BOSTON, Sept. 9, 2024 — Bambusa Therapeutics Inc., a biotechnology company focused on developing bispecific antibodies for the treatment of immunological and inflammatory (I&I) disorders, announced the successful closing of its Series Seed financing round, raising approximately $15 million. 

Bambusa Therapeutics was founded by a team of industry experts and scientific innovators united by a vision to transform the treatment landscape for I&I diseases. The company leverages validated targets to create bispecific antibody therapeutics through innovative antibody engineering, with an aim to achieve best-in-disease profiles for multiple indications.

The financing round was co-led by BVF Partners L.P. and Dawn Biopharma, a platform controlled by KKR, with participation from Salvia GmbH and INCE Capital. The capital raised will be used to accelerate the development of Bambusa Therapeutics Inc.’s promising pipeline of bispecific antibodies to Phase I clinical studies.

“We founded Bambusa Therapeutics with a belief that the I&I field is long overdue for innovative approaches and transformative therapeutics. Since our inception, we have built a diverse portfolio of molecules and is uniquely positioned to make significant contributions to patients suffering from debilitating and chronic inflammatory conditions,” said Dr. Shanshan Xu, CEO and Co-Founder of Bambusa Therapeutics. 

Helmut Jeggle, Managing Director of Salvia GmbH and Co-Founder of Bambusa Therapeutics, commented, “We are thrilled to have the support of such distinguished investors who share our vision. This funding will allow us to strengthen the team to advance our lead candidates through preclinical development and position us for success in clinical studies.” 

About Bambusa Therapeutics Inc.: 

Bambusa Therapeutics is a rapidly growing biotechnology company specializing in developing transformative inflammatory and immunological therapeutics. Based in the vibrant Boston Seaport area, our mission is to advance the field of immunology with cutting-edge solutions.

SOURCE Bambusa Therapeutics

Conference serves as gateway to larger tech ecosystem, not only connecting founders to capital but also serving as key place to network with those pivotal to business success

ATLANTA, Sept. 9, 2024 — Venture Atlanta, one of the nation’s largest and most prestigious venture capital conferences, today announced the trailblazing tech companies to be featured at its 17^th annual event taking place October 8-9 at The Woodruff Arts Center and Atlanta Symphony Hall. To view the list of this year’s 88 hottest tech companies, go here.

Venture Atlanta 2024 is anticipated to draw over 1,500 attendees including 450 funds from across the nation.

“Based on our record number of applicants this year, our startup ecosystem is thriving despite the current economic challenges,” said Venture Atlanta CEO Allyson Eman. “If you’re a startup looking for funding, Venture Atlanta is the clear place to be. And even if you’re not fundraising, Venture Atlanta offers so much more, including the ability to connect with those who can further your success, from industry visionaries and top tech talent to potential mentors, partners, and customers. Whether you’re looking to raise funds, get inspired, learn, or build relationships that can help you achieve more, you’ll want to be there.”

Eman added that while Venture Atlanta is continuing its most popular programs, including last year’s highly attended pitch competitions, it is also providing even greater in-depth networking opportunities and exclusive events targeted to key groups such as founders, investors, and women entrepreneurs. “We’re continually refining programs and raising the bar to deliver the best experience,” she said.

This year’s Venture Atlanta has broken another record with 630 presenter applications—a 15 percent increase over last year and the most applicants ever. A big increase was comprised of companies from the Deep South (TN, KY, AL, AR, LA, and MS), with a 50 percent jump in the number of applicants from this region.

To date, Venture Atlanta has helped launch 843 companies and raise $7.7 billion in funding, also spinning out $17 billion in successful exits. The conference’s successful alumni include Bark, CallRail, Car360, Clearleap, Flock Safety, Florence, HealthSnap, ParkMobile, Rigor, Roadie, Salesloft, Stax, Terminus, and others. 

Over the last year, Venture Atlanta has partnered with a number of highly recognized accelerator programs, incubators, and venture conferences, including Seed the South Capital Summit, Florida Venture Capital Conference, Capital Factory, gener8tor, Nashville Entrepreneur Center, South Carolina Research Authority, Tampa Bay Wave, RevTech Labs, and more.

Pitch Event With $500K Investment Prize Continues for Second Year
Venture Atlanta 2024 will once again host pitch competitions for early-stage and growth companies—as well as the “Startup Showcase Live” competition for pre-seed and seed-stage companies, with the winner of the latter receiving a $500,000 investment prize.

The $500,000 prize is being funded by Catalyst by Wellstar, Front Porch Venture Partners, Knoll Ventures, Las Olas Venture Capital, and TiE Atlanta Angels. 

The first round of pitches will be voted on by the Venture Atlanta audience, who will determine the companies that move on to be judged by an all-star panel of investors. To view the list of this year’s judges, go here.

“We’re thrilled by another record-breaking year for applicants, resulting in the incredible lineup of innovators being featured at Venture Atlanta 2024,” said Drew Graves, Senior Sales Consultant at ExtensisHR and Venture Atlanta Committee Chair. “As always, our goal is to spotlight groundbreaking startups and connect them with the resources they need to thrive. This year, we’re excited to see the diverse talent and transformative ideas that will shape the future of the tech industry.”

USC Gamecocks Women’s Head Basketball Coach to Deliver Closing Keynote 
Underscoring Venture Atlanta 2024’s theme of Leadership and Performance, Dawn Staley, head coach of the South Carolina Gamecocks women’s basketball program, will deliver the closing keynote address, which will explore Championship Mentality. Staley has garnered fame as being one of the driving forces behind the increase in attention, enthusiasm, and attendance for women’s basketball and women’s sports in general. 

During her time as the Gamecocks’ head coach, Staley has earned three NCAA National Championships (2017, 2022, 2024); six NCAA Final Fours in the last seven tournaments; seven 30-win seasons, including a program-record 38 wins in 2023-24; eight SEC regular-season championships; eight SEC tournament titles; 10 NCAA Attendance titles; and four Werner Ladder Naismith Coach of the Year awards.

As a player, Staley’s accolades include being a five-time WNBA All-Star; two-time ABL All-Star; part of the WNBA All-Decade Team; an Olympic gold medalist (1996, 2000, 2004); a flag bearer for the US in the 2004 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony; and a two-time USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year.

Venture Atlanta 2024 Is Presented by Invesco
Venture Atlanta is the premier must-attend technology event due in part to the generous support of its sponsors. Invesco is once again the conference’s Title Sponsor, with J.P. Morgan as Premier Sponsor and Headline Sponsors including Cherry Bekaert, Dell Technologies, ExtensisHR, Marketwake, and Morris, Manning & Martin.

There are more than 100 sponsors of Venture Atlanta 2024. For a complete list of this year’s sponsors, go here.

Venture Atlanta Culminates In Techstars Atlanta Block Party and Demo Day
On the afternoon of October 9, Techstars Atlanta will host an outdoor block party as part of its Demo Day, powered by Cox Enterprises. Demo Day offers the opportunity to hear directly from founders in the Techstars program about the innovative companies they have been building throughout its 13-week accelerator program. All Venture Atlanta attendees get automatic access to both of these events—a new perk being offered this year!

Register to Attend Venture Atlanta—Before Last-Call Pricing Begins
Taking place October 8-9, Venture Atlanta 2024 is anticipated to be a sold-out event with over 1,500 entrepreneurs, founders, investors, and business leaders expected to be in attendance. It will again be held at The Woodruff Arts Center at 1280 Peachtree Street with keynotes, panels, and pitches in the beautiful Atlanta Symphony Hall that is part of the Woodruff campus.

For the full Venture Atlanta conference schedule, go here.

To register for the 17^th annual Venture Atlanta before last-call pricing goes into effect on September 23 or passes are sold out, go here.

About Venture Atlanta
Venture Atlanta, the Southeast’s technology innovation event, is where the region’s most promising tech companies meet the country’s top-tier investors. As the Southeast’s largest investor showcase helping launch 843 companies and raise $7.7 billion in funding to date, the event connects the region’s top entrepreneurs with local and national investors and others in the technology ecosystem who can help them raise the capital they need to grow their businesses. The annual nonprofit event is a collaboration of the Atlanta CEO Council, Metro Atlanta Chamber, and the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG). For more information, visit www.ventureatlanta.org. For updates, follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn, and visit our blog.

SOURCE Venture Atlanta

AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 9, 2024 — ClearCam Inc., the leading innovator in improving laparoscopic visualization, is pleased to announce the appointment of two distinguished professionals to its Board of Directors. Bill Hale, of Hale Holdings, and Hal Jones, of Johnson and Jones Development and Universal Plant Services, will join the Board effective September 1, 2024. They will be joining existing board members John Uecker, MD, FACS; Douglas Stoakley; and David Laverty, MD.

Bill Hale is a principal, along with his father John and brother Joseph, in Hale Holdings Group, LLC, a Texas-based family office owned and operated by the Hale family. Hale Holdings is a highly qualified value-added investor bringing a breadth and depth of industry, financial, and managerial experience to its investment partners. Prior to joining Hale Holdings, Bill spent 20 years as an investment banker primarily involved in advising and investing in power and energy projects where he financed over $10B in capital projects. Bill’s extensive experience and discipline in finance, commercialization, and strategic operations will be a strong addition to the company.

Hal Jones carries many titles professionally. Currently, he is a partner in Johnson & Jones Development, which has four developments underway totaling $55M. He is also Co-Chairman of Universal Plant Services (servicing Power Generation and Petrochemical Industries) with sales of $700M. From 2006 to 2021, Mr. Jones partnered with Red McCombs and created Hal Jones Development, where they created 17 projects and sales of over $800M. Ultimately, Hal sees himself as an entrepreneur and brings his strong track record of driving business success to ClearCam’s Board of Directors.

“We are thrilled to welcome Bill and Hal to our Board of Directors,” said Dr. John Uecker, CEO of ClearCam Inc. “Their combined experience and leadership will be instrumental as we continue to innovate, expand, and commercialize our product offerings. We look forward to their contributions in guiding ClearCam towards achieving our strategic goals.”

ClearCam Inc. remains committed to improving the quality and efficiency of laparoscopic surgeries through its groundbreaking ClearScope™ technology. The addition of these esteemed board members underscores ClearCam’s dedication to excellence and growth in the medical device industry.

For more information about ClearCam Inc. and its innovative solutions, please visit www.clearcam-med.com.

Contact: Silvana Nasreddine
[email protected] 
(888) 863-8128

SOURCE ClearCam Inc.

Credit management platform provides unparalleled customization, flexibility, and automation to foster innovation across multiple industries with modern solutions.

TORONTO, Sept. 9, 2024 — NetNow, a modern trade credit automation platform that automates the credit and collections process for wholesalers & distributors, today announces $1.8MM in pre-seed funding. The round was led by Ripple Ventures, with participation from Centre Street Partners, Antler, Motivate Venture Capital, and Day One Ventures. NetNow also secured a grant from Intuit for earning The Most Customer Obsessed company award. The funding will be used to accelerate AI product development – to simplify documents, analyze data, and generate risk scores and metrics. NetNow offers the most customizable and flexible credit management product – designed by credit managers for credit managers and built for the 21st century.

B2B Credit Management is entering a golden age of technology and transformation. Existing solutions are either very paper & process intensive or clunky and built over a decade ago. The industry is ripe for disruption with newer data sets, automation, integrations, and flexibility that NetNow delivers. For example, building materials distributors like lumber yards, steel mills, plumbing, electrical, HVAC supply houses, and even manufacturers need a better way to manage credit for new & existing contractors and construction projects. NetNow is providing them with a better option that helps them reduce their credit risk and daily sales outstanding, promotes better collaboration among Credit & Sales teams, and provides deeper insights into customers financial & credit health.

“Everyone deserves to allocate their time away from monotonous tasks,” says Nauman Hafeez, CEO of NetNow. “Yet, credit and finance teams spend 42 hours per week on manually processing credit applications – a ton of effort wasted on manual research and cross referencing. The NetNow platform was created to streamline the most time-intensive aspects of applying for credit, to prioritize what truly counts. We aim to continue to work with the incredible Credit Executives that have helped us shape our product to what it is today and help pioneer a digital-first approach to credit management.”

“NetNow is uniquely positioned to be the first credit management platform that prioritizes the building materials industries like lumber, steel, concrete, and agriculture. Their world-class team is dedicated to accelerating sales and credit approvals for industries that can benefit from this technology the most,” says Matt Cohen, Managing Partner at Ripple Ventures. “As a trailblazer in SaaS credit solutions, the platform’s growth is powered by automation, AI and customization that stands to open up lucrative revenue opportunities.”

NetNow was founded by Nauman Hafeez, Eli Costea, and Soroush Arghavan to reduce credit processing time, reduce debt, and identify the top credit accounts to increase sales – NetNow’s automation results in an average of 11x return on investment for its customers. By digitizing credit applications, providing instant trade and bank references, and constantly monitoring all credit accounts, finance teams can be assured every aspect of the trade credit process is covered – leading to 70% faster customer onboarding and ultimately better collaboration between sales and credit teams.

About NetNow
NetNow is the leading technology vendor that supports businesses across key industries including lumber & building materials, electrical wholesale, HVAC, heavy equipment, roofing, general wholesale & distribution and many more. The streamlined NetNow platform helps suppliers & distributors manage Trade Credit applications digitally. Credit teams can offer digital forms to buyers (no more PDFs), issue trade & bank references automatically, create automated workflows for faster approvals, access key business data sources and much more. Learn more at: www.netnow.io

Press Contact
Rick Medeiros
[email protected]
(510) 556-8517

SOURCE NetNow

Firm leads the industry in building environmental water management, surface management and sustainable infrastructure platforms

HOUSTON, Sept. 9, 2024 — Five Point Energy LLC (“Five Point”), a leading private equity firm focused on building sustainable infrastructure, today announced the final closing of Five Point Energy Fund IV LP (“Fund IV”), receiving approximately $1.4 billion in cumulative capital commitments. Fund IV was oversubscribed and exceeded its target of $1.25 billion.

Fund IV is a continuation of Five Point’s successful strategy, leveraging the firm’s direct operating model, disciplined capital deployment into an undercapitalized market and attractive long-term value generation. Five Point features a highly experienced team with an exceptional track record, led by David Capobianco, CEO and Managing Partner, and Matthew Morrow, COO and Managing Partner.  

David Capobianco said, “We thank our existing limited partners and new investors for their overwhelming support. The closing of Fund IV is an endorsement of our team’s demonstrated strategy of establishing and operating best-in-class sustainable infrastructure platforms, including the highly successful initial public offering of LandBridge. Likewise, since our inception in 2012, Five Point has been a pioneer of midstream water management systems. We are proud to have progressively addressed the produced water needs of our blue-chip clients and to continuously bring next generation solutions, including recycling, enhanced evaporation and desalination technologies to our partners.”

Mr. Capobianco continued, “The demand for energy, land and water resources is accelerating by the day, across all industries – we sit at the intersection of these macro and infrastructure trends. Five Point is uniquely positioned to address the needs of all stakeholders with innovative midstream and land resourcing solutions to advance their business and environmental objectives. The opportunities before us are vast and compelling.”

Since the firm’s inception, Five Point has raised approximately $4 billion of limited partner commitments across four distinct funds and a yield fund, with each vintage increasing in size. Fund IV received support from institutional investors including endowments, public pensions and family offices.

About Five Point Energy

Five Point Energy is a private equity firm focused on building businesses within the environmental water management, surface management and sustainable infrastructure sectors. The firm was founded by industry veterans who have had successful careers investing in, building, and running midstream infrastructure companies. Five Point’s strategy is to buy and build assets, create companies, and grow them into sustainable enterprises with premier management teams and industry-leading E&P partners. Based in Houston, Five Point targets equity investments up to $1 billion and has approximately $6 billion of assets under management across multiple investment funds. For more information about Five Point Energy, please visit: www.fivepointenergy.com.

Media contact:
Daniel Yunger / Simone Leung
(917) 574-8582
[email protected] / [email protected]

SOURCE Five Point Energy

TVM Capital Life Science and Yonjin Venture co-led the round, joined by a strong syndicate of existing investors

BOSTON, Sept. 9, 2024 — CSA Medical Inc., developer of The RejuvenAir^® System, a Breakthrough Medical Device advancing the power of liquid nitrogen spray cryotherapy for the treatment of chronic bronchitis, today announced the completion of an oversubscribed $53 million Series D preferred stock equity financing. This round will fund the company though expected U.S. Food and Drug Association (FDA) premarket approval (PMA) and the building of a comprehensive commercialization strategy for successful U.S. launch. TVM Capital Life Science and Yonjin Ventures co-led the round, joined by a strong syndicate of existing shareholders SV Health Investors, Ascension Ventures, First Analysis, Blue Heron, and Intersouth Partners. In conjunction with the financing, Dr. Luc Marengere of TVM and Dr. Deng Mao of Yonjin Ventures will join CSA Medical’s Board of Directors. 

“We’re excited to bring new partners on board as we approach the next significant milestone of submitting the RejuvenAir System for regulatory approval,” said Wendelin Maners, CSA Medical CEO. “This new investment further validates the enormous market potential for the RejuvenAir therapeutic platform in this under-served patient population.” The RejuvenAir System is a medical device therapy aimed at treating the underlying cause of the chronic bronchitis, something no drug or device on the market does today.

“This successful funding round is a testament to our confidence in the Company’s team, vision and impact RejuvenAir will make in treating chronic bronchitis around the world,” said Dr. Luc Marengere, Managing Partner at TVM Capital Life Science. “I am excited to join the Board of CSA and look forward to see the upcoming data from the U.S. pivotal study.” 

On behalf of Yonjin Ventures, Dr. Deng Mao expressed enthusiasm about the partnership, stating “Our investment is driven by the clear and significant impact the RejuvenAir technology will have on chronic bronchitis patients worldwide.”

About COPD with Chronic Bronchitis

Chronic Bronchitis is the largest disease subset of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Bronchitis is inflammation of the bronchial airways. A chronic bronchitis diagnosis is defined by cough with productive sputum of three months duration for two consecutive years. In addition to chronic inflammation, cough and increased production of mucus, Chronic Bronchitis may or may not present with obstruction/partially blocked airways due to swelling and excess mucus in the bronchi or shortness of breath (dyspnea). In the United States, there are an estimated 16 million people with COPD, of which over 9 million have a diagnosis of Chronic Bronchitis, a subset of COPD.

About CSA Medical

CSA Medical is committed to developing spray cryotherapy devices that improve the lives of people suffering from COPD with Chronic Bronchitis. We are advancing our core liquid nitrogen spray technology, RejuvenAir, to target the underlying cause of Chronic Bronchitis – the over production of mucus and damaged cilia within the airways. By targeting and destroying these damaged cells without creating scar tissue, the body can begin the rapid regrowth of new, healthy normal functioning cells in the lung.

RejuvenAir is an investigational device and not currently commercially available in the United States.

SOURCE CSA Medical

$500+ million of additional funding will support fiber-to-the-home network construction to reach as many as 1 million locations across the state

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Sept. 9, 2024 — Race Communications, a leading Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) provider in California, announced today that it has secured more than $500 million in additional capital to accelerate the expansion of its fiber network across the state. This capital raise includes $375 million in equity from Oak Hill Capital, the existing majority investor, and its limited partners. The funding also features incremental debt financing from existing lender AB Private Credit Investors, who will also be participating in the equity round. This significant infusion of capital will support Race’s ambitious plan to extend its FTTH network to as many as 1 million locations throughout California over the next several years.

Established in 1994, Race Communications is a leader in delivering high-speed internet to communities across California. With a current reach of approximately 200,000 locations, Race has made significant strides in bridging the digital divide by providing reliable and fast internet service to a diverse range of communities in California, including metropolitan suburbs such as Lancaster, Chico, and Yuba City and rural areas in the Central Valley. This new funding will enable Race to enhance its efforts to connect even more Californians to the benefits of fiber-optic technology.

“California presents a tremendous opportunity for fiber deployment, and this new funding allows us to ramp up our construction efforts across the state,” Raul Alcaraz, CEO of Race Communications, said. “We are thrilled to have the continued support of Oak Hill Capital and to welcome our new partners as we work together to bring world-class internet service to an even larger number of residents and businesses throughout the state.”

Oak Hill Capital has been a dedicated partner to Race Communications, supporting its growth and expansion efforts since its initial investment in 2020. “Race Communications has a strong track record of success in delivering high-quality fiber-optic services to communities across California,” Scott Baker, Managing Partner at Oak Hill Capital, said. “We are excited to deepen our commitment to Race to further enhance Race’s ability to meet the growing demand for high-speed internet in our home state of California.”

Oak Hill Capital’s broader fiber portfolio, which spans thirty-one states, further underscores its commitment to advancing digital infrastructure across the United States. With significant investments in several FTTH companies, Oak Hill is a leading investor in the industry, seeking to drive innovation and growth in the broadband sector.

Race is also excited to announce the addition of two independent directors to its Board of Directors; Jim Gleason is the CEO of Vexus Fiber, a FTTH operator across Texas and surrounding states backed by Oak Hill and now a subsidiary of Metronet, and Harold Zeitz is the CEO of Ziply Fiber, a FTTH operator across the Pacific Northwest and former COO of Oak Hill-backed cable and fiber operator Wave Broadband. Mr. Gleason and Mr. Zeitz have both led the expansion of their companies’ FTTH networks to underserved markets in their respective regions and we believe are well-positioned to support Race’s accelerated growth in California as board members.

About Race Communications
Race Communications is a leading provider of fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) services, committed to delivering reliable, high-speed internet to communities across California. Founded in 1994, Race has grown to serve hundreds of thousands of communities and continues to expand its network to reach underserved and rural areas. Race is dedicated to bridging the digital divide and providing cutting-edge technology to all Californians.

About Oak Hill Capital
Oak Hill is a longstanding private equity firm focused on the North America middle-market. Oak Hill applies a specialized, theme-based approach to investing and implements a highly systematic approach to theme development, proactive origination, and value creation in partnership with management to build franchises of lasting value. Over the past 35+ years, Oak Hill and its predecessors have raised over $23 billion of initial capital commitments and co-investments and invested in over 110 companies. For more information, please visit www.oakhill.com.

About AB Private Credit Investors
Established in 2014, AB Private Credit Investors (AB-PCI) is AB’s private corporate credit platform. AB-PCI’s team of more than 80 professionals manages $19.2 billion of capital available for investment. AB-PCI’s Digital Infrastructure and Services team provides scalable and flexible credit solutions to support leveraged buyouts, network builds, acquisitions, and other growth initiatives to all sub-verticals in the digital infrastructure ecosystem.  The dedicated 9 person DIS team has committed nearly $5 billion to more than 50 sector companies.  Visit here for more information on AB-PCI.

For additional information or press inquiries please contact:
Kaitlin Colson
Director of Sales and Marketing
Race Communications
[email protected]

SOURCE Race Communications

TORONTO, Sept. 5, 2024 — WOMBO, a global leader and pioneer in consumer AI applications, today announced it has secured $9 million in its latest funding round. The investment was led by Round13 Digital Asset Fund, with participation from NVIDIA, CoreWeave, SBI, Web3.com, and others.

WOMBO has established itself as a powerhouse in the consumer AI space, boasting over 200 million downloads across its suite of applications. The company’s creative approach to AI in entertainment has resulted in two apps hitting #1 in over 100 countries, with WOMBO and WOMBO Dream both achieving tremendous viral success. In 2022, Google celebrated WOMBO’s achievement by naming Dream the app of the year.

Ben-Zion Benkhin, CEO of WOMBO, emerged from his computer screen to say: “This investment is a testament to WOMBO’s vision of making AI-powered creativity accessible to everyone. With the support of industry leaders like CoreWeave and NVIDIA, we’re well-positioned to scale our technology globally and continue delivering chart-topping hits that reimagine how people interact with AI in their daily lives.”

WOMBO’s ambitious outlook on the future of generative AI in entertainment has caught the attention of industry leaders. The company’s approach to AI applications has fostered collaborations with key technology providers, including NVIDIA. Cutting-edge solutions like NVIDIA Picasso align with WOMBO’s need for reliable and efficient AI at scale.

“WOMBO’s track record of creating viral, AI-powered apps is unparalleled in the consumer space,” said Khaled Verjee, Managing Partner at Round13 Digital Asset Fund. “Their vision for democratizing AI creativity, particularly with w.ai, aligns perfectly with the future we see for consumer technology. We’re thrilled to support WOMBO in this ambitious next phase of growth.”

“Generative AI is changing the way entertainment is delivered,” said Phil Eisler, Vice President of GPU Delivery Network at NVIDIA. “WOMBO is helping shape and scale cutting-edge experiences to its millions of users worldwide.”

The new funding will enable WOMBO to expand its team, accelerate product development, and explore new frontiers in AI-powered content creation.

The company also plans to use the funding to assist in the R&D and creation of w.ai, an ambitious project that aims to create the world’s largest AI supercomputer. w.ai is poised to transform idle devices like MacBooks, smartphones, or PlayStation devices into AI workers, allowing users to contribute computing power and earn rewards.

w.ai is partnering with WOMBO to leverage their unique insights into cloud usage and tap into their extensive user base to democratize access to AI computing resources. Through this collaboration, WOMBO users will have the opportunity to participate in the w.ai platform, contributing to and benefiting from a new era of decentralized AI computing.

WOMBO is ready to keep pushing the boundaries of what’s possible, what’s probable, and what’s quirky in the world of AI.

Stay tuned and keep your phones charged. The future of entertainment is about to get interesting.

About WOMBO

WOMBO is what happens when you give a bunch of AI enthusiasts and meme lords too many stimulants and access to the app stores. With over 200 million downloads, multiple chart-topping apps, and a Google “App of the Year” award, they’re the leading cause of “What the heck did you do to that photo?” conversations worldwide.

SOURCE WOMBO Studios

PALO ALTO, Calif., Sept. 5, 2024 — Drip Capital, a leading digital platform for trade finance, has secured $113 million in new funding. This includes $23 million in equity from Japanese institutional investors, GMO Payment Gateway and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), and $90 million in debt financing, led by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and East West Bank.

Drip has seen remarkable growth, quadrupling its revenue and doubling its customer base in the past two years. The company has expanded its services for SMBs by integrating forex and risk analytics solutions with its core trade financing products. The new funding will expedite market expansion and support the development of new products tailored to customer needs.

Drip has been a pioneer in the fintech domain, utilizing advanced AI technologies to enable efficient credit risk assessment, streamline operations, and enhance customer experiences. By continuing to invest in AI, Drip Capital aims to be at the forefront of implementing AI for trade finance.

“In 2022 and 2023, the global trade sector faced significant challenges, including rising interest rates that squeezed margins and restricted capital access for SMBs. Despite these challenges, Drip has emerged as the preferred trade finance platform for SMBs in the US and India,” stated Pushkar Mukewar, Co-founder and CEO of Drip Capital. “We’ve achieved cash profitability and expanded our business during this period. We are excited to welcome our new investors, and alongside our existing investors and debt partners, are ready to drive our next phase of growth.”

On the debt capital raise, Drip Capital’s Chief Business Officer, Karl Boog, added: “Having financed over $6 billion in trade in the past eight years, we have successfully scaled our capital providers. We are thrilled to welcome additional capital from East West Bank and the IFC, the world’s largest development finance institution.”

Karl Boog continued: “For our North American business, we have financed nearly $1 billion for US and Canadian SMBs over the past few years. Our unique Payable Finance offering allows our customers to pay their suppliers’ invoices and extend payment terms up to 120 days.”

Drip’s new investors and lenders have praised the company’s impact and potential.

“We are proud to have supported Drip from its inception, through both equity investment and debt financing. We greatly admire the remarkable growth they have achieved so far. It is a great honor for us to participate with an additional equity investment and advance towards a strategic partnership. Drip’s innovative and comprehensive solutions in digital trade finance are transforming how SMBs engage in trade. We believe Drip’s technology and proprietary underwriting are uniquely positioned to address the challenges in this space. We are excited to continue supporting their journey as they drive forward with ongoing growth and expansion,” said Ryu Muramatsu, Executive Vice President, GMO Payment Gateway.

“We are excited to contribute to the growth of society and market, by encouraging Japan–India corridor activities via this collaboration. We look forward to combining the expertise of SMBC Group with Drip Capital’s technologies, to optimize global trade and enable opportunities for small and medium-sized businesses,” commented Keiji Matsunaga, General Manager of Digital Strategy Department, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC).

About Drip Capital

Drip Capital is a high-growth digital trade fintech focused on the $5 trillion global SME cross-border trade industry. The company collaborates with over 9,000 sellers and buyers across 100+ countries, having financed more than $6 billion in trade transactions. As a strategic financial partner, Drip Capital enables SMBs to effectively manage their cash flows and working capital, driving sustainable business growth.

About GMO Payment Gateway

As a leading company in Japan’s payment industry, GMO Payment Gateway provides comprehensive online payment services, including in-person payment solutions, Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL), embedded finance, and Banking as a Service (BaaS).

About SMBC Asia Rising Fund

SMBC, one of the leading banks in Japan, co-funded SMBC Asia Rising Fund with Incubate Fund, which is a corporate venture capital, for the purpose of accelerating business development and partnerships through investments in high potential Asian start-ups.

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2497481/Pushkar_Mukewar.jpg

SOURCE Drip Capital