Leading authority in developmental-behavioral pediatrics serves as a pivotal guide to the Digital Health innovator to accelerate the adoption of objective, eye-tracking screening tools in primary care.

BOSTON, Jan. 6, 2026 — EyeContactDX, a pioneering Digital Health company transforming early autism spectrum disorder (ASD) detection, today announced the strategic engagement of Dr. Carol Weitzman as Senior Strategic Advisor. Dr. Weitzman, a globally recognized leader in Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics and a key figure in shaping ASD care guidelines, brings unparalleled expertise to EyeContactDX as the company scales its solution for the primary care market.

Dr. Weitzman’s role as a central clinical authority underscores EyeContactDX’s commitment to solving one of the most critical challenges in pediatric healthcare: the gap in early detection that results in diagnosis occurring too late. Her deep clinical insight serves as a compass for the company’s strategy, ensuring that technological innovation is grounded in the realities of pediatric care.

While the demand for ASD evaluations continues to rise, traditional screening methods in primary care often rely on subjective questionnaires, leading to delays in referrals and intervention. EyeContactDX bridges this gap with its proprietary AI-driven technology that uses non-invasive, operator-free eye-tracking to detect biomarkers associated with ASD. The solution is designed specifically for the primary care workflow, utilizing standard, affordable commercial tablets rather than expensive, specialized hardware. This cost-effective approach eliminates the need for complex setup or specialized personnel, offering pediatricians an objective, rapid, and accessible screening tool.

“We are at a pivotal moment where AI and Digital Health intersect with routine pediatric care,” said Aryeh Taub, PhD, CEO of EyeContactDX. “Dr. Weitzman’s profound understanding of the challenges faced by primary care providers, combined with her involvement in the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Society for Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, makes her the ideal strategic partner for our mission. Her mentorship represents a significant asset as we move from validation to implementation, ensuring our technology empowers pediatricians with objective data to support earlier risk assessment.”

Dr. Weitzman, widely respected for her work in reducing disparities in ASD diagnosis and care, sees the technology as a necessary evolution in the standard of care.

“Primary care providers are on the front lines of early childhood development, yet they often lack objective tools to support effective screening practices,” said Dr. Carol Weitzman. “EyeContactDX’s technology represents a significant leap forward in our ability to screen for ASD risk efficiently and objectively. I am honored to advise the team and help integrate this innovation into daily practice, ensuring that more children receive the timely attention and care pathways they deserve.”

This high-profile advisory appointment coincides with EyeContactDX’s accelerating growth and commercial expansion. The company is currently preparing for strategic deployments across key U.S. markets, focusing on empowering primary care networks with next-generation screening capabilities.

About EyeContactDX

EyeContactDX is a Digital Health company dedicated to revolutionizing the early identification of ASD. By leveraging advanced computer vision and AI, EyeContactDX provides primary care physicians with an objective, non-invasive screening tool that runs on standard commercial tablets. This accessible solution requires no specialized hardware or dedicated personnel, enabling scalable early detection. The company’s mission is to shorten the time to intervention and improve outcomes for children and families worldwide.

For more information, visit https://www.EyeContactDX.com/

Media Contact: Rebecca L. Uranovsky, MPT Clinical Operations Leader, EyeContactDX, [email protected], (713) 909-3881

SOURCE EyeContactDX

NEW YORK, Jan. 6, 2026 — Banner Ridge Partners, a $15.4 billion multi-strategy private equity investment firm, has completed fundraising for Banner Ridge Secondary Fund VI (“BRP VI”) at its hard cap with $4.2 billion of total commitments, including $200 million from Banner Ridge. BRP VI is the latest fund to be raised as part of the firm’s flagship secondary program and the fourth since the firm became an independent business in June 2019. The Fund was oversubscribed, receiving capital commitments from a wide range of institutional investors, including pension funds, insurance companies, endowments, and several prominent family offices.

Since the strategy’s inception in 2010 at its prior firm, the Partners at Banner Ridge have committed over $15 billion to over 200 discrete managers focused on opportunistic credit and special situations globally. Through primary, secondary, and co-investments with specialist private equity sponsors in its target market, Banner Ridge will focus on investing in a subset of the market characterized by both complexity and limited access to information.

Anthony Cusano, Co-Founder and Portfolio Manager, said, “The continued lack of liquidity in the private markets, paired with greater acceptance of secondaries as a portfolio management tool, is driving exceptional opportunities for us. We have continuously expanded our investment team to include a broad array of skills, which has led to increased deal flow and better access to information, allowing us to make more informed investment decisions. We are well positioned to take advantage of the opportunities that arise from being an opportunistic credit and special situations specialist.” C.J. Driessen, Co-Founder, added, “We have made several investments in the Fund and continue to make progress on a robust pipeline of opportunities that align squarely with our proven secondary investment strategy. We are grateful to have been entrusted by an exceptional group of investors and we look forward to continuing our long-term track record of outperformance on their behalf.”

Banner Ridge Partners: 

Banner Ridge Partners is a $15.4 billion alternative investment specialist that identifies best-in-class private equity managers in niche markets. The Firm manages discrete investment vehicles for primary, co-investment, and secondary investment strategies. Banner Ridge is led by a senior team with significant private markets experience. By targeting deep value opportunities, focusing on fragmented markets, and working through structural complexities, we believe we can exceed the investment goals of our clients. To learn more about Banner Ridge, please visit www.BannerRidge.com.

Media contact:
Anthony Cusano
Managing Partner
212.265.4240

SOURCE Banner Ridge Partners

Former Acorns founder joins board as the company prepares for 2026 launch

AUSTIN, Texas, Jan. 6, 2026 — Tesoro XP, a new rewards platform that enables retailers to fund in-game currency for gamers, announced it has raised $5.4 million in seed funding. The round was co-led by Treasury, a New York–based fintech fund, and TK MediaTech Ventures, a new venture firm focused on the next generation of media technologies. Jeff Cruttenden, Founding Partner at Treasury and co-founder of Acorns, has joined Tesoro’s Board of Directors, and TK’s Jim Ward is observing.

Tesoro opens access to premium in-game currency for the 220 million U.S. free-to-play gamers, many of whom have been unable to participate meaningfully in virtual economies. Today, just 15% of players generate more than 65% of App Store gaming revenue due to traditional pay-to-play currency models. Nearly every major game sells virtual currency, yet access is often limited, especially for young or lower-income players, creating both frustration and social pressure.

“Players often feel excluded in today’s top games when they can’t access the latest in-game items,” said Sami Khan, co-founder of Tesoro XP and ATLAS:EARTH. “Publishers want to monetize virtual currency, but they don’t necessarily care who pays for it. Retailers are already spending billions on marketing, and Tesoro connects those budgets to the gaming world in a way that’s performance-based, trackable, and a win for everyone.”

“For the first time since microtransactions in gaming were introduced, Tesoro is creating the next generational revenue model for free-to-play games. And for brands, we’re building a marketing platform that drives loyalty outside of closed-loop systems,” added Khan.

Tesoro gives game publishers a plug-and-play way to integrate real-world retail offers directly into their games. Players earn in-game currency through everyday purchases, and retailers only pay Tesoro when those purchases are verified, creating one of the first performance-driven marketing systems linking real-world spend to game engagement. While details are still confidential, Tesoro is currently in discussions with several major game studios and national retail brands as it prepares for launch.

“Gamers represent one of the most passionate, engaged consumer bases in the world,” said Jeff Cruttenden of Treasury. “Tesoro has built a model that aligns incentives for retailers, publishers, and players in a way we’ve never seen before. This is the rare kind of category-defining innovation we look for.”

“Tesoro is redefining how players, publishers, and retailers interact inside and outside the game,” said Jim Ward of TK MediaTech Ventures. “This model sits at the intersection of media, technology, and consumer behavior, exactly the kind of next-generation platform we’re excited to back.”

The new capital will accelerate Tesoro’s core product and partnership roadmap, including development of its developer SDK, expansion of the publisher portal, and growth of its merchant and publisher partner pipeline. Tesoro will also continue building its engineering and business development teams to support its planned Q1 2026 launch.

Tesoro XP was founded by Sami Khan, Tim Mahler, and Beau Button. Khan and Button previously co-founded Atlas Reality, Inc., the company behind ATLAS:EARTH, a mobile rewards gaming app that recently surpassed $100 million in lifetime revenue. Their experience building large-scale gaming and virtual economy infrastructure uniquely positions them to deliver Tesoro’s vision to publishers and retailers worldwide.

About Tesoro XP

Tesoro XP is the first rewards engine that allows retailers to fund in-game currency for free-to-play gamers. Through Tesoro, game publishers can integrate real-world offers directly into their experiences, creating new revenue channels, deeper player engagement, and performance-driven marketing opportunities. Tesoro XP is backed by The Treasury and TK MediaTech Ventures. Learn more or join the waitlist at www.tesoroxp.com.

SOURCE Tesoro XP

The Fund Will be Managed by Experienced Life Sciences Investor Nishant Rastogi

NEW YORK, Jan. 6, 2026 — Today, the Lupus Research Alliance, the world’s largest private funder of lupus research, announced the formation of a new philanthropic venture fund Lupus Ventures. The Fund is dedicated to advancing treatments and diagnostics for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), its manifestations, and related autoimmune conditions.

Lupus is a chronic, complex autoimmune disease that affects millions of people worldwide. Treatment development stagnated for years after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Benlysta^® in 2011. However, with the approvals of Saphnelo^® and Lupkynis^® in 2021, and Gazyva^® in October 2025, the tides are turning. Innovative treatments like engineered cell therapies are showing great promise, and there are over 140 lupus therapies in clinical trials today from more than 120 companies.

With that promise, philanthropic investment in higher-risk, early-stage companies is increasingly powerful. Lupus Ventures aims to bridge the gap between innovative science and commercial reality.

“The Lupus Research Alliance has spent years building a research engine that supports every part of the scientific process — from basic and translational research through clinical development,” Albert T. Roy, President & CEO of the Lupus Research Alliance, said. “Launching Lupus Ventures is the natural — and critical — next step. It allows us to strategically deploy resources and catalyze solutions for people living with lupus, ensuring promising ideas don’t sit on a shelf simply for lack of funding.”

Nishant Rastogi will serve as the Fund’s inaugural Managing Director. Mr. Rastogi is an accomplished life sciences investor with more than a decade of biotech venture capital and private equity experience. He has served as a Board Director and operating partner for multiple biotech and medtech companies throughout his career.

Before joining Lupus Ventures, Mr. Rastogi served as Vice President and Head of Transactions at New Rhein Healthcare Investors. He played an integral role in all aspects of the firm’s evolution and growth — including investment activities, portfolio management, team building, and operations. He was involved in New Rhein’s investments in Corsair (Director), Theranica, Alveus, American Injectables, Butterfly Medical, Softhale (acquired), Neuraptive, and others. Earlier in his career, Mr. Rastogi was an investor at Broadview Ventures and an analyst at Fidelity Investments. He has advised several disease research foundations — including Beyond Celiac, 90/10 Institute, and Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy — on venture fund formation and the role of philanthropy and private investment in advancing new medicines and health equity. Mr. Rastogi earned his BA from Dartmouth College and his MBA from Northwestern University.

“I am grateful to the Lupus Research Alliance for the opportunity to build this platform,” Mr. Rastogi said. “As the world’s only investment fund dedicated to SLE, we are uniquely positioned to support companies developing potential therapies in this area to benefit people living with lupus globally. The combination of recent scientific advancements and investor and industry interest makes this a perfect time to launch the Fund.” 

All companies — regardless of modality or stage of development — are being considered for investment. In addition to capital, the companies will also receive counsel and guidance, leveraging the Lupus Research Alliance’s depth of knowledge gained through its industry leadership. To date, the Lupus Research Alliance has awarded more than $284 million across 650+ research grants, and clinical affiliate Lupus Therapeutics is involved in 25-30% of active clinical trials.

The Fund will be overseen by the Investment Committee that includes Mr. Rastogi, Mr. Roy and Ira Akselrad, President and CEO of The Johnson Company, Inc. and Chair of the Lupus Research Alliance Board of Directors. Teodora Staeva, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer of the Lupus Research Alliance, will serve on its Scientific Advisory Board. The Fund plans to recruit additional experts to the Investment Committee, Scientific Advisory Board, and investment team in 2026.

To learn more about Lupus Ventures, visit www.lupusventures.org.

About Lupus
Lupus is a chronic, complex autoimmune disease that affects millions of people worldwide. In lupus, the immune system, meant to defend against infections, produces autoantibodies that mistake the body’s own cells as foreign, causing other immune cells to attack organs such as the kidneys, brain, heart, lungs, and skin, as well as blood and joints. Ninety percent of people with lupus are women, most often diagnosed between the ages of 15-45. Black, Latinx, Indigenous, Asian and Pacific Islander people are disproportionately affected by lupus.

About Lupus Ventures
Lupus Ventures (dba “The Lupus Venture Fund”) is the venture investment fund of the Lupus Research Alliance. The Fund is dedicated to advancing treatment and diagnostic options for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), its manifestations, and related autoimmune conditions. The Fund defines success as improving the standard of care and delivering meaningful value to the millions of people living with lupus worldwide.

Visit www.lupusventures.org for more information.

About the Lupus Research Alliance
The Lupus Research Alliance is the largest non-governmental, non-profit funder of lupus research worldwide. The organization aims to transform treatment by funding the most innovative lupus research, fostering scientific talent, and driving discovery toward better diagnostics, improved treatments and, ultimately, a cure for lupus. Because the Lupus Research Alliance’s Board of Directors funds all administrative and fundraising costs, 100% of all donations goes to support lupus research programs.

For more information or to donate to lupus research, visit the LRA at LupusResearch.org and on social media at: X, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

SOURCE Lupus Research Alliance

Kitun is a serial entrepreneur, operator, and investor with a track record of building and scaling innovative companies across media, technology, and private markets.

CHICAGO, Jan. 6, 2026 — GigaStar, a startup bringing YouTube Creators and Investors together, announced that serial media company entrepreneur Scott Kitun has joined the team as Chief Business Officer. He will lead the strategic growth of GigaStar’s primary market and support the company’s secondary market launch, planned for March 16, 2026*.

Kitun co-founded Songfinch, a music-Creator platform that ranked as the #1 U.S. consumer tech company on the Inc. 5000 list in 2023, as it surpassed $100M in lifetime sales and paid ~$50M to artists, and raised capital from titans of music and venture capital, including the late Quincy Jones, The Weeknd, Doja Cat, Goodwater Capital, Corazon, and Valor Equity.

“GigaStar is a unique opportunity for me, and its mission to expand capital access for Creators aligns with the work I’ve done throughout my career,” said Kitun. “Many on the team have built companies together under CEO Hazem Dawani, whom I respect—and I’m excited to join and push the company forward.”

Before Songfinch, Kitun built and exited multiple media companies, including Technori. He is also an investor in 15 startups, including several unicorns, and has been an investor and advisor to Republic and Kingscrowd, where he helped bring the Hamilton Lane Private Infrastructure Fund to market.

He also created and hosted the first live radio show to enable audience members to invest directly in startups via Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg CF) and Regulation A+ (Reg A+) offerings, resulting in over $50 million invested across 100+ companies.

Kitun’s proven track record will help GigaStar expand Creator access to capital while opening up Creator Economy opportunities for investors through a full investor ecosystem.

*Securities purchased in GigaStar Market must be held for 12 months before trading in the secondary market. There is no guarantee of an active or liquid secondary market. Investments are subject to market risk and value fluctuation. 

About GigaStar 
GigaStar fuels human creativity by bringing Creators and Investors together. GigaStar provides Creators with an intuitive platform to raise capital from thousands of Investors who share in the channel’s potential future YouTube revenue while supporting a Creator’s journey. Learn more at gigastar.io.

Creator Networks, Inc. (dba GigaStar) is the Parent Company of GigaStar Portal, LLC (dba GigaStar Market). GigaStar Market is an SEC-registered funding portal and a member of FINRA offering securities under Reg CF. Investment offerings are speculative, illiquid, and involve risks, including risk of loss.

SOURCE GigaStar

PALO ALTO, Calif., Jan. 5, 2026 — Array Labs today announced a $20M Series A financing led by Catapult Ventures, with participation from Washington Harbour Partners, Kompas VC, and other new and existing investors, including Y Combinator, Maiora Capital, Animal Capital, Aera VC, Cultivation Capital, and Clearance Ventures. The round brings Array’s total funding to $35M since going through Y Combinator. The company previously raised a $5M seed in 2022 after completing YC, followed by a $10M round in 2024.

Array has built what it believes is the first radar architecture capable of being mass-manufactured using techniques borrowed from consumer electronics and telecommunications — an approach that has allowed the company to collapse traditional cost structures while dramatically increasing performance.

“The radar satellite industry today looks like space launch before SpaceX: dominated by legacy defense contractors building bespoke, expensive systems one at a time,” said Andrew Peterson, cofounder and CEO of Array Labs. “We’ve assembled a team from the most innovative technology companies in Silicon Valley to do something different: build radar that can be produced at scale, at commercial price points, without sacrificing capability.”

In 2025, Array Labs doubled the size of its team, completed the design of its satellite bus, formed two new product lines, and grew commercial bookings to nine digits in contracted revenue. The company has also been selected for roughly half a dozen government awards over the last 24 months, across the U.S. armed services, intelligence community, and key combatant commands.

Business evolution: From “sell you an image” to “sell you a radar”

Array started with an ambitious goal: to launch clusters of small satellites that cooperatively image to create a real-time 3D map of Earth. As it matured its core technology, Array realized that the radar instruments it had built were extremely attractive to customers on their own.

The company formally reoriented to meet that demand, evolving from a vertically integrated remote-sensing data provider into a radar-first platform business. Consequently, Array now operates three business lines:

• Radar payloads: Standalone instruments for satellite bus providers and defense primes seeking very high-power, low-cost radar systems that can be mass-produced and integrated with any satellite bus.
• Sovereign satellite systems: Fully integrated spacecraft and dedicated clusters for customers who want to own and operate their own assets for wide-area, high-resolution ISR, and identification of targets on land, at sea, in the air, or in space.
• Data products: 3D imagery and analytics from Array’s owned and operated satellite constellation, delivered to commercial and civil customers.

Each business line builds on Array’s core breakthrough: a family of radar instruments that deliver up to 100x the power of legacy systems at ~1% of the cost, packaged in form factors compatible with standard smallsats, scaled buses, and the larger platforms being designed for super-heavy launch vehicles like Starship and New Glenn.

Traction Across the Value Chain

Over the last two years, Array has been selected for several competitive U.S. government awards across the Air Force, Space Force, Navy, Army, U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM), and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to advance the state of the art across high-power antenna architectures, high-bandwidth communications links, 3D reconstruction algorithms, and more.

On the commercial side, Array has signed multi-year capacity agreements for its first radar cluster with global leaders in mining, infrastructure, and embodied AI. These customers will use Array’s 3D data and downstream analytics to monitor high-value industrial sites, plan and protect critical infrastructure, and feed better ground-truth information into autonomous systems. These are long-term workloads that want persistent, reliable capacity, rather than one-off imagery.

Meanwhile, demand for turnkey radar payloads is rapidly accelerating. The company will have an update to share in the coming months on payload sales, production scale-up, and growth plans.

Why radar, why now  

Array has focused on perfecting the fusion of consumer electronics, communications technology, and advanced signal processing into radar systems that cost 10x less than traditional alternatives, while being capable of delivering 100x as much power. The company has built radar that is powerful enough for global detection and tracking missions like Golden Dome, packaged in a way that partners can quickly integrate and field new capabilities. These systems are further improved by Array’s advanced AI-driven software, which transforms raw radar readings into actionable 3D intelligence rather than folders of static imagery.

With this Series A financing, Array will scale its engineering, product, and go-to-market teams; expand production capacity and meet growing demand for its radar panels; complete flight qualification; and ultimately, launch the world’s first formation-flying radar satellite cluster.

About Array Labs

Array Labs is building the next generation of space-based radar systems. Based in Silicon Valley and backed by Y Combinator, Catapult Ventures, and Washington Harbour Partners, the company is preparing to launch the world’s first formation-flying radar constellation. For more information, visit www.arraylabs.io.

Media contact:
Ryan Duffy, Head of BD
[email protected] 

SOURCE Array Labs, Inc.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif., Jan. 5, 2026 — Cambium, a pioneer in advanced materials for defense, aerospace, and other high-performance sectors, announced a $100 million Series B financing led by 8VC, with participation from MVP Ventures, Lockheed Martin Ventures, GSBackers, Veteran Ventures Capital, J17 Ventures, Vanderbilt University, Alumni Ventures, Gaingels, Inevitable Ventures, JACS Capital, Jackson Moses, and other individuals and family offices.

This funding will accelerate both Cambium’s product pipeline and materials manufacturing in the U.S. and Europe, supporting customers across aerospace, defense, energy, marine, motorsport, and other high-performance sectors.

Cambium is transforming how advanced materials are discovered and how they’re scaled.
Cambium fuses AI, chemical informatics, and high-performance computing to design entirely new monomers and polymers—hundreds of times faster than traditional methods. These materials are then manufactured, tested, and scaled in-house on proprietary and aerospace qualified assets to massively speed development feedback loops.

With its recent acquisition of SHD, Cambium has one of the largest aerospace and industrial qualified prepreg, film and adhesives material production capacities in the world with sites in the U.S., the U.K., and Europe supported by resilient supply chains in each location. Cambium offers its customers: (a) rapid turnaround of prototype and small-batch runs—measured in days, not months—and (b) the ability to scale instantly across identical manufacturing sites in multiple locations for true supply-chain security.

Cambium’s development platform delivers multiple material verticals, from advanced composites to optical protection systems. Cambium’s recent commercial launches include ultra-high-temperature polymers and carbon-carbon Thermal Protection Systems for defense, aerospace, energy, and other advanced applications. For example, ApexShield 1000™ dramatically increases the speed of carbon-carbon part fabrication—for uses ranging from solid rocket motors (SRMs) to hypersonic glide bodies. Other products in late-stage testing include machining-ready composite billets for SRMs and metal-to-composite adhesives for air and space vehicle structures designed to excel in both routine and extreme conditions. Behind this is a pipeline of additional products, from optical and directed energy protection to high-temperature foams, each building off a common platform of polymer innovation and standard manufacturing processes.

With contracts underway with defense partners across key Programs of Record — each with dual-use applications — Cambium is rapidly emerging as the go-to advanced-materials partner for innovators across land, sea, air, and space.

“Our Series B round is a huge validation of Cambium’s model for reindustrializing critical materials manufacturing for our defense and industrial bases,” said Simon Waddington, Cambium’s Co-founder and CEO. “With this capital, we’re scaling a distributed, secure manufacturing network across the U.S., the U.K., and Europe—creating a Western advanced-materials platform designed for the speed, scale, and resilience our partners demand.”

According to Joe Lonsdale, Managing Partner, 8VC, “Frontier technologies require frontier materials. Cambium was built in the USA to design and manufacture advanced materials for the future. Their array of product lines is powering many top aerospace and defense innovators and driving fast, profitable growth. We’re privileged to renew our support for this critically important company.”

About Cambium
Cambium is redefining how advanced materials are discovered, designed, and manufactured. The company develops next-generation advanced materials for defense dual-use applications that enhance performance and survivability across land, air, sea, and space. Cambium’s proprietary materials platform molecularly re-engineers polymers from first principles, combining AI-driven molecular design with state-of-the-art chemistry, materials science, and biology. The result is exceptional performance, manufacturability, and speed from concept to production. Manufacturing is carried out through a secure, flexible, and scalable domestic supply chain, enabling defense and commercial innovators to move from prototype to full-scale production in record time. Please visit cambium-usa.com.

For more information, contact Stephan Herrera, Co-founder, Chief Marketing Officer & Head of Government Affairs at [email protected].

SOURCE Cambium Biomaterials, Inc

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Jan. 5, 2026 — Azimuth AI, a fast-growing semiconductor company with offices in Sacramento, California, and Hyderabad, India, is building custom edge-AI System-on-Chips (SoCs) for smart utilities, energy, and industrial infrastructure. Today, the company announced the successful close of a new funding round led by Jetha Global, with participation from existing venture capital partners Moneta Ventures, AUM Ventures, and additional new investors.

The raise marks a strong start to 2026 for Azimuth AI and underscores growing investor confidence in the company’s differentiated technology platform, disciplined execution, and long-term product roadmap.

“As we enter 2026, Azimuth AI is moving into a new phase defined by production deployments and scale,” said Praveen Yasarapu, Founder and CEO of Azimuth AI. “The progress of our first product, ARKA-GKT1, positions us to expand beyond pilots and into sustained, large-scale adoption across smart utilities and industrial infrastructure.”

Strong Momentum and Investor Confidence

The funding was completed over the past several days, bringing together new investors alongside existing venture capital partners. The round reflects continued conviction in Azimuth AI’s vision, its Software-Defined Silicon strategy, and the depth of its leadership and engineering teams.

“We see a new wave of India–U.S.-based semiconductor companies emerging with global-class technology and execution,” said Karan Danthi, Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Jetha Global. “Azimuth AI stands out for the pedigree of its team, including leadership experience from companies such as Intel and a proven track record of more than 30 successful SoC tape-outs and high-volume production ramps. That depth of technical experience, combined with strong execution discipline, positions the company well to build globally competitive silicon.”

National Recognition for India’s First Smart-Utility Silicon

Azimuth AI’s momentum follows a landmark industry milestone on November 17, 2025, when the company’s flagship ARKA-GKT1 chip was officially launched in New Delhi by Ashwini Vaishnaw, Honorable Union Minister of Electronics & IT, Railways, and Communications, Government of India.

The event marked the unveiling of India’s first smart-utility-focused, next-generation IP-powered silicon—reinforcing Azimuth AI’s role in advancing India’s semiconductor self-reliance and global competitiveness.

ARKA-GKT1 Silicon Advancing Toward Production

Following the launch, ARKA-GKT1 continues to make strong progress. The silicon is currently advancing through full qualification and customer testing and remains on track for ramp to production volumes later in 2026.

Built on Azimuth AI’s Software-Defined Silicon architecture, the platform enables high levels of integration, flexibility, and energy efficiency tailored for smart infrastructure and edge-intelligent systems—delivering up to 10× performance improvement over existing general-purpose integrated chips, with enhanced security and higher reliability.

Reaching this stage represents a major technical and operational milestone, validating Azimuth AI’s custom-silicon approach and its ability to execute from architecture and design through manufacturing and deployment.

Building Silicon That Matters

Azimuth AI is focused on delivering highly integrated, energy-efficient SoCs that reduce system cost, improve performance, and enable intelligent decision-making at the edge—particularly in smart infrastructure and industrial IoT.

“What we are building together truly matters—world-class silicon, real customer impact, and a company that will meaningfully improve the future of energy-efficient infrastructure,” said Sridevi Badiga, Co-founder of Azimuth AI. “None of this happens without the passion, commitment, and belief of our team, partners, and investors.”

With fresh capital, national-level validation, a proven silicon platform, and growing customer traction, Azimuth AI enters 2026 positioned for a defining year of scale, production, and global market expansion.

About Jetha Global

Jetha Global is a technology-focused investment firm investing across public and private markets, with a strong emphasis on semiconductors, AI infrastructure, and deep-technology platforms. The firm partners with founder-led companies at critical inflection points, supporting the transition from product development to production-scale deployment and global adoption.

SOURCE Azimuth AI Inc.

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 3, 2026 — Hanyang University (with Dean Lee Ki-jung) announced that it will participate in CES 2026 (Consumer Electronics Show 2026), the world’s largest ICT and innovation technology exhibition, to be held this January in Las Vegas, USA, where it will present its university-led technology commercialization achievements based on faculty- and laboratory-founded startups to a global audience.

CES is one of the world’s premier technology and industry exhibitions, bringing together leading global companies, investors, buyers, and research institutions. The event offers a comprehensive view of the present and future of cutting-edge technologies on a single global platform.

At CES 2026, Hanyang University will jointly participate through its Seoul Campus and ERICA Campus Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundations, showcasing a total of 12 technologies developed by university research labs and startup companies. The exhibited technologies focus on research areas in which Hanyang University holds strong expertise, including Artificial Intelligence (AI), Bio and Healthcare, Advanced Materials, and Digital Healthcare, highlighting the university’s integrated capabilities in research, entrepreneurship, and technology commercialization.

In particular, “TeraFixell,” co-developed by Professor Noh Young-Tae’s research team from Hanyang University’s Department of Data Science and EUTO Co., Ltd., a company specializing in terracotta architectural materials, was selected as a CES 2026 Innovation Award honoree in the Construction & Industrial Tech category. The CES Innovation Awards are highly prestigious recognitions granted to technologies that demonstrate outstanding innovation, technical excellence, and market potential among global participants. This achievement is especially significant as it represents international recognition of the global competitiveness and commercialization success of Hanyang University’s research-based technologies.

Through its CES 2026 participation, Hanyang University aims to go beyond simply introducing technologies, and instead showcasing the full pathway by which research evolves into startups, commercialization, and global market entry. The university plans to conduct live technology demonstrations and product exhibitions, as well as technology briefings and IR pitching sessions for global buyers and investors, alongside business meetings with overseas companies and institutions.

In addition, the Hanyang University Pavilion will host a Media Day during the exhibition period for domestic and international media outlets, where it will spotlight the university’s flagship technologies, including those that have received CES Innovation Awards.

During Media Day, presentations and live demonstrations will be conducted for the award-winning technologies as well as key research- and startup-driven innovations, with the aim of effectively communicating Hanyang University’s research achievements and technology commercialization capabilities to media audiences both in Korea and abroad.

Exhibition preparation and on-site operations will be systematically supported by the Hanyang University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation, which will lead comprehensive assistance spanning exhibition planning, on-site management, and global business matchmaking. Through this strategic support, the university seeks to ensure that faculty and researcher-led technologies translate into tangible international collaborations and follow-up commercialization opportunities.

Through its participation in CES 2026, Hanyang University aims to validate the global market readiness of its research while reinforcing its position as a leading university in technology commercialization. Building on its CES Innovation Award recognition, the university plans to expand its presence at international exhibitions and strengthen global collaboration programs, creating a sustainable innovation ecosystem that connects research, entrepreneurship, and global expansion.

SOURCE Hanyang University