QINGDAO, China, July 9, 2026 — On July 8, the 2026 Qingdao Venture Capital Conference concluded successfully at the Qingdao International Conference Center. Held under the theme “Empowering New Quality Productive Forces, Shaping a Shared Industrial Future: VC/PE Opportunities under the 15th Five-Year Plan,” the event brought together over a hundred government officials, investors from leading financial institutions and venture capital firms, entrepreneurs, and renowned scholars to discuss how long-term capital can accelerate technological innovation and industrial transformation in the opening year of China’s 15th Five-Year Plan.

Hosted by the Qingdao Municipal People’s Government, co-organized by the Office of the Financial Affairs Commission of the CPC Qingdao Municipal Committee and the Qingdao Municipal Finance Bureau, and co-sponsored by China Bridge, the one-day conference adopted a format of one plenary forum and five parallel forums, covering topics such as capital’s role in empowering new quality productive forces, blue finance, future industry ecosystems, asset revitalization, cross-border financial cooperation, and a sci-tech innovation project roadshow — where ten startups spanning AI and embodied intelligence, integrated circuits, biopharmaceuticals, new energy and low-altitude economy presented directly to investors.

At the plenary forum, a series of major launches and strategic partnerships were announced. The Qingdao Fund Industry Development Alliance and Zhongtai Capital Equity Investment Management (Shandong) Co., Ltd. were officially unveiled, while the Qingdao Municipal Government signed strategic cooperation agreements with Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, Guotai Haitong Securities and Zhongtai Securities. The “Qingdao-Hong Kong Integration, Linking the World” initiative was also launched at the plenary, bringing together the international investment banking arms of China’s five major state-owned banks to support local technology companies in accessing global capital markets and channeling long-term capital into strategic emerging and future industries. Funds under Qingdao’s “10+1″ Innovative Industry System were also signed on site, further directing patient capital toward the city’s modern industrial system.

The event also marked the release of the China Venture Capital & Private Equity Annual White Paper (2026), offering an overview of global and domestic investment trends. According to the report, global venture capital investment reached US$301 billion in the first quarter of 2026 — the highest first-quarter total in five years — with artificial intelligence accounting for more than 80% of total funding. In China, new-generation information technology, advanced manufacturing and healthcare remained the top three sectors by investment amount in H1 2026, while AI, robotics, semiconductors and integrated circuits emerged as the sub-sectors most favored by capital. The report noted that the global shift toward hard technology and the real economy is creating new opportunities for innovation-driven cities, with Qingdao’s strengths in marine technology providing a solid foundation for its future growth.

Sun Ximin, Vice Governor of Shandong Province; Ren Gang, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Qingdao Municipal Committee and Mayor of Qingdao; and Gao Tianhong, Party Committee Member and Vice President of the Asset Management Association of China (AMAC), delivered remarks at the conference. The event also featured keynote speeches by Liu Shijin, Chief Chinese Advisor of China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development and former Deputy Director of the Development Research Center of the State Council; Wang Zhongmin, former Vice Chairman of the National Council for Social Security Fund; and Wu Xiaoqiu, former Vice President of Renmin University of China and Dean of the National Academy of Financial Research.

Since its launch in 2019, the Qingdao Venture Capital Conference has evolved into one of China’s leading platforms for venture capital and private equity cooperation. As China embarks on its 15th Five-Year Plan, this year’s conference further underscores Qingdao’s commitment to attracting long-term capital, deepening the integration of technology, industry and finance, fostering a world-class innovation ecosystem, and strengthening its position as a leading hub for innovation-driven development.

SOURCE 2026 Qingdao Venture Capital Conference

HONG KONG, BEIJING and SHANGHAI, July 9, 2026 — Grace Investment Machine (“GIM”), an AI-native investment technology company building agentic systems for capital markets, today announced the close of its US$20 million Series A financing. The round was co-led by a leading US venture capital firm and Hony Capital, with participation from IDG Capital and existing investor Monolith Capital. The financing marks GIM’s third funding round within its first year of operations.

GIM is building agentic AI systems designed to go beyond assisting investment research. The company describes this approach as a “Visionary Machine”: AI systems that generate, test, and refine investment hypotheses through market data, feedback loops, and coordinated agents.

Capital markets offer a uniquely rich learning environment. Every investment hypothesis can be translated into action, and every action produces measurable feedback. Over time, this closed learning loop allows intelligent systems to sharpen judgment not by memorizing the past, but by continuously learning from the market itself.

“We believe investment AI is moving from information assistance to autonomous hypothesis generation and testing,” said Jiahao Xu, founder and CEO of GIM. “GIM is building systems that can reason across market data, evaluate signals through feedback, and improve over time in real-world capital markets.”

The company is advancing on two fronts: foundation models tailored to capital-market environments, and multi-agent systems that generate, validate, and evolve investment signals across coordinated reasoning layers. Its flagship paper, CogAlpha, was accepted to the ACL 2026 main conference with an Oral recommendation. The paper presents a seven-layer agent architecture that moves from raw data to actionable investment signals.

GIM’s broader ambition is captured in a second phrase: Shared Prosperity. As intelligence systems compound at different rates, the company believes the defining question of the next decades will be who gets to own and harness that growth. Its long-term bet is to build products — from institutional strategies to individual-accessible vehicles — that turn self-evolving intelligence into a widely held asset, rather than a concentrated advantage.

This vision has drawn support from investors with long-term conviction in both AI and capital markets. The round brings together long-term investors with experience across artificial intelligence, financial technology, and global markets. Alongside its research efforts, GIM is also bringing AI-driven strategies and investment products into live validation across multiple asset classes and markets.

SOURCE GIM（Grace Investment Machine）

• 23i brings strong content planning and production capabilities built around multi-persona virtual artists
  
• Internalized virtual content production technologies including real-time motion capture and toon shaders, enabling high-quality, high-frequency content that builds narratives together with fandoms
• NAVER D2SF continues to invest across the full spectrum of virtual technologies, exploring potential collaboration opportunities as the global virtual entertainment market grows

SEONGNAM-SI, South Korea, July 8, 2026 — NAVER D2SF, the corporate venture capital arm of NAVER, has made a new investment in 23i (CEO, Hyungmin Kim), a virtual entertainment startup. As the global virtual entertainment market continues to grow rapidly, particularly in Korea and Japan, NAVER D2SF decided to invest in the team based on its ability to create expanded entertainment IP through strong content production capabilities and an in-house technology pipeline designed to maximize the strengths of virtual artists.

For virtual artists to build lasting fandoms, they need to deliver high-quality content at a high frequency, vividly expressing their talent and personality while offering fresh fan experiences enabled by technology. To address this, 23i has developed its own virtual UX technologies, including real-time motion capture, toon shaders, quadrupedal and flying motion control systems. The company has also built an efficient production workflow that enables a small team to rapidly plan and produce new content.

Based on a deep understanding of the entertainment industry and fandom culture, 23i is developing differentiated content and narratives. Its virtual boy group WE GO-6, unveiled last year, is built around the original concept of a “multi-persona idol,” where each member expresses a distinct persona. Through this approach, the company is expanding the storytelling potential of virtual artists while deepening communication with fans.

“With this investment, we plan to strengthen our content production infrastructure and deliver content with an even higher level of quality,” said Hyungmin Kim, CEO of 23i. “By building our own technology, we aim to create fan-participatory content that has not been possible in the traditional entertainment industry.”

“Virtual entertainment is a market with strong growth potential, going beyond technical implementation to enable artists and fandoms to communicate in entirely new ways,” said Sanghwan Yang, Head of NAVER D2SF. “23i is a team boldly challenging the scalability of the virtual industry, backed by groundbreaking content planning and an excellent production workflow.” He added, “As NAVER D2SF has continued to invest across the full spectrum of virtual technologies, we will also explore potential collaboration opportunities with NAVER’s entertainment businesses and related teams such as Motion Stage.”

NAVER D2SF has consistently invested across the virtual content technology stack, including 3D engines and data, motion capture, and the creation and operation of virtual character IP. Going forward, NAVER D2SF plans to continue discovering and supporting technology startups creating new possibilities in the virtual content market.

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 D2SF, NAVER is actively developing new technologies and global partnerships to grow as a leading tech company.

To learn more, visit https://d2sf.naver.com

SOURCE NAVER D2SF

New investment will accelerate product innovation, deepen institutional partnerships, and help colleges deliver more transparent, student-centered enrollment experiences.

LOS ANGELES, July 8, 2026 — EdVisorly today announced the close of $13.3 million in a Series A financing round led by Breachway Capital, with participation from U.S. News & World Report, Lumina Foundation, Strada Education Foundation, Motley Fool Ventures, Juvo Ventures, Zeal Capital Partners, and others. This capital enables EdVisorly to support colleges and universities as they modernize admissions and enrollment operations to better serve the next generation of students.

Higher education institutions are under growing pressure to process more applications, evaluate more transfer credit, and deliver faster admissions decisions with fewer staff and tighter budgets. Yet many of these critical workflows still rely on decades-old technology or are even done by hand. At the same time, today’s learners expect a modern enrollment experience with transparency and personalized support.

EdVisorly was built to help colleges and universities meet these challenges. Its EddyAI platform automates time-intensive workflows like transcript processing and evaluation, transfer credit mapping, and GPA recalculations, allowing admissions and enrollment teams to spend less time on paperwork and more time supporting students. Institutions using the platform have reduced manual processing up to 85% while increasing admissions data processing productivity by more than 6x.

“What sets EdVisorly apart is that they show up like an actual partner and care deeply about the students. Their team has been in the weeds with ours through the EddyAI implementation, and the impact on our students and staff has been tangible and positive. We’re proud to be part of what they’re building.”

— Lawrence Walsh, Associate Director for Operations and Transfer Admissions, University of Connecticut

Today, EdVisorly partners with over 100 colleges, universities, and higher education systems across the full spectrum of American higher education, including the University of Connecticut, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, University of Massachusetts, and Carnegie Mellon University. By helping institutions reduce bottlenecks, improve staff capacity, support enrollment growth, and serve students with greater speed, accuracy, and care, EdVisorly enables enrollment teams to focus on the work that matters most.

EdVisorly was founded by Manny Smith, an Air Force veteran and officer who built technology systems for the Air Force and Space Force. As a first-generation graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy and UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, Smith experienced firsthand the transformative power of higher education and recognized that too many students face unnecessary barriers navigating college and university admissions.

“From day one, EdVisorly has been built on the belief that college and university enrollment teams play a critical role in the lives of students. As the front door to social and economic opportunity for millions of students, our partner institutions are shaping the future of our communities, one decision at a time. They deserve an innovative and values-aligned partner dedicated to driving long-term success. This Series A is EdVisorly’s commitment to our institutional partners that we’re going to keep building to elevate access, outcomes, and opportunity for the next generation of students.”

— Manny Smith, Founder & CEO, EdVisorly

The new capital will be invested in three areas that directly support institutional success: advancing product and engineering initiatives, accelerating new feature development, and expanding the experienced leadership required to serve partner colleges and universities at scale. Since March, EdVisorly has more than doubled its engineering and product teams, while hiring a new CTO and COO who bring deep experience in education and building operationally excellent technology companies.

“Higher education institutions are being asked to deliver more support, more transparency, and better outcomes for students than ever before. What impressed us about EdVisorly is not just the technology, but the company’s deep understanding of the challenges enrollment leaders face every day and its commitment to helping institutions better serve students and families. We believe EdVisorly is building an essential platform for the future of admissions and enrollment, and we’re excited to support the company in its next chapter of growth, maturity, and impact.”

— Jason Krantz, Managing Partner and Founder, Breachway Capital

A major focus of the investment will be expanding support for EdVisorly’s institutional partners. The company will grow its partner success and implementation teams, invest in dedicated onboarding and adoption resources, and build new tools and services that help institutions realize value faster. These investments are designed to ensure colleges and universities have the expertise, guidance, and support required to modernize enrollment operations with confidence.

“We sought a partner to support a vision of automation, consistency, transparency, and equity in processes and decisions, helping students, faculty, and staff. EdVisorly committed to building a future state thoughtfully and intentionally alongside us by clarifying decision-making authority and translating institutional priorities into scalable workflows. They pushed us to think differently, and we challenged them to evolve their solutions. We are both benefiting from this collaboration.”

 — Keith Gehres, Associate Vice Provost for Enrollment Innovation and Student Experience, Carnegie Mellon University

Looking ahead, EdVisorly will continue investing in the infrastructure, expertise, and product innovation required to help colleges and universities meet the evolving expectations of students and families. As institutions navigate increasing complexity, the company remains focused on a simple objective: helping enrollment teams create more capacity for students, make better decisions, and deliver an enrollment experience that reflects the value and mission of their institution.

Institutions, strategic partners, and mission-aligned organizations interested in learning more about EdVisorly can visit www.edvisorly.com or connect with the team directly.

About EdVisorly

EdVisorly understands that enrollment and admissions teams are the front door to social and economic opportunity for millions of students. The company helps higher education institutions streamline admissions and enrollment operations, advance transfer pathways, and expand capacity for student engagement and improved decision-making. By combining modern technology with deep higher education expertise, EdVisorly enables colleges and universities to deliver a more transparent, responsive, and student-centered enrollment experience. Learn more at www.edvisorly.com.

Media Contact
Charlotte Ward
[email protected]

SOURCE EdVisorly

SAN FRANCISCO, July 8, 2026 — Hostie, the AI-powered virtual concierge for restaurants, today announced a $12 million Series A funding round led by Obvious Ventures, with participation from Gradient, Scribble Ventures, Burst Capital, and Behind Genius Ventures, bringing total funding to $16 million. The round also includes investments from leading restaurant operators Tim Stannard of Bacchus Management Group and Stuart Brioza, Nicole Krasinski, and Elizabeth DePalmer of Atomic Workshop, underscoring Hostie’s growing role in modern restaurant operations.

The funding follows a year of rapid growth in which Hostie increased revenue 10x, expanded to hundreds of restaurant partners nationwide, and helped operators manage more than 2 million guest conversations and 24 million messages, book over 400,000 covers, and support more than 50,000 private event inquiries. The company is advised by Thomas Layton, former CEO of OpenTable; Mike Dodson, former SVP of Sales at OpenTable and Resy board member; and Mike Stoppelman, former VP of Engineering at Yelp.

Since launching, Hostie has become a trusted virtual concierge for hundreds of restaurants and hospitality groups nationwide, including Flour + Water Hospitality Group, Riviera Dining Group, Bacchus Management Group, Cactus Club Cafe, Cunningham Restaurant Group, Merchants Hospitality, State Bird Provisions, Wayfare Tavern, Mirra, and The Progress. The platform helps operators manage calls, texts, reservations, takeout inquiries, private events, and guest questions while delivering a seamless guest experience and freeing teams to focus on in-person hospitality.

“At Back to Back, I saw firsthand how difficult it became for restaurant teams to keep up with the growing volume of guest communication while still delivering great hospitality,” said Randall Hom, co-founder and CEO of Hostie and co-owner of Back to Back in San Francisco. “Restaurants are being asked to manage more calls, texts, reservations, takeout, and guest questions than ever before. We built Hostie to help teams keep up with that demand while staying focused on the people in front of them.”

“Hospitality is one of the most operationally complex industries in the world, and Hostie understands that deeply,” said Kahini Shah, Partner at Obvious Ventures. “Randall and Brendan are building an essential platform for restaurants at a time when operators are being asked to do more with less. What stood out to us was the team’s deep hospitality expertise, the product’s quality, and the clear market demand. Hostie has built the most thoughtful and intuitive AI solution in the category, and we’re excited to support the company’s next phase of growth.”

“I first discovered Hostie when I called Flour + Water to say I was running late for a reservation, and the experience was so seamless I immediately wanted to know what was powering it,” said Andrew Brackin, Partner at Gradient. “What Randall and Brendan have built is best-in-class technology grounded in a deep understanding of hospitality. From the beginning, operators weren’t just using the product; they were helping shape it. That combination of exceptional product and customer obsession is incredibly rare. We believe AI will transform how restaurants engage with guests, and Hostie is leading that transformation.”

With the new funding, Hostie plans to accelerate product development and grow its leadership team, including recent additions Jeff Jones, a former OpenTable executive, as Head of Sales, and Hayley Foppiani, formerly of BentoBox, as Head of Marketing. The investment also accelerates Hostie’s broader vision of transforming how restaurants connect with their guests at every touchpoint, across every channel.

About Hostie
Hostie is the AI-powered Virtual Concierge for restaurants, helping operators manage calls, texts, reservations, takeout orders, private event inquiries, and guest communications while keeping hospitality at the center of the experience. Headquartered in San Francisco, Hostie partners with independent restaurants, hospitality groups, and enterprise restaurant brands across the country.

Learn more at Hostie.ai or follow on Instagram.

Media Contact:
Hayley Foppiani
[email protected]

SOURCE Hostie AI

The company reached profitability in 2025 and is projected to generate $500 million in gross healthcare system savings while tripling its patient base from 2024 through the end of 2026.

NEW YORK, July 8, 2026 — Pearl Health, a healthcare technology company helping manage risk and deliver better care to Medicare patients, today announced a $110 million capital raise, comprised of equity investment led by Andreessen Horowitz with participation from Viking Global Investors, AlleyCorp, Ulysses Capital, and a debt facility led by Trinity Capital. The new capital will expand Pearl’s AI platform, turning clinical intelligence into measurable outcomes, and accelerate its growth across enterprise health system and payer partnerships, its expansion into Medicare Advantage, and new risk offerings.

More than 70 million people today rely on Medicare, with costs exceeding $1 trillion and climbing. Across healthcare, reimbursement is increasingly tied to outcomes rather than utilization, creating powerful incentives for providers to prevent avoidable illness, intervene earlier, and manage patient populations. As healthcare shifts from reactive treatment to preventative care, demand is accelerating for technologies that enable providers to succeed in this new model.

“Pearl was founded on a simple belief: healthcare should reward keeping people healthy, not just treating them when they are sick,” said Michael Kopko, co-founder and CEO of Pearl Health. “Unnecessary costs and poor outcomes persist in US healthcare because most providers lack the capabilities to shift to outcomes-based care alone. With this financing, we are investing in accelerated innovation and growth to expand our impact across the healthcare system.”

“Pearl has demonstrated that managing risk across large patient populations across many different settings of care can improve patient outcomes, generate meaningful savings, and support a sustainable business model at scale,” said Vineeta Agarwala, MD, general partner at Andreessen Horowitz. “Pearl’s ability to enable providers to participate in value-based payment p”rograms successfully – and to do so through technology, rather than clinical workforce expansion – is a testament to both the vision and execution of the Pearl team.”

“We believe Pearl Health is changing how providers participate in value-based care, simplifying the data and daily workflow so they can spend more of their time and attention on their patients,” said Phil Gager, Senior Managing Director, Tech Lending at Trinity Capital. “We are proud to support this team and what they are building as they enter their next stage of growth.”

Pearl’s AI platform helps providers across the country manage and predict risk, orchestrate workflows, and automate action before issues become costly emergencies. Pearl’s continued expansion of Performance Intelligence will empower population health leaders and care teams with AI-driven, chat-enabled expertise focused on their unique patients and opportunities – delivering real-time insights on total cost of care, quality, and utilization patterns to surface the highest-impact actions. Pearl is also advancing development of Care Orchestration AI agents to further automate administrative workflows such as annual wellness visit scheduling, post-discharge follow-ups, and care management outreach, freeing clinicians to spend more time on patient care.

Pearl supports a network of more than 10,000 providers, including health systems like University of Vermont Health and MDX Hawaii, across over 40 states, caring for over 250,000 Medicare beneficiaries. The company manages approximately $3.6 billion in annualized medical spend, up from $2.4 billion the prior year and $1.6 billion the year before that. Pearl is projected to deliver $500 million in gross savings and triple its patient base from 2024 through the end of 2026. The company reached profitability in 2025 – a milestone few in this space have achieved while maintaining aggressive growth. 

The new raise includes a $50 million equity round and a $60 million credit facility, which will power the next phase of the company’s growth, bringing its intelligent risk management model to more providers, more patients, and new segments of the Medicare market.

About Pearl Health
Pearl Health enables clinicians and care organizations to deliver smarter, more affordable care outcomes through AI-powered predictive insights, financial risk modeling, and streamlined workflows. The company is building the platform for healthcare outcomes, identifying at-risk patients so providers can intervene before issues become emergencies. Founded in 2020, Pearl supports a network of over 10,000 providers and leading health systems across more than 40 states. Learn more at pearlhealth.com.

About Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)
a16z invests in seed to venture to growth-stage technology companies across AI, bio + healthcare, consumer, crypto, enterprise, fintech, games, infrastructure, and companies building toward American dynamism. We believe the future belongs to builders, and our job is to make sure they have what they need to build it. 

About Trinity Capital Inc.
Trinity Capital Inc. (Nasdaq: TRIN) is an international alternative asset manager that seeks to deliver consistent returns for investors through access to private credit markets. Trinity Capital sources and structures investments in well-capitalized growth-oriented companies across five distinct lending verticals: Sponsor Finance, Equipment Finance, Tech Lending, Asset Based Lending, and Healthcare & Life Sciences. As a long-term, trusted partner for innovative companies seeking tailored debt solutions, Trinity Capital has deployed more than $5.7 billion across over 470 investments since inception in 2008 (as of March 31, 2026). Headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, Trinity Capital’s dedicated team is strategically located across the United States and Europe. For more information on Trinity Capital, please visit trinitycapital.com and stay connected to the latest activity via LinkedIn.

Notifications

These Materials contain forward-looking statements that relate to, without limitation, future financial performance, business strategy, projected growth, market opportunities, operational plans, anticipated regulatory developments, competitive position, and other similar matters. These statements can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “may,” “will,” “expect,” “intend,” “estimate,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “seek,” “project,” “plan,” “potential,” “preliminary,” “possible,” or similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, estimates, forecasts, and projections about the business of Pearl Health, Inc. and its affiliates (collectively, “Pearl”), the healthcare industry, and general economic conditions. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve significant risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Financial projections contained in the Materials are inherently uncertain and speculative in nature and should not be relied upon as necessarily being indicative of future results. The assumptions underlying these projections may prove to be inaccurate, and actual results may vary significantly from projected results. Pearl Health has not independently verified and does not warrant the accuracy or completeness of any third-party data or market research referenced herein.

The Materials are for informational purposes only and do not constitute an offer to buy or sell any securities of Pearl.  Any offer or sale of securities will be made only through definitive offering documents, which will contain material information not contained herein and which will supersede these Materials in their entirety. The Materials should not be construed as investment, legal, tax, or financial advice. Pearl Health undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, projections or other aspects of the Materials, whether as a result of new information, future events, changed circumstances, or otherwise, except as may be required by applicable securities laws. 

Media Contact
Ksenia Kulik, Interdependence
(919) 349-3786
[email protected]

SOURCE Pearl Health

Backed by Leading Investors Including B Capital, Redpoint Ace, Goodwater Capital, and DCM, Kaon’s Berkeley-Educated Founders are Outpacing Big Tech in Building a Vertically Integrated AI Entertainment Empire.

SAN FRANCISCO, July 8, 2026 — Kaon AI, a generative AI platform and research lab pioneering the next era of interactive entertainment, today announced it has closed a Series B round to advance what is quickly becoming one of the most engaging generative AI content experiences. Backed by marquee tech and consumer investors, including B Capital, Redpoint Ace, Goodwater Capital, and DCM, the capital milestone validates an up-and-coming, Berkeley-educated founding team quietly re-architecting how millions of everyday users consume digital media.

While Big Tech races to automate the workplace, Kaon AI is capturing the most valuable commodity of the generative era: attention. The future of entertainment lies in long-horizon, hyper-personalized consumer content: a shift Kaon has capitalized on to build an AI-native ecosystem that is currently generating an eight-figure ARR. Led by CEO Jay Dang, CTO Alex Xi, and COO Lifan Wang, the company’s flagship consumer product, Emochi, already commands an average daily session time of 150 minutes among more than two million daily active users. By treating deep computer science as a vehicle for mainstream culture, Kaon is achieving sustained user engagement metrics that are simply out of reach for most general-purpose AI startups today.

The Founders Rewriting the Economics of Trillion-Token Media
Traditional media is losing its audience. As AI drives the cost of content production toward zero, Kaon’s Berkeley-bred founding team saw a different problem worth solving: not how to make more content, but how to make content that actually responds to the person consuming it, turning passive viewers into co-creators powered by AI

By focusing on content generation rather than distribution, Kaon inverts the legacy media model. Instead of matching a user to an existing video or story, Kaon’s proprietary architecture serves as a “customization engine” that writes, illustrates, and evolves immersive multimedia narratives frame-by-frame based on real-time human behavior.

To make this vision economically viable, the technical team is building a custom full-stack inference infrastructure that manages more than a thousand GPUs across dedicated partners like Nebius and DigitalOcean. The result is an operation that processes trillion-level daily token volumes at roughly 10x lower cost than a legacy cloud structure.

“We believe interactive AI entertainment is emerging as the next distinct consumer category,” said Daisy Cai, General Partner, B Capital. “Kaon stands out because Jay, Alex, and Lifan have built a full-stack powerhouse that owns its data pipeline from the ground up. That level of integration creates a compounding advantage in performance, data, and product iteration that is difficult to replicate, and we are excited to support the Kaon team as they help define this new category.”

The Strategy Bridging Deep Computer Science and Mainstream Digital Culture
As model access commoditizes, Kaon’s founders’ insistence on a token-to-application structure has become a compounding competitive advantage. While most competing platforms rely on a partner-oriented open structure, the founding trio controls the entire ecosystem end-to-end, ranging from front-end consumer interactions and token economies to core inference infrastructure. This autonomy turns what is typically a massive operational bottleneck for startups into a highly defensible, low-cost moat.

This token-to-application ownership also shapes the team’s approach to AI research. Their new research arm, Kaon Labs, will leverage Kaon’s hyper-engaged, millions-strong consumer base as its live scientific sandbox, enabling rapidly iterative models to be brought to market in days, rather than months.

“Every streaming platform today recommends what could be your next favorite show from a long list of preset options. In the generative AI era, though, this finite catalog is poised to become the ‘Blockbuster’ of the 2020s,” added Jay Dang. “At Kaon, we’re building a new type of content engine to create individualized narratives that truly resonate, moving the industry past static text prompts and into real-time multimedia.”

Scaling the San Mateo R&D Footprint for Personalized Content Generation
With deep roots in the Bay Area research community and at its founders’ alma mater, UC Berkeley, Kaon Labs is actively in discussions with academic advisors, collaborators, and other top-tier research talent as they look to expand to a new R&D hub in San Mateo. For more information on Kaon Labs, including initial research documentation, technical pillars, and the core mission statement, visit kaonlabs.com.

About Kaon AI
Kaon AI is building the customization engine for AI-native entertainment. Moving beyond the era of static recommendations, Kaon AI uses real-world user behavior to generate personalized stories, characters, and video experiences in real-time. Headquartered in San Mateo, Kaon AI powers a global ecosystem of creators and consumers through its flagship products FlowGPT, Emochi, Tickle, and Branches. For more information, visit www.kaon.io.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Michael McKay
(406) 369-2093
[email protected]

SOURCE Kaon AI

Mercury Fund and Lockheed Martin Ventures back Houston-built, hypersonic-enabling rotating detonation rocket engine technology for American defense and aerospace

HOUSTON, July 8, 2026 — After completing the world’s first successful flight test of a high-thrust rotating detonation rocket engine (RDRE) in May 2025, Venus Aerospace today announced the close of a $91 million Series B financing led by Mercury Fund, a Houston-based venture capital firm, with participation from Lockheed Martin Ventures, MESH, PEAK6, Draper Associates, Starboard Star Venture Capital, Green Sands Equity and other new and existing strategic and institutional investors.

The round will fund Venus as it scales development and production, moving its RDRE propulsion system from successful flight demonstration toward deployment for a range of near-term defense and space applications. Current systems struggle to meet customer requirements for range, performance and domestic production. Venus is building to close that gap.

The announcement follows the recent appointment of Pam Melroy, former NASA Deputy Administrator, to Venus’ board of directors.

Unlike conventional rocket engines, which burn fuel through subsonic combustion, Venus’ RDRE employs a continuous supersonic detonation wave that rotates around the combustion chamber. The result is the most efficient rocket engine architecture ever flown, by a margin of 15 percent. This efficiency gain can translate into extended range, increased payload flexibility, and more capable systems across defense and space missions where performance margins are critical.

Built from 3D-printed components and standard materials, the RDRE is designed for domestic manufacturing at scale through accessible supply chains, reducing reliance on constrained or foreign-sourced parts. The engine is reusable and throttleable, with a wide range of mission applications, from munitions and space launch to orbital transfer and landers. Rather than developing a different engine for each application, Venus is building a common propulsion architecture intended to serve across multiple mission classes.

Demand for hypersonic and long-range capability is accelerating as the U.S. and its allies move to field systems that can reach farther and fly faster than legacy platforms allow. Venus is building its engines in Texas with American engineering talent for customers whose missions depend on reliable, sovereign propulsion capability.

“This financing marks an important step in moving Venus from breakthrough demonstration to scaled capability,” said Sassie Duggleby, co-founder and CEO of Venus Aerospace. “Our customers need propulsion systems that go farther, can be produced reliably and are built on supply chains they can trust. We are advancing that capability with American engineering and manufacturing talent to strengthen U.S. defense, expand space access and support the future of high-speed flight.”

“Venus is exactly the kind of company Houston capital should be backing,” said Blair Garrou, co-founder and Managing Partner at Mercury Fund. “It combines multiple frontier technologies, domestic manufacturing and clear commercial and national security relevance. We believe this team is positioned to lead an important new chapter in defense and space, and we are proud to support a company building breakthrough technology here in Texas.”

“Lockheed Martin Ventures invests in technologies to help increase mission effectiveness,” said Chris Moran, vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin Ventures. “Since our initial investment, Venus has progressed very quickly in its technology development. Our reinvestment in Venus recognizes Venus’ accomplishments to date and focus on speed to manufacture, cost management and reduction of supply chain constraints. Venus is working effectively to position its propulsion system for the production scale required by defense programs.”

“This capital allows us to move from successful flight demonstration toward deployable propulsion systems,” said Andrew Duggleby, co-founder and CTO of Venus Aerospace. “What differentiates our RDRE is not just that it works, but that it has flown at high thrust and was designed with scale, manufacturability and mission integration in mind. Our propulsion architecture combines efficiency, throttling, reusability and manufacturability in a way that customers need for real defense and space missions. We are focused on translating technical progress into reliable systems for operational use.”

Venus conducted the world’s first flight test of a high-thrust rotating detonation engine in May 2025, reaching that milestone in just over four years on $80 million in capital, one of the fastest and most capital-efficient engine development efforts of its kind.

About Venus Aerospace:

Venus Aerospace is building next-generation propulsion systems for defense, space, and future high-speed flight. Founded in 2020 and headquartered in Houston, Texas, Venus is developing flight-proven Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine (RDRE) technology designed to deliver greater efficiency, range, and scalability for defense and space missions. Venus’ propulsion systems are designed for domestic manufacturing and mission flexibility across national security and aerospace applications. Venus is backed by Mercury Fund, Lockheed Martin Ventures, Prime Movers Lab, Airbus Ventures, Trousdale Ventures and others. To learn more, visit www.venusaero.com.

Media Contact:

Sarah Boland Heine
Head of Communications
[email protected]
502-471-6186

SOURCE Venus Aerospace

By transforming the GTM stack, Alta’s AI team brings a learning curve managers can only dream about

TEL AVIV, Israel, July 8, 2026 — Alta, the AI System of Actions for go-to-market teams, today announced $25 million in Series A funding. The round was led by IN Venture, with participation from Mindset Ventures, Skywell Capital, LeumiTech77 and existing investors Entrée Capital, Target Global, and Verissimo Ventures, along with prominent angel investors and scout funds.

Alta will use the funding to accelerate growth by expanding its team globally, growing its customer base, and enhancing the platform – adding new data, CRM, and advertising integrations, as well as introducing agents for account management and cross-selling.

Alta hit its first million in revenue within months of commercializing and is on track for 800% revenue growth this year. Its platform is already being used by Snowflake, Deel, Atlassian, and Atoms, as well as hundreds of businesses, from Fortune 500 companies to SMBs.

For decades, GTM has run on “systems of record”: CRMs and data warehouses storing information until a human acts on it and dozens of disjointed tools that don’t communicate.  As companies increasingly implement AI, the industry has bet on AI agents as point solutions for automating outbound or inbound GTM at scale. The results, however, often fall short, and can even exacerbate problems by scaling broken playbooks. Even though AI allows teams to generate more activity, pipelines remain flat, lead quality has fallen, and reply rates have dropped as buyers’ inboxes are filled with generic, monotonous, AI-generated outreach.

Industry leaders like Salesforce and HubSpot have introduced agent-enablement layers through APIs, MCP tools, and CLI interfaces, underscoring a broader race to add intelligence to systems originally designed for data storage and workflow management. But retrofitting intelligence onto legacy architectures is fundamentally different from building an intelligence-native platform from the ground up – one that understands business context, orchestrates every customer and operational touchpoint, and continuously compounds value through real-world outcomes. Recognizing this need, Alta designed and built its solutions.

Alta tackles the challenge of deploying AI agents by first building a “Company Brain” that serves as a centralized intelligence layer that maps exactly how a business’s GTM engine works. Instead of relying on a fragmented stack of disconnected software, Alta replaces them with a single, coordinated network of AI agents that learn from every action. Powered by this shared “Brain” and fueled by more than 50 data sources and hundreds of buying signals, these agents orchestrate and act on existing systems of record, collaborating and evolving as a single unit with every single interaction. The platform partners with Salesforce, HubSpot, IBM, and Google, and connects to 60+ GTM tools, including Attio and Clay, enabling Alta to run on top of the stack teams already in use rather than locking them into a closed box.

“Before the cloud, every company building software racked and maintained its own servers,” said Stav Levi-Neumark, CEO and Co-founder of Alta. “We’re doing for go-to-market what AWS did for infrastructure and the cloud: transforming a stack of cobbled-together tools that never communicated into one system that simply runs well, learns, and drives revenue pipelines and sales.”

“The market spent three years adding tools to the sales stack. The team at Alta went the other way and built the intelligence layer the whole stack was missing,” said Eitan Naor, Managing Partner at IN Venture (Member of Sumitomo Corporation’s Venture Group). “Alta isn’t competing in a category — it’s defining one. That’s why we wanted to lead this round, and why we’re excited to introduce Alta to Japan and Southeast Asia, backed by Sumitomo’s global reach.”

“Having worked closely with Stav at monday.com, I knew firsthand her rare ability to turn complex data into explosive growth,” said Avi Eyal, Managing Partner at Entrée Capital. The Alta team is not just building another AI feature; they are fundamentally redefining GTM architecture. Watching them scale from inception to this milestone proves that the market is starving for a single, intelligent system of action.”

About Alta

Alta is the AI System of Actions for go-to-market. We run your GTM, replacing the fragmented sales stack with coordinated AI agents that share one Company Brain and compound with every interaction. Founded in 2023 by Stav Levi-Neumark and Tom Hoffen, both ex-monday.com, and serial entrepreneur Mor Shabtai, Alta handles prospecting, research, multi-channel outbound, inbound qualification, AI calling, and continuous optimization. Alta hit its first million in revenue within months of commercializing and is on track for 800% revenue growth this year. Its customers include revenue teams at Snowflake, Deel, Atlassian, Atoms, Riverside, and Sabio Group. Learn more at altahq.com.

Contact:

Rebecca Ash
[email protected]

SOURCE Alta