CRED blends business systems, predictive intelligence, and real-world signals to generate contextual insights that drive revenue and operational efficiency.

SAN FRANCISCO, June 30, 2025 — CRED, the AI-powered predictive intelligence platform, today announced it has raised a $15 million seed round led by defy.vc with participation from HOF Capital, Alumni Ventures, LDV Partners, Streamlined Ventures, SilverCircle Ventures, Octopus Ventures, BAM Ventures, Gaingels, alongside the leader of one of the largest PE firms. The company exits stealth with a bold mission: to give every business the predictive advantage once reserved for hedge funds, and turning fragmented systems and signals into intelligent actions, at scale.

CRED transforms how companies harness their data, unifying internal systems with real-time market signals and predictive AI models to deliver intelligent, ranked recommendations & actions tailored to each use case. CRED tells organizations what to do, when to act, and why it matters, turning fragmented data into ranked, contextual insights and automated actions across the tools organizations already use.

Why Now: A Tipping Point for Predictive Intelligence
For years, only hedge funds could afford to build and act on predictive models at scale. Today, that edge is becoming mainstream. Exploding datasets, cheaper compute, and rapid advances in LLMs are making real-time predictions accessible to every enterprise, not just the elite few.

How CRED Works: The Intelligence Layer for Predictive Growth
CRED connects your internal systems with real-time external signals to power smarter execution at scale. The platform turns raw inputs into ranked, contextual insights that help teams focus on what matters most.

• Enrichment & Reporting: Gain full visibility into your data ecosystem by connecting CRM, MAP, and other go-to-market systems. CRED audits data quality in real-time, identifying missing fields, outdated records, and inconsistencies across the entire stack. With access to over 200M+ companies and 900M+ contacts, it enriches records with live market signals like funding events, digital ad spend, hiring trends, and executive moves. This unified layer of enrichment and reporting surfaces insights across macro trends, internal operational efficiency, and the competitive landscape, giving teams the context they need to drive more intelligent execution.
• Intelligent Scoring & Prioritization: Customizable scoring models assess ideal customer profile fit, propensity to churn, and upsell potential to surface high-impact opportunities on an ongoing basis. Real-time alerts notify GTM teams when prospects exhibit buying signals, while synthetic data modeling generates lookalike accounts based on historical wins for more effective targeting.
• Smart Action & Execution: CRED empowers GTM teams to take immediate, intelligent action on enriched data and predictive insights. The platform connects to your existing systems—and includes a built-in outreach tool—so teams can email prospects directly, trigger follow-ups, and launch campaigns without needing to switch tools. CRED automatically builds dynamic account lists, delivers real-time alerts when high-fit accounts show intent, and prioritizes them for engagement. From assigning leads to automating outbound workflows, CRED helps teams move faster, engage smarter, and capitalize on every opportunity.

CRED transforms fragmented data into action-ready intelligence, helping go-to-market teams move faster, prioritize better, and drive revenue with precision.

“We’re in the age of AI where contextual data can now lead to profound business outcomes,” said Jon Carr-Harris, Founder and CEO of CRED. “Just like in science fiction, we can finally start to predict the future. We’re thrilled to prepare the company for its next chapter of growth and grateful for all the support we’ve had from Neil Sequeira at Defy and our incredible group of investors and customers.”

Carr-Harris, a serial entrepreneur with multiple exits and a decade of leadership in AI products, leads a team focused on removing the overhead of managing complex data infrastructures while unlocking new value. CRED doesn’t just analyze existing data—it generates petabytes of proprietary, net-new insights each month, contextualized for every customer. Its predictive intelligence engine has already driven over $100 million in revenue for users in the past year alone, along with over $20 million in cost savings. CRED delivers personalized recommendations for key actions, including real-time scorecards that help sales, marketing, and operations teams identify and prioritize opportunities, optimize spend, and streamline workflows.

“CRED is reimagining enterprise intelligence by combining real-time data, AI, and workflows into a single action-oriented, revenue-driving platform,” said Neil Sequeira, Founder and Partner at defy.vc. “We are excited to back an experienced technical founder like Jon with an incredible AI native team that is deep into customer traction and exponential growth by building an AI operating system for the future of all enterprises.”

Customer Momentum & Market Expansion
While in stealth mode, CRED quietly signed 25 large enterprise customers, including major organizations such as the Golden State Warriors, UTA, and the PGA, saving companies over 10,000 hours of manual data entry per month and driving double-digit revenue growth month over month. CRED will use the funding to scale operations beyond its first vertical in Sports & Entertainment into additional enterprise sectors.

Growth, Hiring & What’s Next
CRED will invest in product development, data models, and expand its go-to-market team. The company has recently opened a new office in San Francisco and is actively hiring across data, sales, engineering, product, and customer success teams.

As AI and large language models (LLMs) capabilities evolve, so does the demand for context-rich intelligence. CRED is uniquely positioned to meet that demand, bridging the gap between signal and strategy, insight and execution.

To learn more, visitcredplatform.com.

About CRED
CRED provides predictive intelligence software that enables enterprises to make data-driven decisions by integrating internal business systems with real-time external market signals. Our platform combines real-time data on over 200 million companies with predictive models to help businesses identify which prospects are likely to convert, which customers are at risk of churning, and when competitors are vulnerable.

About defy.vc
Founded in 2016, defy.vc is a Silicon Valley based early stage venture capital firm. Defy was founded to invest in entrepreneurs and companies looking to solve complex problems. Defy’s focus is to help early stage companies mature and scale into companies ready for growth capital. The firm’s team has more than 50 years of venture experience, successful operating backgrounds, and actively helps successful entrepreneurs grow companies from inception through exit. Connect with defy at https://defy.vc/ and @defyvc.

SOURCE CRED

Funding to accelerate platform expansion into new applications in cell-to-cell interactions and tissue

STOCKHOLM, June 30, 2025 — Pixelgen Technologies today announced that it has been awarded grant and equity financing of EUR 12.5 M ($14.7 million) from the European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator, a funding initiative under the European Union’s Horizon Europe program designed to support highly innovative start-ups with disruptive technologies. Pixelgen will use the financing to expand the applications of its Pixelgen Proxiome Kit, launched earlier this year as the first kit and software for protein interactome analysis of single cells at high capacity.

“We’re thrilled to receive this highly competitive funding from the EIC,” said Pixelgen co-founder and CEO Simon Fredriksson. “The process was rigorous, and the award further reinforces the value of Pixelgen’s technology to increase our understanding of complex cellular and functional cell surface arrangements, which we believe will advance drug development and deepen our understanding of precision medicine. The response from leading researchers in industry and academia to our Proxiome Kit has been very enthusiastic, and this grant will help accelerate its expansion into new applications, including cell-to-cell interactions, communication, and FFPE tissues.”

The EIC selected 40 innovative start-ups and small-to-medium-sized enterprises out of 150 applicants in its latest evaluation round to receive funding. The companies were chosen for their “transformative technologies and strong commercial promise,” according to the EIC.  

The Pixelgen Proxiome Kit is the first in a new product line by Pixelgen offering researchers the highest resolution of single cell analyses by providing a new omics dimension (protein interactomics), for novel insights into disease mechanisms, drug response, biomarker discovery, and more, in cancer, hematology, immunology, and cell therapy research. It’s based on the company’s proprietary Proximity Network Assay, which delivers nanoscale spatial analysis of immune cell proteins at scale and was recently presented on BioRxiv.

Pixelgen is backed by leading investors, including Industrifonden, Sweden’s venture capital fund, and Navigare Ventures.

About Pixelgen Technologies
Pixelgen Technologies AB is on a mission to deliver biology at the highest resolution by understanding the molecular basis of cellular function with new tools and technologies that decipher the protein interactomics of single cells in unprecedented ways. The company’s patented Proximity Network Assay delivers nanoscale spatial analysis of immune cell proteins at ultra-high capacity and underpins the Pixelgen Proxiome Kit for precision medicine. A foundational technology, the Proximity Network Assay will power a portfolio of products for translational research to accelerate advances in immunology, hematology, and cell therapy. Pixelgen was founded in 2020 by a team of passionate, experienced innovators and entrepreneurs and is venture-backed.

Contacts

Corporate:
Annika Branting
[email protected]
+46 762-69 68 46

Media:
Susan Thomas
[email protected]
+1 (619) 540-9195

SOURCE Pixelgen Technologies

LONDON, June 30, 2025 — King Street Capital Management, L.P. (“King Street”), a leading global investment firm, today announced the final close of its European Real Estate Special Situations Fund II (“ESS II” or “the Fund”), hitting its hard cap of ~$950 million of capital commitments within 12 months.

ESS II targets situations where traditional capital has retrenched with the objective of accessing institutional-grade real estate at compelling valuations. The Fund will invest across core markets in Western Europe, focusing on high-quality assets that are temporarily mispriced due to market illiquidity rather than fundamentals. Leveraging King Street’s ability to invest across the capital structure, ESS II offers flexible, asset-specific capital solutions tailored to borrower needs, with a focus on unlocking value through capital structure solutions, repositioning, and hands-on asset management.

ESS II attracted a globally diversified investor base across North America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, with 50% of commitments coming from re-ups of the firm’s predecessor ESS vehicle and existing King Street real estate investors.

“The strong investor demand for ESS II reflects confidence in King Street’s ability to deliver innovative financing solutions in a market where transparency and liquidity remain scarce,” said Brian Higgins, Founder and Managing Partner of King Street. “Amid historic dislocation, we see a clear path to recovery and believe ESS II is well-positioned to capitalize on a generational opportunity in European real estate.”

“Our strategy focuses on the intersection of quality and complexity, providing capital solutions for trophy assets trading below intrinsic value due to market stress,” said Paul Brennan, Partner and Co-Head of Real Estate responsible for leading the European business at King Street. “As traditional lenders pull back and capital remains scarce, we’re able to deploy flexible capital and access landmark assets through proprietary, off-market channels.”

The closing of ESS II marks a significant milestone in the growth of King Street’s real estate platform. Recent investments including the Four Seasons Rome, the Bauer Hotel Venice, Room00, Arlington House St. James, and Bravo! Students, demonstrate the team’s conviction in structurally resilient sectors with long term secular growth.

About King Street Capital Management
King Street is a global alternative investment firm founded in 1995, managing over $29 billion in assets across public and private markets. The firm combines deep fundamental research with tactical trading expertise and differentiated sourcing capabilities to uncover dislocations and mispriced opportunities across asset classes and throughout the capital structure.

King Street Real Estate focuses on debt and equity investments in special situations and thematic platforms. Our special situations strategy identifies compelling risk-adjusted investment opportunities across the capital structure, in high-quality real estate assets in major markets. Our exclusive, thematic platforms are built around property sectors with compelling secular tailwinds. Since its inception, King Street has completed transactions totaling over $20 billion in real estate securities and real estate-related investments.

For more information, please visit www.kingstreet.com. Follow King Street Capital Management and King Street Capital Real Estate on LinkedIn.

Media Contacts
Prosek Partners
[email protected] 

Logo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1834844/King_Street_Logo.jpg

SASE-Marktführer treibt die Zukunft der KI-gesteuerten Unternehmenssicherheit und Netzwerktechnik in einer überzeichneten Finanzierungsrunde voran

TEL AVIV, Israel, 30. Juni 2025 — Cato Networks, führender Anbieter im Bereich SASE, gab heute seine Serie-G-Finanzierungsrunde bekannt, bei der 359 Millionen Dollar eingesammelt wurden. Die Runde wurde von neuen Investoren wie Vitruvian Partners und ION Crossover Partners sowie bestehenden Investoren wie Lightspeed Venture Partners, Acrew Capital und Adams Street Partners angeführt. Die Investition hebt CATOs Bewertung auf mehr als 4,8 Milliarden Dollar und die Gesamtfinanzierung auf über 1 Milliarde Dollar – ein bedeutender Meilenstein in der Mission des Unternehmens, Unternehmenssicherheit für das digitale und KI-Zeitalter neu zu definieren.

Die Investition baut auf CATOs bewährter Führungsrolle auf: von der Schaffung von SASE durch die Konvergenz von Sicherheit und Netzwerktechnik im Jahr 2015, über die Anerkennung von CATOs Vision durch die weltweite Analystengemeinschaft, als der Begriff „SASE” 2019 definiert wurde, bis hin zu einem Jahrzehnt der Innovation, die kontinuierlich die Grenzen von SASE und KI-Sicherheit erweitert.

„Mit mehr als 3.500 Unternehmenskunden, konstantem Hyperwachstum sowie wiederholbaren und skalierbaren Erfolgen gegen alle führenden Wettbewerber ist CATO ein bewährtes und ausgereiftes Unternehmen für Investitionen”, sagt Shlomo Kramer, Mitbegründer und CEO von CATO Networks. „Unsere echte SASE-Plattform und ein Jahrzehnt KI-Innovation unterscheidet CATO von herkömmlichen Anbietern, die ein Portfolio von Einzellösungen vorziehen. Kunden und Partner verstehen den Unterschied und entscheiden sich für CATO, um von bewährter Sicherheit, betrieblicher Effizienz und geschäftlicher Agilität zu profitieren.”

„CATO hat das letzte Jahrzehnt darauf verwendet, die nächste Generation der Cybersicherheit aufzubauen und zu optimieren. Wir sind stolz darauf, mit ihnen zusammenzuarbeiten, während sie weiterhin die Messlatte für KI-gesteuerte Sicherheit und Netzwerktechnik höher legen”, so Vitruvian Partners. „Die visionäre Führung des Unternehmens, die erstklassigen Wachstums- und Bindungsraten sowie der unermüdliche Fokus auf Innovation und Kundenerfahrung haben uns dazu bewogen, in CATO zu investieren. Wir freuen uns darauf, CATOs nächste Wachstumsphase zu unterstützen, während sie ihre Marktreichweite erweitern und die Art und Weise transformieren, wie Unternehmen ihre digitalen Geschäfte verbinden, schützen und KI einsetzen.”

„Als langjährige Investoren von Cato Networks haben wir die unglaubliche Entwicklung des Unternehmens hautnah miterlebt – von der Definierung der SASE-Kategorie bis hin zu ihrer Entwicklung an die Spitze”, sagte Ravi Mhatre, Partner und Mitgründer von Lightspeed Venture Partners. „Cato gestaltet die Unternehmenssicherheit mit einer einheitlichen, KI-gestützten SASE-Plattform neu, die sicher, skalierbar und für die Cloud-First-Welt konzipiert ist. Cato reduziert nicht nur die IT-Komplexität, sondern ermöglicht echte Agilität für das digitale Geschäft. Wir sind stolz darauf, Cato weiterhin dabei zu unterstützen, den Maßstab für SASE zu setzen.” 

Eine Plattform für das moderne digitale Geschäft

Herkömmliche Infrastruktur wird zunehmend als Belastung angesehen – teuer in der Wartung, langsam in der Anpassung und gefährlich fragmentiert. Die heutigen IT- und Sicherheitsverantwortlichen sind mit wachsender Komplexität, begrenztem Personal und überwältigendem Druck konfrontiert, überall Sicherheit zu gewährleisten und alles zu ermöglichen. CATO wurde entwickelt, um diesem Auftrag gerecht zu werden.

CATO bietet Unternehmenssicherheit und Netzwerktechnik als einheitliche, Cloud-native Plattform. Im Gegensatz zu einem herkömmlichen Flickwerk aus Firewalls, Routern, Cloud-Proxys und Einzellösungen ist die CATO SASE Cloud Platform von Grund auf so konzipiert, dass sie selbstwartend und für Unternehmen autonom skalierbar ist.

Ein strategischer Wendepunkt: KI-gestützte SASE-Plattform

Mit den zusätzlichen Mitteln wird Cato die Wahrnehmung von SASE und KI-Sicherheit in der Branche weiter herausfordern, auf zusätzliche Anwendungsfälle ausweiten und den gesamten adressierbaren Markt (TAM) des Unternehmens vergrößern.

Dazu wird CATO:

• KI-Sicherheit vorantreiben: Erweiterung der Funktionen, die es Unternehmen ermöglichen, KI im gesamten Unternehmen auf sichere und kontrollierte Weise einzusetzen.
• Plattforminnovation beschleunigen: Erhöhung der Investitionen in Forschung und Entwicklung (F&E), um die Fähigkeiten in den Bereichen DEM, LAN-Sicherheit, IoT/OT-Sicherheit, SD-WAN, SSE, XDR und ZTNA zu erweitern – alle nativ in einer einzigen, Cloud-nativen Plattform zusammengefasst.
• Globale Reichweite erweitern: Ausbau des Partner-Ökosystems und der kundenorientierten Teams von CATO, um der steigenden globalen Nachfrage gerecht zu werden.

CATOs Ansatz für KI geht über Automatisierung hinaus. CATO befähigt IT- und Sicherheitsexperten – CIOs, CISOs, Netzwerkarchitekten und Sicherheitsanalysten – schneller zu arbeiten, intelligentere Entscheidungen zu treffen und sich auf Initiativen zu konzentrieren, die das Unternehmen voranbringen.

„Mit CATO kümmert sich KI im Hintergrund um die Aufgaben in Sachen Cybersecurity, damit sich unsere Kunden auf die Strategie konzentrieren können”, fügt Kramer hinzu. „Wir integrieren KI in die DNA der Infrastruktur selbst. Routineaufgaben werden automatisiert. Reaktionsabläufe werden beschleunigt. Risikomanagement-Entscheidungen werden durch umsetzbare Live-Daten geleitet, nicht durch veraltete Berichte. Es geht nicht um Werkzeuge – es geht um ein neues Betriebsmodell, das effizient, widerstandsfähig und optimiert ist.”

Unterstützung der tatsächlichen Aufgabe von IT und Sicherheit

CATOs Geschäftsdynamik wird durch ein wachsendes Aufgabenspektrum im der T- und Sicherheitsmanagement angetrieben: Infrastruktur vereinfachen, Richtlinien vereinheitlichen und Sicherheit sowie KI in das digitale Geschäft einbetten. Während herkömmliche Anbieter gebündelte Einzellösungen anbieten, liefert CATO eine einzige, Cloud-native Plattform, die mit dem Unternehmen skaliert und sich dynamisch an ständige Veränderungen anpasst.

Die Entwicklung von Cato auf dem SASE-Markt spiegelt mehr als nur die Eignung des Produkts für den Markt wider. Es verdeutlicht die Führungsrolle in einer Kategorie, die sich schnell entwickelt. Gartner prognostiziert, dass der SASE-Markt mit einer durchschnittlichen jährlichen Wachstumsrate (CAGR) von 26 Prozent wachsen und bis 2028 28,5 Milliarden US-Dollar erreichen wird. Im Vergleich dazu meldete CATO kürzlich ein Wachstum des jährlich wiederkehrenden Umsatzes (ARR) von 46 Prozent im Jahresvergleich für 2024, was deutlich über dem SASE-Markt liegt und seine Position als SASE-Marktführer stärkt.

Weitere Information:

• über die CATO SASE Cloud Platform finden Sie hier.
• über CATOs Kunden finden Sie hier und über die Partner hier.

Gartner Disclaimer:
Gartner, Forecast Analysis: Secure Access Service Edge, Worldwide, Charanpal Bhogal, Charlie Winckless, Neil MacDonald, Andrew Lerner, John Watts, Shailendra Upadhyay, Christian Canales, Marissa Schmidt, Jonathan Forest, 5. Februar 2025

GARTNER ist eine eingetragene Marke und Dienstleistungsmarke von Gartner, Inc. und/oder seinen Tochtergesellschaften in den USA und international und wird hier mit Genehmigung verwendet. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Über Cato Networks 

Cato Networks bietet Unternehmen Sicherheit und Networking über eine einzige Cloud-Plattform.  Der SASE-Marktführer schafft eine nahtlose und elegante Customer Experience, die eine mühelose Bedrohungsprävention, Datenschutz und eine zeitnahe Vorfallserkennung und Vorfallsreaktion gestattet. Mit Cato können Firmen kostspielige und starre Legacy-Infrastrukturen durch eine offene und modulare SASE-Architektur ersetzen. Sie basiert auf SD-WAN, einem speziell entwickelten globalen Cloud-Netzwerk und einem eingebetteten Cloud-nativen Sicherheits-Stack.  

Sie wollen mehr dazu wissen, wie Tausende von Unternehmen ihre Zukunft mit Cato sichern? Besuchen Sie uns auf www.catonetworks.com. 

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SASE leader fuels the future of AI-driven enterprise security and networking in an oversubscribed round

TEL AVIV, Israel, June 30, 2025 — Cato Networks, the SASE leader, today announced its Series G funding round, raising $359 million led by new investors including Vitruvian Partners and ION Crossover Partners as well as existing investors including Lightspeed Venture Partners, Acrew Capital, and Adams Street Partners. The investment brings Cato’s valuation to more than $4.8 billion and total funding to more than $1 billion, a significant milestone in the company’s mission to redefine enterprise security for the digital and AI era.

The investment builds on Cato’s proven track record of leadership: from the creation of SASE with the convergence of security and networking in 2015, through the recognition of Cato’s vision by the global analyst community when the term “SASE” became defined in 2019, and a decade of innovation that continuously stretches the boundaries of SASE and AI security.

“With more than 3,500 enterprise customers, consistent hyper-growth, and repetitive and scalable wins against all leading competitors, Cato is a proven and mature business to invest in,” said Shlomo Kramer, co-founder and CEO at Cato Networks. “Our true SASE platform and decade of AI innovation differentiates Cato from legacy vendors that favor a portfolio of point solutions. Customers and partners understand the difference and select Cato to benefit from proven security, operational efficiency, and business agility.”

“Cato has spent the past decade building and optimizing the next generation of cybersecurity, and we are proud to partner with them as they continue to raise the bar for AI-driven security and networking,” said Vitruvian Partners. “The company’s visionary leadership, best-in-class growth and retention rates, and relentless focus on innovation and customer experience are what led us to invest in Cato. We look forward to supporting Cato’s next phase of growth as they expand their market reach and transform how enterprises connect and secure their digital businesses and use of AI.”

“As a longtime investor in Cato Networks, we’ve had a front-row seat to its incredible journey, from defining the SASE category to leading it,” said Ravi Mhatre, partner and co-founder at Lightspeed Venture Partners. “Cato is reshaping enterprise security with a unified, AI-powered SASE platform that’s secure, scalable, and built for the cloud-first world. They’re not just eliminating IT complexity. They’re unlocking real agility for the digital business. We’re proud to further support Cato as they continue setting the standard for SASE leadership.”

A Platform Built for Today’s Digital Business

Legacy infrastructure is increasingly viewed as a liability—expensive to maintain, slow to adapt, and dangerously fragmented. Today’s IT and security leaders face mounting complexity, limited staff, and overwhelming pressure to secure everywhere and enable anything. Cato was built to answer that mandate.

Cato delivers enterprise-grade security and networking as a single, cloud-native platform. Unlike a legacy patchwork of firewalls, routers, cloud proxies, and point solutions, the Cato SASE Cloud Platform is architected from the ground up to be self-maintaining and autonomously scalable for enterprises.

A Strategic Inflection Point: AI-Powered SASE Platform

With the additional funds, Cato will continue to challenge the industry’s perception of SASE and AI security, expand to additional use cases, and increase the total addressable market (TAM) of the company. To do that, Cato will:

• Advance AI Security: Expand capabilities that enable enterprises to adopt AI across the business in a secure and controlled manner.
• Accelerate Platform Innovation: Increase investment in research and development (R&D) to expand capabilities across DEM, LAN Security, IoT/OT Security, SD-WAN, SSE, XDR, and ZTNA—all natively converged in a single, cloud-native platform.
• Expand Global Reach: Grow Cato’s partner ecosystem and customer-facing teams to meet surging global demand.

Cato’s approach to AI goes beyond automation. Cato empowers IT and security professionals—CIOs, CISOs, network architects, and security analysts—to move faster, make smarter decisions, and focus on initiatives that move the business forward.

“With Cato, AI handles the noise so our customers can focus on strategy,” Kramer added. “We’re embedding AI into the DNA of infrastructure itself. Routine tasks are automated. Response workflows are accelerated. Risk management decisions are guided by actionable live data, not outdated reports. This isn’t about tools—it’s about a new operating model that is efficient, resilient, and optimized.”

Supporting the True Cause of IT and Security

Cato’s business momentum is driven by a growing mandate across IT and security leadership: simplify infrastructure, unify policy, and embed security and AI into the digital business. Whereas legacy vendors offer bundles of point solutions, Cato delivers a single, cloud-native platform that scales with the enterprise and dynamically adapts to constant change.

Cato’s trajectory in the SASE market reflects more than just product market fit. It signals leadership in a category undergoing rapid expansion. Gartner® projects the SASE market will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 26%, reaching $28.5 billion by 2028. By comparison, Cato recently reported 46% year-over-year (YoY) growth in annual recurring revenue (ARR) for 2024, significantly outpacing the SASE market and reinforcing its position as the SASE leader.

Resources

Gartner Disclaimer

Gartner, Forecast Analysis: Secure Access Service Edge, Worldwide, Charanpal Bhogal, Charlie Winckless, Neil MacDonald, Andrew Lerner, John Watts, Shailendra Upadhyay, Christian Canales, Marissa Schmidt, Jonathan Forest, 5 February 2025

GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

About Cato Networks

Cato Networks delivers enterprise security and networking in a single cloud platform. The SASE leader creates a seamless and elegant customer experience that effortlessly enables threat prevention, data protection, and timely incident detection and response. With Cato, organizations replace costly and rigid legacy infrastructure with an open and modular SASE architecture based on SD-WAN, a purpose-built global cloud network, and an embedded cloud-native security stack.

Want to learn why thousands of organizations secure their future with Cato? Visit us at www.catonetworks.com.

Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2721481/Shlomo_Kramer.jpg

SHANGHAI, June 30, 2025 — On June 30th, Beijing time, Unisound, a pioneer in the industrialization of AI technologies in China and a portfolio company of Qiming Venture Partners, has successfully debuted on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Unisound (SEHK:9678) was issued at HK$205.00 per share, with a market capitalization of HK$14.545 billion.

Qiming Venture Partners has been a long-standing investor in Unisound, first participating in the company’s Series A funding round in 2013. Over the past decade, Qiming has continued to support Unisound through its Series B and D1 rounds.

Founded in 2012, Unisound is an AI company specializing in the conversational AI products and solutions for daily life and healthcare-related applications in China. Its business centers on empowering customers, including insurance providers and over 100 hospitals, with user-centric AI solutions that enhance operational efficiency and support better decision-making.

Leveraging a solid infrastructure, Unisound has advanced its R&D and productization capabilities. In 2019, the company launched UniCore, its first BERT-based large language model, which functioned as the initial core algorithm model of its central technology platform, UniBrain. In 2023, Unisound introduced UniGPT, UniBrain’s new core algorithm model—a 60-billion-parameter large language model with generative multilingual and multimodal capabilities that enables human-machine interaction through dynamic reasoning and cross-modal data processing.

“This IPO represents strong market recognition of China’s AI technology commercialization and a meaningful step forward in the industrialization of AI technology,” said Dr. Huang Wei, Co-Founder and CEO of Unisound. “We will continue to invest in core AI infrastructure and model development, cultivate talent, and strategically expand globally to bring our advanced technologies and products to the international markets.”

“As an early investor in Unisound, we are delighted to have witnessed its remarkable leap from technological exploration to a successful IPO,” said Duane Kuang, Founding Managing Partner of Qiming Venture Partners. “Unisound’s listing marks a new chapter for the company and highlights the significant progress in the industrialization of AI in China. We look forward to seeing Unisound continue to push the boundaries of innovation, accelerate talent acquisition and development, and showcase the strength of Chinese AI companies. At Qiming, we remain committed to supporting companies like Unisound that combine deep technological expertise with strong commercial vision and long-term growth potential.”

About Qiming Venture Partners

Qiming Venture Partners was founded in 2006. Currently, Qiming Venture Partners manages eleven US Dollar funds and seven RMB funds with $9.5 billion in capital raised. Since our establishment, we have invested in outstanding companies in the Technology and Consumer (T&C) and Healthcare industries at the early and growth stages.

Since our debut, we have backed over 580 fast-growing and innovative companies. Over 210 of our portfolio companies have achieved exits through IPOs at the NYSE, NASDAQ, HKEX, Shanghai Stock Exchange, or Shenzhen Stock Exchange, or through M&A or other means. There are also over 80 portfolio companies that have achieved unicorn or super unicorn status.

Many of our portfolio companies are today’s most influential firms in their respective sectors, including Xiaomi, Meituan, Bilibili, Zhihu, Roborock, UBTech, WeRide, Insta360, Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals, Tigermed, Zai Lab, CanSino Biologics, Schrödinger, APT Medical, Sanyou Medical, AmoyDx, Berry Genomics, SinocellTech, Yuanxin Technology, Insilico Medicine, Medilink Therapeutics, LaNova Medicines, Zhipu, StepFun, among many others.

Third fund taps into a $7.5 trillion dollar market opportunity to provide solutions for modern families

LOS ANGELES, June 27, 2025 — Halogen Ventures, Jesse Draper’s venture capital firm focused on early stage startups with a woman on the founding team, is announcing today the close of a third fund at $30 Million. With this fund, Halogen will prioritize investments in the $7.5T Future of Family category with a focus on childcare, while continuing to invest in female founded companies who are innovating and solving global problems across industries.

“We’re investing in the Future of Families because it’s a massive and untapped opportunity. Childcare is broken in the United States – options and schooling is completely unaffordable for children under the age of 6 for 99% of society. This leads to neglect, kids falling into the foster care system and as over 70% of the incarcerated today went through our foster care system, something needs to change here. Not only is this a massive business opportunity, but it’s also imperative that we do something differently in childcare,” states Jesse Draper, Founding Partner of Halogen Ventures. “There are over 80 million families in the United States alone and yet Venture Capital has overlooked this market. We are both deeply passionate and data driven about this space and believe there are a wealth of high potential opportunities that will help parents and families at scale.”

The Future of Families market is currently valued at $7.5 trillion and is expected to grow significantly as family life dynamics continue to evolve over the next decade and beyond. Since the global pandemic, women have lost more than $800 billion in income and more than 64 million jobs globally due to the childcare crisis. With childcare costs increasing year over year, over 40% of families in the U.S. struggle to find childcare solutions. Studies show the crisis is getting worse and it’s taking a toll on families. Even the U.S. Surgeon General released an advisory on the mental health and well-being of parenting in America. While the United States is ahead in many things, we have fallen behind the Nordic Countries, France, Canada and beyond in childcare. No society can survive without proper support of families.

Halogen’s third fund will focus on meeting the unmet needs of the modern family by investing in five core verticals: Childcare, Education/EdTech, FamTech (Family Technology), Child & Youth Services, and the Digital Workplace.

Draper raised this fund alongside her partners Ashley Balla and Jennifer Kwan Mandelbaum. Other key team members include Adriana Gadala-Maria Ochi and Julia Richter. Limited Partners in Halogen’s Fund Three include: The State of Alabama (Innovate Alabama), Fenwick’s Fund of Funds, Candace Nelson (Founder of Sprinkles), Gingerbread Capital, Mike Evans (Founder of Grubhub) and Lanyon Advisors.

Draper founded Halogen Ventures in 2015 after recognizing startups with women founders were one of the most overlooked and high-potential investment opportunities of our time. Since then Draper has demonstrated there is no lack of deal flow from female founders who are innovating and tackling world-changing problems. Halogen portfolio companies include Everlywell’s at-home health testing (val $3.5B), Babylist ($1B GMV), Flex the top selling brand in sustainable period care ($24.8B market), HopSkipDrive (over 1M safe trips to and from schools), Upwards leadership in childcare solutions ($520B market), Dacora, the first female founded electric vehicle, Metropolis (AI powered mobility and parking provider) among other leading consumer technology and B2B solutions. Halogen’s 75 portfolio companies include five unicorns and have created over $15B market value and are100% female founded. 

About Halogen
Halogen Ventures is an early stage venture capital fund focused on consumer technology companies with a female in the founding team. The Halogen team brings deep expertise and experience in understanding consumer and B2B trends and behavior and identifying entrepreneurs who will innovate and solve problems at scale. General Partner Jesse Draper is a 4th generation venture capitalist, and advocate for investing in women, one of Marie Claire’s ‘Most networked women in America’. Halogen has invested in over 75 early stage deals including Everlywell, Babylist, HopskipDrive, Metropolis, Flex, ThisisL. (acquired by P&G), Squadapp (Acquired by Twitter) and Eloquii (acquired by Walmart). For more information, please visit HalogenVC.com.

Media Contact:
Halogen Ventures
[email protected]
www.halogenvc.com

SOURCE Halogen Ventures

GOTHENBURG, Sweden, June 27, 2025 — Minesto, leading ocean energy developer, is heading a consortium of four that has been awarded a total of 25 MSEK grant funding from Swedish Energy Agency to build a complete microgrid installation in the Faroe Islands. Minesto collaborates with microgrid technology provider Capture Energy, Faroese utility company Sev and IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute to demonstrate a unique tidal-based microgrid solution that provides baseload power.

The project is built on a partnership with technology leader in microgrid management Capture Energy. By integrating Minesto’s tidal power plants with Capture Energy’s microgrid capability, a significant global market for autonomous power plants and island-mode grid can be accessed. Minesto’s existing customer Sev will play a key role in the project as an advanced user of microgrids and on feasibility work related to local commercial installations to come. IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, will provide expert analysis on the environmental footprint of the solution.

The total consortium project budget over two years is 56 MSEK, whereof 25 MSEK is grant funding from Swedish Energy Agency.

The project will deliver a complete product offer for a microgrid installation with integrated battery storage to offer a stand-alone base-load power plant to an island mode user. The microgrid offer addresses the global market for clean, reliable, and affordable renewable energy for remote and off-grid customers that are currently dependent on fossil fuels or have a shortage of electricity supply.

A complete microgrid installation:

• The microgrid system will be built, commissioned and operated at Minesto’s current production site in Vestmanna based-on existing infrastructure and environmental permits.
• The Minesto tidal power plant used in the project will be an upgraded and customized Dragon-class tidal power plant.
• Non-grid connected islands in the Faroes are the first targets for commercial deployment, the project includes installation preparations such as site assessment and environmental risk assessments.

The project starts in August and will deliver a complete microgrid in 2026.

“The global multibillion-Euro microgrid business is a vital parallel track to build-out of larger Dragon Farms (multimegawatt arrays) based on the same Dragon-class systems. This new partnership with Capture Energy makes it possible for us together to offer turn-key microgrid tidal power generation to local customers in need of renewable base-load energy,” said Dr Martin Edlund, CEO of Minesto.

The microgrid market – a strategic market for Minesto

The total addressable microgrid market for tidal powerplants is estimated at 300 billion EUR. The market spans across small kW installations to multimegawatt installations. Minesto will be able to offer its tidal energy kites for large arrays also into this area without modifications, thus contributing to volumes and step-in business opportunities.

“The microgrid business has significant strategic value for Minesto. It is in itself a substantial global market and it also offers market entry projects with new commercial partners to create confidence in our unique technology and to speed up collection of local data for environmental permitting and certification,” said Dr Martin Edlund, CEO of Minesto.

The Faroe Islands, like many remote island communities, face unique challenges in energy production and consumption. The islands are dependent on imported fossil fuels, making them vulnerable to price fluctuations and supply disruptions. At the same time, the islands possess vast untapped marine energy resources, especially tidal energy, that could offer a sustainable and locally sourced solution to meet growing energy demands.

“This award from the Swedish Energy Agency adds vital financial support and recognition to Minesto’s commercial agenda,” Martin Edlund concludes.

For additional information please contact:
Cecilia Sernhage, Chief Communications Officer
+46 (0)735 23 71 58
[email protected]

The information in this press release is such that Minesto AB (publ) shall announce publicly according to the EU Regulation No 596/2014 on market abuse (MAR). The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out above, at 14:55 CEST on 27 June 2025.

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/minesto-ab/r/minesto-led-consortium-awarded-25-msek-grant-to-build-a-tidal-energy-power-plant-for-baseload-electr,c4170303

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Jan Jedryszek to engineer nanodevice connecting biological cells to digital systems

GREENWICH, Conn., June 27, 2025 — O’Shaughnessy Ventures LLC (OSV), an investment firm that empowers creators, has awarded a $100,000 O’Shaughnessy Fellowship to Jan Jedryszek, a Ph.D. student based in Bavaria, Germany.

Jedryszek will use the fellowship to engineer a proof-of-concept nanodevice capable of monitoring and transmitting the internal conditions of individual cells at a molecular level. This moonshot research lays the groundwork for ultimately connecting biological cells to the internet, with potential applications in real-time health monitoring, advanced diagnostics and biological computing.

Jedryszek is pursuing his doctorate at the Technical University of Munich through the prestigious Max Planck School Matter to Life program. His research investigates how cells share information to develop into complex organisms, and how to engineer synthetic materials to communicate and self-organize like living systems. He holds a master’s degree in molecular systems chemistry and engineering from Heidelberg University and a bachelor’s degree in neurobiology from Jagiellonian University. Previously, Jedryszek contributed to bio-mining technology research at the European Space Agency.

OSV’s founder and CEO, Jim O’Shaughnessy, commented, “The convergence of biology and digital technology is one of the most promising frontiers in science today. Jan’s work represents the kind of boundary-breaking research that excites us most at OSV.”

“Being selected for this fellowship is truly humbling—especially alongside such brilliant, creative and dedicated people,” said Jedryszek. “It’s an honor and a responsibility to live up to the spirit of their work. This is a rare opportunity to work on a moonshot idea, turning ambitious science into practical technology. I intend to make the most of this opportunity.”

About the O’Shaughnessy Fellowships Program

Launched in 2023, the O’Shaughnessy Fellowships program discovers and empowers the world’s boldest creatives, builders and researchers. Fellows receive a $100,000 grant and gain access to OSV’s network of founders, investors and experts.

OSV will award 12 fellowships in 2025. Applicants will also be considered for the O’Shaughnessy Grants program, which provides 20 additional $10,000 grants to promising innovators.

Jedryszek is the tenth fellow announced in 2025. More information about previous fellows is available at OSV’s website.

Applications for the fellowships are now closed and will reopen on Jan. 1, 2026. Individuals interested in learning more can do so via OSV’s website.

About O’Shaughnessy Ventures

OSV is a creative investment firm that empowers creators to bring their ideas to life. Founded by Jim O’Shaughnessy, a pioneer in quantitative investing, founder of O’Shaughnessy Asset Management, and author of five books, OSV aims to provide financial support and to partner in growing the next life-changing creative ideas.

OSV combines Jim’s deeply rooted interest in all things art, science, investing and technology with his long-held desire to establish scenarios designed to help promising creators and their inspiring ideas succeed, regardless of age, location, job history or level of education. For more information, visit OSV’s website.

Media Contact:
Ena Gong
O’Shaughnessy Ventures LLC
(917) 355-7420
[email protected]

SOURCE O’Shaughnessy Ventures