Oversubscribed Growth Round Based on Proven Technology Platform and Strong Market Traction With Utility, Transportation and Infrastructure Leaders Around the Globe

TEL AVIV, Israel and PALO ALTO, Calif., Feb. 27, 2024 — Exodigo, the artificial intelligence (AI) innovator modernizing underground mapping, today announced the close of a $105 million Series A round, converting $30 million previously secured in SAFEs, for a total of $118 million in funding since its launch in 2022. Greenfield Partners and existing investor Zeev Ventures co-led the Series A with participation from existing investors SquarePeg, 10D VC, JIBE and National Grid Partners. Exodigo continues to lead a complete reinvention of underground mapping and plans to use the new capital to further build out its global team, accelerate the development of a self-service product line, and support its expansion into new markets.

“Exodigo is one of those rare companies that has managed to revolutionize a large market that is difficult to innovate in, by combining breakthroughs on both the software and hardware side in order to create unparalleled technology for non-intrusive underground mapping,” said Raz Mangel, Partner, Greenfield Partners. “The company operates with a unique intensity, leading to incredible market and product velocity. We’re thrilled to partner with Jeremy and the entire Exodigo team to play a part in the next phase of their global expansion as the company makes underground mapping and exploration a reality for the mass market.”

With more than 20 million miles of buried pipelines, cables and wires, the Common Ground Alliance (CGA) estimates more than $30 billion in costs due to hundreds of thousands of utility strikes each year across the United States alone and Exodigo calculates that companies spend more than $100B each year on unnecessary, and heavy-equipment-dependent, excavation and exploratory drilling. Meanwhile, the built environment constitutes almost half of annual global CO2 emissions, making solving the underground both an economic and environmental priority. Already helping dozens of customers around the world make capital projects safer, greener and more efficient, Exodigo has changed how and when companies seek out subsurface intelligence. Exodigo customers, including AECOM, Colas Rail, GRDF, HNTB, Houston METRO, HS2, Israel Electric Corporation, LA Metro, National Grid, PG&E, SEPTA, Tel Aviv Metro and VINCI, can now accelerate and derisk their entire project lifecycle – avoiding unneeded emissions, risks, delays and budget overruns.

“Exodigo has taken the underground mapping market by storm and established its platform as the gold standard in comprehensive underground intelligence in just two short years. There was absolutely no question that I would want to double down on my investment based on the overwhelming demand it has been able to rally from top leaders across the utility, transportation and infrastructure communities,” said Oren Zeev, Founding Partner, Zeev Ventures. “Exodigo helps companies see risks underground; meanwhile, I see no ceiling to the potential for Exodigo as it continues to unearth enormous opportunities for growth by expanding its solution offerings and proving its value across new markets.”

Exodigo provides the only complete, accurate picture of what lies beneath the surface to mitigate financial, environmental, and safety-related risks. Combining multiple types of powerful sensors, 3D imaging, cloud computing simulations and a proprietary AI platform, Exodigo fuses massive amounts of data into one, easy-to-read map so companies can see risks and assets underground. In fact, Exodigo typically locates 20-30 percent more utility lines than premium locators and reduces preliminary digging/drilling by up to 90 percent, so construction teams only excavate where necessary.

“We want to transform the entire built world and are committed to making underground exploration safer, faster, and more sustainable so our customers can design, dig and build safely with confidence. As the only subsurface imaging company to put AI-interpreted signal processing into practice, Exodigo solves a massive, longstanding problem for industries where what lies underground matters,” added Jeremy Suard, Co-Founder and CEO of Exodigo. “Some companies crawl before they can walk, but we’ve been sprinting consistently since day one and have no plans to stop the race. Thanks to the support of such dedicated investors and advisors, our team will be able to keep meeting increasingly complex customer needs as we dive deeper into the unknowns of the underground.” 

Collecting over 500 GB of data per scanned acre and continually evolving its algorithms to more accurately identify and categorize underground hazards and assets, Exodigo also plans to use the funding to increase the depth accuracy and precision of its scans as it readily integrates the latest advances in physics and sensor technology. Exodigo is currently deepening its stronghold in Europe, specifically in the UK, France and Italy, while continuing its leadership position in Israeli and U.S. markets and exploring potential partnerships in new markets.

Timed with the investment, Raz Mangel, Greenfield Partners, and Philippe Schwartz, SquarePeg, will join Oren Zeev, Zeev Ventures, and Yahal Zilka, 10D, on the Board of Directors. Exodigo’s Advisory Board includes internationally recognized leaders, including Danny Glotter, Barak Kirschner, Peter Rogoff, Michael Schneider, Lou Shipley, and Simon Wright.

Learn more about recent projects and how Exodigo solves the underground.

About Exodigo
Exodigo offers groundbreaking solutions for mapping the underground accurately and efficiently. Combining advanced multi-sensing technology with proprietary artificial intelligence, Exodigo empowers transportation, energy, utility, and construction leaders to design, dig and build safer, smarter, and faster by providing accurate subsurface intelligence to derisk the underground. Featured on Fast Company’s Next Big Things in Tech, TIME’s Best Inventions and CB Insights’ AI 100, Exodigo is backed by top industry partners and headquartered in Tel Aviv and Palo Alto. Learn more at www.exodigo.com.

Media Contact:
Erica Camilo
Connexa Communications for Exodigo
+1.610.639.5644
[email protected] 

SOURCE Exodigo

A suite of new and improved features will revolutionize AI photo-editing for businesses with greater quality, control and ease.

PARIS, Feb. 27, 2024 — Photoroom, the world’s most popular AI photo editor, has successfully closed a $43 million Series B funding round. The funding round, led by previous investor, Balderton Capital and new investor, Aglaé, with YCombinator participating, brings Photoroom’s total funding to $64 million.

“Photoroom shattered all expectations,” says Cameron Curtis, EVP of Worldwide Digital Marketing at Warner Bros. “Its unparalleled ease of use became the catalyst for propelling the Barbie Selfie Generator into the digital spotlight, and captivating audiences worldwide.”

As one of the few companies in the world that has trained a model from scratch, Photoroom will use this funding to accelerate its innovation in generative AI: expanding its model capabilities by investing in more GPUs, securing imagery from leading image providers and photographers, and doubling the size of the team by the end of 2024 by hiring the best AI talent.

“Balderton has witnessed Photoroom’s remarkable journey from its inception, and we are continually impressed by their ability to lead and execute on their user-centric vision,” said Bernard Liautaud, Managing Partner at Balderton. “Photoroom’s generative AI capabilities are unparalleled, and we have no doubt that they will continue to lead the way in this rapidly evolving landscape.”

The announcement comes as Photoroom launches its first foundation model tailor-made for product photography, Photoroom Instant Diffusion (Photoroom ID for short). The first of its kind, Photoroom’s foundation model is trained to master product photography, ensuring that images from different sources look consistently styled, as if shot in the same setting.

“The foundation model is the next step in empowering businesses to create amazing product photos without the need to be an expert at prompt engineering or photography,” said Matthieu Rouif, co-founder and CEO at Photoroom. “Our model has been trained to excel at product photography and can quickly adapt to user needs and feedback.”

Having control over a custom model means that Photoroom’s machine learning team will be able to incorporate new research as soon as it is released. Photoroom’s custom architecture will also increase the speed of image generation by up to 40%. This means users will be able to generate and iterate on its images much faster than on any other visual AI model.

“We are not only increasing the speed of our model, but also optimizing for quality, through higher resolution, more detailed images, and a larger training dataset than ever before,” said Rouif. “As a user-centric AI company, we designed the architecture to make sense for our users.”

Photoroom is also launching a suite of new AI photo-editing tools that give businesses more creative control over their product images, including:

• AI Backgrounds (formerly Instant Backgrounds): Generate improved-quality AI backgrounds for product photographs
• AI Expand: Use generative AI to realistically expand the scene around an existing image
• AI Images: Create custom images from scratch using text prompts
• AI Fill: Customize an item or area of your image with AI for more creative control
• Auto-rotate: Correct the camera angle with AI for more professional images
• AI Upscale: Enhance the resolution of images for higher quality photos
• Image Editing API: Businesses can use Photoroom’s API to generate and edit hundreds of images in seconds

For small businesses, Photoroom’s new foundation model and features help them create professional-quality product images, by giving users more creative control and flexibility. The company’s collaboration with photographers and image providers around the world also ensures a diverse dataset, using images to train the model that have been used with the provider’s consent.

For businesses that create and edit a high volume of images, Photoroom has focused on automating photo-editing workflows for teams. Photoroom’s Image Editing API already lets teams like Smartly, Printify, Faire, Bulgari, and Netflix edit images by the thousands or millions. The API can be integrated into almost any system and brings Photoroom’s capabilities directly into its customers’ workflows. Over the coming months, Photoroom will also make its newest generative AI features available through the API.

“We were immediately drawn to Photoroom’s disruptive approach to photo-editing for businesses,” said Kristina Chvilova, Partner at Aglaé. “Their dedication to craftsmanship and their ability to attract top-tier brands like Bulgari and Warner Bros. to their platform underscored their potential for long-term success. We believe Photoroom’s innovative technology will continue to revolutionize the way businesses engage with visual content, and we are proud to be a part of their journey.”

The foundation AI model and subsequent investment marks a significant milestone in Photoroom’s journey to revolutionize AI photo-editing for businesses, and cements Photoroom’s position as a leader in visual AI. Since launching in 2019, Photoroom has been downloaded more than 150 million times worldwide, is used by thousands of businesses, ranked among the top 6 generative AI products.

About Photoroom
Photoroom was founded in 2019, and over the past 4 years has carved out a niche in the commerce photography space. Photoroom first found success with its best-in-class background remover. It has now expanded its offering to include a batch photo editor, and generative AI offerings: AI Backgrounds and AI Shadows. Processing over 5 billion images a year, and downloaded over 150 million times, Photoroom is now the world’s #1 AI photo-editing app, available across mobile, web and via an API in over 180 countries. Photoroom is headquartered in Paris with a global team of over 50 employees.

For more information on Photoroom, visit www.photoroom.com

About Balderton Capital
Balderton Capital is a multistage venture firm with more than two decades of experience supporting Europe’s best founders from Seed to IPO. We have both early and growth funds and invest across the technology sector, with a proven track record backing fintech, B2B SaaS, digital health, mobility, gaming and marketplace companies. Previous investments include Darktrace, Depop, Flywire, Kobalt, MySQL, Nutmeg, Peakon, Recorded Future, Talend and THG. Balderton’s current portfolio includes Aircall, Beauty Pie, Contentful, Dream Games, GoCardless, JOKR, Lendable, Matillon, Merama, Revolut, Tibber, Vestiaire Collective, Wayve and Writer. 

About Aglaé
Aglaé Ventures is a global investment firm based in Paris, New York and Los Angeles backed by Agache, the holding company of the Arnault family and the controlling shareholder of LVMH, the world leader in luxury. For nearly 30 years, Agache has backed fast-growing innovative companies at all stages of their development including Airbnb, Automattic, Back Market, Dataiku, eToro, Slack and Spotify. The team has developed expertise in marketplaces, software and content platforms. Aglaé Ventures brings long-term capital, deep expertise in international deployment and unique access to a network of leading experts and entrepreneurs.

About YCombinator
YC helps founders launch, build, and scale the great technology companies of the next 100 years. Since 2005, we’ve funded over 3,000 companies. Today, over a dozen YC companies are public, more than 60 are valued at over $1B, and the combined valuation of YC alumni is over $600B. YC was designed, created, and is run by startup founders (including many YC alumni) who have built the best platform for supporting startups as they grow. Our flagship YC batch program runs twice a year. We give companies seed funding ($500,000) and work with founders intensively for 3 months.

Media Contact:
Nicole Gauci
[email protected] 
212.999.5585

SOURCE Photoroom

• Funding co-led by Greylock (early investor in Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Musical.ly (now TikTok), Roblox, and Discord) and DST Global Partners, with participation from existing investors GV (Google Ventures), Octopus Ventures and Speedinvest
• App sky-rocketed in popularity in 2023, organically reaching #1 in the US and UK app stores
• 100 million memories are captured every month on Lapse, as it quickly becomes the camera of choice for young people
• Greylock General Partner Jacob Andreou (Former Snap Inc. Senior Vice President of Product & Growth) joins Lapse Board of Directors

LONDON, Feb. 27, 2024 — Lapse, a friends-focused photo-sharing app inspired by the experience of disposable cameras, has closed an oversubscribed $30 million Series A round. Co-led by Greylock and DST Global Partners, preeminent investors in the Internet technology sector, existing investors GV (Google Ventures), Octopus Ventures, and Speedinvest returned to participate alongside high-profile angel investors Naveen Gavini (former Chief Product Officer at Pinterest), Soleio (designer and investor), Nima Khajehnouri (former VP of Engineering at Snap Inc.), and Praveen Murugesan (former Director of Engineering at Uber).

The raise validates a year of exponential growth for Lapse, which became the most downloaded app in the Apple US & UK app stores. Lapse’s unique interface allows users to capture and share authentic, unedited photos with friends, and stay in the moment rather than obsess over how their content will be received. This approach has helped the app to grow an engaged following rapidly. Today, millions of consumers use Lapse as their camera to capture and share memories with their friends.

Launched in 2021, Lapse was inspired by Co-founder Ben Silvertown’s experience using a point-and-shoot film camera whilst backpacking in Vietnam to capture priceless moments that would become some of his most treasured photographs. When he returned, he teamed up with his brother Dan, and the two built an app to help people live in the moment when taking and sharing photos. As more and more young people make an active decision not to partake in the traditional game of “likes and followers” that rules social media, Lapse aims to become the authentic outlet for memories by becoming the default camera.

“Lapse doesn’t let you upload or edit in ways that other platforms encourage,” says Co-founder Ben Silvertown. “Everyone on Lapse plays by the same rules, which creates a space where it’s OK to share all moments, not just the glamorous.”

As Lapse has grown, Co-founders Ben and Dan have prioritized evolving the app to meet the needs of its community. With this fundraise, the team will continue to prioritize product updates guided by user feedback, and plan to expand the company’s engineering and technical teams.

“Lapse has captured the hearts and minds of a generation who isn’t sharing their lives with friends on other social platforms,” said Jacob Andreou, General Partner at Greylock. “This is a testament to Lapse’s Founders Ben and Dan, who are a unique blend of art and science, and obsessed with building an authentic experience for young people to capture moments and share memories.”

“We’re humbled that what we have built has resonated so strongly with so many. We’ve only scratched the surface of our grander vision: To build a new kind of social media,” says Co-founder Dan Silvertown. “As we enter this next chapter, we are grateful to our partners for their ongoing support and belief in this company.”

For more information about Lapse and its pioneering approach to capturing and sharing photos, please visit lapse.com.

About Lapse 
Lapse is a photo-sharing app created for friends, not followers. Founded in 2021 by serial entrepreneurs Ben and Dan Silvertown, Lapse emulates the experience of using a point-and-shoot film camera to capture priceless moments in their truest form. Our mission is to become the default outlet for sharing authentic memories. To learn more about Lapse, please visit lapse.com.

Media Contact

Factory PR, [email protected]

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Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2346458/Ben_and_Dan_Silvertown_Photo_Credit_Megan_Jordan.jpg
Logo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2346662/Lapse_Logo.jpg

NEW YORK, Feb. 27, 2024 — Developers are the new technology buyers in the modern AI-driven world. The2023 StackOverflow Survey showed 66% of developers influence their company’s tech purchases. The Boston Consulting Group report ‘The Growing Influence of Developers in Enterprise Tech Sales‘ echoes this trend.

Reo.Dev, a Delaware and Bangalore based tech startup, offers a product that accelerates sales for such tech companies where developers play a role in product purchase. It uses AI to analyse developer intent from millions of open source, public, and first-party data sources.

After initial success with global dev-focused clientele including popular open source companies in US and Europe, Reo.Dev today announced its $1.2M pre-seed round led byIndia Quotient. Notable angel investorsAdam Frankl, ex-VP marketing at JFrog and Sourcegraph,Savin Goyal of Netflix and Outerbounds andShraddha Gupta of Hasura also participated in the round.

For developer-focused companies, purchase intent resides in developer activity around their products. However, this activity is often anonymous and dispersed across channels, making it challenging to identify interested accounts and developers. Reo.Dev uncovers hidden developer activity turning it into accounts and developer leads. Sales teams use this data to identify in-market accounts while marketing teams leverage it to enhance campaign ROI.

Led byAchintya Gupta,Gaurav Jain, andPiyush Agarwal, all 2X founders, Reo.Dev’s team has significant startup experience. Piyush’s AI edtech startup was acquired by Byju’s, Achintya co-founded a DevTool startup, and Gaurav was a fintech startup’s co-founder and CTO.

“The sales processes for new age tech companies are changing. Historically, there was just the business buyer who was a key decision maker. But now there is an additional, increasingly influential buyer – the developer or the tech user. We feel the sales tooling for this changed GTM motion will be fundamentally different and we are building for that,” Co-founder and CEO, Achintya Gupta, said.

“Developers are driving the next trillion dollar infra and AI wave. We have seen changing buyer behaviour always calls for new sales software and we feltReo.Dev will be the right team to build this,” said Anand Lunia, General Partner at India Quotient.

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2348537/Reo_Dev_Founders.jpg
Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2348456/Reo_Dev_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Reodotdev Inc.

SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 27, 2024 — Red Door Capital Partners, LLC, an independent private equity firm founded in 2019, alongside its investing partner, Fomento Associated Singapore Holdings Pte. Ltd. (FASH) is proud to announce an add-on investment in Adapt Ideations.  Also participating in the round is one of Adapt’s key strategic partners.  Adapt Ideations specializes in providing innovative supply chain and logistics solutions to the Cold Chain and a variety of other industry sectors. They offer a wide range of IoT (“Internet of Things”) enabled asset tracking and monitoring solutions to enhance supply chain visibility and ensure adherence to compliance and regulations. (http://www.adaptideations.com). 

Red Door and FASH, both investors in Adapt’s Pre-Series round in late 2021 and Convertible Notes in 3^rd QTR 2022 and 2023, have partnered together for this investment round being termed as the Restructure Round.  The Restructure Round supports a bridge loan, conversion of the existing Convertible Notes and the corporate reorganization of the company into a U.S. based holding company.  The investment also provides the Restructure Round investors with control of the Board of Directors and other governance controls.  Upon the completion of the Restructure Round the bridge loan will be converted into a newly created Senior Preferred Stock in the new holding company.

“We have learned a lot since our initial investment” says Richard Wolpow, Managing Partner.  “We invested in a best of class technology with Adapt’s Internet of Things (IoT) offerings, combining its hardware devices and SaaS model software.  However, as with all start-ups, Adapt has had their share of challenges and growing pains which only further exasperated managing operations in four countries.  The positive to it all has been the unwavering support of Adapt’s strategic partners and clients such as; DHL, PwC, Onset, Cold Chain Technologies, etc., the list goes on. 

With this investment round we now have the control needed to bring in additional resources in support of the company’s growth strategy.  This started with the appointment of Red Door’s Managing Director on the deal, Don Warriner, as interim President & CEO who will be supported by Co-founders Anirban Gupta and Sai Kiran, COO Cheryl Vance, CFO Sandeep Jain and CRO Jody Radoff.  In addition, we have engaged best-in-class consultants to help Adapt evolve.  This includes DBI Network US Inc., a global consulting network specializing in strategy, product and service innovation, and supply chain transformation, as well as Rakesh Bhatia of RubikSolutions LLC. 

Rakesh, a former Big-4 senior partner (PwC and KPMG) brings deep leadership experience in scaling operations, building emerging technology solutions and global talent in 12+ countries. Rakesh previously led PwC’s US Global Business Services along with many other titles including; Global Relationship Partner and Board Member of the PwC Acceleration Center. All this is just a long-winded way to say; we are more excited than ever about the future for Adapt and we are building a first-class team for the mission”.  Wolpow concluded.       

Don Warriner, Interim President and CO commented, “With the recent completed Restructure Round, Adapt is well positioned to become the Global Leader in Cold Chain Supply Intelligence for global pharma, food companies and other cold chain companies.  With a robust, scalable technical platform, our future product/service roadmap will enable our clients to track and trace temperature sensitive cargo on a real-time basis coupled with fingertip access to compliance, audit and Ai driven decision support information. Companies are striving every day to make more informed decisions, be more efficient, eliminate waste and focus on corporate sustainability initiatives.”

Rakesh Bhatia commented “I am excited to work closely with Richard, Don and management team to help strategically transform Adapt to capture its true market potential. I truly believe that with new focus on maturing and scaling Adapt operations, leveraging emerging technologies and a thoughtful go to market strategy will position Adapt as a formidable player in the supply chain asset tracking field”.

“FASH sees a high trajectory for Adapt’s excellent suite of Iot products and services” says Flavian Santhiapillai, Chief Operating Officer of FASH.  “With this Restructure Round and strategic re-organization of Adapt we are setting in place the core personnel, infrastructure and support network to enable Adapt to focus on key geographies & product lines to become a truly global player in supply chain and logistics. We look forward to a continued partnership with Red Door, Onset and all out consultants to achieve this goal”.

“The Restructure Round demonstrates our ability to quickly respond and adapt to market changes without losing momentum”, asserts Co-Founder, Director Anirban Gupta. “The increased investment in ADAPT Ideations by RDCP & FASH bears testimony to their trust and confidence in the team and the venture as global enterprises move towards increased supply chain digitisation and adoption of our smart platforms. We, as founders, are excited to welcome and support Don Warriner and Rakesh Bhatia, who are highly experienced & decorated industry professionals, as they prepare to lead ADAPT’s transformation journey.”

About Red Door Capital Partners LLC:
The Red Door team is a group of seasoned entrepreneurial experts from private equity operations, investments & wealth management, and legal services, that have joined together to identify, invest in, and manage private equity transactions.  Red Door invests side-by-side along with its network of High-Net-Worth Individuals, Family Offices and Registered Investment Advisors (RIA’s).  Red Door partners with founders and entrepreneurs that seek real capital partners to create collaborative relationships, deploy strategic oversight, implement governance, and professionalize operations – all to ensure our family of investors are protected and prepared for a successful exit transaction. 

For more information on Red Door and its latest transactions visit www.reddoorcp.com
or contact   Don Warriner, Managing Director, Adapt Ideations,  [email protected]

About Adapt Ideations:
Adapt Ideations was founded based on the concept that there is a greater need for information digitization to unlock the power of asset intelligence for timely and proactive business decisions.  This led the company to implement the most advanced and innovative technology in asset tracking and monitoring solutions to allow companies to remain competitive and achieve greater operational efficiency.  Adapt Ideations specializes in providing innovative supply chain and logistics solutions to a variety of industry sectors. They offer a wide range of IoT (“Internet of Things”) enabled asset tracking and monitoring solutions to enhance supply chain visibility and ensure adherence to compliance and regulations. 

For more information on Adapt Ideation visit http://www.adaptideations.com,
Or contact Jody Radoff, Chief Revenue Officer @ [email protected]

SOURCE Red Door Capital Partners, LLC

-Pioneers novel approach to restore the body’s natural ability to grow hair by reactivating dormant hair follicle stem cells

-Phase I clinical data meets primary safety endpoints and shows statistically significant stem cell activation in hair follicles after one week of treatment with PP405; Phase 2 clinical trial to begin in mid-2024

-Announces the appointment of Qing Yu Christina Weng, M.D., as Chief Medical Officer

LOS ANGELES , Feb. 27, 2024 — Pelage Pharmaceuticals, a clinical-stage regenerative medicine company pioneering a new generation of treatments for hair loss, announced today that the company has closed a $16.75 million Series A financing led by GV with participation from Main Street Advisors, Visionary Ventures and YK BioVentures, to advance a first-in-class treatment for androgenetic alopecia or pattern baldness, and other types of alopecia including chemotherapy-induced hair loss.

“Our scientific co-founders have uncovered a unique biological mechanism with the potential to reactivate hair growth in people with alopecia,” said Daniel Gil, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer, Pelage Pharmaceuticals. “We are pleased to announce that we have completed a first-in-human Phase 1 clinical trial that demonstrated seven days of topical dosing with PP405 was safe and well-tolerated, and showed statistically significant activation of hair follicle stem cells. With the support of GV, Main Street Advisors and other top-tier investors, we expect to advance our lead program to a Phase 2a clinical trial in the second half of this year.”

The Phase 1 trial evaluating PP405, a novel topical agent designed to treat androgenetic alopecia and other forms of hair loss, showed 0.05% PP405 topical treatment for seven days is safe and tolerable with no adverse events, and provided confirmation of a daily dosing regimen. Importantly, the study demonstrated biological activity, proof of mechanism of action seen in preclinical studies, and showed treatment with PP405 stimulated statistically significant activation of a critical hair follicle stem cell activation marker. Translational data will be presented at the American Academy of Dermatology meeting in March.

Androgenetic alopecia, also known as pattern balding, is the most common form of alopecia and accounts for more than 90% of all hair loss, impacting both men and women. Additionally, PP405 may also have applications for other types of hair loss such as telogen effluvium (stress-induced hair loss) and chemotherapy-induced hair loss.

“What we’ve observed is that in people who experience hair loss, the actual hair follicle stem cells are still present but have reverted to a dormant state. We have uncovered a small molecule able to stimulate cellular metabolism to re-awaken hair follicle stem cells and spur new hair growth,” said William Lowry, Ph.D., scientific co-founder, Pelage Pharmaceuticals. The discovery was made by Drs. Lowry, Heather Christofk and Michael Jung, of the University of California, Los Angeles. PP405 is designed to inhibit the mitochondrial pyruvate carrier (MPC) to specifically reactivate the dormant hair follicle stem cells.

“Hair loss is an incredibly common health problem with few effective solutions,” said Cathy Friedman, Executive Venture Partner, GV and Board Director, Pelage Pharmaceuticals. “GV is excited by the incredible science behind the Pelage technology. Pelage is pioneering an innovative approach with the potential to disrupt the treatment landscape, moving beyond agents that merely slow the progression of hair loss to a treatment solution that actually helps to regrow hair.”    

Along with the financing and Phase 1 topline data, Pelage has announced the appointment of Qing Yu Christina Weng, M.D., as the company’s Chief Medical Officer (CMO). Dr. Weng is a physician-scientist, Harvard-trained board-certified dermatologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, and faculty at Harvard Medical School. In addition to her clinical expertise, Dr. Weng brings a background in corporate startup strategy and business development. At Pelage, Dr. Weng’s experience will inform the company’s development of PP405 as it advances to Phase 2 studies.

“The current therapeutic landscape is dominated by reformulations of existing products. Pelage is built on rigorous science and offers the opportunity to target the follicle stem cells directly,” said Dr. Weng. “I am thrilled to work with the Pelage team to advance this discovery in pursuit of a novel non-invasive solution for all people who experience hair loss.”  

About Pelage Pharmaceuticals

Pelage Pharmaceuticals is a clinical-stage regenerative medicine company developing novel treatments for hair loss including androgenetic alopecia and chemotherapy-induced-alopecia. With a focus on molecular and stem cell biology, Pelage is advancing a new class of treatments designed to reactivate dormant hair follicle stem cells and restore the body’s ability to naturally grow hair. Its lead program, PP405, is currently in clinical trials. Through its rigorous scientific foundation, topical formulation, and novel mechanism of action, Pelage is pioneering first-in-class hair growth solutions for people of all hair types experiencing hair loss.

About PP405

PP405 is a novel, non-invasive, topical small molecule designed to reactivate dormant hair follicle stem cells and restart hair growth. Through a regenerative medicine approach, the treatment focuses on addressing the metabolic processes that regulate the activation and inactivation phases of hair follicle stem cells. Early results from a Phase 1 trial show that PP405 was well-tolerated and demonstrated statistically significant activation of hair follicle stem cells. In 2018, Pelage Pharmaceuticals licensed the intellectual property to PP405 and related topical small molecules from the UCLA Technology Development Group.

SOURCE Pelage Pharmaceuticals

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 27, 2024 — Copec WIND Ventures, the strategic venture capital arm of Copec, a leading energy company in Latin America, today announced the results of its fourth annual survey of the venture capital community’s outlook on global growth markets outside of North America and Europe.

“In the ever-evolving landscape of global venture capital, Copec WIND Ventures’ fourth annual survey reveals a notable shift in sentiment since we started this survey in 2020, positioning Latin America as the preferred growth market for startups,” said Brian Walsh, head of WIND Ventures. “We believe the surge in optimism for Latin America’s innovation landscape underscores the region’s tech-enabled transformation.”

Latin America dethrones China as top growth market in the eyes of VCs

According to this year’s survey, VCs’ view of which markets are best for startup expansion outside of North America and Western Europe has evolved dramatically. In 2023 Latin America (LatAm) came out as the best growth market, with 37% of VCs choosing the region as the most compelling, while only 13% believe that China is the most compelling.  This is a shift from the 2020 survey that indicated China was the best with 37% and LatAm with only 8%.   

VC sentiment is also shying away from Southeast Asia as an attractive startup growth market with interest dropping 51% from 2020 to 2023.

Market size viewed as most important aspect when considering new regions

For the past four years, VCs have defined attributes most important when expanding to a new region as large market size and high rate of tech adoption. There was a significant increase in perception amongst venture capitalists that Latin America has these growth elements (33%), while sentiment on China (13%) and Southeast Asia (7%) decreased. 

Fintech viewed as hottest area of investment in LatAm, climate tech lagging

The research also honed in on specific sectors that continue to show promise, with 51% of VCs surveyed indicating fintech will remain the hottest investment area in LatAm, while climate tech and energy came second and third 17% and 15%, respectively, highlighting the need of getting new energy and climate solutions into emerging markets where they are urgently needed.

For startups expanding to Latin America, VCs have consistently perceived political risk as the key challenge

The primary perceived challenge for startup expansion into Latin America is perceived by VCs to be political (89%). Since 2020, however, VC perception around economic or cultural risk to startup growth in Latin America has consistently improved year over year with both improving approximately 9% since 2020.

“The Latin American region’s potential for explosive technology adoption is driven by the region’s digital transformation and a total market size larger than that of the United States – 650 million people – and it is great to see investor perception continue to acknowledge this”, said Brian Walsh, Head of Copec WIND Ventures. “We look forward to continuing our work in helping global startups capture the vast opportunities in the dynamic Latin American markets.”

In the Fall of 2023, WIND Ventures surveyed 50 venture capitalists from a diverse cross-section of professionals, including venture capitalists and corporate venture capitalists. While the majority (53%) of those surveyed were early-stage investors, 32% were seed-stage investors, and 15% were growth investors. 

The full findings can be found here: https://bit.ly/3SL10s6

About Copec WIND Ventures

Based in San Francisco, Copec WIND Ventures is the corporate venture capital (CVC) arm of Copec, one of the leading energy, mobility, and retail companies in Central and South America and one of the most valued brands throughout Latin America. WIND Ventures leverages Copec’s significant resources to accelerate growth, primarily within Latin America, for startups and scaleups across the world within the new mobility, energy, and retail sectors. Visit windventures.vc or follow us on Linkedin and Twitter.

Media Contact:
Mary Magnani
[email protected]

SOURCE Copec WIND Ventures

• In what is EQT’s largest ever fundraise, its flagship private equity fund raises EUR 22 billion (USD 24 billion) in total commitments, of which EUR 21.7 (USD 23.5 billion) are fee-generating assets under management, exceeding the EUR 20 billion (USD 21.6 billion) target 
• This represents a near 40 percent increase on EQT IX, thanks to strong support from existing and new investors, with a greater share of commitments coming from private wealth      
• EQT X builds on EQT Private Equity’s 30-year track record of strong performance, investing predominantly in the Healthcare, Technology and Tech-enabled Services sectors in Europe and North America

STOCKHOLM, Feb. 27, 2024 — EQT is pleased to share that EQT X (the ‘Fund’) has held its final close, having raised EUR 22 billion (USD 24 billion) in total commitments, of which EUR 21.7 billion (USD 23.5 billion) are fee-generating assets under management. The fundraise exceeded the target size of EUR 20 billion (USD 21.6 billion) and represents a near 40 percent increase on EQT IX, which closed at EUR 15.6 billion in April 2021. It also represents one of the largest private equity funds ever raised.

The Fund received commitments from a broad range of investors, including pension and sovereign wealth funds, asset managers, and the private wealth segment. The latter made up an increased share of the total commitments, on the back of EQT’s recent strategic drive to offer the segment increased access to EQT funds with the launch of EQT Nexus. Fund investors were based across the Americas, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, Europe and the Nordics.

EQT X is the latest fund in the EQT Private Equity strategy. For thirty years, the strategy has invested in the Healthcare, Technology, Tech-enabled Services and Industrial Technology sectors in Europe and North America, and over that time it has delivered a realized gross multiple on invested capital of 2.7x. The Fund has announced seven investments since June 2022, starting with the acquisition of Envirotainer, the globally leading provider of mission-critical transport services to the biopharma industry. Other investments include advanced medical components supplier Zeus, accounts receivable automation leader Billtrust, and animal pharmaceutical business Dechra Pharmaceuticals.

Per Franzén, Head of Private Capital Europe & North America at EQT and Chairman of the EQT Private Equity Investment Committees, said, “We remain focused on backing and futureproofing companies in attractive and resilient sectors, such as healthcare and technology, and have proven our ability to perform and return capital across cycles. We continue to invest in our sector expertise, sharpening our ownership model and developing our value-creation toolbox. Our thematic investment strategy and strong local presence are competitive advantages when sourcing opportunities, not least in a slower deal-making environment. EQT X is off to a strong start, having already announced four take-privates while offering substantial co-invest opportunities. We look forward to continuing to partner with our clients.”

Suzanne Donohoe, Chief Commercial Officer at EQT, said, “We would like to thank both our long-term and new clients for their support of EQT X. Around 70 percent of the commitments to the fund came from existing EQT IX investors, a testament to the long-term trust we have built together. We’re also grateful for the support from new clients, who recognized our 30-year track record of delivering strong and steady returns. We look forward to continuing to strengthen our partnerships for the next 30 years and beyond.”

As one of EQT’s eleven business lines, the EQT Private Equity team consists of more than 130 investment professionals spread across 15 offices in Europe and North America. They work with portfolio companies to accelerate growth, strengthen profitability and increase resilience through an active ownership model. They do this through hands-on support of management teams, employing long-term perspectives, and bringing deep expertise in areas such as AI, digitalization and sustainability. The teams also draw upon the expertise of EQT’s network of over 600 Industrial Advisors, who each bring experience leading companies in EQT Private Equity’s core sectors. EQT Private Equity works closely with EQT’s other private capital business lines, which include EQT Private Capital Asia, EQT Future, EQT Healthcare Growth, EQT Growth, and EQT Ventures.

EQT X is currently 30-35 percent invested (including closed and/or signed investments, announced public offers, if applicable, and less any expected syndication), based on the actual fund size.

Contact
Olof Svensson, Head of Shareholder Relations, +46 72 989 09 15
EQT Press Office, [email protected] , +46 8 506 55 334

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One of the longest-serving MENA VCs branches out with his own fund focused on the Pre-Seed and Seed stages

DUBAI, UAE, Feb. 27, 2024 — COTU Ventures announced that it has raised $54 million to invest in extraordinary founders in MENA when they are at the earliest stages of their startup journeys. COTU stands for Champions of the Underdog, a philosophy that embodies the firm’s strategy, investing at the Pre-Seed and Seed stages, where founders are most underestimated.

“I’ve been a part of the regional ecosystem since 2008, and it’s come a long way since then,” said Amir Farha, founder and GP of COTU Ventures. “Saudi Arabia has opened up internationally, and governments have been driving policies and investment to activate the technology sectors of their local economies. We have a young and growing population of tech-savvy, digitally connected consumers with substantial spending power. When you combine all of this with remarkably low customer acquisition costs and some of the highest revenues per user, there has never been a better and more profitable time to invest in the region than today.”

The new fund is sector-agnostic with a focus on identifying and supporting the brightest and most talented founders at the inception of their idea to post-product launch, typically investing between $500K to $1.5M as a first check. To date, the fund has invested in over 20 early-stage companies, including Huspy, the largest mortgage platform in the UAE (backed by Peak XV, Founders Fund and Fifth Wall), Supy, a UAE-based ResTech platform, MoneyHash, an Egyptian FinTech startup, and Sirdab, a leading storage and warehouse management solution in Saudi Arabia.

“Our partnership with COTU Ventures has been a cornerstone of Sirdab’s journey,” said Naif Alzahri, co-founder of Sirdab. “Amir and the entire COTU team have contributed a wide array of expertise that has significantly enhanced our strategic, technical, and operational frameworks. Their unique approach to collaboration is rare to find, and it has cultivated an environment where one feels comfortable sharing insights and challenges that are typically only discussed within the confines of a founding team. This foundation of trust and mutual understanding not only highlights the extraordinary nature of our relationship with COTU but also makes us eternally grateful for their support.”

COTU’s unique approach is founded on the belief that a person’s formative years provide an indication of their potential success as a founder. Through extensive, candid conversations that delve into a founder’s history, probing not just into their professional endeavors but the life experiences and decisions that have shaped them to date, COTU is able to build trust and depth with founders, thereby enabling them to make effective investment decisions in the process. The firm also believes that the choices made at the beginning of a startup’s life massively compound over time. This premise, along with the trust built through transparent, real conversations, allows COTU to surface key moments that the founder will face and actively arm them with the right resources, perspectives, and relationships to help make better decisions along the way.

Amir Farha, one of the pioneers of early-stage VC in the Middle East, who co-founded BECO Capital in 2012 and backed top startups including Careem (acquired by Uber for $3.1b), Property Finder (backed by General Atlantic), Kitopi and Fresha, founded COTU Ventures in 2021. In addition to Amir, the team of six includes Kayra Yasa, Ahmad Hammoudi, Nourhan Abdelaal, Anthony Khoury, and Yusuf Saber. Collectively, the team brings unique value and perspective to early-stage entrepreneurs, especially those looking for support across go-to-market, fundraising, and hiring for key positions.

“We’re proud to have backed a fund that’s distinguished not only by its impressive portfolio but by the exceptional leadership and track record of its founding partner, Amir,” said Sharif Elbadawi, CEO of Dubai Future District Fund. “Our confidence in Amir stems from his deep passion for supporting founders and his proven ability to find remarkable investment opportunities before anyone else. Over the past couple of years, COTU has established itself as a true advocate for entrepreneurs, earning widespread recognition as a champion of early-stage companies and the regional ecosystem as a whole. Amir’s commitment and strategic foresight have been instrumental in our decision to invest in COTU’s first fund, and we hope to continue our support in the future.”

The new fund’s limited partners include Lunate, Mubadala, Dubai Future District Fund, Arab Bank, Bupa KSA, and GPs from VCs, including Foundry Group, Tribe Capital, Stride, and several family offices.

About COTU Ventures
Founded in 2021, COTU Ventures is a leading Seed-stage venture capital firm based in Dubai, UAE. The firm partners with incredible founders at the beginning of their journey, taking companies from Pre-Seed and Seed through Series A and beyond, accelerating their path to product-market fit, and ensuring they get access to the right capital and expertise along the way. COTU primarily invests in the MENA region with a focus on UAE, KSA, and Egypt.

Media Contact:
Michael Celiceo, CodePR
michaelm@codepr.com

SOURCE COTU Ventures