Parties Agree to Work Together to Maximize Recoveries for FTX Stakeholders

WILMINGTON, Del., Jan. 31, 2025 — FTX Trading Ltd. (d/b/a. FTX.com) and the FTX Recovery Trust (collectively “FTX”) today announced that they have reached a settlement with venture capital firm K5 Global (“K5”), resolving the June 2024 lawsuit brought by FTX.

“Today’s settlement reflects another mutually beneficial solution to the broader issues raised during the collapse of the FTX group,” said John. J. Ray III, Chief Executive Officer of the FTX Recovery Trust. “We are pleased to have reached an agreement with K5. Having spent extensive time with Michael Kives and Bryan Baum, co-founders of K5, it is clear that K5 is a bright spot in the FTX portfolio, and the expected strong performance of their investments will be a key driver in the recovery efforts for our stakeholders.”

K5 Global co-founders Michael Kives and Bryan Baum said in a joint statement, “We appreciate the extraordinary professionalism and collaboration of John Ray and are grateful to have reached this settlement. We are proud of the role that K5 will play in the recovery process for all FTX stakeholders.”

Additional Information about FTX Recoveries and Distributions

As previously announced, FTX’s U.S. Bankruptcy Court-approved Chapter 11 plan of reorganization (the “Plan”) became effective on January 3, 2025. The initial distribution record date for holders of allowed claims in the Plan’s convenience classes (the “Initial Distribution”) was also January 3, 2025. The Initial Distribution is expected to occur within 60 days of January 3, 2025, with participation subject to know-your-customer and other distribution requirements. U.S. Bankruptcy Court filings, including the Plan and other documents related to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court proceedings, are available at https://cases.ra.kroll.com/FTX/.

About K5

K5 Global is a venture capital firm and incubation studio that invests in category defining companies at all stages. The firm was founded in 2018 by Michael Kives and Bryan Baum.

Advisors

The FTX Recovery Trust is represented by Sullivan & Cromwell LLP as legal counsel and is assisted by Alvarez & Marsal North America, LLC as financial advisor, Perella Weinberg Partners LP as investment banker, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP as special counsel and Landis Rath & Cobb LLP as Delaware counsel.

SOURCE FTX

• Runway Growth Capital will continue to operate independently and serve as the external investment adviser to Runway Growth Finance Corp. (Nasdaq: RWAY), with the current team remaining in place
• Runway Growth Capital will leverage BC Partners Credit’s extensive platform, resources, and scale to accelerate capital formation and diversify financing options for both investors and borrowers

MENLO PARK, Calif. and NEW YORK, Jan. 30, 2025 — Runway Growth Capital LLC (“Runway”), a leading provider of growth loans to both venture and non-venture-backed companies seeking an alternative to raising equity, and BC Partners Credit, the $8 billion credit arm of BC Partners, an approximately $40 billion AUM alternative investment firm, today announced that they, along with Mount Logan Capital, a Canadian alternative asset management company internally managed by employees of BC Partners Credit, closed a transaction whereby private investment funds advised by BC Partners Credit, and Mount Logan Capital pursuant to its minority investment, have acquired Runway Growth Capital LLC.

Runway will continue to serve as the investment adviser to private investment funds and to Runway Growth Finance Corp. (Nasdaq: RWAY) (“Runway Growth Finance”), a publicly-traded business development company, under a new investment advisory agreement. As previously announced, Runway’s current officers, senior management and investment personnel are expected to continue to serve as officers and senior management.

Ted Goldthorpe, Head of BC Partners Credit, said, “Combining Runway’s expertise, network, and track record in venture debt with the global scale and resources of BC Partners Credit enables our combined firm to establish a diversified presence in the venture debt ecosystem. Runway’s solutions are in high demand. We look forward to expanding Runway’s investment capabilities, on day one, and to Runway continuing to drive returns for investors through attractive risk-adjusted investments.”

Runway Founder and Chief Executive Officer David Spreng commented, “Officially joining the BC Partners Credit platform marks an exciting new chapter for Runway and significantly contributes to our long-term vision of providing financing solutions to high quality, late and growth-stage companies. This transaction well positions Runway to increase originations within our target investment range of $30-150 million, expand our offerings to target companies and sponsors, and enhance our financing capabilities to support high-growth companies in the venture debt and growth sectors. Following the receipt of required regulatory antitrust approvals, our work with BC Partners Credit is well underway, and we’ve already begun sharing insights and capabilities to bolster originations. Looking ahead, we believe Runway is positioned for growth, with more to offer borrowers than ever before and a strengthened team that widens our network of VC and PE sponsors.”

Runway previously announced its definitive agreement with BC Partners Credit in October 2024. For additional information and investor materials, please visit the Runway website at www.runwaygrowth.com.

Advisors

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Runway Growth Capital LLC. Wachtell,
Lipton, Rosen & Katz acted as legal counsel to Runway Growth Capital LLC and Eversheds Sutherland
(US) LLP acted as legal counsel to the independent directors of Runway Growth Finance. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP acted as legal counsel to BC Partners.

About BC Partners & BC Partners Credit

BC Partners is a leading international investment firm in private equity, private debt, and real estate strategies. BC Partners Credit was launched in February 2017, with a focus on identifying attractive credit opportunities in any market environment, often in complex market segments. The platform leverages the broader firm’s deep industry and operating resources to provide flexible financing solutions to middle-market companies across Business Services, Industrials, Healthcare and other select sectors. For further information, visit www.bcpartners.com/credit-strategy.

About Mount Logan Capital Inc.

Mount Logan Capital Inc. is an alternative asset management and insurance solutions company that is focused on public and private debt securities in the North American market and the reinsurance of annuity products, primarily through its wholly owned subsidiaries Mount Logan Management LLC (“ML Management”) and Ability Insurance Company (“Ability”), respectively. Mount Logan also actively sources, evaluates, underwrites, manages, monitors and primarily invests in loans, debt securities, and other credit-oriented instruments that present attractive risk-adjusted returns and present low risk of principal impairment through the credit cycle. ML Management was organized in 2020 as a Delaware limited liability company and is registered with the SEC as an investment adviser under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended. Ability is a Nebraska domiciled insurer and reinsurer of long-term care policies and annuity products acquired by Mount Logan in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2021.

About Runway Growth Capital LLC

 Runway Growth Capital LLC is the investment adviser to investment funds, including Runway Growth Finance Corp. (Nasdaq: RWAY), a business development company, and other private funds, which are lenders of growth capital to companies seeking an alternative to raising equity. Led by industry veteran David Spreng, these funds provide senior term loans of a target of $30 million to $150 million to fast-growing companies based in the United States and Canada. For more information on Runway Growth Capital LLC and its platform, please visit www.runwaygrowth.com.

About Runway Growth Finance Corp.

Runway Growth Finance is a growing specialty finance company focused on providing flexible capital solutions to late- and growth-stage companies seeking an alternative to raising equity. Runway Growth Finance is a closed-end investment company that has elected to be regulated as a business development company under the Investment Company Act of 1940. Runway Growth Finance is externally managed by Runway Growth Capital LLC, an established registered investment adviser that was formed in 2015 and led by industry veteran David Spreng. For more information, please visit www.runwaygrowth.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Some of the statements in this document constitute forward-looking statements because they relate to future events, future performance or financial condition. The forward-looking statements may include statements as to future operating results of Runway or Runway Growth Finance, and distribution projections; business prospects of Runway or Runway Growth Finance, and the prospects of Runway Growth Finance’s portfolio companies; and the impact of the investments that Runway Growth Finance expects to make. In addition, words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “expect,” “seek,” “plan,” “should,” “estimate,” “project” and “intend” indicate forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements include these words. The forward-looking statements contained in this document involve risks and uncertainties. Certain factors could cause actual results and conditions to differ materially from those projected, including the uncertainties associated with (i) the future operating results and net investment income projections of Runway or Runway Growth Finance; (ii) the ability of Runway or Runway Growth Capital and their affiliates to attract and retain highly talented professionals; (iii) the business prospects Runway or Runway Growth Finance, and the prospects of Runway Growth Finance’s portfolio companies; (iv) the impact of the investments that Runway Growth Finance expects to make; (v) the ability of the portfolio companies of Runway Growth Finance to achieve their objectives; (vi) the adequacy of the cash resources and working capital of Runway Growth Finance; (vii) the timing of cash flows, if any, from the operations of the portfolio companies of Runway Growth Finance; and (viii) future changes in laws or regulations (including the interpretation of these laws and regulations by regulatory authorities). The forward-looking statements included in this document are based on information available on the date hereof, and Runway and Runway Growth Finance assume no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Although Runway and Runway Growth Finance undertake no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, you are advised to consult any additional disclosures that they may make directly to you or through reports that Runway Growth Finance in the future may file with the SEC, including annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K.

Important Disclosures

Investors considering an investment in Runway Growth Finance, the business development company advised by Runway, should carefully evaluate the investment objectives, investment strategies, and various risks of investing in Runway Growth Finance, which are not described in detail (or at all) in this document. Please see a detailed discussion of these risk factors and other related risks in Runway Growth Finance’s most recent annual report on Form 10-K in the section entitled “Risk Factors”, which may be obtained on Runway Growth Finance’s website, www.runwaygrowth.com, or the SEC’s website, www.sec.gov.

No Offer or Solicitation

This document is not, and under no circumstances is it to be construed as, a prospectus or an advertisement and the communication of this document is not, and under no circumstances is it to be construed as, an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to purchase any securities in Runway Growth Finance or in any fund or other investment vehicle managed by Runway, BC Partners, or any of their affiliates

SOURCE Runway Growth Capital LLC

CLEVELAND, Jan. 30, 2025 — DigitalC is pleased to announce the authorization of $2.76 million in funding by the Cleveland City Council today for the first year of its four-year contract with the City of Cleveland. This investment supports DigitalC’s efforts to install subscribers on a new citywide community-based network and provide essential digital skills training.

“The Cleveland City Council’s decision today is a testament to the commitment of city officials to provide high-quality and affordable broadband to Cleveland residents,” said Joshua Edmonds, Chief Executive Officer of DigitalC. “This investment enables DigitalC to maintain our momentum and ultimately fulfill the mission to bridge the digital divide – for good.”

In the first year of the four-year program—the PinnanCLE Connectivity Initiative—DigitalC connected 2,802 households to its high-speed home internet service, Canopy, achieving 80 percent of the targeted goal of 3,500 households. This effort marks the organization’s most successful performance to date, with the network now extending to over 80,000 homes across Cleveland.

Moreover, DigitalC has exceeded its digital skills training objectives, educating 7,610 residents—110 more than the target. This training equips Clevelanders with the skills needed to navigate a digital-first world, providing access to essential services such as telehealth, online education, and remote work.

As DigitalC enters the second year of the contract, with operational enhancements and key permits in place, the nonprofit is well-positioned to connect an additional 4,700 households by the end of 2025.

“We are grateful to Mayor Justin M. Bibb’s Administration and the Cleveland City Council, particularly the leadership of Council President Blaine Griffin and Utilities Committee Chairman Brian Kazy, for their efforts in ensuring that all Cleveland residents receive the connectivity they deserve,” added Edmonds. “This support, coupled with the investments from our key coalition of public, private, and philanthropic partners, will ensure that residents can thrive in the digital age.”

Recent recognitions underscore Cleveland’s leadership in the industry. The National Digital Inclusion Alliance recognized the City of Cleveland as a 2024 Visionary Trailblazer, while DigitalC itself received the Community Improvement Award from Broadband Communities’ Cornerstone Awards. Additionally, DigitalC’s Canopy service was listed on the Honor Roll of Low-Cost Internet Plans by the National Digital Inclusion Alliance. To prepare for rapid growth and scaling, DigitalC also completed the Scalerator NEO program, sponsored by the Burton D. Morgan Foundation.

Cleveland residents can subscribe to Canopy for $18/month by calling 216-777-3859 or visiting digitalc.org. DigitalC is expected to complete the buildout of the citywide network by mid-2025.

For more information about DigitalC, please visit digitalc.org.

About DigitalC

DigitalC’s mission is to deploy a premier, state-of-the-art network that is affordable, reliable, and sustainable to bridge the digital divide permanently. Committed to changing the world one connection at a time, DigitalC offers superior internet, accessible community spaces, and tailored digital skills training to ensure an equitable digital future. By focusing on these core areas, DigitalC aims to create a transformative impact on the community, ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to thrive in the digital age.

SOURCE DigitalC

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 30, 2025 — Backline, the autonomous security remediation platform, launched from stealth today with $9 million in Seed funding led by StageOne Ventures, with participation from Evolution Equity Partners and Gradient. The company’s fleet of AI agents automatically fixes security vulnerabilities and misconfigurations at scale, helping enterprises tackle their overwhelming security backlogs. Already deployed across organizations, Backline’s agents safely implement verified code and configuration changes while working alongside existing security and engineering teams.

Enterprises are inundated with security issues, with new vulnerabilities being discovered at an unprecedented rate. In 2024 alone, over forty thousand new CVEs were reported, averaging one every 13 minutes. Existing security tools are effective at detection and prioritization, but this approach can’t scale — organizations simply lack the resources to address even their most severe security findings.

“Engineering teams spend over 20% of their time fixing security issues, but that barely covers the most critical ones,” said Maor Goldberg, co-founder and CEO of Backline. “They wake up each day to hundreds of new issues — not because anything changed overnight, but simply due to newly discovered vulnerabilities or weaknesses in cloud services they are using. This has led to endless prioritization and perpetually growing backlogs of ‘lower-priority’ issues. The frustrating reality is that most breaches stem from known security issues — often simple to fix, but buried deep in backlogs that developers, DevOps, and platform engineers will never find time to address.”

Backline’s autonomous security remediation platform deploys a fleet of AI agents that work together to tackle this backlog at scale. The agents step into the shoes of security and software engineers, analyzing security findings, gathering necessary context, determining optimal fixes for the specific environment, and implementing verified code and configuration changes that customers can trust. The platform is designed for autonomous operation while maintaining full visibility and control — teams can choose their preferred level of oversight and automation based on their specific needs and requirements.     

“Security backlogs are now the number one thing keeping CISOs up at night,” said Tal Slobodkin, Managing Partner at StageOne Ventures, who also backed the founding team’s previous startup. “Backline’s deep cybersecurity expertise combined with their vision for autonomous remediation present a way out of the prioritization paradigm through multiple orders of magnitude improvement in remediation velocity. We haven’t talked to a single organization that claims to have their security backlog fully under control, which signals just how significant this opportunity is.”

“Security backlogs are a burden that must be addressed at every company,” said Michael Bourgault, Senior Security Architect at Arkose Labs. “We’re excited about how Backline’s autonomous security remediation platform, with its unique agentic approach, can help us quickly deploy reliable code and configuration changes at scale to tackle this challenge.”

The platform integrates seamlessly with organizations’ existing security tools, consolidating findings into a centralized security findings lake. At its core, Backline uses AI-native remediation playbooks — deterministic and verified recipes purpose-built and designed for AI agents — which are further enriched with customer-specific context.  These playbooks ensure consistent, high-quality fixes that mitigate the unpredictability of out-of-the-box foundational LLMs. When agents encounter scenarios requiring additional input, they automatically engage relevant engineers through tools like Jira, Slack, and GitHub. This feedback loop continuously improves the platform’s autonomous capabilities while maintaining complete visibility and control over the remediation process.

“Organizations are drowning in security problems while existing security tools just describe the water,” said Darian Shirazi, Managing Partner at Gradient. “Backline represents a fundamental shift from endless prioritization to actual remediation. By deploying AI agents that can safely implement and verify fixes at scale, Backline ensures accuracy and trust — the critical foundation for successful enterprise adoption of AI systems.”

“As AI accelerates the discovery and exploitation of vulnerabilities, enterprises need a new approach to remediation that can match this pace,” said Yuval Ben-Itzhak, General Partner at Evolution Equity Partners. “Trust in automation comes through verification, and Backline’s platform delivers exactly that — enabling autonomous remediation while ensuring every change is thoroughly tested and validated.”

About Backline

Backline was founded in August 2024 by cybersecurity veterans Maor Goldberg (CEO), Eran Leib (Chief Customer Officer), and Aviad Chen (VP R&D), who have worked together for over 25 years since starting their careers in the Israeli Defense Forces. Backline is their third cybersecurity startup together, following Whitebox Security (acquired by SailPoint) and Apolicy (acquired by Sysdig). With a team spread across Israel and the United States, Backline already works with leading organizations and early adopters worldwide.

More information at backline.ai

Media Contact
Lazer Cohen
[email protected]
347-753-8256

SOURCE Backline AI, Inc.

With $14M raised so far, and over 30,000 users, Aligned enhances its AI-powered sales platform to act as the modern seller’s ‘Iron Man Suit’, helping close more deals faster

TEL AVIV, Israel, Jan. 30, 2025 — Aligned, the Digital Sales Room improving the buyer-vendor workflow from start to post-sale, announces it has secured an $8 million investment led by JAL Ventures. The round includes participation from existing investors NFX, Hetz Ventures, and CROs from leading SaaS companies, bringing the total amount raised to $14 million. The funding will be used to accelerate Aligned’s growth and the development of its AI capabilities aimed at redefining the buyer-seller dynamic. Aligned has already tripled its revenue in 2024 and achieved 142 percent in Net Revenue Retention (NRR), emphasizing the loyalty and satisfaction of its customers.

B2B sales teams are struggling to meet quotas, with lower win rates and longer sales cycles. While deals involve tighter budgets and more stakeholders, the real challenge is the growing complexity of the selling process from the buyer’s side: 77 percent of buyers say the process is overly complex, leaving 60 percent stuck in an indecisive state. With 95 percent of the buyer journey happening without direct sales interaction—driven by the widespread digitalization and avoidance of poor sales experiences—the need for Buyer Enablement has never been more critical.

Despite the significant growth of Sales Enablement, most tools still prioritize basic sales efficiency instead of addressing what drives sales—improving the buyer-seller process and enhancing the overall buying experience.

Gartner predicts roughly 30 percent of B2B sales cycles will be managed entirely through digital sales rooms by 2026. As leaders in this space, Aligned is on a mission to create a streamlined path for revenue teams to engage with customers, with its AI-powered workspace orchestrating the entire B2B sales process. Instead of chaotic emails, links, and attachments across multiple threads, the platform centralizes deal resources, tools, timelines, and communication in one shared space. This allows sales teams to continue selling when they’re not in the room, which helps attract the modern buyer and differentiates Aligned from its competitors.

Powered by AI-Assist and AI-Insights, Aligned helps sales teams enable champions to drive internal sales efforts, engage with more stakeholders, collaborate with prospects using mutual action plans, capture real-time insights on buyer intent, and follow templates for consistent execution. This keeps sellers actively involved in the process while allowing buyers to build consensus and make confident, faster decisions, reducing deal cycles by 30 percent and increasing win rates by 15 percent.

In 2024, Aligned grew rapidly, with 60 percent of new customer acquisition driven by word-of-mouth on social media and 30 percent by product virality. This has led to over 30,000 users across more than 450 customers, including Deel, SimilarWeb, Productboard, and Chili Piper.

Adding to its existing AI Assist and AI Insights tools, the funding will be used to accelerate product development, expanding its AI capabilities for both sellers and buyers to further lead the digital sales room category.

“As a former CRO and VP of Sales, I’ve felt the pain of losing deals because champions weren’t equipped to build internal consensus or ‘hidden’ stakeholders staying behind email threads,” says Gal Aga, CEO and Co-Founder of Aligned. “That’s why we built Aligned—to give modern sellers their ‘Iron Man Suit’: AI-driven, 24/7 buyer enablement, deal execution support, and ‘behind-the-scenes’ deal insights. I couldn’t be more excited about what’s coming next.”

“Aligned has shown that empowering champions and offering buyer enablement can dramatically shorten sales cycles and increase win rates,” says Amiram Levinberg, Co-Founder & General Partner at JAL Ventures. “By combining AI with a collaborative workspace that fixes the broken B2B workflow, they are introducing the next evolution of sales—one that is both AI-Led and Buyer-Led, and we are thrilled to be a part of this journey.”

About Aligned:
Founded in 2021 by Yotam Sela (CTO), Gal Deitsch (CPO), and Gal Aga (CEO), Aligned is a Digital Sales Room that is transforming the sales and customer success landscape. By streamlining buyer-seller workflows and standardizing a superior buying experience, Aligned is revolutionizing the industry. Through its unified, AI-powered workspace, Aligned fosters collaboration between sales teams and buyers, enhances communication, empowers buyer champions, and improves stakeholder alignment. This enables revenue teams to execute a consistent, winning process that results in more successful deals. Recognized by G2 as leaders in AI-driven Digital Sales Rooms, Aligned is at the forefront of shaping the future of Buyer Enablement. To learn more, visit: https://alignedup.com.

Media Contact
Inbar Kneller
ReBlonde for Aligned
[email protected] 

SOURCE Aligned

Hybrid Active Directory threat detection and response specialist exceeds 3,000% growth over five years

HOBOKEN, N.J., Jan. 30, 2025 — Semperis, a pioneer in identity-driven cyber resilience, today announced it surpassed $100M in annual recurring revenue (ARR), a milestone that fewer than one in every 1,000 venture-backed enterprise software companies achieve, according to venture capital firm Greylock Partners. Fueling Semperis’ rapid customer growth and ascension to ‘centaur status’ is the company’s comprehensive solution for enterprises combatting the ever-growing threat of identity-based attacks in Active Directory and Entra ID environments.

Putting Identity at the Center of Cyber Resilience

Semperis enters its next phase of growth as the cybersecurity industry shifts from focusing primarily on attack prevention to prioritizing extended coverage of the attack lifecycle with cyber resilience. This shift is partially driven by new regulations like the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) and popular frameworks like NIST. Additionally, CISA, NSA, and other global cybersecurity agencies recently collaborated on a report sounding the alarm about Active Directory threats, compelling organizations to take corrective action to remove vulnerabilities that attackers exploit as entry points to carry out malicious objectives.

“Identity resilience has become the new security perimeter, making every aspect of an organization’s digital existence existentially dependent on the identity system, most often Active Directory. And when Active Directory and other identity systems are compromised, the foundations of a business dependent on them are at unacceptable risk. Recognizing the essential relationship between identity and business resilience, Semperis’ products and services are on the cutting edge of cyber use cases, setting them apart from competitors. You can’t simply bolt on identity security, because it is core to business operations and critical to sustain defense against sophisticated and motivated nation state–backed threat groups. Like business resilience, identity resilience must be addressed at the core,” said Chris Inglis, Semperis Strategic Advisor and former U.S. National Cyber Director.

Semperis’ Mission to Be a Force for Good

According to the Semperis Ransomware Risk Report 2024, 83% of surveyed organizations suffered from ransomware attacks in the previous year, with 78% of attack victims paying ransom, some multiple times. Core to Semperis’ mission to be a force for good is helping customers say no to ransomware demands. The company has built several free community tools, including Purple Knight, which 30,000 users leverage for assessing Active Directory, Entra ID, and Okta vulnerabilities in enterprise environments, and Forest Druid, which identifies Tier 0 attack paths.

“From our inception in 2015, we’ve been preaching the importance of putting identity at the center of your cyber resilience strategy,” said Mickey Bresman, Semperis CEO. “The biggest brands in the world rely on us to safeguard their hybrid AD environments, which are being targeted at unprecedented levels. I’m proud to offer organizations an alternative option to giving in to ransom demands by taking back control through comprehensive protection, from detection and response to full-on crisis recovery. We cover the entire identity attack lifecycle and provide specialized incident response support.”

The Rising Category of Identity Threat Detection and Response

Semperis is an early pioneer of Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR), one of the fastest growing cybersecurity categories. Today, Gartner ranks ITDR a “top CISO trend” as organizations adopt Zero Trust models and recognize the increasing frequency of attackers successfully targeting identity system vulnerabilities.

With a focus on cyber resilience, Semperis provides the industry’s most comprehensive identity system defense platform, trusted by the largest enterprises and government agencies in the world, to dramatically reduce the success rate of ransomware and other destructive attacks.

The 2024 Forrester Total Economic Impact Report of Semperis details the potential millions of dollars in savings for enterprises after deploying Semperis, which enabled a 90% reduction in downtime, a 40% reduction in time spent manually monitoring for threats, and a decrease in overall cyber risk pre-, during, and post-attack.

“Congratulations to Mickey Bresman and the entire Semperis team for surpassing $100 million in annual recurring revenue, as they have reached rarified air amongst enterprise software companies. Identity-centric cyberattacks are rapidly increasing and traditional security solutions fall short of protecting an organization’s most critical assets. Semperis has ‘best in breed’ solutions that help organisations detect, remediate and recover from identity-based attacks. I look forward to working with Semperis in 2025 to expand its presence in Australia, New Zealand and throughout Asia Pacific and Japan,” said Malcolm Turnbull, Semperis Strategic Advisor and former Australian Prime Minister.

Leadership Expansion with IPO Experience and Other Recent Developments

Semperis recently announced new C-suite additions: Jeff Bray, Chief Financial Officer; Mike DeGaetano, Chief Revenue Officer; and Annabel Lewis, Chief Legal Officer. All come from high-growth cyber companies and have firsthand IPO and public company experience.

In June 2024, Semperis announced its latest round of strategic growth financing: $125 million from J. P. Morgan and Hercules Capital. Other recent updates include being named to Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500 List for the fifth consecutive years and various product announcements, including a new SaaS offering for small to midsized businesses and expansion of its AI-powered threat detection and response capabilities.

Supporting Investor Quotes

“Insight Partners was thrilled to partner with Semperis in 2020, and five years later we are more bullish on the company and its award-winning hybrid identity protection solutions. “Congratulations to Mickey and the team on surpassing $100 million in ARR. Mickey, Guy and Matan had the foresight of identity security becoming a top priority for organizations years before others. This enabled the team to have an enterprise-ready platform in the market when the demand surfaced. Today, that demand has never been greater,” said Teddie Wardi, Managing Director at Insight Partners and a member of Semperis’ Board of Directors.

“Congratulations to Mickey and the entire Semperis team on the $100 million ARR milestone. KKR is proud to support the company’s hybrid identity resilience mission and is thrilled to see the growing number of organizations in the world trusting Semperis to defend their critical identity systems from cyberattacks. Semperis’ leading identity protection technology and incident response expertise are delivering category-defining innovation against serious identity-based attacks,” said Ben Pederson, KKR Managing Director and a member of Semperis’ Board of Directors.

“For Semperis, reaching $100 million in ARR is a monumental milestone and reflective of years of innovation, growth, and an unwavering commitment to addressing pressing cybersecurity challenges. At Paladin, we look forward to seeing what’s next for Semperis, as hybrid identities, most often Active Directory, will continue to be under constant attack, especially at public sector organizations. What Semperis has done to revolutionize the Active Directory process and reduce recovery time from days to mere minutes is remarkable,” said Tom Clute, Principal, Paladin Capital Group.

“Semperis is proof that specialized ‘best-in-breed’ solutions can grow into huge companies, helping enterprises worldwide address a specific attack vector more effectively. At Ten Eleven Ventures, we have admiration for Semperis achieving $100 million in ARR as it demonstrates how a specialized strategy can lead to immense growth and scale. Since our initial investment in 2022, the company has solidified its place as a cybersecurity centaur and I couldn’t be happier,” said Mark Hatfield, Founder and General Partner, Ten Eleven Ventures and a Semperis Strategic Advisor.

About Semperis

For security teams charged with defending hybrid and multi-cloud environments, Semperis ensures the integrity and availability of critical enterprise directory services at every step in the cyber kill chain and cuts recovery time by 90%. Purpose-built for securing hybrid identity environments—including Active Directory, Entra ID, and Okta—Semperis’ AI-powered technology protects over 100 million identities from cyberattacks, data breaches and operational errors. The world’s leading organizations trust Semperis to spot directory vulnerabilities, intercept cyberattacks in progress and quickly recover from ransomware and other data integrity emergencies. Semperis is headquartered in Hoboken, New Jersey, and operates internationally, with its research and development team distributed throughout the United States, Canada and Israel.

Semperis hosts the award-winning Hybrid Identity Protection conference and podcast series (www.hipconf.com) and built the community hybrid Active Directory cyber defender tools, Purple Knight (www.semperis.com/purple-knight/) and Forest Druid. The company has received the highest level of industry accolades, recently named to Inc. Magazine’s list of best workplaces for 2024 and ranked the fastest-growing cybersecurity company in America by the Financial Times. Semperis is a Microsoft Enterprise Cloud Alliance and Co-Sell partner and is a member of the Microsoft Intelligent Security Association (MISA).

Learn more: https://www.semperis.com 

Follow us: Blog / LinkedIn / X / Facebook / YouTube

Media Contact:
Bill Keeler
Senior Director, PR & Comms
[email protected]

SOURCE Semperis

CHICAGO, Jan. 30, 2025 — Nurse Capital, a venture capital fund that invests in early-stage healthcare startups founded and led by nurses, is proud to announce the launch of the Nurse Capital Network (NCN), an exclusive, invitation-only community designed to connect and empower nurse entrepreneurs and inventors. 

NCN will foster information sharing, networking with funders and industry experts, and creative collaboration that cultivates entrepreneurial innovations in products and services that transform the nursing care ecosystem.

“Nurse Capital is committed to providing a space where nurse-led ventures can thrive,” said Nurse Capital Co-founder Beth A. Brooks, Ph.D., RN, FACHE. “The Nurse Capital Network is more than just a resource for funding. Nurse entrepreneurs often find their career path lonely due to the unique challenges of balancing business responsibilities with their healthcare expertise.”

Membership in the Nurse Capital Network is by invitation only to nurse entrepreneurs committed to advancing healthcare innovation. Key features of the Nurse Capital Network include:

• Networking Opportunities: Members can connect with General Partners, Limited Partners, and other members to build meaningful relationships.
• Mentorship & Peer Learning: Opportunities for both mentoring and being mentored by seasoned industry leaders and fellow entrepreneurs.
• Educational Sessions: Expert-led discussions and workshops designed to enhance members’ skills, knowledge, and understanding of industry challenges.
• Access to Resources: Exclusive access to funding opportunities, business tools, and insights to support members’ entrepreneurial journeys.

“We created Nurse Capital Network to provide support to ensure that the businesses of nurse entrepreneurs have the greatest impact on advancing nursing and healthcare innovation,” said Nurse Capital Co-founder Maura Weston, Ph.D., RN, FAAN.

About Nurse Capital
Nurse Capital is a nurse-founded and managed venture capital fund based in Chicago that makes early-stage investments in nurse entrepreneurs leading high-growth-potential businesses that are transforming the future of healthcare. Learn more at https://nursecapital.net/. To submit a pitch deck, contact Nurse Capital at https://nursecapital.net/contact/

SOURCE Nurse Capital

On-demand network infrastructure leader paves way for strong growth and market leadership in 2025

SAN JOSE, Calif., Jan. 30, 2025 — Alkira, the leader in Network Infrastructure as a Service, today announced significant achievements across all aspects of its business in 2024, including a major funding round, industry recognition, product innovation, and customer growth.

The company secured $100 million in Series C funding led by Tiger Global in May 2024. New investors Dallas Venture Capital, Geodesic Capital, LIAN Group, and NextEquity Partners joined existing investors Kleiner Perkins, Koch Disruptive Technologies, and Sequoia Capital in the round. This was the company’s first funding round since 2020, and it underscored strong investor confidence in Alkira’s vision and growing market position. The funding announcement coincided with Alkira being named #25 on the Deloitte Fast 500 list of North America’s fastest-growing companies, ranking #6 in the Bay Area with a 7,194% growth rate over three years.

“2024 was a transformative year for Alkira as we continued to deepen our customer and partner relationships, while significantly bolstering our network infrastructure as a service platform to align with rapid market shifts,” said Amir Khan, CEO of Alkira. “Our Series C funding and industry accolades validate our innovative approach, while our expanded global presence and enhanced product capabilities demonstrate our commitment to meeting the evolving needs of enterprises worldwide. Thanks to our success in 2024, we’ve effectively set the stage for another stellar year in 2025.”

Industry Recognition, Product Innovation, and Global Expansion

Throughout 2024, Alkira received numerous awards and recognition, including America’s Best Startup Employers from Forbes, TMCNet’s Cloud Computing Excellence Award for Backbone as-a-Service, Network World’s Best of Enterprise Network Award in the SDN/NaaS category, and the Gold Globee Award for IT Cloud/SaaS.

Additionally, Alkira enhanced its platform with over 110 new features and capabilities. As enterprises increasingly prioritize secure access and zero-trust architectures, the company launched its comprehensive Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) solution, enabling organizations to secure remote access to applications and resources across multiple clouds while maintaining strict security controls and visibility. The introduction of its Cloud Exchange Point in Google Cloud Platform marked another advancement in multi-cloud connectivity, allowing customers to establish secure, high-performance connections between more cloud providers with unprecedented ease.

Alkira also achieved several expansion milestones, including its first customer deployment in China, marking the company’s entry into one of the world’s largest technology markets. The company also expanded its global cloud backbone to over 55 regions worldwide, ensuring comprehensive coverage and optimal performance for multinational enterprises. The achievement of PCI-DSS certification further demonstrated Alkira’s commitment to maintaining the highest security standards, particularly crucial for customers in the financial services, healthcare, and retail sectors.

Customer Success, Operational Excellence, and Channel Growth

Alkira demonstrated operational efficiency, successfully deploying its solution for a retail customer with 1,000+ stores in just two weeks. Connector count grew by 150% year-over-year, reflecting strong customer adoption and expansion.

Alkira’s partner ecosystem saw notable growth in 2024, with a 255% year-over-year increase in channel Annual Contract Value (ACV). Partner engagement reached new heights with 52% of partners submitting customer opportunities, while the company expanded its global presence with new partners in China, Australia, and Canada. The team grew strategically with the addition of four new channel account managers and a channel solutions architect.

Demonstrated Business Impact

According to the Nemertes REV Report released in November, Alkira customers achieved several improvements in operational efficiency:

• Cloud Integration: 96% reduction in time required to add new clouds, enabling rapid expansion of cloud operations
• Data Center Connectivity: 93% faster connection of data centers, significantly improving network agility
• Cloud Management: 84% reduction in time spent managing clouds, freeing IT resources for strategic initiatives
• Security Infrastructure: 73% reduction in required firewalls, leading to substantial cost savings
• Partner Integration: 91% improvement in speed of adding new partners, accelerating business relationships
• Device Optimization: 44% reduction in devices needed for cloud connection, streamlining network architecture

“The hidden costs of our multi-cloud infrastructure were staggering once we correlated the data across regions, accounts, and platforms,” said Steve Savage, Network Architect at Infor. “With Alkira, we’ve not only reduced our cloud routing and firewall footprint by over 60%, but we’ve transformed our cloud network integration process from a series of niche one-off exercises into a streamlined, repeatable methodology. This allows us to accelerate time to value while maintaining robust security across our cloud estate.”

These results highlight how Alkira’s platform is reshaping traditional approaches to enterprise networking, enabling organizations to achieve unprecedented levels of efficiency, security, and control. As businesses face increasingly complex infrastructure demands in 2025, Alkira remains focused on delivering solutions that address the evolving needs of global enterprises.

To learn more about Alkira, please visit https://www.alkira.com.

About Alkira
Alkira is the leader in Network Infrastructure on Demand. We unify any environments, sites, and users via an enterprise network built entirely in the cloud. The network is managed using the same controls, policies, and security systems network administrators know, is available as a service, and can instantly scale as needed. There is no new hardware to deploy, software to download, or architecture to learn. Alkira’s solution is trusted by Fortune 100 enterprises, leading system integrators, and global managed service providers. Learn more at alkira.com and follow us @alkiranet.

Media Contact: 
[email protected]

SOURCE Alkira

Transaction results from oversubscribed $2B equity round announced in October 2024, and proceeds will be used to finance development of new data center campuses and purchase of equity from existing investors

DALLAS, Jan. 30, 2025 — DataBank, a leading provider of enterprise-class edge colocation, interconnection, and managed services, today announced a $250M equity investment from TJC LP (“TJC”, formerly “The Jordan Company”) and a $600M secondary share offering. The new funding resulted from excess investor interest in the $2B primary equity round announced in October 2024, and brings the total debt and equity raised in the past year and a half to nearly $5B.

Participants in the secondary share purchase acquired shares from existing investors and reflect the ongoing demand for, and interest in, high-quality investments in the data center sector being driven by artificial intelligence.

“We are delighted to have TJC join our investor group,” said Raul K. Martynek, DataBank’s CEO. “Their investment and the secondary offering signal both confidence in our strategy and our proven ability to execute and scale the DataBank platform.”

“We could not be more excited to partner with Raul, DataBank, and the other world-class digital infrastructure investors supporting DataBank’s robust growth plans,” said Eion Hu, Partner at TJC. “Data centers are the cornerstone of the digital transformation and artificial intelligence, and we believe DataBank is uniquely positioned to capitalize on the sustained demand for reliable, scalable, and energy-efficient infrastructure in an increasingly data-driven world.”

BofA Securities and Citizens Capital Markets Inc. acted as financial advisors for DataBank. Proskauer Rose LLP acted as legal counsel to DataBank and Kirkland & Ellis LLP acted as legal counsel to TJC.

About DataBank
DataBank helps the world’s largest enterprises, technology, and content providers ensure their data and applications are always on, always secure, always compliant, and ready to scale to meet the needs of the artificial intelligence era. Recognized by Deloitte and Inc. 5000 in 2024 as one of the fastest-growing private US companies, DataBank’s edge colocation and infrastructure footprint consists of 65+ “HPC-ready” data centers in 27+ markets, 20 interconnection hubs, and on-ramps to an ecosystem of cloud providers with virtually unlimited reach. We combine these platforms with contract portability, managed security, compliance enablement, hands-on support, and a guarantee of 100% uptime availability, to give our customers absolute confidence in their IT infrastructure and the power to create a boundless digital future for their business. To learn more, Follow us on LinkedIn or Subscribe to our YouTube channel. To tour a facility, visit DataBank or call 1(800) 840-7533.

About TJC
TJC LP, formerly known as The Jordan Company, has worked for more than 40 years with CEOs, founders and entrepreneurs across a range of industries including Consumer & Healthcare, Diversified Industrials, Industrial Technology, Logistics & Supply Chain and Technology & Infrastructure. With $32.1 billion of assets under management as of September 30, 2024, TJC is managed by a senior leadership team that has invested together for over 23 years on over 85 investments. TJC has offices in New York, Chicago, Miami and Stamford. For more information, please visit www.tjclp.com.

SOURCE DataBank