Series B funding will propel product innovation and market expansion to benefit hospitals and health systems.

NEW YORK, May 14, 2024 — SmarterDx, the leader in clinical AI for revenue integrity and care quality, today announced it has secured $50 million in Series B funding led by Transformation Capital. The round also includes continued investments from Bessemer Venture Partners, Flare Capital Partners and Floodgate Fund, bringing total funding to $71 million to date. The investment will drive product innovation that will create additional value for health systems, as well as support scale as the company expands.

SmarterDx, which raised seed funding in 2022, leverages clinical AI that uniquely understands clinical reasoning and provides complete auditability to enable health systems to close their revenue integrity gap. Small errors or omissions in clinical documentation can lead to missed, rejected or underpaid claims. SmarterDx remedies this by providing second-level reviews of every patient chart, enabling hospitals and health systems to safeguard millions in revenue leakage and ensure that care quality is accurately represented.

“SmarterDx transforms clinical data into insights that are fully attributable and actionable. This has distinguished our product in a healthcare landscape where many AI solutions have been built on hype, have poorly defined value and focus on replacing people,” said Dr. Michael Gao, co-founder and CEO of SmarterDx. “Our focus has always been empowering clinical documentation integrity and coding teams to capture a more accurate, more complete patient picture and enabling providers to focus on patient care rather than paperwork.”

With this investment, SmarterDx will add new clinical and financial data integrations and continue to refine its proprietary algorithms that identify new revenue and quality opportunities for customers. SmarterDx finds an average of $2 million in net new annual revenue per 10,000 patient discharges for its clients, which include some of the largest hospitals and health systems across the U.S. With a 100% client retention rate, a 5:1 ROI, and a KLAS client satisfaction score of 98, SmarterDx has quickly established itself as a leader in the healthcare revenue cycle solutions market.

“We pursued a partnership with SmarterDx after hearing the profoundly positive feedback from the market,” said Todd Cozzens, managing partner, Transformation Capital. “After spending time with the leadership team, we knew we wanted to be part of their story. Not only does this company have a solution that solves a complex problem that healthcare has long grappled with, but they are just getting started. There’s much more that their clinical AI can achieve. We believe that revenue cycle management is the next big health tech category as modern AI is ideal for understanding and automating the labyrinthic reimbursement and payment regime of our $4.5 trillion annual healthcare spend.”

About Transformation Capital
Transformation Capital is the largest growth equity firm 100% dedicated to investing in and helping grow digital health companies. The firm was founded on the premise that investing in healthcare requires both a sophisticated understanding of the healthcare system, including the prevailing market forces, inherent structural inefficiencies and resulting opportunities, as well as deep connections with decision makers across key providers, payers, employers, governments, digital health innovators and healthcare consumers. Transformation Capital has partnered with category defining digital health companies across the ecosystem, including Datavant, Memora Health, CodaMetrix, Dexcare, Capital Rx, Sword, Grow Therapy, and Parachute Health.

About SmarterDx
SmarterDx is the clinical AI company that discovers, delivers and drives better quality, revenue and care. We use AI to understand each patient’s clinical journey, helping hospitals tell the most accurate and complete story to close their revenue integrity “differential” gap. The ability to implement in weeks, ingest more than 30,000 data points per chart, and deliver a risk-free ROI makes SmarterDx the ultimate hospital revenue integrity partner. For more information, please visit smarterdx.com.

CONTACT:
Kim Mohr
Amendola Communications for SmarterDx
[email protected]
949-322-3733

SOURCE SmarterDx

NAPA COUNTY, Calif., May 14, 2024 — Lumo, a connected irrigation company that helps growers save time, money, and water with patented smart-valve technology, has raised a $7 million funding round from Active Impact Investments and Fall Line Capital.

The funding will enable Lumo to continue investing in product research and development, and rapid go-to-market expansion, bringing truly accountable technology to every element of irrigation operations and delivering on Lumo’s mission to help protect the future of farming. Dozens of world renowned growers in Napa, Sonoma, and the Central Coast are already using Lumo One smart valves to automate their irrigation, monitor flow rates remotely, and gain better visibility into the performance of their irrigation systems.

“As labor costs continue to rise, groundwater regulations continue to pass, and the impacts of climate change continue to be felt, time is of the essence,” said Devon Wright, Lumo’s CEO. “Growers need to move quickly to take tighter control of their water management practices, irrigate with greater precision, get ahead of regulations, and eliminate waste from their operations. Our future food and water security depends on upgrading our irrigation infrastructure and improving our water stewardship as soon as we possibly can.”

Active Impact, Canada’s largest climate tech seed fund, was a natural fit for Lumo given their dedication to building climate resiliency and sustainability into our food and water systems, catalyzing change, and solving the most urgent environmental issues facing humanity today.

“Acute water stress affects half the world’s population and is accelerating with climate change. Lumo addresses the shockingly high amount of inefficiency in agricultural irrigation, which is the largest use of our world’s water today,” said Mike Winterfield, Founder and Managing Partner at Active Impact, who will also be joining Lumo’s Board of Directors. “With fast-paced customer adoption, an impressive founding team, and a truly differentiated solution, Lumo is well-positioned to become a market leader in irrigation automation and, in time, the world’s largest system of record for water use data.”

As growers continue to contend with cost pressures and softening revenue, the need for a reliable and trustworthy way to automate irrigations has never been greater. The growers who make technological investments to contain costs and protect their revenue today, will be best positioned to profit tomorrow.

“While automated irrigation is well adopted in row crops, we have not observed that trend in specialty crops due to the unique management needs and the importance of reliability,” said Libby Spalding, Vice President at Fall Line Capital. “Lumo’s system leverages advances in fluid dynamics and connectivity that enables automation in specialty crops. Irrigation management will be key to optimizing production and adapting to volatility of water availability.”

As Lumo expands both their product offering and geographic footprint, they will continue their relentless focus on providing farmers with world class support both online and in the field. “That wouldn’t be possible without incredible venture capital partners like Active Impact and Fall Line Capital,” added Wright.

For more information on Lumo’s smart valve technology and how it’s helping growers save time, money, and water, visit https://lumo.ag/

Media Inquiries
Bennett Fitzgibbon
VP of Marketing, Lumo
[email protected]

About Lumo
Lumo is a smart irrigation company that supports growers and tackles water challenges head on using the most advanced water technology available today. The Lumo One smart valve allows growers to precisely control and measure how much water is applied to their crops at all times, reducing labor costs, excess water usage and eliminating irrigation guesswork. We’re proud of what we’ve built at Lumo and the prestigious growers who have become our friends and customers. Our team takes great pride in working to help growers conserve their most precious resources – time, money and water. Learn more by visiting lumo.ag.

SOURCE Lumo

SAN FRANCISCO and WAKE FOREST, N.C., May 14, 2024 — Virgo Investment Group (“Virgo”) today announced portfolio company Zippy Shell Incorporated (“Zippy Shell”), one of the largest containerized moving and storage companies in the US, completed a $525 million refinancing. Global investment firm Carlyle (NASDAQ: CG) invested $180 million in the form of preferred equity alongside a new first lien debt facility led by JPMorgan Chase of $345 million. This new investment will provide Zippy Shell with capital to refinance its existing debt and fund strategic growth initiatives, including continued network and fleet expansion, as well as strategic real estate acquisitions.

Zippy Shell provides an alternative to traditional temporary storage and moving options by delivering containers that are dropped off directly at a customer’s location, filled with their belongings on their schedule and then stored at a drop-off site and/or at a company location, or moved to the destination for unloading by the consumer. Zippy Shell has seen steady growth in demand for its services, in particular long-distance moves, and local storage, since its combination with 1-800-PACK-RAT in 2018.

Mark Kuhns, Zippy Shell’s Chief Executive Officer, said, “Our partnership with Carlyle over the last several years has enabled our company to successfully scale and reach new customers. We’re excited to partner with Carlyle once again given their reliability and creativity in helping Zippy Shell achieve its goals. Additionally, we are delighted to be working with JPMorgan Chase to ensure we have the proper debt structure to accomplish our long-term goals. We are thankful to Virgo and its LPs for their continued commitment which has helped lay the groundwork for everything.”

Gareth Taylor, Zippy Shell’s President, and Chief Strategy Officer, said, “This investment comes at a great time for Zippy Shell. We have experienced steady growth rates over the past ten years as demand for containerized moving and storage services has accelerated. This capital will ensure our continued storage facility network and national moving program expansion while continuing to provide great service that our customers have come to expect from us.”

Jesse Watson, Virgo Founder and Zippy Shell Chairman, said, “Since founding Virgo in 2009, we have focused on helping management teams to build and transform their businesses. Zippy Shell continues to outperform, and we are excited about Carlyle’s continued interest and support, which will help the company realize its growth goals. I also want to thank the Virgo LPs for their continued partnership as we help to transform Zippy Shell’s business model into the industry leader.”

About Zippy Shell
Zippy Shell is one of the fastest-growing moving and storage companies in the U.S. With locations across the United States, Zippy Shell provides a complete suite of services from self-pack, and storage, to cross-country moving. In 2018 Zippy Shell acquired 1-800-PACK-RAT, a leader in moving and storage solutions headquartered in Wake Forest, NC. Zippy Shell is made up of a strong team and board members who have established themselves as leaders in the moving and storage industries. For more information, visit www.zippyshell.com or www.1800packrat.com.

About Virgo Investment Group 
Founded in 2009, Virgo is a private investment firm based in the San Francisco Bay Area that has an established track record of building and transforming businesses. Virgo seeks to identify and grow unique business models into differentiated and profitable industry leading companies. Virgo focuses on two distinct strategies – creating, building, and scaling asset-based/credit businesses, and executing transformative growth equity investments in Founder-led or Family-owned companies. The Firm has raised over $2.0 billion and completed 65 investments to date. For more information, please visit www.virgo-llc.com.

SOURCE Zippy Shell Incorporated

SYDNEY and JERSEY CITY, N..J., May 14, 2024 — Data Zoo, a leading provider of global identity verification solutions, today announced approximately $22.7M (AU$35M) in Series A funding from Ellerston JAADE, an Ellerston Capital fund. The raise will help Data Zoo drive adoption and innovation of its identity verification software, which provides direct access to authoritative data from over 170 countries; features advanced data sequencing to improve efficiency and maximize conversions; and prioritizes data protection and privacy by eliminating identity data storage.

Data Zoo outperforms in improving customer approval rates and revenue realization through its access to global data and logic-driven data source sequencing, which automatically verifies or retries identities against the next best source, reducing dropout rates and lowering the total cost of ownership.

Data Zoo’s vision is to provide a global, efficient, secure alternative to legacy solutions while enhancing KYC/KYB compliance and fraud prevention. As part of the raise, Data Zoo – which is trusted by leading financial institutions, payment providers, and fintechs – plans to continue to expand its operations globally.

“There’s been a long-standing need for a more efficient and secure way to verify identities. Data Zoo has spent years refining its solution – the result has been incredible innovation, UX optimization, and growth in a fiercely competitive market, putting us head-to-head with today’s most established identity providers,” said Tony Fitzgibbon, founder and Chairman of Data Zoo. “Ellerston JAADE spotted an opportunity in Data Zoo’s proven ability to help global firms verify consumer and business identities, reduce fraud, and meet global compliance standards.”

The raise follows the recent appointment of former London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) executive Charlie Minutella as Chief Executive Officer in February 2024.

“Data Zoo is well-positioned to expand its footprint because of its patented ability to efficiently onboard a more diverse and global set of customers, meet compliance standards across jurisdictions, and enhance data privacy and protection,” said Charlie Minutella, Chief Executive Officer at Data Zoo. “The investment from Ellerston JAADE will supercharge our capacity to operate in key markets, attract new business, and enter new strategic partnerships.”

Data Zoo’s fundraise sits within Ellerston JAADE which invests across a number of high-growth Australian-based companies, such as Mable, Camms, and Phocas. The fundraise represents Data Zoo’s first outside investment.

“Data Zoo’s innovative platform and success in expanding its operations internationally, especially into challenging markets like North America, were key factors in our decision to invest,” said David Leslie, Investment Director at Ellerston JAADE. “Data Zoo’s impressive growth, solidifying itself as a trusted identity provider against well-established competitors – all without prior funding – is no small feat. We are pleased to support them as they continue to scale in the identity verification industry.”

About Data Zoo

Data Zoo provides identity verification solutions that enable financial institutions, payment platforms and fintechs to confidently verify consumers and business identities in over 170 countries using a diverse set of authoritative data sources. Data Zoo’s direct access to international data sources and advanced data sequencing presents companies with a global, efficient, and secure alternative to KYC/KYB verification and compliance.

Leading global financial institutions, payment providers, and fintechs, trust Data Zoo to verify millions of customers while minimizing fraud and risk. Headquartered in Sydney, Australia, Data Zoo has offices in Amsterdam, New Jersey, New Zealand, the Philippines, and Singapore.

For more information, visit: www.datazoo.com

About Ellerston JAADE

Ellerston JAADE is a first mover when it comes to offering Private Equity (PE) to the broader market of individual Australian investors. The Ellerston JAADE Australian Private Assets Fund (now a A$400m vehicle) was established five years ago and is an open-ended investment structure available direct to retail investors and across a number of investment platforms. Unlike many of the comparable PE strategies available to individual investors, the Fund is focused on direct investments in Australian growth companies; as compared to global funds which are more commonly available via fund-of-funds structures or highly diversified across global assets. The Fund is a concentrated portfolio with 8 current investments including Mable, Phocas and Nitro. Since inception (in December 2018), the Fund has delivered annualised returns of 16%.

https://ellerstoncapital.com/ 

SOURCE Data Zoo

Investment from Silicon Valley Bank and Hercules Capital Will Further Accelerate Platform Innovation

SAN FRANCISCO, May 14, 2024 — Harness, the Modern Software Delivery Platform® company, today announced $150 million in financing from Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a division of First Citizens Bank, and Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE: HTGC). The investment will be used strategically to support the expansion of the Harness platform, including the addition of new modules, further integrating generative AI into the platform, and additional investments in the company’s go-to-market engine.

“At Harness, we’re building the next generation of intelligent tools and automation to supercharge developer productivity and reduce developer toil,” said Jyoti Bansal, CEO and co-founder of Harness. “This funding enables our company to continue innovating at a record pace, transforming the software delivery lifecycle for today’s modern enterprises. Every year, developers waste more than $1 trillion by spending 40%+ of their time working on mundane, non-code-producing work. Our platform empowers software teams to achieve excellence in velocity, quality, efficiency, and governance.”

This investment comes on the heels of a groundbreaking FY2024, which included expanding our executive team with top-tier talent, achieving strong revenue growth, and significantly enhancing our platform. Key milestones include:

• Experienced rapid Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) growth, going from $1M to more than $100M over the past five years.
• Customers executed more than 44 million code deployments with the Harness platform in 2023, more than double the number of deployments completed in 2022.
• Broadened and evolved product offerings by adding 2,800+ new features and enhancements across the Harness platform.
• Introduced AIDA^TM, a new generative AI assistant integrated directly into all aspects of the Software Delivery Lifecycle.
• Launched four new product modules: Code Repository, Internal Developer Portal, Infrastructure as Code Management, and Software Supply Chain Assurance. These new modules join the existing eight offerings to deliver a powerful, seamlessly integrated software delivery platform. Each module is a best-in-class offering that can be tailored to an organization’s specific use case and business needs.
• Added new enterprise customers, including Nike, NetApp, MorningStar, and Icelandair.
• Welcomed Carlos Delatorre as Chief Revenue Officer and Gleb Brichko as SVP of Marketing.

“With this latest financing, Harness can further strengthen and expand its market-leading end-to-end software delivery platform,” said Robert Parker, a Bay Area-based Director covering Enterprise Software with SVB’s Corporate Technology Banking group. “SVB is thrilled to continue our longstanding relationship with Harness, a prominent Forbes Cloud 100 company.”

“We are proud to begin our partnership with Harness in collaboration with SVB. Our flexible financing solution will support the Harness team as they continue to innovate and transform the software development industry,” said Steve Kuo, Senior Managing Director and Group Head of Technology at Hercules Capital.

About Harness
Harness is the leading end-to-end platform for complete software delivery. It provides a simple, safe, and secure way for engineering and DevOps teams to release applications into production. Harness uses AI and machine learning to monitor the quality of deployments and automatically roll back failed ones, saving time and reducing the need for custom scripting and manual oversight, giving engineers their nights and weekends back. Harness customers accelerate deployments by up to 75%, reduce infrastructure costs by up to 60%, and decrease lead time for changes by up to 90%. Harness is based in San Francisco.

Please visit www.harness.io to learn more.

About Silicon Valley Bank
SVB’s Technology Corporate Banking Division works with some of the most innovative public and late-stage private companies in the U.S. technology sector, providing a full suite of lending and banking solutions, as well as guidance as an active and trusted partner helping clients succeed and quickly scale. SVB is proud to serve over two-thirds of the companies currently listed on the Forbes 2023 Cloud 100 list.

Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a division of First Citizens Bank, is the bank of some of the world’s most innovative companies and investors. SVB provides commercial and private banking to individuals and companies in the technology, life science, healthcare, private equity, venture capital, and premium wine industries. SVB operates in centers of innovation throughout the United States, serving the unique needs of its dynamic clients with deep sector expertise, insights, and connections. SVB’s parent company, First Citizens BancShares, Inc. (NASDAQ: FCNCA), is a top 20 U.S. financial institution with more than $200 billion in assets. First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company, Member FDIC. Learn more at svb.com

About Hercules Capital, Inc.
Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE: HTGC) is the leading and largest specialty finance company focused on providing senior secured venture growth loans to high-growth, innovative venture capital-backed companies in a broad variety of technology, life sciences, and sustainable and renewable technology industries. Since inception (December 2003), Hercules has committed over $20 billion to over 650 companies and is the lender of choice for entrepreneurs and venture capital firms seeking growth capital financing. Companies interested in learning more about financing opportunities should contact [email protected], or call 650.289.3060.

Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE Harness

SINGAPORE, May 14, 2024 — Allozymes, a leading innovator in enzyme discovery and engineering, today announced the closing of a $15 million Series A funding round led by Seventure Partners of France and Xora Innovation of Singapore. This significant investment underscores the growing recognition of Allozymes’ transformative potential, accelerates its expansion into Europe, and forges strategic partnerships within the food and chemical industries while paving the way for new partnerships in the pharmaceutical and life science industry. Additionally, the funding will fuel the development of the industry’s most comprehensive enzyme data library for future enzyme discovery endeavors.

New investors include NUS Technology Holdings and Thia Ventures, while SOSV, and Entrepreneur First, continued their investment in the company in this round of funding. NUS Technology Holding is the investment arm of the National University of Singapore where Allozymes’ founders graduated with a Ph.D. and the company’s technology was seeded during Akbar Vahid’s postdoctoral research.

“We are thrilled to have secured this funding from a distinguished group of investors who share our vision for the transformative potential of enzymes,” said Peyman Salehian, CEO and co-founder of Allozymes. “This investment is a testament to our progress in developing a truly unique and powerful enzyme engineering platform. We are committed to unlocking the full potential of enzymes for a more sustainable and efficient future.”

Allozymes’ core technology lies in its proprietary microfluidic platform, which boasts the industry’s fastest enzyme screening capability, analyzing over 20 million variants per day. This translates to a 200x higher chance of success in developing custom enzymes with precise properties for specific industrial applications.

Beyond ultra-high-throughput screening, Allozymes differentiates itself through its advanced enzyme sorting and detection capabilities. This allows the company to not only identify promising enzyme candidates but also precisely match them to specific industrial needs, addressing a critical bottleneck in traditional enzyme discovery methods. Seventure Partners highlighted this unique strength as a key factor in their investment decision.

Other areas the $15 million will be deployed in are:

Global Expansion: Establishing a presence in key regions to address the diverse needs of industries worldwide.

Platform advancement: Building in-house strain engineering, bioprocess, and downstream processing capabilities to enable end-to-end development of new enzymes and strains.

Vertical Expansion Co-development: Utilizing Allozymes platform enzyme engineering to develop robust biosolutions for partners in the pharmaceutical and life science industry, enabling innovative products like sugar alternatives, sustainable production of high-value ingredients, bioremediation, and biosecurity.

The Series A funding will further empower Allozymes’ development of the industry’s most comprehensive enzyme data library. Powerful AI/ML algorithms will leverage this data to enable the prediction and generation of novel, robust biocatalytic solutions for various industries.

Akbar Vahidi, CTO of Allozymes, added: “Our platform represents a significant step forward in democratizing access to powerful enzymatic solutions. By providing a centralized platform for enzyme discovery and engineering, we aim to empower researchers and companies of all sizes to harness the potential of enzymes and accelerate innovation across various industries.”

With this strategic investment and a dedicated team, Allozymes is poised to become a global leader in enzyme innovation. The company’s groundbreaking technology offers a path toward a greener and more resource-conscious future by enabling sustainable and efficient industrial processes across diverse sectors.

About Allozymes

Allozymes is a fast-growing biotechnology company that applies its proprietary ultra-high-throughput platform technology to rapidly develop novel enzymes and unlock the bioeconomy across diverse sectors. Leveraging this ultra-high screening power, Allozymes aims to build the largest enzyme data library in the world to address the current and future needs of building robust biosolutions.

For more information, please visit Allozymes’ website and also follow Allozymes on LinkedIn and X.

Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2411973/Series_A_Press_Release_Lead_Image.jpg

The Fellowship helps educate the next generation of diverse institutional grade asset managers in Venture Capital, Private Equity, and Impact Investing.

SAN FRANCISCO, May 13, 2024 — VC Include (VCI), an organization committed to evolving the traditional investment industry by creating an inclusive ecosystem of LPs and GPs from diverse backgrounds, today announced the cohort for this year’s Fellowship for Impact Fund I Managers.

The 2024 cohort includes a diverse group of fund managers that is 50/50 women and men further demonstrating VC Include’s commitment to support and empower a broad array of firms seeking to raise capital. Thirteen venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) funds were selected for VCI’s 2024 Fellowship cohort. These funds represent a total of eighteen emerging fund managers that will join the 10-week education and mentoring program. The Fellowship was designed for historically underrepresented fund managers based in the United States who are raising their first fund. The VCI Fellowship is made possible with the generous support of the Blue Haven Initiative, Cadence Giving Foundation, Lowenstein Sandler, MacArthur Foundation, Marguerite Casey Foundation, Nasdaq Foundation, Pivotal Ventures, Skoll Foundation, and the Visa Foundation. 

The 2024 VCI Fellows include: * This fund manager is currently in stealth mode.

Fund GPs

• Alejandro Muñoz Mendieta, Andy Vargas Hernandez, No Border Ventures-Fund 1
• Cvic Innocent, Frankenbuild Ventures
• Douglas Watson, Measured Capital
• Ernest Kabuye, Seven Capital
• Jason Miles, Amenti Connected Mobility Fund I
• Jeff Chu, Jenny Barba, Features Capital Fund I I
• Keith Daniel, Resilient Ventures
• Lorine Pendleton, 125 Ventures Fund I
• Mahrinah Shije, Fawn Sharp Endemic Venture Capital
• Patricia Funegra, Moon Dancer Fund
• Sonam Velani, Laura Fox, Streetlife Ventures
• Veronica Juarez, Dahlia VC
• Project M* 

“I’m thrilled to welcome VCI’s fourth cohort, marking my first since taking on the role of Executive Director in December 2023,” expressed Milton Speid. “Last year, venture capital funding plummeted to $248.4B, the lowest since 2017, with less than 0.5% allocated to Black founders and less than 2% to women-founded startups. Additionally, LPs are favoring established fund managers over new ones. Despite these challenges, there’s immense opportunity for change. With VCI’s education and support for emerging managers, we can unlock untapped potential and work towards a brighter, more inclusive future for all.”

“One of the values at the heart of the work of VCI is that while talent is universal, opportunity is not,” shared Liz Diebold, Managing Director of Portfolio and Investments at the Skoll Foundation. “The structural barriers to opportunity for many prevent both collective and individual benefits from finding life and generating impact for the greater good. VCI supports its Fellows – who, while brilliant, have generally been underserved and overlooked by traditional capital markets – to accelerate innovative and profitable ventures that reduce inequities and drive economic growth. We are honored to partner with VCI and the broader ecosystem to uplift innovative solutions from emerging founders.”

To get the latest news on VCI and its dynamic programs, fund managers with diverse teams, as well as investment professionals interested in diversity and inclusion please visit the VCI website and join the mailing list here.

ABOUT VC Include
The VC Include platform launched in 2018 to accelerate investment into historically underrepresented emerging managers – women, Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and LGBTQ+ – to drive economic growth through the power of diversity. The organization has built the infrastructure for an inclusive economy and is a forerunner in connecting diverse fund managers and founders with environmental, social and governance (ESG) and impact investing.

MEDIA CONTACT:
UFCG for VC Include
[email protected]

SOURCE VC Include

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., May 13, 2024 — Mitra Future Technologies, Inc. (“Mitra Chem”), a pioneering innovator in North American lithium-ion battery materials, today announced an investment from Alpha Wave Ventures as part of the company’s Series B funding round. As part of the investment, Elan Frantz has joined the company’s Board of Directors. Alpha Wave joins other distinguished investors in this round, such as General Motors, Zeon, InQTel, Techmet-Mercuria, and GS Futures.

 Rick Gerson, Co-Founder and Chairman of Alpha Wave Global, is enthusiastic about the potential of this partnership, stating, “Mitra Chem’s has an innovative approach and commitment to scaling new lithium-ion battery chemistries. We believe in Mitra Chem’s potential to drive significant change in the battery materials industry, and are excited to support their continued growth.”

Alpha Wave joins Mitra Chem amidst several breakthroughs, with Mitra Chem recently announcing its successful synthesis of multi-ton Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) cathode powder samples that meet industry-leading electric vehicle (EV) specifications. Mitra Chem aims to achieve mass production of their iron-rich cathodes by 2026, paving the way for widespread adoption of next-generation, IRA-compliant battery technologies.

“We are thrilled to partner with Alpha Wave  and to welcome Elan to our Board,” said Vivas Kumar, CEO and Co-Founder of Mitra Chem. “The time for battery supply chain innovation in the U.S. is now because of groundbreaking government policies such as the IRA and BIL. Coupling these policies with private capital investors to accelerate the speed to scale is what will define the winners in the industry, and we’re glad that Alpha Wave chose to partner with us.”

“Mitra Chem has the right approach at the right time, and I am incredibly excited to join their Board,” said Elan Frantz. “They’ve proven themselves as great operators in the space and I’m really looking forward to partnering with their management team. Together we’re going to continue to pave the way for battery materials innovation in the battery industry.”

About Alpha Wave Global:

Alpha Wave is a global investment company that focuses on three main verticals: private equity, private credit, and public markets. It is led by Rick Gerson, Navroz Udwadia, and Ryan Khoury. Alpha Wave has offices in New York, Miami, London, Monaco, Madrid, Abu Dhabi, Tel Aviv, Bangalore, and Sydney. Its flagship global venture and growth fund, Alpha Wave Ventures, aims to invest in best-in-class growth-stage companies and endeavors to be helpful long-term partners to the founders and management teams. For more information, please visit www.alphawaveglobal.com.

For media inquiries, please contact:
Jonathan Gasthalter – [email protected] 

About Mitra Chem

Mitra Chem is building the first U.S. Inflation Reduction Act-compliant lithium-ion battery materials product company that shortens the lab-to-production timeline by over 90%. Lithium-ion batteries are the key platform technology enabling electrification in transportation, consumer electronics, along with residential, commercial, and grid-scale energy storage. Mitra Chem’s first product category is iron-based cathodes for Western battery applications. Mitra Chem takes cathode products from lab to industrial scale faster than the competition by leveraging an in-house artificial intelligence technology advantage to dramatically shorten the R&D timeline. The company’s goal is to transform the cathode from a specialty chemical to a platform technology that differentiates cell performance by end application. In the short term, the company remains focused on scaling IRA-compliant LFP and LMFP cathodes for the growing U.S. market.

For media inquiries, please contact:
[email protected]

SOURCE Mitra Chem

With the addition of two new production facilities in Oregon and Iowa, ByHeart is now positioned to triple its supply capacity to support families nationwide

NEW YORK, May 13, 2024 — ByHeart, the next-generation infant nutrition company, today announced it has secured $95M in additional financing to support the continued US commercial launch and development of its innovation pipeline. To date, ByHeart has raised a total of $395M from investors including D1 Capital Partners, Bellco Capital, Polaris Partners, Two River, OCV Partners, AF Ventures, Red Sea Ventures, Gaingels and more.

The company also announced the completion of its full end-to-end domestic manufacturing chain, with new manufacturing facilities in Portland, OR, and Allerton, IA, enabling the brand to expand production of its breakthrough formula to meet the needs of 15% of the addressable market.

“ByHeart’s foundation was built on a culture of innovation—incorporating clinical trials, highest quality ingredients, advanced nutrition science and a proprietary recipe—from day one,” said Ron Belldegrun, CEO and Co-Founder of ByHeart. “We are committed to doing better for babies and their parents, and that means continued investments into end-to-end manufacturing, scientific advancement and meaningful innovation in an industry that so desperately needed it.”

“Polaris is delighted to continue to support the expansion of ByHeart’s infant-first mission,” said Amy Schulman, ByHeart’s Chair of the Board and Managing Partner at Polaris Partners. “In the long-stagnant infant formula space, ByHeart’s evidence-based approach drives innovation to benefit the health and wellness of babies and families. Our investors and team recognize the responsibility we have to provide the highest standard of nutrition, crafted with scientific precision and the utmost care.”

ByHeart is a three-time Clean Label Project Certified brand and the only new infant formula company to open two new domestic facilities since the national infant formula shortage, helping to proactively fortify the country’s fragile infant nutrition supply chain and mitigate the risk of future formula shortages. While the majority of new U.S. formula brands rely on external parties to complete steps in the production process, ByHeart’s end-to-end manufacturing allows for full control, ensuring all aspects of production are held to the company’s rigorous quality standards.

Utilizing the latest in breast milk science, ByHeart brings babies clinically proven¹ benefits like easier digestion, less spit up, softer poops, more efficient weight gain and enhanced nutrient absorption, and empowers parents to feel confident about their feeding decisions. ByHeart ran the largest clinical trial by a new infant formula brand in 25 years, and was the first to add a comparison to breast milk. ByHeart’s pioneering clinical research has garnered widespread recognition, with its results being published in the esteemed scientific and medical journal, the Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition.

The company is rapidly expanding and most recently launched in Thrive Market, the healthy and sustainable online grocer. Thrive Market carefully selected ByHeart as a partner in its mission to provide families with the top healthy food brands and natural products. ByHeart is the only infant formula to incorporate breakthrough benefits for babies backed by clinical trials while also meeting Thrive Market’s high quality standards. Its presence on the site underscores the grocer’s commitment to supporting brands that prioritize health, sustainability and transparency. By the end of 2024, ByHeart will expand to several additional retailers, making its clean, science-backed recipe easily available to parents everywhere.

In addition to Thrive Market, ByHeart is currently available direct-to-consumer at byheart.com and at Target nationwide in store and online. With a steadfast commitment to gold-standard nutrition, ByHeart proudly brings its formula to more babies across the nation.

For more information, please visit https://byheart.com.

About ByHeart
Founded in 2016 and based in New York City with manufacturing facilities in Pennsylvania, Oregon, and Iowa, ByHeart is an infant nutrition company dedicated to empowering parents with choices for a better feeding future. It is only one of five fully integrated, FDA-registered infant formula brands in the country, and ByHeart facilities are driven by nutritional excellence and a farm-to-formula verified™ quality program. For more information on ByHeart, visit https://byheart.com/.

¹ Compared to a leading infant formula

SOURCE ByHeart