Focused on automating labor-intensive tasks including truck unloading and palletizing
Strategic partnerships with industry titans like FANUC and Saddle Creek
Led by veterans with extensive expertise in Physical AI R&D and commercialization
SEOUL, South Korea, March 10, 2026 — NAVER D2SF, the corporate venture capital arm of NAVER, has invested in Anyware Robotics, a robotics startup solving real-world industrial challenges through advanced physical AI, starting from logistic scenarios. Anyware Robotics develops robots designed to autonomously perform demanding material handling operations — including truck unloading, pallet stacking, and package handling — with exceptional speed, safety, and adaptability.
Manual unloading in logistics centers is one of the most physically demanding and hazardous tasks, exacerbating persistent labor shortages. While automation demand is high, the variability of on-site logistics environments has made it difficult for robots to deliver tangible results. Anyware Robotics addresses this with robots trained on real-world data to optimize performance across complex logistics environments. Its systems combine robust mechanical design and intelligent software to enable a single robot to handle multiple use cases, offering scalability and cost efficiency to logistics operations.
The company has proven its technological efficacy through partnerships with global leaders such as FANUC and Saddle Creek Logistics, significantly improving operational safety and efficiency without necessitating modifications to existing infrastructure.
Founded in 2023, Anyware Robotics is led by a team of robotics industry veterans with deep research backgrounds in mechanical engineering and imitation learning, credited with a collective portfolio of over 100 academic publications. The founders also bring field-proven experience from top robotics companies including FANUC, Amazon Robotics, and GreyOrange.
NAVER D2SF plans to continue expanding its investments across all layers of physical AI — from perception and computation to control. The firm focuses on startups like Anyware Robotics that demonstrate the real value of physical AI by solving real-world challenges, helping them drive long-term competitiveness in their respective fields.
About NAVER D2SF
NAVER D2SF is NAVER’s in-house corporate venture arm, supporting sustainable growth by collaborating with startups. Founded in 1999, NAVER has maintained its position as Korea’s leading search engine for over 20 years and operates across commerce, content, fintech, and cloud services. Under the technological vision of D2 (For Developers, By Developers), NAVER is actively developing new technologies and global partnerships to grow as a leading tech company.
Backing from E8 Angels accelerates the deployment of AI-driven monitoring for a sector accounting for 37% of U.S. industrial fossil fuel use.
AUSTIN, Texas, March 10, 2026 — Imperium Technologies, creator of the InteliTrap® smart steam trap and SteamView® monitoring platform, announced it has surpassed $2 million raised. The funding includes an investment from E8 Angels, the nation’s largest cleantech angel investing network, advancing Imperium’s effort to bring digital insight and control to industrial steam systems.
While much of industry has modernized, steam remains a critical yet under-innovated corner of industrial infrastructure, despite accounting for 37% of fossil fuel use in U.S. industry. For decades, operators have relied on manual inspection and blind, reactive maintenance, often with no insight into the waste that drives energy loss, excess emissions and costly unplanned downtime.
Imperium’s solution combines InteliTrap®, the company’s first-to-market smart steam trap, and SteamView®, a data-driven, intelligent monitoring platform designed to help operators identify issues earlier and act faster. Together, the technologies help industrial operators detect failures earlier, improve reliability, reduce waste and make better maintenance decisions with real-time insight.
“Steam is too important, and too costly, to remain a blind spot in industrial operations,” said Brad Medford, CEO of Imperium Technologies. “As pressure grows to improve efficiency and cut emissions, operators need a smarter way to manage steam. Imperium is helping bring one of industry’s most overlooked systems into a more intelligent era.”
By combining intelligent hardware with real-time software insight, Imperium is creating a new category in steam system intelligence for industries such as chemicals, food processing and industrial manufacturing.
“Imperium’s smart steam traps and monitoring system can significantly reduce energy waste, potentially reducing global greenhouse gas emissions by tens of millions of tons of CO2 while making steam systems more reliable, lowering costs, and reducing wear and tear on the system. This triple win for the environment, customers, and suppliers is the kind of opportunity that E8 investors seek to make happen,” said Gordon Smith of E8 Angels.
Imperium plans to use the funding to support commercialization, expand market reach and develop SteamView’s analytics and AI capabilities.
About Imperium Technologies Imperium Technologies helps industrial operators modernize steam systems with smart hardware and real-time monitoring. Its patented solutions, InteliTrap® and SteamView®, are designed to reduce the invisible waste of industrial steam, improve reliability and bring greater intelligence to system performance. The company is based in Austin, Texas.
Media Contact: Leah Brown Imperium Technologies 903-245-4695 [email protected] Imperiumzone.com
Creates Head of Talent position and adds additional Operations Associates
NEW YORK, March 10, 2026 — Astara Capital Partners, LLC (“Astara”), a middle-market private equity firm, is pleased to announce the continued expansion and development of its team.
Ensuring its portfolio companies have strong executive leadership teams capable of executing the value creation plan is central to Astara’s investment strategy. Recognizing that recruiting, augmenting, and developing management teams is a critical and full-time job, the firm has hired Diana Barr as Human Capital Operating Partner.
“Diana has spent her entire career in executive search and has led talent acquisition and talent development at major industrial companies such as Grainger and Boeing, as well as in private equity. Hiring someone of her caliber reflects how we regard the importance of this role. We are confident she will add tremendous value to our portfolio companies and are excited to have her join Astara”, said Michael Ranson, Managing Partner of Astara.
“I’m excited to join Astara because the firm understands something fundamental: talent is an upstream driver of enterprise value. Astara’s commitment to operational engagement and partnership with management teams creates the ideal environment to institutionalize a differentiated talent playbook,” said Ms. Barr. “I believe this deep appreciation of the importance of talent to a company’s success is uncommon in most of the private equity industry.”
In addition to hiring Ms. Barr, Astara continues to expand its operations team. Gian Paolo Pernicone and Shane Januik joined the firm as Operations Associates and are responsible for assisting portfolio companies with a wide array of operational improvement initiatives.
“From inception, we architected Astara to be a unified team of both investors and operators. Our continued investment in the operations team pays future dividends by helping our companies execute their value creation plans. Astara’s balanced focus on investing and operations bolsters our portfolio companies’ capabilities and helps them accelerate earnings growth,” said Mr. Ranson.
Chris Curti, an Operating Partner with Astara, added “the Operations Associate program has been very successful. They increase the bandwidth and capabilities of portfolio company management teams and quickly become invaluable resources. The feedback I receive from leadership teams is consistent– their involvement helped us execute faster and with greater certainty.”
About Astara Capital Partners
Astara Capital Partners is an integrated team of investors and operators investing in the middle market. The firm brings capital, strategic, and operational resources to its investments to build sustainable value and position them for long-term success. Astara focuses on a variety of sectors where it has deep experience, including packaging and converting, food, building products, forest products, and industrial manufacturing, distribution, and services. More information about Astara can be found at www.astaracapital.com.
Labcorp Venture Fund, Mayo Clinic, Sutter Health, InterVest, MGFO, PGGM, Puma Venture Capital, and ROM Utrecht invest alongside existing investors Invest-NL, EIC Fund, Fred Moll, NYBC Ventures, and Sonder Capital
UTRECHT, Netherlands, March 10, 2026 — Vitestro, the pioneer in medical robotics advancing automated diagnostic blood collection, today announced the close of a $70 million oversubscribed Series B financing. The round includes new strategic investment from U.S. healthcare leaders Labcorp Venture Fund, Mayo Clinic, and Sutter Health, new financial investors InterVest, MGFO, PGGM, Puma Venture Capital, and ROM Utrecht, and continued support from existing investors Invest-NL (supported by InvestEU), EIC Fund, Fred Moll, NYBC Ventures, and Sonder Capital.
Toon Overbeeke with Aletta®, Vitestro’s device for autonomous blood draws
Proceeds will be used to advance the next generation Aletta® Autonomous Robotic Phlebotomy Device™ (ARPD™), enabling deeper integration into high-volume clinical workflows. The funding will also support Vitestro’s U.S. FDA De Novo regulatory pathway and global commercial readiness, including manufacturing scale-up, clinical expansion, and commercial infrastructure development, as the company prepares for broader market adoption beginning in Europe and progressing toward the U.S. market.
“Closing our Series B financing reflects strong conviction in our mission to establish a new standard in autonomous robotic venous access and diagnostic blood collection,” said Toon Overbeeke, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Vitestro. “Our technology has evolved from a novel vision into a clinically validated reality, and we are grateful for the support of this distinguished syndicate of strategic, healthcare, and life science investors as we move toward broad clinical adoption. Diagnostic blood collection remains the highest-volume invasive medical procedure globally, with billions of procedures performed annually.”
Vitestro leadership will use the proceeds to further advance the platform’s technical capabilities and integration into existing technology infrastructure, conduct essential clinical studies and pilot programs to embed the technology into real-world workflows, and expand its team to meet growing demand from healthcare providers.
“The Labcorp Venture Fund sees strong potential in solutions that modernize core diagnostic processes and improve consistency for patients,” said Megann Vaughn Watters, Head of Labcorp Venture Fund. “Applying robotics, multimodal imaging and AI to clinically validated diagnostic blood collection is an exciting approach, and we’re thrilled to support Vitestro as they advance this important work.”
“Vitestro is redefining one of the largest and most under innovated clinical workflows with a first-of-its-kind autonomous robotic platform for diagnostic blood collection addressing an enormous unmet global market need,” said Dr. Fred Moll, co-founder and partner at Sonder Capital and former co-founder and CEO of Intuitive Surgical and Auris Health. “I believe this technology has the potential to establish a new standard of care, much as robotic surgery did in its early days.”
The Aletta® ARPD™ is designed to autonomously perform diagnostic blood collection. The system combines multimodal imaging, advanced robotics, and artificial intelligence to identify suitable veins, guide needle insertion, and collect blood samples with high precision and consistency. Aletta® is intended to support phlebotomy departments by performing routine diagnostic blood draws, helping address staffing challenges, reduce human-dependent variability, standardize quality, enhance the overall patient experience, and enable greater operational predictability and scalability in high-volume outpatient care settings.
Vitestro is a global leader in medical robotics advancing diagnostic blood collection through autonomous technology. Headquartered in the Netherlands, the company brings deep expertise in engineering, robotics, artificial intelligence, and commercialization. Vitestro has developed Aletta®, the world’s first and only CE-marked Autonomous Robotic Phlebotomy Device™ (ARPD™), establishing a new category and benchmark for diagnostic blood collection. By integrating advanced robotics, multimodal imaging, and AI, Vitestro is enabling greater precision, operational efficiency, and an improved patient experience in clinical settings. Aletta® is currently CE-marked and is currently being deployed in clinical and pre-commercial settings in Europe and has not yet received FDA authorization in the U.S. Vitestro is actively advancing its U.S. regulatory pathway while expanding global clinical collaborations to support the future commercialization of autonomous diagnostic blood collection worldwide.
Stream, Sandbar’s private voice ring and conversational interface, mark a new step in human-computer interaction, designed for individual augmentation in an agentic world
NEW YORK, March 10, 2026 — Sandbar, an interface company based in New York City, announced today it has raised $23M in a Series A funding round led by Adjacent and Kindred Ventures, bringing total funding to $36M. The round follows a $10M Seed led by True Ventures in early 2025 and a $3M pre-seed led by Upfront Ventures and Betaworks in early 2024.
Stream, Sandbar’s first product, is a private voice ring and conversational interface. It gained early attention at launch in November through in-person demos and word of mouth — earning coverage from The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Bloomberg, and Wired. The funding will accelerate hiring across machine learning, interaction design, and software ahead of Stream’s Summer 2026 ship.
Sandbar was founded with a simple north star: self extension– technology that extends human agency rather than replacing it. Co-founders Mina Fahmi (CEO) and Kirak Hong (CTO) worked together at CTRL-labs—acquired by Meta in 2019 — where they worked on bridging the gap between human intent and action, including on the Meta Neural Band. At Sandbar, they’re working with a team of engineers, designers, and technologists focused on expanding human capabilities–to think, remember, and create wherever they are.
“We believe in self augmentation in an agentic world,” said Mina Fahmi, cofounder and CEO. “With the right interface, everyone should be able to develop ideas and get things done wherever they are, with the speed, privacy, and ease of thinking.”
Stream pairs Stream Ring—a private voice ring with a touchpad, personal mic, and haptic feedback–—with a conversational interface that helps you capture notes, talk through ideas, retrieve web info, and take actions on-the-go. No unlocks. No interruptions. Stream is a faster, more private way to think out loud, build on it, and act.
Unlike AI companions, Stream is designed without an identity of its own. It remembers what you share, listens only when you hold the button to speak — even at a whisper — and uses multiple AI models to organize, respond, and search the web in real time. Your data stays yours and can be shared with other apps. This spring, Sandbar will launch a closed Beta to refine software interactions and introduce Inner Voice, a feature that responds in a voice personalized to the user — creating a more natural way to develop ideas.
Sandbar’s team of 15 has shipped some consumer products including iPhone, Vision Pro, Fitbit, and Kindle. Key hires include Sam Bowen (VP of Hardware, previously Amazon, Fitbit, and Peloton) and Brooke Travis (VP of Marketing, previously Equinox, Dior, and Gap).
Pre-orders for Stream are open now at sandbar.com with early pricing. Batch 1 has sold out; Batch 2 is available now, shipping this Summer.
About Sandbar
Sandbar is an interface company based in New York City. Its mission is to bridge gaps — to better navigate the world around and inside us. Stream, its first product, is a private voice ring and conversational interface that lets people think, capture, and create wherever they are. Sandbar is backed by Adjacent, Kindred Ventures, True Ventures, Upfront Ventures, Betaworks, and others. Learn more at sandbar.com.
DUBLIN, Calif., March 10, 2026 — Amber Semiconductor, a fabless semiconductor company pioneering the next generation power management for AI data centers, today announced the initial closing of its $30 million Series C financing round from new and existing investors.
The funding will be used to scale product development, expand customer engagements, and accelerate commercialization of Amber’s breakthrough vertical power delivery solutions designed to power the rapidly growing AI infrastructure market.
Amber Semiconductor is developing disruptive power architectures that fundamentally change the way power is delivered within datacenters to the AI processors. Amber’s PowerTile™ technology allows backside placement on the server board, delivering power through a vertical path and reducing power distribution losses to the processor by more than 85%. As AI workloads continue to expand, Amber’s solutions address critical challenges in power scalability, thermal management, and space constraints in modern AI data centers.
“AI data centers are entering a new era where power delivery is becoming a key performance differentiator,” said Thar Casey, Founder and CEO of Amber Semiconductor. “This financing marks an important milestone as we continue to execute on our vision of transforming power delivery for AI. The strong support from our investors reflects growing confidence in our technology and the critical role it will play in enabling the next generation of AI computing.”
The announcement follows Amber’s recent successful tape-out of its PowerTile™ vertical power delivery solution, completed this January. By delivering power through a vertical path rather than traditional lateral distribution, Amber’s PowerTile™ significantly improves efficiency and scalability for AI systems. AmberSemi will begin shipping to major customers in Q3 of 2026.
In addition, Amber will be chairing an industry session at the Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC) 2026 in March, titled “Vertical Power for AI Data Centers”. Presenting with Amber will be representatives from AMD, Nvidia, and Global Foundries. The session will highlight emerging trends, system-level innovations, and the growing importance of vertical power architectures shaping the future of AI infrastructure.
About Amber Semiconductor
Amber Semiconductor, based in Silicon Valley, is a fabless semiconductor company pioneering advanced power management solutions for AI data centers and more. With its breakthrough PowerTile™ technology, Amber’s innovative vertical power delivery architecture delivers unprecedented power density and efficiency to high-performance processors such as AI, servers, and FPGAs in space-constrained applications.
With over 50 U.S. patents secured, Amber is a member of the Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA) and is widely recognized for the impact of its technologies. The company has earned honors including Fast Company‘s Next Big Thing in Tech, consecutive Edison Awards for Innovation, inclusion in EE Times‘ 100 Startups Worth Watching, and more.
New capital will accelerate the development of industry’s first end-to-end satellite platform engineered for returnable payloads
DENVER, March 10, 2026 — Lux Aeterna, a next-generation space infrastructure company transforming the economics of the orbital supply chain through reentry and redeployment, today announced a $10 million oversubscribed seed round. Konvoy led the round with participation from Decisive Point, Cubit Capital, Wave Function, and others, as well as follow-on investment from Space Capital, Dynamo Ventures, and Channel 39. The funding will accelerate the development and manufacturing of the company’s flagship spacecraft, Delphi, which has already sold out its entire available payload capacity for its inaugural mission slated for Q1 2027.
Founder Brian Taylor at Lux Aeterna HQ.
The investment signals a shift away from the “one-way” logistics model that has historically hindered the orbital economy. While reusable launch vehicles have drastically reduced the cost of reaching space, the industry has lacked a reliable, cost-effective way to bring assets back down. As a result, billions of dollars’ worth of sophisticated hardware have become orbital debris or burned up in the upper atmosphere, representing a substantial loss of both capital and engineering that stifles the industry’s ability to scale.
Lux Aeterna is solving this bottleneck. Led by veteran space hardware engineers with extensive in-space mission experience, Lux Aeterna pairs a flight-proven conical heat shield with a modular satellite bus architecture engineered for reentry and rapid ground-based refurbishment. This integrated approach, combined with the company’s end-to-end service model, transforms the satellite from a disposable, single-use consumable into a redeployable asset, creating the first-ever circular supply chain for orbital operations.
“The future of the space economy will be built on fleets that return to Earth reliably and relaunch almost instantly,” said Brian Taylor, Founder and CEO of Lux Aeterna. “Our approach moves space operations away from a ‘launch-and-burn’ cycle and toward a more capable, cost-effective paradigm that supports downstream mass, manufacturing, and defense applications. As a result, we’re unlocking use cases, economics, and business models that were previously impossible or impractical to execute.”
The new capital provides a runway for the company’s first demonstration launch and reentry, scheduled for Q1 2027. The mission will mark a historic industry milestone as the first demonstration of a fully reusable satellite platform. It will see the Delphi spacecraft launch, host multiple orbital payloads, reenter the atmosphere, and be recovered for refurbishment and redeployment. Customers for the fully sold-out mission include a cross-section of commercial and defense leaders specializing in hypersonic testing, on-orbit compute, and in-space manufacturing.
“Lux Aeterna is the first company building a returnable fleet that truly compresses mission timelines and costs,” said Josh Chapman, Managing Partner at Konvoy. “With a team that has launched thousands of satellites, they have the unique expertise required to build a fleet of reentry satellites that will create a new category in the space industry, yet one that feels familiar to airline fleets on earth. We believe they’re on the cusp of unlocking an entirely new market for space missions that simply hasn’t existed until now.”
Beyond commercial customers, Lux Aeterna’s approach has also gained significant government validation. The company secured a Space Act Agreement with NASA Ames and two Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs) to support its reentry and thermal protection technologies. Additionally, Lux Aeterna has formed a Defense Advisory Board to provide strategic guidance as the company scales to meet the U.S. Department of War’s (DoW) requirements for dynamic space operations and resilient orbital infrastructure.
Lux Aeterna is transforming orbital operations with the world’s first reusable satellite platform, engineered for high reliability, accurate reentry, and rapid redeployment. Based in Denver, Colorado, the company supports defense, commercial, and space manufacturing customers through a flexible, fleet-based model built to scale with the future of launch.
New funding fuels platform innovation and expansion of trusted enterprise risk intelligence, AML and KYC solutions for financial institutions and fintechs worldwide
NEW YORK, March 10, 2026 — Sigma360, the full-stack AI platform for risk intelligence, financial crime prevention and compliance, announced an oversubscribed $17.3MM Series B funding round led by Moderne Ventures with participation from Vocap Partners and Orrick, as well as follow-on investment from Contour Ventures and Mosaik Partners.
Sigma360 unifies global risk data, proprietary intelligence, core screening technology and AI automation in one enterprise platform.
Over the last two years, Sigma360 achieved 5X growth, reaching profitability in 2025, 140%+ Net Revenue Retention (NRR) and 95% Gross Revenue Retention (GRR), positioning it as a clear leader in a rapidly changing market. The company’s platform now protects over $2 trillion in assets and company value, as well as billions of dollars in transactional value each month across banking, payments, fintechs and globally exposed corporations.
The new capital will be used to strengthen Sigma360’s proprietary risk intelligence datasets, deepen AI automation capabilities, and expand the company’s global go-to-market presence across banks, payment providers and other regulated financial institutions.
“We live in an increasingly risk-on world, where financial crime is evolving faster than traditional approaches can keep up,” said Stuart Jones, Jr. “To solve this, we’ve built the first full-stack platform that unifies risk data, intelligence, core technology, and AI – accelerating and strengthening decisioning across every level to help our clients manage risk, meet regulatory expectations and protect the integrity of the global financial system.”
Jones founded Sigma360 following a career in the U.S. Treasury Department and National Counterterrorism Center, leading counterterrorism and anti-corruption operations in D.C. and on-the-ground in Afghanistan and the Arabian Gulf following 9/11. Seeing firsthand how legacy KYC and screening systems failed global banks and payment companies, he launched Sigma360 to democratize access to high-performance, purpose-built solutions.
Complex, cross-border financial crime has exposed the limits of decades-old KYC, AML and screening approaches. Institutions face mounting regulatory expectations, increasing geopolitical risk, growing screening volumes and resource-constrained compliance teams that face false-positive rates of over 90%.
“Sigma360 is redefining a $300 billion financial crime compliance industry by building trusted AI infrastructure for highly regulated markets,” said Liza Benson, Partner, Moderne Ventures. “For Moderne, the opportunity is compelling because we believe Sigma360 will materially reduce operational burden and regulatory risk across our industries, where compliance costs are high and enforcement actions reach into the millions and billions. For our partners across real estate, insurance and financial services, Sigma360 will drive faster onboarding, lower compliance headcount and create stronger risk controls.”
About Sigma360 Sigma360 is an AI-powered, full-stack risk intelligence platform that consolidates operations into one enterprise-grade system, enabling point-in-time risk screening and perpetual client monitoring for financial crime prevention and compliance operations. Sigma360 unifies global risk data, proprietary intelligence, core screening technology and AI automation in a secure cloud environment to find direct and network-based risks at sub-second speed, reduce false positives and strengthen risk and compliance operations.
Founded by former U.S. Treasury Department and National Counterterrorism Center official Stuart Jones, Jr., Sigma360 is driven by a mission to strengthen the global financial system by delivering trusted AI-powered infrastructure that transforms how institutions prevent financial crime and manage risk. Trusted by banks, fintechs, payments providers and other regulated institutions worldwide, the company protects trillions of dollars in assets and billions of dollars in monthly transaction value. Follow us on LinkedIn and www.sigma360.com.
About Moderne Ventures Moderne Venturesis a strategic venture capital firm with an 18-year track record, generating top-tier returns across five funds with over $600M AUM. Moderne is a generalist investor with vertical expertise – the firm invests in transformative technologies like AI, SaaS, robotics, fintech, and digital transactions and brings them to antiquated, trillion-dollar industries like real estate, finance, insurance and beyond. Moderne’s unfair advantage: Moderne Passport Program – a proprietary network of 1,500+ executives and corporations we activate systematically to drive explosive growth for portfolio companies.
Moderne has invested in 50+ companies with additional equity in 160+ Moderne Passport companies including lead investments in market leaders like DocuSign, ICON, Caribou,Mesh, Proof, Porch, and Xeal.
About Vocap Partners Vocap Partners provides capital, connections, and operational know-how to emerging software companies at the Series A and B stage. The firm has a strong track record of helping founders build and realize value.
CHICAGO, March 10, 2026 — BiteZen, a Colorado-based dental technology company, announced a strategic investment from Dr. Arash Hakhamian, Founder and CEO of Dentulu, following BiteZen’s top prize win at the Dental Tech Shark Tank event during the 2026 Dental VIP Summit in Chicago.
Brock Predovich
Dental VIP Summit – Dental Tech Shark Tank Winner
Dr. Hakhamian has committed $50,000 in seed capital, and Dentulu is working with BiteZen to organize a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) intended to support the completion of the company’s $1,000,000 seed round. The partnership also includes strategic collaboration to accelerate adoption of BiteZen’s technology across dental labs and providers nationwide. Dentulu is one of the largest teledentistry networks connecting patients with licensed dentists through a digital care platform.
A recording of BiteZen’s winning pitch from the Dental Tech Shark Tank event can be viewed here: Bitezen – Dental Tech Shark Tank
BiteZen’s technology enables dental labs to embed sensing capabilities into traditional night guards and other oral appliances, allowing labs to convert standard appliances into connected devices capable of monitoring clenching, grinding, wear patterns, and patient compliance.
“Large manufacturers have spent years and millions building proprietary smart technologies. Most independent labs simply cannot absorb that level of R&D investment,” said Dr. Hakhamian. “BiteZen gives them immediate access to smart capability without rebuilding their operation. That levels the playing field.”
He added, “What excites me most about BiteZen is that this is not just a single-product company. The technology can extend across night guards, aligners, dentures, and other oral appliances. That platform potential is where long-term value is created.”
BiteZen has secured six pilot partnerships with dental laboratories across the United States. Named partners include Drake Dental Lab and IDT Dental Lab.
“The lab market is becoming increasingly competitive,” said Darrick Hartman, owner of JR Dental Lab. “Offering smart appliances powered by BiteZen allows us to differentiate in a meaningful way. Instead of competing on price alone, we can offer dentists measurable compliance and patient data.”
In addition to Dr. Hakhamian’s investment, Colorado-based venture capital firm Howdy Partners has committed $250,000 toward BiteZen’s current seed round.
“Dr. Hakhamian’s investment is more than capital. It is strategic validation from one of the most respected operators in dentistry,” said Brock Predovich, Founder and CEO of BiteZen. “Dentulu’s network and distribution capabilities dramatically accelerate our ability to scale.”
BiteZen is focused on expanding pilot partnerships with dental laboratories and advancing commercialization of its sensing platform across the dental industry.
About BiteZen
BiteZen is a Colorado-based dental technology company dedicated to transforming traditional oral appliances into connected devices that enable data-driven insights for dentists, dental labs, and patients.
