Crave is helping early-stage founders win shelf space, drive demand and raise capital.
CHARLOTTE, N.C., Sept. 16, 2025 — Crave Ventures today announced its official launch as a service-for-equity, brokerage-backed growth partner for emerging consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands.
The launch comes after a successful multi-month pilot period in which the firm onboarded a small group of hand-selected portfolio brands and pressure-tested its model.
The Team At Crave Ventures
“We aren’t building another accelerator or passive investment firm,” said Katie Hotze, President of Crave Ventures. “By using advanced techniques, we’re expediting the growth of our portfolio brands and bridging the gap between advice and outcomes.”
Crave is built like an agency and backed like a VC, surrounding founders with a marketing and creative studio, retail placement experts, a PR team and strategic advisers. At Crave, there are no classes, cohorts or curriculums.
Crave Labs, Crave’s in-house agency, amplifies discovery, content and third-party endorsements while partner Alliance Sales & Marketing, the largest natural food brokerage in the U.S., opens doors to retail opportunities typically out of reach for early-stage brands.
“Crave is the continuum I wish had existed for so many breakout products that crossed my desk over the past 20 years at Alliance,” said Scott Anderson, founder and CEO of Alliance Sales and Marketing and lead adviser to Crave Ventures. “The CPG playbook has changed, and early-stage founders need an operator partner with skin in the game and a team that has built and led brands to exit.”
Crave offers the following program benefits to its portfolio founders:
Scaling from the inside out. Crave’s senior team plans, builds and runs brand, growth and retail programs alongside its portfolio founders.
Retail access that wins. With Alliance Sales & Marketing, Crave establishes trusted buyer relationships and velocity-minded retail activation.
AI-driven growth. Crave delivers access to industry-leading tools in retail discovery, reviews, creators, media and sampling.
Warm investor pathways. Crave accelerates capital readiness and facilitates introductions that convert traction into funding.
Storytelling that drives behavior change. Crave Labs delivers marketing, branding, creative, media and PR strategies that grow brand equity and market share.
Crave partners with pre-seed and seed-stage CPG brands and co-builds with founders through exit. Applicants are pre-screened for growth potential and vetted via a thorough interview and selection process. The firm accepts applications on a rolling basis.
About Crave Ventures Crave Ventures is a first-of-its-kind execution and growth partner for early-stage CPG founders. Through its continuum model, the firm invests services for equity in pre-seed and seed-stage brands, unlocking access to world-class marketing, PR, retail, technology and investor networks. Crave meets founders where they are and co-builds with them through exit. Crave is backed by Alliance Sales & Marketing and is advised by industry veteran Scott Anderson.
– Current CEO and Co-founder Nancy Briefs Transitions to Executive Chair of the Board –
– Financing and Leadership Transition Strengthen Momentum Toward First Clinical Trial of AJN 003 for Type 2 Diabetes –
LOWELL, Mass., Sept. 16, 2025 — AltrixBio, a biopharmaceutical company pioneering treatments for cardiometabolic diseases, announced the closing of an initial $5 million Series A financing. The funding will accelerate the clinical entry of AJN 003 (LuCI™ – Luminal Coating of the Intestine), a first-in-class oral therapy designed to transform the treatment of type 2 diabetes and metabolic diseases.
David Pass
In addition, the company has appointed David Pass, PharmD, as president andchief executive officer. Dr. Pass brings decades of leadership experience across the pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device sectors with a proven record of scaling programs from concept to more than $1 billion in sales. He succeeds AltrixBio Co-founder and CEO Nancy Briefs, who successfully guided the company from inception, and will now serve as executive chair of the board.
“It is an honor to join AltrixBio at such a pivotal moment,” said Dr. Pass. “I am inspired by the potential of AJN 003 both to change the way we think about the science of type 2 diabetes and metabolic disorders, and to bring the often life-changing benefits of bariatric surgery into a pill.”
New investment driven by AJN 003 transformational approach
AltrixBio is developing AJN 003 (LuCI™), a once-daily oral pill that temporarily coats the stomach, duodenum and jejunum to mimic the powerful metabolic effects of bariatric surgery without the associated risks. Bariatric surgery has demonstrated rapid improvements in glucose control with diabetes remission in most patients, along with significant weight loss. Preclinical studies of AJN 003 have shown similar gut hormone and metabolic responses, while avoiding systemic drug exposure and associated safety concerns.
The Series A financing will support AltrixBio in advancing AJN 003 into human clinical studies, aiming to provide an oral therapy for type 2 diabetes, obesity and other metabolic diseases. This novel treatment approach offers an enormous global commercial opportunity.
Leadership transition marks next phase
The appointment of Dr. Pass as CEO marks a new chapter for AltrixBio as the company prepares to bring its lead candidate, AJN 003, into the clinic. Dr. Pass joins AltrixBio after successfully building and leading the Diabetes Franchise with the alliances between Eli Lilly and Boehringer Ingelheim and, most recently, serving as president of Life Sciences at Glooko.
“I am confident that David will successfully lead the company into its next era of clinical and commercial activities,” said Briefs. “I am incredibly proud of what we have achieved together and am excited to continue supporting the company as executive chair of the board.”
“This transition reflects our ongoing commitment to leadership excellence and long-term value creation,” said Ali Tavakkoli, MD, co-founder and board member. “We are grateful to Nancy for her visionary leadership and are thrilled to welcome David as our new CEO. His expertise and passion for our mission will be instrumental as we continue to deliver on our vision of ‘Surgery in a Pill®'”.
About AJN003 (LuCI™)
AJN 003 (LuCI™ – Luminal Coating of the Intestine) is a once-daily oral therapy that forms a temporary barrier in the stomach, duodenum and jejunum to replicate the metabolic benefits of bariatric bypass surgery. Preclinical data show that AJN 003 alters nutrient sensing in this region of the gut, and triggers the same hormone and metabolic responses associated with bariatric surgery. AJN 003 is a small molecule with no systemic exposure, providing a novel and patent-protected approach to treating type 2 diabetes, obesity and other metabolic diseases.
About AltrixBio Founded in 2019, AltrixBio builds on research from Jeff Karp, PhD, and Ali Tavakkoli, MD, of Mass General Brigham and Harvard Medical School. Their work was inspired by the rapid resolution of type 2 diabetes often observed in patients following bariatric surgery. They hypothesized that sucralfate, an established therapy with over 40 years of clinical use, could be modified to replicate these metabolic benefits. This research led to the development of AJN 003 (LuCI™ – Luminal Coating of the Intestine), a proprietary, bio-engineered form of sucralfate developed as a once-daily oral therapy. The AltrixBio team comprises scientists, clinicians and industry business leaders with deep scientific, operational and commercial expertise.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding the leadership transition and future plans of AltrixBio. Actual results may differ materially from those projected in these statements. For more information, please refer to the company’s filings with the relevant securities authorities.
For further updates and information, please visit AltrixBio.com
Breakthrough investment showcases momentum of virtual fencing technology, as Nofence advances scalable, tech-driven grazing solutions for livestock management
ST. PAUL, Minn., Sept. 16, 2025 — Nofence, the leading innovator in virtual fencing technology, announced today that it has raised over $35 million (€30 million) after the successful close of its Series B funding, which concluded in July. As Europe’s largest agtech funding round of 2025, this investment signals investor confidence in Nofence’s market traction, product innovation, and long-term potential to transform livestock management in the U.S. and worldwide.
The new capital is announced on the heels of the company’s recent hirings of Alex Bell as managing director in the U.S. and Eric Yates as national sales director. These investments were led by international firms with deep expertise in climate tech, agtech, and sustainable systems, including the lead investor European Circular Bioeconomy Fund, along with Capagro, Nysnø Climate Investments, Climate Innovation Capital, and Speedinvest – while existing investors Sandwater, Momentum, and Ferd are also continuing their commitment, reflecting strong support for Nofence’s role in providing more sustainable and efficient grazing solutions for cattle, sheep, and goat farmers alike.
As the pioneer of virtual fencing and the company with the longest experience in the field, the new funding will enable Nofence to accelerate its worldwide expansion in key North American and European markets. It underscores the company’s continued momentum in advancing its technology through further product development, strengthening service to its growing customer base, and reinforcing its position in core markets, including in the U.S. and E.U. Nofence recognizes the trust and support farmers and ranchers placed in its technology and is committed to using the new capital to further invest in enhancing its ability to serve them and deliver greater value. Nofence’s solar-powered, GPS-enabled collars managed via its easy-to-use mobile app are already helping thousands of farmers and ranchers improve land stewardship and reduce labor and production costs.
“Nofence’s virtual fencing is transforming the way livestock producers manage their herds by enabling rotational grazing – an effective climate measure in agriculture – while also offering more efficient solutions to better monitor and enhance the welfare of livestock, reduce costs, and provide peace of mind,” said Joachim Kähler, CEO of Nofence. “This Series B funding is more than a financial milestone; it further validates our vision and the real-world results we’ve delivered to farmers across the globe. This raise reflects the strength of our team, the loyalty of our customers, and the urgency of the challenges we’re helping to solve, positioning us to make virtual fencing the standard for livestock management globally.”
“Farmers and ranchers are looking for tools that give them greater flexibility and insight in how they manage their land and livestock, and Nofence’s virtual fencing technology is delivering for those needs,” said Alex Bell, U.S. Managing Director for Nofence.“With Nofence, our customers are able to work more efficiently and steward their land more sustainably. These investments mark a major step forward for Nofence in the U.S., expanding our reach and accelerating our ability to deliver even more value to our customers.”
“We are incredibly proud to announce our Series B funding round. This investment is a testament to the hard work of the entire Nofence team and the strength of our technology,” said Stefanie Witte, Chair of Nofence’s Board of Directors. “What’s particularly exciting for us is not just the capital, but the calibre and international breadth of our investors. They bring a range of expertise from across Europe and North America – perfectly aligned with Nofence’s own international expansion, and their experience will be an invaluable asset as Nofence continues to grow and innovate.”
“At ECBF, we back companies that scale commercially while driving sustainable, resource-efficient systems. Nofence is transforming livestock management with a solution that improves efficiency, lowers costs, while restoring soil and biodiversity,” highlighted Isabelle Laurencin, Partner at ECBF. “With strong traction in Europe and clear U.S. growth prospects, we are proud to back this ambitious team as they set a new standard for sustainable agriculture.”
“Nofence is addressing one of the most urgent needs in agriculture: making livestock management more efficient and climate-friendly. The company’s rapid adoption across multiple markets demonstrates both the strength of its technology and the depth of demand from farmers. Having backed Nofence since the Series A, Sandwater is proud to continue this partnership and build on the strong foundation already in place,” says Torkel Engeness, Partner at Sandwater.
“We have known Nofence for a long time and continue to be impressed by their execution across markets. With farm digitization still in its early stages, Nofence stands out as a key enabler, creating a strong platform for new products beyond virtual fencing,” emphasized Wissam Nasreddine, Principal at Speedinvest.
Since entering the U.S. market in 2025, Nofence has seen surging demand among American producers eager to improve grazing management without the constraints of physical fencing. As the world’s only provider of virtual fencing for both cattle and small ruminants, Nofence technology is helping American producers in 48 states manage their livestock more efficiently, all while saving time and money.
About Nofence and the technology Founded in Norway in 2011 by goat farmer Oscar Hovde at Batnfjordsøra, Nofence is the world’s pioneer commercial virtual fencing system for livestock, serving as a sustainable alternative to physical fencing. The animals’ grazing areas are managed using a GPS collar, which communicates with an app using a mobile network. When the animals cross the virtual boundary, an escalating acoustic warning is played. If they ignore the sound, they will get a mild but effective electrical pulse. The animals learn this quickly in their training period of up to a week, depending on variables like the breed and the age of the animal. The collars can be bought online at nofence.co/us.
The company’s virtual fences have increased in popularity since its pilot customers first began using it in Norway in 2016, with the company surpassing 150,000 collars sold – a strong testament to the success of the new technology. Nofence has 90 employees worldwide, distributed between Norway, the UK, Ireland, Spain, and the United States.
About the Investors Capagro is Europe’s first independent venture capital fund dedicated to AgTech and FoodTech innovation. With approximately €240 million under management and backing from leading agrobusinesses and institutional LPs, Capagro supports startups across the entire agri-food value chain, accelerating the adoption of impactful technologies, from smart agriculture to sustainable food solutions.
Climate Innovation Capital (CIC) is a growth equity fund investing in mid-stage climate technology companies that deliver measurable decarbonization and strong financial performance. With deep operational and investment expertise, CIC targets solutions across key sectors like energy, buildings, transportation, and food systems. Its portfolio companies are reshaping industries by turning climate innovations into scalable, cost-competitive businesses.
European Circular Bioeconomy Fund (ECBF) is the leading venture capital impact fund exclusively focused on the circular bioeconomy. With $350 million (€300 million) AUM, ECBF invests $2.3-11.6 million (€2–10 million) in high-potential growth-stage companies across sectors like agtech, food, industrial biotech, and biomaterials. The fund aims to help Europe transition to a climate-neutral, nature-aligned economy by 2050, in line with the European Environmental Goals.
Nysnø Climate Investments is a state-owned investment company that invests in companies and funds with technology for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Nysnø has assets under management of NOK 5.4 billion and invests in renewable energy, digital technologies, resource efficiency, sustainable consumption, and the circular economy. The company is headquartered in Stavanger and is owned by the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Fisheries.
Speedinvest is one of Europe’s most active early-stage venture capital firms, with over €1 billion in assets under management. Its sector-focused teams and in-house experts provide founders with hands-on support across growth, operations, and business development. Speedinvest backs bold entrepreneurs across deep tech, fintech, climate tech, SaaS, and more.
Sandwater is a Nordic venture capital firm investing in early-stage growth companies in resource efficiency, energy transition and productivity and resilience. Sandwater was established in 2021 by a team with extensive industry experience.
Momentum is a Norwegian venture fund aiming to accelerate sustainability, efficiency, and resilience across energy, food/agriculture, and industry. Momentum typically invests at the seed stage and actively supports its portfolio companies through their growth stages.
Ferd is a family-owned Norwegian investment company committed to value-creating ownership across both businesses and financial assets. Ferd is invested in Nofence through Ferd Impact Investing, which invests in early-stage climate tech companies and funds that have the potential to deliver both a positive climate and environment impact and a solid risk-adjusted return.
As AI speeds up coding, Metalbear’s mirrord enables developers to run local code in real cloud environments instantly, closing the gap between coding and deployment.
TEL AVIV, Israel, Sept. 16, 2025 — MetalBear, creator of the popular open source Kubernetes development solution mirrord, today announced it has raised $12.5 million in Seed funding led by TLV Partners with participation from TQ Ventures, MTF, and Netz Capital. Prominent angel investors include David Cramer, co-founder of Sentry, and Ben Sigelman, co-creator of OpenTelemetry. The funding comes as enterprises confront a paradox: while AI dramatically accelerates code creation, developers continue to waste valuable time waiting to test code in realistic cloud environments.
The rise of microservices architecture has transformed how modern software is built, with enterprises now managing hundreds or thousands of interconnected services. Yet this evolution has created a critical bottleneck: developers working on a single service cannot effectively test their code within the context of the larger application. They resort to incomplete local testing with mocks that don’t reflect real cloud conditions, then queue for hours and even days to access shared staging environments. Some organizations spend millions annually on per-developer cloud environments, only to find these still require deployment cycles and shift maintenance burdens onto individual developers, creating yet more bottlenecks.
“We’re witnessing a mismatch in modern development,” said Eyal Bukchin, CTO and co-founder of MetalBear. “AI can now generate code in seconds, but developers still face constant friction testing it. Every small change requires another deployment cycle, another wait, another context switch. These interruptions compound throughout the day, turning what should be rapid iteration into a stop-and-start marathon. The entire industry has accepted this as normal, but it’s actually the biggest hidden bottleneck in software development today.”
MetalBear’s mirrord fundamentally changes this dynamic by letting developers connect their local code directly to their cloud environments. With a single switch in their IDE, developers can instantly give their code access to remote databases, APIs, queues, and services without deploying anything. The technology works by injecting itself into the local development process and intercepting all input/output operations at a low level, seamlessly proxying them to the remote environment.
“The first-time developers use mirrord, they often can’t believe what they’re seeing,” said Aviram Hassan, CEO and co-founder of MetalBear. “They toggle a button in their IDE, hit debug, and suddenly their local code is interacting with other microservices, remote databases, message queues, and third-party services as if it were running in the cloud. We’ve even seen teams where mirrord lets them run their code locally for the first time. Before, there were just too many dependencies to run locally, so all they could do was deploy and hope.”
mirrord has already been adopted by thousands of developers at leading technology companies including NVIDIA, AWS, and Apple, with teams reporting 80% faster test iterations and 30% fewer production bugs. Its paid enterprise version enables multiple developers to work simultaneously on the same environment without conflicts, using traffic routing and queue splitting to ensure each developer only receives the data meant for their specific tests. This allows entire teams to share a single staging environment as if each developer had their own, eliminating both bottlenecks and costs.
“There’s intense focus on AI and developer productivity right now, but most solutions only address code generation,” said Brian Sack, Partner at TLV Partners. “As AI makes developers write code faster, testing and integration become the critical bottlenecks. When every AI agent needs their own test environment, traditional approaches become completely unscalable. mirrord’s architecture is uniquely positioned to enable this new era of development.”
mirrord’s approach leverages deep system-level expertise rarely seen in the DevOps space. The founding team has a deep expertise in cybersecurity, most recently as a core part of the leadership at BioCatch where they built behavioral analytics systems. This experience enabled them to build mirrord to handle complex enterprise environments, from air-gapped clusters to complex service meshes, without requiring cluster modifications or extensive setup.
About MetalBear
MetalBear is the creator of mirrord, an open source development solution that eliminates bottlenecks in cloud-native development by enabling local code to run in production-like conditions instantly. Founded by cybersecurity experts Aviram Hassan (CEO) and Eyal Bukchin (CTO), the company helps developers ship faster, more reliable software. With 25 employees across 14 countries, MetalBear serves thousands of developers at Fortune 100 enterprises and leading technology companies. mirrord is available as both an open source project and an enterprise solution that allows large teams to effectively share a single cloud development environment. Learn more at metalbear.com
Funding to advance first-in-class pan-ROCK inhibitor through Phase 2a testing in PAH and ILD-PH patients
Topline data from ROC-101 Phase 1 study demonstrate favorable safety and tolerability, and no associated hypotension
Leadership team comprises executives from CinCor Pharma, acquired by AstraZeneca in 2023 for up to $1.8 billion
NATICK, Mass., Sept. 16, 2025 — AllRock Bio Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on advancing therapies for cardiopulmonary and fibrotic diseases, today announced a $50 million Series A round co-led by Versant Ventures and Westlake BioPartners. Proceeds will advance AllRock’s lead molecule, ROC-101, which the company exclusively licensed from Sanofi, into Phase 2 clinical development.
ROC-101 is a first-in-class, oral pan-rho-associated protein kinase (ROCK) inhibitor to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and pulmonary hypertension with interstitial lung disease (ILD-PH). Both are life-threatening conditions with five-year survival rates of 57% and 38%, respectively, and very limited disease-modifying treatments exist for these patients. ROC-101 has the potential to address a significant unmet need by targeting inflammatory, proliferative, and fibrotic disease-associated remodeling mediated by both ROCK2 and ROCK1.
“Today’s launch highlights the value of our pan-ROCK inhibitor approach, which addresses the fundamental drivers, not just the symptoms, of cardiopulmonary diseases, beginning with PAH and ILD-PH,” said Catherine Pearce, DHSc, MBA, AllRock CEO and co-founder. “In identifying this asset, we listened to KOLs and clinicians who emphasized the importance of developing a therapy that blocks the non-redundant roles of both ROCK1 and ROCK2.”
ROC-101’s mechanism of action is complementary to existing approved and investigational therapies in the pulmonary hypertension space. AllRock’s Phase 2a ROCSTAR clinical trial will evaluate ROC-101 in combination with standard of care in PAH and ILD-PH patients and is expected to start in late 2025.
“We are pleased to work with this team again in the formation of AllRock following our past successful collaboration on CinCor and bringing baxdrostat to the clinic,” said David Allison, PhD, Managing Director at Westlake BioPartners. “We are confident that this team is poised to advance a truly meaningful therapeutic option to patients living with debilitating disease.”
“The strong safety profile that ROC-101 has demonstrated in Phase 1 validates the transformative potential of pan-ROCK inhibition,” said Alicia Levey, PhD, Venture Partner at Versant Ventures and AllRock board member. “We look forward to AllRock’s near-term readouts for ROC-101 as well as progress from its expanding pipeline.”
The company’s leadership comprises industry veterans from biotech and pharma with a track record of success in building and leading parent and portfolio companies:
Catherine Pearce, DHSc, MBA, CEO and Co-Founder, brings 25+ years of experience across pharma and biotech company formation, most notably for creating and leading the clinical-stage function of CinCor Pharma from its formation to its acquisition by AstraZeneca for up to $1.8 billion. She also co-founded CinRx Pharma and JucaBio.
Justin Thompson, CBO and Co-Founder, has 20+ years of experience in business development and strategic investments within life sciences. He led business development efforts at CinCor Pharma and co-founded JucaBio.
Bill Marshall, MD, CMO, is a clinician-scientist with 35+ years of academic, clinical, and drug development experience, highlighted by his role as VP, Medical, at CinCor. He began his pharma career in Translational Pharmacology at Merck and served in leadership roles at Allovir and Alexion and as an Associate Professor of Medicine at the UMass Chan Medical School.
Kate Steiner, B Med Sci, MBBS, VP Medical, is a clinician-scientist with 25+ years of academic, clinical, and drug development experience, most recently as Medical Director at Keros Therapeutics, leading the Phase 2 trial of an activin receptor type II B ligand trap to treat pulmonary artery hypertension. She is also a part-time Pulmonary Critical Care Attending at Tufts Medical Center.
The company’s latest Phase 1 data will be presented at the European Respiratory Society (ERS) Congress, held September 27-October 1 in Amsterdam, in a poster entitled, “Results from a phase 1, randomized, double-blind, single and multiple ascending oral dose study characterizing the PK, safety, and target engagement of the Rho kinase 1 and 2 inhibitor ROC-101 in healthy volunteers.”
AllRock was founded by JucaBio, a privately held, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company built on the hub-and-spoke model that acquires high-quality, differentiated assets and builds agile NewCos that execute focused drug development.
About PAH Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a severe condition characterized by elevated blood pressure in the pulmonary arteries, impacting both the lungs and the right side of the heart. In PAH, the small pulmonary vessels undergo progressive narrowing, leading to elevated pulmonary arterial pressure. This heightened pressure impedes blood flow through the lungs, necessitating increased effort from the right ventricle to maintain adequate circulation, ultimately placing significant strain on the heart. Despite 16 approved drugs—including four vasodilator classes—there continues to exist an unmet need for disease-modifying treatments in the current landscape.
About ILD-PH Pulmonary hypertension (PH) associated with Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD-PH) is a distinct form of PH where the blood pressure in the lungs increases in the setting of ILD. ILD encompasses a broad group of diseases, such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, that impair the structure of the lungs, making it progressively harder to breathe. ILD-PH is associated with increased mortality and morbidity with worsening symptoms over time, and very limited treatment options are available.
About AllRock Bio AllRock Bio is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on advancing therapies for cardiopulmonary and fibrotic diseases. The company’s lead candidate, ROC-101, is a first-in-class, oral pan-ROCK inhibitor being developed to address the urgent unmet need in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and other life-threatening fibrotic diseases. With a seasoned leadership team and a commitment to addressing unmet need, AllRock is dedicated to bringing a new class of disease-modifying therapies to patients. For more information, please visit www.allrockbio.com. Follow us on Linkedin.
About Versant Ventures Versant Ventures is a leading healthcare venture capital firm committed to helping exceptional entrepreneurs build the next generation of great companies. The firm’s emphasis is on biotechnology companies that are discovering and developing novel therapeutics. With $5.3 billion under management and offices in the U.S., Canada and Europe, Versant has built a team with deep investment, operating and R&D expertise that enables a hands-on approach to company building. Since the firm’s founding in 1999, more than 95 Versant companies have achieved successful acquisitions or IPOs. For more information, please visit www.versantventures.com.
About Westlake BioPartners Westlake BioPartners is a Los Angeles area-based venture capital firm focused on incubating and building early-stage life sciences companies with entrepreneurs who have the potential to bring transformative therapies to patients. With $1.3 billion under management, the Westlake model is built on the founding team’s unique experience in successfully identifying and developing breakthrough therapies and building organizations, based on their extensive R&D, investing and company-building experience. For more information, please visit www.westlakebio.com.
This brings Chestnut’s total year-to-date funding to $250 million, one of the voluntary carbon market’s largest raises in 2025.
NEW YORK, Sept. 16, 2025 — Chestnut Carbon (“Chestnut”), a nature-based carbon removal developer, announced that it has raised $90 million in additional funds for its Series B financing. The incremental funding, from existing equity investor Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (“CPP Investments”), brings Chestnut’s total Series B funding to $250 million, up from the $160 million total that was announced earlier this year in which CPP Investments participated.
A mix of native trees growing on Chestnut Carbon’s land in Jefferson County, Arkansas
Chestnut is focused on growing its U.S.-based afforestation projects which transform marginal crop and pasture lands into long-lasting, biodiverse ecosystems. These projects will generate Gold Standard® verified carbon credits, supporting companies committed to decarbonization and net zero goals.
“This additional investment in Chestnut exemplifies CPP Investments’ commitment to finding superior investment opportunities across the energy value chain,” said Bill Rogers, Head of Sustainable Energies at CPP Investments. “Our continued support of Chestnut and Kimmeridge’s pioneering work underscores our belief that high-quality, verifiable carbon removal projects will play a critical role in supporting global decarbonization goals while generating long-term value for CPP contributors and beneficiaries.”
The equity capital raised will primarily fund two key areas: land purchases, which have already enabled the acquisition of over 60,000 acres across eight southern states; and technological innovation, including proprietary data tools and patented systems that enhance forest modeling and operational efficiency.
“We are grateful for the follow-on investment by CPP Investments, which along with the support we have received from other investors is critical to scaling Chestnut’s impact while maintaining our high standards for quality and permanence,” said Greg Adams, Chief Financial Officer of Chestnut. “We’re committed to helping our customers meet their decarbonization goals and ensuring that they can rely on us as their trusted partner in the process.”
About Chestnut Carbon Chestnut Carbon (“Chestnut”) is a leading developer of nature-based carbon removal credits. Founded in 2022 with the support of energy-focused alternative asset manager Kimmeridge, Chestnut generates high-quality, U.S.-based forest carbon offsets that are additional and verifiable to accelerate the path to net zero across a range of industries. Chestnut uses a proprietary approach to developing forest carbon offset projects on family-owned forestland and marginal crop and pastureland. Chestnut’s expertise is driven by an experienced team, whose diverse backgrounds include forestry, carbon regulation, environment, finance and land management. For additional information on Chestnut, its strategies and environmental stewardship, please visit https://chestnutcarbon.com/.
UNIONDALE, N.Y., Sept. 15, 2025 — The Lustgarten Foundation, the nation’s largest private funder of pancreatic cancer research, today announced a landmark year of funding, awarding ten new grants to researchers at eight leading institutions. These new grants, totaling $13.85 million, support Lustgarten’s unique patient-centered mission which drives outcomes across three research pillars—early detection and interception, new drug development, and personalized medicine. With the addition of these new grants, the Lustgarten Foundation supports 51 active grants across 29 institutions. The Foundation concentrates on translating its understanding of the underlying biology of pancreatic cancer into clinical applications to change, extend, and ultimately save patients’ lives.
“Despite devastating federal cuts to cancer research, the Lustgarten Foundation remains the driving force behind pancreatic cancer science,” said Linda Tantawi, CEO of the Lustgarten Foundation. “We are advancing critical research with urgency and purpose—because patients don’t have the luxury of time. Through significant financial investment and thought leadership, we are empowering researchers and propelling science forward, toward a future where people with pancreatic cancer have more treatment options, better outcomes, and more precious time with their loved ones. There has never been a more hopeful time in pancreatic cancer research—and we are determined to turn that hope into real breakthroughs.”
Of the $13.85 million in new awards:
14% supports early detection and interception efforts, aiming to develop and deliver tools enabling early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer; develop and optimize biomarkers enabling early detection in the general population; develop approaches for risk assessment and management of high-risk groups.
66% supports new drug development projects, aiming to accelerate the development of therapies; identify novel drug targets based on an understanding of the biology of pancreatic cancer initiation and progression; accelerate preclinical and clinical testing of novel drugs and combinations in pancreatic cancer.
20% supports personalized medicine studies, aiming to implement a personalized medicine program; better characterize and understand the heterogeneity of pancreatic cancer; develop tools to guide treatment decisions matching the right treatment to the right patient at the right time.
These ten new grant commitments bring the Lustgarten Foundation’s total support in fiscal year 2025 to nearly $20 million to fuel cutting-edge pancreatic cancer research.
Advancing the Lustgarten Foundation’s commitment to funding early detection projects, Marcia Canto, MD, Director of Clinical Research, Division of Gastroenterology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine was awarded a grant for her study “Artificial Intelligence-Augmented Early Detection and Prevention of Pancreatic Cancer.” Funding the development and delivery of tools to enable early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, including screening in the general population and approaches for risk assessment, management, and interception in high-risk groups will ultimately give patients and their families more help—and more hope—than ever before.
pancreatic cancer. These awards support career advancement and the development of promising talent in pancreatic cancer research, in honor of the lives and legacies of two iconic Americans lost to pancreatic cancer.
Dr. Robert F. Vizza Lustgarten Clinical Accelerator Initiative (CAI) grants awarded to Gregory Beatty, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine (Hematology-Oncology) at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine for his study “Combinatorial myeloid activation as immunotherapy for metastatic pancreatic cancer,” Dung Le, MD, Professor of Oncology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine for her study “NC410 and FOLFIRINOX in Combination with Anti-PD-1 with and without Anti-CTLA-4 for Treatment Naive Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer,” Kevin C. Soares, MD, Assistant Attending Surgeon of Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgery at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) for his study “A Pilot Study of Neoadjuvant mFOLFIRINOX and ELI-002 7P with or without Anti-PD-1 Checkpoint Blockade in Borderline and Resectable Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma,” and Briane Boone, MD, assistant professor in the Department of Surgical Oncology and an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Cell Biology at West Virginia University for his study “Targeting myeloperoxidase to enhance chemotherapy response in pancreatic adenocarcinoma.” The CAI speeds the translation of basic research into the clinic by supporting novel, science-driven clinical trials. With three new trials added this year, there are now 12 trials supported through this innovative program. All the data from CAI trials will also be integrated into Lustgarten’s United Clinical Information Database (LUCID), improving the data’s collective potential while making it accessible to the broader research community.
Innovation and Collaboration Program grants awarded to Ronald Parchem, PhD, Baylor College of Medicine For his study, “Mechanisms Driving Tumor Innervation in Pancreatic Cancer,” and Massimiliano Mazzone, PhD, Group Leader at the VIB-KU Leuven Center for Cancer Biology and Professor in the Department of Oncology at KU Leuven for his study “Unraveling the role of P2Y6+ macrophages in PDAC liver Metastasis.”
Lustgarten Equity, Accessibility, and Diversity (LEAD) Grant Program supports efforts to increase the participation of underrepresented groups in pancreatic cancer clinical trials. When clinical trials lack diversity, it can lead to inaccurate results, less effective—or even harmful—treatments for some populations, and a loss of trust in the medical system. It also hinders innovation and can cost billions in failed trials or limited market access. The supported projects are designed to identify and address barriers to participation and develop and implement specific tools to expand community outreach, patient education, and/or clinical recruitment staff.
The 2025 LEAD grant ($426,975) was awarded to Nina Steele, PhD, University of Cincinnati, and Howard Crawford, PhD, Henry Ford Pancreatic Cancer Center, for their project “Racial Disparities in Pancreatic Cancer.” This project will enable Drs. Steele and Crawford to develop tools that will allow researchers to better understand the complexity and heterogeneity of pancreatic cancer. Black African Americans are 20% more likely to develop pancreatic cancer and have worse survival outcomes compared to White patients, yet available research tools and databases typically do not include, or massively under-represent, Black African American patients. To advance the Lustgarten Foundation’s personalized medicine efforts, a grant was awarded to Howard Crawford, PhD, Scientific Director of the Henry Ford Pancreatic Cancer Center for his study “Mapping stromal evolution and immune suppression in the first racially diverse human pancreatic cancer spatial genome atlas.” Personalized (or precision) medicine is an important and evolving research area for pancreatic cancer, focusing on creating custom treatment strategies based on a patient’s unique genetic and tumor markers and mutations.
Through partnerships, the Lustgarten Foundation brings focus and strategy to pancreatic cancer research and maximizes our collective financial investment so we can fund the most high-risk, high-reward science. This year, leading cancer research experts convened for a workshop focused on Solving the Early Detection and Diagnosis of Recalcitrant Cancers. The event, jointly hosted by the Lustgarten Foundation, the Mark Foundation for Cancer Research, and the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), showcased how partnership drives progress in addressing critical gaps in cancer research, particularly in early detection—a frontier that holds promising life-saving potential. As a direct outcome of the workshop, a new request for applications (RFA) was released, with funding for selected grants expected in fiscal year 2026.
“By breaking down silos and driving collaboration and information sharing, we are creating a culture of innovation and dedication to scientific rigor that is critical to solving the complexities of pancreatic cancer,” said Andrew Rakeman, Vice President of Research at the Lustgarten Foundation. “At the Lustgarten Foundation, and collaborative and science-driven strategy is fueling discoveries and advancing breakthroughs faster than ever before.”
To date, the Lustgarten Foundation has funded more than $301 million in research grants and has been a driving force in every major advancement in pancreatic cancer research since its inception in 1998.
About Lustgarten Foundation The Lustgarten Foundation is the largest private funder of pancreatic cancer research in the world, funding preeminent pancreatic cancer researchers, driving the pursuit of bold and innovative science toward earlier detection and better treatments, and transforming pancreatic cancer into a curable disease. The Foundation funds research where creative risks yield high rewards to accelerate and expand life-saving treatment options. We believe time is everything to patients and their families, and that community is power. Lustgarten programs and events provide people affected by pancreatic cancer a voice and a place to create hope, together. For more information about the Lustgarten Foundation, visit lustgarten.organd follow us on Facebook,Instagram, Bluesky, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
In its first year, Dyna released its breakthrough DYNA-1 foundation model, achieved a 99+% success rate in 24-hour non-stop operation, and proved commercial viability through customer deployments.
Dyna will use the latest funding round to expand its team, accelerate delivery of production-ready general purpose robots powered by proprietary embodied AI foundation models, and scale deployments across industries.
REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Sept. 15, 2025 — Dyna Robotics today announced it has closed a $120 million Series A funding round, led by Robostrategy, CRV, and First Round Capital, with participation from Salesforce Ventures, NVentures (NVIDIA’s venture capital arm), the Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund, Samsung Next, and LG Technology Ventures. The new capital will be used to expand its world-class research and engineering team and accelerate the development of its next-generation foundation model as the company works to deliver high performance general-purpose robots in commercial environments.
DYNA Robotics’ robot
Dyna has made rapid progress since raising a $23.5 million seed round in March, including launching its DYNA-1 model, a breakthrough robotics foundation model that pushed the performance of robots to a 99+% success rate in 24 hours of non-stop operation. After just six months, Dyna’s robots were running sixteen hours a day at hotels, restaurants, laundromats, and gyms.
Dyna is the first to build a single-weight, general-purpose foundation model that can perform diverse daily tasks at commercial scale across varied environments. Its model has been deployed at multiple customer sites, supporting the model’s generalization commercial viability and continuing to learn and improve rapidly from on-the-job experience.
“A strong foundation model is key to scalable distribution,” said Lindon Gao, co-founder and CEO of Dyna Robotics. “Our models continuously improve with each customer deployment, generating high-quality data. We are observing true generalization as our robot enters new environments; it simply works out of the box, with no additional data.”
“Our first principle is to design robot foundation models that attain both generalization and performance,” said co-founder Jason Ma, a former DeepMind research scientist who has focused his career on developing foundation models for robotics. “Scalable real-world robot learning systems need to master and generalize many manipulation skills. To achieve the best performance on complex tasks, Dyna’s foundation models are developed to enable general world understanding while learning from the models’ own experience for rapid online learning.”
Dyna co-founders Lindon Gao and York Yang teamed up with Ma after seeing the potential to advance AI through real-world applications first-hand while building Caper AI, which combined software and hardware to bring AI-powered smart carts to retailers worldwide. Their product made rapid advancements as soon as it went into production, and the company exited in 2021 for $350 million.
By combining their experience creating practical, production-ready AI with deep research expertise and building a world-class team of researchers and operators, they are building embodied AI robots that are useful for businesses now, using that “on-the-job” experience to build toward physical AGI.
“Right now, three forces are colliding at once: AI breakthroughs are maturing, hardware is accelerating, and the demand for labor has never been higher. That convergence has created a once-in-a-generation opportunity,” said co-founder York Yang. “Dyna has made rapid progress over 12 months and we believe our ultimate goal, achieving physical AGI, is not far off.”
From the investors:
RoboStrategy
“Dyna’s team and mission bridges research excellence and real world commercial applications. The demand for robotic automation spans almost every industry, and we believe Dyna will be at the forefront in meeting it with their state of the art general-purpose robot foundation model. We’re thrilled to co-lead this Series A and support the team’s ambitious roadmap of driving mass adoption of general-purpose robots.”
— Andrew Kang, CEO, RoboStrategy
CRV
“Dyna Robotics is at the forefront of embodied AI, delivering foundation models that combine generalization and commercial-level performance. We invested in the company from day one and are excited to double down on leading Dyna’s Series A. Lindon, York, and Jason bring together the rare combination of proven entrepreneurial success, deep technical expertise, and the operational know-how to scale AI in the real world. We couldn’t be more excited to back the best team positioned to lead the physical AGI revolution.”
– Max Gazor, General Partner, CRV
First Round Capital
“At First Round, we back exceptional founders tackling massive problems, and Dyna Robotics checks every box. Their early results are remarkable. In just one year, Dyna has pushed the boundaries of embodied AI with unprecedented generalization and commercial-grade performance. We’re thrilled to lead their Seed and Series A to fuel Lindon, York, and Jason’s vision to power the future of the physical economy.”
– Bill Trenchard, Partner, First Round Capital
About Dyna Robotics
Dyna Robotics makes general-purpose robots powered by a proprietary embodied AI foundation model that generalizes and self-improves across varied environments with commercial-grade performance. Dyna’s robots have been deployed at customers across multiple industries. Dyna Robotics was founded by repeat founders Lindon Gao and York Yang, who sold Caper AI for $350 million, and former DeepMind research scientist Jason Ma. The company is backed by top investors, including CRV and First Round. Learn more at dyna.co.
With new funding, AtlasNova is scaling its mission to make every small business run like the world’s best enterprises.
CUPERTINO, Calif., Sept. 15, 2025 — AtlasNova announced the close of a $2.3M seed round, fueling its mission to transform how small businesses operate through intelligent automation.
Small businesses are the heartbeat of the local community, yet owners are often buried under endless operational tasks – marketing, data analysis, scheduling, and setting strategy – while trying to keep the doors open. AtlasNova changes that by giving them the same caliber of automation and decision-making power that the world’s top enterprises rely on.
“Most restaurant owners will tell you the food is the easy part, it’s everything else that keeps them up at night,” said Michael Wohlert, Co-Founder and COO. “Our mission is simple: take those burdens off their plate so they can focus on what they do best.”
Unlike generic AI tools, AtlasNova fuses advanced automation with real industry expertise and proven playbooks. Instead of simply presenting dashboards, the platform turns raw data into recommended actions and executes them, automatically optimizing schedules, streamlining operations, and generating on-brand marketing campaigns. The result: higher margins, more efficient operations, and more time for owners to focus on creating unforgettable experiences for their guests.
“Generic AI lacks the context and nuance required to truly improve a business,” said Xing Wen, Co-Founder and CEO. “AtlasNova gives small business owners access to world class expertise and workflows in a way thats accessible, actionable, and customized for them.”
With the close of its seed round, AtlasNova is accelerating platform development and expanding its customer base, starting with restaurants and scaling across the broader SMB market.
AtlasNova is not just another software tool. It is a new operating system for small business.
