Company advancing novel live tumor imaging diagnostic platform

MADISON, Wis., Jan. 23, 2024 — Elephas Biosciences Corporation (Elephas), a private company, announced today that it has raised $55 million in Series C funding. Venture Investors Health Fund and State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB) led the round. Continuing investments were made by Northpond Ventures, ARCH Ventures, Sands Capital, Moore Strategic Ventures, Tao Invest, and WARF Ventures. With this $55 million Series C funding, this brings the total raised by Elephas to $116.5 million.

Elephas is developing an oncology imaging diagnostics platform to predict response to immunotherapy using the latest advances in metabolic imaging. The platform utilizes live patient biopsies with intact native tumor architecture and treats them with potential therapies to predict response to treatment. The basis of the platform is to visualize immune cell activity including T cell activation and cytotoxic mediated killing. Read more about the latest scientific data presented by Elephas at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) meeting in November 2023 here.

Elephas is conducting observational clinical trials to demonstrate that a patient’s clinical response to immunotherapy is correlated to the response data obtained by the Elephas platform, adding confidence the data generated from the platform can be used to predict response. The company also launched their biopharma services offering in 2023, partnering with biopharma companies to accelerate immunotherapy drug development using the Elephas platform.

Oncology drugs remain the largest pharmaceutical therapeutic area, with immunotherapies emerging in the last decade as powerful tools in the fight against cancer. However, despite the significant increase in the number of available immunotherapies, only 1 in 3 patients receiving immunotherapy frontline obtain a response and many who may respond are not eligible for therapy due to a lack of accurate predictive biomarkers. 

“We remain intensely focused on our mission to improve care for cancer patients,” stated Maneesh Arora, founder and CEO of Elephas. “Supported by world class venture firms we are committed to building a platform that can help guide clinicians and enhance access to life-changing immunotherapies.”

“The Elephas platform holds immense promise to address a critical unmet need in predicting response to immunotherapy,” Venture Investors Health Fund’s Paul Weiss, added. “We are excited to work side by side with the company to pioneer a new diagnostic era for immunotherapy that will improve both access to therapy and outcomes for patients.”

XMS Capital Partners acted as financial advisor to the company.

About Elephas 

Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide, with the number of patients projected to triple by 2060. Despite a significant increase in the number of available immunotherapies, only 1 in 3 patients receiving immunotherapy frontline obtain a response and many who may respond are not eligible for therapy due to lack of accurate predictive biomarkers. With the mission to tackle the massive oncology dilemma, Elephas is developing an ex-vivo platform to assess how live patient biopsies respond to immunotherapies. Our unique approach maintains the native 3-dimensional cellular architecture and micro-environment of the tumor, enabling rapid real-time characterization of live tumor response to immunotherapies using the latest advances in metabolic imaging. To learn more, visit us at www.elephas.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

About Venture Investors Health Fund

Venture Investors is a premier provider of venture capital funding and company building expertise to early-stage healthcare companies. With a Midwest focus and national reach, they have a track record of working with passionate entrepreneurs to advance solutions to the market that address the world’s biggest health challenges. Venture Investors is focused on investment opportunities in healthcare, principally those emerging from ecosystems surrounding major research universities in the Midwest. Formed in 1982, Venture Investors has offices strategically located next to the country’s second and sixth largest research institutions in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Madison, Wisconsin. For more information, please visit https://ventureinvestors.com.

About State of Wisconsin Investment Board

The State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB), created in 1951, is an independent state agency responsible for managing the assets of the Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS), the State Investment Fund (SIF), and other state trust funds. As of December 31, 2023, SWIB managed $155 billion of total assets, 85% representing WRS assets. SWIB’s strong management of the trust funds has helped WRS remain one of the only fully funded U.S. public pension plans. SWIB provides a strong, steady economic pillar for the state of Wisconsin by growing the trust funds under its management, managing risk, and optimizing costs over the long term.

About ARCH Venture Partners

ARCH Venture Partners invests in life science and advanced technology companies and is one of the world’s leading early-stage venture firms. The firm is a recognized leader in commercializing technologies developed at academic institutions, corporate research groups and national laboratories. ARCH invests primarily in companies it co-founds with leading scientists and entrepreneurs, bringing innovations in life sciences and physical sciences to market. For more information visit www.archventure.com.

About Northpond Ventures 

Northpond Ventures is a multi-billion dollar science-driven venture capital firm based in Cambridge, MA; San Francisco, CA; and Bethesda, MD. Northpond has been named one of the three most active lead biotech investors in 2021 by Crunchbase, and the most active lead investor in life science solutions and molecular diagnostics by Silicon Valley Bank. It is particularly engaged in the research ecosystem, having founded a bioengineering laboratory at Harvard, and sponsored a prize for women entrepreneurs at MIT. It has led over 50 financings over the past several years, with a high percentage having an academic origin. Learn more at npv.vc. 

About Moore Strategic Ventures

Moore Strategic Ventures, LLC is the privately held investment company for Louis M. Bacon, Founder and CEO of Moore Capital Management, LP.

About Tao Capital Partners

Tao Capital Partners is a family office that invests in technology, alternative energy and transportation, healthcare, education, sustainable food & agriculture, consumer, and real estate businesses that have a positive impact. Tao is an active investor with the ability to support companies through various stages of their life-cycle.

About Sands Capital

Sands Capital is an active, long-term investor in leading innovative businesses globally. Our approach combines analytical rigor and creative thinking to identify high-quality growth businesses that are creating the future. Through an integrated investment platform spanning venture capital, growth equity and public equity, we provide growth capital solutions to institutions and fund sponsors in more than 40 countries.

About WARF Ventures

WARF Ventures actively invests in startups with University of Wisconsin-Madison technology and has done so over two decades. WARF Ventures is part of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) which helps steward the cycle of research, discovery, commercialization, and investment for the university. WARF manages more than 2,000 patents and an investment portfolio as it funds university research, obtains patents for campus discoveries and licenses inventions to industry. For more information, visit warf.org and view WARF’s Cycle of Innovation. 

Contact:

[email protected]

SOURCE Elephas

SANTA CRUZ, Calif., Jan. 23, 2024 — Neatleaf™, a first-of-its-kind cultivation management platform that uses data, AI, and robotics to help the cultivation industry manage their crops and improve their yields, has secured $4 million led by AgFunder, one of the world’s most active foodtech and agtech investors.

The company’s flagship product, the Neatleaf Spyder, is a fully autonomous robotic platform that scans indoor cultivation crops generating millions of data points on plant health and growth metrics. This data is analyzed and turned into actionable insights for the cultivation team to assess, monitor, and remedy. “We believe that data is one of the most crucial tools a farmer can have today,” said Neatleaf Founder and CEO Elmar Mair. “Our AI-driven technology will save growers time and money but more importantly, allows them to grow healthier, more profitable crops through daily management and forecasting tools. This funding will allow us to increase production and deliver the benefits of automation and AI to more growers.”

Neatleaf technology has been developed over the last several years to detect plant issues even before the human eye can detect them. The Spyder looks at every plant multiple times and can “go back in time” to show when a problem began. Data analytics can compare growth conditions across multiple growth cycles as well as across facilities which is crucial for crop steering and planning. With remote monitoring, growers can save travel costs and optimize an often overworked staff.

“Future yield increases in agriculture will start with better data capture at a plant-by-plant level,” said Tom Shields, a Partner at AgFunder who is joining the Neatleaf Board of Directors. “Neatleaf has an innovative solution for data capture, and more importantly, has proven they can help growers use that data to meaningfully increase yields.”

Neatleaf
Founded in 2020, Neatleaf’s mission is to enable cultivators to grow their crops in the most efficient and sustainable way. With offices in the San Francisco Bay Area and Munich, Germany, it brings together a multidisciplinary and diverse group of world-class professionals from some of the world’s leading technology companies and research institutions. Neatleaf is committed to connecting people with plants and data, and creating a positive impact for our planet.

AgFunder
AgFunder is one of the world’s most active foodtech and agtech VCs. We’re rethinking venture capital for the 21st century. Born in Silicon Valley in 2013, we use technology, media and our global network to invest in and support transformational founders and technologies. With the world’s only truly global agrifoodtech investment portfolio, we’ve invested in more than 60 companies across six continents. Our news site AFN publishes daily, original news from the frontlines of food+ag+climate, globally.

Press contact:
Beth Graham
KMA Cannabis
371757@email4pr.com
(904) 214-6769

SOURCE Neatleaf

Following 100%+ year-over-year revenue growth, with 100+ customers added quarterly, including multiple Fortune 50 companies, Silverfort announces Series D funding, led by Brighton Park Capital

TEL AVIV, Israel and BOSTON, Jan. 23, 2024 — Silverfort, the leading identity protection company, today celebrates raising $116M in series D funding, bringing the total amount raised to $222M. Brighton Park Capital (BPC) led the round, with participation from existing investors including Acrew Capital, Greenfield Partners, Citi Ventures, General Motors Ventures, Maor Investments, Vintage Investment Partners and Singtel Innov8. Mike Gregoire, founding Partner at BPC and former CEO of CA Technologies and Taleo, will join Silverfort’s Board of Directors as the company scales and continues its journey to transform and lead the identity security market.

100%+ Year-Over-Year Growth, At Scale
The investment follows another record year of more than 100% growth where Silverfort added tens of millions in new Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR), and hundreds of new enterprise customers, including the largest global financial services, manufacturing and retail companies. Ranked as the #1 Best Startup Company to Work For in Israel for the second consecutive year, Silverfort intends to grow its global team, already located across more than 15 countries, and will use the additional funds to expand its platform with new innovative product modules and accelerate its go-to-market strategy with an emphasis on channel partnerships.

Identity Is Every Attacker’s Weapon of Choice – And There’s a Reason
Compromised identities and credentials are the #1 tactic for cyber threat actors and ransomware campaigns to not only break into organizational networks, but to spread inside networks. A core reason identity is the most vulnerable element in the enterprise attack surface, is the market misperception that Identity and Access Management (IAM) providers—who are in charge of managing identities—are capable of securing identities. In reality, they are not in a position to secure identity effectively, due to two major limitations:

1. The migration to hybrid and multi-cloud environments resulted in fragmented, complex enterprise environments: 92% of companies are forced to use a combination of cloud-native and on-prem identity solutions, often from multiple vendors. Each of these solutions operates as a ‘silo’, with its own local security controls, without understanding the broader context of the user’s activity and without any consistent enforcement across the organization.  
2. Many critical resources found at every company cannot be protected by IAM and identity security solutions. Resources such as command-line interfaces (used in most data breaches), legacy systems, service accounts (non-human identities), file shares and databases, IT/OT infrastructure, amongst others, are regularly used by attackers as the easiest way to access sensitive networks and avoid the existing security controls.

Where No Identity Security Platform Has Gone Before
Silverfort spent years purposely designing its platform to eliminate the silos and blind spots that identity security suffered from for many years, which no other solution has managed to address so far. The platform extends modern identity security measures to every enterprise resource, on-prem and in the cloud, including systems that no other solution can protect, in an effortless and instant manner. It enables Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR), Identity Security Posture Management (ISPM), and real-time protection for privileged users and service accounts —an attacker’s prime target. By enabling these modern identity security controls holistically, even for previously unprotectable assets, customers are able to stop identity-based attacks everywhere (including by some of today’s most dangerous threat actors), and comply with regulations and cyber insurance requirements.

“Silverfort is one of the rare companies that has successfully envisioned how a large market will need to transform to solve a tough problem – in this case, identity security,” said Mike Gregoire. “The company has a track record of building innovative products at scale that exceed customer expectations, combined with excellent go-to-market execution. Silverfort’s deep market expertise and vision for the identity security market, as well as their ability to build a winning team and culture, are second to none. We’re thrilled to join Hed, Yaron, and the rest of the Silverfort team on the next phase of their journey to not only reshape the identity security market, but lead it.”

Enabling Modern Security on Top of Every Authentication
With its patented technology, Silverfort connects to the entirety of an organization’s identity infrastructure in a matter of hours, from cloud-native identity providers (which are only aware of what happens inside their specific silo) to legacy on-prem directories such as Active Directory (which are missing basic security capabilities). Silverfort’s unique platform architecture:

1. Serves as a centralized enforcement engine behind all identity infrastructure silos, and as a ‘second opinion’ behind-the-scenes to approve all access requests.
2. Maps the company’s entire identity infrastructure, analyzes its security posture, inspects every access attempt across all environments in real-time, and most importantly – enforces active inline policies to verify the user’s identity or to prevent unauthorized access.
3. Operates in a way that is completely invisible to the countless devices, servers and applications that it protects, eliminating the need to modify them, integrate with them, or install anything on them. Organizations can protect every type of system, saving enormous time and cost.

“Identity has become the weakest link in enterprise security, and solving it requires a new approach – a unified, end-to-end layer of security that covers all the silos and blind spots of the identity infrastructure,” said Hed Kovetz, Silverfort’s Co-Founder and CEO. “We are very excited about our new partnership with BPC, which will allow us to accelerate our platform vision and strong business momentum. We look forward to reshaping the way identity security is done in every company, to effectively answer today’s and tomorrow’s cyber threats.”

Learn more about how Silverfort helps businesses protect identities with its unified identity protection platform.

About Silverfort
Silverfort, the Unified Identity Protection company, pioneered the first and only platform that enables modern identity security everywhere. By connecting to the silos of the enterprise identity infrastructure, Silverfort unifies identity security across all on-prem and the cloud environments. With its unique architecture and vendor agnostic approach, Silverfort takes away the complexity of securing every identity, and extends protection to resources that cannot be protected by any other solution, such as legacy systems, command-line interfaces, service accounts (non-human identities), IT/OT infrastructure, amongst others. Silverfort is a Top Tier Microsoft partner and was selected as Microsoft’s Zero Trust Champion of the Year. It’s trusted by hundreds of the world’s leading enterprises, including multiple Fortune 50 companies, and has local teams in more than 15 countries. Learn more by visiting www.silverfort.com.

About Brighton Park Capital
Brighton Park Capital is a Greenwich, Conn.-based investment firm focused on entrepreneur-led, growth-stage software, healthcare, and tech-enabled services companies. The firm invests in companies that provide highly innovative solutions in partnership with great management teams. Brighton Park brings purpose-built value-add capabilities that match the unique requirements of each of its companies. For more information about Brighton Park Capital, please visit www.bpc.com.

SOURCE Silverfort Ltd

The funds will be used to expand autonomous tractor operations into new markets and further scale the agricultural robotics solution, which reduces costs of crop production by up to 75%

TEL AVIV, Israel, Jan. 23, 2024 — Bluewhite, the agricultural Robot-as-a-Service (RaaS) company enabling data-driven autonomous farming, announced today that it secured $39M in Series C financing led by Insight Partners, with participation from new investors Alumni Ventures and LIP Ventures, among others. Existing investors Entrée Capital, Jesselson, and Peregrine Ventures also participated in the financing round. The company, which already works with more than 20 of the leading permanent crop growers in the US, will use the funds to further scale its agricultural autonomous tractor and farming solutions, and expand into new markets worldwide based on its successful track record.

The global market for autonomous tractors is due to reach $11.5B by 2030, as growers face increased pressure to produce more with fewer resources amid challenges including labor shortages, rising operational costs, global population growth, and environmental changes. While autonomous farming solutions can alleviate these issues, successful implementation and scale have largely remained problematic and elusive. Bluewhite’s autonomous farming solution is breaking down these barriers by equipping growers’ existing fleets with unique proprietary autonomous technology and a user-friendly experience to provide growers with data-driven insights to help better manage their farms, thus increasing yields and profitability.

“Having already proven the commercial success of our solution with growers, this new round of funding will enable us to continue providing sustainable autonomous innovation to more markets and work with different types of partners across the ecosystem to impact every level of the food supply chain,” said Ben Alfi, co-founder and CEO of Bluewhite. “This next phase of our growth will help provide unprecedented transparency throughout the food supply chain and ensure healthier, safer, and more sustainable food production and consumption. We are thrilled to have forward-thinking investors and amazing customers who share our vision to make sustainable, autonomous farming a reality worldwide.”

Bluewhite combines hardware and software into a single solution, allowing for completely remote fleet and data management. The company’s Pathfinder product is retrofitted onto any tractor and leverages computer vision, AI, and smart implements integration to navigate and execute multiple tasks autonomously, from crop seeding and spraying to mowing and harvesting, even in challenging conditions. Compass, the software-as-a-service (SaaS) component of Bluewhite’s solution, collects data from the field, analyzes it using advanced AI algorithms, and provides real-time dashboards, reports and insights, ensuring maximum efficiency across farm operations on any device.

“Particularly in these challenging times, we’ve been excited to see Bluewhite defy the odds and successfully deploy its solution while also raising this next round of funding so it can continue to scale,” said Daniel Aronovitz, Principal at Insight Partners and Bluewhite Board Member. “The combination of Bluewhite’s unique autonomous technology and incredible team have led the company to rise above the pack, and we’re thrilled to be working with them as they move into this next critical phase.”

Bluewhite’s autonomous solution can be applied across all permanent crop types, including nuts, berries, apples, grapes, hops, stone fruit, and more. The company’s solution has already helped execute more than 50,000 hours of autonomous farming activity across 150,000 acres of crops in California and Washington, USA.

About Bluewhite

Bluewhite, formerly Blue White Robotics, drives the growth of resilient farms by bringing sustainable autonomous innovation to permanent crop growers worldwide. The company’s solution combines sensor technology, advanced AI algorithms, and a user-friendly experience to help growers manage their fleets and data– and ultimately produce more with less. Bluewhite works with over 20 leading permanent crop growers, enabling autonomous farming across 150,000 acres of farmland in the US. Founded in 2017 by Ben Alfi, Yair Shahar, and Aviram Shmueli, Bluewhite is headquartered in Tel Aviv with offices in Fresno, California.

About Insight Partners

Insight Partners is a global software investor partnering with high-growth technology, software, and Internet startup and ScaleUp companies that are driving transformative change in their industries. As of June 30, 2023, the firm has over $80B in regulatory assets under management. Insight Partners has invested in more than 800 companies worldwide and has seen over 55 portfolio companies achieve an IPO. Headquartered in New York City, Insight has offices in London, Tel Aviv, and the Bay Area. Insight’s mission is to find, fund, and work successfully with visionary executives, providing them with tailored, hands-on software expertise along their growth journey, from their first investment to IPO. For more information on Insight and all its investments, visit insightpartners.com or follow us on Twitter @insightpartners.

Media Contact:

Hannah Wolf

[email protected]

+972-58-788-4077

SOURCE Bluewhite

NEW YORK and GUELPH, ON, Jan. 23, 2024 — Recurrent Energy, a subsidiary of Canadian Solar Inc. (“Canadian Solar”) (NASDAQ: CSIQ) and a global developer and owner of solar and energy storage assets, announced today that Recurrent Energy B.V. has secured a $500 million preferred equity investment commitment, convertible into common equity, from BlackRock through a fund managed by its Climate Infrastructure business (“BlackRock”). The $500 million investment will represent 20% of the outstanding fully diluted shares of Recurrent Energy on an as-converted basis. Canadian Solar will continue to own the remaining majority shares of Recurrent Energy after the closing of the investment.

The investment will provide Recurrent Energy with additional capital to grow its high value project development pipeline while executing its strategy to transition from a pure developer to a developer plus long-term owner and operator in select markets including the U.S. and Europe. This transition is expected to create a more diversified portfolio and provide more stable long-term revenue in low-risk currencies and enable Recurrent Energy to create and retain greater value in its own project development pipeline.

Recurrent Energy is one of the world’s largest and most geographically diversified utility-scale solar and energy storage project development platforms, with a strong and established track record of responsibly originating, developing, financing, and building around 9 GWp of solar and 3 GWh of battery storage power plants across six continents since 2009.

As of September 30, 2023, Recurrent Energy had a global development pipeline of 26 GW in solar and 55 GWh in storage, of which 13 GW and 12 GWh respectively are projects with interconnections. Recurrent Energy expects to have 4 GW of solar and 2 GWh of storage in operation in the U.S. and Europe by 2026. The perimeter of the transaction includes the U.S., Canada, Spain, Italy, the U.K., France, the Netherlands, Germany, South Africa, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Australia, South Korea and Taiwan; and excludes Canadian Solar’s project development business in Japan and China, and certain assets in Latin America and Taiwan. Closing of the transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and certain terms and conditions in accordance with the transaction agreements.

Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and CEO, Canadian Solar, said, “We started our global energy development business in 2009 and have since strategically grown Recurrent Energy as Canadian Solar’s premier renewable energy platform, forging a new path in developing, financing and constructing first-of-their kind solar and energy storage projects. We are now at an inflection point for renewable energy growth. The infusion of capital from our partner BlackRock, who is also Canadian Solar’s largest institutional investor, will provide the resources needed to further scale the Recurrent Energy platform and meet record clean energy power demand across the world.”

Ismael Guerrero, CEO of Recurrent Energy, added, “We are delighted to have the support of BlackRock, one of the largest and most sophisticated renewable energy investors in the world, as we scale Recurrent Energy in response to massive global demand for renewable energy and energy storage solutions. This investment will support our growth and continued ambition to make a difference by leading the renewable energy transition across the world. Our mission is to deliver clean, reliable and affordable power to the world, today and tomorrow, and this milestone will help us continue to achieve this goal.”

David Giordano, Global Head of Climate Infrastructure and Chief Investment Officer of Transition Capital, BlackRock, said, “We are excited to partner on behalf of our clients with Recurrent Energy. We believe this partnership will help unlock the full potential of Recurrent Energy’s impressive renewable energy project development platform. Recurrent Energy is emblematic of our strategy of investing in leading renewable power generation assets and transition-enabling infrastructure, and we are pleased to make this first investment commitment from the fourth vintage of BlackRock’s Climate Infrastructure fund franchise.”

Solar energy is the most affordable way to produce electricity in most places around the world. Between 2022 and 2027, global solar capacity is projected to almost triple, becoming the largest source of power capacity in the world, according to the International Energy Agency. The growth of renewable energy, especially in the U.S. and Europe, is also driving demand for energy storage which provides dispatchable and reliable power to the grid. Wood Mackenzie projects global cumulative deployments of energy storage to exceed 1,000 GWh between now and 2030.

BofA Securities, Inc. and Banco Santander, S.A. acted as financial advisors to Canadian Solar.

For more information, please refer to Form 6-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding this investment.

About Recurrent Energy

Recurrent Energy is one of the world’s largest and most geographically diversified utility-scale solar and energy storage project development, ownership and operations platforms, with an industry-leading team of in-house energy experts. Recurrent Energy is a subsidiary of Canadian Solar Inc. Additional details are available at www.recurrentenergy.com.

About Canadian Solar

Canadian Solar was founded in 2001 in Canada and is one of the world’s largest solar technology and renewable energy companies. It is a leading manufacturer of solar photovoltaic modules, provider of solar energy and battery storage solutions, and developer of utility-scale solar power and battery storage projects with a geographically diversified pipeline in various stages of development. Over the past 22 years, Canadian Solar has successfully delivered over 110 GW of premium-quality, solar photovoltaic modules to customers across the world. Likewise, since entering the project development business in 2009, Canadian Solar has developed, built, and connected around 9.3 GWp of solar power projects and over 3 GWh of battery storage projects across the world. Currently, the Company has around 850 MWp of solar power projects in operation, 8 GWp of projects under construction or in backlog (late-stage), and an additional 19 GWp of projects in the advanced and early-stage pipeline. In addition, the Company has a total battery storage project development pipeline of approximately 55 GWh, including approximately 5 GWh under construction or in backlog, and an additional 50 GWh at advanced and early-stage development. Canadian Solar is one of the most bankable companies in the solar and renewable energy industry, having been publicly listed on the NASDAQ since 2006. For additional information about the Company, follow Canadian Solar on LinkedIn or visit www.canadiansolar.com.

About BlackRock Private Markets

BlackRock’s private markets platform serves investors seeking outperformance in infrastructure, private debt, private equity, real estate, and multi-alternatives solutions. We strive to bring our investors the highest quality opportunities by drawing upon our global footprint, superior execution capabilities, proprietary technology, and position as a preferred partner. As of December 31, 2023, BlackRock manages US$327 billion in liquid and illiquid alternative investments and commitments on behalf of clients worldwide.

Safe Harbor/Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. These statements are made under the “Safe Harbor” provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by such terms as “believes,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “estimates,” the negative of these terms, or other comparable terminology. Factors that could cause actual results to differ include general business, regulatory and economic conditions and the state of the solar and battery storage market and industry; geopolitical tensions and conflicts, including impasses, sanctions and export controls; volatility, uncertainty, delays and disruptions related to the COVID-19 pandemic; supply chain disruptions; governmental support for the deployment of solar power; future available supplies of high-purity silicon; demand for end-use products by consumers and inventory levels of such products in the supply chain; changes in demand from significant customers; changes in demand from major markets, such as Japan, the U.S., China, Brazil and Europe; changes in effective tax rates; changes in customer order patterns; changes in product mix; changes in corporate responsibility, especially environmental, social and governance (ESG) requirements; capacity utilization; level of competition; pricing pressure and declines in or failure to timely adjust average selling prices; delays in new product introduction; delays in utility-scale project approval process; delays in utility-scale project construction; delays in the completion of project sales; continued success in technological innovations and delivery of products with the features that customers demand; shortage in supply of materials or capacity requirements; availability of financing; exchange and inflation rate fluctuations; litigation and other risks as described in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its annual report on Form 20-F filed on April 18, 2023. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot guarantee future results, level of activity, performance, or achievements. Investors should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. All information provided in this press release is as of today’s date, unless otherwise stated, and Canadian Solar undertakes no duty to update such information, except as required under applicable law.

Canadian Solar Inc. Investor Relations Contacts 
Isabel Zhang
Investor Relations
Canadian Solar Inc.
[email protected]

Recurrent Energy Media Inquiries
Inés Arrimadas
Recurrent Energy
[email protected] 

Ally Copple
Innovant Public Relations
713-201-8800
[email protected] 

BlackRock
Christopher Beattie
646-231-8518
[email protected]

SOURCE Canadian Solar Inc.

NEW YORK, Jan. 23, 2024 — On a mission to automate regulatory compliance, Norm Ai has built the first Regulatory AI Agent platform and is now serving Chief Compliance Officers at companies spanning from the Fortune 100 to small businesses. Norm Ai raised an $11.1 million seed round, led by Coatue, with participation from Haystack Ventures, M13 Ventures, Basis Set Ventures, Expa Ventures, Atypical Ventures, and AI researchers such as the founding CEO of the Allen Institute for AI.

Over the last 50 years, the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations has more than doubled in its number of restrictive words, from 400,000 to over 1,000,000, as our economy has become more complex. Compliance has become extremely costly. Even the most earnest and well-resourced organizations struggle to comply with the routine thousand-page regulation. Norm Ai is solving this regulatory “sludge” problem by converting regulations into AI agents that can make autonomous compliance determinations. This enables compliance teams to delegate tasks to Regulatory AI via high-level instructions, while at the same time validating the resulting work product at any level of granularity.

The team of AI engineers and lawyers is headquartered in New York City. With publications in journals such as Science, founder John Nay brings more than a decade of research experience at the intersection of AI and law, most recently at Stanford. Nay was also the founding CEO of Brooklyn Investment Group, an AI-powered investment software platform and SEC Registered Investment Adviser subsidiary, where he now serves as Chairman.

“It has become almost humanly impossible for compliance teams to keep up with regulations in a time-sensitive and cost-effective way,” explains Norm Ai CEO John Nay. “Norm Ai agents serve as a round of context-aware compliance checks that pinpoint what may be problematic with what regulation, enabling compliance teams to quickly understand the legal basis for a determination. Businesses can move faster, do more, and be more compliant, all at the same time.”

Sri Viswanath, General Partner at Coatue and former CTO of Atlassian, added, “we believe regulatory compliance is an ideal field to deploy AI agents that can significantly improve processes and productivity. We are excited to back Norm Ai’s pioneering approach that converts regulations into computer code, powered by large language models. The team brings a unique blend of generative AI, legal, and software engineering expertise with potential to revolutionize compliance as we know it.”

Norm Ai regularly convenes industry experts to push the frontier of Regulatory AI. The company established a Regulatory Advisory Board, with founding members including Susan Dudley (former Head of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs), Troy Paredes (former SEC Commissioner), Kate Karas (former General Counsel of Chime), and Vanessa De Simone (Chief Compliance Officer of Coatue Management, former SEC Enforcement). And on February 6, Norm Ai is hosting an event at the New York Stock Exchange on AI Agents & Law, with speakers including Lawrence H. Summers (Harvard Professor and OpenAI Board member), Matthew J. Platkin (Attorney General of New Jersey), and Anna Makanju (Head of Policy at OpenAI and former policy adviser to Vice President Joe Biden).

To learn more about Norm Ai’s platform for compliance teams, please visit https://norm.ai.

SOURCE Norm Ai

Financing led by Mirae Asset Capital Life Science with participation from additional new and existing investors

Funds will support advancement of lead programs through early clinical development, including Accent’s first-in-class DHX9 inhibitor and newly unveiled, potentially best-in-class KIF18A inhibitor

LEXINGTON, Mass., Jan. 23, 2024 — Accent Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company pioneering a new class of small molecule precision cancer therapies, today announced the completion of a $75 million Series C financing. The financing was led by Mirae Asset Capital Life Science, with participation from other new investors, Mirae Asset Capital, Mirae Asset Venture Investment, Bristol Myers Squibb and Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, Inc., as well as all existing investors, including The Column Group, Atlas Venture, Droia Ventures, GV, EcoR1 Capital, AbbVie Ventures, The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research, Timefolio Capital (formerly known as NS Investment) and others. In conjunction with the financing, Naveen Krishnan, MD, MPhil, Managing Director of Mirae Asset Capital Life Science will join the Company’s Board of Directors.

Proceeds from the financing will be used to support the advancement of both lead programs –Accent’s first-in-class DHX9 inhibitor and a potentially best-in-class KIF18A inhibitor – through early clinical development including safety, pharmacokinetics and early efficacy studies.

“We are delighted to announce the backing of an exceptional investor syndicate who share our commitment to advancing innovative therapies for patients with cancer,” said Shakti Narayan, PhD, JD, CEO of Accent Therapeutics. “These additional resources position us well to file INDs this year for both our DXH9 and KIF18A programs, and to rapidly progress them through early clinical development.”

Accent is developing therapeutics for both novel and known, but suboptimally-addressed, high-impact oncology targets with the potential to benefit large patient populations. The company’s DHX9 inhibitor seeks to address indications with high unmet need, including BRCA loss of function cancers (breast, ovarian), mismatch repair deficient (dMMR) or microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) cancers (colorectal, endometrial, gastric) and additional undisclosed cancer types. Accent’s second lead program, a KIF18A inhibitor, could also potentially benefit a large patient population across several cancer indications with high unmet need, including ovarian cancer and triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). 

“Accent’s focus on targeting cancer cell vulnerabilities in a specific and robust way really stood out as we were evaluating companies for our first investment, ” remarked Naveen Krishnan, MD, MPhil, of Mirae Asset Capital Life Science. “They have assembled an incredible team with a successful track record of drug development, and we are excited to partner with the other seasoned investors to support Accent at this pivotal time.”

About DHX9
Accent’s lead program is a first-in-class DHX9 inhibitor with the potential to address high unmet need indications not adequately served by existing therapies, including tumors with BRCA loss of function (breast, ovarian), mismatch repair deficient (dMMR) or microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) cancers (colorectal, endometrial, gastric) and additional undisclosed cancer types representing large patient populations. DHX9 is a DNA/RNA helicase that has been reported to play important roles in replication, transcription, translation, RNA splicing, RNA processing, and maintenance of genomic stability. Hence, this enzyme represents a compelling novel oncology target as inhibition of DHX9 exploits key tumor vulnerabilities, resulting in cancer-specific death. Accent is currently conducting IND-enabling studies evaluating its DHX9 inhibitor.

About KIF18A
Accent’s second lead program is a potential best-in-class inhibitor for KIF18A which may address a large patient population across several cancer indications, including ovarian and triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). KIF18A is a mitotic kinesin motor protein critical for cell division in select tumors with chromosomal instability. A subset of tumor cells with an abnormal number of chromosomes (aneuploid) are sensitive to KIF18A and show rapid cell killing in vitro and in vivo upon KIF18A inhibitor treatment, while cells with normal numbers of chromosomes (euploid) are unaffected. Accent is planning to initiate IND-enabling studies for KIF18A in the first half of 2024. 

About Accent Therapeutics
Accent Therapeutics is pioneering a new class of small molecule precision cancer therapies targeting critical intracellular dependencies that span multiple types of cancer. Building upon industry-leading expertise in RNA-modifying proteins (RMPs) and the systematic mapping of both the RMP space and adjacent high-value areas for drug discovery, the company is building a flexible model that allows for a diversity of approaches to developing potentially transformative biomarker-driven cancer medicines. Accent’s therapies are designed for both novel and known, but suboptimally-addressed, high-impact oncology targets with the potential to benefit large patient populations with significant unmet need. For more information on Accent’s mission to translate extraordinary science into life-changing therapeutics for patients living with cancer, visit www.accenttx.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

About Mirae Asset Capital Life Science
Mirae Asset Capital Life Science is the first and only U.S. affiliate of Mirae Asset Financial Group dedicated to life science investment. We invest in companies prioritizing the delivery of safe and effective treatments for patients who need them most and believe that superior returns will follow. Our strategy is rooted in core principles that include delivering near-term value, calculated risk, finding innovative yet validated modalities, and rigorous evaluation using our unique backgrounds across biomedical research, drug discovery, company building, clinical/medical training, and venture capital investing. For more information, please visit us at www.lifesci.miraeasset.com, or follow us on LinkedIn or Twitter.

SOURCE Accent Therapeutics, Inc.

DALLAS, Jan. 22, 2024 — Beal Bank is pleased to announce that it has provided of $637,500,000 out of a total of $885,000,000 to refinance an existing term loan of ProFrac Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: ACDC) as majority holder of newly issued $520,000,000 senior secured floating rate notes and sole lender of a $365,000,000 term loan to ProFrac’s wholly owned subsidiary Alpine Silica.

Farzin Dinyarian, Head of Oil & Gas for Beal Bank’s wholly-owned commercial lending subsidiary CSG Investments, Inc., said, “Beal Bank is excited to lend to ProFrac, one of the largest and premier companies in the pressure pumping and in-basin frac sand space. We are proud to support and provide debt to North American oil field service companies.”

The refinancing transactions enhance ProFrac’s financial position by (i) extending debt maturity to 2029 and (ii) creating a bifurcated capital structure between pressure pumping and frac sand businesses. The bifurcated capital structure will best position ProFrac to continue executing on growth-related and value realization opportunities.

Beal Bank has a long record of lending to the oil field services in the United States. Over the past five years, Beal Bank has consistently extended credit to oil field service companies including, among others, U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc. (March 2023), BJ Services (December 2019), and U.S. Well Services (May 2019, now part of ProFrac)

Beal Bank has demonstrated a commitment to the oil and gas industry (upstream and oil field services) and, despite social pressures, Beal Bank continues to provide capital to companies supporting United States energy independence.

About Beal Bank: The Beal Bank family of companies comprises one of the largest privately owned financial institutions in the nation with combined assets of approximately $31.6 billion as of September 30, 2023. The Beal Bank brand includes Beal Bank (Member FDIC and Equal Housing Lender), based in Plano, Texas, (near Dallas) and Beal Bank USA (Member FDIC and Equal Housing Lender), headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Banks have well-earned reputations as stable, strongly capitalized financial institutions.

Beal Bank and its lending affiliates are active in financing commercial real estate; acquiring individual loans and loan portfolios; and financing and funding loans and syndication interests in loans secured by tangible assets in such industries as real estate, lodging, energy and power, manufacturing, timber, and transportation and distribution. Beal Bank’s core consumer service is to provide depositors with competitive rates on certificates of deposits (CDs) through its branches and online. Contacts: Farzin Dinyarian ([email protected]; 469-467-5736), Damien Reynolds ([email protected]; 469-467-5618); and Hans Hubbard ([email protected]; 713-940-0641).

Media Contact: Jim Chambless ([email protected])

SOURCE Beal Bank

PLYMOUTH, Mass., Jan. 22, 2024 — MitoSense Inc., a research and development company focused on neurodegenerative disease treatments, announces the successful closure of its Series Seed Funding Round led by Caydan Capital Partners, raising close to $3.5 million. The round will allow MitoSense to advance its innovative work in Mitochondria Organelle Transplantation (MOT™️).

MitoSense aims to replenish damaged mitochondria in humans afflicted with degenerative conditions, initially concentrating on Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) treatment. This technology has broad potential applications in treating Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, Multiple Sclerosis, and other neurodegenerative diseases.

In addition to its Series Seed funding round, MitoSense is also supported by the following organizations, whose collaborations are pivotal to its success:

• Elliott Mitochondrial Research Center: Enhancing mitochondrial research capabilities.
• James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital: Developing therapies for neurodegenerative dysfunctions in veterans.
• Walter Reed Army Institute of Research: Focusing on mitochondrial health in military personnel.
• Greenwood Genetic Center: Researching Alzheimer’s Diseases and genetic aspects of mitochondrial diseases.
• Uppsala University, Sweden, Center for Advanced Medicinal Products: Evolving patient accessible advanced medicinal products from cellular starting materials.

Van Hipp, Chairman of MitoSense Inc., remarks, “This funding, complemented by our collaborations, propels us toward improving conditions for patients with ALS and other neurodegenerative diseases. We are dedicated to continuing the legacy of Dr. Robert Elliott, MD, PhD, in this endeavor.”

Rick Waldo, Managing Partner at Caydan Capital, adds, “MitoSense Inc.’s groundbreaking approach in mitochondrial health is pivotal. We’re proud to support their mission to transform the landscape of neurodegenerative disease treatment.”

This funding underscores MitoSense Inc.’s commitment to pioneering research in mitochondrial health, aligning with the broader goal of advancing human health and wellbeing.

About MitoSense Inc.: MitoSense Inc. is a biotechnology company dedicated to advancing mitochondrial health through innovative therapies and research, focusing on treatments for neurodegenerative diseases.

About Caydan Capital Partners, LLC: Caydan Capital Partners is a multi-asset investment firm that invests in exceptional companies across the private and public markets.

https://www.mitosenseinc.com/

SOURCE MitoSense, Inc.