, development, and production company, has partnered with OCOchem to evaluate collaboration opportunities leveraging the company’s technology to transport CO2 and clean hydrogen.

“Using renewable energy, OCOChem’s technology enables the conversion of water and carbon dioxide into formic acid, which is stable under ambient conditions. The formic acid can also be converted to useful carbon and hydrogen components with minimal energy input. This is quite important as the world can leverage its existing global-scale liquid distribution infrastructure to move carbon dioxide and hydrogen as chemically bonded liquids at ambient temperature and pressure, ensuring a safer and more cost-effective approach,” said Shigeru Tode, General Manager for the New Business Development Unit of INPEX Corporation.

Brix said OCOchem is not just turning CO2 into something useful, it is reducing the added energy and emission expense of extracting fossil carbon from the ground, transporting it long distances, and processing it at high temperature and pressures. “Replacing fossil carbon with renewable carbon as a feedstock in our target applications could reduce global carbon emissions by more than 10 percent and enable more localized production of essential chemicals, fuels, and materials. The world relies on carbon for nearly everything made, consumed or done. The problem isn’t carbon, it’s extracted geosphere-sourced carbon, which disrupts the carbon balance in the atmosphere, oceans, and soil of the planet. By sourcing carbon from the air and captured emissions, we can create a circular carbon economy that lowers emissions while making the carbon-based products that our world needs to thrive.”

Backing from a globally diverse group of industry-based investors and partners, Brix said, is a strong endorsement of the wide applicability of OCOchem’s technology to multiple industrial, energy, and agricultural sectors for decarbonization solutions. “Our goal is that the world adopts our technology not just because it’s greener, but because it’s the safer, healthier, and more affordable choice. This funding allows us to build out our team, scale our technology, and expand our partnerships to give more businesses a cleaner and less expensive way to reduce emissions.”

OCOchem’s new technology contributes to a decarbonized world by replacing extracted fossil fuels as a source of carbon and hydrogen with recycled, captured carbon and water, to make products. The company’s modular carbon conversion device, known as the OCOchem Carbon FluX Electrolyzer, can be built and deployed at any scale.

OCOchem is a clean tech start-up commercializing its proprietary technology to electrochemically convert carbon dioxide and water into sustainable platform molecules, which can then be used to make other less expensive and more environmentally friendly chemicals, fuels, and materials, including clean distributed hydrogen. Opened in late 2020, OCOchem operates its principal R&D laboratories and manufacturing operations in Richland, Wash. Last year it built the world’s largest CO2 electrolyzer. Learn more at www.ocochem.com.

TO VC supports vital teams that are solving the world’s most urgent problems.
TO VC is an early-stage decarbonization-focused venture capital fund investing in climate technology companies through food systems, energy systems, and carbon removal. The TO VC managing partners, Arieh Mimran and Joshua Phitoussi, believe these are the three most powerful areas of innovation to get to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and restore the balance between human and planetary health. TO VC is confident that the biggest companies of tomorrow will be climate companies, and the most attractive companies today are those whose mission it is to solve climate change. Learn more at to.vc.

SOURCE OCOchem


GoldState Music Announces Partnership with Flexpoint Ford to Pursue Music Catalog Acquisitions

NEW YORK, Nov. 15, 2023 — GoldState Music (“GoldState” or “the Company”) today announced a significant investment and a new partnership with funds managed by Flexpoint Ford Asset Opportunities (“Flexpoint”) to accelerate its strategy of investing in music intellectual property assets, including full catalogs, influential copyrights, master recordings, and publishing rights. As part of the partnership, GoldState will source new catalog acquisitions and manage the licensing, synchronization, and administration for the existing and acquired copyrights.

GoldState was launched in 2022 by Charles Goldstuck, a music industry veteran who brings decades of music experience to the firm. GoldState was formed to create a diversified portfolio of music copyrights and sound recordings, with a differentiated strategy of acquiring rights from active, well-known artists, writers and producers. In its first year of operations, GoldState successfully acquired music rights from several artists and songwriters, spanning multiple genres, geographies, and asset types.

“GoldState aims to provide a home for active music creators looking to monetize their current music assets and focus on continuing their creative endeavors,” said Charles Goldstuck, Founder of GoldState. “The capital from Flexpoint will allow us to accelerate our strategy and create a diversified portfolio of music assets across various artists and genres.”

“Charles has a strong pedigree within the music industry that enables him and the GoldState team to identify and acquire music rights with attractive performance trajectories,” said Mike Morris, Managing Director of Flexpoint Ford. “We continue to see strong secular demand for music underpinned by increased penetration of streaming and expanding avenues for music consumption, and we believe GoldState has the expertise, experience and deep commitment to artists needed to develop a successful and differentiated business in this rapidly evolving space. We are thrilled to partner with Charles and the opportunities that lie ahead for GoldState.”

Flexpoint has approximately $7.7 billion of assets under management and specializes in privately negotiated investments in the financial services and healthcare industries. The capital is being provided by Flexpoint Asset Opportunity Fund II, which leverages the firm’s institutional knowledge and relationships to complete opportunistic investments across the capital structure.

Reed Smith served as legal counsel to Flexpoint. Artisan One served as financial advisor and Alston & Bird served as legal counsel to GoldState.

About GoldState Music

GoldState Music is a private investment firm with a primary focus on the music sector. GoldState funds invest in music rights, enterprises in need of growth and expansion capital, as well as emerging music technology. The firm was founded in 2022 by Charles Goldstuck, and currently has offices in New York, NY and Lake Nona, FL (Orlando). The team consists of experienced industry professionals who are deeply rooted in the music ecosystem.

About Flexpoint Ford

Flexpoint Ford is a private equity investment firm that has approximately $7.7 billion of regulatory assets under management and specializes in privately negotiated investments in the financial services and healthcare industries. Since the firm’s formation in 2005, Flexpoint Ford has completed investments across a broad range of investment sizes, structures and asset classes. Flexpoint Ford has offices in Chicago, Illinois, and New York, New York. For more information, visit www.flexpointford.com.

Media Contact

Prosek Partners on behalf of Flexpoint Ford

[email protected]

SOURCE GoldState Music


Vulcan Cyber Closes $55 Million Series B with Additional $34 Million to Solidify Position as a Leader in Cyber Risk Management

Latest round led by Maor Investments and Ten Eleven Ventures bolsters Vulcan Cyber vulnerability risk management leadership position, and promotes expansion into cyber risk and attack path management markets

TEL AVIV, Israel, Nov. 15, 2023 — Vulcan Cyber®, developers of the market-leading cyber risk management platform, today announced it has closed its $55 million Series B with the addition of a $34 million investment led by Maor Investments and Ten Eleven Ventures with participation from existing Vulcan Cyber investors Dawn Capital and Wipro Ventures. This latest investment marks a total of $70 million invested in Vulcan Cyber to date.

Based on annual recurring revenue in the trailing twelve months through Q3 2023, Vulcan Cyber more than doubled revenue year over year while aligning with current market requirements for operational efficiency. Vulcan Cyber revenue growth is based on substantial global demand for a SaaS solution that goes beyond traditional vulnerability scanning and vulnerability management to help cyber security teams and asset owners mitigate the cyber risk that presents the most critical threat to customers’ unique organizations.

Vulcan Cyber will use funds from this round to fuel continued product innovation, expand into new markets, accelerate rapid revenue growth, and build on market momentum.

Vulcan Cyber was recently recognized as a Leader in The Forrester Wave™: Vulnerability Risk Management, Q3 2023 (1) and the Omdia Universe: Risk-Based Vulnerability Management Solutions, 2023 (2) vendor evaluations. In addition, Vulcan Cyber was named a winner of the coveted SINET16 Innovator Award as one of the most-innovative and compelling cyber security products of 2023.

According to the Forrester Vulnerability Risk Management Wave, “Vulcan Cyber’s innovative culture sets it apart from now-common VRM approaches. Vulcan Cyber’s differentiated and detailed vision is to democratize risk through self-service, no-code data ingestion, and AI data mapping. Vulcan Cyber is a great fit for organizations that foresee technology ownership expanding throughout their business stakeholders.”

Samira Jamnejad, Wealthsimple security assurance manager, said, “Our vulnerability management team collaborates with more than 800 software engineers and asset owners to mitigate risk across our environment. Vulnerability risk management at this level of scale would not be efficient, or even possible, without Vulcan Cyber risk prioritization and risk mitigation orchestration.”

Eric Elalouf, managing partner of Maor Investments, said, “As the threat landscape and attack surfaces grow in complexity and scale, Vulcan Cyber increasingly resonates with cyber security executives who recognize the challenge and seek an innovative, more-effective approach to cyber risk management. With a flexible architecture allowing integration to virtually any security tool in the market and adaptive risk prioritization, Vulcan Cyber is ideally positioned to lead the enterprise cyber risk management market. We are thrilled to support the Vulcan Cyber team, driven by a clear vision and outstanding leadership.”

Yaniv Bar-Dayan, Vulcan Cyber CEO and co-founder, said, “Vulcan Cyber is leading the way in a push to move beyond common vulnerability management functions of scan and prioritize, to ease the heavy lifting of meaningful risk mitigation. Efficient collaboration between security, engineering, operations teams and asset owners is essential. Orchestration and automation of remediation tasks at enterprise scale is critical. This round of funding will help Vulcan Cyber deliver on its vision to help customers align vulnerability risk management efforts with business priorities.”

Vulcan Cyber is building the platform to support comprehensive exposure management going beyond traditional vulnerability management to include:

  • Application security posture management (ASPM);
  • Cyber asset attack surface management (CAASM);
  • Risk-based vulnerability management (RBVM);
  • Exposure and risk analytics.

Vulcan Cyber customers efficiently reduce the most-critical attack surface risk and improve overall cyber hygiene through the use of these innovative capabilities:

  • Integration with hundreds of security tools and data sources to rationalize spend and help customers get the most out of cyber investments;
  • A composite view of the customer’s unique cyber risk exposure across all attack surfaces using business and asset context;
  • Identification of attack paths associated with cyber crown jewels and asset interdependencies for vulnerability risk prioritization and holistic security posture management;
  • Task automation and orchestration vulnerability risk mitigation campaigns at scale;
  • Machine learning and artificial intelligence to generate vulnerability remediation instructions for asset owners and operations teams;
  • Comprehensive risk analytics with reporting and dashboards for SLA adherence and compliance.

Attend the upcoming CyberRisk Summit on December 5, 2023 and hear Yaniv Bar-Dayan deconstruct the Forrester Wave, and learn how Vulcan Cyber customers Wealthsimple and Paystack have used Vulcan Cyber to efficiently reduce critical cyber risk.

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To experience Vulcan Cyber vulnerability and asset risk management for yourself, request a demo or get access to Vulcan Free.

About Vulcan Cyber
Vulcan Cyber has developed the industry’s first cyber risk management platform, built to help businesses reduce vulnerability and asset risk through measurable and efficient attack surface security. Vulcan Cyber orchestrates and tracks the vulnerability remediation lifecycle from scan to fix by aggregating risk and asset data, prioritizing vulnerabilities using business context, curating and delivering the best remedies, and automating mitigation processes through the last mile of remediation. Vulcan Cyber is proud to offer Vulcan Free, VulnRX and MITRE Mapper as freemium SaaS solutions for IT security teams at businesses of all sizes. The unique capability of the Vulcan Cyber platform has garnered Vulcan Cyber recognition as a 2019 Gartner Cool Vendor, as a 2020 RSA Conference Innovation Sandbox finalist, as a 2023 SINET16 Innovator Award winner, and as a vulnerability risk management leader in several industry analyst evaluations. https://vulcan.io

About Maor Investments
Maor Investments is a Luxembourg-based venture capital fund that exclusively invests in Israeli Technology companies. Maor’s mission is to build a business bridge between Israeli startups that want to penetrate the European market and European companies that want to leverage Israeli technology and bolster innovation. Maor has become a leading growth investor in the Israeli tech ecosystem, with notable investments in WSC Sports, Aidoc, Coralogix, Silverfort, Medigate and Minute Media. For more information, visit https://maorinvestments.com/

About Ten Eleven Ventures
Ten Eleven Ventures is the original cybersecurity-focused, global, stage agnostic investment firm. The firm finds, invests, and helps grow top cybersecurity companies addressing critical digital security needs, tapping its team, network, and experience to help build successful businesses. Since its founding, Ten Eleven Ventures has raised over $US 1 billion and made over 40 cybersecurity investments across stages worldwide, including KnowBe4, Darktrace, Axis Security, Twistlock, Verodin, Cylance, and Ping Identity. For more information, please visit www.1011vc.com or follow us on Twitter @1011vc.

1 “The Forrester Wave™: Vulnerability Risk Management, Q3, 2023,” September 19, 2023, Forrester Research.

2 “Omdia Universe: Risk-Based Vulnerability Management Solutions,” September 18, 2023, Omdia.

SOURCE Vulcan Cyber