Latest funding round capitalizes on recent growth, catalyzing further product innovation and expansion into new markets

SAN FRANCISCO, June 27, 2024 — Odaseva, the leading enterprise data security platform for Salesforce, today announced a $54 million Series C equity financing, bringing the total company funding to more than $90 million. Silver Lake Waterman led the round, with participation from existing investors F-Prime, Eight Roads and Serena Capital, and new investors Eurazeo and Crescent Cove. The investment comes after several marquee new customer wins across industries and geographies, and will support further growth, including additional investment into data security and Zero Trust product offerings.

Enterprises around the globe are digitizing more strategic processes, including assets containing sensitive data with high demand for confidentiality, integrity and availability – further accelerated by AI and compliance standards. Odaseva is the trusted Salesforce enterprise data security platform securing more than 100 million users for customers around the world, including a growing number of Global Fortune 500 companies. The power of the Odaseva platform enables Salesforce end-to-end encryption, optimizes Salesforce availability up to 99.99% and delivers among the best-in-the-industry Salesforce Recovery Point and Time Objective (RPO/RTO).

“Data sits at the core of large organizations, so we know trust with our customers is more important than ever before. We’re proud that Odaseva’s commitment to data security exceeds the requirements of even the most complex, highly regulated businesses in the world,” said Sovan Bin, CEO and Founder of Odaseva. “This round of funding will help to accelerate our growth into new markets and keep us at the forefront of innovation in the space.”

“The Odaseva team has built a leading data resiliency platform for the Salesforce ecosystem that provides security and continuity solutions for mission critical applications,” said Shawn O’Neill, Managing Director and Group Head of Silver Lake Waterman. “Sovan and the Odaseva leadership team have a solid track record of building value and trust with global enterprise customers and we are excited to partner with the team and help drive further growth.”

The Series C funding will accelerate Odaseva’s leading product development and investment into deepening levels of global reach, including additional resources for North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. Odaseva will continue to hire top talent at the executive level, following the recent additions of Steven Corbin, Chief Financial & Operating Officer, Matthew Johnston as Chief Revenue Officer and Susan Lansing as Chief People Officer.

About Odaseva 

Odaseva delivers the strongest data security solution for enterprises running on Salesforce, safeguarding confidentiality and integrity of critical business information. Global Fortune 500 companies rely on the Odaseva Enterprise Data Security Platform to gain powerful defense against threats to Salesforce data, ensure business continuity and comply with regulations. It is designed and built specifically to solve the complex challenges of large-scale global organizations.

With Odaseva, enterprises can confidently navigate the evolving data security landscape, ensuring that operations remain uninterrupted and aligned with regulatory standards. Learn more at www.odaseva.com.

About Silver Lake Waterman
Silver Lake Waterman is part of Silver Lake, the global leader in technology investing with approximately $103 billion in combined assets under management and committed capital and a team of professionals based in North America, Europe and Asia. Silver Lake Waterman focuses on providing flexible expansion capital to later-stage growth companies in the technology and technology-enabled industries. For more information about Silver Lake Waterman and Silver Lake, please visit www.silverlake.com. 

Media Contact
Ginny Lobel
SVP Marketing
[email protected]

SOURCE Odaseva

PINEVILLE, N.C., June 27, 2024 — Li Industries announced the successful closing of its Series B funding round with an additional $6 million commitment from investors. The new investors include General Motors (GM) Ventures, DNX Ventures, and Tech Energy Ventures. This latest investment brings the total size of the Series B round to $42 million and increases Li Industries’ total funding to date to over $50 million.

“We are excited to welcome GM Ventures, DNX Ventures, and Tech Energy Ventures as key investors in our mission to revolutionize battery recycling,” said Zheng Li, CEO of Li Industries. “This additional funding will enable us to further scale our operations and develop synergistic partnerships.”

“GM is taking a holistic approach to the transition to electric, which includes investing in the reuse and recycling of batteries,” said Anirvan Coomer, president & managing director, GM Ventures. “Li Industries’ mission aligns with our own and their technology shows promise. We look forward to continued progress of their technology and the potential for future collaborations.”

GM Ventures’ investment underscores the growing importance of sustainable practices in the automotive industry.

Li Industries plans to expand its 10,000 tonne recycling facility and further develop its cutting-edge recycling technologies. The company is dedicated to addressing the environmental challenges posed by end-of-life batteries and production waste, transforming them into valuable resources in a cleaner and more cost-effective manner.

For more information, please contact [email protected].

About Li Industries

Li Industries is an innovative and fast-growing climate tech company developing next-generation lithium-ion battery recycling technologies. Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Pineville, NC, Li Industries has developed scalable direct recycling technologies for lithium-ion batteries from electric vehicles and consumer electronics. Li Industries’ unique and patented direct recycling process can recycle all types of lithium-ion batteries and generate high purity commercial-grade battery materials faster, cheaper, and cleaner, enabling effective and sustainable recycling. For more information, please visit: https://www.li-ind.com.

SOURCE Li Industries

Stakeholders Across the Education Ecosystem Rely on Authentica Solutions to enable faster, more secure, and
higher quality Intelligence Provisioning and they are just getting started.

ATLANTA , June 27, 2024 — Authentica Solutions™, a leader in data integration and intelligence management solutions for the education sector, today announced the successful completion of a $6.2 Million Series Seed funding round led by Owl Ventures, the largest EdTech focused venture capital firm globally. The company’s Education Intelligence Platform, Authentica seed™, empowers stakeholders across the education ecosystem by providing the flexibility, security, and clear data ownership needed to support their evolving technology investments that drive learning outcomes.

The infusion of capital will further Authentica Solutions’ mission to accelerate from data management to intelligence management, while making substantial advances toward solving interoperability in the education sector. Authentica’s mission is to empower institutions to unlock the full potential of their data investments to achieve actionable decisions.  Authentica accomplishes this by enabling exceptional integration, automated data quality improvement, and top-tier data management and provisioning within a secure single source of intelligence.

“We are thrilled to partner with Owl Ventures as we continue our journey to transform data interoperability in education,” said Russell Long, co-founder and CEO of Authentica Solutions. “We believe the experience and expertise from the Owl team will further empower our customer-centric culture and help us expand our solutions designed to transform how the education ecosystem manages their intelligence.”

The education community is very dynamic and has dramatically changed since COVID with a focus on serving K-12 school districts, higher education at all levels, departments/ministries of education, edtech software providers (enterprise and web based), systems integrators, and key strategic partners. The importance of having explicit clarity in the development of an exceptional ecosystem focused on academic growth, coupled with solutions that empower true data ownership for our customers is clear.

“A foundational principle behind the design of the Authentica seed™ platform is to ensure educational institutions have complete control and ownership over their data,” noted Long. “We can deliver these capabilities by bringing proven, enterprise-level cloud technologies from the commercial world to propel learning intelligence.”

“Authentica has such a deep background, backed by an amazing team. Working to solve insanely complex challenges in education,” noted Long, “The market is ready for an enterprise cloud solution that can satisfy the never-ending demand for interoperability and quality of data to deliver actionable analytics and the responsible use of artificial intelligence (AI).”

Owl Ventures, known for its extensive portfolio of leading EdTech companies and with over $2 billion in assets under management, recognized the transformative potential of Authentica Solutions’ team and experience. “We are excited to partner with Authentica Solutions and support their innovative approach to data management in education,” said Amit Patel, managing director of Owl Ventures. “Their commitment to delivering exceptional value aligns perfectly with our mission to invest in companies that are shaping the future of education.”

“With this investment we are poised to accelerate advancements in our platform, driving greater efficiency and insights for educators, administrators, and students,” added Gene Garcia, co-founder and CTO of Authentica Solutions. “Our goal is to create a seamless and secure data ecosystem that supports the diverse needs of the education community and its partners.”

As Authentica Solutions expands its impact, the company remains dedicated to its core values of servant leadership, high accountability, and ethical principles. The new funding will enable the team to scale operations, invest in research and development, and broaden their reach to more institutions and EdTech partners seeking innovative data solutions.

Looking to the future, Authentica Solutions is also innovating in advanced research with a project currently in stealth mode: Authentica reach™. Authentica reach™ will be an enterprise platform built directly upon the Authentica seed™ platform, empowering K12 institutions with advanced intelligence, accessibility, and an AI-driven system to support all individuals involved with students with diverse needs.

Authentica Solutions is excited to continue the journey with EduLab Capital Partners who also participated beyond their initial November 2023 investment as part of the Series Seed closing.  “We’re thrilled to deepen our relationship with Authentica and assist leadership with international expansion through our own platform in Asia,” said Liam Pisano, Managing Partner at EduLab Capital Partners. 

Long and Garcia also commented, “We also recognize an early investor and contributor, the late Steve Liffick. His contributions and vision for serving the education space globally will continue to live forward through those of us he influenced directly.”

About Authentica Solutions

Authentica Solutions is a leading provider of intelligence management, data integration and the EduLake™, a Modern Data Estate, for the Education sector. Founded by Russell Long and Gene Garcia, Authentica Solutions has a proven track record of innovation and impact across the global education landscape. The company’s flagship product, Authentica seed™, is an Education Intelligence Platform that empowers institutions to unlock the full potential of their data through exceptional integration, automated quality improvement, AI, and top-tier data management. Authentica Solutions drives change through Authentica seed™, Medicaid solution engineering services, and Authentica phoenix™ Special Education software. Authentica seed™ is currently offered in United States and Canada with planned expansion into Asia, Australia, and UK in the near future. Authentica serves K12 school districts, Higher Education Universities and Colleges, Departments and Ministries of Education, Education Software Providers (EdTech), System Integrators, and Strategic Partners. For more information, visit [Authentica Solutions](https://authenticasolutions.com).

About Owl Ventures

Owl Ventures is the largest venture capital firm in the world focused on the education technology market. With over $2 billion in assets under management, Owl Ventures invests in the world’s leading education technology companies across the education spectrum encompassing early childhood, K-12, higher education, and career mobility/professional learning. The firm has deep domain expertise and leverages a global network of Limited Partners, investors, and strategic partners to help entrepreneurs scale their businesses into transformative category-leading companies. [Owl Ventures] (https:owlvc.com)

About EduLab Capital Partners

EduLab Capital Partners is a seed stage venture capital firm focused exclusively on the education market, investing in business models that transcend the traditional education landscape. The Company’s Boston– and Tokyo-based team provides foundational support to entrepreneurs to help expand their customer base, make key early-stage hires, and raise additional capital for profitable and sustainable growth. EduLab’s education market savvy and artificial intelligence expertise provide unique leverage points for its investments, while the Company’s network of global partnerships and distribution channels provide its portfolio companies with the depth and reach to quickly accelerate product integration and impact.  For more information, visit EduLab Capital Partners.

For media inquiries, please contact:
Russell Long
CEO/Founder
Authentica Solutions
214.450.5338
[email protected]

Malvika Bhagwat
Partner and Head of Outcomes; Portfolio Services
Owl Ventures
[email protected]

SOURCE Authentica Solutions

Deal builds out Beroe’s leadership in category-level procurement intelligence, with the addition of supplier insights

RALEIGH, N.C. and LONDON, June 27, 2024 — Beroe, the provider of the SaaS procurement intelligence and analytics platform used by the majority of Fortune 500 companies, today announced a strategic investment in Forestreet, the leading artificial intelligence-driven software solution for supplier and innovation discovery. Building on Beroe’s existing partnership with Forestreet, this investment will drive further joint innovation, to support the incorporation of the latest AI technology in category- and supplier-level intelligence. The deal will also see Beroe Founder and CEO, Vel Dhinagaravel, join Forestreet’s board of directors.

Beroe’s investment will accelerate the integration of Forestreet’s best-of-breed supplier discovery tools. The availability of real-time access to trusted market insights and supplier discovery will ensure that Chief Procurement Officers (CPOs) and their teams have the most up-to-date and curated information, as they face new demands to proactively mitigate risk and build resilient supply chains.

“We are excited to not only invest in Forestreet’s fast-growing business but also to leverage its technology expertise alongside Beroe’s existing AI capabilities, to deliver greater value to our customers,” said Vel Dhinagaravel, CEO at Beroe Inc. “Combining advanced AI algorithm-driven solutions for supplier discovery with our domain expertise, category insights, pricing intelligence, and benchmarks gives Beroe LiVE.Ai a compelling market advantage. Investing in its future development ensures that we will continue to empower procurement teams with the essential intelligence, to achieve savings objectives, navigate inflation challenges, and sidestep supply chain disruptions.”

Forestreet offers a comprehensive suite of tools for uncovering market insights and understanding companies within a market. As procurement professionals navigate an increasingly complex procurement landscape, they are required not only to access category-level intelligence but also to be able to delve deeper into supplier insights. The combination of category and supplier intelligence will equip businesses to build resilient supply chains, to manage sustainable success in an evolving market.

“Our clients tell us that our technology is unique; so, working with an established market leader like Beroe, with its 18 years of success in supporting procurement domain decision-making, will allow us to provide that capability at scale,” said Alex Miller, CEO and Co-founder of Forestreet. “With new challenges cropping up daily, it is important that CPOs can quickly react to changing dynamics. Partnering with Beroe, we can offer the widest possible customer segment the AI-driven tools they and their teams need to get a clear view of the whole market in one glance, making what can feel like an impossible task seem simple.”

Using the Beroe LiVE.Ai platform, companies can determine the impact of event-led disruptions on supply chains, along with multi-tier supplier mapping and associated risks in real-time as well as check financial, ethical, cyber, and environmental compliance credentials for over 300 million suppliers.

“The investment by Beroe in Forestreet creates an incredible opportunity, to eliminate uncertainty for procurement professionals globally,” said James Fox, Lead Investor on the Guinness Ventures’ Series A investment in Forestreet. “With the information and intelligence that Beroe and Forestreet can provide together, CPOs will gain unprecedented insights.“

About Beroe

Beroe has been on procurement’s leading edge since the company’s founding in 2006, bringing a world of insights forward. The unique combination of Beroe’s expertise, artificial intelligence tools, and vast amounts of data enables organizations to make smarter, faster, better procurement decisions. Not tomorrow, not today, but now. Beroe helps thousands of organizations sift through the data noise, mitigate risk, face fewer surprises, and ultimately, gain a competitive edge. To learn more, please visit — https://www.beroeinc.com.

About Forestreet

Founded in 2017, Forestreet is a SaaS Supplier and Market Discovery Tool at the forefront of transforming business research. Leveraging cutting-edge AI, Forestreet enables businesses to revolutionise their sourcing processes, allowing users to map new categories in minutes rather than months, effectively de-risking their supply base. This empowers procurement teams with the speed and confidence to make informed decisions, swiftly accessing supplier led innovation and driving business growth. To find out more, please visit https://www.forestreet.com/

Media Contact

Richard Howson
Temono for Beroe
[email protected]

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2355895/4579249/Beroe_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Beroe Inc.

CINCINNATI, June 26, 2024 — LunchTable, formerly Inphlu, a leading brand amplification platform, has raised a $2.4 million seed financing round led by JumpStart Ventures, with participation from Cintrifuse Capital, Black Tech Nation Ventures, South Loop Ventures, Ohio Gateway Tech Fund, Kobol Fund and angel investors. 

Along with this infusion of capital, the company announced a strategic rebranding, officially changing its name to LunchTable. This move reflects the company’s commitment to fostering a deeper connection between fans and sports teams, turning passive spectators into passionate social media advocates.

“LunchTable evokes a sense of community and shared passion. It represents the watercooler conversations and friendly banter around the metaphorical ‘lunch table’ – a space where fans come together to celebrate their love for the game,” said Joshua Reid, Founder of LunchTable. “The new branding embodies our mission: to create a vibrant online space where fans can connect, engage, and become vocal supporters of their favorite teams and brands.”

The funding will expand the sales and marketing team, refine the platform, and build a robust customer support infrastructure. After successful pilot partnerships with the Cincinnati Reds, FC Cincinnati, the University of Toledo and the University of Cincinnati, LunchTable is poised for growth and preparing for a commercial launch within the next six months.

“LunchTable offers a win-win-win scenario for sports teams, fans, and commercial brands by extending fan engagement beyond game day,” said Hardik Desai, Managing Partner at JumpStart Ventures. “We are excited to partner with Josh and his team to bridge the gap between stadiums and the digital world, creating a more interactive and engaging fan experience.”

Through gamification, exclusive content, and two-way interaction, LunchTable gives brands a powerful platform to connect with highly engaged audiences. Some of the benefits include:

• Targeted Exposure for Sponsors: LunchTable allows brands to sponsor exclusive content, directly reaching targeted audiences within the passionate fan base.
• Authentic Fan Advocacy: Unlike traditional advertising, LunchTable leverages the power of organic content creation. Fans become brand ambassadors, promoting products they love within the context of their team spirit.
• Valuable Data Insights: LunchTable provides teams with valuable data on fan demographics, fan avidity, and preferences, allowing them to tailor their messaging and promotions for maximum impact within the engaged fan community.

About LunchTable
LunchTable is a fan activation platform that empowers sports teams to create a thriving online community of passionate fans. Through gamification, exclusive content, and two-way interaction, LunchTable turns casual fans into social media advocates, driving engagement, brand awareness, and valuable data insights for teams and commercial brands.

SOURCE LunchTable

WASHINGTON, June 26, 2024 — Martis Capital Management, LLC (Martis Capital), a healthcare-focused private equity firm, has opened an office in Miami and hired two senior team members.

Beth Dresdale joined the firm as a principal on the value creation team and is based in the Miami office. Before Martis Capital, she was a principal focused on value creation at Incline Equity Partners. David Muckey, also based in the Miami office, joined Martis Capital as a director on the investment team. Before Martis Capital, he was a vice president at Gemspring Capital and earlier a vice president at Vector Capital.

The Miami office, located in Coconut Grove, is Martis Capital’s third location. The firm also has a presence in Washington, DC, and San Francisco.

“The growth of our firm enables us to continue to support company founders across the healthcare industry and deliver improved patient care,” said Barry Uphoff, founder and managing partner of Martis Capital. “We are delighted to attract two accomplished professionals in Beth and David and expand the Martis Capital geographic footprint to Florida.”

Earlier in her career, Dresdale led sales and commercial operations at A Place for Mom, a tech-enabled healthcare services company. She started her career at McKinsey & Company and Centerview Partners. Dresdale received a bachelor’s degree in history from Brown University and an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School.

Muckey started his career at Lazard Freres & Co. He received a bachelor’s degree in economics from Princeton University and an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

About Martis Capital

Based in Washington, DC, San Francisco and Miami, Martis Capital is a founder-friendly capital partner for growth-oriented healthcare companies. Since 2011, Martis Capital has raised more than $2.2 billion from a global base of institutional clients to invest in the middle-market North American healthcare sector. For more information visit www.martiscapital.com and follow Martis on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/martis-capital 

Media Contacts:
Margaret Kirch Cohen/Richard Chimberg
Newton Park PR
+1 847-507-2229
+1 617-312-4281
[email protected]
[email protected]

SOURCE Martis Capital

Capital infusion to enable strategic investments in the business.

NEW YORK, June 26, 2024 — CipherHealth, Inc., a leader in patient-centered communication solutions, announced that it has received a capital investment from Atalaya Capital Management in support of CipherHealth’s continued growth and expansion.

Since 2009, CipherHealth has been a leader in patient engagement, providing a platform that enables patients and caregivers to connect through scalable and omnichannel communications. They help healthcare systems better understand all patients, while providing communications that are personal, relevant and actionable. The incremental capital raised from Atalaya will allow CipherHealth to continue investing in its award-winning solutions and deliver its industry-leading service across the healthcare continuum.

“We are excited to partner with Atalaya as we position our business for our next stage of growth. The investment will provide us with capital to support our ongoing strategic initiatives and improved delivery of care,” said Jake Pyles, CEO of CipherHealth.

“We are impressed by CipherHealth’s comprehensive offering and continuous product improvement as it strives to create better patient experience and outcomes. We are excited to contribute to CipherHealth’s continued success,” said Mark Schachter, Managing Director at Atalaya.

Lincoln International acted as exclusive financial advisor to CipherHealth, helping to arrange and negotiate the capital raise.

About CipherHealth:

CipherHealth is an award-winning leader in patient-centered communications committed to enhancing communication and coordination throughout the care continuum. Since 2009, CipherHealth has helped define the patient engagement category, delivering groundbreaking tools and superior services to help health systems deliver patient-centric, quality care that improves clinical outcomes, drives operational efficiency, and creates sustainable financial value through a full suite of communications solutions. CipherHealth’s automated, scalable platform empowers healthcare organizations to drive meaningful conversations among patients, provider staff and caregivers, regardless of care setting, thereby achieving new standards for patient care and accelerating the digital transformation of the industry.

About Atalaya:

Atalaya Capital Management is a privately held, SEC-registered, alternative investment advisory firm. Atalaya primarily focuses on making private credit and special opportunities investments in three principal asset classes – specialty finance, real estate, and corporate. Founded in 2006, Atalaya is headquartered in New York City and has approximately $10.5 billion in assets under management. For more information visit www.atalayacap.com.

SOURCE CipherHealth

NEW YORK, June 26, 2024 — Formation Bio, a tech-driven and AI-native pharma company, announced today that it has raised $372MM of Series D financing. The financing was led by a16z with significant participation from Sanofi. Current investors also joined the round, including Sequoia, Thrive, Emerson Collective, and Lachy Groom, along with new investors, such as SV Angel Growth and FPV Ventures. This round reflects a material step up from the company’s Series C valuation. As part of the financing, Scott Kupor, Managing Partner at a16z and Alfred Lin, Partner at Sequoia will join Formation Bio’s Board of Directors alongside existing board director Michael Moritz, Sr. Advisor to Sequoia Heritage and board observer Kareem Zaki, Partner at Thrive Capital.

“We are thrilled to partner with the Formation Bio team on their journey to build an AI-enabled pharma company,” said Scott Kupor, Managing Partner at a16z. “Pharma represents one of the biggest industries in the world, and there is immense potential to make the drug development process more efficient. We’ve been impressed by the team and culture that the co-founders, Ben and Linhao, have built, one that brings together the best of pharma, tech, and AI to ultimately make an enduring impact for patients.”

Formation Bio is differentiated by its tech and AI enabled approach that drives more efficient drug development. Advancements in AI and drug discovery are creating more candidate drugs than the industry can progress because of the high cost and time of clinical trials. Recognizing that this development bottleneck limits the number of new medicines that can reach patients, Formation Bio (launched in 2016 as TrialSpark) has built technology platforms, processes, and capabilities to accelerate all aspects of drug development and clinical trials. The company partners, acquires, or in-licenses drugs from biotechs and pharma companies and develops those programs past clinical proof of concept and beyond.

The company plans to allocate the new capital towards two primary objectives: acquiring and in-licensing candidate drugs and expanding their AI capabilities.

Acquiring and in-licensing drug assets

Formation Bio plans to deploy this new capital to continue acquiring and in-licensing clinical stage assets from biotech and pharma partners.

By partnering with Formation Bio, smaller biotechs can advance more than just their lead asset, creating a pathway for other drugs in their pipeline. For large pharma companies, Formation Bio creates an “off balance sheet” pathway for development, enabling a company to take more shots on goal in a P&L efficient way.

Formation Bio creates win-win structures for its partners, leveraging a NewCo model for every asset which can facilitate shared ownership and outcomes, while providing all the capital and capabilities needed to advance the assets through their next phases of clinical development.

Applying AI and technology to drug development

Today, the biggest bottleneck of enabling more drugs to reach patients is the cost and time of drug development and clinical trials. Since its founding, Formation Bio has focused on building the technology, operations, and processes to streamline all aspects of drug development.

Through its tech-enabled operational model, Formation Bio has been able to run clinical trials significantly faster and more efficiently than industry benchmarks by streamlining activities such as study startup, participant recruitment, data management, database lock, and study close out.

Because of their tech, data, and operational foundations, Formation Bio has been able to rapidly integrate LLMs, AI models, and applications throughout its platform. While many drug development processes today are highly manual, time intensive, and costly, Formation Bio is working toward a future state where fine-tuned and customized LLMs, coupled with expert human oversight and reinforcement, can automate many of the core drug development functions. Some examples include: medical writing, protocol development, biostatistics, report generation, regulatory intelligence and much more.

Formation Bio’s plans for AI innovation span short, medium, and long term horizons. In the short term, the company is focusing on workflow automation. Two examples include: AI-generated patient recruitment content tailored to specific cohorts and AI-generated adverse event reports that are created in minutes rather than hours. In the medium term, their focus is on training AI for augmented decision making within drug development. The company is building an “AI R&D Scientist” that can provide drug development teams with decision support and eventually steer high quality R&D decisions. And, in the long term, the company’s goal is to build and train AI models that can better predict toxicity, tolerability, and one day, efficacy.

Last month, Formation Bio announced a new collaboration with OpenAI and Sanofi to jointly design and develop customized AI solutions for drug development, which is a first-of-its-kind collaboration within the pharma and life sciences industries.

“At Sanofi, we’re all in on AI,” said Paul Hudson, CEO at Sanofi. “And we are proud to partner with and invest in Formation Bio, whose AI-driven drug development vision and capabilities will help lead our industry forward in the shared ambition to accelerate and improve how we bring more new medicines to patients.”

Operating at the intersection of tech and pharma

As a tech and AI-enabled pharma company, Formation Bio has focused on building a team and culture that leverages expertise across pharma, AI, and technology.

“We are in the early stages of AI driving significant efficiencies in pharma and biotech, and Formation Bio is well-positioned to lead this transformation,” said Alfred Lin, Partner at Sequoia. “Ben and his team bring a unique mix of tech, pharma, and AI expertise, along with a track record in licensing high-quality drugs and executing clinical trials. We are proud to partner with them as they push the industry forward.”

Formation Bio’s team comes from across the tech and pharma industries, reflecting broad conviction in the company’s mission and business model. Similarly, the company’s investors represent both pharma and tech profiles, as reflected in the two new leading investors in this funding round: a16z and Sanofi. They are joined by a selective group of investors who have been part of enduring companies that have fundamentally transformed industries with technology.

“Thanks to A.I, biotech and pharmaceutical companies are about to be drowned in an avalanche of promising looking drugs that merit enquiry,” said Michael Moritz, Sr. Advisor to Sequoia Heritage. “Formation Bio has the technology and know-how to help the industry sort the wheat from the chaff.”

By addressing the drug development bottleneck, Formation Bio can enable the industry to advance more drugs than it currently can, ultimately enabling more new medicines to reach patients.

“Formation Bio” and “TrialSpark” are trademarks of TrialSpark Inc.

Press Contact

Lily Mintz // [email protected]

SOURCE Formation Bio

Saint-Gobain and KLA to Partner with Ion Storage Systems to Dramatically Accelerate Path to Commercialization for ION’s Solid-State Batteries

BELTSVILLE, Md., June 26, 2024 — Ion Storage Systems (ION), a Maryland-based manufacturer of safe, high-energy density, fast-charging solid-state batteries (SSBs), announced today that it will receive $20 million from the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) as part of a three-year, $40 million partnership with several world-class commercialization partners. ION will collaborate with Saint-Gobain, one of the world’s largest ceramics, glass and material suppliers and KLA, a leader in semiconductor process and quality control, to dramatically accelerate the commercialization of ION’s high-performing, anodeless SSB. The ARPA-E SCALEUP program will contribute $20 million that will be matched by another $20 million in private funds, bringing the total program size to $40 million.

“ION and our world-class partners have reinvented ceramic membrane manufacturing for high throughput, low cost, and low emissions production of our safe, high energy solid-state battery. We are proud to be working hand-in-hand toward gigawatt-hour production and delivery of a market-leading EV battery solution. ARPA-E’s RANGE program initiated the development of this technology in 2013 and we’re honored to be partnering with them again through SCALEUP to expand the impact of our technology and accelerate electrification of a greener energy economy.” Said Dr. Gregory Hitz, Co-Founder and CTO of ION.

ARPA-E’s SCALEUP (Seeding Critical Advances for Leading Energy Technologies with Untapped Potential) program builds on the agency’s “primary research and development focus to support the scaling of … disruptive new technologies across the full spectrum of energy applications.” ION was one of four companies to secure funding from SCALEUP in 2024 as part of its $63.5 million program budget. According to ARPA-E, the program’s goal is to help ARPA-E-funded technologies transition from proof-of-concept prototypes to commercially scalable and deployable versions of the technology. ARPA-E’s SCALEUP funding and corporate partnerships enable ION to manufacture high performing, EV-scale SSB cells in the US with domestically sourced materials while expanding on what is already among the largest SSB manufacturing facilities in the United States.

“Accelerating the widespread adoption of electric vehicles requires increasing driving range, reducing costs, and improving safety. Ion Storage Systems—through an earlier ARPA-E program—focused on working toward these goals, and now, through SCALEUP, the company will accelerate domestic manufacturing of next generation solid-state, high-power-density lithium-metal batteries, based on ION’s proprietary ceramic electrolyte manufacturing technology,” said Dr. Evelyn N. Wang, ARPA-E Director.

“Electrification is one of the critical grand challenges in the global transformation that the world needs to reduce emissions. At Saint-Gobain Ceramics, together with key innovators, we are excited to engineer a better, safer and greener world,” said Jeffrey T. Mydlarz, Vice President & General Manager Saint-Gobain.

“KLA is pleased to bring industry-leading inspection and metrology equipment and experience to support ION and next-gen battery development,” said Oreste Donzella, Executive Vice President, Electronics, Packaging and Components, KLA Corporation. “We are proud to partner with ION as a key supplier of process solutions to enable efficient ramp-up and enhanced manufacturing success of solid-state batteries. KLA is committed to leveraging the established methodologies and standards from the semi-industry to address the challenges associated with the inflection of next-gen batteries.”

The project will include sustainability-focused cell design and manufacturing milestones, with planned innovations offering the opportunity for the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions on the order of tens of thousands of metric tons of CO₂ per GWh relative to Li-ion. ION, the only anodeless and compressionless SSB battery to achieve hundreds of cycles, recently opened one of the largest SSB manufacturing facilities in the country and announced a supply agreement with Saint-Gobain in late 2023. In addition to the extensive collaboration with ARPA-E, the company is also working closely with other government agencies on applications related to defense and aerospace.

About ION Storage Systems, Inc.
ION offers a uniquely adaptable solid-state battery solution for a variety of applications including defense and aerospace, consumer, electronics, electric vehicles, and grid storage. The product of a materials-science-based approach, ION’s patented solid-state lithium metal technology can offer a battery without cobalt, nickel, and other less sustainable materials offering a variable architecture of revolutionary 3-D, ceramic structure, built with rapidly scalable manufacturing in mind. ION leverages a unique ceramic cell design that supports the use of current and next-gen cathode chemistries, promoting circularity and recycling, avoiding the issues and challenges of mining, and refining rare earth metals.

About Saint-Gobain
Worldwide leader in light and sustainable construction, Saint Gobain designs, manufactures and distributes materials and services for the construction and industrial markets. Its integrated solutions for the renovation of public and private buildings, light construction and the decarbonization of construction and industry are developed through a continuous innovation process and provide sustainability and performance. The Group’s commitment is guided by its purpose, “MAKING THE WORLD A BETTER HOME.”

About KLA
KLA Corporation (“KLA”) develops industry-leading equipment and services that enable innovation throughout the electronics industry. We provide advanced process control and process-enabling solutions for manufacturing wafers and reticles, integrated circuits, packaging and printed circuit boards. In close collaboration with leading customers across the globe, our expert teams of physicists, engineers, data scientists and problem-solvers design solutions that move the world forward. Investors and others should note that KLA announces material financial information including SEC filings, press releases, public earnings calls and conference webcasts using an investor relations website (ir.kla.com). Additional information may be found at: www.kla.com.

Contact:
Colin Mahoney, Mahoney Communications Group
212-220-6045

SOURCE ION Storage Systems