LA JOLLA, Calif., March 10, 2025 — Cybereason, a leading global cybersecurity company, today announced a $120 million investment led by SoftBank Corp., SoftBank Vision Fund 2, and Liberty Strategic Capital to advance the company’s global growth fueled by its award-winning endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions and its world-class consulting services, enhanced by a strategic partnership with Trustwave. Manish Narula will serve as the company’s new CEO.

New Investment Funding

Cybereason has secured an additional $120 million in funding from key investors, including SoftBank Corp., SoftBank Vision Fund 2, and Liberty Capital. Other current investors will have the opportunity to participate in the funding round.

This investment reflects strong confidence in Cybereason’s industry-leading EDR technology and its ability to combat sophisticated cyber threats. It ensures the company remains a long-term, trusted cybersecurity partner for enterprises worldwide, while reinforcing its commitment to delivering exceptional customer service to meet the evolving needs of its clients.

“We are thrilled to have key investors SoftBank Corp., SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Liberty Strategic Capital leading this investment round. This funding is a testament to the strength of our technology, and the trust our partners place in Cybereason,” said Manish Narula, CEO of Cybereason. “With this capital infusion, Cybereason’s Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel, Gregory Puff, along with the entire Cybereason team, will continue to push the boundaries of innovation in cybersecurity technology and services, expanding our reach in critical markets.”

Leadership Transition

Manish Narula has been appointed as the new CEO, effective immediately. Narula, along with Puff, will leverage the executive team’s extensive leadership, financial, and operational experience and position Cybereason for success in its new chapter. 

With this investment and to support Cybereason’s renewed focus on its core EDR and consulting services, we have decided to pursue expansion of our strategic relationship with Trustwave, a leader in managed security services, rather than complete the previously announced intent to merge.

About Cybereason
Cybereason is a leading global cybersecurity company. Cybereason provides attack protection with cutting edge EDR and industry recognized consulting services to support organizations throughout any stage of the incident lifecycle. Cybereason’s award-winning technology and elite experts empower organizations of all sizes to harden, respond and recover from cyber threats in an ever evolving threat landscape. Cybereason is a privately held international company headquartered in California with customers in more than 40 countries. 

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. The words “believe,” “may,” “will,” “potentially,” “estimate,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “could,” “plan,” “expect,” and similar expressions that convey uncertainty of future events or outcomes are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements concerning the following: (i) whether or not the conditions to closing upon the investment occur and/or if the investment occurs at all, (ii) whether or not regulatory approvals are obtained and/or events conditioned on the receipt of regulatory approvals occur at all, (iii) the potential for growth in the market for cloud-based security solutions (domestically and internationally) and future cybersecurity spending; (iv) our business plan and our ability to effectively manage our growth; (v) anticipated trends, growth rates and challenges in our business and in the markets in which we operate; and (vi) the ability of the Company to manage costs and find efficiencies and the sufficiency of our cash to meet our cash needs.

These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties. It is not possible for the Company to predict all risks, nor can the Company assess the impact of all factors on its business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. In light of these risks, uncertainties, and assumptions, the forward-looking events and circumstances discussed in this press release may not occur and actual results could differ materially and adversely from those anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements. The forward looking statements made in this press release relate only to events as of the date on which the statements are made. We undertake no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements for any reason to conform these statements to actual results or to changes in our expectations. In addition, statements that “we believe” and similar statements reflect our beliefs and opinions on the relevant subject. These statements are based upon information available to us as of the date of this press release, which may be limited or incomplete, and our statements should not be read to indicate that we have conducted an exhaustive inquiry into, or review of, all potentially available relevant information. These and all other forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain and should not be relied upon.

SOURCE Cybereason Inc.

AI platform combined with autonomous labs will accelerate discovery across every domain of science

Company has raised $200M in seed financing to further develop platform and build first AI Science Factories

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., March 10, 2025 — Flagship Pioneering, the bioplatform innovation company, today unveiled Lila Sciences, a company building the world’s first scientific superintelligence platform and fully autonomous labs for life, chemical, and materials sciences. The company, which was founded in Flagship’s labs in 2023, is pioneering an advanced form of AI that can not only process vast amounts of data and make predictions, but also assist scientists in designing and conducting new experiments, generating hypotheses and testing them in real-world environments.

Lila has raised $200 million in committed seed capital from Flagship Pioneering, along with General Catalyst, March Capital, ARK Venture Fund, Altitude Life Science Ventures, Blue Horizon Advisors, State of Michigan Retirement System, Modi Ventures and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) to support the further development of the AI platform, autonomous labs, and infrastructure for rapid scaling.

“Lila’s mission to responsibly achieve Scientific Superintelligence is born out of the belief that this is the most important opportunity of our time, and that the leader in this pursuit will be the entity that runs the scientific method at the largest scale, speed and intelligence,” said Geoffrey von Maltzahn, Ph.D., Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Lila Sciences and General Partner, Flagship Pioneering.  “To achieve this, we must solve the hard problems to allow AI to autonomously and in a scalable manner run each step – from AI models generating an idea to reducing it to practice with robotics and automation. We’ve made some incredible progress in only a few years and are at the very beginning of this important mission.”

“For all of human history, the method for scientific exploration has been steadfast: we predict, test, learn, create. Yet for all the progress we have made, we still understand only a fraction of the rules that govern the physical world,” said Noubar Afeyan, Ph.D., Founder and CEO of Flagship Pioneering and Co-Founder and Chairman, Lila Sciences. “With Lila, our hypothesis is that by scaling experimentation, we can unlock emergent abilities and enable discoveries that remain hidden at smaller scales. Lila represents an ambitious undertaking that we believe will accelerate science with enormous benefit to society.”

Lila’s Autonomous Science platform is designed to, with human guidance, scale and optimize experimentation in any scientific domain by combining generative AI with generalizable, scalable and autonomous AI science units. In just a few years of development, the platform has demonstrated performance in multiple domains that exceed human and existing AI-powered benchmarks, including:

• LLMs with state-of-the-art reasoning capabilities on important scientific problems and scientific intelligence benchmarks;
• Generation of optimal genetic medicine constructs that outperform commercially available therapeutics;
• Discovery and validation of hundreds of novel antibodies, peptides and binders for a broad range of therapeutic targets;
• Generation of unique non-platinum group metals as catalysts in the production of green hydrogen at a fraction of the cost of current commercial catalysts; and
• Design of new material for industrial-scale carbon capture with better capacity, thermal stability and kinetic binding than leading products.

The Lila platform will be open to partners across the life and material sciences industries to jointly bring forth solutions in human health and sustainability at a pace and scale beyond today’s bounds. 

Molly Gibson, Ph.D., Co-Founder and President, Future Science at Lila Sciences and Origination Partner, Flagship Pioneering added: “AI has already transformed our ability to uncover new insights from existing data. We believe the next frontier in scientific discovery will come from enabling AI to design and run experiments at unprecedented scale. This requires software and hardware innovation in the lab such that, with each iteration of the scientific method, AI systems can orchestrate thousands of experiments simultaneously, systematically building our understanding and accelerating scientific progress. This approach has the potential to advance research across many scientific domains, from healthcare and drug development to agriculture and sustainable resources, and to create resiliency in our domestic R&D efforts.”

Lila is led by a team that brings depth and breadth of expertise across diverse fields including AI, security, commercial strategy, organizational effectiveness, robotics and scientific fields spanning biology, chemistry and materials science. Renowned geneticist George Church, Ph.D., will take the role of Chief Scientist. Andrew Beam, Ph.D., serves as the company’s CTO, building a leading AI research team that includes Kenneth Stanley, Ph.D., who joins as a Senior Vice President. Rafael Gómez-Bombarelli, Ph.D., is joining the company as CSO of Materials. Christopher Fussell, an author and expert in cross-functional collaboration, serves as the company’s President of Operations.  

About Lila Sciences

Lila Sciences is the world’s first scientific superintelligence platform and autonomous labs for life, chemical and materials science.  We are pioneering a new age of boundless discovery by building the capabilities to apply AI to every aspect of the scientific method.  We are introducing scientific superintelligence to solve humankind’s greatest challenges, enabling scientists to bring forth solutions in human health and sustainability at a pace and scale never experienced before. Lila was founded in Flagship Pioneering’s labs in 2023. Learn more about this mission at  www.lila.ai  

About Flagship Pioneering

Flagship Pioneering invents and builds bioplatform companies, each with the potential for multiple products that transform human health or sustainability. Since its launch in 2000, Flagship has originated and fostered more than 100 scientific ventures, resulting in more than $60 billion in aggregate value. Flagship is operating with $14 billion of assets under management as of its latest capital raise, announced in July 2024. The current Flagship ecosystem comprises over 40 companies, including Foghorn Therapeutics (NASDAQ: FHTX), Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA), Sana Biotechnology (NASDAQ: SANA), Generate Biomedicines, Inari, Indigo Agriculture, and Tessera Therapeutics.

Media Contact

Lila Sciences
[email protected]

[email protected]

SOURCE Flagship Pioneering

DALLAS, March 11, 2025 — A high school graduation party is usually a small gathering of friends, but for Dallas senior Thomas Owen, it’s something much bigger—a 3,500-person concert organized by his nonprofit, Nightly Charity Events. What started as a simple idea has turned into a full-scale live production featuring country artist Ty Myers, a massive student-led effort, and a $50,000 fundraising goal for Make-A-Wish North Texas.

On May 9, 2025 at Gilley’s Southside Ballroom in Dallas, The Graduation Concert is shaping up to be one of the largest student-led events in the city’s history. But for Thomas, this is more than just a party—it’s a mission-driven event combining music, community, and entrepreneurship.

A Student-Led Vision Turned Reality

As an entrepreneur who has built multiple businesses while still in high school, Thomas saw an opportunity to create something memorable not just for himself, but for thousands of students across Dallas. Instead of a traditional celebration, he wanted to bring people together one last time in a way that felt bigger, more meaningful, and gave back to a great cause.

“I’ve always believed that if you’re going to do something, do it at the highest level possible,” said Owen. “For me, that meant turning my graduation into a real concert—an event that could bring together thousands of students while making an impact beyond just one night.”

To ensure that every high school in Dallas has a voice in this event, Thomas has organized a team of student co-chairs from over 30 different high schools across the city. Each co-chair represents their school, spreading awareness, promoting ticket sales, and building momentum to make the concert a success. This grassroots effort has turned The Graduation Concert into more than just an event—it’s become a movement.

“These students are the reason this is happening at the scale that it is,” said Owen. “By having representatives from schools all over the city, we’re bringing together seniors from all backgrounds and making sure that this night truly belongs to everyone.”

A Concert for a Cause

Beyond the music and celebration, this event is about making a real impact. The Grad Concert is on a mission to raise $50,000 for Make-A-Wish North Texas, helping grant life-changing experiences for children with critical illnesses.

“We’re bringing thousands of students together for one night, but the impact will last far beyond that,” said Owen. “This is about using our moment to help others get theirs.”

The Graduation Concert is happening on May 9, 2025, at Gilley’s Southside Ballroom in Dallas, featuring a live performance from rising country star Ty Myers. With over 3,500 students expected, this is the ultimate way for the Class of 2025 to come together one last time.

Tickets available at Night.ly

For media inquiries, interviews, or press passes, please contact [email protected]

About Thomas Owen

Thomas Owen is a young entrepreneur from Dallas, focused on creating impactful ventures that bring people together and give back to his community. As the Managing Partner of TO Ventures, the holding company for his various businesses and projects, he is leading initiatives in entertainment, event management, and philanthropy.

About Nightly

Nightly is an entertainment and event management platform founded by young entrepreneur Thomas Owen to power his large-scale events. Focused on bringing people together through music and culture, Nightly creates high-energy experiences with a lasting impact. For updates, follow Nightly on Instagram.

SOURCE Nightly

“Our mission is to ‘beat a visual Turing test’ for human motion, creating truly lifelike animations,” said Viren Tellis, Co-Founder and CEO of Uthana. “Generative AI has the potential to transform how animators and game developers work and unlock creativity across the industry.”

Uthana’s Vision

Uthana envisions a future where AI-generated animations dynamically adapt to game play in real time. This means creating living, breathing virtual worlds where every NPC moves uniquely, every interaction feels unscripted, and every animation evolves naturally with player engagement.

Ultimately, Uthana sees possibilities for real time, responsive generative motion stretches beyond gaming— to interactive experiences, virtual production, and simulated environments.

Getting Characters Moving in Seconds

Today, Uthana’s state-of-the-art AI capabilities compress the process of conceiving of an animation and seeing it into minutes – not hours or days – using simple prompts:

• Text-to-Motion (TTM) lets you generate character animations by describing movements in plain language.
• Video-to-Motion (VTM) applies motions in your reference videos to your 3D character.
• Motion Library lets you use natural language queries to search Uthana’s collection of over 10,000 motions which include finger data.

Accelerating game development workflows

Purpose built for game developers and animators, Uthana empowers indie and mid-sized studios to compete with AAA game developers. The platform’s unique features include:

• Unlimited Pre-visualization (PreViz): Create and instantly preview animations before download or purchase.
• Rig Agnostic: Use any skeleton, including Unreal Engine and Unity rigs.
• Seamless integration: Outputs are compatible with industry-standard tools such as Unreal Engine, Unity, Maya, and Blender.

Industry Adoption and Strategic Collaboration

Uthana has over 10 design partnerships with studios of all sizes. Partners co-develop new capabilities and have access to advanced features such as Style Transfer (adapt styles from one motion to another for consistency and uniqueness), and APIs (developers can seamlessly integrate Uthana’s AI-powered solutions into their games and applications).

About Uthana

Uthana is a generative AI platform for 3D character animation. For more information, visit www.uthana.com

SOURCE Uthana

August Secures $10 Million Series A to Scale On-Chain Finance Infrastructure

Dragonfly, 6th Man Ventures (6MV), SCB Limited, and Robot Ventures back August as it expands its institutional product suite and bridges the gap between DeFi and traditional finance.

GENEVA, March 10, 2025 — August, an on-chain prime brokerage and execution platform, today announced a $10 million Series A funding round led by Dragonfly Ventures with participation from SCB Limited, 6th Man Ventures (6MV), Foresight Ventures, FinTech Collective, Robot Ventures, Maven11, and others. This investment accelerates August’s on-chain prime brokerage capabilities, with a portfolio margin system enabling institutions to use staked assets and yield-bearing positions as collateral for structured products, OTC derivatives, and credit. With seamless cross-margining and enhanced capital efficiency, clients can hedge DeFi portfolios with CeFi rails—all within a single on-chain account. August supports 12+ blockchains, 250+ tokens, and 70 protocols, unlocking liquidity across any liquid asset.

In a world where more assets are getting tokenized, and continue to move on-chain, August provides the most capital-efficient infrastructure for trade execution, maximizing liquidity and capital optimization.

August facilitates over $7 billion in monthly transaction volume across lending, DeFi and OTC transactions, and algorithmic swaps with $400M+ in loans originated over the past year. The company rebranded to underscore its commitment to building trusted financial infrastructure for a crypto industry recovering after the collapse of centralized finance (CeFi). August provides institutions, protocols, and trading desks with a comprehensive suite of on-chain financial tools, including: smart contract multi-signature accounts, trade execution, borrowing and lending, options and structured products, tri-party collateral management, cross-margining and cross-chain DeFi strategies. Clients supported today include both institutional hedge funds and principal trading firms, as well as protocols such as Upshift, the first decentralized application built on August, with total value locked (TVL) around $300M.

“The events of 2022 following the collapse of large centralized finance counterparties, more liquidity and volume has moved on-chain over the past two years, demonstrating that transparency and risk management are non-negotiable,” said Aya Kantorovich, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of August. “August is setting a new standard for capital-efficient and institutionally viable digital asset trading, where trust is no longer assumed—it’s built into the infrastructure itself.”, said Alexandre Elkrief, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of August.

By bringing on-chain verifiability to these services, August eliminates the hidden risks that have plagued CeFi. With August, credit and counterparty risk can be monitored and mitigated in real-time.

“FTX and 3AC didn’t fail due to a lack of institutional interest in digital assets,” said Rob Hadick, General Partner at Dragonfly Capital. “They failed because risk was obfuscated, and counterparty exposure was unmanageable. August provides real-time risk measurement, programmatic collateral management, and default transparency.”

“We are thrilled to double down on August, the leader in On-chain Capital Markets. August combines the speed and composability of DeFi with the risk management tools required by the world’s largest institutions. Now these benefits will be available to the public via Upshift. The future of finance is now,” adds Carl Vogel, General Partner at 6th Man Ventures.

About August

August, an on-chain prime brokerage and execution platform that enables users to borrow, lend, trade, and clear across any DeFi and CeFi application with any form of liquid collateral. August supports all DeFi primitives, including lending, borrowing, spot execution, over the counter options, and derivatives.

Media contact:
Aya Kantorovich,
+16466009692,
[email protected]

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2636930/August_Digital_1.jpg
Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2636931/August_Digital_2.jpg
Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2636929/August_Digital_Logo.jpg

SOURCE August Digital

August sichert sich 10 Millionen Dollar in der Serie A für den Ausbau der On-Chain-Finanzierungsinfrastruktur

Dragonfly, 6th Man Ventures (6MV), SCB Limited und Robot Ventures unterstützen August bei der Erweiterung seiner institutionellen Produktpalette und der Schließung der Lücke zwischen DeFi und traditionellem Finanzwesen.

GENEVA, 10. März 2025 — August, eine On-Chain-Prime-Brokerage- und Ausführungsplattform, gab heute eine Finanzierungsrunde der Serie A in Höhe von 10 Millionen US-Dollar bekannt, die von Dragonfly Ventures angeführt wird und an der sich SCB Limited, 6th Man Ventures (6MV), Foresight Ventures, FinTech Collective, Robot Ventures, Maven11 und andere beteiligen. Diese Investition beschleunigt die On-Chain-Prime-Brokerage-Fähigkeiten im August mit einem Portfolio-Margin-System, das es Institutionen ermöglicht, gesteckte Vermögenswerte und ertragbringende Positionen als Sicherheiten für strukturierte Produkte, OTC-Derivate und Kredite zu verwenden. Mit nahtlosem Cross-Margining und verbesserter Kapitaleffizienz können Kunden DeFi-Portfolios mit CeFi-Schienen absichern – und das alles innerhalb eines einzigen On-Chain-Kontos. August unterstützt mehr als 12 Blockchains, mehr als 250 Token und 70 Protokolle und erschließt Liquidität für alle liquiden Vermögenswerte.

In einer Welt, in der immer mehr Vermögenswerte tokenisiert werden und weiterhin in der Blockchain bewegt werden, bietet August die kapitaleffizienteste Infrastruktur für die Handelsabwicklung, die Liquidität maximiert und die Kapitaloptimierung optimiert.

August ermöglicht ein monatliches Transaktionsvolumen von mehr als 7 Mrd. USD in den Bereichen Kreditvergabe, DeFi und OTC-Transaktionen sowie algorithmische Swaps mit einem Kreditvolumen von über 400 Mio. USD im vergangenen Jahr. Das Unternehmen hat sich umbenannt, um sein Engagement für den Aufbau einer vertrauenswürdigen Finanzinfrastruktur für eine Kryptoindustrie zu unterstreichen, die sich nach dem Zusammenbruch des zentralisierten Finanzwesens (CeFi) erholt. August bietet Institutionen, Protokollen und Handelsplätzen eine umfassende Palette von On-Chain-Finanztools, darunter: Smart-Contract-Konten mit Mehrfachsignatur, Handelsausführung, Kreditaufnahme und -vergabe, Optionen und strukturierte Produkte, Sicherheitenverwaltung durch drei Parteien, Cross-Margining und kettenübergreifende DeFi-Strategien. Zu den Kunden, die heute unterstützt werden, gehören sowohl institutionelle Hedgefonds und Haupthandelsunternehmen als auch Protokolle wie Upshift, die erste dezentralisierte Anwendung, die auf August aufgebaut wurde, mit einem Gesamtwert (TVL) von rund 300 Millionen US-Dollar.

„Die Ereignisse des Jahres 2022, die auf den Zusammenbruch großer zentralisierter Finanzkontrahenten folgten, haben gezeigt, dass in den letzten zwei Jahren mehr Liquidität und Volumen in die Kette verlagert wurden und dass Transparenz und Risikomanagement nicht verhandelbar sind”, sagte Aya Kantorovich, Mitbegründerin und Co-Geschäftsführerin von August. „August setzt einen neuen Standard für den kapitaleffizienten und institutionell tragfähigen Handel mit digitalen Vermögenswerten, bei dem Vertrauen nicht mehr vorausgesetzt wird, sondern in die Infrastruktur selbst eingebaut ist”, so Alexandre Elkrief, Mitbegründer und Co-Geschäftsführer von August.

Durch die Verifizierbarkeit dieser Dienste in der Kette beseitigt August die versteckten Risiken, die CeFi geplagt haben. Mit August kann das Kredit- und Gegenparteirisiko in Echtzeit überwacht und gemindert werden.

„FTX und 3AC sind nicht an mangelndem institutionellem Interesse an digitalen Assets gescheitert”, sagt Rob Hadick, General Partner bei Dragonfly Capital. „Sie sind gescheitert, weil das Risiko verschleiert wurde und das Risiko der Gegenparteien unkontrollierbar war. August bietet Risikomessung in Echtzeit, programmatisches Sicherheitenmanagement und Ausfalltransparenz.”

„Wir freuen uns dass wir uns mit August, dem Marktführer im Bereich On-Chain-Kapitalmärkte, zusammenschließen. August kombiniert die Schnelligkeit und Kompositionsfähigkeit von DeFi mit den Risikomanagement-Tools, die von den größten Instituten der Welt benötigt werden. Diese Vorteile werden nun auch der Öffentlichkeit über Upshift zugänglich gemacht. Die Zukunft des Finanzwesens ist jetzt”, ergänzt Carl Vogel, General Partner bei 6th Man Ventures.

Informationen zu August

August ist eine On-Chain-Prime-Brokerage- und Ausführungsplattform, die es Benutzern ermöglicht, über jede DeFi- und CeFi-Anwendung mit jeder Form von liquiden Sicherheiten zu leihen, zu verleihen, zu handeln und zu verrechnen. August unterstützt alle DeFi-Primitive, einschließlich Kreditvergabe, Kreditaufnahme, Kassaausführung, außerbörsliche Optionen und Derivate.

Medienkontakt:
Aya Kantorovich,
+16466009692,
[email protected]

Foto: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2636930/August_Digital_1.jpg
Foto: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2636931/August_Digital_2.jpg
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DALLAS, March 10, 2025 — DirectH2, Inc., a pioneering hydrogen technology company, has successfully closed its seed round funding from HL Energy Ventures. This investment marks a significant milestone in the company’s journey to revolutionize modular hydrogen production.

With this funding, DirectH2 aims to accelerate the development and commercialization of its cutting-edge hydrogen solutions in collaboration with Rice University, addressing critical challenges in the clean energy sector. DirectH2 has exclusively licensed the intellectual property (IP) from Rice University that underpins its innovative technology.

“HL Energy Ventures is an excellent partner in bringing our breakthrough hydrogen technology to market,” said Michael Irwin, co-founder and interim CEO, DirectH2. “This investment validates our vision and will enable us to further develop efficient PV-based hydrogen solutions that drive the transition to sustainable energy. Rice will continue to be a critical collaborator in the technology development and commercialization journey.”

HL Energy Ventures, the spin-out of Hunt Energy’s technology venture business known for backing transformative energy technologies, sees DirectH2 as a key player in advancing next-generation hydrogen solutions. “DirectH2’s innovation to integrate renewable energy with hydrogen production opens up how green hydrogen can be produced, and we are excited to support their journey,” said Victor Liu, CEO, HL Energy Ventures.

“I am so excited by the launch of DirectH2, a product of years of perseverance, research and creativity of brilliant graduate students at Rice and dedicated collaborators at the Department of Energy laboratories. I am particularly grateful for the support of the DOE Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office. My deepest gratitude to my research team, Materials Physics and Energy Management, and the Office of Technology Transfer and Rice Innovation, and the unwavering support of my family.” said Aditya Mohite, Professor of Chemical Engineering at Rice University. Prof. Mohite is co-founder of DirectH2 and will serve as its Chief Science Officer.

“As Rice University continues to strengthen its role in driving innovation from the lab to the marketplace, DirectH2 represents exactly the kind of transformative impact we aim to achieve. This company is a testament to the power of university breakthroughs in solving global energy challenges, and we are proud to support its journey toward commercializing game-changing hydrogen technology,” said Paul Cherukuri, Chief Innovation Officer, Rice University.

With this funding, DirectH2 is set to expand its team with additional leadership and technical resources, refine its technology, and establish key industry partnerships to bring its innovations to market.

About: DirectH2, Inc is a technology company developing modular hydrogen production solutions. For more information, please visit www.directh2.com. Rice University, officially William Marsh Rice University, is a private research university in Houston, Texas, United States. For more information, please visit www.rice.edu and mpem.rice.edu. HL Energy Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm spun-out of Hunt Energy, and focuses its investments at the early stage in decarbonized fuels, chemicals and related sectors.   The firm leverages its background in fuels, electrification and technology, as well as its relationship with Hunt Energy, to de-risk its investments.  For more information, please visit www.hlenergyventures.com. 

For media inquiries, please contact:
Michael Irwin
interim Chief Executive Officer
DirectH2, Inc.
[email protected]

SOURCE DirectH2, Inc.

HOUSTON and SILICON VALLEY, Calif., March 10, 2025 — Energy startups attending CERAWeek 2025 have a unique opportunity to catapult their innovations onto the global stage. By participating in the Energy Venture Day and Pitch Competition on March 11 and 12, 2025, in Houston, Texas, these startups can compete for a coveted spot at Startup World Cup 2025, the world’s #1 startup pitch competition, where they will vie for a $1 million investment prize and unparalleled exposure to international investors, industry leaders, and media.

Pegasus Tech Ventures, the Silicon Valley-based global venture capital firm that hosts Startup World Cup, is partnering with The Rice Alliance, the Houston Energy Transition Initiative (HETI), and TEX-E to bring this opportunity to CERAWeek. More than 40 selected energy startups will pitch their cutting-edge technologies aimed at enhancing energy efficiency, advancing industrial modernization, and driving the global energy transition.

The winner of the Pitch Competition will earn an invitation to the Startup World Cup 2025 Grand Finale in Silicon Valley in October 2025. At the Grand Finale, startups not only compete for substantial funding but also gain access to a vast network of global investors, customers, and media outlets, providing a launchpad for scaling their technologies worldwide.

“Pegasus Tech Ventures is thrilled to bring Startup World Cup to CERAWeek”, commented Anis Uzzaman, Founder and CEO of Pegasus Tech Ventures. “We are confident that this collaboration will highlight brilliant entrepreneurs and transformative energy innovations that have the power to change the world.”

In 2025, Pegasus will host over 100 regional competitions across more than 60 countries, culminating in the Startup World Cup Grand Finale in Silicon Valley in October 2025, where the world’s most innovative startups will compete for the $1 million global investment prize.

Entrepreneurs and investors interested in participating can visit www.startupworldcup.io for more details.

About Pegasus Tech Ventures
Pegasus Tech Ventures is a global venture capital firm headquartered in Silicon Valley with over $2 billion in assets under management. Pegasus provides intellectual and financial capital to emerging technology companies worldwide. In addition to offering institutional investors a top-tier venture capital investment strategy, Pegasus enables global corporations to partner with cutting-edge startups through its Venture Capital-as-a-Service (VCaaS) model.

Pegasus has partnered with 35+ major corporate investors, including Marathon Petroleum Corporation, ASUS, Aisin, SEGA, Niterra, Sojitz, Calbee, and Denka, and has invested in over 270 companies globally, including SpaceX, Airbnb, SoFi, Doordash, and X (formerly Twitter). For more information, visit www.pegasustechventures.com.

About Startup World Cup
Startup World Cup is the #1 startup pitch competition in the world, hosted by Pegasus Tech Ventures. With over 100 regional events spanning 60+ countries, the competition provides a global platform for startups to showcase their innovations and secure funding. Each regional winner advances to the Startup World Cup Grand Finale, where they compete for a $1 million investment prize. The 2025 Grand Finale will take place on October 17 in San Francisco, California. For more details and a full list of regional competitions, visit www.startupworldcup.io.

About The Rice Alliance
The Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship (Rice Alliance) is Rice University’s nationally recognized initiative devoted to the support of technology commercialization, entrepreneurship education and the launch of startups and tech companies. For more than 20 years, the Rice Alliance has served as a hub for entrepreneurial efforts at the university. We champion the adoption and growth of new programs by weaving an entrepreneurial mindset across campus—from nurturing the formation of new ideas to encouraging engineers, scientists and researchers to turn their work into commercial success to connecting founders with mentors and investors. With backing from former Rice University President, Dr. Malcolm Gillis, the Rice Alliance was founded in 2000 as a catalyst for entrepreneurship at Rice through a strategic alliance of three schools: the George R. Brown School of Engineering, the Wiess School of Natural Sciences and the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business in collaboration with the Vice Provost and the Office of Research. We continue to have close relationships with all three schools and aim to work with groups across campus to elevate Rice’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.

About Houston Energy Transition Initiative (HETI)
The Greater Houston Partnership is the Houston region’s principal business and economic development organization. The economic vitality of greater Houston’s economy is inextricably tied to the energy industry — an industry that is changing rapidly to meet growing global energy demand while simultaneously reducing emissions. The Partnership’s Houston Energy Transition Initiative (HETI) builds on the best of traditional energy skills and systems to leverage Houston’s industry leadership to accelerate global solutions for an energy-abundant, low-carbon future.

About TEX-E
Based in the world’s energy capital, the Texas Exchange for Energy & Climate Entrepreneurship is a thriving ecosystem for student innovation to solve the dual challenge – the world needs more energy and less emissions. It’s where students, startups, corporations, universities, and investors come together to passionately collaborate. TEX-E is leading the way nationally for creating climate tech ecosystems, driving innovative thinking about energy—how it’s produced, utilized, and stored. How it relates to industrial, transportation, agriculture, water management, and beyond. And because the future is what’s at stake, students are naturally at the center of our initiative—undergraduates through postdoc.

SOURCE Pegasus Tech Ventures

SAN FRANCISCO, March 10, 2025 — Nirvana Insurance, the leading AI-driven commercial trucking insurer, today announced an $80 million Series C funding round, valuing the company at nearly $850 million. This round came after a momentous year for Nirvana, which exceeded $100 Million in Premiums, more than doubling year over year. The round was led by General Catalyst with continued support from existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners and Valor Equity Partners. This investment will fuel Nirvana’s rapid expansion and continued technological advancements in commercial fleet insurance.

Nirvana has built the first AI-powered commercial insurance platform that has reached significant scale. Nirvana has achieved best in class loss ratios with the strong support of top tier reinsurers with trillions in assets. Nirvana fully integrates IoT data that is embedded in telematics devices across fleets, and has analyzed over 20 billion miles of real world driving. This data asset powers its proprietary AI models, delivering superior risk assessment, underwriting, pricing, claims processing, and an overall better customer experience.

“Nirvana is transforming the insurance experience with AI that helps us better understand the real world risk that every individual fleet presents,” said Rushil Goel, CEO of Nirvana Insurance. “This investment allows us to scale our impact, ensuring fleets have access to personalized, real-time insurance solutions that reward safety – it’s a fairer approach for the fleets, and a more profitable approach for an insurance carrier.”

Nirvana is building AI-powered insurance for a safer, smarter industry. Nirvana’s AI permeates every aspect of its operations, delivering unprecedented efficiency and accuracy:

• Intelligent Personalized Pricing – By analyzing real-time and historical telematics data, Nirvana tailors coverage and pricing based on actual fleet safety measures, creating fairer, more dynamic policies.
• Revolutionary Claims Process – AI-powered automation streamlines claims handling, reducing administrative burden and expediting resolutions so fleets can get back on the road faster.
• Faster, Smarter Underwriting – Nirvana’s real-time risk assessment platform enables underwriters to make decisions up to 15x faster, ensuring accurate quotes in minutes, not weeks.
• Next-Generation Fleet Safety – Nirvana’s Safety Intelligence Platform provides real-time insights, automated safety alerts, and expert-driven guidance to help fleets proactively reduce risk.

Nirvana has built an AI-powered insurance platform that permeates all of its operations to provide better pricing, underwriting, claims processing, and customer service. “Our technology integrates an exceptional breadth of data from sensors and across the insurance ecosystem,” said Co-Founder and CTO Abhay Mitra. “By harnessing this data with our suite of specialized AI models—from predictive analytics to large reasoning models—we deliver what matters most: more accurate pricing, faster claims resolution, and a dramatically simpler experience for our customers that traditional insurers simply cannot match.”

“Insurance is traditionally a technologically bereft market, ripe for change. Nirvana is proving a disruptive model, finding rich data at scale and building AI around the complex steps of providing commercial insurance from quote through claims,” said Hemant Taneja, CEO and Managing Director of General Catalyst. “We’ve been excited to be a partner in their incredible results, and this investment will accelerate Nirvana even further.”

About Nirvana Insurance
Nirvana Insurance is on a mission to harness the power of data to revolutionize the commercial insurance industry. Nirvana delivers faster, fairer, and more personalized insurance solutions that reward the right behaviors and partners with insured to reduce their risks. For more information, visit nirvanatech.com.

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SOURCE Nirvana Tech