MegaChips, National Reconstruction Fund Corporation, Blackbird, Main Sequence, Uniseed, Ray Stata, Malcolm and Lucy Turnbull, Startmate and Institutional Investors Accelerate Global Expansion of Wi-Fi HaLow

SYDNEY and IRVINE, Calif., Sept. 22, 2025 — Morse Micro, the world’s leading provider of Wi-Fi HaLow silicon solutions, today announced the successful close of its Series C funding round, raising $59 million [$88 million AUD]. The round was led by MegaChips with participation from National Reconstruction Fund Corporation (NRFC), Blackbird, Main Sequence, Uniseed, Ray Stata, Malcolm and Lucy Turnbull, Startmate, and a number of institutional investors including Hostplus, NGS, UniSuper, bringing the company’s total funding to over $193 million [$290 million AUD] to date.

This fresh capital will accelerate Morse Micro’s expansion into international markets, scale production of its Wi-Fi HaLow chips, and support the ecosystem shift toward IoT 2.0, a new phase of the Internet of Things (IoT) characterized by high-throughput, long-range, and highly scalable connectivity for IoT devices.

“This funding is another strong vote of confidence in our mission to be the number one wireless IoT chip company in the world,” said Michael De Nil, CEO and co-founder of Morse Micro. “The future of IoT depends on connectivity that is long-range, power-efficient, secure and delivers on throughput, and that’s exactly where we’re leading. With this raise, we are accelerating our expansion and preparing for the next phase of our company’s growth.”

The funding comes at a time of significant momentum for Morse Micro and Australia’s semiconductor industry. This week the company is announcing the HaLowLink 2, its global, next-generation evaluation platform. Also this year, the company has launched a second generation System-on-Chip (SoC), expanded its ecosystem partnerships, delivered new reference designs, and achieved mass production with leading OEMs. These milestones underscore Morse Micro’s role in driving the global shift from proof-of-concept IoT to full-scale, industrial and consumer deployments.

“We are proud to continue our support for Morse Micro as it leads the global transition to IoT 2.0. For a number of years, we have worked in partnership with Morse Micro to increase production and sales of its flagship Wi-Fi HaLow products. This investment reflects our belief that the time for Wi-Fi HaLow is now,” said Tetsuo Hikawa, President and CEO of MegaChips Group. “Morse Micro is uniquely positioned to accelerate the adoption of next generation IoT solutions. We are confident this investment positions the team and technology for international leadership and future success on the public markets.”

“Morse Micro is Australia’s largest semiconductor manufacturer and a home-grown Australian success story. Wi-Fi was invented and patented by CSIRO scientists in 1993, and we are proud to be investing in an Australian company that is once again enabling next generation Wi-Fi connectivity for the rest of the world,” said National Reconstruction Fund Corporation CEO David Gall. “Morse Micro employs over 130 people in Australia, including employees in regional New South Wales, and our investment will diversify the Australian economy, strengthen the nation’s sovereign manufacturing capability, and build local expertise in semiconductor design and innovation.”

About Morse Micro

Morse Micro is the leading Wi-Fi HaLow fabless semiconductor company, revolutionizing IoT connectivity with award-winning technology. Headquartered in Sydney, with global offices in the United States, Taiwan, China, India, Japan and the United Kingdom, Morse Micro is driving the adoption of next-generation long-range, low-power Wi-Fi HaLow solutions. Its first generation MM6108 and newly launched MM8108 silicon deliver the fastest, smallest, lowest-power, and longest-range Wi-Fi HaLow connectivity on the market.

Morse Micro’s Wi-Fi HaLow technology is gaining unstoppable momentum globally, enabling connected devices to achieve ten times the range, covering 100 times the area of traditional Wi-Fi networks. This advancement is transforming IoT connectivity across various sectors, including smart homes, industrial automation, and smart cities.

SOURCE Morse Micro

Funding will fuel the growth of eWitness, Unit 221B’s invite-only platform that empowers threat hunters to disrupt online criminal gangs and speed up the investigative process

NEW YORK, Sept. 22, 2025 — Unit 221B, a threat disruption company that delivers actionable threat intelligence and cybersecurity solutions, announced today that it has raised $5 million in seed funding led by J2 Ventures, with participation from Pipeline Capital and other investors. Founded by veteran threat intelligence and technology experts, the company is building a new crime-fighting ecosystem that focuses on delivering real-world outcomes and moving investigations forward faster. eWitness is already trusted by over 50 Fortune 500 companies as well as international, federal, and local law enforcement agencies across the globe. The new capital will be used to expand platform capabilities by introducing tools and features that accelerate investigative collaboration and to move forward broader go-to-market efforts.

Cybercrime is growing due to the rapid expansion of the digital attack surface, the increased reliance on interconnected digital infrastructure, and advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) that make attacks more sophisticated and easier to launch (Source: World Economic Forum). Online criminals are not solely focused on critical infrastructure, such as financial institutions, telecommunications, transportation, and logistics, but they’re exploiting everyday platforms like social media, online gaming, fintech tools, and delivery apps at an unprecedented speed and scale. 

“These companies not only face financial loss and the risk of real-world harm to their employees and users, but are now in the spotlight for regulatory actions, lawsuits, and reputational damage in a landscape that demands faster, more effective responses.” Said May Chen-Contino, CEO of Unit 221B. “Collective action has the power to change outcomes. We are uniting investigators across enterprises, law enforcement, and governments to create a safer online and offline world. The only way to disrupt these criminal networks is by working together.”

In 2024, enterprises faced record-breaking financial crime losses. The FBI’s IC3 logged 859,532 complaints totaling $16.6 billion in losses, a 33% increase from the prior year. Financial sextortion also rose to nearly 100 reports daily in 2024, while violent online group exploitation grew to more than 1,300 cases across the year, a 200% increase. In many cases, the same organized groups driving financial crime are also fueling a child safety crisis. Networks such as The Com (also known as Scattered Spider) and its subgroup 764 have become so prolific that the FBI now categorizes them as a Tier One terrorist threat, with 250 active investigations underway as of May 2025.

“Unit 221B is solving a real pain point that many cybersecurity vendors overlook or are unable to solve,” said Christine Keung, General Partner at J2 Ventures. “With experience in supporting federal prosecution, military cyber operations, Fortune 500 security teams and leadership, and world-renowned threat research, the Unit 221B team is uniquely equipped to expose and dismantle some of the most notorious online criminal groups. They support arrests and civil actions on behalf of global clients within the public and private sectors. They’re the missing puzzle piece in threat disruption and attribution. It’s a paradigm shift in this market, and we’re thrilled to support them.”

Its flagship technology, eWitness, is a proprietary threat intelligence platform designed to track criminal information and expose threat campaigns by bringing together a highly curated network of investigators, analysts, and researchers. At the heart of eWitness is human intelligence (HUMINT), which turns the most elusive form of intelligence into the sharpest tool for dismantling criminal ecosystems. This trusted community collectively sources high-signal threat intelligence and utilizes the platform’s capability to capture, manage, and store the data even if it’s removed from the original source. Access is invite-only, and all users are carefully vetted to ensure its intelligence remains trusted, high-quality, and impact-driven.

ABOUT UNIT 221B
Unit 221B is a threat disruption company that enables enterprises, law enforcement, and government agencies to investigate threat actors and dismantle criminal ecosystems. Founded by veteran threat intelligence experts frustrated by an industry where defenders are often at a disadvantage, Unit 221B operates with integrity and a focus on impactful outcomes. The company takes a proactive approach to advancing criminal investigations to create a safer digital and physical world. Unit 221B specializes in tracking threat actors operating across English-speaking countries, including the US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and other allied regions. In addition, we support international enterprises and law enforcement agencies with tools and services purpose-built for high-stakes investigations and threat hunting for all types of cybercrime across the globe. For more information, visit https://www.unit221b.com/.

ABOUT J2 VENTURES

J2 Ventures is a $300M+ AUM deep-tech venture capital firm based in Boston, investing in sectors critical to national security and private sector advancements, including advanced computing, cybersecurity, telecom and infrastructure, and biomedical engineering. For more information about J2 Ventures and its initiatives, please visit https://www.j2vp.com/.

Press Contact:

[email protected] 

SOURCE Unit 221B

Founded by Stripe alumni, Circuit & Chisel has secured seed funding from Primary Venture Partners, ParaFi Capital, and Stripe to build technology that allows agents to seamlessly exchange payments across the internet

NEW YORK, Sept. 22, 2025 — Circuit & Chisel, an agentic commerce platform, today announced $19.2 million in seed funding to launch ATXP, a web-wide protocol that enables AI agents to handle the commerce life cycle – from discovery to payment – without human oversight.

The round was led by Primary Venture Partners and ParaFi Capital with additional participation from Stripe, Coinbase Ventures, Solana Ventures, Samsung Next, and Polygon Labs. A select group of angel investors also participated in the round, including Solana founders Anatoly Yakovenko and Raj Gokal; Edith Cooper, a board director at Amazon and PepsiCo; Rich Widmann, Global Head of Strategy for Web3 at Google Cloud; Michael Tannenbaum, CEO of Figure; and Arjun Sethi, Co-CEO at Kraken. Additionally, leaders across multiple industries are already excited about ATXP and its capabilities.

“At Cloudflare, we’re committed to building an open Internet, and that’s more important than ever as AI and agents take off,” said Matthew Prince, Co-founder and CEO of Cloudflare. “ATXP could be an important protocol to help ensure agent-initiated commerce is able to succeed in a secure and trusted way. As an early supporter of MCP and agentic AI, we support new protocols and innovation helping to further the agentic web.”

Founded by CEO Louis Amira, Stripe’s former Head of Crypto & AI Partnerships, and CTO David Noel-Romas, Stripe’s former Head of Crypto Engineering, Circuit & Chisel is building the foundational technologies that will enable agentic payments and movement around the web, compatible with up-and-coming standards like x402. ATXP, the company’s first release, will act as a worldwide protocol for AI agents to act autonomously and safely across the internet, in much the same way that Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) serves as the invisible backbone of modern day web browsing.

“We are on the cusp of a huge change in how the internet works,” said Louis Amira, co-founder and CEO of Circuit & Chisel. “We expect so much from AI agents in the coming years, but we don’t yet have the most fundamental technologies that will allow them to flourish within safe, agreed-upon constraints and protocols. We’re excited to connect some of the most important technology companies in the world to create those vital building blocks.”

“AI agents are increasingly navigating the web and transacting on our behalf and that requires an entirely new monetization infrastructure,” said Emily Man, Partner at Primary Venture Partners. “ATXP, enables instant, nested, delegated, and extremely low cost micropayments between AI agents, something that traditional payments rails can’t support.”

“Circuit & Chisel is building the core infrastructure for autonomous agent transactions, connecting agentic commerce, stablecoins, and payments into one protocol,” said Ben Forman, Founder and Managing Partner at ParaFi Capital. “This technology has the potential to expand agent capabilities entirely and fuel the next wave of growth in the digital economy.”

The launch of ATXP will position Circuit & Chisel as the orchestrator of a new class of commerce, where transactions are initiated, negotiated, and executed entirely by intelligent agents. This will help streamline current workflows, enabling businesses to operate faster and more efficiently than ever before and kickstarting a generation of revenue-generating autonomous agents.

About Circuit & Chisel
Circuit & Chisel is an agentic AI payments startup building the infrastructure to power transactions between intelligent agents. Backed by Primary VC, ParaFi Capital, and Stripe, Circuit & Chisel is developing ATXP, a new standard for agent-to-agent payments that supports real-time decision-making, nested transactions, and autonomous tool discovery. The company was founded by former Stripe and Google leaders with deep expertise in AI, crypto, and financial systems. Circuit & Chisel is enabling a future where AI can transact, discover, and operate independently, unlocking new efficiencies for businesses and accelerating the next wave of AI innovation. To learn more about Circuit & Chisel, please visit https://circuitandchisel.com/.

Media Contact:
[email protected]

SOURCE Circuit & Chisel

SAN FRANCISCO and NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., Sept. 22, 2025 — Carrick Capital Partners, a growth-oriented investment firm focused on software and software-enabled businesses, today announced a majority investment in Intelligo, a leading provider of pre-investment and pre-engagement background checks and continuous subject monitoring that drive compliance with AML, KYC, and other regulations. Carrick’s investment includes a significant capital infusion to accelerate product innovation, expand go-to-market efforts, and pursue strategic opportunities. AB Private Credit Investors, a middle market private capital platform of AllianceBernstein and an Intelligo client, is participating as a co-investor. Trinity Capital, also an Intelligo client, will provide a debt facility.

Intelligo delivers high-accuracy reports and a continuous subject monitoring solution that are relied upon by the world’s leading alternative asset managers, investment banks, wealth managers, investing firms, and other institutions for high-stakes investment and client engagement decisions. The Company’s offering is differentiated through its unique coupling of human research expertise with a technology core, which includes deterministic, patent-protected entity resolution paired with more than one hundred proprietary, source-specific AI models to maximize coverage and speed while maintaining audit-ready transparency. Customers also benefit from a best-in-class client portal, through which Intelligo’s continuous subject monitoring is delivered.

“We’ve invested years and significant capital to build a foundation that leverages AI for a verifiable signal – not more noise. The outcome is speed and results that are defensible through findings linked to provenance, timestamps, and human expertise,” explained Ed Montes, CEO of Intelligo. “Carrick has extensive experience scaling technology-enabled services businesses, including previous successful investments in the risk and compliance sector. This market knowledge along with Carrick’s operational expertise and network will help us better serve existing and new clients and become the preeminent provider in our industry.”

“It is rare to come across a company that makes you think ‘this is the future’ from the perspectives of both what is being delivered to customers and how it is being delivered. After meeting Ed and his team and speaking with their clients, it became obvious that Intelligo is both of those futures in this market,” said Ivan Whittey, Director at Carrick Capital Partners. “Intelligo has balanced focusing on technology and product while not losing sight of the irreplaceable value of human expertise for an offering where precision and reliability are non-negotiables for clients. As long-term market participants and users of these services, we are thrilled to partner with Intelligo because it offers a best-in-class user experience for reports and continuous monitoring – bar none,” added Marc McMorris, Co-CEO of Carrick Capital Partners.

About Intelligo
Intelligo is a leading risk intelligence platform that blends patent‑protected deterministic entity resolution with AI and expert human analysis to deliver a 360° view of people and companies. Specialties include pre‑investment and pre‑engagement background checks, continuous subject monitoring, and executive diligence—so institutions can uncover facts, assess risk, and make informed decisions with confidence. Our approach is patent‑protected for a complete‑list–style method of matching people and companies to the correct real‑world identity, reducing duplicates and false positives and improving decision quality. Learn more at www.intelligo.ai.

About Carrick Capital Partners
Headquartered in San Francisco and Newport Beach, Carrick Capital Partners is a growth-oriented investment firm that utilizes ABV (Approach to Building Value) to operationally scale fast-growing, software-enabled businesses. Carrick adds value by taking a concentrated approach and dedicating significant resources post-investment. Leveraging decades of experience, Carrick helps scale great companies to maximize returns for investors, stimulate economic growth, and positively impact the industry landscape. Working directly with CEOs and entrepreneurs, Carrick addresses a vital need for investment capital and growth expertise. For more information, please visit www.carrickcapitalpartners.com.

Contact: Machie Madden
[email protected]
917.868.2358

SOURCE Carrick Capital Partners

New funding will support AppZen’s innovative Mastermind AI Studio with AI Agents, and accelerate go-to-market growth globally 

SAN JOSE, Calif., Sept. 22, 2025 — AppZen, the leading Agentic AI platform for finance teams, announced it raised $180 million in growth funding. This round was led by Riverwood Capital, one of the leading investment firms solely dedicated to technology growth and scalability. 

AppZen is the AI-native platform for autonomous finance. Powered by proprietary ZenLM models and the Mastermind AI Automation Platform, AppZen’s domain-trained AI Agents streamline end-to-end workflows across T&E, accounts payable, and corporate card programs, transforming finance teams. More than 500 global enterprises, including over 65 of the Fortune 500, rely on AppZen to automate transaction processing and reduce costs, delivering over $2 billion in savings and enabling finance teams to reallocate up to two-thirds of their manual workload to higher-value activities.

The Series D fundraise allows AppZen to further accelerate the adoption of agentic AI at the enterprise, converting standard operating procedures into configurable, production-ready, digital coworkers, enabling CFOs and controllers to replace over 50% of manual work and scale operations without additional headcount or BPO.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Riverwood Capital as a partner in our mission to bring agentic AI to every finance team,” said Anant Kale, Co-founder & CEO at AppZen. “Riverwood’s scale-up expertise and global network will help us accelerate the deployment of Mastermind AI Agents, so finance workflows can run on autopilot. With many of the world’s largest companies already on AppZen, demand for autonomous finance has never been higher. Together with Riverwood Capital, we’ll meet that customer need at scale and realize the full opportunity to reimagine how CFOs run finance.”

Enterprises face mounting pressure to cut costs, fight fraud, and manage compliance across complex global operations. To solve this growing problem, they’re adopting artificial intelligence at an accelerated rate. According to Fortune, the global AI market is projected to grow from over $290 billion in 2025 to $1.7 trillion by 2032. Gartner analysis further estimates that 33% of enterprise software applications will have embedded agentic AI by 2028. As part of these organizations, finance is poised for a major transformation from process automation to autonomous decision-making with agentic applications. AppZen is leading the way with agentic technology that helps finance teams eliminate manual review, reduce spend leakage, and ensure regulatory compliance.

“AppZen is at the forefront of a massive shift in how global enterprises leverage AI and automation to drive efficiency and scale their operations,” said Francisco Alvarez-Demalde, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Riverwood Capital. “We are excited to partner with Anant and his exceptional team, whose vision and execution have made AppZen the category leader in autonomous finance for the enterprise and positioned the company to transform how businesses manage, audit, decide, and run expenses and payables.” Francisco Alvarez-Demalde and Riverwood Capital Partner Alex Porto have joined AppZen’s Board of Directors.

AppZen’s models power deep semantic understanding across 40+ languages and 60+ countries. Its platform supports multi-entity and multi-currency operations, helping some of the world’s most complex and highly regulated enterprises to cut fraud-related losses on an international level, while achieving major efficiency and cost savings.

“AppZen’s impact at Airbus was immediate,” said Waqas Aman, Head of Financial Systems North America, Airbus. “It significantly reduced the workload for our T&E analysts, allowing them to focus on more strategic activities. The platform helped us identify ambiguities in our T&E policies and eliminate inconsistent micro-policies throughout the company.” 

The Mastermind AI Studio, the latest addition to AppZen’s Mastermind AI Automation Platform, will allow teams to quickly modernize their standard operating procedures into AI Agents without coding, IT resources, or specialized training. By utilizing the new platform, customers can deploy AI Agents as digital workers, reducing headcount costs, speeding up processing times, and meeting demanding compliance needs.

J.P. Morgan acted as the sole placement agent to AppZen on the transaction.

About AppZen

AppZen is the leader in autonomous finance operations, providing enterprise-grade, agentic AI for finance teams at Fortune 500 corporations and global companies such as Amazon, Boeing, Salesforce, Novartis, and JPMorgan Chase. AppZen’s customers rely on its finance AI to help transform their finance processing of T&E, corporate card, and accounts payable transactions into autonomous finance operations. AppZen processes millions of transactions globally, delivering unprecedented efficiency, accuracy, and compliance for its customers. For more: visit www.appzen.com

About Riverwood Capital

Riverwood Capital invests in high-growth companies in the technology and technology-enabled industries. Riverwood offers a unique combination of operational, strategic, technology, and financial insight to portfolio companies that typically need growth capital and expertise to scale on a global basis. The firm seeks to invest in established businesses with a proven technology and business model, and the proper fit in terms of culture and values. Riverwood was founded in 2008 and has had the opportunity to invest in and support over 85 companies since inception, which have grown revenues at ~35% per year on average during that period. The Firm has offices in Menlo Park, CA, Miami, FL, New York, NY, and São Paulo, Brazil. For more: visit www.riverwoodcapital.com

Media Contact

Megan Botta

Pitch Public Relations 

[email protected]

References

www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/industry-reports/artificial-intelligence-market-100114 

SOURCE AppZen

The AI-native platform delivers and maintains enterprise-grade security without the overhead

TORONTO, Sept. 22, 2025 — Mycroft, the agentic AI platform that acts as a Security and Compliance Officer, today emerged from stealth with USD $3.5 million in new funding. The financing round was led by Luge Capital, with participation from Brightspark Ventures and Graphite Ventures, alongside its existing investors, Ripple Ventures, Developer Capital, Antler, BoxOne Ventures, and strategic angels. The funding will accelerate product development and expand Mycroft’s AI-powered security and compliance operations to serve new customers.

The Security and Compliance Agent to Replace the Stack

Security and compliance have become bloated, expensive, and disconnected from how companies actually operate. Mycroft replaces scattered tools, manual workflows, and spreadsheet-driven processes with a single agentic AI solution that acts as a Security and Compliance Officer. It continuously monitors cloud infrastructure, secures devices, enforces policies, manages incidents, and prepares companies for audits, all from one interface. Under the hood, no-code AI agents handle complex tasks automatically, adapting to each company’s environment – it’s your virtual CISO, GRC expert, and IT ops team, all rolled into one. The result is a system that feels less like software and more like a teammate – always on, always learning, and always ready.

“Security shouldn’t be a burden. It should be a superpower,” says Mike Kim, Co-founder and CEO of Mycroft. “Our goal is to give every company access to enterprise-grade security without needing a massive team. Mycroft’s AI agents don’t just automate tasks, they elevate the way teams operate, helping them move faster and stay protected from day one.”

Mycroft’s rapid momentum is reflected in its customer base. Within the first six months of launch, Mycroft amassed more than 50 customers. Among them are innovative companies such as Superwhisper, Evolo, CoVet, Unified, Willful, Wisedocs, and Weave (YC25).

“Today’s fast-growing companies need robust tools to protect what they’re building,” says Karim Gillani, General Partner at Luge Capital. “Security and compliance have evolved from manual back-office functions to front-line priorities that can shape customer experiences and brand reputation. Mycroft’s AI Security and Compliance Officer is the teammate that every company needs in order to stay safe.”

About Mycroft

Mycroft is the AI-native security and compliance platform purpose-built for modern companies. Founded by experienced builders and security professionals with over 30 years of combined expertise, the company delivers security outcomes that go beyond checkbox compliance. The core product is Mycroft’s AI Security and Compliance Officer, an autonomous AI agent designed to manage and operate your full security and IT stack – from securing your laptops to acing your next SOC 2 audit. This isn’t just a tool; it’s your virtual CISO, GRC expert, and IT ops team, all rolled into one. Focus on building your vision, while our AI agent ensures your foundation is rock solid and fully compliant, 24/7. It’s time to modernize your security and compliance and scale with confidence. To learn more, visit mycroft.io

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

SOURCE Mycroft

NEW YORK, Sept. 22, 2025 — Lucid Green, the leading provider of item-level tracking, compliance, and consumer engagement solutions, today announced new funding from its lead investors. The capital raise follows record-breaking growth and adoption, cementing Lucid Green’s leadership position in the legal cannabis industry.

The company recently reached a record 800,000 daily LucidID’s generated and now has over 160 million LucidID’s in the market. This rapid adoption establishes Lucid Green as the trusted standard for label compliance, efficient retail inventory management, and consumer trust.

“Brands and retailers are under pressure to improve profitability,” said Larry Levy, CEO of Lucid Green. “Our platform delivers that. While competitors offer services for free, our partners are consistently saving and making money with our platform. This proven value is accelerating adoption, putting us on track for continued growth in 2026.”

Key Growth & Adoption Highlights:

• Achieved double-digit monthly revenue growth throughout 2025.
• Holds dominant market share across five key states.
• The LucidID App is rated 4.8 stars on the iOS App Store, reflecting strong consumer satisfaction.
• The number of brands using Lucid Connect, a direct-to-consumer offering, more than doubled in 2025.
• Consumers have claimed over 1,250,000 BudPoints rewards and received more than 60,000 reward items.

What Our Partners Are Saying:

“Lucid Green has helped our operational efficiency from label generation, counting accuracy to retail intake.” Diana Coats, SVP Operations, Good Day Farm

“Lucid Green has completely streamlined our operations. The serialized LucidIDs prevent errors, ensure compliance, and have saved us considerable time and money.” — Joseph Perzanowski, Director Operations, Goldleaf

“The transparency and ease of use of automatically transferring batch-specific COA information into product QR codes has been a game changer.” — Phil Hon, Vice President, Rove

“By reducing the labor required to receive manifests, Lucid has significantly improved our operational efficiency and helped us lower costs across our retail network.” — Jason Gulley, National Director of Wholesale, Story

About Lucid Green

Lucid Green is the leading provider of item-level supply chain transparency, inventory optimization, and consumer engagement solutions. Through its LucidSource, LucidID, and Lucid Connect platforms, the company empowers brands, retailers, and consumers with efficiency, trust and compliance at every stage of the product lifecycle.

Media Contact:

Filip Luneski
[email protected]
(332) 250-6360

SOURCE Lucid Green

DUISBURG, Allemagne, 19 septembre 2025 — Factor2 Energy, une société allemande (Duisburg) qui propose une nouvelle approche de l’énergie géothermique, a annoncé aujourd’hui la réussite de son cycle de financement de démarrage, qui a permis de lever 9,1 millions de dollars américains en capital-risque.

Le tour de table a été mené par At One Ventures, avec des investissements supplémentaires de High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), Gründerfonds Ruhr, Verve Ventures et Siemens Energy Ventures.

Factor2 Energy utilisera le financement de démarrage pour faire progresser le développement technologique de son système de production d’énergie géothermique à base de CO₂ et pour développer une centrale électrique pilote afin de démontrer l’évolutivité.

Factor2 Energy est dirigé par Michael Wechsung, Joerg Strohschein et Felix Boehmer, qui ont tous travaillé ensemble chez Siemens Energy. Ils y ont inventé une nouvelle méthode, économiquement supérieure, pour exploiter l’énergie géothermique en utilisant le CO₂ comme principal fluide de travail dans le cycle géothermique, en remplacement de l’eau ou de la saumure.

Kendra Rauschenberger, partenaire général de Siemens Energy Ventures, a déclaré : « Je suis heureuse de voir cette technologie progresser vers la commercialisation, après son développement au sein de Siemens Energy Ventures. L’énergie géothermique est une source d’énergie fiable et renouvelable, et nous travaillerons avec Factor2 Energy pour adapter nos turbines aux besoins spécifiques de ce marché émergent. »

Comment cela fonctionne-t-il ? Énergie propre à partir de CO₂ stocké – sûre, évolutive et durable

La technologie peut être déployée dans des réservoirs naturels de CO2 ou dans des réservoirs destinés à la capture et au stockage du carbone. Le CO₂ (naturel ou capturé) est injecté dans des formations géologiques profondes et poreuses, où il est stocké en toute sécurité. En absorbant la chaleur géothermique de la roche environnante, sa densité diminue, ce qui déclenche une circulation due à la flottabilité, connue sous le nom d’effet thermosiphon. Par conséquent, le CO₂ remonte naturellement à la surface par l’intermédiaire de puits de production, ce qui élimine le besoin de pompes souterraines et réduit considérablement la consommation d’énergie parasite et la complexité mécanique.

À la surface, la chaleur est convertie en électricité à l’aide d’un système de turbine à CO₂ à entraînement direct. Après expansion, le CO₂ est refroidi et réinjecté dans le réservoir, créant ainsi un cycle fermé qui permet de produire de l’électricité en continu tout en maintenant le stockage du CO₂ à long terme.

Par rapport aux systèmes géothermiques classiques à base d’eau, cette approche permet d’obtenir une puissance jusqu’à deux fois supérieure dans des conditions géologiques similaires, tout en nécessitant des dépenses d’investissement moindres (CAPEX).

« Notre approche permet de produire de l’électricité sans émissions, de manière efficace et avec une charge de base, ce qui est idéal pour les compagnies pétrolières et gazières traditionnelles qui cherchent à diversifier leurs actifs d’exploitation », a déclaré le PDG et cofondateur Felix Boehmer. « En fait, l’ensemble du système s’appuie sur des technologies éprouvées dans le secteur pétrolier et gazier, qui possède une longue expérience en matière de forage et d’expertise géologique. »

Simplicité d’implantation : Plus d’options de localisation et de facilité opérationnelle

Outre la fourniture d’une énergie verte fiable, 24 heures sur 24 et 7 jours sur 7, l’utilisation du CO₂ permet d’accéder à un plus large éventail de sites géologiques, libérant de la chaleur dans des endroits qui ne conviennent pas aux systèmes géothermiques conventionnels.

L’utilisation du CO₂ permet à Factor2 Energy d’exploiter des sites géothermiques moins profonds et moins chauds, ce qui réduit les coûts de forage et élargit l’éventail des sites viables pour les centrales électriques. Le système fonctionne efficacement là où la géothermie conventionnelle échoue, offrant un coût d’électricité nivelé compétitif. Il élimine également le besoin de fluides secondaires ou de systèmes binaires complexes, ce qui simplifie les opérations. Factor2 Energy peut transformer les formations géologiques désignées pour le stockage du CO₂ (CSC) et les réservoirs naturels de CO₂ en actifs énergétiques actifs.

Helen Lin, partenaire chez At One Ventures, commente : “En tant que pierre angulaire d’une électrification plus large, le besoin d’une énergie de base rentable n’a jamais été aussi urgent. La physique des fluides du CO₂ en tant que fluide de travail géothermique permet de multiplier par deux la production d’énergie tout en fonctionnant aux mêmes profondeurs/températures que la géothermie conventionnelle, ce qui se traduit par des gains d’efficacité en termes de dépenses d’investissement et de dépenses d’exploitation. Ces aspects technico-économiques se combinent pour former un LCOE favorable sur des sites qui n’auraient pas été viables économiquement auparavant. Nous sommes ravis d’aider Factor2 à commercialiser cette technologie cruciale pour libérer le potentiel de la géothermie en tant que source plus répandue d’énergie de base verte”.

Timo Bertsch, directeur des investissements chez HTGF, commente : « Nous avons investi dans Factor2 Energy parce que sa technologie innovante augmente considérablement le potentiel géothermique mondial et permet de manière unique de transformer les sites de CSC en centrales électriques productrices d’énergie. Leur démonstration de faisabilité dans un environnement géologique complexe démontre la robustesse et l’évolutivité de leur approche. Nous pensons que Factor2 Energy est bien placé pour jouer un rôle central dans la transition énergétique mondiale. »

À propos de Factor2 Energy

Factor2 Energy est une entreprise allemande de technologie climatique qui développe des systèmes d’énergie géothermique basés sur le CO₂. En utilisant le dioxyde de carbone comme fluide de travail, cette technologie permet d’accéder à des ressources géothermiques à température modérée. Par rapport aux systèmes conventionnels, la technologie peut fournir jusqu’à deux fois plus d’énergie, sans fracturation, ni forage ultra-profond, ni processus à forte consommation d’eau. Fondée par une ancienne équipe de Siemens Energy après une validation de concept réussie, l’entreprise est soutenue par des investisseurs de premier plan dans le domaine du climat, son dernier tour de table ayant été mené par At One Ventures. La mission de Factor2 Energy est de débloquer une énergie géothermique de base, propre et évolutive, tout en favorisant le stockage permanent du carbone.

Logo : https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2774324/Factor2_Energy_Logo.jpg

SINGAPORE, Sept. 22, 2025 — Novo Tellus, a leading investment firm in Singapore focused on the global supply chain, has won the 2025 Private Equity Deal of the Year award from the Singapore Venture Capital & Private Equity Association (SVCA) for its investment in TDConnex. 

Novo Tellus developed a co-entrepreneurial relationship with TDConnex founder Thanga Venkatachalam, working with him over a year to re-imagine and transform a large-scale divisional manufacturing business. Novo Tellus co-authored the business plan to restructure TDConnex as an independent, Singapore-based company with a global manufacturing platform serving leading electronics innovators worldwide. Today, TDConnex produces over 4 billion components and 3,000 different parts that power over 1 billion electronic devices in use around the world. 

The divisional carveout investment was completed April 2024 in partnership with 65 Equity Partners and together with several Novo Tellus Limited Partner co-investors. During the investment development, TDConnex built its first factory in India and inaugurated its new global headquarters in Singapore, reflecting the Novo Tellus approach of diligence by ‘building, rather than studying businesses’.

SVCA noted that PE Deal of the Year award was its most heavily competed award, and cited TDConnex as an example of “private equity’s power to reimagine industries”:

“The PE Deal of the Year is awarded to Novo Tellus Capital Partners, for their transformative investment in TDConnex. Through deep sector expertise and close collaboration with founder Thanga V, Novo Tellus helped TDConnex grow into a global hyperscale manufacturing leader, expanding into India, building a new HQ in Singapore, and scaling capabilities across continents.”

Reflecting on the investment, Keith Toh at Novo Tellus said, “Most private equity investments begin with due diligence on management’s business plan. This investment began with a great conversation with Thanga (CEO of TDConnex), and a 40-page business plan we sat down and wrote together. By doing this, we built a trusted partnership with an exceptional CEO, a new global strategy for TDConnex, and an ambitious industrial vision for the future of component manufacturing in a global hyperscale context.

This approach to entrepreneurial, industrialist partnership is emblematic of what Novo Tellus stands for. We’re grateful to Thanga, 65 Equity Partners, and our customer and employee stakeholders for believing in a wildly ambitious future for TDConnex, and for working hard to turn it into a reality that has already surpassed all initial expectations.”

After accepting the SVCA Award, TDConnex CEO Thanga Venkatachalam reflected, “TDConnex was built to bring extraordinary people together with the best manufacturing capabilities, to serve extraordinary innovators. From the first conversation with Novo Tellus it was clear they understood the capabilities, people, and agility it takes to move advanced manufacturing into the future. We’re honoured by the SVCA award, and pleased to be empowered by such an unusually entrepreneurial partnership with our investors.”

About Novo Tellus
Novo Tellus is a specialised investment firm with over US$1 billion under management, focused on building remarkable companies in the $2 trillion global supply chain. The firm forms close partnerships with business leaders to create lasting growth by growing core business products, services, people, and value to customers. Novo Tellus investors come from engineering, operating, entrepreneurial and investing backgrounds to build empathic and deeply-informed partnerships with management teams to realise ambitious growth together.

About TDConnex
TDConnex helps global technology leaders create and deliver the products that change the way the world lives and works. Its micro-precision components can be found in over a billion technology products worldwide, and the Company is focused on helping customers create the next generation of advanced electronic products for humanity’s future. TDConnex is headquartered in Singapore and produces over 4 billion components annually across more than 3,000 different parts out of its global manufacturing facilities.

SOURCE Novo Tellus