FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. and YORK, Maine, May 21, 2025 — Today marks the public launch of Great Circle Group, a new venture uniting industry leaders Electronics Unlimited (EU) and Navtronics with accomplished technology entrepreneurs Damon Tassone and Michael Wexler. The company aims to establish the marine technology industry’s premier national sales and service brand, delivering unparalleled quality and expertise to boat owners and partners nationwide.

The formation of Great Circle Group addresses growing demand for sophisticated, reliable marine technology services through three key differentiators: technology enablement across all business operations, a focus on creating the industry’s most attractive environment for technical talent, and the scale to provide consistent, high-quality service across multiple regions.

“We’re building the company we’ve always wanted to see in this space,” said Tim Greer, President of Navtronics and VP of Great Circle Group. “With Great Circle we can now expand our premium marine technology services well beyond our New England roots, and become the employer of choice for marine technicians, offering unprecedented career opportunities and advancement paths.”

While maintaining their established brand identities, Electronics Unlimited and Navtronics now operate under the Great Circle Group umbrella, with plans for strategic expansion. The company intends to grow both organically and by inviting additional high-quality sales and service providers to join the Great Circle family.

“Great Circle represents a significant evolution in marine technology services,” said Ron Muller, President of Electronics Unlimited and VP of Great Circle Group. “By bringing together our deep industry knowledge with forward-thinking technology leadership, we’re creating a platform that will attract the best service providers throughout the country while elevating the entire customer experience.”

“As lifelong boaters ourselves, we’ve seen technology increasingly become core to the boating experience and understand the critical importance of reliable, expert service,” said Michael Wexler, co-CEO of Great Circle Group. “We also see tremendous opportunity to develop innovative service offerings that leverage vessel data, emerging technologies, and enhanced connectivity.”

“We’re committed to a long-term vision of transforming this industry while maintaining the exceptional standards that EU and Navtronics are known for,” added Damon Tassone, co-CEO of Great Circle Group. “Our emerging national footprint allows us to reimagine what’s possible in marine technology sales and services, setting new standards of excellence that benefit the entire ecosystem.”

For more information about Great Circle Group, email [email protected].

About Great Circle

Great Circle unites premier marine technology sales and service providers to deliver exceptional quality, reliability, and customer experiences nationwide. Founded by industry veterans and technology entrepreneurs, the company is committed to transforming the marine service industry through technological innovation, talent development, and the advantages of scale.

About Electronics Unlimited

Founded in 1973, Electronics Unlimited has established itself as South Florida and the Treasure Coast’s premier marine technology provider. With nearly five decades of experience, EU has built a reputation for exceptional technical expertise and customer service in marine electronics sales, installation, and service throughout the region.

About Navtronics

Founded in 1992, Navtronics is the leading provider of marine technology solutions in Northern New England. The company serves boaters from Cape Cod to the Canadian border through its network of five locations in Massachusetts and Maine, including Salem, Gloucester, York, Portland, and Belfast.

SOURCE Great Circle Group

SAN FRANCISCO, May 21, 2025 — LMArena, the open community platform for evaluating the best AI models, has secured $100 million in seed funding led by a16z and UC Investments (University of California) with participation from Lightspeed, Laude Ventures, Felicis, Kleiner Perkins and The House Fund. The funding coincides with the relaunch of LMArena happening next week—a faster, sharper, fully rebuilt platform designed to make AI evaluation more rigorous, transparent, and human-centered.

In a space moving at breakneck speed, LMArena is building something foundational: a neutral, reproducible, community-driven layer of infrastructure that allows researchers, developers, and users to understand how models actually perform in the real world. Over four hundred model evaluations have already been made on the platform, with over 3 millions votes cast, helping shape both proprietary and open-source models across the industry, including those from Google, OpenAI, Meta, and xAI.

“In a world racing to build ever-bigger models, the hard question is no longer what can AI do. Rather, it’s how well can it do it for specific use cases, and for whom,” said Anastasios N. Angelopoulos, co-founder and CEO at LMArena. “We’re building the infrastructure to answer these critical questions.”

The new LMArena next week reflects months of feedback from the community and includes: a rebuilt UI, mobile-first design, lower latency, and new features like saved chat history and endless chat. The legacy site will remain live for a while, but all future innovation is happening on lmarena.ai.

“AI evaluation has often lagged behind model development,” said Ion Stoica, co-founder at LMArena and UC Berkeley professor. “LMArena closes that gap by putting rigorous, community-driven science at the center. It’s refreshing to be part of a team that leads with long-term integrity in a space moving this fast.”

Backers say what makes LMArena different is not just the product, but the principles behind it. Evaluation is open, the leaderboard mechanics are published, and all models are tested with diverse, real-world prompts. This approach makes it possible to explore in-depth how AI performs across a range of use cases.

“Our mission has always been to make AI evaluation open, scientific, and grounded in how people actually use these models. As we expand into new modalities and deepen our evaluation tools, we’re building infrastructure that doesn’t just evaluate AI, it helps shape it” said Wei-Lin Chiang, co-founder and CTO of LMArena. “We’re here to ensure AI is reliably measured through real-world use.”

LMArena is already working with model providers to help them uncover performance trends, gather human preference data, and test updates in real-world conditions. The company’s long-term business model centers on trust: as they look to develop advanced analytics and enterprise services while keeping core participation free and open to all.

“We invested in LMArena because the future of AI depends on reliability,” said Anjney Midha, General Partner at a16z. “And reliability requires transparent, scientific, community-led evaluation. LMArena is building that backbone.” Jagdeep Singh Bachher, chief investment officer at UC Investments, added, “We’re excited to see open AI research translated into real-world impact through platforms like LMArena. Supporting innovation from university labs such as those at UC Berkeley is essential for building technologies that responsibly serve the public and advance the field.”

The relaunch of LMArena next week is a significant step forward, but it’s far from the finish line. The team is actively shipping new features, refining the platform, and working closely with the community to shape what comes next.

About LMArena: 
LMArena is an open platform where everyone has access to leading AI models and can contribute to their progress through real-world voting and feedback. Built with scientific rigor and transparency at its core, LMArena enables developers, researchers, and users to compare model outputs, uncover performance differences, and advance the reliability of AI systems. With a commitment to open access, reproducible methods, and diverse human judgment, LMArena is shaping the infrastructure layer AI needs to earn long-term trust. Learn more at lmarena.ai.

Press Contact:
Cherry Park
[email protected]

SOURCE LMArena

Partnership will leverage U.S. News’s insights on global higher education to assist colleges and universities seeking to establish a presence in India.

WASHINGTON, May 21, 2025 — U.S. News & World Report, a global authority in education rankings and consumer insights, today announced a strategic investment in White Bridge Education (WBE), a market-entry advisory firm in India specializing in international student outreach, recruitment and enrollment across South Asia and the Middle East.

This investment marks U.S. News’ continued expansion in India and builds on its mission to help students, families and institutions make confident, data-driven decisions about higher education.

Cofounded by Dr. Kimberly Dixit, Preeti Wadekar and Namita Mehta, White Bridge Education partners with global universities and higher educational institutions to provide customized solutions for student recruitment by offering integrated solutions including in-country representation, digital marketing strategies, customized student events, tours and fairs, research and advisory services, and brokering transnational education partnerships.

“As we continue to find ways to better serve our consumers and the industries that support them, this investment helps amplify our commitment to students and institutions around the globe,” said Neil Maheshwari, U.S. News & World Report CFO and COO. “We are excited about the synergies this partnership provides.”

WBE’s capabilities and credible brand will help U.S. News to deepen its engagement and footprint in the growing Indian economy. This strategic partnership also accelerates WBE’s access to exclusive content, tools, networking and branding opportunities that drive student mobility.

“This partnership marks a meaningful milestone for White Bridge Education,” said Preeti Wadekar, White Bridge Education co-founder and CEO. “It affirms our unique position in India’s international education space and reinforces our shared commitment to transparency, ethics, and student-first values, with full operational and editorial independence of our respective organizations.”

WBE will continue to operate independently under its leadership team with its original founders retaining as majority shareholders. U.S. News will continue to retain its editorial independence: U.S. News editors will not provide White Bridge Education services, and any purchase of those services will not affect school rankings.

About U.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report is the global leader for journalism that empowers consumers, citizens, business leaders and policy officials to make confident decisions in all aspects of their lives and communities. A multifaceted media company, U.S. News provides unbiased rankings, independent reporting and analysis, and consumer advice to millions of people on USNews.com each month. A pillar in Washington for more than 90 years, U.S. News is the trusted home for in-depth and exclusive insights on education, health, politics, the economy, personal finance, travel, automobiles, real estate, careers and consumer products and services.

About White Bridge Education
White Bridge Education (WBE) is a market entry advisor for global universities and higher education institutions expanding into South Asia and the Middle East. Based in Mumbai, the organization offers services spanning strategy, outreach, and partnership development. Its work is grounded in regional expertise, strong networks, and a student-centered approach that emphasizes ethical, outcomes-driven recruitment. WBE focuses on connecting institutions with the right students and stakeholders, aiming to deliver long-term value and impact in international education through collaborative, transparent practices and strategic alignment with each university’s regional goals.

SOURCE U.S. News & World Report

DUBAI, UAE, May 21, 2025 — Ajna Capital, a leading early-stage Web3 venture fund, has included SuperSol as part of its growing portfolio of next-generation blockchain investments. SuperSol, the first native Layer-2 solution purpose-built for the Solana blockchain, represents one of several strategic projects Ajna Capital is backing to drive scalable on-chain growth. This founding stake highlights Ajna Capital’s conviction in Solana as a foundational asset class for the next generation of internet infrastructure — and its commitment to supporting projects that make Solana faster, more scalable, and more resilient.

SuperSol addresses critical challenges in the Solana ecosystem — including network congestion and performance bottlenecks — by introducing a rollup-based architecture that improves throughput and lowers costs without fragmenting liquidity. Unlike traditional L2s, SuperSol is designed to be seamless for users and developers, ensuring that transactions ultimately settle back on Solana‘s base layer without requiring ecosystem migration.

At the heart of SuperSol’s innovation are its Evanescent Rollups, a demand-driven approach to high-speed execution on Solana. These rollups activate dynamically, processing transactions off-chain and submitting cryptographic proofs to Solana‘s mainnet only when necessary. This ensures instant transactions and scalability without overloading the base layer. By preventing wasted resources and reducing computational overhead, SuperSol ensures predictable transaction costs, allowing developers to build with confidence.

Eva Oberholzer, CEO of SuperSol, brings a wealth of experience to the project. As the former Chief Growth Officer at both Cardano and Dfinity, she has been instrumental in scaling blockchain ecosystems. Eva co-founded SuperSol to scale Solana efficiently while preserving the speed, security, and efficiency that define it.

“We’re building the most robust Layer-2 for Solana — designed from the ground up for high-performance applications,” said Eva Oberholzer. “With Ajna’s backing, we’re doubling down on our vision to deliver seamless scalability for gaming, DeFi, and beyond.”

Key Highlights of SuperSol:

• Solana-Native L2: SuperSol is the first Layer-2 rollup architecture designed specifically for Solana, optimized for high throughput and ultra-low latency.
• Evanescent Rollups: A demand-driven approach to high-speed execution, ensuring instant transactions and scalability without overloading the base layer.
• No Fragmentation: All SuperSol transactions eventually settle on Solana, maintaining composability and liquidity across the ecosystem.
• Built for High-Performance Apps: From DeFi to GameFi to DePIN, SuperSol’s infrastructure enables real-time, scalable execution for demanding applications.

Developer-Focused Execution: Offers customizable environments tailored to the needs of next-gen Solana builders.

SuperSol is currently raising a strategic round to scale its team, expand validator infrastructure, and onboard its first wave of DeFi and gaming partners, alongside several other high-potential Web3 projects supported by Ajna Capital.

“Being an early investor in Solana — SuperSol was a natural extension and a no-brainer,” said Gourish Singla, Founding Managing Partner of Ajna Capital. “Their rollup-first approach is exactly what the network needs right now: scalability without compromise, composability without fragmentation. We’re excited to support their mission to make Solana unstoppable.”

About Ajna Capital
Ajna Capital is a Web3-native early-stage venture fund backing bold founders building core infrastructure and real-world blockchain applications.

About SuperSol
SuperSol is a blockchain infrastructure company developing Layer-2 scaling solutions to enhance performance and usability within the Solana ecosystem.

SuperSol on X/Twitter: https://x.com/_supersol

Contact
Ajna Capital
[email protected]

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2693113/Ajna_Capital.jpg

SOURCE Ajna Capital

Investment led by Bessemer Venture Partners with participation from 8VC, Tru Arrow, SineWave, In-Q-Tel and Zero Prime to fuel expansion of DataHub, the leading open source metadata platform

PALO ALTO, Calif., May 21, 2025 — DataHub, by Acryl Data, the leading open source metadata platform, today announced it has raised $35 million in Series B funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners. This latest round brings the company’s total funding to $65 million, enabling accelerated development of its context management platform that provides discovery, observability, and control across data, AI models, and AI agents.

As part of the investment, Lauri Moore of Bessemer Venture Partners will join DataHub’s board of directors.

“Rapid adoption of AI in the enterprise is revealing the significance of comprehensive visibility, reliability, and trust across their data and AI ecosystem—far beyond traditional data cataloging to a machine-scale world where AI agents become the power users of data,” said Swaroop Jagadish, CEO and co-founder of DataHub. “DataHub is uniquely positioned to lead this new category of AI & data context management with our architecture built for extreme scale, performance, and real-time machine-scale automations.”

Enterprises are facing critical challenges in accessing, maintaining reliability, and securing their data and AI supply chain. Today’s organizations struggle with “missing context” that prevents both humans and machines from effectively working with data.

1. Data consumers can’t easily find relevant datasets.
2. Data engineers lack visibility to prevent disruptions when making changes.
3. Governance teams struggle to track sensitive data access.

For AI systems, this context gap is even more critical–AI models need to know when new data is available for refreshing predictions, which enterprise data is trustworthy, and how to analyze schema changes automatically. DataHub addresses this fundamental challenge by providing a real-time metadata platform that brings order to data and AI chaos, enabling machines to interact with an organization’s data assets with complete context awareness.

“With the shift toward business-critical AI and customer-facing predictive applications, enterprises need robust metadata management to ensure AI systems can reliably work with data,” said Shirshanka Das, CTO and co-founder of DataHub. “DataHub provides the context that AI systems need to understand data lineage, quality, and semantics—enabling organizations to unlock the full potential of their AI investments.”

DataHub’s open source offering is being used by more than 3,000 organizations globally including Apple, Chime, Foursquare, Netflix, Optum, Pinterest, and Slack. The company has experienced 6x growth in selling the enterprise managed service, DataHub Cloud, over the last two years.

DataHub’s unique event-driven architecture provides real-time visibility as a significant advantage over legacy vendors. Its extensibility and scalability are stand-out benefits along with a full-spectrum of deployment options, from single-node to cloud-hosted, hybrid and decentralized deployments. This architectural advantage has led to competitive wins against established players, with customers citing DataHub’s superior performance, unified capabilities across discovery and data observability, and the ability to support AI governance needs.

“Metadata is the missing link enabling organizations to transition from human-scale data analytics to machine-scale enterprise AI,” said Lauri Moore, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners. “DataHub is uniquely positioned to address this critical need with its schema-first, event-oriented architecture that brings data and model context and control into a single pane of glass. Enterprises will use DataHub to develop AI ‘safely’ – in a way that respects user privacy and ensures people, models, and agents only access the data and context when and where they are supposed to – without compromising velocity.”

In addition to the funding, the company is rebranding itself to just be known as DataHub. The name change accurately reflects its core mission of building a metadata platform that is powering AI-ready data systems at scale. DataHub will use the new capital to:

• Invest in the DataHub open source community, which has grown 50x to over 13,000 members
• Accelerate R&D with focus on AI governance and context management capabilities
• Scale go-to-market operations to meet growing enterprise demand
• Build enterprise-grade customer success capabilities

For more information about DataHub, visit www.datahub.com.

About Us
DataHub, by Acryl Data, is an AI & Data Context Platform. Innovated jointly with a thriving open-source community of 13,000+ members, DataHub’s active metadata platform provides real-time context of AI and data assets with best-in-class scalability and extensibility. The company’s enterprise SaaS offering, DataHub Cloud, delivers a fully-managed solution with AI-powered discovery, observability, and governance capabilities. Organizations rely on DataHub to accelerate time-to-value from their data investments, ensure AI system reliability, and implement unified governance—enabling AI & data to work together and bring order to data chaos.

Media Contact
Loopr Marketing
[email protected] 

SOURCE Acryl Data

BANGALORE, India, May 21, 2025 — CloudSEK, a leader in AI-powered cyber threat prediction and intelligence, has raised $19 million across its Series A2 and B1 funding rounds. The round included participation from a mix of India– and US-based investors, such as MassMutual Ventures, Inflexor Ventures, Prana Ventures, Tenacity Ventures, and select strategic investors, including Commvault. Notably, Meeran Family (founders of Eastern Group), StartupXSeed, Neon Fund and Exfinity Ventures are among CloudSEK’s earlier backers and continue to support the company’s long-term vision.

Founded in 2015 by cybersecurity researcher-turned-entrepreneur Rahul Sasi, CloudSEK was created with a mission to build a safer digital future by proactively predicting and mitigating cyber threats. What began as a research-driven initiative has since evolved into one of the industry’s most trusted threat intelligence platforms—serving 250+ enterprises across banking, healthcare, technology, and the public sector.

The newly raised capital will fuel CloudSEK’s continued product innovation and global expansion, with a focus on advancing its AI models and platform integrations. Unlike traditional tools that respond after an incident, CloudSEK identifies Initial Attack Vectors (IAVs)—the earliest signs of a potential breach, such as leaked credentials, exposed APIs, or compromised vendors.

“We built CloudSEK to predict the initial attack vector and stop threats before they hit the headlines with the goal of preventing threats before they escalate,” said Rahul Sasi, Co-founder & CEO of CloudSEK. “Unlike conventional threat intelligence that focuses on indicators of compromise after an attack, our platform detects the earliest signals—leaked credentials, exposed APIs, compromised vendors—weeks before an incident unfolds. That’s our version of threat intelligence: predictive, not forensic.”

“Today, over 60% of our net new revenue comes from international markets, with the U.S. emerging as our fastest-growing region. We’ve achieved this scale while staying cash flow positive. This round—backed by top financial and strategic investors—not only validates our vision but reinforces what we’ve believed from day one: cybersecurity must be proactive, not reactive,” Rahul Sasi added.

CloudSEK’s differentiated approach has resonated globally, earning the company a 4.8-star rating on Gartner Peer Insights across 195 reviews, making it one of the most recommended vendors in the cybersecurity space.

“Early visibility into threats is no longer optional. CloudSEK’s predictive intelligence helps enterprises take control of the narrative—before attackers do,” said Dr. Durga Dube, CISO of a Fortune Global 100 company.

“CloudSEK has created a great product based on cutting-edge AI, appropriate for the security needs of top global companies. Tenacity is excited about backing and working closely with Rahul and his team to help build a great global technology product company from India.” — Rohit Razdan, Partner, Tenacity Ventures.

“CloudSEK has grown 3x in ARR over the last 24 months and continues to grow well above industry standards,” said Kalyan Kumar Vattipalli, VP of Finance at CloudSEK. “The round attracted significant interest from global financial investors, and we will soon be announcing Series B2 as an extension of B1, both to onboard new investors and to facilitate partial exits for some of our early backers.”

With this funding and a strategic investor on board, CloudSEK is doubling down on its vision to make predictive threat intelligence a global cybersecurity standard for —empowering organizations to stay ahead of increasingly sophisticated threat actors.

About CloudSEK:

 CloudSEK is a contextual AI company that predicts Cyber Threats. Our Cloud SaaS platform constantly seeks security solutions for our customers’ digital risks.

To learn more about how CloudSEK can strengthen your external security posture and deliver value from Day One, visit https://cloudsek.com or drop a note to [email protected]. 

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2693114/Team_CloudSEK.jpg

SOURCE CloudSEK

After a decade of investing in companies at the intersection of risk and technology, Munich Re Ventures closes its fifth fund

SAN FRANCISCO, May 21, 2025 — Munich Re Ventures (MRV), the venture capital arm of Munich Re Group, today announced a new $125 million fund from its founding limited partner, HSB, which will invest in Built World startups focusing on equipment and technology that de-risks and optimizes performance in property, industry, and related supply chains, as well as cybersecurity and technologies driving toward a resilient future. This new fund, the second from HSB and the fifth overall for the firm, brings MRV’s assets under management to $1.2 billion.

With its 150-year history, and as part of Munich Re, HSB blends its engineering expertise, technology, and data to craft inventive insurance and service solutions for existing and emerging risks posed by technological change.

“Ten years ago, it was HSB Fund I that provided the initial capital which founded Munich Re Ventures as a firm,” shares Jacqueline LeSage, Managing General Partner of Munich Re Ventures. “Now, a decade on, we feel immense pride in the accomplishments of the incredible founders we’ve supported, as well as the partnerships they’ve built with HSB that are accelerating new visions for insurance. We are more committed than ever to backing the companies and teams that are most thoughtfully innovating at the intersection of risk and technology.”

Several investments from the inaugural HSB Fund I ultimately went on to reach unicorn status, including cyber insurance and security (InsurSec) provider, At-Bay, industrial manufacturing intelligence company, Augury, and telco disruptor, Helium Mobile. IoT data analytics company, Mnubo, was also acquired by AspenTech in 2019.

“HSB is constantly on the lookout for innovative technologies and business models that predict and prevent breakdown of the equipment that our customers rely on in their businesses and everyday lives,” shares Greg Barats, President and CEO of HSB. “As part of this ongoing effort, we’re delighted to see the launch of Munich Re Ventures’ HSB Fund II, which will help us build upon our collaborations with bold entrepreneurs that are creating solutions for problems both new and old.”

With HSB’s focus on risk mitigation and the prevention of equipment breakdown, they have established successful partnerships with several MRV portfolio companies to support this endeavor. HSB worked with industrial AI solution provider, Augury, to create an innovative Production Loss Guarantee for Critical Rotating Assets product, along with HelixIntel’s maintenance management platform, offering a solution for Equipment Breakdown policyholders. They also serve as capacity provider for InsurSec provider, At-Bay. Forward-thinking partnerships with innovative technology companies are a critical component of HSB’s company roadmap.

With the new HSB Fund II, the MRV team builds upon its dedication to backing founders working at the intersection of equipment technology and resilience, focusing on solutions that enhance the operational efficiency, durability, and predictive maintenance of our built world, critical infrastructure, and industrial assets. Two recent additions to the Munich Re Ventures team will lead activities on behalf of the firm. Jennifer Place, Principal, will oversee the HSB Funds, as well as lead investments for the Built World sector, more generally. With ten years of experience investing in transformative technologies across the Built World, Energy, and Industrial sectors, Jennifer is uniquely positioned to lead these efforts. Adam Care, VP & Head of Portfolio Development for the HSB Funds, will cultivate partnerships between the MRV portfolio and HSB. Having spent 12 years working on client management and innovation at HSB, his skillset, network, and knowledge will prove a substantial asset for the MRV portfolio.

MRV’s team of seasoned, industry-expert investors is uniquely positioned to help portfolio companies navigate the world of risk by providing capital, board leadership, risk solutions, industry and investor connections, operational support, and technical expertise. The new HSB Fund II further expands the team’s capacity for supporting startups innovating at the intersection of risk and technology.

About Munich Re Ventures

Munich Re Ventures is the venture capital arm of Munich Re Group, one of the world’s leading providers of reinsurance, primary insurance, and insurance-related risk solutions. With $1.2 billion in assets under management, Munich Re Ventures invests in the most innovative startups, transforming the future of risk and risk transfer. MRV’s experienced investors are financially-driven while focused on the strategic interests of Munich Re and the broader insurance industry. MRV works closely with Munich Re Group businesses across the globe to fund and partner with the best emerging companies developing new technologies and business models – and risks – for tomorrow’s world. For more information, visit https://www.munichre.com/mrv/en.html

About HSB

HSB, part of Munich Re, is a multi-line specialty insurer and provider of inspection, risk management and IoT technology services. HSB insurance offerings include equipment breakdown, cyber risk, specialty liability and other coverages. HSB blends its engineering expertise, technology and data to craft inventive insurance and service solutions for existing and emerging risks posed by technological change. Throughout its 159-year history HSB’s mission has been to help clients prevent loss, advance sustainable use of energy and build deeper relationships that benefit business, public institutions and consumers. HSB holds A.M. Best Company’s highest financial rating, A++ (Superior). For more information, visit www.hsb.com and connect on LinkedIn, X and Facebook.

About Munich Re

Munich Re is one of the world’s leading providers of reinsurance, primary insurance and insurance-related risk solutions. The group consists of the reinsurance and ERGO business segments, as well as the asset management company MEAG. Munich Re is globally active and operates in all lines of the insurance business. Since it was founded in 1880, Munich Re has been known for its unrivalled risk-related expertise and its sound financial position. Munich Re leverages its strengths to promote its clients’ business interests and technological progress. Moreover, Munich Re develops covers for new risks such as rocket launches, renewable energies, cyber risks and artificial intelligence. In the 2024 financial year, Munich Re generated insurance revenue of €60.8bn and a net result of €5.7bn. The Munich Re Group employed about 44,000 people worldwide as of 31 December 2024.

Media contact
Dennis Milewski
Phone: +1 (860) 722-5567
Mobile: +1 (860) 534-0623
Email: [email protected] 

SOURCE Munich Re Ventures

Vertically integrated facility expected to increase IPP’s top-line revenue

NEW YORK, May 21, 2025 — Sangha Renewables (“Sangha”), a company redefining renewable energy generation through bitcoin mining and institutional-grade project finance, today announced the groundbreaking of its flagship 19.9-megawatt (MW) mining facility in West Texas. Developed in partnership with a leading independent power producer (IPP), the facility will operate behind-the-meter on an established large scale solar energy site. The facility will deliver optimized power monetization and attractive bitcoin-backed returns for investors.

Sangha has also announced a $14 million equity raise, securing a majority portion of its targeted $17 million equity round to fund the development of this initial site and support the scale-up of its innovative model. This project serves as the proof-of-concept for Sangha’s plans to transform underutilized renewable assets into high-yield, bitcoin-generating infrastructure across the U.S.

“Sangha is not just building bitcoin mining sites—we’re building a new model for how capital flows in and out of bitcoin,” said Spencer Marr, co-founder and CEO. “By applying a project finance structure honed-in the renewable energy and real estate sectors, we enable investors to participate directly in productive assets—without intermediaries, speculative equities, or inefficiencies of datacenter hosting. Investors put cash or bitcoin into the construction of the project and then enjoy streaming distributions of bitcoin for years to come at well below the market price of bitcoin.”

Sangha has leased 5.5 acres from the IPP on the solar site that has been operational for several years. Generation in West Texas is subject to grid congestion and episodes of negative energy pricing. The IPP will soon benefit from a new revenue stream without bearing any capital or operational costs.

Under the offtake agreement, Sangha will purchase 19.9 MW of behind-the-meter power.

“It’s a win-win-win,” added Marr. “The IPP earns more per megawatt-hour, our investors gain exposure to low-cost bitcoin production, and we deliver grid-stabilizing load where it’s needed most.”

Sangha’s approach to mining is differentiated by:

• Sophisticated Site Selection: Projects are chosen using proprietary financial modeling that forecasts energy pricing and bitcoin hashprice on an hourly or 15-minute basis, driving precise curtailment and profitability analysis.
• True Capital Efficiency: Investor capital flows directly into mining infrastructure. Minimal overhead, transparent fee structures and optional smart contract-linked payouts ensure alignment and clarity.
• Proven Project Finance Model: Borrowed from decades of real estate and renewable energy development, Sangha’s structure emphasizes risk mitigation, operational rigor and repeatable deployment.
• Regulatory Scrutiny: Sangha and its team of lawyers and advisors have set themselves apart in their ability to navigate the ever-changing regulatory environment for these types of projects, taking the burden of interconnection and related aspects of the deal off the hands of the IPP.

The West Texas facility is expected to commence operations in Q3 2025, delivering one of the lowest power costs in North America—positioning it among the most competitive bitcoin mining operations in the country.

Sangha’s model enables accredited investors to invest directly into site-level special purpose vehicles (SPVs), receiving distributions in bitcoin or bitcoin-backed income. The firm’s model integrates seamlessly with modern smart-contract infrastructure, creating a secure and streamlined investment experience.

This project also marks a milestone in the company’s evolution. The founders of Sangha Renewables began their journey with Sangha Systems. As their vision evolved, they made a decisive shift toward renewable energy, leading to the creation of Sangha Renewables—a company dedicated to integrating bitcoin mining with sustainable power solutions to generate lasting value for investors, developers and the grid.

About Sangha Renewables

Sangha Renewables is building the most capital-efficient, institutional-grade model for bitcoin mining, purpose-built for long-term investors and energy partners. Through sophisticated project-finance and direct partnerships with independent power providers, Sangha delivers bitcoin cash flows from sustainable energy sources—without the volatility of public markets or the inefficiencies of datacenter hosting. To learn more, visit www.sangharenewables.com. 

Media Contact

Nishant Sharma
BlocksBridge Consulting
[email protected]

SOURCE Sangha Renewables

SJF Ventures invests in AI-powered supply chain risk management platform helping enterprises navigate global trade chaos

BOZEMAN, Mont., May 21, 2025 — Tradeverifyd, the supply chain risk management platform designed to help enterprises identify, assess, and mitigate risks before they impact operations, announced the company secured $4 million in new funding from SJF Ventures.

Businesses struggling to adapt to the impact of shifting trade policies and tariffs on supply chains — delays, unexpected costs, and compliance challenges are now daily realities — are turning to Tradeverifyd’s predictive intelligence and real-time monitoring. The new funding, which builds on an $8 million Series A round in January, is the result of the platform proving crucial for global enterprises.

“Global supply chains are more vulnerable than ever before,” said Michael Prorock, founder and CEO of Tradeverifyd. “To navigate the chaos, enterprises need visibility deep into their supply chains and predictive intelligence to anticipate and address disruptions. Tradeverifyd’s AI-powered intelligence lets enterprises assess each supplier’s ability to deliver, respond immediately to detentions, and get ahead of future risks. We help enterprises transform chaos into clarity and supply chain risk into a competitive advantage.”

Slowdowns and blank sailings at U.S. ports are the latest evidence of tumultuous global supply chains as rapidly changing trade regulations and tariffs overlap with geopolitical, environmental, and compliance risks. Tradeverifyd uses a secure blend of open-source intelligence and first-party data to illuminate supply chains from final product back to their raw materials, then deploys agentic AI technology and real-time monitoring to inform enterprises of potential risks.

The platform has proven successful in building resilient supply chains for several of the largest global enterprises, and is utilized by government agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. One company using Tradeverifyd avoided $12 million in one-time costs by resolving a supply chain bottleneck, while another achieved a 7x increase in operational efficiency. Across clients, Tradeverifyd has consistently delivered significant savings in procurement costs through deep, multi-tier supply chain visibility and proactive risk mitigation. This momentum helped Tradeverifyd grow its year-over-year revenue 10x in 2025.

“Global supply chains are experiencing significant disruption due to tariffs, increased regulatory scrutiny, and environmental events,” said David Griest, Managing Director at SJF Ventures. “We’ve been tracking the company for some time; Tradeverifyd stands out for its ability to identify and mitigate supply chain risks, ensure compliance, and enhance resilience for enterprise customers. The platform is built for scale and managing complex, multi-tier global supply chains. This investment presents a tremendous opportunity to help businesses navigating trade chaos — and we see enormous growth ahead.”

Another key element of the platform is the Tradeverifyd Score™, an objective measurement of a supplier’s ability to successfully fulfill orders. It operates like a credit score for supply chain reliability and allows enterprises to make informed, proactive decisions at every level of their organization. Tradeverifyd also features secure data sharing and automated documentation management to deliver supplier collaboration at scale, allowing companies to comply with mounting global regulations like the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) and the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD).

Tradeverifyd will use the new funding to further invest in its go-to-market team to meet soaring demand for its agentic AI-powered solution, especially among large enterprises, as well as increase customer support staff to help companies proactively manage risks before they become disruptions.

About Tradeverifyd
Tradeverifyd, with headquarters in Bozeman, MT, and strategic locations globally, serves as the go-to partner for enterprises to achieve excellence in digital supply chain transformation as they move from reactive to proactive modes of reducing supply chain risk.

About SJF Ventures
Founded in 1999, SJF Ventures is an impact venture capital fund whose mission is to catalyze the development of highly successful businesses that drive lasting, positive changes. Its deep experience in supply chain and logistics includes portfolio companies HYLA, Iron Sheepdog, Lineage, Optoro, Perishable Shipping Solutions, ShipMonk, and Tive.

Media Contact: Chris Marley, [email protected]

SOURCE mesur.io