Investment spurs creation of Brado AI, a dedicated technology entity focused on extending provider reach through conversational AI

ST. LOUIS, Jan. 9, 2026 — Brado, a healthcare engagement and technology company, today announced a strategic investment partnership with Santé Ventures, a leading healthcare and life sciences venture capital firm. The partnership will accelerate the growth and impact of Brado’s Conversational Engagement Platform (CEP), an AI-powered solution designed to extend the reach of providers and transform how patients navigate and engage with care.

As part of the investment, Brado has established Brado AI, a new, dedicated legal entity focused on advancing the company’s technology portfolio. This structural evolution enables direct capital investment into Brado’s rapidly growing technology solutions while maintaining Brado’s established market research and digital marketing operations within the original organization.

“This is more than a financial partnership – it’s a launchpad,” said Andy Parham, CEO of Brado and Brado AI. “By creating Brado AI and partnering with Santé Ventures, we can accelerate innovation, scale faster, and extend the trusted reach of providers across every stage of the patient journey. This investment allows us to accelerate and expand our roadmap, advancing mid-acuity triage and precision routing – capabilities that are critical to extending provider capacity and guiding patients to the right care at the right moment.”

Extending the Reach of Trusted Providers
Built on Brado’s nearly 30-year foundation of healthcare journey research, the CEP helps patients find clarity and connection in an increasingly fragmented healthcare landscape. Through natural, empathetic conversation, the platform answers questions, explains options, and guides patients to the right next step in care.

Each CEP implementation is custom configured to reflect a health system’s brand, services, safety protocols, and clinical standards of care, supported by rigorous content governance and privacy controls. Conversations are clinically aligned, brand-authentic, and designed to strengthen the patient–provider relationship.

Proven in Market, Ready to Scale
The platform’s first implementation – Catherine by Mercy Health (Bon Secours Mercy Health) – launched in 2023 to support dementia caregivers. Since then, Brado’s CEP has expanded to three additional regional health systems, helping thousands of patients navigate and engage with care more confidently and efficiently.

Powered by Santé Ventures
Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Santé Ventures manages more than $1 billion in capital and invests in early-stage healthcare technologies that redefine clinical care and delivery models.

“Brado’s Conversational Engagement Platform represents a new category of applied AI in healthcare,” said Doug French, Founding Managing Director at Santé Ventures. “It extends provider capacity, improves access, and helps patients take the next step with confidence – exactly the kind of innovation Santé exists to accelerate.”
Santé’s investment will fuel Brado AI’s product roadmap and expansion into additional service lines, including cardiology, oncology, maternal health, bariatrics, and behavioral health, while enabling the platform to evolve into a comprehensive enterprise navigation solution for health systems nationwide.

Driving Targeted Growth, Retention, and Efficiency
Health systems leveraging Brado’s CEP are achieving measurable improvements across growth, engagement, and operational efficiency by:

• Acquiring consumers earlier in their journey through proactive, guided engagement
• Guiding and preparing patients for more effective and efficient clinical encounters
• Optimizing capacity by automating outreach and reducing administrative burden

About Brado AI
Brado AI is a healthcare technology company focused on the development and deployment of applied artificial intelligence solutions for healthcare organizations. Its core offering, the Conversational Engagement Platform (CEP), helps providers engage, guide, and support patients across care journeys through trusted, AI-driven interactions. Brado AI partners with healthcare organizations to extend access, improve navigation, and strengthen connection to care. Learn more at www.brado.ai.

About Santé Ventures
Founded in 2006, Santé Ventures is a specialized healthcare and life sciences investment firm with roughly $1 billion in capital under management. The firm invests in early-stage companies developing innovative new medical technologies, biotechnologies, and digitally enabled healthcare services. Recent Santé successes include Laminar (Johnson & Johnson), Farapulse (Boston Scientific), Healthcare Highways – CerpassRx (Nomi Health), Claret Medical (Boston Scientific), TVA Medical (Becton Dickinson), Millipede Medical (Boston Scientific), Molecular Templates (MTEM), AbVitro (Bristol Myers Squibb), and Explorys (IBM Corp). Santé invests nationally and has offices in Austin, TX and Boston, MA. For more information, please visit www.sante.com.

Media Contact:
Kim Bowers, Chief Operating Officer, Brado AI
[email protected]
314.621.9499

Santé Ventures Press and Community Relations
[email protected]
512.721.1200

SOURCE Brado

Led by ICONIQ, the round brings Rain’s total funding to over $338M and values the company at $1.95B — up more than 17x in just 10 months

The new funding enables Rain to scale its global, compliant footprint, deepen platform capabilities, and invest in new products that redefine how payments work worldwide

NEW YORK, Jan. 9, 2026 — Rain, the enterprise-grade infrastructure for stablecoin-powered payments, today announced a $250 million Series C funding round led by ICONIQ, with participation from Sapphire Ventures, Dragonfly, Bessemer Venture Partners, Galaxy Ventures, FirstMark, Lightspeed, Norwest, and Endeavor Catalyst. The round values Rain at $1.95 billion, brings the company’s total funding to over $338 million, and comes just four months after its Series B and 10 months after its Series A.

Stablecoins have rapidly evolved from a speculative corner of crypto markets into one of the largest value-transfer rails in the world. The next phase of adoption is about making tokenized money the default way that businesses move funds and consumers get paid, save, and spend. Crossing that chasm requires infrastructure that lets enterprises shift to onchain payment rails while preserving the familiar experiences their users already trust. Rain’s technology is built to do exactly that.

“Stablecoins are quickly becoming the way money moves in the 21st century, but adoption by users worldwide requires cards and apps that just work,” said Farooq Malik, CEO & Co-founder of Rain. “In the last year, our active card base has increased 30x and our annualized payment volume has increased 38x, but we’re still in the early innings. This funding lets us bring that infrastructure to new markets and help additional enterprises go live and scale quickly everywhere.”

Rain’s end-to-end payments platform allows companies to work with a single partner to launch compliant stablecoin cards that work everywhere Visa is accepted, offer rewards, convert fiat into stablecoins, power secure wallets, and facilitate payouts. Today, Rain’s technology facilitates more than $3B in annualized transactions for over 200 partners, including Western Union, Nuvei, and KAST. Programs built on Rain can reach over 2.5 billion people and power everything from everyday consumer purchases like a morning coffee or airline tickets, to critical business expenses such as cloud services and digital advertising.

“We believe we’re witnessing a shift from legacy payment networks to programmable digital-asset infrastructure, and there is a brief window to help define the default platform enterprises will rely on,” said Kamran Zaki, Partner at ICONIQ. “In our view, Rain has a rare combination of full-stack technology, regulatory readiness, and real-world scale. Their focus on making tokenized money mainstream, rather than a niche financial experiment, may resonate and align with what large enterprises are looking for as they move from exploration to production.”

Rain will use the Series C capital to expand its presence in key licensed markets across North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa, so partners can seamlessly launch compliant solutions around the world. The funding will also enable Rain to deepen its full-stack stablecoin payments platform, including through strategic acquisitions, and to invest ahead of the curve in new products that make stablecoin-powered payments feel invisible to businesses and consumers.

Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz served as legal advisor to Rain on its Series C financing.

About Rain: Rain is the global stablecoin payments platform for enterprises, neobanks, platforms, and developers. Its technology allows partners to move, store, and use stablecoins instantly and compliantly through global payment cards, rewards, on/offramps, wallets, and cross-border rails. As a Visa Principal Member, Rain issues cards that work anywhere Visa is accepted, powering millions of purchases in over 150 countries. Built natively for stablecoins and trusted by more than 200 organizations worldwide, Rain delivers secure, scalable infrastructure that makes money move freely and instantly around the world. Learn more at https://www.rain.xyz/.

About ICONIQ: ICONIQ is a global investment firm catalyzing opportunity through extraordinary community. Our venture and growth investment platform partners with visionaries defining the future of their industries to achieve uncommon outcomes. Drawing on the insights and connectivity of our extraordinary community, we support our portfolio companies’ success at every inflection point, from inception to IPO and beyond. Our robust portfolio includes Adyen, Airbnb, Alibaba, Alteryx, Airtable, Anthropic, Automattic, BambooHR, Braze, Canva, Chime, Coupa, Databricks, Datadog, DeepL, ElevenLabs, Figma, Gitlab, Glean, Groww, Netskope, Procore, ServiceTitan, Sierra, Snowflake, Writer, Zoom and 1Password, among others. For more information visit https://www.iconiqcapital.com/growth.

Media Contact:
Lucas Piazza
Marketing Lead, Rain
[email protected] 

SOURCE Rain

The round was led by Friends & Family Capital, the venture capital firm co-founded by former Palantir CFO Colin Anderson and veteran investor John Fogelsong. Anderson and Fogelsong’s extensive finance experience and proven excellence as capital allocators positions them to accelerate Valinor’s expansion as the unique economic model for the defense market.

The Series A also saw continued participation from existing investors—General Catalyst, Founders Fund, and Red Cell Partners—deepening their commitment to the company and its business model. Additional new investors include Narya, XYZ Venture Capital, and Fifth Down Capital.

Founded in 2024, Valinor aims to solve critical, unaddressed problems across government. By centralizing infrastructure and go-to-market while decentralizing engineering, Valinor is able to deploy right-sized solutions fast, moving from demand signal to product development to mission-impact with unparalleled speed.

“It’s no longer enough to focus only on building the best, most innovative products. We need bold reinvention and diversity in the business models that deliver products to our warfighters and civil servants,” said Julie Bush, Co-Founder and CEO of Valinor Enterprises. 

Valinor has proven the efficacy of this hub-and-spoke model, publicly launching five Product Companies to market in under a year. All have delivered rapid value, securing government contracts and deploying to critical missions across the Department of War, the Intelligence Community, and civilian U.S. government agencies, in addition to commercial customers.

• Harbor, a mobile, modular medical system equipped for precision care, rapid response, and remote monitoring in austere environments.
• Reflex, a discreet smart optics system with advanced vision models onboard, embedding intelligence at the point-of-capture.
• Dispatch, a modular charging node purpose-built for unmanned systems, powering persistent, autonomous operations.
• Streamline, secure data ingestion software designed for disconnected environments and distributed teams.
• Condor, an attritable UAS engineered for air- and ground-launch, high-volume production, and contested environments built on a U.S. supply chain.

Valinor is actively building Product Companies in three new domains: military construction and infrastructure, munition lifecycle management, and maritime support systems. These offerings will begin rolling out publicly in early 2026, marking the first wave of an expanding portfolio of Product Companies.

“Having built Palantir as CFO and backed both Anduril and SpaceX as longtime investors, we know what it takes to deliver meaningful products to the loudest problems in defense and government. Yet, a new model is required to solve the longtail of quiet problems. We are proud to support Valinor as it applies the proven operational holding company model seen in software and biotech to the critical missions facing our defense and national security,” said Colin Anderson, Co-Founder of Friends & Family Capital.

“Taken individually, each of Valinor’s products has the power to categorically change outcomes for our warfighters and frontline operators,” said Paul Kwan, Co-Founder of Valinor Enterprises and Managing Director of General Catalyst’s Global Resilience team. “Taken together, we believe they represent a sea-change in how products are sourced, developed, and delivered for defense, national security, and broader public sector missions.”

About Valinor Enterprises
Founded in 2024 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., Valinor Enterprises builds and buys critical defense and government technology solutions for the modern battlespace. Led by Co-Founder and CEO Julie Bush, Valinor aims to solve the quiet, unaddressed problems that crack systems and stall missions. Structured as an operational holding company, Valinor is assembling an ecosystem of right-sized solutions to make America and her allies better, stronger, and more resilient.

About Friends & Family Capital
Friends & Family Capital invests in entrepreneurs that transform big markets. The firm’s founding partners helped scale Palantir in the private markets as its longtime CFO and jointly backed over 25 Unicorn startups. The trusted partner for Founders and CFOs as they scale their finance function, Friends & Family Capital invests in business models that produce long-term and defensible compounding growth and cash flow powered by world-class software. For more information, please see www.fafc.com.

SOURCE Valinor Enterprises

AI investment in healthcare exceeded $18B in 2025; Investments grew in healthtech and device sectors

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 8, 2026 — Artificial Intelligence (AI) dominated the healthcare investment landscape in 2025 as investments in AI healthcare companies represented 46% of total spending, according to the latest report from Silicon Valley Bank, a division of First Citizens Bank. While AI generated significant investment, the report found that overall investment in the healthcare sector was $46.8B in 2025, marking a 12% decrease since the previous year.

“Healthcare venture fundraising has entered a reset,” said Megan Scheffel, co-author of the report and Head of Life Science and Healthcare at Silicon Valley Bank, a division of First Citizens Bank. “First-time and emerging managers face longer fundraising cycles, while founders are seeing earlier capital go toward companies with clinical validation, revenue traction, or capital-efficient business models. Large, generalist VC firms with dedicated healthcare arms continue to raise, but overall fundraising indicates a more concentrated healthcare VC ecosystem.”

Key findings from the 2026 Healthcare Investments and Exits report¹ include:

AI Investment Soars

• With more than $18B invested so far, AI now makes up 46% of all healthcare investment.
• Investments in the healthtech (+5.3%) and device (+1.5%) sectors grew, while biopharma (-19%) and dx/tools (-33%) declined.
• Healthcare investment totaled $46.8B in 2025, compared to the $68.3B peak in 2021.

Venture Capital is Getting Back to Basics

• Total VC deal counts were down 7% in 2025, reflecting a more selective funding environment amid fundraising constraints in the healthcare ecosystem.
• Healthcare focused VCs raised $7B in new funds in 2025.
• This is down from the $41B peak in 2021.

The Mega Deal Has Been Redefined

• In 2025, there were more healthcare AI deals over $300M than in any other year, surpassing the sector’s overall peak investment year in 2021.
• $300M+ deals accounted for 40% of total healthcare AI spending in 2025. Deals of this size represented 29% of total healthcare AI deals in 2023 and 31% of total healthcare AI deals in 2024.
• The majority of these deals are going to AI startups given the significant capital requirements of generative and agentic AI solutions.

Learn More
To read the complete Healthcare Investments and Exits report, click here: Healthcare Investments and Exits | Silicon Valley Bank (svb.com).

To share its deep industry knowledge, Silicon Valley Bank develops various insights reports focused on sectors spanning the innovation economy. This is SVB’s first market report in 2026 after publishing 20 new market reports in 2025. For the complete library of SVB’s signature reports, please visit Market Research Industry Trends & Insights | Silicon Valley Bank (svb.com).

About Silicon Valley Bank
Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a division of First Citizens Bank, is the bank of some of the world’s most innovative companies and investors. SVB provides commercial banking to companies in the technology, life science and healthcare, private equity and venture capital industries. SVB operates in centers of innovation throughout the United States, serving the unique needs of its dynamic clients with deep sector expertise, insights and connections. SVB’s parent company, First Citizens BancShares, Inc. (NASDAQ: FCNCA ), is a top 20 U.S. financial institution with more than $200 billion in assets. First Citizens Bank, Member FDIC. Learn more at svb.com

¹ Refer to full report for data sources and timeframes

SOURCE Silicon Valley Bank

MINNEAPOLIS, Jan. 8, 2026 — Flywheel, the leading medical imaging data management and analysis platform, today announced key milestones achieved in 2025. The company also recently closed on an oversubscribed $25 million financing round, led by Novalis Lifesciences and 8VC.

Flywheel has evolved from its origin as a technology platform designed to support core lab research to an enterprise imaging management platform designed to support clinical trials, medical device development and AI innovation through at-scale data aggregation, curation and analysis. 

Over the past year, Flywheel expanded its core capabilities by launching video viewing and annotation tools, along with Flywheel Validated, a solution that streamlines 21 CFR Part 11 compliant workflows for clinical trials. Together, these capabilities are designed to enable earlier access to imaging data with provenance, reduced costs and improved quality — ultimately helping accelerate time to decision and time to market.

“Imaging data holds tremendous value and is increasingly viewed as a strategic asset. Unlocking this value requires more than just a foundational infrastructure to aggregate data. It involves integrated data management, curation, compliant workflows and AI capabilities, along with access to a connected healthcare ecosystem — all at scale.  Flywheel is well-positioned to uniquely transform how companies can maximize value from their imaging assets by better informing clinical trials, accelerating AI development and enabling research and clinical teams to move faster from discovery to decision,” said Hooman Hakami, Flywheel CEO and Board Chair.

2025 Company Highlights include:

• Customer base: 10 of the top 20 global pharmaceutical companies have selected Flywheel to advance digital transformation strategies and accelerate the development and use of imaging endpoints and AI-ready datasets. Flywheel also serves 10 of the top 20 academic medical centers (AMCs) and expanded its product capabilities to better serve medical device companies, research sponsors and their partner sites.
• Platform adoption: Flywheel achieved 43% year-over-year growth in new business, leading to a 40% increase in committed revenue. Annual recurring revenue (ARR) from pharmaceutical and medical device customers grew 106% versus the prior year. The company’s overall net revenue retention exceeded 110%, reflecting strong customer loyalty and expanding adoption across key markets.
• New products: During 2025, Flywheel launched its video viewing and annotation tool to enable management and analysis of video data alongside imaging data. In December, the company launched Flywheel Validated to help clinical trial stakeholders better access and analyze their clinical trial imaging data to facilitate faster decision-making and secondary data use within a 21 CFR Part 11 compliant environment.
• Capital investment: In December, the company raised $27.5 million in equity financing. This new capital will further accelerate product innovation and support the company’s continued growth, particularly in the area of image management for clinical trials and AI model development.

To learn more about the Flywheel platform or to request a demo, please visit www.flywheel.io.

About Flywheel
With our leading medical imaging platform, we serve the overall healthcare market. With our offerings, we drive innovation in three distinct customer segments: 1) Biopharmaceutical companies, 2) Medical Device manufacturers, and 3) Academic Medical Centers. Our solutions allow our customers to realize optimum value from their imaging data assets by streamlining imaging data management, automating research workflows and preparing data for AI development. The company is backed by investors including Novalis LifeSciences LLC, 8VC, NVIDIA, Microsoft, Novartis and Intuitive Surgical, among others. For more information on our mission and products, visit www.flywheel.io or follow us on LinkedIn.

SOURCE Flywheel

Second Vintage of Global Asset-Backed 
Private Credit Fund Series Exceeds Fundraising Target

NEW YORK, Jan. 8, 2026 — Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP (“Davidson Kempner”), a global investment management firm, today announced the final close of its Davidson Kempner Income Fund II (“DK Income Fund II” or the “Fund”), the Firm’s global asset-backed private credit fund series, bringing aggregate capital commitments to the strategy (including related separate accounts) to over $1.1 billion.  

With a flexible and opportunistic mandate, DK Income Fund II is an asset-based lending, closed-end private credit fund focused on building a stable, income-producing credit portfolio across a range of sectors and geographies. Targeting sectors underpinned by secular, long-term trends and favorable industry and collateral dynamics, the Fund invests across structured residential, corporate, specialty finance and hard asset-backed loans, with a strong emphasis on downside protection. The Fund builds upon the track record of its approximately $750 million first vintage, DK Income Fund I, which has invested approximately $1.4 billion as of September 30, 2025.

“We believe that DK Income Fund II fills a niche demand for diversified private credit exposure and enables us to take advantage of the diverse, global opportunity set in the current market environment,” said Tony Yoseloff, Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer at Davidson Kempner. “In our view, the Fund’s structure and flexible mandate allows us to be highly selective, pursuing opportunities that focus on a stable return profile combined with significant upside potential for our investors.”

Mr. Yoseloff continued, “This is a strong fundraising outcome for our global asset-backed private credit fund series.  We view the positive outcome as a testament to our global sourcing network, local market knowledge, flexible solutions and reputation as a trusted counterparty in the marketplace.”

DK Income Fund II is co-managed by Mr. Yoseloff, Patrick Dennis, Co-Deputy Managing Partner, and Chris Krishanthan, Partner and Head of European and Asian Corporates, who have worked together for over 15 years. They are supported by a global team of investment professionals with deep experience in structured products, corporates and real estate across the U.S., Europe and Asia.

“Building on the success of our first Income Fund, we are pleased to announce the final close of DK Income Fund II, which could not have been accomplished without leveraging the knowledge, experiences and resources of our global team,” said Mr. Dennis. “We are now committed to using our strong, extensive sourcing platform to identify compelling investment opportunities in our core areas of focus.”

“The successful close of this Fund underscores the growing demand for tailored credit solutions amongst differentiated borrowers,” said Mr. Krishanthan. “We believe we are well positioned within this current environment to support different borrower needs through thoughtful sourcing, credit underwriting and structuring.”

About Davidson Kempner Capital Management

Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP is a global investment management firm with over 40 years of experience and a focus on fundamental investing with a multi-strategy approach. Davidson Kempner has more than $37 billion in assets under management and around 500 employees across eight offices: New York, Philadelphia, London, Dublin, Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Mumbai and Abu Dhabi. Additional information is available at: www.davidsonkempner.com. 

Media Contact
[email protected]

SOURCE Davidson Kempner

Proven to Reduce Preterm Births, NICU Admissions, and Costs, Pomelo Now Covers Nearly 7% of U.S. Births and Is Expanding to Deliver Evidence-Based Care for Women and Children Across Every Stage of Life

NEW YORK, Jan. 8, 2026 — Today, Pomelo Care, the national leader in evidence-based healthcare for women and children, announced it has raised $92 million in Series C funding led by Stripes with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, PLUS Capital, Atomico, BoxGroup, and SV Angel. Valued at $1.7 billion, Pomelo enters its next chapter after proving that its virtual maternity care model measurably reduces preterm births, NICU admissions, and medical costs at scale. Now supporting nearly 7% of all U.S. births, the company is expanding beyond maternity to bring its proven model to women and children throughout their lives—closing gaps in access and quality, lowering costs, and setting a new national standard for women’s and children’s healthcare.

“Pomelo Care was founded to measurably improve maternal health in the United States,” said Marta Bralic Kerns, founder & CEO of Pomelo Care. “We’ve demonstrated that when care is proactive, evidence-based, and accountable, we improve outcomes and costs come down. Now, with this funding, we’re taking that proven model beyond maternity to build a system of care that supports women and children throughout their lives, delivering better results across the entire healthcare ecosystem—for patients, payers, providers, and employers alike.”

Founded in 2021, Pomelo Care has delivered women’s and children’s healthcare that improves outcomes and lowers costs nationwide. Partnering with leading health plans and employers and now covering more than 25 million lives, Pomelo delivers 24/7 virtual care through a multispecialty clinical team powered by data science to identify risks early, monitor continuously, and close critical gaps. As provider burnout intensifies and care deserts spread, Pomelo has filled the gaps with coordinated care for patients as a trusted peer to practices, delivering quality medical care in collaboration with in-person providers.

• Clinical Outcomes & Accountability: Pomelo sets a new standard for accountability by publishing and presenting peer-reviewed, claims-based outcomes at leading national scientific and medical conferences, demonstrating results at scale, including:
  • 6.8-day reduction in NICU length of stay (16.3 days for complex cases)
  • 37% reduction in preterm births
  • 46% reduction in emergency room utilization
  • 718% higher prenatal depression screening and follow-up rates
• ROI: Engagement with Pomelo is associated with significant reductions in total cost of care for mothers and infants, resulting in a 3-5x ROI for customers. Reductions in preterm births, emergency visits, and NICU stays, three of the most expensive drivers of medical spend, demonstrate Pomelo’s ability to deliver durable savings at scale.
• Technology: The foundation of Pomelo’s model is its intelligent care platform, which embeds evidence-based care pathways and predictive analytics directly into clinician workflows to surface risks early and update them dynamically as care journeys unfold. This technology enables Pomelo to provide truly proactive care: identifying emerging issues before they escalate and ensuring patients receive timely, personalized care. The platform serves as a clinician co-pilot, providing patient insights, evidence-based playbooks, and recommended clinical actions within minutes, not days. For patients, the platform powers a seamless, supportive experience with 24/7 multimodal (phone, text, call, video, app) access to their multispecialty team of licensed clinicians, including nurses, dietitians, therapists, doulas, and providers who can diagnose, treat, and manage their care.

With this funding, Pomelo will continue to rapidly expand its proven maternity care model through partnerships with health plans and employers nationwide, while applying the same critical rigor, accountability, and accessibility to transform women’s and children’s health. From reproductive care, pregnancy, pediatrics, and hormonal health through perimenopause and menopause, to long-term preventive care and condition management, Pomelo is meaningfully empowering its patients while improving outcomes and reducing costs.

Pomelo recently launched a new program focused on midlife care, addressing the hormonal, metabolic, and mental health challenges women experience through perimenopause and menopause. The program provides comprehensive, evidence-based care to help women manage symptoms and improve overall well-being through preventive measures and chronic disease management. Results already show an 88% reduction in symptoms (Menopause Rating Scale) in 60 days, and 73% of patients reporting an increase in productivity after joining the program.

By continuing to innovate within maternity while extending the company’s evidence-based model to new stages of life, Pomelo is redefining the importance of clinical excellence at scale and setting a new national standard for women’s and children’s healthcare.

“We are thrilled to double down on our partnership with Pomelo and are proud to support Marta and the entire Pomelo team on their mission to build a category-leading business in women’s and children’s healthcare,” said Ron Shah, Partner at Stripes. “Pomelo has reached national scale at an unprecedented rate — now serving 25 million covered lives through Commercial and Medicaid health plan partnerships across the United States. The power of Pomelo’s amazing product is clear: exceptional patient satisfaction and strong clinical results showing meaningful reductions in pregnancy-related complications. We believe Pomelo’s intelligent care platform will power continued rapid growth and product expansion, meeting rising demand from patients and payers with a modern clinical experience and best-in-class operating metrics.”

About Pomelo Care

Pomelo Care is the national leader in evidence-based healthcare for women and children. We deliver personalized, high-quality clinical interventions from reproductive care and pregnancy, infant care and pediatrics, to hormonal health through perimenopause and menopause, with long-term preventive care and condition management. Our model delivers 24/7 multispecialty care to address the medical, behavioral, and social factors that most significantly impact outcomes for women and children. We partner with payers, employers, and providers to expand access to quality healthcare across the system. Learn more at pomelocare.com.

Media Contact
Julie Halpin
[email protected]

SOURCE Pomelo Care

Phase 2 data demonstrated 17.5-month median overall survival in advanced, chemo-refractory patients with microsatellite stable colorectal cancer (MSS-CRC)

Company closed $22M financing to support randomized Phase 2b trial; IND cleared and study initiated; Interim results anticipated in late 2026; topline data expected in H2/2027

MODI’IN, Israel, Jan. 8, 2026 — KAHR Bio (KAHR or the Company), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing DSP107, a first-in-class, bispecific 4-1BB–targeted, next-generation T-cell engager, today announced topline results from its Phase 2a dose-expansion cohort in late-line metastatic microsatellite stable colorectal cancer (MSS-CRC). DSP107 was evaluated in combination with atezolizumab (Tecentriq^®), an anti–PD-L1 therapy. The combination demonstrated favorable safety, clinical evidence of antitumor activity, and extended survival, including in patients with liver metastases.

KAHR also announced the closing of a $22 million round in equity financing. The equity investment was led by Flerie AB, Peregrine Ventures, Oriella Ltd. of the Consensus Business Group, aMoon Growth Fund, and the Cancer Focus Fund, with participation from certain additional existing investors and new investors including SPRIM Global Investments. The proceeds are expected to fully fund KAHR’s randomized, controlled Phase 2b trial of DSP107 in combination with atezolizumab versus fruquintinib (Fruzaqla^®) in fourth-line metastatic MSS-CRC. The trial was initiated in December 2025 following the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) investigational new drug (IND) clearance. In addition to the equity financing, KAHR has entered into a $10 million on-demand debt facility with SPRIM Global Investments, which the Company can draw down based on eligible research and development (R&D) activity under the Australian Government’s R&D tax rebate scheme. Additional equity commitments are under discussion as the Company continues to attract new investor interest.

The topline Phase 2a (NCT04440735) data demonstrated a median overall survival of 17.5 months, exceeding outcomes reported for currently approved therapies in this setting (6.4–10.8 months). Notably, approximately 75% of enrolled patients had liver metastases, a population historically refractory to immunotherapy. Across more than 130 patients treated with DSP107 to date in a variety of solid tumors and hematological malignancies, the therapy continues to demonstrate a favorable safety and tolerability profile.

Based on these encouraging results, KAHR has initiated a randomized, controlled, multicenter Phase 2b clinical trial in fourth-line metastatic, chemo-refractory MSS-CRC. The trial is expected to enroll at 18 sites across Australia and the United States, with the first patient having been enrolled in December 2025. Interim results are expected in late 2026, with topline data anticipated in the second half of 2027. Additional information about the study is available at clinicaltrials.gov (NCT07235293).

Anwaar Saeed, M.D., Chief of GI Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh and Co-Leader of the Cancer Therapeutics Program at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, who co-led the Phase 2a trial said, “Observing efficacy with an immunotherapy approach in late line MSS-CRC patients with liver metastases is unexpected. DSP107’s mechanism is particularly suited to this setting as it utilizes CD47 overexpression on cancer cells to anchor a 4-1BB ligand to those cells, thereby attracting and activating T cells. CD47 expression increases in liver metastases following chemotherapy, creating a therapeutic window uniquely addressable by DSP107.”

“Following these compelling topline results demonstrating anti-tumor activity and meaningful survival outcomes in heavily pretreated MSS-CRC patients, including those with liver metastases, we have made MSS-CRC our primary development focus and look forward to advancing the Phase 2b trial,” said Yaron Pereg, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of KAHR.

Dr. Pereg added, “We highly appreciate the continued support from our existing and new investors. Their commitment reflects confidence in the clinical potential of DSP107 and the opportunity to meaningfully improve outcomes in MSS-CRC, a disease with a significant unmet medical need, and in our team’s ability to execute as we move toward our next milestones.”

About DSP107 
DSP107, KAHR Bio’s lead drug candidate, is a first-in-class, bispecific CD47×4-1BB targeting, next-generation T-cell engager. DSP107 utilizes tumor-expressed CD47 as an anchor, selectively binding CD47 on cancer cells while sparing red blood cells, thereby overcoming the safety challenges previously seen with other CD47-directed agents. Once bound, DSP107 converts the tumor’s immune-evasion signal into a potent 4-1BB co-stimulatory activation signal, recruiting and activating CD8 cytotoxic T cells and orchestrating engagement of both the innate and adaptive immune systems to generate a coordinated anti-tumor response. This approach is particularly relevant in colorectal cancer, where more than 70% of metastatic patients develop liver metastases that commonly upregulate CD47 following earlier-line chemotherapy. Unlike prior immunotherapy approaches in MSS-CRC, which have demonstrated limited benefit due to poor immune cell infiltration and low immunogenicity, DSP107 is designed to leverage tumor CD47 overexpression to enhance immune engagement within the tumor microenvironment, transforming it from immunosuppressive to immune-responsive and enabling productive anti-tumor immunity.

About Microsatellite Stable Metastatic Colorectal Cancer
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common cancers worldwide and a leading cause of cancer mortality. Globally, CRC ranks among the top three most frequently diagnosed cancers, with approximately 1.9 million new cases and nearly 900,000 deaths annually, making it the second leading cause of cancer-related death and the third most common cancer overall. Among metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) cases, approximately 85–90 % are microsatellite stable (MSS). MSS-CRC is characterized by low tumor mutational burden and limited inherent immune activation, and as a result, tumors are typically unresponsive to current immunotherapies, including immune checkpoint inhibitors. Standard treatment for MSS-CRC continues to rely on cytotoxic chemotherapy, targeted agents, and VEGF inhibition. Despite advances in systemic therapy, there remains a significant unmet medical need for more effective treatment options, and ongoing research is focused on novel approaches, including immune-based and mechanism-driven combination strategies, to improve outcomes for patients with this challenging disease.

About KAHR Bio
KAHR Bio develops dual-targeting fusion protein therapeutics designed to activate both the innate and adaptive immune systems while localizing activity within the tumor microenvironment. The Company’s multifunctional fusion proteins aim to drive coordinated and durable anticancer responses. For more information, visit us at https://kahrbio.com or contact us at [email protected] .

Media contact:
Tsipi Haitovsky
Global Media Liaison
KAHR Bio
+972-52-598-9892
[email protected]

SOURCE KAHR Medical

HONG KONG, Jan. 8, 2026 — Obita has completed its Pre-A financing round, bringing its total funding across two rounds to nearly US$30 million. The round was led by Monolith, with existing shareholders including Vision Plus Capital, Mirana Ventures and Legend Capital continuing to increase their investments. Proceeds will be used to accelerate business growth and further build Obita’s global, enterprise-grade payments infrastructure.

The company was founded by a team of seasoned industry professionals with deep experience in fintech, payments, and compliance.

SOURCE Obita