SHANGHAI, May 23, 2024 — Qiming Venture Partners, a global-leading venture capital firm, is pleased to announce the promotion of Alex Zhou to Managing Partner.

As a Qiming home-grown Managing Partner, Alex first joined the firm in 2014 as a Vice President and has since emerged as one of the most active investors in frontier technologies, especially in the field of artificial intelligence. Alex will join fellow Managing Partners Duane Kuang, Nisa Leung and William Hu in managing Qiming’s operations.

In the past few years, Alex has actively participated in or led investments in many outstanding technology companies across the artificial intelligence, robotics, semiconductors, new energy vehicles, and software sectors. Notable among these include Roborock, UBTech, Unisound, Biren Technology, ROX Motor, VIEWTRIX Technology, Zhipu AI, Mech-Mind Robotics, Axera, HyperStrong, DeepWay, etc.

“I am deeply grateful for the guidance and trust I received from Qiming over the past 10 years.” Alex said. “We are at the forefront of a new wave of technological revolution. This era will undoubtedly bring about many bold innovators who will shape the future. Together with all the Managing Partners and colleagues at Qiming, I am excited and fully committed to seize the opportunities, embrace any potential challenges, explore new possibilities and build a better Qiming.”

Since its inception 18 years ago, Qiming has always committed to upgrading its institutional capabilities and team development in order to stay ahead in an ever-evolving technological and market landscape. The success achieved in the fields of healthcare, mobile internet and frontier technology is a testament to this strategic approach. Alex’s promotion to the most senior position in the firm demonstrates Qiming’s continued confidence in the future of technology innovation.

About Qiming Venture Partners

Qiming Venture Partners was founded in 2006. Currently, Qiming Venture Partners manages eleven US Dollar funds and seven RMB funds with $9.5 billion in capital raised. Since our establishment, we have invested in outstanding companies in the Technology and Consumer (T&C) and Healthcare industries at the early and growth stages.

Since our debut, we have backed over 530 fast-growing and innovative companies. Over 200 of our portfolio companies have achieved exits through IPOs at the NYSE, NASDAQ, HKEX, Shanghai Stock Exchange, or Shenzhen Stock Exchange, or through M&A or other means. There are also over 70 portfolio companies that have achieved unicorn or super unicorn status.

Many of our portfolio companies are today’s most influential firms in their respective sectors, including Xiaomi, Meituan, Bilibili, Zhihu, Roborock, Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals, Tigermed, Zai Lab, CanSino Biologics, Schrödinger, APT Medical, New Horizon Health, Sanyou Medical, AmoyDx, Berry Genomics, SinocellTech, UBTech, Yuanxin Technology, Caidya, Belief BioMed, WeRide, among many others.

The Investment Anchors $50 Million VVC Veterans Fund II

TYSONS, Va., May 22, 2024 — Veteran Ventures Capital (VVC) has secured a significant $10 million institutional investment from the Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation (VIPC). This investment fuels VVC’s Veterans Fund II, anchoring a first closing towards the Fund’s $50 million target. Veteran Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm, invests its capital alongside its partners’ contributions of expertise, network, and energy in support of veteran-led businesses developing innovative dual-use national security technologies. Virginia’s investment into Veteran Ventures Capital is specifically targeted at improving access to capital for veteran-led companies within the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Virginia offers a terrific ecosystem for technology and entrepreneurship. With access to top-tier veteran talent, proximity to government agencies, a strong network of tech-transfer initiatives and other strategic partnerships, and a dynamic business environment, Virginia provides a powerful ecosystem to support veteran entrepreneurs building national security-aligned technology companies. Governor Youngkin has often said he wants Virginia to be the best state for military families, veterans, and retirees to live, work and raise a family. Veteran Ventures Capital also aspires to add to that list the best state for veterans to found and build a business.  Veterans account for over 10% of the adult population in the state, making Virginia one of the highest concentrations of veterans in the U.S. Further, according to U.S. Small Business Administration data, there are nearly 75,000 veteran owned small business in Virginia.

“We are thrilled to announce Virginia’s investment in our second fund, marking a significant leap forward in our mission to empower veteran entrepreneurs and accelerate technological innovation and national security capabilities,” stated Derren Burrell, Founder and Managing Partner of Veteran Ventures Capital. “This achievement provides further evidence of the confidence and support our investors place in Veteran Ventures’ vision, the exceptional potential of veteran business leaders, and the firm’s investment track record in our first fund.”

“VIPC is excited to partner with Veteran Ventures Capital to catalyze and leverage significant private investment into Virginia’s veteran-led startups and entrepreneurs. We welcome VVC’s new HQ move into Virginia and look forward to VVC’s engagement with veteran communities throughout the commonwealth,” said Joe Benevento, President and CEO of VIPC. The investment is part of a $175 million ten-year program administered by VIPC with funds provided by the U.S. Treasury State Small Business Credit Initiative.

As the largest defense budget in history unfolds and global tensions escalate, institutional investors are showing unprecedented interest in aerospace and defense technology funds. The principals at Veteran Ventures Capital lead at the forefront of this dynamic technology and investment landscape. What distinguishes the team is their collective experience earned over decades operating start-ups and large companies in or around the national security landscape. The firm is uniquely positioned to navigate the complexities of this evolving sector. Notably, their Fund I portfolio companies have secured over $130 million in non-dilutive government funding to date, magnifying the impact of their deployed investor capital and helping to further fund their early-stage companies.

Building upon the momentum of their recently announced relocation to the firm’s new headquarters in Tysons, Virginia, Veteran Ventures Capital is well positioned for further expansion and investment. This move solidifies their commitment to actively contribute to defense industry modernization and to fund veteran leaders and entrepreneurs in the heart of the national security technology sector.

Since its inception in 2019, Veteran Ventures Capital has demonstrated a commitment to empowering veteran leaders and entrepreneurs nationwide. The firm’s dual-use national security technology focus leads them to invest in the most promising space, autonomy and robotics, advanced materials science, cyber security, quantum tech, artificial intelligence, and machine-learning technology companies in the nation. The team continues to leverage its extensive national security industry experience to shape the leading veteran-led technology companies of the future.

As Veteran Ventures Capital raises its second fund finalizing its first close this month, they remain dedicated to delivering exceptional value to investors while championing the transformative potential of veteran leadership in innovative national security technology companies.

About Veteran Ventures Capital:

Veteran Ventures Capital is a veteran-owned growth-equity investment firm empowering veteran entrepreneurs and leaders working at the nexus of national security and commercial technology. Their team invests exclusively in companies that have military veteran leadership; recognizing their military experience, training, and unwavering character translates into exceptional business acumen and superior risk-adjusted returns for investors.

Founded in 2019, Veteran Ventures Capital is now headquartered in Tysons, Virginia, and remains committed to empowering veteran entrepreneurs nationwide and leveraging the team’s extraordinary national security industry experience to shape the leading veteran-led commercial tech companies of the future. Veteran Ventures Capital is now actively raising its second fund with a target of $50 million.

For media inquiries, please contact:
Craig Jaques
Principal, Veteran Ventures Capital
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (808) 639-5300

SOURCE Veteran Ventures Capital

TORONTO, May 22, 2024 — Sinn Studio Inc., a renowned XR studio is thrilled to announce the successful closure of a $2.5 million funding round. This investment propels the studio into the development of the world’s first real-time Player vs Player (PvP) VR combat game, leveraging groundbreaking spatial computing technologies.

Fueled by a distinguished group of investors led by Hartmann Capital, with contributions from Boost VC, Republic, Alumni Ventures, Mana Ventures, MetaVision, and a number of industry angels such as Chris Ye of Uken Games, Sinn Studio is set to revolutionize the multiplayer combat genre.

The forthcoming free-to-play title is driven by Sinn Studio’s proprietary “Combat Engine” and is supported by the innovative “Large Intent Model” (LIM), a neural network specially designed to discern and learn from the intricate subtleties of human motion during combat. This development marks a significant leap forward, solving some of the industry’s most complex challenges in spatial computing.

Alek Sinn, Co-Founder & CEO of Sinn Studio Inc., expressed his enthusiasm and gratitude: “We spent seven years surviving the ups and downs of VR as a bootstrapped company, waiting for that industry-defining moment, and the right partners to commit to our first fundraise. Today, we’re incredibly grateful to Hartmann Capital and everyone else who joined our seed round for their belief in our mission to redefine the future of combat in this exciting new era of spatial computing. The technology we’re building will power incredible first-party combat experiences, and one day, our favourite IPs.”

Felix Hartmann, Managing Partner of Hartmann Capital, who has joined the Sinn Studio Board, shares the team’s vision, “Virtual Reality transforms experiences beyond the capabilities of traditional 2D screens. Combat, both a fundamental aspect of human competition and one of its oldest sports, is poised for a groundbreaking evolution in VR. Sinn Studio is at the forefront of this transformation and is setting the stage for immersive combat to become a pivotal part of both sports and cultural landscapes.”

Sinn Studio has captured the attention of the gaming community with its award-winning and best-selling title, Swordsman, acclaimed as a “Most Popular Game” of 2023 on Quest and a top 10 best seller on PlayStation VR. The studio, which started with a single developer in 2017, now boasts a full-time team of 30 and is poised for further success with its innovative approach to single-player and multiplayer melee combat.

The launch of their PvP combat game heralds a new chapter in the evolution of virtual reality gaming, blending the inherent fun of social interaction with the competitive spirit of combat. Sinn Studio is committed to offering gamers an unparalleled experience, setting a new standard for engagement and realism in the VR space.

For press inquiries, please contact:

[email protected]

About Sinn Studio Inc.

Sinn Studio Inc. is a premier XR studio based in Toronto, Canada, specializing in developing virtual reality combat experiences. With a focus on innovation and quality, Sinn Studio aims to push the boundaries of VR gaming, delivering immersive and interactive content that sets new industry standards. Learn more at sinnstudio.com

About Hartmann Capital

Hartmann Capital is a frontier tech investment firm covering Crypto, XR, Gaming, and AI. Its VC arm, Hartmann Metaverse Ventures, is an early stage venture fund series, which aims to secure significant positions within the burgeoning spatial web, particularly within the realms of gaming and virtual worlds.

Learn more at hartmanncapital.com

SOURCE Hartmann Capital

The Funding Round, led by PeakSpan Capital, will Accelerate Investments in Key Areas, Including Global Sales Infrastructure, Product Innovation, and AI-enabled Workflows.

NEWARK, Del., May 22, 2024 — SOCRadar, a leading provider of enterprise-grade, end-to-end threat intelligence and brand protection, today announced the successful completion of its Series B funding round, raising $25.2 million. The round was led by PeakSpan Capital, with participation from Oxx, reflecting investor confidence in SOCRadar’s innovative approach to cybersecurity.

External cybersecurity has rapidly escalated in criticality since the onset of the pandemic, fueled by unparalleled levels of digital transformation, cloud migrations, and increased levels of remote work. According to Verizon’s DBIR 2023 Report, 83% of respondents cited external threats as the number one cause of cyber threats, with ransomware, Business Email Compromise (BEC), and phishing leading the way. As supporting evidence, the FBI’s Internet Crime Report 2023 shows that phishing is the number one cause of complaint count, and BEC is the second highest in complaint loss. What is more concerning is that at the current growth rate, financial damage from cyberattacks will amount to about $10.5T annually by 2025 – a 300% increase from 2015.

SOCRadar is dedicated to delivering pre-emptive defense against cyber threats, such as ransomware, phishing, and BEC, as well as all externally sourced attacks, and, most importantly, to detect and prevent attacks before they happen.

“Our main mission is to provide proactive protection against external cyber threats for companies of all sizes,” said Huzeyfe Onal, CEO of SOCRadar. This investment will help us continue to expand in key geographies and further bolster our AI capabilities across our platform.

SOCRadar’s innovative go-to-market strategy focuses on product-led growth and sales, successfully reaching and engaging customers globally. The company has reached over 25,000 freemium customers from 150+ countries worldwide and boasts 600+ active paid customers alongside 350+ channel partners. This global adoption is a testament to the shared problem faced by all companies worldwide and the effectiveness of SOCRadar’s solution in addressing external cybersecurity needs.

SOCRadar’s flagship product, the Extended Threat Intelligence (XTI) cloud-based SaaS platform, offers an end-to-end suite of external cybersecurity solutions, including Cyber Threat Intelligence, External Attack Surface Management, Brand Protection, Dark Web Monitoring, and Supply Chain Threat Intelligence. Cost-effective, natively unified, and easy to use, SOCRadar’s platform empowers organizations to proactively defend against all primary external breach vectors.

The funds raised in the Series B round will primarily be used to drive the company’s expansion in the US market, invest in the EU market to strengthen the company’s strong presence in the region, continue to penetrate the Managed Service Provider (MSP) and Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP) markets and invest in research and development. Specifically, SOCRadar will continue to utilize artificial intelligence (AI) across all aspects of its platform to enhance threat detection, response, and automated remediation capabilities.

“We are excited to partner with Huzeyfe, Ahmet, and the entire SOCRadar team in their pursuit of democratizing external threat intelligence for enterprises and mid-market organizations globally,” said Sanket Merchant, Partner at PeakSpan Capital. “The team is attacking arguably one of the most strategic challenges in cybersecurity today, which is only growing in criticality, with exceptional product innovation/leadership and a compelling, high-velocity value proposition that is truly differentiated. We see an incredible opportunity for SOCRadar to emerge as the leading global provider of external cybersecurity for a strategic (and underserved) market segment and couldn’t be more privileged to be their partner navigating this next stage of their scale-up journey.”

Richard Anton, Co-Founder and General Partner at Oxx, continues, “We’re delighted to join forces with US-based investor PeakSpan and early investor 212 as we partner with SOCRadar. As an international European investor, we look forward to providing SOCRadar with the best support possible as they accelerate their global go-to-market strategy. We are committed to supporting SOCRadar’s expansion in Europe.”

With this latest round of funding, SOCRadar is poised to further strengthen its position as a trusted partner for organizations seeking to defend against external cyber threats and safeguard their digital assets.

About SOCRadar

SOCRadar is a pioneering cybersecurity company committed to delivering advanced threat intelligence solutions that enable organizations to proactively defend against cyber threats. SOCRadar’s flagship Extended Threat Intelligence (XTI) platform offers a comprehensive suite of tailored products. These are Cyber Threat Intelligence, External Attack Surface Management, Brand Protection, Dark Web Monitoring, and Supply Chain Threat Intelligence. By harnessing the power of artificial intelligence and machine learning, SOCRadar enhances threat detection capabilities and promptly provides proactive and actionable intelligence. ensuring that businesses can always stay ahead of cyber risks. With a significant global footprint. SOCRadar’s mission is to fortify organizational defenses, mitigate external risks, and foster a safer digital ecosystem worldwide.

About PeakSpan Capital

PeakSpan Capital is a growth equity firm based in New York City and San Mateo. Having partnered with over 40 high-growth software businesses and with $1.5B+ in AUM, PeakSpan’s mission is to be the partner of choice for growth-stage entrepreneurial teams who are building amazing software targeted at business buyers of all sizes. PeakSpan combines deep domain expertise within a select number of themes with a proprietary technology platform providing visibility into company and market performance to help disruptive entrepreneurs drive resilient, risk-adjusted value creation.

To learn more about PeakSpan Capital and its portfolio, please visit www.peakspancapital.com. 

About Oxx

Oxx partners with the most promising B2B software companies at the scale-up stage. As a specialist SaaS investor, Oxx’s strategy is built around the concept of “Go-To-Market Fit,” developing a structure for thinking about how to build a repeatable, sustainable growth engine that accelerates and propels the growth of SaaS companies.

Oxx was founded by Richard Anton and Mikael Johnsson in 2017 and is headquartered in London and Stockholm. For more information, visit oxx.vc

For further information, please contact:

Burak Uyduran
Email: [email protected]

Logo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2417412/SOCRadar_Logo.jpg

NEW YORK, May 22, 2024 — Flybridge, a pioneering early-stage venture capital firm, today launched the Flybridge AI Index, a new stock market index designed to track the performance of 28 publicly traded companies at the forefront of artificial intelligence innovation. This diverse group spans sectors such as infrastructure, applications, and industry-specific AI solutions, offering a comprehensive view of the AI landscape.

The Flybridge AI Index features industry titans like NVIDIA, Google, Microsoft, and IBM, alongside emerging AI-driven companies such as C3.ai, Palantir, and UiPath. Utilizing an equal-weighting methodology, the index provides an aggregate performance snapshot of these AI leaders.

Since its inception on January 1, 2023, the Flybridge AI Index has achieved a remarkable 100.5% return, significantly outperforming the S&P 500 (32.9%), NASDAQ (52.5%), and other major indices. This impressive performance underscores the rapid growth and market potential of the AI sector.

“Artificial intelligence is one of the most transformative technological advancements of our era,” said Chip Hazard, General Partner at Flybridge. “The Flybridge AI Index offers a valuable benchmark for tracking the progress and performance of key public companies driving AI innovation.”

In conjunction with the index launch, Flybridge will host an event during New York Tech Week on June 4th. This event will feature leaders from some of the companies included in the index, discussing the impact of AI on various industries and the future of AI-driven innovation.

The Flybridge AI Index will undergo quarterly updates to incorporate new AI-focused public companies and remove those that no longer meet the criteria.

“As early-stage investors, understanding the drivers of value in public markets is crucial,” said Daniel Porras Reyes, creator of the AI Index at Flybridge. “The AI Index will be a dynamic tool, evolving with the market as the generative AI wave progresses.”

For more information on the index, including the full methodology and current holdings, visit ai-index.flybridge.com.

About Flybridge Capital

Flybridge is a venture capital firm based in Boston that partners with bold entrepreneurs to build exceptional and valuable technology companies. Since its founding in 2002, Flybridge has invested in over 150 companies across multiple emerging technology sectors. Notable Flybridge investments include MongoDB, Nasuni, Chief, Codecademy (acquired by Skillsoft), and more.

SOURCE Flybridge

Led by Raven Indigenous Capital Partners, Telegraph Hill Capital, and Ripple Ventures—funding will fuel company’s mission to automate and simplify data cleaning

VANCOUVER, BC, May 22, 2024 – Artemis, a technology startup innovating data preparation to address data quality challenges, today announced it has secured $1.5 million in pre-seed funding. The round was led by Raven Indigenous Capital Partners, with participation from Telegraph Hill Capital, Ripple Ventures, and other angel investors. Artemis plans to use the funds to fuel its mission to simplify data preparation and provide easier access to data cleaning for both technical and non-technical users.

Artemis was founded in 2022 by Josh Gray and William Shi with the vision to create an easy-to-use platform that enables teams to build, explore, and automate data-cleaning tasks using autonomous AI agents. These agents can be easily manipulated on a drag-and-drop canvas and deployed in an organization’s data warehouse. The Artemis platform accelerates data-cleaning processes by up to 50 times, transforming how data-rich teams clean, manage, and use their datasets.

“The winners in the world of AI are organizations that have clean and accessible data. Today, the tools to clean and transform data do not allow teams to scale their work fast enough to keep up with the demand for insights and new AI products. Artemis is here to change that,” said co-founder, Josh Gray.

“Raven Indigenous Capital Partners is proud to support Artemis—a game-changing data technology company led by Indigenous co-founder, Josh. We are impressed by the company’s innovative platform, which revolutionizes data cleanup and automation. Artemis also aligns with our mission to empower Indigenous entrepreneurs,” said Althea Wishloff, General Partner of Raven Indigenous Capital Partners.

“At Telegraph Hill Capital, we realized across our portfolio how crucial clean and high-quality data is for our businesses who want to scale new AI products. When we met with Artemis, it was clear this was a team and company we wanted to work with,” said Luis Gutierrez Roy, Managing General Partner of Telegraph Hill Capital.

The Artemis platform is already adding valuable impact for B2B e-commerce and healthcare markets through successful proof-of-concept engagements with companies like Matter Inc., a growth platform for e-commerce brands, and AlayaCare, a global technology platform for home and community-based care. Through these relationships, Artemis is positioned to expand its reach and serve an even broader range of clients for their data automation journeys.

“As a proud Indigenous-led company, this funding allows Artemis to continue growing, innovating, and adding a wider expanse of features to penetrate new markets,” said Josh Gray, CEO at Artemis.  “Our fast-growing team is deeply grateful for the trust and confidence this group of investors and angels have placed in our company,” added Gray.

To learn more about Artemis, how to integrate the Artemis platform, or explore career and engagement opportunities, visit: artemisdata.io

About Raven Indigenous Capital Partners
Established in 2018, Raven Indigenous Capital Partners is an Indigenous-led and owned social finance intermediary headquartered in Vancouver. Raven works in partnership with Indigenous enterprises and social purpose organizations to accelerate their success by providing access to capital and bespoke technical assistance within an Indigenous cultural framework. Ultimately, Raven aims to achieve a positive and lasting impact on the Indigenous economies.

About Telegraph Hill Capital
Telegraph Hill Capital (THCAP) is a venture capital firm that backs early-stage tech entrepreneurs with an entrepreneurial spirit. Its partners leverage industry connections and expertise to help portfolio companies thrive. THCAP focuses on fast-growing tech startups in North America and Western Europe, focusing on software products, apps, and digital platforms. TCH leads seed and pre-seed rounds, preferring B2B models, and supports entrepreneurs throughout their journey, providing follow-on rounds and backing later-stage founders with strong relationships. For more information, visit: https://www.thcap.com/.

About Ripple Ventures
Ripple Ventures is the leading pre-seed B2B software fund backing companies at the earliest stages in North America. The fund leads financing rounds with high conviction, writing $500–750K USD checks. Ripple helps founders around the inception to pre-revenue stages navigate the most challenging steps of finding product market fit.

About Artemis
Artemis is a Vancouver-based company in Canada. Founded in 2022, the Artemis platform empowers data teams to deploy cutting-edge AI agents that automate data cleanup tasks using pre-built knowledge graphs on a user-friendly canvas. The Artemis platform enables data engineers to deliver insights and AI products faster in healthcare and B2B technology organizations. For more information, contact: [email protected] or visit www.artemisdata.io.

SOURCE Raven Indigenous Capital Partners Inc.

The fundraising round was led by Lightspeed Faction and will be used to advance the network and development of on-chain weather derivatives

ZUG, Switzerland, May 22, 2024 — WeatherXM AG, core contributor to the WeatherXM Network, a leading decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN), today announced the closing of a $7.7 million USD Series A round led by Lightspeed Faction. Additional participating investors include: Protocol Labs, Borderless Capital, Arca, Alumni Ventures, Placeholder VC, Red Beard Ventures, Metaplanet, GS Futures, Consensys Mesh, Westerly Ventures, dlab, Eleftherios Diakomichalis and Juan Benet.

The company plans to utilize this investment to grow the team, and the network, and continue research and development in crypto-enabled weather hardware and decentralized infrastructure.

Manolis Nikiforakis, WeatherXM CEO and Co-Founder said, “This round kicks off our growth stage. During the last two years, we proved our ability to manufacture and deploy thousands of stations globally, at a fraction of the typical cost.  Now it’s time to grow 10x: We want to be the largest weather station network in the world by the end of 2025 serving both traditional and new web3 markets”.

This investment follows an initial $5M seed round from investors including, Placeholder VC, metaplanet, Consensys Mesh, SOSV, Protocol Labs, Borderless Capital, DLTx and several prominent angel investors including Juan Benet (Filecoin), Maxwell Krohn, Dimitris Togias and Ele Diakomichalis (Radicle). In just 2 years, WeatherXM deployed more than 5,000 stations in more than 80 countries, a record number
compared to government-funded agencies.

WeatherXM produces a variety of weather station hardware devices that collect local environmental data, collaboratively building a unique ground sensor weather network. Each station includes a secure element that provides cryptographic proofs of the data collected, and data is stored on the Filecoin decentralized storage network, where it can be queried and processed to create hyper-local weather forecasts as well as web3-native use cases such as onchain prediction markets and parametric weather insurance products.

Participants who operate the special low-cost, low-maintenance stations, are given ERC20 $WXM tokens as rewards, which are the WeatherXM Network Association native governance, utility, tokens. Starting Thursday, May 30, $WXM will be tradable on Gate.io, MEXC.com, BitMart.com, Uniswap v3 and SwissBorg.com will follow.  On the same day, station owners will be able to start collecting daily rewards and accumulated beta rewards on the Arbitrum mainnet.

Investor Quotes: 
Tim Khoury, Deal Partner at Lightspeed Faction added, “We’re thrilled to see WeatherXM utilize crypto incentives to build out the world’s highest resolution, most comprehensive and most accurate weather network. Users can enjoy hyper-local weather data and be rewarded for their contributions to the network, while businesses across the insurance, power and energy, and agriculture industries can access more reliable forecasts and better plan for the future. WeatherXM is leveraging the power of a decentralized physical infrastructure network to make a positive impact in the world, and we’re beyond excited to be supporting this team”.

About WeatherXM AG
Founded in 2022, WeatherXM AG is the core contributor of the WeatherXM Network. The company also designs and builds crypto enabled weather stations, utilizing WiFi, Helium and 4G wireless communications, and value-added services that leverage the Network’s data.

You can learn more about the company and its products and services at https://weatherxm.com
A real-time map of deployed stations is available at https://explorer.weatherxm.com

About WeatherXM Network Association
WeatherXM Network Association is a non-profit organization based in Zug, Switzerland. The purpose of the Association is to grow and develop the WeatherXM Network and its surrounding community and ecosystem. The Association owns WeatherXM Network’s data, and is the issuer of the $WXM token. Through an auction mechanism (in $WXM) the network sells licenses that allow commercial uses of their publicly available weather data.

You can learn more about the WeatherXM Network Association and the $WXM token at https://weatherxm.network/.

About Lightspeed Faction
Lightspeed Faction is the leading blockchain-native venture capital firm that merges Silicon Valley VC experience with deep blockchain expertise. Faction typically invests in early-stage startups across the blockchain ecosystem that are in their Seed or Series A funding rounds. Faction is firmly committed to the growth of the crypto space, investing in projects with the potential to meaningfully contribute to and advance the industry and society at large.

For more information, please visit: https://www.faction.vc

About Lightspeed Faction’s Relationship with Lightspeed
Faction Ventures, LLC (“Faction”) and Lightspeed Management Company, L.L.C. (“Lightspeed”) are separate businesses that operate independently of each other. Faction is a registered investment adviser under the United States Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended. Faction advises its own fund(s) and does not advise any Lightspeed clients, and Lightspeed does not advise Faction or any of its clients.

Value of weather observation data
More than one third of the global economy is weather-sensitive and accurate weather data are critical for many industries. According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), “highly weather-sensitive sectors such as agriculture, energy, transport and construction, and disaster risk management can benefit by over US $160 billion per year from potential improvements in weather forecasting capabilities that would be within reach given our current state of scientific knowledge and our technology”.

Climate change creates more challenges across business, public discourse, and daily life, increasing the demand for and value of precise, hyper-local data.

CONTACT: [email protected]

SOURCE WeatherXM

The new funding accelerates go-to-market (GTM) and technology integrations for the generative
AI platform that defends against phishing and impersonation

SANTA CLARA, Calif., May 22, 2024 — Bolster, a leader in multi-channel phishing protection, announced a $14 million Series B financing round led by new investor M12, Microsoft’s venture fund. Existing investors Thomvest Ventures, Crosslink Capital, Liberty Global Ventures, Cheyenne Ventures, Cervin Ventures, and Transform Capital also participated. The financing brings Bolster’s total funding to over $40 million.

Over 90% of all cyberattacks begin with phishing, according to the Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency, and nearly 43% of all phishing attacks in Q4 2023 were on social media platforms, according to the Anti-Phishing Working Group.

Assisted by AI, attackers deploy sophisticated phishing and impersonation attacks across all digital business channels. To respond to the growing digital threats, businesses need to leverage leading AI security vendors, like Bolster, which supports over 120 customers including some of the world’s most well-known brands. Bolster uniquely detects and eradicates phishing and impersonation attacks as they weave across malicious websites, mobile applications, social media platforms, and messaging tools.        

“Having observed the email security landscape for over twenty years, it’s evident that traditional methods are failing to keep pace. The advent of generative AI in the arsenal of cyber attackers signals a troubling escalation in the severity of business email compromise and phishing threats. Monitoring Bolster’s journey from its early days, I am thoroughly impressed by their innovative application of AI to proactively identify and neutralize fraudulent activities by targeting the very infrastructure of these attacks,” said Todd Graham, Managing Partner at M12.

Since 2017, Bolster has used AI and machine learning to train models on over 100TB of structured data of URLs, domains, natural language text, and emails.  Bolster created CheckPhish, one of the most popular phish and scam detection sites on the internet since 2018, with over 20% of the Fortune 500 registered as users. This site’s huge amount of data is used to augment Bolster’s AI and machine learning models.

“As a global platform serving tens of millions of people around the world, Bolster has proven to be invaluable in helping to uncover and prevent an array of phishing, scam, and impersonation attempts across multiple digital channels. We’ve been impressed by their innovative solutions at the intersection of generative AI and cybersecurity, resulting in swift identification and eradication of external online threats, and are looking forward to seeing how its platform capabilities will expand with the backing of M12 Ventures,” said Jeff Sen of WeTransfer.

Bolster’s platform advancements leverage generative AI’s application to cybersecurity. In the past year, Bolster has introduced eight cutting-edge LLM technology-based transformers, capable of detecting and eliminating phishing threats before they can even reach an email. Bolster’s engineers and researchers constantly update their deposition engine and orchestrator with the latest intent models for text and vision, making Bolster’s generative AI ethical and resilient against data bias.

“Bolster is committed to leading the industry in leveraging generative AI for real-time detection and response to phishing and impersonation attacks. This issue impacts nearly all businesses today,” said Bolster Co-founder and CTO Shashi Prakash. “This investment validates our technology and accelerates our platform development and go-to-market initiatives.”

With the new funding, Bolster plans to invest in GTM initiatives that strategically prioritize executive monitoring, business email compromise (BEC) attack detection and takedown, and threat-hunting automation. The sales organization will be structured around these key areas, supported by comprehensive training and marketing initiatives, to increase market penetration and heighten customer engagement.

Additional Resources

About Bolster
Bolster’s mission is to make the internet a safer place by detecting, taking down, and monitoring phishing, fraud, and scam activity across the web, social media, app stores, and the dark web. Within milliseconds, Bolster renders a verdict using LLMs and the largest structured phishing dataset in the industry – delivering multi-channel phishing protection with near-perfect precision and at scale. To learn more, go to www.bolster.ai.

SOURCE Bolster

FREDERICK, Md., May 22, 2024 — Theradaptive, Inc., a regenerative medicine company developing targeted therapeutics, announced today it has been awarded funding from the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund (MSCRF) to support human clinical trials for its lead product, OsteoAdapt SP.  OsteoAdapt SP is currently in Phase I/II clinical studies for transforaminal lumbar interbody spinal fusion (TLIF) to treat degenerative disc disease, spondylolisthesis, and retrolisthesis.

Theradaptive was granted an Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) in January 2024 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to begin its human clinical trial. This $1 million award from the MSCRF Clinical Program will enable Theradaptive to expand its OASIS human clinical study to sites in Maryland. More details can be found at ClinicalTrials.gov: identifier NCT06154005. Theradaptive also holds three Breakthrough Medical Device designations for various spine indications including TLIF, ALIF, and PLF.

“We are so grateful to the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund for this generous support as we take OsteoAdapt SP through clinical development,” said Luis Alvarez, PhD, CEO and Founder of Theradaptive. “This grant will expand our ability to provide patients with limited options a much better alternative by accelerating the development of this ground-breaking technology.”

How OsteoAdapt SP is changing biologic implants

OsteoAdapt SP is a biologic-enhanced implant designed to stimulate anatomically precise local bone growth and promote rapid fusion following spinal surgery. It combines a proprietary protein called AMP2 that activates a patient’s own stem cells with a resorbable scaffold implant. This implant remodels into bone and completely resorbs, leaving no trace behind. This technology ushers in the next generation of regenerative therapeutics compared to the current standard of care by mitigating side effects and significantly improving safety and efficacy over traditional bone grafts and biologics.

“This funding will benefit us greatly as we work toward making this revolutionary therapy available to patients in need, putting Maryland at the forefront of innovation in regenerative bone repair” said Jonathan Elsner, PhD, Vice President of Clinical Operations. “We appreciate that MSCRF recognizes the importance of this program and look forward to dosing the first patient in the coming months.”

“Our goal is to accelerate the development of promising technologies by providing funding to help them reach patients as quickly as possible,” said Ruchika Nijhara, Executive Director of MSCRF. “We are enthusiastic about the potential of OsteoAdapt SP to benefit patients suffering from debilitating spine conditions.”

Theradaptive was spun out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2017 to commercialize a platform that immobilizes therapeutic proteins on implantable biomaterials. The company’s near-term focus is on regenerative treatments for musculoskeletal conditions and spinal fusion surgery.

Clinical sites investigating OsteoAdapt SP in TLIF procedures are currently enrolling patients across the U.S., including Maryland, and in Australia.

Theradaptive plans to file for marketing authorization with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration following successful completion of pivotal clinical studies.

About Theradaptive

Theradaptive, Inc. is a privately held regenerative medicine company developing therapeutic implants that harness the body’s own stem cells to regenerate tissues. The company’s proprietary AMP2 technology platform enables localized, sustained delivery of therapeutic proteins to trigger highly targeted regenerative responses.

Theradaptive’s lead clinical program, OsteoAdapt SP, is an investigational bone graft material designed to improve spinal fusion outcomes. For more information, visit www.theradaptive.com.

Contact:
Harry Warne
Senior Contributor
Flame PR
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SOURCE Theradaptive