TORONTO, April 24, 2024 — Tri Ri Asset Management Corp today disclosed a strategic transition in its leadership, effective immediately. Asad Ali, the incumbent Chief Investment Officer, will pivot to a leadership role within Tri Ri’s Venture Fund following a brief hiatus.

During his tenure as Chief Investment Officer, Mr. Ali presided over the core fund, delivering notable returns of 115.80% annualized over a four-year span. His stewardship played a pivotal role in steering the fund through favorable market conditions.

Tri Ri acknowledges Mr. Ali’s significant contributions to the firm’s success. The decision to transition Mr. Ali reflects the company’s commitment to aligning leadership roles with evolving organizational dynamics.

Tri Ri maintains a steadfast dedication to upholding its esteemed reputation in the financial industry. The leadership transition underscores the firm’s unwavering commitment to optimizing performance and maintaining the trust of its stakeholders.

During this interim period, Adeel Hussain, Senior Portfolio Manager, will assume leadership responsibilities. TRAM assures stakeholders that leadership remains firm and a new Chief Investment Officer will be announced in the coming weeks.

The company extends its best wishes to Mr. Ali as he embarks on this new chapter within Tri Ri’s Venture Fund.

About Tri Ri Asset Management Corp

Tri Ri Asset Management Corp is a concentrated, research-intensive, fundamental value investor in the public markets. Since 2019, Tri Ri has executed an aggressive but disciplined growth strategy, building a balanced portfolio of public market and real estate holdings. As of March 2024, Tri Ri’s portfolio composed of USD 850 million in assets under management along with USD 1.2 billion in Co-investments and 7 renowned properties with over 1500 rooms.

Logo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2396601/Tri_Ri_Asset_Management_Logo.jpg

All-in-one platform dedicated to coffee raises from Base10 Partners to expand footprint.

NEW YORK, April 24, 2024 — Dripos, a comprehensive software platform built specifically for coffee shops, is thrilled to announce its $11 million Series A funding round, led by Base10. This investment will fuel Dripos’ continued mission to transform the way coffee shops operate.

Dripos has emerged as a game-changer for its customers, whose adoption has led to the company’s recent exponential growth. In 2023 alone, the number of locations relying on Dripos increased 400%, solidifying its presence in coffee shops across 46 states nationwide and processing hundreds of millions in annual payments. By seamlessly integrating specialized tools for point-of-sale (POS) and mobile payments, employee management and payroll, loyalty and marketing automation, as well as comprehensive administrative functions like accounting and banking, Dripos has become the go-to solution for coffee shop owners seeking a unified and efficient platform to boost operational productivity.

“Coffee shop owners have long grappled with the challenge of juggling 5-10 software solutions to meet their operational needs,” said Jack Pawlik, Co-founder & Co-CEO of Dripos. “With Dripos, we’re empowering coffee shops to ditch their previous tech stack for the first true all-in-one solution, revolutionizing the way they do business.”

The focus on a coffee shop’s workflow and the all-in-one nature of the product has resonated deeply with Dripos’ customer base who feel their needs were being ignored by existing providers. Manny Caral, owner and operator of Revolucion Coffee + Juice with 5 locations in Texas, recently switched his locations to Dripos.

“Instead of using Toast or Square as a POS, 7Shifts for scheduling, ADP for payroll, Otter for 3rd party order management, and many other tools we are able to achieve this and even much more through Dripos. The product has allowed us to streamline our day to day operations and give us time back to focus more on our customer experience,” said Manny.

Dripos’ impressive traction and growth trajectory are a testament to its product obsessed team and visionary leadership. The company’s co-founders boast over eight years of experience in building food tech startups, with multiple ventures backed by Y Combinator. Additionally, Dripos has garnered support from an esteemed group of angel investors, including Michael Siebel of Y Combinator, Shyam Rao (founder of Punchh, acquired for $500+ million by Partech), and Ian Crosby (founder of Bench and Teal, and former Head of Fintech at Shopify), among others.

“We invest in Automation for the Real Economy and it doesn’t get more ‘Real Economy’ than coffee shops and the small business owners who power them,” said Caroline Broder, Principal at Base10 Partners, who led the Series A and will be joining the Dripos board. “Dripos provides a business-in-a-box platform for its customers, allowing coffee shops to focus less on the expense of running basic operations, and focus more on delivering an exceptional experience for its customers and employees with every order.”

About Dripos

Dripos is the only piece of software a coffee shop needs to operate their business. The platform offers specialized point-of-sale (POS) and mobile payments, employee management and payroll, loyalty and marketing automation, as well as comprehensive administrative functions like accounting and banking, and has become the go-to solution for coffee shop owners seeking a unified operational platform. Founded by Jack Pawlik and Avery Durrant, Dripos is a New York based company.

Connect via dripos.com

About Base10 Partners

Founded by Adeyemi Ajao and TJ Nahigian, Base10 is a San Francisco-based venture capital fund investing in founders who believe purpose is key to profits and in companies that are automating sectors of the Real Economy. This includes heavily investing in Business-in-a-Box companies, which employ a multi-product strategy to consolidate core business operations in one platform that is purpose-built for a particular Real Economy end vertical or sector. Through its program the Advancement Initiative, Base10 donates 50% of profits to underfunded colleges and universities to support financial aid and other key initiatives. Portfolio companies include Notion, Figma, Nubank, Stripe, Popmenu, WeTravel, and MoeGo.

Connect via base10.vc

SOURCE Dripos

Funding Supports Regulatory Submissions and Clinical Milestones for Proprietary Extravascular (EV) Pacing & Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD) Lead Systems

SAN CLEMENTE, Calif., April 24, 2024 — AtaCor Medical Inc., a privately-held medical device company delivering the next generation of extravascular leads to advance the care of cardiac rhythm management (CRM) patients, announced today that it has completed a $28M Series C financing round.  The new financing was led by Arboretum Ventures and includes existing investors Longview Ventures, Hatteras Venture Partners, Catalyst Health Ventures, and BayMed Venture Partners. AtaCor plans to use the new funds to support FDA submission for its extravascular temporary pacing lead system as well as completion of a pilot study for the third generation EV-ICD lead system.

“Arboretum Ventures is thrilled to lead this round and collaborate with the world class team at AtaCor in their efforts to deliver pioneering EV cardiac rhythm management solutions. The AtaCor technology has the potential to significantly improve the lives of millions that rely on pacemakers and ICDs for life sustaining rhythm management,” shared Jan Garfinkle, Founder and Managing Partner at Arboretum Ventures.

“We welcome the Arboretum team to AtaCor and look forward to having Jan’s expertise and guidance in the boardroom,” said Rick Sanghera, CEO of AtaCor Medical. “As we plan for our upcoming clinical and regulatory milestones, this investment supports efforts that will bring AtaCor’s novel products to patients.”

AtaCor’s proprietary EV cardiac pacing and defibrillation lead systems are being designed to provide critical CRM therapy without placing any hardware inside the patient’s heart; leaving the heart untouched and protected for future care needs. In addition, the AtaCor solution will allow for:

• Temporary pacing lead placement without the need for medical imaging for faster, less-invasive therapy delivery; and
• EV-ICD lead designs that use existing, commercially available ICDs, offering physicians flexibility in their device selection.

AtaCor’s EV-ICD and temporary pacing systems have been evaluated in several clinical studies and are designed to offer an important alternative treatment option for patients requiring bradycardia and implantable defibrillation therapies.

“We are thrilled to partner with Arboretum Ventures on the next steps of AtaCor’s development that expands its product platform of extravascular cardiac pacing and defibrillation,” said existing investor and Board Chair, Maria Berkman of Longview Ventures. “Producing safe, effective, and readily deliverable EV ICD and pacing options continues to address a significant unmet need, and we are confident about AtaCor’s promise to deliver novel solutions in this space.”

About AtaCor Medical, Inc.

Atacor Medical is transforming cardiac pacing and defibrillation lead technology with its proprietary extravascular cardiac rhythm management system that provides the full benefits of traditional, transvenous implantable cardiac defibrillation and temporary pacing without placing leads or devices in the heart or vascular system; maintaining the integrity of the heart for future cardiac care needs.

For more information, please visit www.atacor.com.

SOURCE AtaCor Medical Inc.

The oversubscribed round was Initiated by Mucker Capital and Everywhere Ventures, with participation from Tau Ventures, Riverfront Ventures, DHVP, Boutique Venture Partners, Plug and Play Ventures and Techstars.

LOS ANGELES, April 24, 2024 — Handl Health, a first-to-market AI platform built to help benefits consultants design and deliver affordable health benefits, today announced an oversubscribed $2.5M Seed fundraise initiated by Mucker Capital and Everywhere VC, with participation from Tau Ventures, Riverfront Ventures, DHVP (Digital Health Venture Partners), Boutique Venture Partners, Plug and Play Ventures and Techstars. This funding will enable Handl Health to realize its vision of revolutionizing employer-sponsored healthcare through data-driven health plan design and management.

Handl Health was founded in 2022 after founders Ahmed Marmoush and Ria Shah were awarded a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institute of Health (NIH) to research the effect of price transparency legislation – such as Hospital Price Transparency and Transparency in Coverage – on the American employer and consumer. This research led to the development of Handl Health’s platform, which leverages proprietary AI models to mine, clean and organize healthcare price transparency data from publicly available sources at scale. Today, the platform is used by benefits consultants across the country to build affordable health plans for their employer clients. With the Seed funding, Handl Health plans to invest in further advancing its analytics and workflow automation capabilities to give benefits consultants a single place to access verified price transparency data to build and manage high performing health plans.

“We are thrilled to announce this significant milestone in our journey. Securing $2.5M seed funding from our esteemed investors validates our vision and underscores their confidence in our ability to revolutionize the employer-sponsored benefits market,” shares Ahmed Marmoush, CEO & co-founder of Handl Health. “This funding not only fuels our growth but also affirms our commitment to empowering brokers and transforming the way health plans are built and managed.”

In addition to their Seed funding, Handl Health has been awarded a $1.3M Phase II SBIR grant from the National Institute of Nursing Research of the NIH (Award Number R44NR021119) to drive the development of an interconnected system that manages pre-appointment billing and payment of healthcare services between third party administrators, providers and plan members. With the Seed funding and Phase II grant, Handl Health’s trajectory promises to revolutionize the ecosystem of employer-sponsored benefits, from building plans to paying for care.  

“We’re proud to support Handl Health in their Seed raise, and are excited about their innovative approach and dedication to revolutionize the way employer-sponsored benefits are designed and delivered,” explains William Hsu, Partner and co-founder at Mucker Capital. “With their rapid momentum, we have no doubt that Handl Health will deliver valuable and transformative solutions to brokers and employers.”

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute Of Nursing Research of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R44NR021119. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

About Handl Health
Handl Health (Techstars ’23, AlphaLab Health ’23) is a first-to-market AI platform that aggregates and analyzes publicly available healthcare pricing data to help benefits consultants convert new business, retain clients and execute on savings opportunities. Fueled by newly published hospital and health plan price transparency data, Handl Health’s platform introduces the next generation of possibilities for employer-sponsored benefits. To learn more, visit: www.handlhealth.com.

Media Contact: [email protected]

About Mucker Capital
Founded in Santa Monica, CA in 2011, Mucker Capital provides Pre-Seed, Seed and Series A capital and support for startups in Southern California and in other, similarly underfunded ecosystems outside Silicon Valley.

SOURCE Handl Health

LONDON, April 24, 2024 — Tquila today announced the launch and first close of the Tquila Paloma Fund (the “Paloma Fund”), with $40m of commitments representing two-thirds of its target capital raise of $60m.

Tquila is a global technology venture-building company, founded by James McHugh in 2010. Tquila has built a thriving portfolio of fast growth technology service businesses across multiple geographies including the US, EMEA, Japan and Australia, bringing a combination of investment with expertise across accelerated growth, talent acquisition and operations.

Tquila invests in companies from seed through to exit, either as stand-alone entities or with co-investment from consulting technology firms and software companies, creating over $1b of equity value since its inception. Its current portfolio includes businesses focused on Data, AI, ServiceNow, Microsoft Dynamics, Google Cloud, Salesforce, UiPath, AWS and Snowflake.

The Paloma Fund will accelerate the current portfolio, as well as expand Tquila’s investments into a broader range of technologies and geographies. 

Tquila has built an impressive team of industry and asset management experts to deliver on its strategy, including Carsten Jorgensen, former Chair and CEO of the Mittal Family Investment Office and Head of Investments at Inter IKEA Fund Management. Carsten will Chair the Paloma Fund and said that “The Paloma Fund reaching a solid first close in under six months is testimony to the unique opportunity Tquila offers investors and clients to partner with the in-demand software companies, and to a committed and talented group of tech entrepreneurs.”

James McHugh, founder and CEO of Tquila, former founder, CEO and Chairman of K2 Partnering Solutions said, “We are fortunate to have a world class team of entrepreneurs invested with, as advisors to, and as partners of — our inaugural fund.  All of us at Tquila are delighted to be working with Carsten and the Paloma Fund team. The experience, focus and professionalism they’ve brought to the group has allowed us to accelerate our opportunity and with that, growth.”

SOURCE Tquila

The Couple Invests In Female-Founded and Operated At-Home Diagnostics Company

BOULDER, Colo., April 24, 2024 — Proov, the creator of a suite of at-home fertility-related hormone tests, has announced today that an equity share of the company has been purchased by GRAMMY award-winning singer-songwriter, actor and author Ashanti and her fiancé, GRAMMY winning, Double Diamond selling, entertainment icon Nelly. This news comes off of the duo’s pregnancy announcement via Instagram last week, which featured the Proov Check test.

Proov offers over 10 products, including the first and only FDA-cleared at-home PdG test, that bring innovative solutions to child bearing people and their partners – clinically proven to help them become pregnant faster and more cost-effectively.

“The team and I are thrilled to have Ashanti and Nelly join us in our mission to increase visibility and accessibility of clinically proven fertility and pregnancy related solutions to those who need them,” says Proov CEO Dr. Amy Beckley.

Ashanti and Nelly echo, “We’re excited to work together on our first joint business endeavor, championing a female-led enterprise dedicated to empowering women with personalized care solutions.”

Proov products are available nationwide in CVS Pharmacy, Walgreens, Amazon, and direct-to-consumer on Proov’s website, proovtest.com.

About Proov
Proov is a diagnostics company offering medical grade at-home tests and a support platform that is clinically proven to help those looking to conceive do so faster, and more cost-effectively. Proov goes beyond typical fertility tracking (which focuses on finding the fertile window) to help uncover key issues that can make conceiving more difficult. Proov founder, Dr. Amy Beckley, PhD, created the core Proov technology (Proov Confirm PdG tests) after her own battle with infertility.

For more information, please visit proovtest.com

About Ashanti
Ashanti is a GRAMMY® Award-winning singer/songwriter, actor and author, who burst onto the music scene with her smash hit, self-titled debut album Ashanti. The album landed the #1 spot on both the Billboard Top 200 and R&B album charts, selling a whopping 504,593 units in its first week and set a SoundScan record as the most albums sold by any debut female artist in the chart’s history, granting her a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records, which she still holds today.  Ashanti has released six studio albums and received eight Billboard Awards, a GRAMMY, two American Music Awards, two Soul Train Awards, six ASCAP Awards, and many more awards and illustrious honors. Ashanti has continued to reign at the top as one of Billboard’s “Top Females of the Decade from 2000-2010” and continues to break Billboard records as having a Hot 100 entry in the 2000’s, 2010’s and 2020’s.

Ashanti is CEO of Written Entertainment, Inc., and in addition to her music accolades and awards, she has elevated her brand and company with several major partnerships including her own fragrance, “Precious Jewel” with AMC Beauty, American Express, Shea Moisture, Marc Jacobs and Ciroc, to name a few. Her endorsements include Herbal Essences, where she is the first African American to land a national campaign, and Candies Apparel. She launched her clothing line, in collaboration with Miss Circle, and partnered with Pretty Little Thing to create her own swimsuit line, “Ashanti.” She has written her first book of poetry, through Hyperion, titled Foolish/Unfoolish: Reflections on Love and released her first children’s book, My Name Is A Story, with Harper Collins that was voted, “2023 Best Children’s Book” by the African American Literary Awards. Ashanti is the Ambassador for the Jumpstart Reading Program and became the “Youth of the Year” Ambassador for the Boys and Girls Club of America in 2009 and was also inducted into their Hall of Fame. She became a member of their “BE GREAT” Campaign with Denzel Washington and was also a part of the “Let’s Move” campaign with Michelle Obama. To celebrate her contributions to the entertainment industry, Ashanti received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on April 7, 2022.

About Nelly
Double Diamond Selling, Multi-platinum, 3xGrammy award-winning rap superstar, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and actor, Nelly, has continually raised the bar for the entertainment industry since stepping on the scene in 2000 and has solidified his status as a rap luminary. His distinctive vocals, magnetic personality and infectious smile captivated audiences worldwide, while his achievements across entertainment industry platforms has set him apart as a true icon. In 2023, Nelly expanded his entrepreneurial empire by introducing MoShine, his signature moonshine brand, captivating enthusiasts with its unique blend and distinctive branding. Additionally, he made headlines with a groundbreaking sale of a portion of his music catalog, shattering records in the process. The following year saw Nelly’s strategic partnership with his fiancée, Ashanti, in an equity deal with Proov, a female-owned company specializing in pregnancy and fertility tests. Simultaneously, he is  orchestrating the triumphant relaunch of Apple Bottoms, his revolutionary women’s clothing line, and Three Commas, a men’s fashion brand. Despite his myriad ventures, Nelly remains committed to his musical craft. Anticipation mounts as he prepares to unveil his highly awaited single from Heartland2, the much-anticipated sequel to his country-inspired album Heartland, with the full album slated for release in 2025.

Beyond his musical prowess, Nelly’s achievements span across various domains, including sports commentary, reality television, and film. Notably, he has left an indelible mark as a commercial actor for brands such as Lay’s, Burger King, and Honey Nut Cheerios. Furthermore, his ownership of a sports team underscores his passion for sports and community engagement, while his philanthropic endeavors reflect a commitment to making a positive impact on society. In every endeavor, Nelly exemplifies the epitome of excellence, innovation, and resilience, leaving an enduring legacy that transcends generations.

SOURCE Proov

Investment accelerates commitment to securing cloud email environments with advanced protection, visibility, and control

WASHINGTON, April 24, 2024 — Sublime Security, the AI-powered, programmable email security platform, announced today that it has raised $20 million in Series A funding, led by Index Ventures with participation from previous investors Decibel Partners and Slow Ventures. Cybersecurity visionary and Crowdstrike Co-founder & former CTO Dmitri Alperovitch is also joining the investment round and Board of Directors. The added funding will be used to further invest in the platform and improve the customer experience. In a rapidly evolving threat landscape, email remains a top security concern for businesses. Sublime gives security teams the ability to detect and prevent these attacks with out-of-the-box protection and unprecedented visibility into their cloud email environments, with additional controls for customized detections, attack surface reduction, threat hunting, and more.

Increasing financial impact

According to the most recent 2023 FBI Internet Crime Report, Business Email Compromise (BEC) accounted for over $2.9 billion in losses, although the actual number is likely much higher due to underreporting. The volume and scope of attacks are escalating as bad actors deploy large language models (LLMs) to wage advanced and varied malicious attacks that include BEC, QR code phishing, extortion, malware/ransomware, fraud, spam, and more.

Email security that’s not a black box

Email security has traditionally been driven by vendors that offer black box, one-size-fits-all solutions. However, security teams can no longer afford to wait weeks or months for vendors to address false positives or missed attacks, during which time legitimate emails continue to get blocked and the same attack campaigns continue to land successfully.

As the email threat landscape continues to evolve rapidly, defensive tools must be equally adaptable. Sublime’s AI-powered detection engine gives teams visibility, transparency, and ultimately control to protect their organizations against complex email-borne attacks, unlike the traditional black box approach.

“On the offense, Generative AI enables attackers to rapidly create diverse, sophisticated campaigns at scale, but on the defense, it’s a powerful tool for automated detection, triage, and explainability,” said Josh Kamdjou, Founder and CEO of Sublime Security. “The Sublime Platform is a modern take on email security that delivers immediate out-of-the-box protection, with the added ability for teams to tailor email security controls to fit organizational needs and benefit from community-driven protections as the threat landscape evolves.”

Historically, defenders have had difficulty exercising meaningful control or collaborating within the email domain due to a lack of tooling and common language for expressing complex attacker behavior. Sublime’s Core Detections are open source on GitHub where anyone can contribute to and benefit from new protections against the latest threats. Advanced teams that want granular control to tailor detections, create exclusions, or mitigate false positives for their organization also have access to Sublime’s detection engine with a purpose-built domain-specific language (DSL), Message Query Language (MQL), which works universally across Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace via API integrations.

Kamdjou spent 10 years at the Department of Defense engaged in various offensive cyber initiatives and also worked in the private sector as a red teamer. Email phishing was always the easiest way for him to gain initial access to a system, and he set out to build a product capable of stopping him. Co-founder and COO Ian Thiel was an early team member at Optimizely and most recently led growth at Alto. The team publicly launched Sublime in February 2023 and the platform is already experiencing significant demand and impressive traction, with customers including some of the world’s top security teams at Spotify, Ramp, Vanta, Brex, Centrica, and others.

“Email security has become a high priority for businesses as they face GenAI-powered attacks, and we believe that Sublime’s impressive technology, the founders’ backgrounds, and their unique go-to-market strategy put them in a strong position to tackle this problem,” said Jahanvi Sardana, Partner at Index Ventures. “Sublime is pioneering a bottoms-up, security practitioner-led approach that promotes community-driven collaboration, and given the massive market opportunity for email security, we are excited to see Sublime continue its trajectory of hyper-growth.”

In addition to the funding, Sublime is also announcing the launch of Attack Score, its latest feature that uses transparent, explainable machine learning to prioritize email threats. Attack Score aids security analysts in quickly understanding and prioritizing detected threats based on the detailed context of observed attack indicators. Security teams have full control over Sublime’s Attack Score output, enabling them to combine it with other logic using detection-as-code.

Sublime’s Core Platform can be self-hosted for free at any scale, and the first 100 inboxes are also free in Sublime’s hosted SaaS environment. For more information, visit: https://sublime.security/

About Sublime:

Sublime is the AI-powered, programmable cloud email security platform that detects and blocks attacks like Business Email Compromise (BEC), malware/ransomware, credential phishing, and more. The open platform enables security teams to have better visibility and control over their email environment, customize and tailor the platform to suit their unique needs, and collaborate with their peers against novel attacks to reduce risk and prevent email-borne incidents. The company was co-founded by Joshua Kamdjou and Ian Thiel in 2019 with funding from investors including Index Ventures, Decibel Ventures, and Slow Ventures. Deploy a free, self-hosted Core version of the platform or Sublime Enterprise at https://sublime.security/start

SOURCE Sublime Security

NEW YORK, April 24, 2024 — Alaffia Health, the leader in generative AI for health plan claim operations, today announced $10M in Series A funding, bringing its total amount of capital raised to $17.6M. The round was led by FirstMark Capital, with participation from GingerBread Capital and existing investors including Anthemis, Aperture Venture Capital, 1984 Ventures, Remarkable Ventures, and Tau Ventures. In connection with the round, Amish Jani from FirstMark will join the company’s Board of Directors. Alaffia’s management team intends to use the funding to expand its commercial footprint and further invest in advanced AI research and product development.

Since its Seed funding round, Alaffia has achieved robust growth, increasing its revenues by 4x over the past 12 months alone. Earlier this year, Alaffia was also featured in the Everest Group’s Payment Integrity Solutions PEAK Matrix® Assessment, a testament to its profound presence and leadership in claims solutions for health insurance plans. This recognition, combined with its surge in revenue, underscores the industry’s appetite for Alaffia’s leading AI solutions across the health plan ecosystem.

A key component to Alaffia’s success is the efficacy of its advanced AI solutions provided to its health insurance plan customers. The company last year announced its new, flagship generative AI tool, Ask Autodor, a co-pilot built for health insurance claims teams. Ask Autodor was purpose-built for clinicians and medical coders to automate complex manual tasks such as large patient medical record reviews, clinical policy document assessments, and insurance claim adjudication. Clinicians and medical coders across utilization management, payment integrity, special investigations, and appeals can leverage Ask Autodor to complete complex facility claim reviews up to 20x faster than traditional processes.

As generative AI continues to dominate industry discussions this year, industry experts and economists expect significant monetary implications for various sectors. In healthcare, where the U.S. spends over $4 trillion annually, Alaffia Health’s AI solutions are expected to play a crucial role in cost reduction. “The advent of advanced, multimodal, AI systems represents the breakthrough we all needed to finally bend the healthcare cost curve,” said TJ Ademiluyi, co-founder and CEO of Alaffia Health. “We’re pioneering the adoption of these new AI tools across the ecosystem and are excited to partner with FirstMark to achieve our next set of milestones.”

This round of funding reaffirms Alaffia’s commitment to innovation and its vision for a more efficient healthcare system—one that eliminates unnecessary costs and improves outcomes for patients. “Alaffia is transforming the healthcare industry with new AI tools, and we at FirstMark are immensely proud to support their journey,” said Amish Jani, co-founder of FirstMark. “Their innovative use of large language models is not just enhancing claims operations—it’s reshaping the healthcare landscape for providers, payers, and patients alike. We are confident their innovative approach will establish new industry standards, significantly curbing wasteful spending and benefiting the entire ecosystem.”

About Alaffia Health

Alaffia Health is a leading AI company that helps health insurance plans streamline their operations and reduce claim spending. The company offers Autodor, its integrated claims platform, to revolutionize the way that clinicians and medical coders across utilization management, payment integrity, special investigations, and appeals review health insurance claims. Alaffia Health has been featured on Forbes, TechCrunch, Business Insider and Becker’s Hospital Review. For more information, visit www.alaffiahealth.com.

About FirstMark Capital

FirstMark is an early-stage venture capital firm based in New York City. Our mission is to partner with entrepreneurs who are focused on solving meaningful problems. We have built an engaged community among the teams in our network to spread ideas and opportunities. We are privileged to work alongside the founders of businesses like Pinterest, Shopify, Airbnb, Discord, Ro, Justworks, and Gravie. Visit us in New York City or online at www.firstmark.com and @FirstMarkCap on Twitter/X.

SOURCE Alaffia Health

The Female-Founded Brand Secures $4M in Seed Funding and Announces Retail Launch with Erewhon

NEW YORK, April 24, 2024 — KEY, an all-natural energy drink harnessing the power of ketones, launches today to modernize the $62B energy drink market. Co-Founded by two trailblazing executives from rival beverage companies, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, Karishma Thawani and Tekla Back, KEY offers a clean alternative without the sugar shock or caffeine jitters that give energy drinks a bad rap.

Simultaneously, KEY announces the oversubscribed close of a $4M seed round led by AgFunder, one of the world’s most active foodtech and agtech investment funds. With additional backing from Alethia, the leading beverage VC and AgFunder SIJ Impact Fund, the round will support strategic retail distribution, inventory and marketing efforts.

“As a former PepsiCo exec, I swore I’d never launch a beverage, as I know how tough it is to start and scale a brand. However, when I discovered the benefits of ketones, I became determined to make them accessible for all,” says Co-Founder Tekla Back.

Co-Founder Karishma Thawani adds, “The first time I tried ketones, I was blown away by the long-lasting energy, the euphoric feeling and the mental focus I felt. I cannot wait for everyone to experience KEY to tap into their full potential.”

In an industry saturated with sugar-laden, artificial stimulant sips, KEY is unlocking an alternative source of genuine energy from ketones. The ketones in each beverage deliver long-lasting smooth energy, instead of a sugar spike followed by a crash. Ketones also provide dose-dependent advantages such as improved cognitive benefits, appetite suppression, metabolic health and enhanced recovery. Additionally, unlike the synthetic ketones found in supplements today, KEY uses pure active natural ketones made using fermentation.

KEY’s debut collection features the following flavors with all-natural ingredients:

• Pineapple Passionfruit ($3.75) –  Rejuvenate with tropical pineapple and ripe passionfruit
• Grapefruit Peach ($3.75) –  revitalize with refreshing grapefruit and juicy peach
• Ginger Lime ($3.75) –  invigorate with spicy ginger and citrusy lime

Manuel Gonzalez, general partner at AgFunder, said: “I was an investment banker for many years. We survived day in and day out with caffeine and energy drinks, boxes, and boxes of them. Every time, I thought, well, this is not good for me, but let’s have it. When I saw KEY, I thought, this is not possible, all-natural, no sugar, no caffeine… how can this be? Well, it so happens that ketones activate our own body’s ability to make energy. Ketones and green tea are my new mantra. But more than anything, Tekla and Karishma are the embodiment of founder market fit. Every time I talk to them, I like this company better, and every time I drink a KEY, I feel the long-lasting energy, and when I read the simplicity of the label, I see a great company in the making.”

In addition to launching direct-to-consumer and on Amazon, KEY will roll out their first line of beverages at select, curated retailers including celebrity-favorite Southern California health grocer Erewhon and targeted high-traffic retailers across Manhattan, Brooklyn and Hamptons. With over 25 years of combined experience in the food & beverage industry, Co-Founders Thawani and Back, are combining old school retail and online community building to scale fast, balancing brand building and distribution.

About KEY
KEY is a first-of-its-kind, clean all-natural energy drink, providing long-lasting energy by unlocking a new energy source: ketones, made using fermentation. Thawani and Back, experienced beverage industry innovators, combined the functionality of ketones with the enjoyment of energy drinks, to create a first-of-its-kind beverage category. Rooted in the belief that humans possess untapped potential, KEY’s mission is to help people unlock this natural energy.

KEY’s offerings can be found at select retailers across California and NYC and on drinkkey.com

PR Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE KEY