LONDON, Jan. 31, 2024 — The Enhanced Games, the modern reinvention of the Olympic Games that does not have drug testing, is pleased to announce the closing of its Series Seed funding round with the participation of leading venture capitalists including Christian Angermayer’s Apeiron Investment Group, PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, and former Coinbase CTO Balaji Srinivasan.

The multi-million dollar round gives Enhanced the financial foundations to deliver a world-class sporting event. “The Enhanced Games is pleased to have the support of Christian, Peter, Balaji and all our other investors. They see the vision of a new model of sports, that openly celebrates scientific innovation and honestly represents the use of performance enhancements in sports today”, said Aron D’Souza, President of the Enhanced Games. “Unlike the Olympic Games, Enhanced believes that excellence deserves to be rewarded. Support from the world’s leading venture capitalists enables us to create the structures that pay athletes fairly.”

“Contemporary drug testing practised in sports today is not necessarily about athlete safety; it often skews the public perception of fairness and health in competitive sports. Enhanced will be adopting a sophisticated safety protocol which puts the athlete’s health first – including comprehensive health checks before and after competitions. As well as advanced screening to check for pre-existing conditions, for example, cardiac risk,” said Dr Michael Sagner, MD, of King’s College London and a member of the Scientific and Medical Advisory Commission of the Enhanced Games.

With private-sector funding and incentives, the Enhanced Games aims to deliver a profitable event without burdening taxpayers. “By focusing on world records in popular sports such as track and field, swimming, gymnastics, weight lifting and combat sports, we can eliminate wasteful infrastructure spending and reinvest to fairly pay all athletes,” said D’Souza.

Christian Angermayer, a pioneer in the biotech, longevity and mental health sectors, who, in addition to his investment, joins the Enhanced Games as a co-founder declared, “I was instantly drawn to Enhanced Games’ forward-thinking ethos and its alignment with many elements of my own vision for the Next Human Agenda. Its core mission centres on building a platform that not only improves the safety and fairness of competition but also stimulates scientific breakthroughs and nurtures human advancement. The Enhanced games will undoubtedly inspire the public’s imagination and reinforce the profound impact of science on human progress.”

“Just as the ancient Olympics were revived and renovated in 1896 for the Victorian world, the Enhanced Games is once again renovating the Olympic model for the twenty-first century. In the era of accelerating technological and scientific change, the world needs a sporting event that embraces the future, particularly advances in medical science,” said D’Souza.

More information is available at Enhanced.org. Follow @enhanced_games on X for real-time updates.

_________________________________

Dr Aron D’Souza is the President of the Enhanced Games. He read law at Oxford University and has a PhD in intellectual property law.

Christian Angermayer is a German serial entrepreneur and investor. Christian is committed to building a future in which technology empowers people to live longer, healthier and happier lives through his focus on the “Next Human Agenda.” See https://apeiron-investments.com/

Peter Thiel is a German-American billionaire entrepreneur and venture capitalist. Thiel co-founded Founders Fund, PayPal and Palantir Technologies, and was the first outside investor in Facebook.

Dr Michael Sagner, MD, is an advisor on Ageing Research at the Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine at King’s College London,  Director of the European Society of Preventive Medicine and a member of the Scientific and Medical Advisory Commission of the Enhanced Games.

Media Contact:
[email protected]

SOURCE Enhanced Games

AcuraStem Leverages iNeuroRx® Platform to Drive Innovative SYF2 and UNC13A Treatments Forward Toward Clinical Trials

PASADENA, Calif., Jan. 30, 2024 — AcuraStem, a patient-based biotechnology company advancing treatments for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), frontotemporal dementia (FTD), and other neurodegenerative diseases, announced today that it has successfully raised nearly $7 million in grant funding for ALS / FTD research from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Department of Defense (DOD).

This latest achievement—building upon the recent licensing agreement with Takeda worth $580 million to develop and commercialize AcuraStem’s PIKFYVE targeted therapeutics including AS-202—enables the company to advance multiple programs towards clinical trials.

“We are thrilled to receive continued support from NIH and the DOD,” said Sam Alworth, MS, MBA, AcuraStem co-founder and CEO. “Leaders from the scientific community selected AcuraStem for these awards through a rigorous peer-review process, which demonstrates the excellence of our research.”

AcuraStem has made a significant advancement in understanding the pathophysiology of ALS, focusing on the crucial role of UNC13A. An overwhelming majority of ALS cases, and roughly half of FTD cases, are characterized by TDP-43 pathology. TDP-43, a RNA-binding protein typically found in the nucleus, is mislocalized to the cytoplasm in affected neurons, leading to RNA processing errors. These errors result in the incorporation of a cryptic exon into the UNC13A messenger RNA, causing a loss of UNC13A protein. This loss is further exacerbated by a risk variant in the UNC13A gene, closely linked to the TDP-43 binding site and associated with reduced survival in ALS and FTD patients. AcuraStem’s iNeuroRx® platform has successfully replicated UNC13A pathology in patient neurons, enabling the rapid development and testing of antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs). These ASOs effectively suppress the cryptic exon and restore normal UNC13A function, offering a promising therapeutic approach for TDP-43 proteinopathies and a deeper understanding of UNC13A’s role in disease progression.

Additionally, AcuraStem has made a pivotal discovery with its focus on SYF2, a novel target in TDP-43 pathology. In collaboration with co-founder Dr. Justin Ichida’s lab at USC, AcuraStem’s extensive research on patient neurons via the iNeuroRx® platform, coupled with a comprehensive bioinformatic analysis, identified SYF2 as a key therapeutic target. SYF2, a pre-mRNA splicing factor, plays a crucial role in the regulation of splicing affected by the depletion of nuclear TDP-43, a common feature in most ALS cases (Linares GR et al Cell Stem Cell 2023).

AcuraStem’s findings highlight that SYF2 can address both the toxic aggregation of TDP-43 in cytoplasm and also counter the widespread gene dysregulation, including critical genes like UNC13A and STMN2, caused by TDP-43’s absence from the nucleus. Targeting SYF2 could offer a more direct and potentially effective therapeutic strategy compared to addressing each dysregulated gene individually.

Funding from NIH and the DOD was awarded through rigorous peer-reviewed processes, suggesting the award matches the health-related missions established by each agency.

For additional information, please visit AcuraStem at acurastem.com and follow on LinkedIn, Facebook and X.

Disclaimer

This project will be supported by an NIH grant (R44AG085411). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of NIH.

This work was supported by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs and the Defense Health Agency J9, Research and Development Directorate, or the U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity at the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command, in the amount of $839,898.40 through the ALSRP under Award No. HT9425-23-1-0469. Opinions, interpretations, conclusions and recommendations are those of the author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Department of Defense.

About AcuraStem 
AcuraStem is a patient-based biotechnology company pioneering treatments for neurodegenerative diseases including sporadic ALS and FTD. AcuraStem’s best-in-class disease modeling platform, iNeuroRx^®, enables the discovery of innovative, effective, and broadly acting treatments. The team’s strong expertise in ASO technology provides for the rapid advancement of treatments to the clinic. AcuraStem’s research is funded in part by support from the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation, Harrington Discovery Institute, Alzheimer’s Association, Rainwater Charitable Foundation, Muscular Dystrophy Association, Department of Defense and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

Contact:
Kissy Black
[email protected]
615.310.1894

SOURCE AcuraStem – Patient-Based Therapeutics

Chicago Region’s Flagship Venture Summit Returns to 167 N. Green Street on May 23

CHICAGO, Jan. 30, 2024 — Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, in partnership with World Business Chicago, announces the return of the Chicago Venture Summit Future-of-Food. As the leading hub for food production in the nation, Chicago boasts a thriving ecosystem encompassing traditional food giants, innovative startups, ingredient pioneers, and unparalleled talent. The event, scheduled for May 23, 2024, will be held at 167 Green Street, bringing together visionary entrepreneurs, savvy investors, and industry leaders at the forefront of technology-driven transformations shaping the food industry’s future.

“On behalf of the residents of our great city and its vibrant business community, I look forward to the 2024 convening of the Chicago Venture Summit, Future of Food,” said Mayor Brandon Johnson. “Chicago stands as a trailblazing force in food innovation, and we invite startups, investors, and companies from across the globe to join us at the Chicago Venture Summit to witness the remarkable advancements taking place in food production and innovation. Here, too, you’ll see our unwavering commitment to Chicago leading the charge in cultivating and sustaining an inclusive environment for entrepreneurship and ensuring equitable access to venture capital opportunities, especially for startups founded by women and people of color.”

The Chicago Venture Summit reaches a significant milestone in 2024 as it celebrates its 10th anniversary. This highly regarded event, known for its connecting of local founders and investors, attracts national and global sector leaders eager to tap into the region’s thriving startup ecosystem. Organized by World Business Chicago, the Chicago Venture Summit stands as one of the region’s flagship innovation and venture programs. In 2023, the summit achieved record-breaking success by hosting two unique sector events – “Future-of-Food” and “Future-of-Climate Tech,” each drawing more than 2000 attendees, including startup founders, Fortune 500 executives, sector innovators, and investors.

“I’m immensely proud of the World Business Chicago team leading this effort,” said Michael Fassnacht, President & CEO, World Business Chicago. “Chicagoland’s food sector continues to be one of the region’s most competitive and growing industries. The depth and breadth of the sector are world-class. Here we have big food giants coexisting with amazing startups, an increasing number of them founded by women and people of color. Our region boasts an active and engaged investor community, a vibrant culinary scene, and some of the best urban farms in America. For all these reasons and more, the Chicago Venture Summit enjoys the reputation and following as one of the premiere venture summits in the country.”

Chicago Venture Summit Future-of-Food 2023 featured a full week of programming around food innovation, with 8 unique events during the week of the summit, including an opening reception with over 500 guests, including sector innovators, corporates, founders, and more. The summit itself featured a startup portfolio containing over 160 founders, 60% of which are underrepresented founders.

“As the seventh generation to live on our farm, my life’s work is to both to grow food and to drive industry growth in our region” said Matt Kellogg, Chairman of the Kendall County Board. Kendall County is a founding member of the Greater Chicagoland Economic Partnership, the regional collective led by World Business Chicago. “Chicagoland is positioned to continue to be one of the world’s most important economic regions and will continue to provide the highest quality food and innovative products to consumers across the nation.”

The Chicago Venture Summit returns to the vibrant 167 Green in Chicago’s Fulton Market District, marking its sixth consecutive year at this iconic venue. Spanning an impressive 640,000 square feet, this office building, developed by Shapack Partners and Focus, and owned in partnership with Walton Street Capital, stands as a testament to both its strategic location and innovative design. Notably, CCC Information Services, Foxtrot, and a host of other forward-thinking companies have chosen 167 Green as their headquarters. They join the ranks of industry leaders like Kroll and WeWork, solidifying this building’s reputation as a hub for innovation in the Fulton Market District. Featuring one of Chicago’s largest town hall spaces, a rooftop terrace, sitting room, game room, and gym, 167 Green offers a dynamic and collaborative environment for businesses of all sizes.

You can learn more about the Chicago Venture Summit Future-of-Food 2024 at www.ChicagoVentureSummit.com. Registration for this invite-only investor and startup conference will open in the coming weeks.

ABOUT WORLD BUSINESS CHICAGO
World Business Chicago (WBC) serves a critical role in driving inclusive and equitable economic development throughout the city’s 77 neighborhoods, focused on high growth sectors: food production, transportation, distribution, & logistics; manufacturing; healthcare & life sciences, and our local innovation, startup, & venture ecosystem. As the City of Chicago’s economic development agency, World Business Chicago leads corporate attraction & retention, workforce & talent, community impact, and promotion of Chicago as a leading global city. Supported by a council of 300+ local leaders, World Business Chicago’s portfolio of innovation & venture programs include: the Chicago Venture Summit series, Startup Chicago, and ThinkChicago. Follow World Business Chicago on LinkedIn for news and announcements on corporate relocation and expansion, industry and ecosystem growth, U.S. and world rankings, an economic development.

SOURCE WORLD BUSINESS CHICAGO

NEW YORK, Jan. 30, 2024 — Sumitomo Corporation, through Sumitomo Corporation do Brasil S.A. announced today a joint investment in a Seed round for Cyns, a biotechnology company located in Sao Paulo, Brazil, to unlock the next chapter of black soldier fly (BSF) farming in Latin America. Lambarin Investimentos, a Brazilian family office and wealth management firm, has also joined the Seed Funding Round together with Sumitomo.

Cyns is the leading biotechnology company specialized in sustainable insect-based animal nutrition in South America, having been the first company to obtain regulatory approval to produce and market black soldier fly-based ingredients for animal nutrition in Brazil. The company is located in Piracicaba, Sao Paulo, the most prominent agtech valley in Brazil, and has developed a unique, cost-competitive horizontal BSF rearing system that delivers high bioconversion rates with minimum HVAC requirements by leveraging Brazil’s naturally-suitable conditions for BSF rearing and large availability of sustainable food byproduct streams which are used as the source of nutrition for BSF larvae.

Cyns originated in 2015 as a project incubated by Bug Biological Agents, which was the pioneer in insect rearing for biological pest control in Latam. In 2020, it received its first angel investment from Lambarin Investimentos, and in 2022 Cyns opened Brazil’s first BSF industrial pilot to receive regulatory approval. Since then, Cyns has successfully introduced its ingredients to the market, which can now be found in dog treats, bird and other exotic pet foods available in Brazil’s largest pet retail outlets.

“We are excited to support the accelerated growth and distribution of alternative feed ingredients needed for animal feeds in Latin America“, said João Simões, Insect Protein Project Leader at Sumitomo Corporation do Brasil S.A. “Ensuring a sustainable supply chain while reducing its carbon footprint is critical in today’s business landscape, and we are proud to partner with Cyns to accomplish this important work.”

“We believe that we have an extremely competitive technology and have developed a very high quality product. The partnership with Lambarim and Sumitomo will expand our commercial operations in America and around the world and allow us to scale production at the levels that this business demands,” said João Pisa Cyns director.

Sumitomo and Lambarin’s new investment will support Cyns’ next stage of growth, in which they plan to establish a brand new BSF rearing facility that will be able to produce 1,000 MT of BSF meal/year, and reach new markets including dog and cat food, aquaculture and monogastric livestock in Brazil and Latam. The company is also preparing for its Series A investment round, expected for 2026, when the company should be ready to expand production capacity in Brazil and internationally, starting from neighboring countries in South America.

Insect-based nutrition is one of the leading solutions to significantly reduce the carbon footprint of animal nutrition, which together with agriculture, make up the 2nd largest source of greenhouse gas emissions with roughly 25% of all emissions. Insect-based ingredients are known for having a much lower carbon intensity than those of its plant and animal-based ingredient counterparts, contributing to reduce the carbon footprint of pet food and animal feed by at least 60-70% or more.

Together with the investment, Sumitomo Corporation do Brasil has also inked a commercial partnership agreement with Cyns, under which Sumitomo Corporation do Brasil will be in charge of application development and R&D, as well as marketing Cyns’ products in the Americas Region.

About Sumitomo Corporation do Brasil
Sumitomo Corporation do Brasil (SCBR is a subsidiary of Sumitomo Corporation, one of the world’s leading traders of goods and services). As an integrated business enterprise, the firm has emerged as a major organizer of multinational projects, an expediter of ideas, an important international investor and financier, and a powerful force for distribution of products and global communications through a network of offices worldwide. Its core businesses include Energy, Automotive, Social Infrastructure, Agri-food and Life Science, Construction and Transportation Systems, Real Estate, Mineral Resources and Energy Innovation.

Sumitomo Corporation has highlighted mitigation of climate change as one of its key areas of focus, and has committed to being carbon neutral by 2050. For more information, visit www.sumitomocorp.com.

About Lambarin Investimentos
Lambarin is a company that invests in the areas of biotechnology, agricultural technology, sustainable production and capital markets. Our focus is to find entrepreneurs and innovative products/services to help them put their plans into operation, through equity funding. Learn more at www.lambarin.com.

About Cyns
Founded by Paulo Bogorni and João Pisa, and incubated at BUG Agentes Biológicos, previously the largest insect producer in Brazil, Cyns embarked on the journey of scaling up Black Soldier Fly (BSF) production in 2017. Today, with a well-defined production and processing system in place, Cyns stands poised to become the leading supplier of ingredients derived from Hermetia illucens. This venture significantly contributes to enriching the feed for various animal species. www.cyns.com.br

SOURCE Sumitomo Corporation of Americas

Roofer.com sets out to build first technology-powered, nationwide roofing company

DALLAS, Jan. 30, 2024 — AI startup Roofer.com, a pioneering technology company in the roofing industry, announced today that it has raised a $7.5 million Seed round led by Mucker Capital with participation from Soma Capital, HF0, Asymmetric Capital Partners, Alumni Ventures, HustleFund, The Council, GoAhead Ventures, Mirada Capital and several prominent angels such as the Founder and CEO of Mercury and the Founder and CEO of ParkHub, The company is headquartered in Dallas, Texas and plans to use the funding to launch into Austin, Texas, it’s second market.

Prior to closing the Seed round, Roofer.com was a participant in an exclusive accelerator reserved for leading startups focused on developing AI products and solutions, HF0.

The cornerstone of Roofer.com’s innovative approach to roofing lies in its use of advanced AI algorithms and drone technology to conduct roof scans. Drones capture high-resolution photographs, which are then analyzed using computer vision. This analysis provides insights into areas of damage, the remaining life of the roof, and whether a repair or complete re-roofing is necessary.

Roofer.com also differentiates itself from other competitors by being vertically integrated and actually doing the roofing work. They acquired Bearded Brothers Roofing & Restoration, one of the largest roofing companies in Texas that did notable projects such as the San Antonio Marriott Riverwalk and work for thousands of area homeowners.

Today, Roofer.com focuses on re-roofing residential homes for consumers and has a rapidly growing enterprise segment that services multi-family apartments and commercial buildings.

Multiple seasoned executives from the proptech industry have joined the new AI startup in pursuit of building the next Airbnb. “The team you build is the company you build and we’ve built an incredible team,” said Nathan Mathews. “Our leadership has extensive experience in early to later-stage startups, as well as helping those startups exit successfully for nine figures. With the combination of our team, technology, and streamlined processes, I believe Roofer.com is uniquely positioned to deliver the premiere roofing experience everyone will love.”

The company is setting its sights on growing aggressively by streamlining systems, hiring on to its core team, and entering new markets in 2024, which have yet to be announced.

About Roofer.com

Roofer.com revolutionizes the roofing industry through its digitally-native, on-demand approach, utilizing drones and AI to unlock proprietary roofing data for homeowners and enterprise operators. By leveraging cutting-edge technology, Roofer.com drives down the costs of roof repair and replacement, enhances the property owner experience, and provides a national roofing platform for marketplace participants.

Media Contact
Nate Smoyer
[email protected]
484-948-0578

SOURCE Roofer.com

NEW YORK, Jan. 30, 2024 — Global X ETFs, the New York-based provider of exchange-traded funds, today announced that the Global X Artificial Intelligence & Technology ETF (AIQ) has surpassed USD 1 billion in assets under management (AUM). This important milestone represents both the firm’s legacy and expertise in thematic investing as well as the rapid rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and its role in accelerating disruption across industries.

AIQ, which seeks to invest in companies that potentially stand to benefit from the further development and utilization of AI technology and hardware in their products and services, has benefitted from the major strides made in cutting-edge AI technology in 2023. ChatGPT, OpenAI’s generative AI platform, surpassed over 100 million weekly users in under a yearⁱ, and worldwide expenditures on AI chips soared past $50 billionⁱⁱ last year as new consumer and enterprise AI use cases continue to emerge. AIQ provides investors with exposure to a range of businesses engaging these paradigm-shifting technologies.

“AI’s rapid advancement has the potential to add trillions of dollars to the global economyⁱⁱⁱ. AI is fueling the evolution of cloud computing and producing more convenient, accessible and scalable resources that benefit corporate IT departments and consumers alike. In addition, AI is helping to bring about the next generation of automation technologies – lowering costs, driving productivity and helping employees focus on higher value work,” said Pedro Palandrani, Director of Research at Global X ETFs. “As these technologies continue to overlap, we believe they are paving the way for successive rounds of innovation that can continue to change consumer expectations in new and often unexpected ways. AIQ provides investors with access to this disruptive theme, while leveraging Global X’s history in and knowledge of thematic investing.”

The Global X Artificial Intelligence & Technology ETF (AIQ) seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the Indxx Artificial Intelligence & Big Data Index. The fund carries a total expense ratio of 0.68%.

About Global X ETFs

Global X ETFs was founded in 2008. For more than a decade, our mission has been empowering investors with unexplored and intelligent solutions. Our product lineup features a wide range of ETF strategies and over $40 billion in worldwide assets under management.^iv While we are widely recognized for our Thematic Growth, Income, Commodity and International Access ETFs, we also offer Core, Risk Management, Digital Asset, and other solutions to suit a range of investment objectives. Explore our ETFs, research and insights, and more at www.globalxetfs.com.

Global X is a member of Mirae Asset Financial Group, a global leader in financial services, with more than $550 billion in assets under management worldwide.^v Mirae Asset has an extensive global ETF platform ranging across the US, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Europe, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam with over $80bn in assets under management.^vi

Important Information

Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. The investable universe of companies in which AIQ may invest may be limited. The companies in which the Fund invests may be subject to rapid changes in technology, intense competition, rapid obsolescence of products and services, loss of intellectual property protections, evolving industry standards and frequent new product productions, and changes in business cycles and government regulation.

International investments may involve risk of capital loss from unfavorable fluctuation in currency values, from differences in generally accepted accounting principles or from social, economic or political instability in other nations. Emerging markets involve heightened risks related to the same factors as well as increased volatility and lower trading volume. AIQ is non-diversified.

As of January 29, 2024, AIQ is not invested in shares of OpenAI. Holdings are subject to change. Shares of ETFs are bought and sold at market price (not NAV) and are not individually redeemed from the Fund. Brokerage commissions will reduce returns.

Carefully consider the fund’s investment objectives, risks, and charges and expenses. This and other information can be found in the fund’s full or summary prospectuses, which may be obtained at globalxetfs.com. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing.

Global X Management Company LLC serves as an advisor to Global X Funds. The Funds are distributed by SEI Investments Distribution Co. (SIDCO), which is not affiliated with Global X Management Company LLC or Mirae Asset Global Investments.

i Source: The Verge, November 6, 2023
ii Source: Gartner, August 22, 2023
iii Source: McKinsey Report: The Economic Potential of AI, June 14, 2023
iv Source: Global X, as of January 28, 2024
v Mirae Asset, as of November 20, 2023
vi Mirae Asset, as of November 20, 2023

Media Contact

Naomi Sussis
AVP, Communications Manager
[email protected]

SOURCE Global X Management Company LLC

$1.8 billion U.S. market projected to continue rapid growth trajectory

ATLANTA, Jan. 30, 2024 — The Zero Proof, the first and leading dedicated online retailer, importer, and supplier of adult non-alcoholic beverages, today announced the closing of its Series A funding round. The round was led by Asahi Group Beverages & Innovation, the U.S.-based venture arm of Asahi Group Holdings, Ltd. The company’s previous lead investor, Overline, participated in the round, along with Springdale Ventures.

The Zero Proof plans to use the funding to hire salespeople in key markets, expand its distribution network nationwide, grow its base of key retail accounts, and broaden its wholesale portfolio. Additionally, the company plans to increase its suite of proprietary adult non-alcoholic spirits and wine, building on the successful launch of its new non-alc wine label, Saint Viviana.

“I’m thrilled to welcome our new, strategic investors to the team,” said Sean Goldsmith, CEO and co-founder of The Zero Proof. “It’s an exciting time for the adult, non-alc category, and this new funding enables us to accelerate our already phenomenal growth by building out our omnichannel distribution and broadening our suite of high-quality, delicious NA beverages.”

In addition to its leading e-commerce platform at www.thezeroproof.com, The Zero Proof also sells through distribution partners like KeHE and LibDib, DSD Distributors and key retailers nationwide. The company is the exclusive importer of top international, non-alcoholic brands Gnista (Sweden), ISH (Denmark), and Oddbird (Sweden). The Zero Proof also offers an expanding suite of company-owned brands that today includes Saint Viviana and Lapo’s, its line of Italian aperitivos and digestivos.

“We are excited to partner with The Zero Proof and to support the company in furthering its lead in the hyper-growth adult non-alcoholic beverage category,” said Kristen Bareuther, President and Head of Investment at Asahi Group Beverages & Innovation. “We’ve closely studied the market and believe The Zero Proof is best positioned to be the long-term category winner, with unparalleled distribution and an ever-expanding product offering.”

According to IWSR, 42.5% of the U.S. legal drinking age population consumes no/low-alcohol beverages, resulting in a current domestic market specifically for Adult no-alcohol beverages totaling over $1.8 billion. The U.S. no-alcohol market is projected to rapidly grow, with IWSR forecasting that by 2027 the category will command nearly 4% of total alcohol volumes in the top 10 global no/low-alcohol markets. Growth in the category is being driven in large part by Millennials, with 45% of this generation being “substituters,” consuming no/low alcohol beverages on certain occasions and alcoholic beverages on others.

“Overline is thrilled to continue our partnership with Sean and the team at The Zero Proof,” said Sean O’Brien, Managing Partner of Overline. “The adult NA category shows no sign of slowing, and The Zero Proof continues to take share in this exciting category. The company’s revenue has increased sixfold since our initial investment, and this additional funding will help them further accelerate growth through increased distribution and product availability.”

The Zero Proof experienced 300% revenue growth in Q4 from 2022 to 2023 and Dry January will be another record month for the company.

About The Zero Proof
Atlanta-based The Zero Proof is a leading online retailer, importer and supplier of premium non-alcoholic wine, spirits and cocktails. The Company reaches customers through its e-commerce shop at www.thezeroproof.com, where consumers are also able to find a wide range of content that helps them discover new products and places to enjoy them. The Zero Proof also wholesales its broad selection of premium imported and domestic non-alc beverages to retailers nationwide.

About Asahi Group Beverages & Innovation
Asahi Group Beverages & Innovation is an Investment Fund launched in 2023 by Asahi Group Holdings, Ltd. Located in San Francisco, Asahi Group Beverages & Innovation provides funding to US startups that have attractive brands with significant future growth potential in the low-alcohol beverages, non-alcohol beer-taste beverages, and adult soft drink categories. Additionally, Asahi Group Beverages & Innovation invests in startups with technology that will lead to new sales and manufacturing methods. Asahi Group Holdings, Ltd. is a global beverage leader offering a diverse collection of brands centered on beer, alcohol and non-alcohol beverages, and food. Asahi Group’s mission is to deliver on our great taste promise and bring more fun to life.

Contact:
Mercer Brockenbrough
[email protected] 706-540-6258 www.thezeroproof.com

SOURCE The Zero Proof

Series B financing led by Kleiner Perkins underscores urgent need for a secure, personalizable AI-powered software developer productivity platform

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Jan. 30, 2024 — Today, Codeium announced it has raised a $65 million Series B round to help software developers supercharge their workflows with generative AI-powered capabilities. The financing was led by Kleiner Perkins with participation from repeat investor Greenoaks as well as General Catalyst.

Codeium is a generative AI-powered coding toolkit that leverages proprietary code-biased Large Language Models (LLMs) to reduce inefficiencies in software development and maximize developer productivity. Designed for optimal flexibility, Codeium supports over 70 languages and integrates with over 40 Integrated Developer Environments (IDEs), such as Visual Studio Code, the JetBrains suite, Eclipse, and Jupyter Notebooks.

“Software engineering is the backbone of innovation yet the process is expensive and inefficient due to imperfect knowledge retrieval, boilerplate tasks, maintenance overhead, and more,” said Varun Mohan, CEO, Codeium. “The fast rise of LLMs is now giving developers the opportunity to overcome these challenges and significantly increase their productivity. This is precisely why we developed Codeium: to let developers focus on creative, high-value tasks—not tedious maintenance work.”

Through in-editor capabilities such as autocomplete, chat, and context awareness, Codeium writes over 44 percent of newly committed code for its 300k+ individual user base.

Additional features for enterprises include:

• Robust Security: SOC2 Type 2-compliant SaaS or self-hosted (in Virtual Private Cloud or on-premise datacenter) deployments; customer code is never saved, stored, or used for training the public system.
• Personalization: Leverage and integrate with existing Source Code Management (SCM) systems for full repository context awareness on results and optional local model finetuning.
• Leading Compliance: No training on private or non-permissively licensed code.
• Real Time Analytics Dashboards: Live metrics and insights on Codeium usage to justify ROI and increase adoption.

In the coming months, Codeium will significantly expand its platform to address tasks in every stage of the software development life cycle, beyond writing and running code. These include addressing system design, easing the burden of code maintenance (especially legacy code migrations), continuous scanning and fixing of complex issues such as security vulnerabilities. As a fully-vertical solution that integrates with all other tools agnostically, Codeium is well-positioned technologically to accelerate these tasks for all developers at all companies.

Codeium plans to use the additional capital to grow its engineering and sales functions, as well as increase their investment in systems and solutions to support the large and varied needs of enterprise software development teams.

“Codeium has all the elements of a winning AI company: the visionary leadership, the breakthrough technology, and a growing customer roster of enterprise companies,” Leigh Marie Braswell, Partner, Kleiner Perkins. “Their AI technology is not just accelerating developer productivity; it’s reshaping the way software is written. We’re thrilled to be on this journey with Varun and his team as they continue to pave the way for the future of software development.”

“Code generation is among the hardest problems in AI software, with frequent usage and strict latency requirements that demand highly-performant infrastructure,” said Neil Mehta, Managing Partner at Greenoaks. “Codeium’s world-class team has built a differentiated product that’s already winning head to head against Microsoft and others. Over time, we believe that code autocomplete and chat are just the beginning of what Codeium can do, and we are thrilled to once again partner with Varun and his team on this journey.”

Leading companies such as Anduril, Clearwater Analytics, and a number of Fortune 500 companies leverage Codeium today to increase their internal developer productivity through a suite of AI-powered in-editor capabilities. Codeium is also working with established leaders such as Atlassian to enhance the developer experience.

ABOUT CODEIUM

Codeium is a leading AI-powered software developer productivity platform. For more information, please visit https://codeium.com/

SOURCE Codeium

Led by FTV Capital, with participation from NVIDIA and existing investors, funding will further solidify Kore.ai’s leading position in explosive advanced AI market

ORLANDO, Fla., Jan. 30, 2024 — Kore.ai, a leader in enterprise conversational and generative AI platform technology, today announced $150 million in funding. The strategic growth investment was led by FTV Capital, a sector-focused growth equity investor with a successful 25+ year track record investing across enterprise technology, along with participation from NVIDIA and existing investors such as Vistara Growth, Sweetwater PE, NextEquity, Nicola and Beedie. The new funding will accelerate Kore.ai’s market expansion and continuous innovation in AI to deliver tangible business and human value at scale.

Poised to seize market momentum around putting AI to work

The AI market has seen rapid growth and disruption driven by advancements in technology and shifting user expectations. Gartner estimates the conversational AI market to reach $377 billion in revenue by 2032, up from $66 billion in 2023. This reflects an exponential demand for enhanced customer experiences, streamlined business operations and innovative GenAI applications addressing specific business tasks.

Kore.ai provides an enterprise-grade no-code platform to help companies of all sizes power business interactions with AI safely and responsibly while driving significant revenue and cost savings. From conversational virtual assistants to generative AI (Gen AI) applications, Kore.ai’s differentiated platform offers purpose-built workflows, highly configurable tools and a flexible, open architecture that are recognized as the leading approach by customers and analysts. This gives teams the ability to craft custom solutions or deploy pre-built, domain-trained virtual assistants across multiple industries such as banking, healthcare and retail and across a variety of functional roles such as IT, HR and others, to accelerate time-to-value.

“We have been working with advanced AI for a decade now – our deep technology expertise and market understanding put us in a prime position to take advantage of the momentum and to do AI right in order to meet growing customer needs,” said Raj Koneru, founder and CEO of Kore.ai. “Sitting above the infrastructure layer and LLM chaos, our open approach grants businesses freedom of choice with built-in guardrails for effective AI implementation. As we look to enhance our Gen AI-powered innovations and drive wider adoption across a variety of market segments, we are pleased to have the backing of FTV Capital, a firm that has significant experience in our space and invaluable connections across the enterprise to augment our exciting growth trajectory.”

“We’ve spent significant time examining the landscape and evaluating advanced-AI platforms, and Kore.ai clearly stood out with its proven enterprise-grade platform capabilities, visionary leadership, strong R&D focus, established global customer base and clear path to profitability,” said Kapil Venkatachalam, partner at FTV Capital. “We’re excited to partner with such an experienced and high-caliber team that consistently delivers world-class innovations, and we look forward to leveraging our deep knowledge and network to catalyze Kore.ai’s success.”

Market understanding and expertise across diverse use cases

Today, several Fortune 2000 companies across a variety of industry verticals leverage Kore.ai to enhance their customer, employee and contact center agent experiences and drive measurable ROI. Customers include leading financial institutions, such as PNC Bank and large global banks, as well as major brands such as AT&T, Cigna, Coca-Cola, Airbus and Roche.

Over the past several years Kore.ai has consistently demonstrated triple-digit year-over-year growth in revenues. The company automates 450 million interactions a day for about 200 million consumers and two million enterprise users worldwide. In addition to domestic growth, Kore.ai’s growth has been fueled by rising demand from emerging markets in Asia Pacific, Europe, LatAm and the Middle East. As a result, Kore.ai has added new Global 2000 enterprise customers across major verticals.

Kore.ai has been recognized as a leader and an innovator by top analysts, including being named a leader in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Conversational Al Platforms twice in a row.

About Kore.ai

Kore.ai is a leading provider of advanced AI technology with a decade of experience in helping enterprises realize business value through the safe and responsible use of AI. The company’s innovative platform, no-code tools and solutions are used to deliver end-to-end customer and employee experiences from automated to human assisted and to build generative AI enabled applications. Kore.ai takes an open approach allowing companies to choose the LLMs and infrastructure that best meet their business needs. Trusted by over 200 partners and 400 Fortune 2000 companies, Kore.ai helps them navigate their AI strategy. The company has a strong patent portfolio in the AI space and has been recognized as a leader and an innovator by top analysts. Headquartered in Orlando Kore.ai has a network of offices to support customers including in India, the UK, Middle East, Japan, South Korea, and Europe. Visit Kore.ai to learn more.

About FTV Capital

FTV Capital is a sector-focused growth equity investment firm that has raised $6.2 billion to invest in high-growth companies offering a range of innovative solutions in three sectors: enterprise technology and services, financial services, and payments and transaction processing. FTV’s experienced team leverages its domain expertise and proven track record in each of these sectors to help motivated management teams accelerate growth. FTV also provides companies with access to its Global Partner Network®, a group of the world’s leading enterprises and executives who have helped FTV portfolio companies for two decades. Founded in 1998, FTV Capital has invested in 140 portfolio companies, including Agiloft, BillingPlatform, EBANX, Lean Solutions Group, LogicSource, Neptune Flood Insurance, Patra, PlateIQ, ReliaQuest and Vagaro, and successfully exited/partially exited companies including Enfusion (NYSE: ENFN), Globant (NYSE: GLOB), InvestCloud (recapitalized), RapidRatings (recapitalized), Strata Fund Solutions (acquired by Alter Domus), VPay (acquired by Optum) and WorldFirst (acquired by Ant Financial). FTV has offices in San Francisco, New York, Connecticut and London. For more information, please visit www.ftvcapital.com and follow the firm on LinkedIn.

Media Contact: 
Kierra Webster
kierra.webster@fusionpr.com

SOURCE Kore.ai