Rebellion partners with entrepreneurs to build autonomous operations and AI agents, revolutionizing business models and ushering in the era of artificial super capability

SAN FRANCISCO, June 26, 2024 — Rebellion Ventures today announced its inaugural fund, which is dedicated to partnering with entrepreneurs to build what it coined the era of artificial super capability (ASC) through autonomous operations and AI agents that have the power to revolutionize business models and unleash the greatest productivity boost in human history.

Rebellion foresees the shift from passive, intelligence-focused AI to action-oriented artificial super capability that drives business outcomes autonomously. In the real world, it is the context-specific ability to act that delivers results, rather than general intelligence. AI capabilities will evolve to be superior to humans in areas such as speed, cost, and accuracy. This shift will create an era of artificial super capability, with the potential to increase productivity by 10 to 100 times, unleashing growth and transforming business models and the way we work. Rebellion predicts the emergence of a diverse AI workforce across industries, including AI workers, digital humans, autopilots, and autonomous agents. These entities will bring super-human capabilities, continuously learning, observing, thinking, and acting 24/7 to proactively achieve business goals and elevate human work.

Rebellion partners with entrepreneurs to build revolutionary new ventures focused on autonomous operations and AI agents through its inaugural $12.9 million pre-seed/seed fund. The fund brings an operating track record of building companies to multi-billion dollar IPO and M&A exits and an advisor network of over 70 unicorn founders, operators, and industry experts in AI and automation as limited partners. Rebellion provides access to industry relationships, operating playbooks, and critical expertise that entrepreneurs need to build and scale disruptive startups.

Through the fund’s companies, Rebellion targets to collectively create at least $100 billion in annual productivity value for customers by 2030 based on initial ROI metrics. The fund has thus far partnered with 12 pioneering startups creating or enabling autonomous operations and AI agents, transforming areas such as engineering, sales, financial services, insurance, and healthcare. Subsequent to Rebellion’s initial investment, half of these ventures have already raised more capital at higher valuations. The fund expects to partner with an additional 25 startups over the next 18 months.

Rebellion is led by Jukka Alanen, who was previously SVP of Strategy, Corporate, and Business Development at PagerDuty. He helped build the company to a $2.8 billion IPO and led the strategy to revolutionize digital operations management with AI and automated workflows. Venture partners include Dr. Ramesh Raskar, a professor at MIT Media Lab and a renowned AI innovator, entrepreneur, and advisor with over 130 patents, and Aaron Aubrecht, a top product executive with a $1.2 billion M&A exit. The fund’s limited partners include over 70 unicorn founders, executives, and industry experts in AI and automation who are part of the Rebellion Advisor Network, lending their expertise and relationships to the fund and its portfolio companies.

“We are excited to partner with entrepreneurs who challenge the status quo and reimagine operations and business models for the era of artificial super capability,” said Jukka Alanen, Managing Partner of Rebellion Ventures. “To help entrepreneurs build this future of productivity, we bring the power of our community of unicorn founders, operators, and experts and our collective experience and relationships in the industry.”

Recognizing its responsibility in this new era, Rebellion seeks to be a force for good by elevating human work, committing to ethical practices in AI and automation, and contributing positively to societal and economic development. The fund has pledged 1% of its profits to give back to the community.

About Rebellion Ventures
Rebellion Ventures is a specialized pre-seed/seed venture capital firm in Silicon Valley partnering with entrepreneurs to build autonomous operations and AI agents. We seek to revolutionize business models with 10-100x productivity and create the era of artificial super capability (ASC). Rebellion brings an operating track record of building companies to multi-billion dollar IPO and M&A exits and an advisor network of over 70 unicorn founders, operators, and industry experts as limited partners. To learn more, visit rebellionvc.com.

Media Contact
Jukka Alanen
Managing Partner, Rebellion Ventures
[email protected]

SOURCE Rebellion Ventures, LLC

PALO ALTO, Calif., June 26, 2024 — Sensi.AI, a trailblazer in care intelligence, announced today the successful raise of $31 million in Series B funding, bringing the company’s total funding to over $53 million. This round was co-led by Zeev Ventures and Insight Partners, with continued support from existing investors Entrée Capital, Flint Capital, Jibe Ventures and Secret Chord Ventures.

Following a remarkable 3X year-over-year growth, driven by the urgent need to address the escalating care crisis marked by a severe caregiver shortage and soaring care costs, Sensi.AI is poised to redefine the aging-in-place landscape.

According to AARP, 90% of older adults prefer to age at home, yet a study by MissionCare Collective reveals that 89% of providers have been forced to deny home care due to the workforce crisis. Home care agencies nationwide are grappling with the challenge of delivering exceptional care while scaling their operations effectively.

Sensi.AI’s advanced audio platform revolutionizes home care by detecting and predicting care events while ensuring privacy. It provides agencies with critical insights into senior health for timely interventions and personalized care plans, reducing hospitalizations, improving caregiver-client relationships, and extending service durations to keep seniors at home longer. Sensi customers value its AI for identifying over 100 types of crucial insights, including early signs of pneumonia, UTIs, care resistance, cognitive changes, and emergency events such as falls.

In a market estimated to be worth over $390 billion globally, Sensi is the world’s first in-home 24/7 virtual care agent using audio AI technology. This innovation empowers long-term care providers to tackle significant challenges in the care industry, offering an unprecedented level of insight and support for senior care.

“When our customers say that Sensi is more than just technology, that there is a heart behind it, we know we are on the right path. We are dedicated to ensuring every senior can age with dignity in the comfort of their own home, the place they love most,” said Romi Gubes, Co-Founder and CEO of Sensi.AI. “This funding from renowned investors will help us continue to innovate our product and scale our go-to-market strategy, bringing our vision to life.”

“When I came across Sensi, I immediately recognized the magnitude of the problem they were solving. It requires more than simply applying AI technology,” said Oren Zeev, Founding Partner at Zeev Ventures. “I am confident that Sensi’s advanced audio AI technology along with their talented team will spearhead a transformation in the care ecosystem unlike anything seen before.”

“We were immediately impressed by Sensi’s mission and innovative approach to senior care. This unique use of AI shows technology’s potential to create a more compassionate and connected society, solving real-world problems that impact millions,” said Jeff Horing, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Insight Partners. “Insight is proud to back Romi and the Sensi team, and we look forward to an exciting next chapter together.”

ABOUT Sensi.AI

Sensi.AI is the most trusted 24/7 care intelligence agent on the planet using audio technology with highest level of precision. Sensi’s technology drives significant growth and efficiency for home care businesses, by providing a 360-degree understanding of a senior’s physical, emotional, and cognitive needs. Sensi supports over 80% of the largest home care networks across 41 states in the United States. For more information, visit www.sensi.ai.

SOURCE Sensi.AI

Crossover to use proceeds to expand its role as the leading ECN in digital assets and bring 24/7 trading to additional asset classes

LONDON, June 26, 2024 — Crossover Markets, a digital asset technology firm focused on meeting the unique liquidity requirements of institutions, today announced that it has raised $12 million in its Series A funding round led by Illuminate Financial (Illuminate) and DRW Venture Capital (DRW VC). Illuminate and DRW VC join a growing list of strategic investors that includes institutions such as Flow Traders, Laser Digital, Two Sigma, Wintermute, and retail brokers such as Exness, Gate.io, GMO, Pepperstone, Trademax and Think Markets.

“This fundraise comes at a time when institutional market structure is changing in digital assets,” said Brandon Mulvihill, Co-Founder and CEO of Crossover Markets. “Prime brokerage and central clearing models are advancing, creating fungibility and exposing execution venues that hold clients captive. We are honored to welcome strategic shareholders who share our vision and passion to create the world’s leading execution-only trading venue for digital assets. Illuminate brings enormous depth of knowledge across the institutional landscape, and DRW adds significant expertise as one of the largest, multi-asset market makers in the world.”

“Illuminate Financial has been building out a portfolio of institutional grade digital assets infrastructure companies since 2019 as part of our thesis around the convergence of traditional finance and digital asset market structure,” said Mark Beeston, Founder and Managing Partner, Illuminate Financial. “Crossover adds best-in-class execution capability to that portfolio, serving both the immediate and long-term needs of financial institutions that wish to trade digital assets with a future-proof 24/7 low latency infrastructure that traditional markets are increasingly moving towards.”

“DRW VC has a proven track record of supporting early-stage companies committed to delivering market structure innovations both in the traditional and crypto markets,” said Kim Trautmann, Partner at DRW Venture Capital. “Crossover Markets was a natural fit for our portfolio, and we’re excited to support its experienced management team to deliver a best-in-class technology solution for digital asset trading that delivers superior execution while minimizing counterparty risk.”

Crossover also announced the addition of new Board Members. Mark Beeston, Founder and Managing Partner of Illuminate Financial, will join Crossover’s board of directors along with Kevin Wolf, CFO at American Financial Exchange and former CEO of Euronext FX.

Mulvihill added, “Digital assets market structure is experiencing a pivotal change driven by institutional needs and activity. Simultaneously, we are witnessing the early-stage emergence of discussions around 24/7 trading across traditional asset classes. CROSSx is designed to be among the fastest, highest-performance venues in any asset class. More specifically, we developed the platform to bring 24/7 trading, price precision and size precision characteristics to traditional markets where technology is lagging in such areas. Bolstering governance and broadening corporate strategy to address the needs of clients in this evolving landscape were atop our agenda when thinking about Board expansion. Mark and Kevin bring a wealth of experience that spans equities, fixed income, FX, and digital. We are elated to add dynamic leadership by welcoming Mark and Kevin to Crossover.”

Crossover Markets is best known for its execution-only electronic communication network (ECN), CROSSx, an institutional trading venue for digital assets. Its ultra-low-latency and quote-driven matching technology, combined with tailored liquidity and smart order routing, make it a destination for more competitive prices and overall lower trading costs.

Crossover Markets recently reported over $3.15 billion (USD) in notional trading value, 415,450 trades, and over 141 billion quotes processed on CROSSx in Q1 2024. With the added funding, Crossover Markets will continue to invest in its team and technology, further strengthening its position in the market.

About Crossover Markets

Crossover Markets is a digital asset trading technology firm focused on meeting the unique liquidity requirements of institutions in the cryptocurrency markets. CROSSx, the company’s execution-only cryptocurrency Electronic Communication Network (ECN), is powered by the industry’s fastest and most advanced matching engine and includes order logic that enables clients to choose with whom they want to trade. Led by a team with decades of FX trading, prime brokerage technology and artificial intelligence experience, Crossover is ushering the next big wave of institutions in the crypto market. For more information, visit www.crossovermarkets.com.

Media Contact
Forefront Communications for Crossover
[email protected]
+44 (0) 7375 288 641

SOURCE Crossover Markets

HELSINKI, June 26, 2024 — Blastr Green Steel (Blastr) has successfully executed a financing round with strategic partners, advancing the development of a European integrated ultra-low CO2 steel value chain with its flagship steel plant in Finland.

Global steel industry leader Cargill Metals, Germany-based steel trader INTERFER Group, Tesi, Finland’s state-owned venture capital investment company, and Blastr’s founder Vanir Green Industries participated in the equity financing round. The proceeds will be used to progress development planning for the steel plant in Inkoo, Finland, and a facility in Northern Europe designed for producing 6 million metric tonnes (Mt) of high-quality low-carbon DR pellets feedstock annually. The funding will also support organisational ramp-up aligned with commercial and supply chain activities.

“This successful early financing round represents a significant step towards realising Blastr’s multi-billion Euro investment program for production of pellets, sponge iron and steel at global scale,” said Mark Bula, the CEO of Blastr Green Steel. “Together with our partners, we are set to materially contribute to transforming how the world’s most important engineering and construction material – steel – is made. The confidence from our development partners is a validation of Blastr’s unique competitive advantages and position within the global steel industry.”

Lee Kirk, Managing Director, Cargill Metals, said, “It is increasingly urgent that the global steel industry delivers on its decarbonisation commitments. We are therefore very pleased with the strong momentum and progress made by the new Blastr leadership towards the realisation of an ultra-low CO2 steel value chain in Europe as part of developing a more sustainable ferrous industry.”

Gerold Lorenz, CEO of INTERFER Edelstahl Group, added, “Our customers are increasingly focusing on low-carbon steel products, and we are committed to bringing green steel solutions to the market at scale. Our investment in Blastr reflects our strategy of establishing stable and trusting partnerships with suppliers and manufacturers worldwide.”

Esa Koponen, Investment Director at Tesi, commented, “Blastr Green Steel fully aligns with Tesi’s industrial scale-up strategy aimed at promoting economic growth, innovation and investments. We look forward to providing our long-term support to the project which will create significant economic activity in Finland by leveraging our rapidly growing local renewable energy industry to offer new competitive solutions for reducing global emissions and drive the clean and green transition.”

As part of the next development phase, Blastr is establishing framework agreements covering the entire green steel value chain from the supply of steelmaking technology and working with Cargill Metals to finalise the supply of raw materials and feedstock for pellet production, to sales of surplus pellets, HBI (hot briquetted iron) and low-cost, ultra-low CO2 steel products utilising greener logistics. These agreements will form the basis for construction financing discussions with strategic and financial partners with the ambition of making final investment decision for both the pellet plant and the steel plant by early 2026 and commencing production before 2030.

Blastr is creating a low-carbon mine-to-gate steel value chain with 90% lower C0₂ emissions than conventional steelmaking by using hydrogen instead of coal in the iron production process and feedstock made with carbon-free energy. This mine-to-gate model enables a differentiated and profitable business model with a low carbon footprint.

Completion of the partner financing round is conditional upon the approval by the general meeting of Blastr 28 June 2024. SEB acted as financial advisor to Blastr and BAHR was legal advisor. Capient AS acted as strategic capital markets advisor.

For media inquiries, please contact:
[email protected] 
+358 50 465 4767 

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The AI Startup Aims to Deliver Safety and Security for AI Large Language Models

SAN JOSE, Calif., June 25, 2024 — HydroX AI, an artificial intelligence (AI) startup with the industry’s first comprehensive all-in-one large language model (LLM) safety and security platform, today announced closing a $4 million angel round from Vitalbridge Capital, Atom Capital and noted AI expert, Qi Lu, EVP of Microsoft, former COO of Baidu.

The funding will provide the means for HydroX AI to continue LLM safety innovation, validate the market need, and further the platform’s market entry goals.

The investment comes to a fast-growing segment of the exploding LLM AI market. Global LLM revenue is projected to grow to 260 billion by 2030. With that growth comes increasing safety and security risk. HydroX AI has found that a typical LLM is vulnerable to attack and compromise in as little as three months from release, meaning constant security measure updates are a must. As a result, HydroX AI sees great need and potential in the AI Trust, Risk, and Security Management (AI TRiSM) sector.

“The blending of artificial intelligence with society is just starting. It raises issues beyond privacy and security, including ethics, learning, and mental effects. Looking ahead, security will be key, not just for protection but as a foundation for AI’s growth,” said Ben, partner at Vitalbridge Capital.

HydroX AI was created to directly address these LLM risks by providing a comprehensive platform for the evaluation, mitigation, protection, and monitoring of Large Language Model (LLM) safety and security in the four trust domains: safety, privacy, integrity and security.

Introducing EPASS – HydroX AI’s Evaluation Platform for AI Safety and Security

HydroX also announces the official launch of EPASS, its cutting-edge Evaluation Platform for AI Safety and Security.

HydroX AI EPASS Platform

This state-of-the-art platform enables precision evaluation and management of AI models, offering detailed insights that empower users to understand and enhance the safety, security, privacy, and integrity of their AI systems. EPASS serves as a crucial tool in a landscape where robust evaluation frameworks are imperative due to the substantial ethical, social, and existential risks associated with AI technologies.

The EPASS platform facilitates:

• Evaluation: Precision assessment of AI models using advanced techniques to identify vulnerabilities and ensure models meet high standards of safety and integrity. Detailed reports provide actionable insights, helping users refine AI performance and reliability.
• Management: A user-friendly dashboard allows for effortless model management and comparison, integrating seamlessly into existing workflows for real-time monitoring and updates.
• Leaderboard: A comprehensive ranking system that benchmarks AI models across over 30 safety and security categories, offering users critical reference points for continuous improvement.

This platform allows stakeholders across industries to manage and compare AI models with ease, enhancing decision-making and improving AI system reliability, without the need to build an expensive in-house evaluation team and infrastructure.

All standard accounts come with essential features, including one model evaluation daily, one attack method, and one evaluation per category. For those seeking advanced and comprehensive evaluations, HydroX also offers a range of customizable add-ons:

• Unlimited Evaluations per Category: Dive deeper into the evaluation process with unlimited assessments for each category.
• Category Bundles: Tailored category bundles designed to align with specific domains, streamlining the evaluation process.
• Higher Speed: Accelerate evaluations with higher processing speeds, optimizing efficiency.
• Dashboard to Visualize Results: Gain real-time insights into models’ performance with intuitive dashboard interface.
• More Attack Methods: Expand assessment capabilities with a wider array of attack methods at the clients’ disposal.
• Dedicated GPUs: Enhance processing power and efficiency with dedicated GPU resources.

HydroX AI is currently in early development engaging with major LLM companies. Several of these companies have seen notable enhancements from the platform, showcasing EPASS’s potential and affirming its strategy for tackling trust issues in LLMs. These endorsements from leading LLM companies not only underline its pioneering role but also secure a first-mover advantage in the crucial, evolving field of AI safety and security.

HydroX AI was founded by Zhuo Li, former head of the Privacy and Data Protection Office at Bytedance. Before Bytedance, Li developed his expertise at Meta and LinkedIn, contributing significantly to privacy and security measures. The team, rich in safety and security veterans, includes Head of Engineering Yuji Kosuga, with deep roots in the field through experiences at companies such as LinkedIn, Google, and Meta, underscoring their profound dedication to advancing AI safety and security.

About HydroX AI LLC

Founded in 2023, HydroX AI (www.hydrox.ai) is a San Jose, California based AI trust, risk and security management (AI TRiSM) startup with the mission to ensure a safer world through cutting-edge AI security solutions for LLM evaluation and enhancement. Their platform, the industry’s first all-in-one platform for LLM safety and security, allows LLM developers to address the major LLM risk areas with development-stage tools and post deployment monitoring tools.

Check out https://www.hydrox.ai/blogs/64ab58a5-73a9-4b82-bffa-dcb2406a3efe, for a more in-depth look at how to use EPASS. Additionally, dive into our newest blog post highlighting a white paper exploring the vulnerabilities of LLMs, dissecting attack methods, and offering practical recommendations for anyone interested in AI security: https://www.hydrox.ai/blogs/818992e9-b828-45c3-b808-b69dca5a5833.

SOURCE HydroX AI

NEW YORK, June 25, 2024 — Adonis, a leading healthcare financial technology platform based in New York City, today announced that it has raised $31 million in Series B financing led by Point72 Private Investments. Point72 Private Investments was joined by new investor Kin Ventures, along with existing investors General Catalyst, Bling Capital, and Max Ventures.

The current round comes on the heels of a $17.3 million Series A round, led by General Catalyst only 12 months ago, bringing the total amount raised to $54 million since the company’s founding in 2022. This fundraise solidifies Adonis’ position as one of the fastest growing revenue intelligence and automation companies in the United States.

As of this fundraise, Adonis works with over 10,000 providers and has processed tens of millions of claims, totaling over $13.3 billion in charges. Adonis works with over 3,000 different payers, equating to nearly all of the payers in the United States, and integrates with over 35 different EHRs and Clearinghouses. Adonis works with health systems, single-specialty physician groups, and rapidly growing digital health companies across anesthesia, dermatology, orthopedics, dental, emergency medicine, gastroenterology, OB/GYN, behavioral health, and more.

For healthcare organizations, the process of collecting revenue from insurance companies represents nearly 1 out of every 7 dollars spent — a testament to the highly manual and ever-changing nature of submitting insurance claims. Adonis was built as a response to the shortcomings of legacy revenue cycle technology that lacked the ability to deploy the pattern recognition and anomaly detection required to streamline and automate otherwise manual workflows, a status quo that represents a $150 billion challenge.

Adonis is a revenue intelligence and automation platform, designed for healthcare, that gives healthcare providers the ability to collect the revenue that they deserve. Since its inception, Adonis has focused on building a proprietary model that applies ML and AI methods to pinpoint the constantly changing root-cause issues that customers face. Adonis Intelligence, Adonis’ flagship product, serves as the engine that powers dramatic reductions in staffing needs and improved collections outcomes. Real-time dashboards and alerts, as well as AI-driven recommendations, claims status tracking, smart worklists, and underpayments detection, increase RCM team efficiency, productivity, and effectiveness.

“The Adonis team has a deep understanding of the complex challenges prevalent in healthcare today,” said Sri Chandrasekar, Managing Partner at Point72 Private Investments. “By helping practices recover more revenue, they are in turn giving providers the ability to focus on improving patient experiences and health outcomes overall. We believe their approach has the potential to create a lasting impact on practices, providers, and patients and are excited to be a partner along the way.”

“The opportunity to expand our investment with Adonis is exciting,” said Holly Maloney, Managing Director at General Catalyst. “We believe their progress is a true testament to the sophistication of their technology, coupled with their relentless pursuit of innovation in the healthcare revenue cycle space. Since investing in their Series A, we’ve watched the Adonis team continuously demonstrate the effectiveness of their technology, helping healthcare teams recover more revenue so that they can focus on clinical outcomes. Their advancements have reinforced our confidence in their technology, team, and strategic vision, and we look forward to continuing to support their journey.”

“Revenue cycle and managing claims continues to be an underlying challenge for many of our nation’s providers and practices, often leading to financial stress and operational inefficiencies. Through cutting-edge technology and a customer-centric approach, we are committed to empowering teams to recover the revenue they deserve and create an improved patient experience. We strive to improve the financial health of healthcare providers, ensuring they can focus on delivering exceptional patient care. Last year, we had the honor of being named a Most Promising Startup of 2023 by Business Insider. In an era of software companies defined by hard-to-reach projections, I am humbled and grateful for our team and early customers for their commitment in helping us drive towards our mission,” said Akash Magoon, Co-Founder and CEO, Adonis.

“Adonis is committed to providing our nation’s healthcare executives with cutting-edge data surveillance and observability tools that enable broad automation capabilities across their ever-growing teams. In the ongoing game of cat-and-mouse between insurance companies and healthcare providers, static rule-based approaches to revenue cycle technology simply does not cut it. Our vision, from the inception of Adonis, was to give healthcare organizations the ability to leverage large language models across the millions of records of data they generate on a daily basis to better inform and mitigate issues, and to recover revenue faster and more efficiently,” said Aman Magoon, Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer, Adonis.

With this new funding round, Adonis is focused on accelerating product innovation, continuing to expand into the health system space, and growing their New York City-based team.

About Adonis
Adonis is a Revenue Intelligence and Automation Platform, built for Healthcare, solving for operational challenges that impact the integrity of revenue cycle management. On average, Healthcare providers are unable to collect 15% or more of the revenue it’s owed. This is a result of compounding fractures in traditional RCM; a series of people, processes, systems, and tools are collectively responsible for this dilemma. Powered by data science and automation, Adonis provides solutions to address the common issues and areas of susceptibility within RCM to create better, more reliable revenue outcomes. No matter where you are in your revenue cycle journey, we can help you take a step in the right direction to achieve your revenue potential. Learn more at adonis.io.

Contact:
Dan Murdoch
[email protected] 

SOURCE Adonis

One of the Year’s Most Successful Open Source Launches Receives Strong Vote of Confidence from the Developer Community

NEW YORK, June 25, 2024 — Daytona, an open source development environment manager, announces today that it has secured $5 million in seed funding to fuel its mission of democratizing development for developers globally. Led by Upfront Ventures with participation from existing investor 500 EE, this new infusion of capital will enable Daytona to accelerate the expansion of streamlined development environments to developers worldwide. The company will use the funds for product development and hiring for new marketing, sales and engineering roles.

Since introducing its enterprise developer solution in late 2023, Daytona has nearly doubled its ARR. The company also created an open source version geared toward individual developers that has garnered immense interest, amassing over 5,000 GitHub stars since its inception two months ago and consistently featuring on the most-starred repository list, demonstrating strong demand.

Daytona initially emerged as a solution tailored for large enterprises, enabling their developers to automate tasks, collaborate effortlessly, and enhance productivity albeit while adherent to enterprise security needs. Recognizing the importance of extending these benefits beyond large organizations, it has open sourced key components of its enterprise platform to empower the individual developers with the same streamlined development experience. One persistent challenge in the developer community is the “works on my machine problem,” where inconsistent development environments lead to significant productivity losses. According to IEEE Journal, developers lose 56% of their productive time due to inefficient environments. Daytona addresses this issue head-on by allowing any developer to create a fully working environment with a single command, “daytona create.”

“Our goal is to make every developer more productive, while lowering the barrier to entry for newcomers by removing unnecessary complexities. Today, setting up a dev environment can feel like starting a car in the 1900s with many steps and points of failure,” said Ivan Burazin, co-founder and CEO of Daytona. “Daytona makes it as simple as starting a modern car today where you can just push a button and go. We help developers focus on what really matters to them, which is writing code and building innovative solutions.”

“We’re thrilled to support the Daytona team on their mission to simplify development environments,” said Kevin Zhang, Partner at Upfront Ventures and new board member at Daytona. “The most forward thinking companies in the world have landed on cloud developer environments as a way of achieving a uniform developer environment for their teams. The Daytona founders have been working towards this since they created one of the first cloud IDEs over a decade ago. Their subject matter expertise and passion uniquely positions them to build a beloved developer experience that also satisfies even the strongest security requirements.”

For more information about Daytona or to try it today, visit https://www.daytona.io.

About Daytona
Based in NY but fully distributed globally, Daytona is an open source development environment manager. Daytona simplifies the process of creating standard and secure environments, automates environment setups on branches, and shares environments seamlessly. It also integrates with your IDE or Git provider, adhering to standards such as Development Container, Devfile, Nix and others. The company has raised a total of $7M million from Upfront Ventures, 500 Global, and also founders of Postman, Netlify, Supabase among others.

SOURCE Daytona Platforms, Inc

Secures Growth Financing From Elsewhere Partners to Accelerate Market Expansion, Appoints New CEO and Moves Global Headquarters to Texas

LONDON and AUSTIN, Texas, June 25, 2024 — Deskpro today announced the close of a $25 million Series A funding round led by Elsewhere Partners to meet intensifying demand for its comprehensive suite of proven help desk solutions. Deskpro will use the growth financing to strengthen its customer experience team, expand its AI-powered help desk solutions and further penetrate key markets, with a focus on expansion in the United States. Deskpro also announced the appointment of software industry leader Brad Murdoch as CEO and established a new global headquarters in Austin, Texas.

“Industry-leading customer support experience is a critical business priority for us, which led us to Deskpro’s flexible and modern help desk solution,” said Marion Abramo, Support Manager, Aquatic Informatics. “Deskpro allows us to seamlessly manage support needs across multiple software platforms for our global customer base. Automating our ticketing processes, response workflows and communications has made process optimization possible, while also improving our response times and the quality of our support interactions. Deskpro also offers the ‘Service Level Agreement’ tracking, customer satisfaction feedback and reporting we need to understand the performance of our business.”

The company helps hundreds of global leaders like Aon, Bitdefender, Brown University, HMRC, Keyence, and the NHS provide exceptional customer service and support in 20+ languages across more than 60 countries. Deskpro offers a single, secure, customizable solution for customer service management (CSM), IT service management (ITSM) and enterprise service management (ESM) with flexible deployment options in Deskpro’s cloud, a customer’s private cloud or on-premise in a customer’s data center.

An Elsewhere Partners Operating Advisor and seasoned software industry executive, Murdoch brings two decades of experience partnering with technical founders to build strong go-to-market strategies and accelerate revenue growth to his new role as CEO of Deskpro. He will lean on his experience successfully scaling software companies and leading global sales, marketing and business development teams to maximize Deskpro’s market reach in the growing help desk automation sector. Most recently serving as executive vice president at Lightbend, Murdoch has also held various senior executive roles at Prevoty (acquired by Imperva), Framehawk (acquired by Citrix), Nukona (acquired by Symantec), OpenSpan (acquired by Pegasystems), and JBoss (acquired by Red Hat). Murdoch also serves on the Board of Directors of Permission.io.

“Working with Elsewhere Partners and the Deskpro team over the last few months, I’ve been continually impressed by the company’s dedication to the ongoing success of its customers, the breadth of its platform and the market traction it has been able to drive organically,” said Deskpro CEO Brad Murdoch. “I am looking forward to working with the leadership team to take Deskpro to the next phase of its growth and fully tap its global market potential as the need for flexible, secure, AI-driven service management solutions continues to grow dramatically.”

Based in Austin, Texas, Murdoch plans to rapidly grow Deskpro’s U.S.-based sales and marketing team, while keeping its existing product development and engineering teams in the London office. Founder Chris Padfield will remain on the Board of the company and lead product strategy as Chief Product Officer.

“When it became clear that we needed to scale faster to meet the needs of our customers, we conducted an extensive evaluation of potential investors. Our shared vision with Elsewhere Partners became apparent early on, and we are excited that this funding round enables us to make important investments in our product and people to further fuel our growth,” noted Padfield.

As part of the financing, established software industry leaders Rod Favaron and Rita Selvaggi, both Operating Partners at Elsewhere Partners, have joined the Board of Directors, along with Principal Nick Stoffregen. They will serve as functional advisors to provide guidance and support for Deskpro during this high-growth phase.

“In our effort to find and invest in leading IT automation solutions, Deskpro stood out in a sea of help desk solution providers because of its powerful, highly configurable and feature-rich platform,” said Favaron. “Deskpro meets the needs of support teams serving both internal and external audiences with an advanced solution that can be deployed in any environment. The demand for secure, scalable help desk automation continues to grow, and Deskpro is positioned to lead the industry into a new era of AI-powered, enterprise-grade solutions that can meet an organization’s needs at any point in their IT evolution.”

About Deskpro
Deskpro develops flexible help desk software that enables organizations around the globe to provide better customer-facing and internal support experiences through a centralized and user-friendly interface for managing support interactions across multiple channels such as email, live chat, phone, and social media. Deskpro automates repetitive, complex, and time-intensive processes, resulting in a more engaged and productive staff, leading to better customer experiences. Deskpro is extremely customizable and can be securely deployed in Deskpro’s cloud, a customer’s private cloud or on-premise in a customer’s data center. For more information, visit www.deskpro.com.

About Elsewhere Partners
Elsewhere Partners is a growth-stage investment firm that has invested in Elsewhere Outliers – business software companies located outside of traditional venture capital hubs that have achieved substantial customer traction and revenue growth without significant outside funding – since 2017. Elsewhere Partners combines transitional capital with transformational expertise to help companies achieve exit readiness on their own terms. Collectively, Elsewhere’s investors, Operating Partners and Operating Advisors represent experience across 150+ organizations, 100+ acquisitions, 150+ rounds of financing and $1+ billion in total investment. To learn more, visit https://elsewhere.partners.  

Media Contact:
Erica Camilo
Connexa Communications
C: 610.639.5644
[email protected]

SOURCE Deskpro

PALO ALTO, Calif., June 25, 2024 — opus1.io, an end-to-end practice management platform for lesson & class-based performing arts businesses, today announced a strategic investment from Five Elms Capital, a leading software investment firm. The funding will support further investment in opus1.io’s platform, which helps performing arts professionals operate and grow their businesses more efficiently.

opus1’s performing arts platform is built with a single mission in mind: to provide performing arts schools with the tools they need to spend less time in their business and more time on their business. The platform helps customers seamlessly solve complex issues related to scheduling, booking, staffing, marketing, invoicing, and payments – all in one easy-to-use, modern platform. Since 2019, Founder and CEO Sam Lellouche has been committed to building a best-in-class technology that solves all of the daily operational shortcomings he has experienced in his own music school.

“We’ve exponentially grown in the last 18 months. Our customer feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and we are honored to have had such a significant impact on an industry we care deeply about. With the help of Five Elms, we will continue to invest in our product while accelerating our growth into new markets,” said Lellouche.

With over 175,000 monthly users worldwide, opus1.io has a loyal and fast-growing customer base that serves performing arts schools of all sizes. With the help of Five Elms Capital, the expansion of opus1.io’s customer service and product development teams has become an immediate reality.

“Performing arts schools face increasing complexity as they scale from one instructor to many. opus1.io allows them to do less administration and more of what they love – inspiring students. The company has proven itself as a premier end-to-end solution for the performing arts schools industry,” said Austin Gideon, Principal at Five Elms Capital. “We’re thrilled to support the team’s mission and vision, provide better service to the current customer base, and expand their reach to new verticals. We look forward to seeing the positive impact the partnership will have on the company and the broader performing arts community.”

opus1.io has recently launched opus1.io plus, a cutting-edge growth solution for studios that are primed for accelerated expansion. Rory Cain, Head of Sales for opus1.io, commented on the newly launched product, “opus1.io has been a champion of performing arts education businesses from day one. Our partnership with Five Elms Capital enables us to double down on those efforts and further empower business owners to spread arts in their community with our flagship platform as well as continued advancements to our growth module, opus1.io plus.”

With features such as advanced reputation management and sales pipeline, business owners can track, predict, and prepare for virtually anything – including students at risk of cancellation long before it happens. Additionally, opus1.io plus has elaborate marketing capabilities that put the knowledge and experience of a Chief Marketing Officer in the hands of every studio owner.

About opus1.io
opus1.io started as a disrupter in the music school software space, growing to be the leading provider of end-to-end technology solutions for performing arts academies worldwide today. Founded by performing arts studio owners, opus1.io is designed to be the all-in-one solution to manage all your customers, staff, services, schedules, invoices, and payments. Our advanced technology is ideal for both individual and class-based learning. For more information about opus1.io and opus1.io plus, visit opus1.io.

About Five Elms
Five Elms Capital is a global growth equity firm that invests in fast-growing B2B software businesses that users love. Five Elms provides capital and resources to help companies accelerate growth and further cement their role as industry leaders. Since firm inception in 2007, Five Elms has focused exclusively on software investing, building an unmatched network and deep domain expertise. Today, with over $2.4 billion in assets under management and a global team of over 70 investment professionals, Five Elms has invested in more than 65 software platforms globally. For more information, visit fiveelms.com.

SOURCE Five Elms Capital