Private Equity-Backed Platform Pursues New Clinical Partnerships and Sparks Growth of Medical Aesthetics Industry Across the U.S.

CHICAGO , March 14, 2024 — Empower Aesthetics (“Empower” or “the Company”), a national medical aesthetics platform, continues its fast-paced growth while at the same time seeking new clinical partnerships to build out the platform.

Empower Aesthetics was formed in July 2023 by Shore Capital Partners (“Shore” or “Shore Capital”), a Chicago-based private equity firm focused on microcap investing. Under the leadership of Chief Executive Officer, Alyssa Rapp and Empower’s Board of Directors, the Company has solidified four recent partnerships with leading medical aesthetics practices in key U.S. markets:

• DermaTouch RN
  Founded in 2006 by Renee Moschitto, Registered Nurse and Founder of the Texas Association of Aesthetic Nurses, DermaTouch RN is a state-of-the-art aesthetic and wellness center that offers minimally invasive medical treatments. Ranked as a top 20 provider of Botox and Juvederm in the country, DermaTouch is consistently recognized as an “Advanced Injector” site and is one of the largest and highest rated providers of Botox, Juvederm and CoolSculpting® ELITE in the Houston area.
• AWSkin Co.
  Founded in 2008 in Murfreesboro, Tennessee by Board Certified Nurse Practitioner Amy Hatcher, AWSkin Co. is a medical spa and wellness center offering cosmetic injectables, advanced skincare services, wellness therapies and more. AWSkin Co. has three locations in Cool Springs, Franklin, and Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
• The Artistry of Face
  Founded in 2016 by Nurse Practitioner Kelly Heffernan, Artistry of Face offers neurotoxin procedures, dermal filler procedures, body contouring, energy and light-based treatments, as well as a wide range of facial treatments. The practice currently operates out of locations in Albany and Glen Falls, New York.
• BCRN Aesthetics
  Founded in 2012 as Rejuviface by Bri and rebranded as BCRN Aesthetics in 2017 by Registered Nurse and Galderma Aesthetic Injector Network (GAIN) Trainer Bri Collins, BCRN Aesthetics is home to Houston’s leading advanced aesthetic injectors. The practice’s always-evolving knowledge of aesthetics, combined with their unwavering dedication to exceptional customer service and top-tier medical training, makes it one of the most sought-after med spas in the Houston area.

“We are committed to building a constellation of clinical partners that are amongst the brightest stars in the space, who deliver and uphold the highest standards of clinical excellence,” said Rapp. “The prospect of establishing additional clinical partnerships in the immediate future is a source of great enthusiasm for both me, our executive leadership team and Empower’s Board of Directors.”

Empower Aesthetics is actively pursuing an acquisition strategy, looking for like-minded, growth-oriented entrepreneurs in aesthetics to join a trusted network of clinical leaders, share best practices and deliver superior clinical outcomes.

By implementing strategic and operational initiatives intended to elevate the Company’s partners, Empower Aesthetics helps clinical leaders grow their businesses, achieve their financial goals, streamline operations and connect with new clients. This private equity-backed support supplies Empower’s partners with the resources needed to help grow their businesses, invest in employees, fine-tune operations and see more patients.

To learn more about Empower Aesthetics, please visit www.empower.spa, or email [email protected].

About Empower Aesthetics
Empower Aesthetics is a national aesthetics platform that provides the tools, support and strategy to empower aesthetic owners and practices to reach new heights while maintaining the highest quality of care. With corporate presence in Chicago, Illinois and Austin, Texas, Empower is looking for providers with whom to partner and grow.  To learn more about Empower Aesthetics, please visit www.empower.spa, or email [email protected].

About Shore Capital Partners
Shore Capital, a Chicago-based private equity firm with an office in Nashville, is an investor in microcap companies in the Healthcare, Food and Beverage, Business Services, Industrial, and Real Estate industries. Shore’s strategy is to support management partners to grow faster with less risk, through access to capital; world-class board and operational resources; and unmatched networking, development, and shared learnings across the portfolio. From 2020-2023 Shore received recognition from Inc. Magazine as a 4x Top Founder-Friendly Investor and by Pitchbook for being the global leader in private equity total deal volume. Shore targets investments in proven, successful companies with superior management teams, stable cash flow, and significant potential to grow through industry consolidation and organic growth to generate value for shareholders. Shore has approximately $6 billion of assets under management through various investment vehicles. For more information, please visit www.shorecp.com.

Media Contact: Alec Miszuk | Fishman PR | [email protected] | (630) 484-0797

SOURCE Empower Aesthetics

The round was co-led by Eight Roads Ventures and Denali Growth Partners, with participation from F-Prime Capital and other investors.

BETHESDA, Md., March 14, 2024 — HiLabs, a leading provider of AI-powered solutions to manage dirty data, unlocking its hidden potential for healthcare transformation, today announced a $39 million Series B financing. The round was led by Denali Growth Partners and Eight Roads Ventures, with participation from F-Prime Capital. The capital raise follows rapid customer adoption of its healthcare data ingestion, cleansing, and enrichment platform, MCheck™, and will support continued enhancement of the technology as well as recruitment of top-tier talent and expansion of its product teams.

Founded in 2014, HiLabs’ mission is to ensure timely access to clean data for payers, providers, and patients at a time when healthcare organizations worldwide are transitioning toward data-driven decision-making. HiLabs’ cloud-based MCheck platform ingests, cleans, and enriches critical healthcare information, resulting in significant reduction in healthcare organizations’ operational costs and improvement in patient outcomes. The MCheck platform technology, featured in the Journal of the American Medical Association (“JAMA “), supports some of the largest health insurance companies in the US in their efforts to automate and improve administrative processes. The company’s provider directory management solution is live in most US states, analyzing data of over 80% of the country’s healthcare providers. It is expanding its platform capabilities to include other data types such as electronic medical records and value-based care data.

“Timely and high-quality data exchange between payers and providers is key to reducing care costs, improving outcomes,” said Amit Garg, co-founder, and CEO of HiLabs. “As we embrace this next phase of growth, we’re thankful for the backing of healthcare-focused investors. We stand poised to propel our AI-technology forward, empowering healthcare organizations to make swift, informed decisions based on data that’s not just clean, but readily available when it matters most.”

“Payors are increasingly looking for innovative technology solutions to make complex and disparate healthcare data actionable. The HiLabs team really impressed us with their vision, best-in-class product suite and strong customer traction, which is testament to their product-market fit,” says Dr. Prem Pavoor, Senior Partner, Head of India and Healthcare Investments at Eight Roads Ventures. “We have closely followed Amit’s journey over the past couple of years as he has leveraged the US-India corridor very effectively to build both a top tier leadership team and deep AI/ML talent in their India R&D centers. We look forward to partnering with him and his team in this next, exciting phase of growth.”

“We are thrilled to support HiLabs as they continue to solve critical data issues within healthcare,” states Jesse Lane, Founder and Managing Member of Denali Growth Partners. “While many discuss the potential of AI, particularly in the healthcare ecosystem, HiLabs is demonstrating real-world impact by leveraging advanced AI techniques to ingest and cleanse data for four (4) of the nation’s top ten health payers, along with numerous regional players.”

“At athenahealth and in venture, I’ve seen many approaches to applying data science to healthcare data,” said Carl Byers, Partner at F-Prime, previously the CFO of athenahealth for more than a decade. “HiLabs’ AI-driven approach to data management not only fills a critical gap in the market but it also enables transformational change among payers and providers to leverage real-time data to improve user experiences, cost, and value.”

About HiLabs
HiLabs is a leading provider of AI-powered solutions to clean dirty data, unlocking its hidden potential for healthcare transformation. HiLabs is committed to transforming the healthcare industry through innovation, collaboration, and a relentless focus on improving patient outcomes. For more information, contact [email protected].

About Denali Growth Partners
Denali Growth Partners is a Boston-based growth equity firm with more than $250 million in regulatory assets under management. DGP seeks to partner with rapidly-growing and capital-efficient businesses serving the healthcare and technology ecosystems. DGP helps management teams and companies accelerate growth through capital and strategic resources. Additional information about Denali Growth Partners is available at www.denaligrowth.com.

About Eight Roads Ventures
Eight Roads Ventures is a global proprietary investment firm backed by Fidelity managing over $11 billion of assets across offices in China, India, Japan, the UK, and the U.S. Our 50-year history of investing includes partnerships with over 300 healthcare and technology companies. In May 2022, Eight Roads launched its first dedicated $250 million healthcare and life sciences fund for India. Eight Roads’ India active and exited healthcare partner companies include Ashish Life Science, Bicara Therapeutics, Caplin Steriles, Carestack, Cipla Health, Core Diagnostics, Denali Therapeutics, Doceree, Eywa Pharma, Elucidata, Enko, Enzene Biosciences, Immuneel Therapeutics, Laurus Labs, Medwell Ventures, NOCD, Plasmagen Biosciences, Proximie, OZiva, PharmEasy, Richcore Lifesciences, Specsmakers, Spry, Toothsi, Trivitron Healthcare, and Ujala Cygnus. For more information, please visit www.eightroads.com.

SOURCE HiLabs

Investment will be used to bring Shake Smart’s nutritious, lifestyle-friendly offering to more consumers across the U.S.

RADNOR, Pa., March 14, 2024 — NewSpring (“the Firm”), a family of private equity strategies, announced today that NewSpring Franchise, the Firm’s strategy dedicated to investing in innovative franchise and multi-unit concepts in large and growing markets, has invested in Shake Smart Holdings, LLC (“Shake Smart” or the “Company”), a leading healthy fast-casual concept.

Founded in 2011 and led by Co-Founder and CEO Kevin Gelfand, Shake Smart provides healthy, nutritious, and delicious protein shakes, protein smoothies, acai bowls, wraps, nut butter and avocado toast, and more to its customers across multiple dayparts. Today, the majority of Shake Smart locations are on college campuses. Shake Smart will use the proceeds of this transaction to continue its rapid unit expansion within and outside of higher education to capitalize on growing consumer demand for convenient, healthy food options.

“Shake Smart was founded to provide healthy, delicious, and nutrient-dense food and beverages to students and consumers with increasingly on-the-go lifestyles,” said Kevin Gelfand, Co-Founder and CEO of Shake Smart. “Our team has successfully grown the concept to over 45 locations across the U.S. I am excited to partner with NewSpring Franchise founders Satya Ponnuru and Patrick Sugrue as Shake Smart looks to accelerate unit openings even further in this next phase of growth. Their investment and operating experience will be integral as we continue our expansion.” 

“Shake Smart is a leader in the growing healthy fast-casual category, establishing its brand and customer value proposition with a differentiated product offering. It represents exactly the type of company we seek to apply our proven approach to building multi-unit brands,” said Satya Ponnuru, NewSpring General Partner. “Together with our deep networks, access to human capital, and experience in the franchise restaurant industry, we hope to infuse Shake Smart with the right balance of operational expertise and infrastructure to enable its continued fast growth nationwide.”

This transaction is the third out of NSF II, NewSpring Franchise’s dedicated investment fund, and is consistent with the strategy’s approach to targeting capital-efficient, consumer-facing, multi-unit businesses with a strong customer value proposition, proven unit-level economics, and exceptional management teams in the lower-middle market. The strategy’s recent investments include Blo Blow Dry Bar, Duck Donuts, Central Bark, Federal Donuts and Chicken, and Green Home Solutions.

The Company will continue to be run by the existing executive team led by CEO Kevin Gelfand. As part of the transaction, Satya Ponnuru and Patrick Sugrue will join the Shake Smart Board of Directors.

Tecum Capital and NorthCoast Mezzanine provided mezzanine debt financing and equity co-investment for the transaction. Miller & Martin PLLC served as counsel for NewSpring, and Shake Smart management was advised by Brookwood Associates and Davis Wright Tremaine LLP. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

About NewSpring

NewSpring is a lower-middle market focused private equity firm that partners with the innovators, makers, and operators of high-performing companies in dynamic industries to catalyze new growth and seize compelling opportunities. The Firm manages approximately $3.5 billion across five distinct strategies covering the spectrum from growth equity and control buyouts to mezzanine debt. Having invested in over 200 companies, NewSpring brings a wealth of knowledge, experience, and resources to take growing companies to the next level and beyond. Partnering with management teams to help develop their businesses into market leaders, NewSpring identifies opportunities and builds relationships using its network of industry leaders and influencers across a wide array of operational areas and industries. To learn more, visit www.newspringcapital.com.

About Shake Smart

Shake Smart is a healthy fast-casual concept focused on better-for-you blended drinks, acai bowls, and other healthy on-the-go food options. The Company has pioneered a new segment of the blended drink industry called “functional nutrition.” With 45+ locations at universities located within student unions and recreation centers in 20+ states nationwide, Shake Smart continues to align perfectly with the growing demand by consumers for healthy and affordable options built for a fast-paced lifestyle. The Company’s offering, streamlined operations, and small on-site footprint boast well for non-traditional venues, with a strategic vision to further expand in higher education, along with airports, hospitals, and military installations across the U.S. 

About Tecum Capital Management, Inc.

Tecum Capital Management, Inc. (“Tecum”) is a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania based private investment firm deploying capital in lower middle market companies. Tecum provides mezzanine debt and equity investments in growth-oriented middle market companies across many industries, including manufacturing, value-added distribution, and business services. Our team partners with independent sponsors, family offices, committed funds, business owners seeking succession plans, and management teams to create shared success. Tecum focuses on businesses with EBITDA greater than $3 million and will invest $5 million to $20 million in potential portfolio companies. Tecum manages two Small Business Investment Company (“SBIC”) licensed funds and is currently investing out of Tecum Capital Partners III, L.P, a $300 million fund launched in September 2021. Since 2006, the team has collectively invested more than $1.0 billion in over 100 platform and add-on acquisitions. For more information, please visit www.tecum.com.

About NorthCoast Mezzanine

Minneapolis, MN-based NorthCoast Mezzanine is a lower middle market-focused investment firm that provides subordinated debt and non-control equity to businesses in a variety of industries nationwide. NorthCoast finances leveraged acquisitions backed by private equity sponsors, management and family-driven ownership transitions, add-on acquisitions, recapitalizations, and growth initiatives. NorthCoast is currently investing out of its $285MM SBIC Fund III (2022 vintage). To learn more, visit www.northcoastmezz.com.

SOURCE NewSpring

Redefining risk adjustment in ’24, delivering an ‘AI Assistant’ approach to improve accuracy, efficiency, and compliant ROI for Audit and Retrospective reviews and Prospective gap closure at point of care.

LOUISVILLE, Ky., March 14, 2024 — In an era when healthcare technology is advancing at an unprecedented pace, RAAPID is at the forefront of applying novel Neuro-Symbolic AI, revolutionizing risk adjustment coding accuracy for payers and providers. With the introduction of its AI technology, RAAPID is setting new standards reducing historical coding variation, and appropriately surfacing and suppressing suspected care gaps in both retrospective and prospective purpose-built risk adjustment solutions. This cutting-edge technology, expert in converting unstructured to structured data while converging the already structured, is clinically trained to navigate the complex landscape of clinical data while adding reasoning to ensure that RAAPID’s solutions are advanced, intuitive, and extraordinary in its efficacy.

At the heart of RAAPID’s innovation is the ability to transform vast amounts of healthcare data, where typically 70%+ is unstructured, into actionable insights. Its Neuro-Symbolic AI is a testament to the company’s commitment to leveraging technology as an AI Assistant for Coders and providers to improve accuracy and impact healthcare outcomes. This technology, embedded as an API or in RAAPID’s workflow platform, is designed to meet the customer at their state of readiness and level of efficiency. Historically, those who carry risk contracts and its typically manual and increasingly variation-prone processes provide organizational challenges with costs, compliance, and administrative burden while lacking the tools needed to ensure appropriate reimbursements and improved patient care.  RAAPID’s single platform and core technology can serve the needs for Audit, Retrospective, and the burgeoning Prospective market needs

Adding to its technological prowess, specific to its Prospective solution offering, RAAPID has entered into a strategic partnership with Holon Solutions, a leader in healthcare information technology. This partnership aims to harness RAAPID’s ability to surface suspected and emerging care gaps and along with Holon’s renowned last-mile connectivity to reduce physician administrative burden at the point of care while improving patient outcomes. Holon’s solution, partnering with RAAPID’s Neuro-Symbolic AI ensure that the right information is delivered to care teams at the right time in their workflow, enhancing decision-making and patient care.

Chetan Parikh, CEO of RAAPID, expresses immense excitement about the partnership with Holon Solutions. “This collaboration marks a significant milestone in our mission to transform healthcare through AI-driven technologies,” says Parikh. “By joining forces with Holon, we are not just innovating for the sake of technology but driving real change that benefits patients, providers, and payers alike.”

As healthcare continues to evolve, the partnership between RAAPID and Holon Solutions symbolizes a leap towards a future where technology and human-centric care converge to create a more efficient, effective, and equitable healthcare system. With mission-driven serial entrepreneurs like Chetan Parikh steering this visionary approach and investing in safe modern technology to address real challenges in segments like risk adjustment and value-based care, the healthcare industry can look forward to a future where technology truly serves – like never before – the needs of patients, payers, and providers.

Media Contact:
Mayur Vyas
(502) 498-4018
[email protected] 

About RAAPID

At RAAPID, our ambition propels us to become the world’s leading risk adjustment solutions tailored to payers, providers, and pay-viders. Dedicated to empowering these organizations to enhance their financial and member’s well-being and health while streamlining operations, RAAPID provides a comprehensive, customizable risk adjustment platform. Utilizing the forefront of technology— Neuro symbolic AI(AI), deep learning, clinically-trained natural language processing (NLP), and intricate knowledge graphs—our platform is engineered to unlock profound insights and drive precision in risk adjustment technology.

About Holon Solutions: Holon Solutions is the leading human-centric healthcare technology company that provides relief to healthcare teams. Our intelligent platform is a place where healthcare administration becomes effortless, with personalized tools that eliminate complexity. Using patented sensor technology, we deliver key information at the point of care to help save time, improve health outcomes, and increase revenue, with robust analytics that demonstrate value for enterprises.

SOURCE RAAPID

Drop-on-demand technology will enable sustainable, production-grade additive manufacturing using high-value metal components

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., March 14, 2024 — Fluent Metal is developing production-grade liquid metal printing to remove barriers to entry into metal additive manufacturing, while allowing for unmatched scalability and process tunability. Today, the company is launching out of stealth with an additional $3.2M in venture capital funding, led by E15 with participation from Pillar VC and industry angels, bringing the total funding to $5.5M. Fluent Metal’s drop-on-demand approach is compatible with most metals, including refractories, and enables the creation of parts in a single-step process, minimizing variability. It is energy efficient: using less starting material and producing no waste–making it far more sustainable than current powder-based metal 3D printers.

“Drop-on-demand technology is an elegant approach to create complex metal components,” said Peter Schmitt, CEO. “Whether it’s prototype iterations of an idea or production runs of a single part, Fluent Metal will provide customers with great operational and material flexibility. This freedom will unlock new creativity and problem solving abilities across industries.”

Existing metal additive manufacturing technology has come to accept the extensive industrial scale overhead required to operate this equipment safely. Fluent Metal is developing an alternative lean overhead process, to make it more sustainable, operational efficient and functional, using an inkjet printer-like approach.

Fluent Metal’s drop-on-demand approach is:

• Functional: Using wire as the starting material and producing no waste, Fluent Metal enables true multi-metal printing. It’s possible for even high-value metals to be intricately combined; creating properties never before possible. Complex shapes such as fully enclosed voids and internal channels are possible due to the inkjet-like printhead and parallel throughput.
• Operationally efficient: Fluent Metal’s approach is designed to operate safely on a typical manufacturing floor or even in a prototyping shop, without the need for clean rooms or expensive safety measures. Additionally, material changeover is designed to be easy as plug-n-play, reducing setup efforts and allowing for higher machine uptimes.
• Sustainable: This approach produces no waste and uses less energy than powder-based technologies.

“As the manufacturing industry evolves in response to the changing needs of global supply chains and sustainability demands, we need novel approaches to drive creativity and expand our collective conception about what’s possible,” said Philip Liang, Managing Partner, E15. “In the near term, Fluent Metal will spark the imagination of designers, engineers, and technologists to consider how rapid, on-demand production of custom metal parts could transform their capabilities. At scale, this approach will revolutionize the entire footprint and direction of industrial manufacturing.”

Fluent Metal is led by industry veterans from Desktop Metal, Vulcan Forms, and the MIT Media Lab. Visit www.fluentmetal.com to learn more about contract manufacturing and be the first to know about expanded product offerings.

Contact information 
Mario Terceros Arce
[email protected]
‪(617) 468-8243

SOURCE Fluent Metal

Inspiring New Generations of Leaders and Teams to Work Hard, Smart and Together.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C., March 14, 2024 — The leadership lessons from The New York Times best-selling book The Carolina Way live on 20 years after its original publication in 2004. During this March tournament season, the Bell Leadership Institute will continue to spread the timeless principles of The Carolina Way. Throughout the month of March, Bell Leadership will highlight ways leaders can inspire their teams to “work hard, smart, and together” through a series of dedicated articles that demonstrate how to grow their impact and embrace their roles as key leaders within their organizations.

“The most successful leaders behave in ways that cause three major results: they cause people (1) to work hard, (2) to work smart, and (3) to work together. In this way, they create success.”
– Dr. Gerald D. Bell
Founder & CEO, Bell Leadership Institute

In the approachable and engaging narrative of The Carolina Way, the late Dean Smith, former University of North Carolina Head Men’s Basketball Coach, explains the philosophy and strategy that led him to become one of the most successful coaches of all time. Co-author Dr. Gerald D. Bell, a highly regarded leadership expert and founder of the Bell Leadership Institute, translates these lessons from the court into actions for business leaders that can quickly be put into practice. Through Coach Smith’s leadership, his teams grew to embody his principle of “play hard, smart, and together.” Dr. Bell leverages his professional wisdom to help business leaders “work hard, smart, and together.”

Dr. Bell and the Bell Leadership Institute he founded in 1972 remain steadfast in their mission to build leaders and strengthen organizations across the globe. Through his principles and research, the Bell Leadership Institute has helped to develop the skills of more than 500,000 leaders world-wide. Lessons from The Carolina Way are embedded in the DNA of Bell Leadership and its teachings. Decades after Coach Smith’s tenure at UNC, Bell Leadership Institute continues to make sure great teams are developed and strengthened in Chapel Hill and throughout the world by providing executive education and assessments to build individuals and organizations to be their best, solving today’s challenges and capturing future opportunities.

Follow the March 2024 series of articles by visiting Bell Leadership online where you can learn more about applying the principles of The Carolina Way to your business, as well as access other helpful resources.

About Bell Leadership Institute Bell Leadership Institute is a recognized leader in executive education and leadership training. Since 1972, Bell Leadership has helped individuals and organizations develop leadership mastery through its leadership solutions, programs and services. Anchored by the Bell Achiever Model™, the Bell Leadership Mastery Series™ comprises eight essential topics that are the building blocks of effective leadership. This comprehensive suite of seminars and proprietary assessment tools draw from over 50 years of research and consultation with thousands of CEOs and senior leaders. Learn about Bell Leadership Trainers, Speakers and Coaches and Bell Leadership solutions at www.bellleadership.com, or connect on LinkedIn.

Company:        Bell Leadership Institute
Contact:           Laura Levin                                   
Telephone:       845-500-5598
Email:              [email protected]

SOURCE Bell Leadership Institute

SINGAPORE, March 14, 2024 — Polyhedra Network, the team behind zero-knowledge interoperability protocol zkBridge, today announced the closing of a $20 million strategic funding round, valuing the company at $1 billion USD. The round is led by Polychain Capital, with participation from Animoca Brands, Emirates Consortium, Mapleblock Capital, Hashkey Capital, UoB Ventures, Symbolic Capital, Longhash Ventures, MH Ventures, Arkstream Capital, and Web3Port Foundation, among others. This is the fifth round of financing conducted by Polyhedra Network over the past two years. 

Polyhedra Network is an infrastructure company that utilizes zero-knowledge proofs as the foundation of its products, providing users with improved security, scalability, and trust-minimization. In the case of zkBridge, unforgeable zero-knowledge proofs are used to validate the state and consensus of the sender chain, which is then verified on the destination. To date, zkBridge has secured over 20 million cross-chain transactions between the 25+ blockchains it connects, which includes millions of messages sent using the LayerZero protocol.

The funds from this round will play an integral role in escalating Polyhedra Network’s continued growth by increasing the network’s employee base and exploring further global expansion. This expansion will allow Polyhedra Network to further cement its presence as the premier zero-knowledge institution and globally promote the adoption of trust-minimized interoperability.

Eric Vreeland, Chief Strategy Officer of Polyhedra Network, commented: “Blockchains were not architected in a way to efficiently process large amounts of computation and information. With the advancements we’ve made in the zero-knowledge proof space, we are no longer beholden to the speed and cost constraints that are slowing adoption. We continue to push the envelope in terms of what is possible, for example, proving the entire Ethereum consensus in under 8 seconds. With our ZK technology, developers no longer have to choose between performance and ease-of-use.”

The founding team, who met while studying cryptography and finishing their respective Ph.D. programs, quickly realized that zero-knowledge proofs offer a way to share information between networks that align with blockchain’s core ethos of decentralization. Since its founding, members of the Polyhedra Network team have authored over a dozen academic papers with findings that improve the performance of zero-knowledge proofs and open up applications previously thought impossible. Recently, the team announced its intention to create an interoperability protocol between the Bitcoin and Ethereum ecosystems, an arduous task not yet conquered by the industry given Bitcoin‘s lack of smart-contract functionality.

Vreeland concluded: “Blockchain technology is revolutionary because it allows for individuals and institutions to transact without a trusted intermediary. As blockchain usage continues to grow, technology that enables secure and highly scalable computation across multiple networks will be a necessity. Unlocking this without introducing additional trust assumptions is critical if we are to stay true to the values this industry was founded on. Zero-knowledge technology is the key to unlocking blockchain’s full potential.”

Investor Quotes: 

Polychain Capital

“Polyhedra Network stands at the forefront of Web3 innovation. Their focus on trust-minimized interoperability and scalability using Zero-knowledge proof technology sets them apart and we believe they are not just creating infrastructure but architecting a more efficient and unified Web3. We are thrilled to support Polyhedra in their new round as they continue to shape the crypto landscape.” Luke Pearson, General Partner at Polychain Capital.

About Polyhedra Network

Polyhedra Network is building the next generation of secure, interoperable, and scalable Web3 infrastructure with advanced zero-knowledge proof technology. The team has developed and deployed several next-generation zk-SNARK protocols resulting in performance improvements orders of magnitude faster than existing solutions. Their interoperability solution, zkBridge, connects over 25 blockchains and proves the validity of cross-chain messages utilizing zero-knowledge proofs. Developers building with Polyhedra Network can create secure, scalable, interoperable applications without any additional trust assumptions.

For more information visit: https://polyhedra.network

Media Contact
M Group Strategic Communications (on behalf of Polyhedra Network)

SOURCE Polyhedra Network

SquareDash empowers roofing and restoration companies to streamline their operations with its managed billing services and to get paid the same day they finish the work on approved property insurance claims.

FORT WORTH, Texas, March 14, 2024 — SquareDash, the top payment advance platform in the property insurance restoration industry, today announced it has raised over $20 million in total financing to accelerate growth. The latest equity round, led by FINTOP Capital, builds on SquareDash’s previous equity raise in mid-2023 with participation from Hivers and Strivers, The PenFed Foundation, i2BF Global, The Hustle Fund, The Council and other angel investors. The company also secured a $15 million credit facility that can expand to $25 million as needed. The funds will be used to expand the company’s payment advance and subscription services, grow the team, and invest in sales and marketing.

Founded in 2022 by U.S. Navy veteran Matt Fruge after successfully running a roofing company for over 10 years, SquareDash offers both claim funding and a subscription service to manage the billing, payment, and collections process. This empowers roofers and restorationists, especially those in the $2 million to $15 million revenue range, to overcome insurance claim challenges and get paid the same day they finish work.

“As a former roofer myself, I know firsthand the cash flow challenges faced by roofing and restoration businesses,” said CEO and Founder of SquareDash Matt Fruge. “With this latest funding, we’ll be able to help even more of these entrepreneurs get paid faster for their hard work and grow successful businesses. I’m grateful for the support of FINTOP Capital, PenFed Foundation, and all our investors who share our mission.”

“SquareDash is tackling a huge market inefficiency and empowering restoration professionals to control their cash flow and expand their businesses,” said Partner at FINTOP Capital John Philpott. “Matt and the team have built an innovative platform, and we’re excited to support their growth as they transform payments in the roofing industry.”

SquareDash was selected to participate in The PenFed Foundation Veteran Entrepreneur Program Fall 2022 Cohort. The program exclusively supports veteran and military spouse entrepreneurs building highly scalable startup companies — ranging from the idea stage through to Series A and beyond.

“It’s been a privilege to support Matt and SquareDash through our Veteran Entrepreneur Program,” said PenFed Foundation President Andrea McCarren. “As a veteran-led company solving real challenges for roofing businesses, it is a prime example of the innovative startups we seek to elevate. This funding is a testament to the strength of their vision and execution.”

For more information about SquareDash visit https://squaredash.com.

About SquareDash
SquareDash is on a mission to empower roofing and restoration companies to overcome insurance claim challenges and get paid the same day they finish the work. SquareDash offers both claim funding and a subscription service to manage the administration through the billing, payment and collections process.

About FINTOP Capital
FINTOP Capital is a venture capital firm focused on early-stage FinTech companies. With over $700 million in committed capital across five funds, FINTOP brings decades of FinTech founding and operating experience to the board room, partnering with innovative entrepreneurs to push the frontiers of the financial services sector.
www.fintopcapital.com

About PenFed Foundation
Founded in 2001, The PenFed Foundation is a national nonprofit organization that supports veterans in their transition from service to success. Affiliated with PenFed Credit Union, the Foundation has provided more than $50 million in financial support to veterans, active-duty service members and military families. The credit union funds the Foundation’s personnel and most operational costs, allowing 99% of incoming donations to go directly to our programs. To learn more, please visit www.penfedfoundation.org.

SOURCE PenFed Foundation

SINGAPORE, March 14, 2024 — OKX Ventures, the investment arm of OKX, the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange and Web3 technology company, is proud to announce its investment in DLC.Link, the first native Bitcoin cross-chain protocol that leverages Discreet Log Contracts (DLCs) to enable Bitcoin to be used in DeFi protocols while being held in self-custody wallets.

DLC.Link is a groundbreaking project that aims to bring the power and innovation of DeFi to the Bitcoin ecosystem without compromising on security, decentralization or user experience. DLC.Link partners with institutions (called “dlcBTC Merchants”)  to mint dlcBTC, a decentralized wrapped Bitcoin. Unlike other forms of wrapped Bitcoin, dlcBTC does not require Bitcoin deposits to be held with a custodian or bridged to a separate blockchain.

To mint dlcBTC, Bitcoin depositors “self-wrap” by locking their collateral into a DLC which can only pay out to the original depositor. Thus, dlcBTC provides a “theft-proof” protocol, in that Bitcoin deposits cannot be lost through hacks, theft or fraud. Furthermore, since only the original depositor can retrieve funds, dlcBTC is more resistant to censorship than current forms of wrapped Bitcoin.

Unlike Bitcoin L2s or sidechains, which require additional modifications to Bitcoin, support for DLCs was added in Bitcoin‘s Taproot upgrade. This means that DLCs can leverage the security, liquidity and network effects of Bitcoin, while bridging to DeFi protocols on Ethereum without requiring separate validator nodes. Instead, DLC.Link provides a network of DLC Attestors running Ethereum validators, provided by popular node operators such as OKX, HashKey Cloud, Republic, P2P, Dextrac and others.

Aki Balogh, co-founder of DLC.Link, said: “wBTC has reached Top 15 token status, despite its centralized custody model. In contrast, dlcBTC is the only wrapped Bitcoin that is minted from self-custody. DLCs, which were added to Bitcoin in 2021, enable a theft-proof wrapping mechanism without the need to introduce a bridge or L2 chain. dlcBTC will boost the adoption of Bitcoin in DeFi and has the potential to become a Top 10 token.”

Dora Yue, founder of OKX Ventures, said: “DLC.Link is a pioneering project aimed at bringing the power and innovation of DeFi to the Bitcoin ecosystem, without compromising security, decentralization, or user experience. We are pleased to support the vision and mission of DLC.Link. OKX Ventures believes that DLC.Link will unlock more value and potential within Bitcoin, and create a more open, inclusive, and decentralized financial system.”

To learn more about DLC.Link, click here.

For further information, please contact:
[email protected] 

About OKX Ventures
OKX Ventures is the investment arm of leading crypto exchange and Web3 technology company OKX, with an initial capital commitment of USD 100 million. It focuses on exploring the best blockchain projects on a global scale, supporting cutting-edge blockchain technology innovation, promoting the healthy development of the global blockchain industry, and investing in long-term structural value.

Through its commitment to supporting entrepreneurs who contribute to the development of the blockchain industry, OKX Ventures helps build innovative companies and brings global resources and historical experience to blockchain projects.

Find out more about OKX Ventures here.

Disclaimer

About DLC.Link

DLC.Link harnesses the power of Discreet Log Contracts (DLCs) to establish a trustless bridge between Bitcoin and Ethereum. This spring, DLC.Link will launch dlcBTC, enabling depositors to self-wrap their Bitcoin for DeFi on Ethereum while retaining full custody of their assets. This innovation transforms Bitcoin‘s role in DeFi, empowering depositors to engage in trading, lending, and hedging while maintaining self-sovereignty.

For more details, visit www.dlc.link

SOURCE OKX Ventures