Perceptive Xontogeny Venture Funds Leads Financing to Support Development of Accommodating Intraocular Lens (A-IOL) Through First-in-Human Trials, Paving the Way to Transform Cataract Surgery’s Standard of Care

BOSTON, April 29, 2024 — Adaptilens, Inc., a pre-clinical company dedicated to transforming the standard of care for cataract surgery, today announced the closing of a Series A financing round of $17.5 million led by Perceptive Xontogeny Venture Funds (PXV Funds), with additional investments from Pillar VC, 380 Cap, and Accanto Partners. The capital will drive the development of the company’s Accommodating Intraocular Lens (A-IOL), the first and only biomimetic intraocular lens, through first-in-human trials.

The Series A follows an earlier seed round of $1.6 million led by Pillar VC with participation from Accanto Partners and additional awards from the Harvard President’s Innovation Challenge and the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center Initiative for Women Entrepreneurs.

Adaptilens’s mission is to revolutionize cataract surgery by restoring vision to its youthful state. The National Eye Institute expects the number of Americans with cataracts to double by 2050, from 24 million to approximately 50 million. Annually, more than 4 million Americans undergo cataract surgery. The current standard of care for cataract surgery entails replacement of the cataractous lens with a flat, monofocal lens that allows clear vision at either near or far distance, but not both. The Adaptilens A-IOL is a novel, flexible, artificial lens that imitates the human lens by responding to the eye’s natural signal to focus. Restoring clear near, intermediate, and distance vision — unaided by eyeglasses or contact lenses — will provide people with a significant quality of life-enhancing improvement to the current standard of care.

“The young, healthy, human eye is perfectly designed, and its soft, flexible lens is what allows the eye to change power for a full range of vision. Our goal is to provide the growing number of people who need cataract surgery with a biomimetic option that restores youthful vision. This funding is meaningful as it enables our exceptional team to accelerate the development of our best-in-class A-IOL,” commented Liane Clamen, MD, Adaptilens Founder and Chief Executive Officer. “We’re grateful to PXV Funds and our entire investor base for recognizing the transformative potential of Adaptilens.”

“We’re compelled by Adaptilens’s innovative and elegant technology, which lies in their novel A-IOL design and proprietary polymer materials,” said Gianna Hoffman-Luca, PhD, Senior Principal, Venture at Perceptive Advisors and Partner at Xontogeny. “Equally inspiring is the Adaptilens team of experts’ unwavering dedication to developing the best-in-class A-IOL, a game-changing solution for the burgeoning millions of people needing cataract surgery. We’re excited for Adaptilens to join our portfolio of companies and to support them in their next phase of growth from pre-clinical to clinical.”

ABOUT ADAPTILENS
Adaptilens, Inc. is a privately held, pre-clinical biotech company focused on transforming the standard of care for cataract surgery. A soft and flexible Accommodating Intraocular Lens (A-IOL), the Adaptilens A-IOL is the first and only biomimetic intraocular lens that responds to the eye’s natural signal to focus, thus eliminating the need for eyeglasses or contact lenses. Our mission is to revolutionize cataract surgery by restoring vision to its youthful state.  Adaptilens is based in Boston, Massachusetts. For more information, go to https://adaptilens.com.

ABOUT PERCEPTIVE XONTOGENY VENTURE FUNDS
The Perceptive Xontogeny Venture Funds (“PXV Funds”) are Perceptive Advisors’ investment vehicles focused on early-stage, private venture investments in life sciences companies. Primary investments for PXV Funds include companies that are seeking a lead investor for private financings, which include both companies that are seeded and incubated at Xontogeny, and companies that are seeded and incubated by other organizations, accelerators and seed investors. The PXV Funds are also open to participating in syndicated private financings as a co-lead or passive investor with other venture capital firms. For more information, visit www.perceptivelife.com.

SOURCE Adaptilens, Inc

LOS ANGELES and MANILA, Philippines, April 29, 2024 — Talino Venture Studios, an award-winning global venture studio for sustainable innovation, and Chemonics International, a leading sustainable development firm, have launched and seed-funded Higala, the pioneer startup Inclusive Instant Payment System (IIPS) in the Philippines.

As an IIPS, Higala will serve as a financial superhighway that will connect thrift banks, rural banks, and microfinance institutions that are currently excluded from payment networks because of high switching and on-ramp costs.

Despite the presence of 400 rural banks in the Philippines, only a mere 18 are part of InstaPay. This highlights a significant challenge: the lack of interoperability among these banks. As a consequence, the full potential of financial inclusion remains largely untapped, depriving many Filipinos of the benefits that modern banking technologies can offer.

“Higala will help modernize our country’s digital financial infrastructures and enable the participation of financial institutions through our network. Our goal is to make banking more inclusive, especially to the underserved segments of the population that have limited access to traditional banking services,” Higala President and CEO Vice Catudio said.

Higala promotes inclusion by lowering the cost of real-time payments, which helps financial institutions to reasonably price their instant payments. It also aims to provide inclusive financial solutions to the underbanked as well as rapidly enable merchants to accept digital payments.

“Through Higala’s open payment platform and suite of solutions, we will enable new market players to aggressively develop and market innovative payment services to both consumers and merchants,” said Catudio.”This includes integrating solutions such as regulatory technologies like e-KYC and AML-TF monitoring, AI-based risk detection and management, banking microledgers, payment hub that will enable instant fund transfer across participating banks, and a global transaction gateway for remittance,” he adds.

Higala is also building a core instant payment technology that can accommodate financial institutions of all sizes and turn banks into digital banks through white label app services.

Sustainable development
“At Talino, we are committed to the sustainable execution of development that benefits all stakeholders, especially the unbanked,” said Talino CEO Winston Damarillo. “With Talino and Chemonics providing funding for Higala, we bring together the impact of venture investing and global good to expand the benefits of financial inclusion to segments that need them most.”

“We are excited to embark on a new journey with Higala, a testament to our commitment to innovation and financial inclusion in the Philippines and other dynamic markets across the globe. Drawing from three decades of impactful partnerships and success in the economic growth space in the Philippines, Higala embodies our vision for affordable, real-time transactions accessible to all Filipino communities,” said Chemonics President and CEO Jamey Butcher.

The first deployment of Mojaloop in Asia
Higala leverages the open payment platform of Mojaloop Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to boosting financial inclusion through its open-source software called Mojaloop. With Mojaloop’s open payment framework, Higala facilitates seamless connectivity among various financial entities, including banks, institutions, payment gateways, merchants, and the central bank. This approach enhances affordability and accessibility in financial transactions.

“With the pioneering deployment of Mojaloop open source software in Asia through our collaboration with Talino’s Higala, the Mojaloop Foundation reaffirms its commitment to breaking down barriers and empowering communities through financial inclusion. Together, we’re not just revolutionizing payment systems; we’re unlocking opportunities, fostering resilience, and building a future where financial access knows no bounds,” said Mojaloop Foundation Executive Director Paula Hunter.

“We want to ensure that everyone is fully banked by lowering the bar of obtaining bank accounts, lowering the friction cost for digital payments, encouraging merchants to accept them, and empowering all financial institutions to be able to provide it to their constituents, especially rural banks,” said Damarillo.

Backed by BSP and industry leaders
BSP Deputy Governor Mamerto E. Tangonan said, “The BSP supports continued efforts to enhance the efficiency of the national payment system and help modernize the Philippines’ digital payments infrastructure as part of our ongoing efforts to bring more users into the digital payments system.”

Tangonan adds, “Adopting modern technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and compliance with global standards like ISO 20022 can help payment service providers offer new services, improve customer experience, and make digital transactions more safe and secure.”

Aside from BSP, Higala’s partners and collaborators include the Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation, Xendit, FinTech Alliance.Ph, and the Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines.

“We are committed to inclusivity, affordability, and the innovative approach to transaction management and settlements. Higala provides efficiency and equitability to fully support the nation’s move towards comprehensive financial inclusion,” Catudio said.

About Talino

Talino Venture Studios is an award-winning global venture studio for inclusive fintech. Born in the intersection of Silicon Valley and Southeast Asia, Talino Venture Studios is on a mission to bridge financial inclusion for over 1.7 billion people around the world. It uses the successful venture studio model to build repeatable, scalable, and profitable fintechs that empower underserved, underrepresented groups around the world with financial access and mobility. Talino Ventures Studios (talinolabs.com)

About Chemonics

Founded in 1975, Chemonics is one of the world’s leading global sustainable development consulting firms. With over 6,000 experts in more than 100 countries, 90% of its staff are working in a community they have long-considered home. Chemonics collaborates with communities across the globe to identify and apply innovative, sustainable solutions to the world’s biggest challenges. Where Chemonics works, development works. www.chemonics.com

About the Mojaloop Foundation

The Mojaloop Foundation’s mission is to increase financial inclusion by empowering organizations creating interoperable payment systems to enable digital financial services for all. To achieve its mission, Mojaloop Foundation operates as a 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit organization, maintaining its free, open source software, Mojaloop, and community as public goods in the service of financial inclusion. Merchants, banks, providers, government offices and other entities looking to build inclusive payments platforms can use Mojaloop – whole, adapted or as a real-time payments reference model. For more information about the Mojaloop Foundation, visit https://mojaloop.io/.

SOURCE Chemonics International

SAN FRANCISCO, April 26, 2024 — Hinkal, a multi-chain privacy layer for confidential decentralized finance (DeFi) transactions, today announced a $1.4 million strategic funding round led by SALT Fund, with participation from Draper Associates, SNZ and Peer VC. Additionally, Tal Cohen, CEO of Kraken US, joined the company advisory board.

The raise follows the close of Hinkal’s $4.1M seed funding round in November of 2023. With surging demand from institutional clientele, this strategic funding will be used to bring liquid funds, VCs, family offices and founders of projects to Hinkal’s confidential infrastructure.

As institutional investors expand their presence in crypto markets they are increasingly looking to decentralized exchanges to take advantage of price discovery and asset control these platforms provide. However, DeFi does not provide privacy these traders are accustomed to in traditional financial markets. As crypto analytics platforms have become more complex, the pseudonymous nature of DeFi presents risks of copy trading and front running for liquid funds, VCs, and protocol founders willing to liquidate their token positions.

“The influx of institutional capital into crypto markets is a landmark event for the maturity of the industry,” said Georgi Koreli, CEO of Hinkal. “Hinkal is solving a critical need in the crypto space by providing institutional investors with the additional layer of anonymity they require to participate in DeFi markets. This strategic funding round will allow us to accelerate the development and adoption of our groundbreaking privacy solution.”

Hinkal is a zero knowledge (ZK)-protocol that addresses these issues by enabling end-to-end and secure confidentiality for DeFi transactions. Leveraging a combination of self-custodial private addresses and relayers, Hinkal transforms the way on-chain trading operates as the only transaction that can be seen on block explorers or analytics platforms is the execution of a relayer – no wallet addresses attached. This allows liquid funds, VCs and retail investors to make confidential transactions within the protocol without experiencing price slippage or market impacts.

Additionally, Hinkal provides a best-in-class solution for venture capital and founding teams looking to liquidate vested tokens in a private and secure environment. As the industry has grown and matured, these stakeholders have traditionally struggled with token vesting and liquidations, as this process often results in adverse price impacts that dilute net settlement and sends mixed messages to the community. With Hinkal, VCs and teams can receive any vested token directly into a private Hinkal address and liquidate privately without these impacts to the market.

AJ Scaramucci, Founder and Managing Partner of the SALT Fund, commented on the news, “The SALT Fund is dedicated to supporting projects that drive innovation for institutional investors. Hinkal is a breakthrough protocol addressing crucial pain points for institutional funds, founders, and VCs alike by enabling them to execute private DeFi trading strategies and liquidate vested tokens in a way that doesn’t disrupt the broader market. This is a game-changer for the industry and will unlock significant value for these stakeholders.”

Underpinning Hikal is a full suite of compliance and security solutions to further support institutional users of DeFi protocols. Hinkal requires KYC(B) (Know Your Customer/Business) verification for users to prevent illicit parties from using the protocol while simultaneously providing a frictionless experience via reusable attestations at exchanges like Coinbase and Binance. Audited by major firms including Quanstamp and Zokyo, Hinkal provides a secure trading experience and real-time threat mitigation with Hexagate.

About Hinkal
Founded by Stanford grad Giorgi Koreli and his Ph.D. brother, Nika Koreli, Hinkal enables privacy of transactions and assets across core DeFi apps and functions, including trading, farming, staking, and lending through the use of stealth addresses and with high degree of compliance.

Hinkal is a ZK-based solution that provides a private smart contract wallet experience, allowing users to participate in their favorite dApps directly from their private addresses without the need to withdraw assets for obfuscation.

Media Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE Hinkal

New Capital will be Used to Expand to New Sites and Invest In Precision Medicine Platform

SAN FRANCISCO, April 26, 2024 — Amae Health, a trailblazer in delivering patient-centered care for people with severe mental illness, announced today the successful closing of its oversubscribed $15 million Series A funding round. The round was led by Quiet Capital and included a significant investment from Healthier Capital, founded by Amir Dan Rubin, the former CEO of One Medical. Other investors in the round included Baszucki Group, Index Ventures Managing Partner Mike Volpi, and all of Amae Health’s original seed investors – Bling Capital, 8VC, Virtue and Able Partners. Amae Health will use the new capital to fuel its mission to revolutionize care for severe mental illness (SMI) through its innovative, psychiatry-led model.

Severe mental illness is defined as a mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder resulting in serious functional impairment, which substantially interferes with or limits one or more major life activities. According to the National Institute of Health, there are an estimated 14.1 million adults aged 18 or older in the United States with SMI, while annual deaths by suicide and drug overdose in the United States have also increased 322% since 2001.

Amae Health is a value-based care provider specializing in severe mental illness, providing integrated long-term care and delivering transformative change in the lives of those with SMI. The company’s commitment to innovation has significantly improved patient care and outcomes, demonstrated by its rapidly expanding customer base and strategic partnerships with leading healthcare providers and insurers. By engaging in these value-based care partnerships, Amae Health’s innovative model not only improves patient outcomes, but also aligns incentives and drives lasting impact in a cost-effective manner.

Amae Health’s inaugural clinic in Los Angeles demonstrates has significantly outperformed the general standard of care across several key metrics, including a notable reduction of 30-day emergency room readmissions, and over 85% medication adherence compared to an industry average of 53%. Additionally, Amae Health has an 80% retention rate, showcasing the effectiveness of patient engagement and treatment adherence. Amae Health’s care model includes a phased approach to care, tailored to each patient’s needs, building a lifelong partnership with patients to manage their condition.

Amae Health is also going to be working on several research collaborations to advance the knowledge of treatment for severe mental illness, including an upcoming study with UCLA and Apple on Digital Sensing for SMI Patients. Amae Health is also working on a ketogenic study for the SMI population in collaboration with the Baszucki Group to further explore the benefits of metabolic psychiatry. Amae Health also announced that they will leverage Palantir to develop a precision medicine platform to advance the field of psychiatry as a whole.

“Amae Health is working to change the paradigm of care for people who have severe mental illness.  Our psychiatry-led approach recognizes the unique needs of our patients and provides personalized treatment across behavioral medicine, primary care, and social health to help our patients and families stabilize, prosper, and prevent future adverse events,” said Sonia Garcia, co-founder and Chief Product Officer.

“The successful closing of our Series A is a major milestone and vote of confidence from the investment and health care communities. We are poised for significant growth and development of our data platform to improve patient outcomes and serve as a leading model for tailored integrated care.” Garcia added.

Amae Health is deeply personal for its co-founders, Stas Sokolin and Sonia Garcia. Sonia lost her father to suicide when she was 16 and served as a caregiver for her brother, who battles with schizoaffective and bipolar disorder. Both Stas’ father and sister also battle with bipolar disorder.

“Severe mental illness is a chronic condition requiring lifelong, adaptive care. By focusing on the individual as a whole person and addressing their long-term needs, we create lasting change for our members. As a long-term care provider, we have built the infrastructure to be a research organization, driving the field of psychiatry forward. In the coming months, we will be launching several groundbreaking research trials to further advance the understanding and treatment of SMI,” said Stas Sokolin, co-founder and CEO.

“Amae Health has developed a solution for SMI that improves patient outcomes and experience and significantly reduces costs for payers and hospital systems. Amae’s first clinic has shown incredible results and we’re excited for the potential to scale to hundreds of thousands of patients. We are incredibly proud to have led the company’s Series A and support this meaningful mission,” said David Greenbaum, Partner at Quiet Capital.

“Even as severe mental illness challenges our society, we lack modernized approaches to coordinated care – Amae Health delivers such a model with breakthrough performance in outcomes. I am thrilled to be part of this extraordinary team at this critical moment to make a transformational impact in the treatment of severe mental illness,” said Amir Dan Rubin, CEO and Managing Partner at Healthier Capital.

Through the integration of clinical services, support services, and a data-driven approach, Amae Health is setting a new benchmark in SMI care, positioning itself as a leader in the field and paving the way for scalable, effective treatment solutions in one of healthcare’s most challenging areas.

About Amae Health

Amae Health is a leading innovator in mental health care, committed to improving the treatment and care of severe mental illnesses through a value-based, psychiatry-led model. By integrating comprehensive care teams and leveraging cutting-edge technology, Amae Health aims to deliver transformational outcomes for patients and create a new standard for mental health care.

Media Contact:
Josh Vlasto
[email protected]

SOURCE Amae Health

SAN FRANCISCO, 26 aprile 2024 — Movement Labs, un team di sviluppo blockchain con sede a San Francisco, ha ottenuto 38 milioni di dollari in un round di finanziamento di serie A guidato da Polychain Capital. Il finanziamento sosterrà la missione dell’azienda di portare la Move Virtual Machine di Facebook su Ethereum, affrontando le vulnerabilità dei contratti intelligenti e migliorando il throughput delle transazioni.

Il round di investimento ha visto la partecipazione di importanti società di venture capital tra cui Hack VC, Placeholder, Archetype, Maven 11, Robot Ventures, Figment Capital, Nomad Capital, Bankless Ventures, OKX Ventures, dao5 e Aptos Labs, dimostrando una forte fiducia del settore nell’ecosistema di Movement.

Fondata nel 2022, Movement Labs mira ad affrontare le principali vulnerabilità dei contratti intelligenti all’interno dell’ecosistema Ethereum, introducendo al contempo un nuovo ambiente di esecuzione progettato per oltre 30.000 transazioni al secondo (TPS). Sfruttando un interprete di bytecode completamente compatibile con EVM ed Ethereum per il pagamento, la blockchain di layer 2 Zero-Knowledge di Movement porterà parallelizzazione e sicurezza dei contratti intelligenti agli utenti che desiderano rimanere all’interno dell’ecosistema Ethereum.

Tra il 2022 e il 2023, gli hacker hanno sfruttato contratti intelligenti per oltre 5,4 miliardi di dollari, colpendo i principali protocolli, come Curve e KyberSwap, attraverso comuni attacchi di rientro. Move-EVM di Movement consente agli sviluppatori di Move e Solidity di distribuire codice completamente verificato in fase di esecuzione, impedendo l’esecuzione di vettori di attacco come la reentrancy. Il team lo chiama “approccio integrato”, in cui più elementi modulari come il sequenziamento condiviso, i dimostratori di verifica formale incorporati, la disponibilità alternativa dei dati e il pagamento con Ethereum possono combinarsi per alimentare un’unica blockchain, migliorando la sicurezza e le prestazioni.

“I due maggiori problemi dell’infrastruttura blockchain al momento sono la scarsa esperienza utente e lo sfruttamento dei contratti intelligenti”, ha affermato il cofondatore di Movement, Rushi Manche. “Il co-fondatore Cooper Scanlon e io abbiamo iniziato a costruire Movement per aumentare la velocità dell’innovazione nel settore delle criptovalute, dove il prossimo Facebook potrà essere costruito on-chain da sviluppatori che non hanno le risorse per grandi team di sviluppo e costosi revisori dei conti. Move affronta le carenze di Solidity e lo stiamo introducendo sul mercato in modo cripto-nativo.”

Oltre al più importante Movement L2, Movement Labs introdurrà anche Move Stack, un framework a livello di esecuzione compatibile con molti dei framework rollup di aziende come Optimism, Polygon e Arbitrum. La visione del team è quella di collaborare con altri player di Ethereum per estendere l’esecuzione di contratti intelligenti per gli utenti di tutte le reti e unificarli con un’implementazione di sequenziatore condiviso.

“Mentre l’obiettivo principale della maggior parte degli altri team di rollup è la scalabilità, l’intuizione chiave di Movement è che la scalabilità da sola non è il motivo per cui non abbiamo ancora visto un’adozione di massa. MoveVM offre un’esperienza di sviluppo intuitiva, resistente ai bug e altamente scalabile. Unendo questi vantaggi con gli effetti di rete e le garanzie di sicurezza di base dell’ecosistema Ethereum, crediamo che Movement possa costruire un ecosistema fiorente che ospita una nuova generazione di applicazioni tradizionali”, ha affermato Bobby Beniers di Polychain in una nota.

Il team aveva in precedenza annunciato un round pre-seed da 3,4 milioni di dollari nel settembre 2023. Gli utenti potranno interagire con la sua rete quest’estate.

Per ulteriori informazioni su Movement Labs e per ottenere una guida sulla partecipazione al devnet, visitare: movementlabs.xyz, o seguire l’azienda su X @movementlabsxyz e su Discord.

Informazioni su Movement Labs: 
I co-fondatori, Rushi Manche e Cooper Scanlon, i primi costruttori dell’ecosistema Move, hanno fondato Movement Labs nel 2022 come prima rete blockchain integrata, alimentando il Layer 2 più veloce e sicuro su Ethereum. Progettato per abbinare la sicurezza dei contratti intelligenti e la parallelizzazione con la liquidità EVM e le basi di utenti, Movement sta portando MoveVM su Ethereum attraverso il suo L2 principale e rollup collegati con Move Stack.

Contatto per i media:
[email protected]  

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SAN FRANCISCO, 26. April 2024 — Movement Labs, ein in San Francisco ansässiges Blockchain-Entwicklungsteam, hat sich in einer von Polychain Capital angeführten Serie-A-Finanzierungsrunde 38 Millionen US-Dollar gesichert. Die Finanzierung wird die Mission des Unternehmens unterstützen, Facebooks Move Virtual Machine auf Ethereum zu bringen, Schwachstellen in Smart Contracts zu beheben und den Transaktionsdurchsatz zu erhöhen.

An der Investitionsrunde beteiligten sich bekannte Risikokapitalfirmen wie Hack VC, Placeholder, Archetype, Maven 11, Robot Ventures, Figment Capital, Nomad Capital, Bankless Ventures, OKX Ventures, dao5 und Aptos Labs. Dies zeigt, wie stark das Vertrauen der Branche in das Ökosystem von Movement ist.

Das 2022 gegründete Unternehmen Movement Labs hat sich zum Ziel gesetzt, die weit verbreiteten Schwachstellen von Smart Contracts im Ethereum-Ökosystem zu beseitigen und gleichzeitig eine neuartige Ausführungsumgebung einzuführen, die für mehr als 30.000 Transaktionen pro Sekunde (TPS) ausgelegt ist. Durch die Nutzung eines vollständig EVM-kompatiblen Bytecode-Interpreters und Ethereum für die Abrechnung bietet die Movement Zero-Knowledge Layer 2-Blockchain eine Parallelisierung und Smart-Contract-Absicherung für Nutzer, die im Ethereum-Ökosystem bleiben möchten.

Zwischen 2022 und 2023 haben Hacker Smart Contracts im Umfang von mehr als 5,4 Milliarden US-Dollar ausgebeutet, wobei wichtige Protokolle wie Curve und KyberSwap durch häufige Eintrittsinvarianz-Angriffe betroffen waren. Move-EVM von Movement ermöglicht es Move- und Solidity-Entwicklern, Code zu implementieren, der zur Laufzeit vollständig verifiziert ist und somit die Ausführung von Angriffsvektoren wie Eintrittsinvarianz verhindert. Das Team nennt dies den “Integrierten Ansatz”, bei dem mehrere modulare Elemente wie gemeinsame Sequenzierung, eingebettete formale Prüfverfahren, alternative Datenverfügbarkeit und Ethereum-Abrechnung kombiniert werden können, um eine einzige Blockchain zu betreiben und die Sicherheit und Leistung zu verbessern.

“Die beiden größten Probleme im Zusammenhang mit der Blockchain-Infrastruktur sind derzeit die schlechte Nutzererfahrung und Smart Contract-Exploits”, sagte der Mitbegründer von Movement, Rushi Manche. “Mein Kollege Cooper Scanlon und ich haben mit dem Aufbau von Movement begonnen, um die Innovationsgeschwindigkeit im Kryptobereich zu erhöhen, damit das nächste Facebook von Entwicklern, die nicht die Ressourcen für große Entwicklungsteams und teure Prüfer haben, auf der Blockchain aufgebaut werden kann. Move behebt die Unzulänglichkeiten von Solidity und wir bringen es auf eine kryptonative Art und Weise auf den Markt.”

Neben dem Flaggschiff Movement L2 wird Movement Labs auch Move Stack vorstellen, ein Framework für die Ausführungsebene, das mit vielen Rollup-Frameworks von Unternehmen wie Optimism, Polygon und Arbitrum kompatibel ist. Das Team hat die Vision, mit anderen Ethereum-Akteuren zu kooperieren, um die Ausführung von Smart Contracts für Nutzer auf allen Netzwerken zu skalieren und sie mit einer gemeinsamen Sequencer-Implementierung zusammenzubringen.

“Während das Hauptaugenmerk der meisten anderen Rollup-Teams auf der Skalierbarkeit liegt, besteht die wichtigste Erkenntnis von Movement darin, dass Skalierbarkeit allein nicht der Grund ist, warum wir noch keine massenhafte Einführung erleben. MoveVM bietet Entwicklern eine intuitive und fehlerresistente Erfahrung sowie eine sehr gute Skalierbarkeit. Wir meinen, dass Movement ein florierendes Ökosystem aufbauen kann, das eine neue Generation von Mainstream-Anwendungen beherbergt, indem wir diese Vorteile mit den Netzwerkeffekten und den Base Layer-Sicherheitsgarantien des Ethereum-Ökosystems verbinden”, sagte Bobby Beniers von Polychain in einer Erklärung.

Das Team hatte zuvor eine Pre-Seed-Finanzierungsrunde im Umfang von 3,4 Millionen US-Dollar im September 2023 angekündigt. Die Nutzer werden in diesem Sommer in der Lage sein, mit dem Netzwerk des Unternehmens interagieren.

Weitere Informationen über Movement Labs und einen Leitfaden für die Teilnahme am Devnet finden Sie hier: movementlabs.xyz, folgen Sie uns a uf X @movementlabsxyz und auf Discord.

Über Movement Labs: Rushi Manche und Cooper Scanlon, die das Move-Ökosystem von Anfang an aufgebaut haben, gründeten Movement Labs im Jahr 2022 als erstes integriertes Blockchain-Netzwerk, auf dem die schnellste und sicherste Layer 2 auf Ethereum läuft. Movement wurde entwickelt, um die Sicherheit und Parallelisierung von Smart Contracts mit der Liquidität und der Nutzerbasis von EVM zu verbinden. Movement bringt MoveVM über sein Flaggschiff L2 und die damit verbundenen Rollups mit dem Move Stack auf Ethereum.

Medienkontakt:
[email protected]  

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Justh, Who Has Experienced a Spectacular Rise to Fame Since Releasing His Song “Chor,” Will Use His $100,000 O’Shaughnessy Fellowships Grant to Continue Producing Music While Retaining Full Artistic Control of His Musical Future

GREENWICH, Conn., April 26, 2024 — O’Shaughnessy Ventures LLC (“OSV”), an investment firm that empowers creators, has awarded an O’Shaughnessy Fellowship to Justh, a singer-songwriter based in India.  

Justh, who has achieved viral success in India, will continue to develop his craft as a musician by independently creating original songs and music videos.

Justh, who received a $10,000 O’Shaughnessy Grant in 2023, independently released his Hindi song “Chor” in December 2023 (OSV is an executive producer). Defined by Justh’s mysterious but memorable lyrics, the multi-layered song has rocketed to 18 million YouTube views and over 17 million Spotify listens as of April 25, 2024. In February 2024, “Chor” reached the summit of Spotify’s “Viral 50 – Global” playlist and was featured on Instagram by Spotify India. Justh has appeared on multiple Indian news channels in connection with the song’s success, while several Indian celebrities have performed their own versions on Instagram.

Following the success of “Chor,” Justh received several significant financial offers from Indian music labels. Wishing to retain artistic control over his future, he rejected these offers and will continue to produce music independently, with OSV’s support.

Atman Pandya, who leads OSV’s Fellowship program, commented; “Justh’s success epitomizes the power of small grants to create an outsized impact. We’re delighted to welcome him to the Fellowships program and to support his mission to create soul-stirring music while retaining unfettered artistic independence.”

Justh said; “I am really happy and excited to be part of the OSV Fellowships this year. I am extremely grateful to Jim and the entire OSV team for showing faith in me. The OSV grant last year was a game changer for me, and I believe it was a big reason for my song “Chor,” doing so well. Going forward, I hope to dive deep into my internal truths and create some of the most beautiful songs ever created in this world.”

About Justh

Based in India, Justh is a singer-songwriter creating original Hindi songs with poetic lyricism as their backbone. He has a unique songwriting style and is focused on creating beautiful and fresh pieces of art for the world.

He qualified as a chartered accountant and worked as an auditor at KPMG, but his instinctive interest in melodies and poetry led him to music. He has performed live in India and the United States.

More about Justh can be found on his website and his “Jist Spotlight” profile on the “Jist” YouTube channel. 

About the Fellowship Program

OSV launched the O’Shaughnessy Fellowships in 2023. It is a one-year program for ambitious people who want to build something great. Fellows receive a $100,000 grant and access to OSV’s network of founders, investors and experts to support them in bringing their projects to life. More information about last year’s Fellows is available on OSV’s website.

In 2024, OSV will award ten $100,000 Fellowships. Applicants for the Fellowships will also be considered for its sister program, the O’Shaughnessy Grants. Under this program, OSV will make twenty additional $10,000 grants to promising creators, who will also be provided with access to OSV’s network.

Applications for the Fellowships remain open until and including 30 April 2024. Creators interested in applying can do so via OSV’s website.

About O’Shaughnessy Ventures

OSV is a creative investment firm that empowers and inspires creators to bring their ideas to life. Founded by Jim O’Shaughnessy, a pioneer in quantitative investing, founder of O’Shaughnessy Asset Management, and author of four books on investing, OSV aims to provide financial support and to partner in growing the next life-changing creative ideas.

OSV combines Jim’s deeply rooted interest in all things art, science, investing, and tech with his long-held desire to establish scenarios designed to help promising creators and their inspiring ideas succeed, regardless of age, location, job history, or level of education. For more information, visit https://www.osv.llc.

Media Contact:
Atman Pandya, Fellowships Lead
O’Shaughnessy Ventures LLC
(917) 355-7420
[email protected] 

SOURCE O’Shaughnessy Ventures

SAN FRANCISCO, 26 april 2024 — Movement Labs, een in San Francisco gevestigd blockchainontwikkelingsteam, heeft $ 38 miljoen binnengehaald in een Serie A-financieringsronde onder leiding van Polychain Capital. De financiering zal de missie van het bedrijf ondersteunen om Facebook’s Move Virtual Machine naar Ethereum te brengen, kwetsbaarheden in slimme contracten aan te pakken en de doorvoer van transacties te verbeteren.

Aan de investeringsronde namen vooraanstaande durfkapitaalbedrijven deel, waaronder Hack VC, Placeholder, Archetype, Maven 11, Robot Ventures, Figment Capital, Nomad Capital, Bankless Ventures, OKX Ventures, dao5 en Aptos Labs. Hieruit blijkt dat de industrie veel vertrouwen heeft in het ecosysteem van Movement.

Movement Labs werd opgericht in 2022 en richt zich op het aanpakken van de veelvoorkomende kwetsbaarheden in slimme contracten binnen het Ethereum-ecosysteem. Het bedrijf introduceert ook een nieuwe uitvoeringsomgeving die is ontworpen voor meer dan 30.000 transacties per seconde (TPS). Door gebruik te maken van een volledig EVM-compatibele bytecodevertaler en Ethereum voor transacties, zal de Movement Zero-Knowledge Layer 2 blockchain parallellisatie en smart contractbeveiliging bieden aan gebruikers die binnen het Ethereum-ecosysteem willen blijven.

Tussen 2022 en 2023 hebben hackers voor meer dan $ 5,4 miljard misbruik gemaakt van slimme contracten, waarbij grote protocollen zoals Curve en KyberSwap werden aangetast vanwege veelvoorkomende reentrancy-aanvallen. Met Move-EVM van Movement kunnen ontwikkelaars van Move en Solidity code implementeren die volledig is geverifieerd tijdens de runtime, waardoor aanvalsvectoren zoals reentrancy niet kunnen worden uitgevoerd. Het team noemt dit de “Integrated Approach”, waarbij meerdere modulaire elementen zoals gedeelde sequencing, ingebedde formele verificatiebewijzen, alternatieve beschikbaarheid van gegevens en Ethereum-transacties kunnen worden gecombineerd om één blockchain aan te drijven, waardoor de veiligheid en prestaties worden verbeterd.

“De twee grootste problemen in de blockchaininfrastructuur op dit moment zijn een slechte gebruikerservaring en misbruik van slimme contracten,” zegt medeoprichter van Movement, Rushi Manche. “Mijn medeoprichter, Cooper Scanlon en ik zijn begonnen met het bouwen van Movement om crypto-innovaties te versnellen, waarbij de volgende Facebook on-chain kan worden gebouwd door ontwikkelaars die niet de middelen hebben voor grote ontwikkelteams en dure auditors. Move pakt de tekortkomingen van Solidity aan en we brengen het op een crypto-native manier op de markt.”

Naast het vlaggenschip Movement L2 introduceert Movement Labs Move Stack, een raamwerk voor uitvoeringslagen dat compatibel is met veel van de rollup raamwerken van bedrijven als Optimism, Polygon en Arbitrum. De visie van het team is om samen te werken met andere Ethereum-spelers om de uitvoering van slimme contracten op te schalen voor gebruikers op alle netwerken en ze te verenigen met een gedeelde sequencerimplementatie.

“Terwijl de meeste andere rollup teams de focus leggen op schaalbaarheid, ziet Movement duidelijk dat schaalbaarheid alleen niet de reden is waarom we nog geen massale adoptie zien. De MoveVM biedt een ontwikkelaarservaring die intuïtief en bugresistent is en bovendien zeer schaalbaar. Door deze voordelen te combineren met de netwerkeffecten en basislaag veiligheidsgaranties van het Ethereum-ecosysteem, geloven we dat Movement een bloeiend ecosysteem kan bouwen als thuisbasis voor een nieuwe generatie mainstreamtoepassingen,” verklaarde Bobby Beniers van Polychain.

Het team had eerder een pre-seed ronde van $ 3,4 miljoen aangekondigd in september 2023. Gebruikers zullen deze zomer kunnen communiceren met het netwerk.

Ga voor meer informatie over Movement Labs en een handleiding voor deelname aan het devnet naar: movementlabs.xyz, volg op X @movementlabsxyz en op Discord.

Over Movement Labs: Medeoprichters, Rushi Manche en Cooper Scanlon, vroege bouwers in het Move-ecosysteem, richtten Movement Labs op in 2022 als het eerste geïntegreerde blockchain-netwerk, dat de snelste en veiligste laag 2 op Ethereum aandrijft. Ontworpen om slimme contractbeveiliging en parallellisatie te koppelen aan EVM-liquiditeit en gebruikersbases, brengt Movement de MoveVM naar Ethereum via zijn vlaggenschip L2 en verbonden rollups met de Move Stack.

Mediacontact:
[email protected] 

Video – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2396978/Movement_Labs_Fundraise_Video_Final.mp4 
 Logo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2397018/movement_logo_full_color_rgb_2000px_72ppi_Logo.jpg

The startup developed a technology combining hardware, software, and AI to revolutionize corporate space management, focusing on local and international growth and expansion.

SÃO PAULO, April 25, 2024 — Neowrk, a startup that has developed advanced and unique hardware, software, and artificial intelligence technology to optimize workspace management, is receiving a R$ 10 million investment in a round led by Indicator Capital with R$ 8 million, complemented by current partners and Real Estate market investor Daniel Cherman.

This investment aims to help the company address a significant challenge in the corporate environment: optimizing workplace investments and occupancy while simultaneously providing a better experience for people and performance for companies with the support of data and technology.

The main differentiators of the solution offered by Neowrk lie in easily and efficiently bringing real information on how any space is used, identifying behaviors, and whether the space’s purpose is being met, without the need for corporate data network usage for operation. It relies on its plug-and-play gadget with embedded AI software, providing the best information control performance. Integration via APIs with other market platforms is also a differentiator.

“We want to revolutionize workplace management, bringing visibility to the organization of people and teams’ dynamics, promoting agility and intelligence in operation, and aligning the environment with people management strategy,” comments Flávio Pimentel, CEO of Neowrk.

Focus on growth, expansion, and technology enhancement

With the investment, the startup’s business priorities will focus on growth and commercial expansion, through partnerships with the infrastructure ecosystem and continuous improvement of hardware and software, increasing integration scope with other platforms, new modules, and predictive models.

“Neowrk has had a DNA with a strong focus on technology and software development but bringing an asset to improve the environment for people. The quality of the technology developed represents significant potential in the national and international market”, comments Fabio Iunis de Paula, co-founder of Indicator Capital.

Indicator Capital will leverage its experience and apply the Building Value Together® methodology to drive Neowrk’s growth. The management company intends to add value in technology enhancement and provide support, including local and international commercial expansion.

Today, Neowrk can serve all sectors of the economy, mainly focusing on medium and large companies, with over 250 employees. The startup has positively impacted over 200,000 employees by implementing its security policies, manages and optimizes over 70,000 square meters in more than 300 offices worldwide, and has supported over 100 managers, resulting in a savings of R$ 14 million with better occupancy.

SOURCE Neowrk