Funding will broaden manufacturing capacity, strengthen supply chain, and continue national expansion for the fastest-growing pasta brand in America

NEW YORK, May 19, 2026 — BRAMI, the Italian food brand bringing protein pasta to American kitchens, announced today that it has raised $33 million in Series B funding led by VMG Partners, a premier growth equity firm focused on high-potential consumer brands. VMG joins existing investors La Molisana, Pentland Ventures, Lerer Hippeau, and Gather Ventures. The investment will be used to further develop BRAMI’s supply chain and support continued growth in the United States.

Founded in 2016 by Aaron Gatti, a first-generation Italian American, BRAMI is rooted in the Italian tradition of letting quality ingredients speak for themselves. American consumers have been overwhelmed by fad diets and overly engineered foods, including those increasingly built on processed proteins. BRAMI believes the traditional Italian way of cooking with simple, whole ingredients is the modern answer to health and wellness.

“Our goal is for Americans to reconsider their relationship with Italian cuisine, starting with pasta. Italians eat significantly more pasta than Americans, and yet consistently rank among the healthiest populations in the world,” says BRAMI CEO and Founder Aaron Gatti. “The difference is in the quality. In Italy, ingredients are grown and selected with care, and food is treated as something to be savored, not engineered. BRAMI is redefining the US market with a healthy pasta that doesn’t compromise on authentic quality, taste, and texture. At its core, BRAMI is about uncomplicating people’s relationship with food, and getting back to the joy of a real meal with authentic ingredients.”

This approach to food has resonated with consumers and retailers. BRAMI has been the fastest-growing national pasta brand in America for three years running and is now available in more than 4,000 stores nationwide, including Walmart, Target, Whole Foods, Safeway/Albertsons, Costco, and Sam’s Club. Driven by repeat customer demand for its product line, the brand continues to gain share at an accelerating pace: velocity is up 58% year over year, outpacing distribution growth by 30 points. (Source: Nielsen L52W Total FMCG w/e 4/18/26.)

“Our ability to deliver such an uncompromisingly authentic and elevated healthy pasta, at a value that everyone can enjoy daily, would not have been possible without the incredible partnership and support of the Ferro family and their company La Molisana,” says Gatti.

BRAMI uses only two old world ingredients: durum wheat semolina and lupini bean flour. These are among the most ancient and nutrient-dense staples of the Mediterranean diet. Lupini flour is the ideal ingredient to combine with traditional pasta flour because it’s easy to digest and has a natural umami flavor that enhances the pasta experience. This ingredient pairing, combined with the dedication to the craftsmanship of quality pasta-making of BRAMI and its partner La Molisana, delivers higher protein and fiber without compromising the time-honored taste and texture of traditional Italian pasta.

“BRAMI has been able to redefine the category in part because of their high standard for real ingredients and artisan manufacturing integrity,” says Wayne Wu, General Partner at VMG Partners. “The team at BRAMI is doing it the right way; they’re meticulously focused on ingredients, process, and quality. That is hard to do as you grow. Much of what our funding supports will be ensuring those practices are maintained and invested in as the business scales.”

BRAMI products are available at leading retailers nationwide and online at www.enjoybrami.com.

About BRAMI

BRAMI brings authentic Italian flavor and food philosophy to the modern table, proving that great taste and great nutrition don’t have to be a trade off. Made in Italy using time-honored methods, BRAMI’s products are crafted from old world ingredients, delivering a unique combination of high protein, high fiber, and great taste. Rooted in the belief that food should be uncomplicated, nutritious, and satisfying, BRAMI is on a mission to bring the Italian way of eating, and living, to everyday American life. Learn more at www.enjoyBRAMI.com.

About VMG

VMG Partners is a growth equity firm founded in 2005 to identify and support the growth of innovative companies into iconic brands that span generations. Headquartered in San Francisco, the firm invests through its two core funds, Consumer and Technology, and is guided by the thesis that progress and innovation will prevail over the status quo. VMG specializes in enterprise and founder partnerships that drive successful investments, mergers and acquisitions across beauty and personal care, food and beverage, health and wellness, pet, and technology that powers operational excellence for consumer brands. For more information on VMG Partners, please visit www.vmgpartners.com.

About Category

BRAMI is operating at the center of a growing shift toward higher-protein, better-for-you pantry staples, as consumers increasingly prioritize foods that deliver both nutrition and everyday usability. The US pasta and noodles market represents an estimated $7.5 billion category that is growing at 1.4% year over year S1, while the North American protein-fortified pasta segment, led by US demand, is projected to grow at an annual rate of 4% through 2030, nearly three times the rate of the broader category S2. This momentum reflects a larger, sustained shift toward higher-protein eating habits, with over half of consumers actively seeking to add more protein to their diets (S3). At the same time, consumers are increasingly seeking foods that combine protein with other functional benefits, such as fiber. With nearly two-thirds of Americans now actively seeking to consume more fiber, driving continued innovation in nutrient-dense pantry staples, S4, BRAMI is set to deliver on consumer trends reshaping the pasta aisle.

Media Contacts

SOURCE BRAMI

Investment Accelerates Two Dice’s Slate of Original Live Event Franchises and Licensable IP

LAS VEGAS, May 19, 2026 — Two Dice, a live entertainment and media company founded by industry veterans George Kliavkoff and Jennifer Worthington, today announced a Series A strategic investment by Oak View Group (OVG), the global leader in premium live entertainment infrastructure and services. With this investment, Two Dice will accelerate its development of scalable, IP-driven experience franchises across sports, music and culture.

The investment pairs Two Dice’s portfolio of original live event franchises and licensable intellectual property with OVG’s global venue platform, operating expertise, premium hospitality infrastructure and sponsorship sales capabilities. As part of OVG’s investment, Chris Granger, Oak View Group’s Chief Executive Officer, will join Two Dice’s Board of Directors.

Two Dice creates live experience platforms designed to deepen fan engagement, build community, and create lasting memories. Its model is built around passion-driven categories with the potential to scale across venues, media extensions, merchandise, sponsorship, licensing, and strategic partnerships.

“Oak View Group is one of the most innovative companies in live entertainment, and this partnership gives Two Dice access to a level of venue insight, operational sophistication and entrepreneurial creativity that is unmatched,” said Kliavkoff, Co-Founder and CEO of Two Dice. “Our ambition is to build the next generation of live experience franchises — formats that can operate within and adjacent to major venues, attract sponsors, generate media value and become durable IP.”

Worthington, Co-Founder and President of Two Dice, said, “We started Two Dice with the belief that people are seeking live experiences that feel bigger, more emotional and more connected to the communities they care about. Oak View Group’s investment allows us to move faster, think bigger and build formats designed to become recurring cultural franchises.”

Granger said, “Two Dice represents exactly the kind of premium, immersive live entertainment platform we believe in. George and Jennifer understand how to build experiences that are commercially compelling, emotionally resonant, and capable of scaling. We look forward to seeing Two Dice’s original concepts come to life in new and exciting ways.”

About Two Dice
Two Dice is a live entertainment and media company creating scalable, IP-driven experience franchises across sports, music, and culture. Two Dice develops original live event platforms designed to activate major venues, deepen fan engagement, build community, create lasting memories, and grow into durable, licensable entertainment properties. Visit TwoDice.com and follow on LinkedIn.

About Oak View Group
Oak View Group is the global leader in premium live entertainment infrastructure and services, with a platform spanning venue development and end-to-end capabilities across venue management, hospitality, and sponsorship sales. Founded in 2015, the company serves a collection of world-class owned venues and a client roster of arenas, stadiums, convention centers, music festivals, performing arts centers, and cultural institutions across four continents. Visit OakViewGroup.com and follow OVG on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and X.

Media Contact:
Bella Carino
[email protected]

SOURCE Two Dice

APPLETON, Wis., May 19, 2026 — Global Alternative Investment Management (“GAIM”), an alternative investment platform focused on institutional-quality private market solutions, today announced that Robert C. Riedl, CFA, CAIA, has joined the firm as Managing Director, Head of Private Capital.

In this role, Mr. Riedl will lead the development of GAIM’s private capital platform, responsible for sourcing, evaluating, structuring, and executing private market investment opportunities across asset classes, while deepening relationships with institutional and high-net-worth investors.

Mr. Riedl brings over a decade of experience in capital markets and strategic advisory, including progressive roles at Wells Fargo Securities, as well as experience at KeyBanc Capital Markets and Piper Jaffray. He has advised financial institutions, including insurance companies, as well as select corporate clients and financial sponsors on mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity capital raises, and public offerings. His experience includes advising fintech and insurtech companies, as well as businesses integrating technology and AI into traditional models, providing insight into evolving business models and valuation approaches. His experience spans both buy-side and sell-side engagements across private markets. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Business from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota and a Master of Science in Finance from the Carroll School of Management at Boston College.

“Robert brings a strong combination of transaction experience, technical expertise, and investor perspective,” said Prateek Mehrotra, Managing Member and Chief Investment Officer of GAIM. “His background advising financial institutions, corporate clients, and sponsors—along with his experience with technology-enabled business models—positions him well to lead and scale our private capital platform.”

“I’m excited to join GAIM at a pivotal stage in its evolution,” said Mr. Riedl. “The firm’s focus on delivering differentiated access to private markets—particularly across technology-enabled and evolving business models—is highly aligned with my experience. I look forward to helping build and scale the platform and delivering compelling investment opportunities for our clients.”

About Global Alternative Investment Management
GAIM is an alternative investment platform focused on providing access to private markets through direct investments, secondary market purchases, and co-investments across private equity, venture capital, private credit, real assets, and other alternative strategies. The firm provides tailored investment solutions for high-net-worth investors, foundations, and endowments. For more info see www.GlobalAlts.com.

Press & Investment Inquiries

Prateek Mehrotra, MBA, CFA, CAIA^®
Managing Member, Chief Investment Officer
[email protected]
920.785.6009

Robert C. Riedl, CFA, CAIA^®
Managing Director, Head of Private Capital
[email protected]
704.589.4068

Disclosures: GAIM relies upon the investment adviser registration of Endowment Wealth Management, Inc. (“EWM”) based on certain no-action letters issued to the American Bar Association in the past. The activities of GAIM’s investment advisory activities are subject to the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and the rules thereunder and is subject to examination by the Securities and Exchange Commission. EWM and its representatives are in compliance with the current registration filing requirements imposed upon SEC-registered investment advisors.

SOURCE Global Alternative Investment Management LLC

Seasoned manufacturing software executive elevated to lead commercial growth as Laminar accelerates global expansion

BOSTON, May 19, 2026 — Laminar, the only AI platform that powers fully autonomous process manufacturing — today announced Sanjay Rajan, Head of Go-to-Market, as Chief Revenue Officer. As CRO, Rajan will guide Laminar’s sales, go-to-market, partner, and marketing strategy as Laminar continues a trajectory of rapid global growth.

Rajan joined Laminar in 2025 as Head of Go-to-Market, where he shaped the company’s commercial strategy following a Series A fundraise, driving adoption of Laminar’s Chemical-Process AI among the world’s leading manufacturers. The company expanded its growth across midmarket and global enterprise companies in verticals including Food & Beverage, Health & Beauty, Consumer Packaged Goods, Adhesives, Pharmaceuticals, and Chemicals.

“The need for truly autonomous factories has never been greater as process manufacturers around the globe face increasing margin compression due to macroeconomic factors like rising input costs, loss of expertise, and geopolitical risk,” said Annie Lu, Laminar Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder. “Since joining Laminar in 2025, Sanjay has accelerated Laminar’s global footprint as we enable more customers to address their production capacity constraints and improve margins. By expanding Sanjay’s leadership to our entire revenue function, Laminar will be stronger and ready to meet this incredible market demand.”

Rajan brings more than 20 years of B2B software experience across manufacturing verticals, with deep expertise spanning manufacturing execution systems (MES), product lifecycle management (PLM), IoT, and AI/ML solutions. His career spans every wave of manufacturing technology innovation over the last three decades, experience that will benefit Laminar as the company is poised to revolutionize process manufacturing with its full stack solution, ML models, and advanced sensors.

“All of today’s Industrial AI focus is on Physical AI in discrete manufacturing — robots navigating space and automating human motion. But process manufacturing has a different challenge: continued reliance on human expert intervention to continuously interpret process conditions and manually correct operations in real time,” says Sanjay Rajan, Laminar Chief Revenue Officer. “Laminar’s Chemical-Process AI changes that by first sensing real-time fluid conditions, reasoning the optimal action, and then acting to ensure every cycle runs on the best conditions. I’m thrilled to step into this role as Laminar continues its mission to transform the industry with our first-of-its-kind AI platform that powers fully autonomous process manufacturing.”

Fueling Growth with $12.4M Series A 
In June 2025, Laminar (as H2Ok Innovations) announced a $12.42M Series A round of funding led by Greycroft, with participation from 2048 Ventures and Construct Capital. The funding accelerated Laminar’s ability to bring its technology to globally scale its Chemical-Process AI Platform that transforms manufacturing processes from clean-in-place to product changeovers.

Ongoing Recognition for Laminar’s Innovation

The company recently received the 2026 Edison Award’s Gold Award for the Manufacturing & Logistics category, was named AB InBev’s 2024 Cheers Award for outstanding startup partnership, and earned Unilever’s 2023 Supplier Startup of the Year. Laminar’s solution is also deployed in World Economic Forum Lighthouse factories — a select group recognized for their leadership in cutting-edge industrial technology.

Headquartered at Greentown Labs in Somerville, MA — North America’s leading cleantech community, Laminar is a woman-founded startup backed by top-tier investors, including Greycroft, Construct Capital, 2048 Ventures, and Flybridge Capital.

About Laminar

Laminar’s Chemical-Process AI Platform enables the world’s leading manufacturers to run self-driving factories with more sustainable, efficient operations. Our patented spectral sensors and complete library of ML models transform manual operations into self-driving processes that cut water, chemicals, and downtime in real time. Deployed in factories across six continents and trusted by global leaders like AB InBev, Coca-Cola, and Unilever, Laminar is building a new category of physical AI that will power the future of process manufacturing. Learn more at runlaminar.com

SOURCE Laminar

HOUSTON, May 19, 2026 — Veriten, a research, strategy and investment firm, today announced the initial close of its second flagship energy venture fund with over $105 million in capital commitments. Veriten develops an unbiased, long-term global outlook for energy, power, and technology and invests in companies addressing critical industry challenges and opportunities.

Fund II aims to capitalize on the success of the firm’s initial fund to accelerate scalable technology solutions for energy, power and industrial applications.  “We are super excited about Fund II and fortunate to have such great partners and supporters.  Our unique platform and team can deliver differentiated investment opportunities and value-added expertise in this exciting but rapidly changing and complex world.  When it comes to making capital allocation decisions and investments, we aspire to be the global partner and platform of choice” said Veriten CEO and founder Maynard Holt. 

Veriten’s investments are central to the mission of identifying and scaling reliable, sustainable, and economic solutions that address operating challenges or capitalize on growth opportunities.  Fund II will focus on investments that create broadly applicable solutions, which are aligned with our view of the future energy world, and have logical, multifaceted exit opportunities. Just as importantly, investments are centered on themes where Veriten and its network of leading energy, power and technology companies can provide meaningful strategic input and value.

Veriten’s overall strategy is critically supported by over 50 key strategic partnerships across the energy, power, industrial and technology complex, including upstream, midstream, downstream, chemical, oilfield and industrial services, water, nuclear, coal, fuel cell, trading, power generation, utility, hyperscaler, and other companies and organizations.

The announcement of Fund II drew support from leaders around the energy industry.

“Veriten continues to build a differentiated platform at the intersection of energy, technology and industry expertise,” said Jeff Miller, Chairman and CEO of Halliburton Company. “We were early believers in the team and their ability to identify practical solutions to real challenges across the energy value chain. As all industries increasingly adopt digital tools, automation and AI-enabled technologies to improve performance and execution, we are proud to partner with Veriten again to help accelerate high-impact solutions across the broader energy landscape.”

Mark Lashier, Chairman and CEO of Phillips 66 Company, also offered his support: “Veriten brings a thoughtful, industry-informed perspective to the technologies and businesses shaping the future of energy. Their network, market insight and strategic approach help surface solutions that improve safety, reliability, efficiency and stewardship across the broader energy and industrial value chain. We are pleased to partner with Veriten as they connect innovative companies with the operational priorities of large-scale energy businesses.”    

Christian Exshaw, Senior Executive Vice President & Group Head, Capital Markets at CIBC, added “We are at a pivotal moment in the energy markets, with increased volatility and artificial intelligence driving significant structural transformation. At CIBC, our priority is to deliver solutions that support our clients’ growth ambitions and help them manage risk against a quickly evolving backdrop. We greatly value the strategic, data-driven insights we gain from our investment in the Veriten Venture Funds.”

John Sommers, Partner, Investments at Veriten, added “Our differentiated network, research-driven process, and first principles approach to investing are having an impact across multiple verticals including traditional energy, electrification, and industrial technology. Fund II builds on that platform.  In this environment, the differentiator isn’t capital – it’s all about connectivity, deep sector expertise, and an economically-driven approach.  As new technologies and approaches develop at breakneck speed, the need for more reliable, affordable energy and power continues to grow dramatically.  The current backdrop accentuates the need for Veriten’s solution.”

About Veriten
Veriten is based in Houston, Texas and comprises 20 professionals with backgrounds drawn from investing, research, investment banking, public buyside, technology, industrial, and entrepreneurship. Veriten is employee-owned and hosts a weekly podcast called Close of Business Tuesday as well as a weekly energy thought piece entitled Super-Spiked. For more information, please visit www.veriten.com. 

Baker Botts L.L.P. served as legal counsel for Fund II.

Media Contact:
Joe Brettell
Forward Energy Public Relations
[email protected]
(571) 230-3411

SOURCE Veriten

Emerging as a foundational platform for Physical AI, the robotics engineering and hardware firm leverages an arsenal of IP to unlock on-edge computer vision for autonomous systems.

PITTSBURGH, May 19, 2026 — Hellbender, a Physical AI infrastructure company powering intelligent systems at the edge, today announced the closing of a $12.5 million seed funding round. The round was co-led by Magarac Venture Partners and Veredas Partners, with significant participation from Mana Ventures, Gaingels, Sum VC, and the Active Angels Network.

The new capital will expedite the rollout of Hellbender’s edge AI platforms, designed to bring real-time perception, reasoning, and decision-making directly into physical environments. The company will also scale its team across product, growth, and hardware manufacturing to meet rapidly surging demand.

Hellbender’s U.S.-based technology stack provides a secure safeguard against global supply chain fragility. As a result, industry-leading robotics companies are turning to Hellbender for their most challenging AI perception and edge computer vision problems.

“Hellbender has quickly become a critical backbone of Pittsburgh’s robotics ecosystem and an emerging national leader in domestic AI hardware,” said Jay Katarincic, Partner at Magarac Venture Partners. “They are one of the few companies globally offering a fully integrated solution — from initial ideation through scaled manufacturing — right here in the United States. As AI and robotics move from research to real-world deployment, the need for secure, onshore engineering and production has never been more important. Hellbender is uniquely positioned at the center of that shift. Their ability to nearly double revenue each year since founding reflects both strong execution and accelerating demand. We’re thrilled to lead this round and support their continued growth.”

Commercializing a Deep Technology Portfolio
Hellbender’s new AI hardware is built on a foundation of battle-tested intellectual property. After years of engineering custom edge AI computer vision systems for top-tier robotics companies, Hellbender is turning its field-proven solutions into universally accessible platforms. This launch marks a major evolution, shifting the company from a dedicated engineering and AI hardware manufacturing arm into a commercial provider of physical AI platforms.

“The market is in dire need of the edge computing solutions Hellbender is delivering,” said Vaibhav (Vai) Viswanathan of Veredas Partners. “Developers building the next generation of autonomous and industrial systems have been severely bottlenecked by a lack of accessible, intelligent hardware. Hellbender’s new line of physical AI cameras provides the exact depth perception, orchestration, and scalable infrastructure the industry is asking for right now.”

Embedding True Intelligence at the Edge
Designed to eliminate the immense friction of custom hardware integration, Hellbender’s new AI cameras allow software teams to focus purely on application development. Powered by Hailo AI accelerators and Raspberry Pi compute, they deliver low-power, high-TOPS processing directly to the edge. Today, the company is unveiling three new flagship products:

• Hellbender Stereo Camera: Delivering depth perception, open-access compute, and AI acceleration in a single, fully integrated package. Capable of operating in low-light and feature-poor environments as well as powering and controlling peripheral devices, the Stereo Camera can truly function as the centerpiece of an intelligent system operating on the edge. Currently in pilot with a major national utility provider.
• Hellbender Vine Camera System: Making distributed monitoring simple, scalable, and cost-effective. The Vine Camera System accommodates up to 64 cameras over hundreds of feet with seamless installation, backed by a native API that makes large-scale observation effortless for smart retail, inventory management, industrial monitoring, and other applications. Currently in pilot across a national convenience store chain and assisted living facilities.
• Hellbender Tadpole Camera: The simplest way to deploy powerful computer vision applications on the edge. The Tadpole Camera offers massive AI acceleration and computational capabilities in a remarkably small footprint, designed for seamless integration into your applications, custom OEM hardware, Insurtech, and advanced security deployments.

Pre-orders begin in June 2026.

Hellbender will be showcasing its new camera line live at Automate 2026 in Chicago, June 22-25, at Booth #3425.

For more information on Hellbender’s engineering services or to pre-order the new camera line, visit hellbender.com.

About Hellbender

Hellbender is a Physical AI infrastructure company powering intelligent systems at the edge. The company builds integrated perception platforms that enable machines to see, understand, and act in real time across complex, high-variance environments. Hellbender’s platforms combine edge-native AI with proprietary, high-performance hardware to deliver production-ready intelligence for mission-critical industries, including energy, logistics, agriculture, manufacturing, and healthcare. By unifying advanced engineering, domestic manufacturing, and continuous improvement, Hellbender eliminates the fragmentation and latency of cloud-dependent architectures. All systems are designed and built in the United States, providing a secure, foundational layer for the next generation of autonomous and embedded systems.

Media Contact:
David Tusick
Chief Growth Officer
[email protected]

SOURCE Hellbender

• General Catalyst’s Customer Value Fund invests $50 million in Relay, enabling the company to accelerate customer acquisition while focusing existing investment on product innovation.
• The investment comes as Relay surpasses $1.3 billion in managed deposits and 150,000 small business customers to become the obvious banking and money management platform for self-made small businesses.
• Since Relay’s $32.2 million Series B in May, 2024, the company is on track to 3.2x its revenue by the end of 2026.

NEW YORK, May 19, 2026 — Relay (“Relay Financial Technologies, Inc.”), the small business banking¹ and money management platform, today announced a $50 million growth investment by General Catalyst. The financing marks a growth inflection point for Relay. The company now oversees more than $1.3 billion in managed customer deposits through Thread Bank, Member FDIC, and is trusted by more than 150,000 small businesses to deliver cash flow clarity at a moment when it matters for main street. Since Relay’s $32.2 million Series B in May, 2024, the company is on track to 3.2x its revenue by the end of 2026.

Small business owners today are feeling financial uncertainty from multiple directions; supply chain delays, rising fuel costs, and a tight labor market are just some of the hurdles they face. And yet, most are still managing their money—e.g., bill payments, expense-tracking, and client invoices—using fragmented legacy tools that offer poor financial visibility and slow decision-making when speed is critical. Relay’s recent financing enables the company to directly address this friction for main street. With this step forward, the company can deliver cash flow clarity to even more entrepreneurs across the U.S., and it takes its place as the modern financial command center for small businesses.

“Every dollar invested in Relay supports passionate folks who work hard to build their businesses and realize their ambitions. This investment is a vote of confidence in the true value we deliver to those self-made entrepreneurs, so they can put every dollar to work,” said Yoseph West, Co-Founder and CEO of Relay. “This investment is the spark that will ignite our brand footprint and market presence, so that we can bring cash flow clarity to even more American small businesses.”

The financing from General Catalyst’s Customer Value Fund (CVF) comes at a pivotal moment in Relay’s growth. Unlike a traditional equity fundraising round, CVF provides innovative growth financing that eliminates the growth-vs-burn tradeoff, allowing companies to accelerate while continuing to invest in exceptional products. The funds will support Relay’s growth functions to ramp up customer acquisition.

“Relay has proven its deep understanding of what small business owners actually need to succeed, with a product that clearly resonates based on the strength of its customer acquisition machine. We’re excited to help them step on the gas with CVF and enable this next phase of growth,” said Andrew Ziperski, Partner at General Catalyst, Customer Value Fund.

Relay reimagines business banking and money management with a unified financial platform enabling cash flow control, and faster, more confident decisions. Most recently, the company launched Relay Capital term loans, giving small businesses frictionless access to capital all within Relay.² The investment by General Catalyst marks the latest step on the company’s mission to equip self-made entrepreneurs with the tools they need to grow and claim a larger share of the economic value they help create.

About Relay:

Relay is digital banking built to give small business owners the tools and know-how to be great with money. By connecting accounts, cards, bills, invoices, capital, and more together in one place, Relay replaces financial guesswork with real visibility, helping owners turn cash flow from a constant source of stress into a signal they can use to run stronger, more resilient businesses.

For more information, please visit www.relayfi.com

About General Catalyst:

General Catalyst is a global investment and transformation company that partners with the world’s most ambitious entrepreneurs to drive resilience and applied AI.

We support founders with a long-term view who challenge the status quo, partnering with them from seed to growth stage and beyond.

With offices in the U.S., Europe, and India, we have supported the growth of 800+ businesses, including Airbnb, Anduril, Anthropic, Applied Intuition, Commure, Glean, Gusto, Helsing, Hubspot, Kayak, Livongo, Mistral, Ramp, Samsara, Snap, Stripe, Sword, and Zepto.

For more: www.generalcatalyst.com, @generalcatalyst

¹ Relay is a financial technology company and is not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services not related to Relay Capital term loans are provided by Thread Bank, Member FDIC.

²Relay Term Loans are provided through Fundbox. Fundbox makes capital available to business through business loans originated by Lead Bank. California businesses: Fundbox makes business loans and lines of credit loans pursuant to California Financing Law license 60DBO-48774. All loans are subject to credit approval of a completed application and applicable terms and conditions. Approval timing is based on typical experience; actual decision and funding times may vary. Financing may not be available in all states and may be subject to local restrictions where applicable.

SOURCE Relay Financial Inc.

Start-up advances mission around World Hypertension Day

SAN FRANCISCO, May 19, 2026 — Vital Signals, a health innovation company founded by technology veteran Tom Moss, today announced that it has raised over $15M in investments, led by XYZ Ventures, to support its mission to improve how people understand, engage with and manage their blood pressure and long‑term heart health.

The announcement coincides with World Hypertension Day, this year themed ‘Controlling Hypertension Together,’ highlighting the need for greater shared understanding and more proactive approaches to a condition that affects billions worldwide and remains the leading driver of serious cardiovascular outcomes. Despite its prevalence, high blood pressure is often misunderstood and addressed only after a health event occurs.

For Moss, a serial start-up entrepreneur and veteran technology leader who has shaped products at Google, Motorola, Razer and Skydio, the company’s work is deeply personal.

“High blood pressure affects more than 100 million Americans, but many people don’t realize it until it’s too late, which is why it’s called the ‘silent killer,'” said Tom Moss, CEO & Founder of Vital Signals. “After experiencing a life-threatening hypertensive crisis, I realized how little support people have to truly understand their blood pressure and what they can do to manage it. Vital Signals was built to bring clarity, convenience and control so blood pressure becomes something people can engage with confidently over time, rather than react to in moments of uncertainty.”

The investment supports Vital Signals as it brings a breakthrough technology to consumers, allowing individuals to understand their blood pressure as a critical indicator of long‑term health. Built on technical innovation and expertise, the company is advancing a new approach grounded in accuracy, insight and long‑term relevance.

“Vital Signals achieved a technological breakthrough previously assumed to be impossible,” said Ross Fubini at XYZ Ventures. “We believe it will fundamentally change how billions of people manage their long-term heart health.”

The investment marks a key milestone for Vital Signals as the company continues to build toward future developments.

About Vital Signals

Vital Signals is a health innovation company addressing one of healthcare’s most persistent challenges: how people understand and manage blood pressure over time. Founded by tech veteran Tom Moss, the company is focused on building new approaches centered on accuracy, insights and ease of use.

Contact:
Kaplow Communications
212-221-1713
[email protected]

SOURCE Vital Signals, Inc

Framework agreement with Johnson Controls outlines plans for modular data center production at dedicated factory in Arizona, expected to create more than 500 jobs

SAN FRANCISCO, May 19, 2026 — “The AI race will not be won by one-off projects,” said Dan Wright, Co-Founder and CEO of Armada. “It will be won by the companies and countries that can manufacture, deploy, and continuously improve AI infrastructure, with speed, scale and sovereignty. At Galleon Forge One, we will do what America does best: build the industrial base to win.”

Galleon Forge One will span up to 400,000 square feet, and is expected to create 500 jobs, with additional roles in the domestic supply chain. Continuous production is planned to begin in the summer and will start with Leviathan, Armada’s megawatt-scale modular data centers built for high-density AI training and inference workloads, sovereign neo-cloud, and multi-tenant compute environments.

As part of today’s announcement, Armada and Johnson Controls are unveiling a Global Framework Agreement for modular data center systems. The company is also making an investment in Armada. Johnson Controls brings deep expertise in advanced thermal management and mission-critical building systems, supported by manufacturing leadership and a global footprint that includes more than 40,000 field personnel across all key regions. This reach enables Armada to produce and deploy sovereign AI infrastructure wherever customers need it.

“Johnson Controls is working with Armada to rapidly deliver secure modular data centers at scale,” said Joakim Weidemanis, Chief Executive Officer of Johnson Controls. “Together, we have already deployed units across the United States and around the world, demonstrating the expertise and global reach required to support mission-critical environments. Johnson Controls’ differentiated technology, U.S.-based manufacturing strength and Armada’s edge computing expertise will deliver the thermal‑critical environments that perform predictably, deploy quickly, and scale with confidence.”

Armada’s Series B was co-led by Overmatch, BlackRock and 8090 Industries. It is the company’s largest round to date and heavily oversubscribed, bringing total funding to nearly half a billion dollars. New strategic investors BlackRock, Johnson Controls, NightDragon, Mitsui and Singtel Innov8 participated in the round alongside existing investors including Overmatch, 8090 Industries, Felicis, Marlinspike, Shield Capital, Lux Capital, Founders Fund, Silent Ventures, Veriten and Gladebrook.

With this raise, Armada is not just adding firepower to its balance sheet but unlocking modular data center capacity to enable organizations to achieve autonomous, AI-powered operations anywhere in the world. This ability is critical to preserving the industrial strength required to run AI at the edge, protect sensitive data, and sustain long-term operational advantage for the United States and its allies.

The company will use its Series B capital to support explosive growth, as well as new initiatives. From FY25-26 Armada recorded 540% customer bookings growth and significant interest in Leviathan. Q1 FY27 alone saw a 2000% increase in bookings growth, compared to Q1 the previous year.

Global Demand is Accelerating

Defense Edge Deployment: Armada supported an ally’s defense organization in deploying a Triton into the field in six days, demonstrating how customers can move from infrastructure need to operational capability without waiting on traditional data center construction cycles.

WinDC: WinDC selected Armada to provide the first network of portable AI factories designed to run on renewable energy that Australia’s national grid can’t absorb. As demand for real-time data processing and AI inference grows faster than centralized infrastructure supports, the customer began with a Triton and is scaling its sovereign AI infrastructure to a 10MW+ Leviathan deployment.

U.S. Navy: Armada enabled the U.S. Navy to deploy edge computing during a major multinational maritime exercise. Running mission applications including Minotaur on a Galleon aboard a communications-constrained vessel demonstrated how modular compute can support real-time decision-making, where centralized cloud infrastructure is limited or unavailable.

Aker BP: On the Norwegian Continental Shelf, Aker BP is performing building and testing, with an aim to deploy a Galleon on the Deepsea Nordkapp. Running AI models at the rig will move Aker BP and its alliance partners toward their ultimate goal of autonomous operations. Following and depending on a successful initial trial, Aker BP intends to scale AI capability across the fleet.

“At Aker BP, we are transforming how hydrocarbons are produced in the most challenging environments, and we know we cannot do it alone,” said Mads Rødsjø, VP, D&W Operations, Aker BP. “Our vision is real-time data processing, AI-ready workflows, and autonomous operations at the edge. Partnering with Armada gives us the infrastructure to make that vision a reality and scale across our fleet.”

Strategic Partnerships and Proven Deployments Drive Customer Momentum

Armada continues to expand its ecosystem and Marketplace through partnerships and collaborations with companies including Microsoft, NVIDIA, Palantir and Dell Technologies. These help customers deploy AI infrastructure faster, run workloads closer to where data is generated, and maintain control over sensitive data, models, and operations.

With dedicated Galleon manufacturing, strategic capital investments, and a growing partner ecosystem, Armada is scaling the infrastructure customers need to deploy AI across the world’s most demanding environments.

About Armada
Armada is the hyperscaler for the edge, delivering modular AI infrastructure from first deployment to AI factory with speed, scale and sovereignty. For more information, visit www.armada.ai.

Media contact: [email protected]

SOURCE Armada