Bullen’s Autonomous Process Optimization initiative with Phenx uses machine learning and digital twin modeling to improve manufacturing performance

EATON, Ohio, Aug. 12, 2026 — Bullen Ultrasonics, a leader in precision machining of advanced ceramics, glass and specialty materials using proprietary ultrasonic and laser-based technologies, today announced it has received a $23,100 grant through the Ohio Smart Manufacturing Program to support its Autonomous Process Optimization initiative, which applies artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to improve manufacturing operations. Bullen is working with industrial AI engineering company Phenx on the initiative. The companies will analyze approximately 2 billion data points collected from Bullen’s customized manufacturing equipment to identify opportunities to improve process stability, efficiency and consistency.

“For several years, we have invested in the infrastructure needed to capture, organize and understand the data generated by our equipment because we believed it would eventually help us make better manufacturing decisions,” said Tim Beatty, president of Bullen Ultrasonics. “This grant allows us to turn that foundation into an actionable capability. We are applying AI to a specific manufacturing challenge with the potential to improve the value we deliver to our customers.”

The project began with an analysis of Bullen’s historical production data. Following encouraging initial findings, Phenx developed a digital twin, or virtual model, of the targeted manufacturing process.

The digital twin allows Bullen and Phenx to test different algorithms and process adjustments using actual production data before introducing changes on the manufacturing floor. The current phase is focused on validating the optimization algorithm within the digital twin. Once that work is completed, Bullen plans to pilot the algorithm on one of its machines and evaluate its performance during an extended prove-out period.

“Bullen had already completed much of the difficult foundational work required for a successful industrial AI project, including collecting high-quality data and developing deep knowledge of its custom machines and processes,” said Saurabh Sarkar, founder and CEO of Phenx. “By combining that foundation with advanced modeling and machine learning, we can identify patterns that would be extremely difficult to isolate manually and safely test optimization strategies in a digital environment before moving them into production.”

If successful, the project could help Bullen reduce process variation, shorten production cycles and improve the predictability and consistency of its manufacturing operations. It could also establish a framework for applying similar AI-driven modeling and optimization capabilities to other manufacturing processes in the future.

The grant supports the project’s initial phases. Bullen is investing additional resources in continued development, hardware integration, production testing and long-term validation.

The Ohio Smart Manufacturing Program helps small and medium-sized manufacturers adopt advanced digital technologies to improve operational efficiency, productivity and competitiveness. The program is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s State Manufacturing Leadership Program and led in Ohio by the Ohio Department of Development. The University of Dayton Research Institute (UDRI) supported Bullen’s participation by conducting technical discovery and helping prepare the project for state approval.

“UDRI is a key subrecipient supporting the Ohio Smart Manufacturing Program, providing technical project assessment and financial support to help companies like Bullen accelerate the adoption of digital technologies,” said Mark McCormick, senior business development lead of the University of Dayton Research Institute. “Bullen’s initiative is a strong example of how manufacturers can apply AI and machine learning to a clearly defined operational challenge with the potential to improve manufacturing performance and deliver measurable business value.”

Bullen views the initiative as part of a broader strategy to combine the expertise of its engineers, machinists and manufacturing professionals with emerging technology. The company intends to use AI to support human decision-making, accelerate problem-solving and expand its precision manufacturing capabilities.

To learn more about Bullen’s approach to AI adoption and the foundation it is building for Industry 4.0, read “AI Integration in Manufacturing: Building the Foundation for Industry 4.0” on the Bullen website.

About Bullen Ultrasonics
Bullen Ultrasonics is a global leader in the precision machining of advanced ceramics, glass and specialty materials using proprietary ultrasonic and laser-based technologies. Its non-thermal processes enable micron-level accuracy and reduce the risk of microcracks, contamination or structural damage, supporting the production of intricate features in components used across high-performance applications. Bullen’s vertically-integrated operations include in-house tool design and custom automation, which help streamline production from prototype through high-volume manufacturing. The company holds numerous certifications, including ISO 9001, AS9100 and ITAR, reflecting its alignment with quality and traceability standards in the aerospace, defense, automotive, medical and semiconductor and MEMs industries. Founded in 1971 and with more than 50 years of experience, Bullen is recognized for its engineering responsiveness and ability to deliver consistent results in regulated, high-stakes manufacturing environments. Learn more at https://www.bullentech.com.

About Phenx
Phenx is an industrial AI engineering company that helps manufacturers apply machine learning, digital twins, and process optimization to complex production environments. Phenx develops practical AI systems that combine operational data with domain expertise to improve process stability, efficiency, and decision-making. Learn more at www.phenx.ai.

Media contact:
Michael Tebo
Gabriel Marketing Group (for Bullen Ultrasonics)
Phone: 571-835-8775
Email: [email protected] 

SOURCE Bullen Ultrasonics

Funding to accelerate the iteration of the proprietary AI-driven ExCEED platform and advance global clinical development of differentiated pipelines, including a second-generation Menin inhibitor and a novel ophthalmic therapy.

CHENGDU, China, Aug. 12, 2026 — Beyang Therapeutics Co., Ltd. (“Beyang”), an AI-driven innovative drug R&D company dedicated to building a “DreamWorks” for innovative drug discovery, today announced the successful closing of an oversubscribed Series A financing round, raising nearly $30 million.

The round was co-led by Legend Capital and Shanghai Healthcare Capital, with participation from China Medical System Holdings Limited (“CMS”), Fenglei Capital, Shanghai Sci-Tech Innovation Center Capital, and Harbor & Canton Capital. Existing investors Root Venture Partners and YuanBio Venture Capital also continued to support this round.

The proceeds will be primarily utilized to accelerate the technological iteration of Beyang’s core AI + Molecular Design and Optimization platform (ExCEED), advance key pipeline candidates through clinical and pre-clinical development, and further expand its international R&D and business development teams.

Validated AI Platform Driving Differentiated Innovation

Founded in 2021, Beyang Therapeutics is led by a team with over two decades of experience in both drug discovery and computational simulation. The company has successfully established the ExCEED platform, which integrates proprietary databases with AI and computational simulation technologies across molecular design, druggability optimization, and biological evaluation. The platform’s precision and stability were recently validated internationally, ranking 8th globally among over 350 participants in the OpenADMET blind prediction challenge.

The ExCEED platform empowers Beyang to generate entirely novel scaffolds—not merely variations on existing cores—enabling it to break through structural homogeneity and secure meaningful differentiation in clinical and pre-clinical studies.

Pipeline Highlights: Addressing Unmet Clinical Needs with Differentiated Advantages

• BT01001: Pioneering Non-Invasive Drug Delivery for Fundus Oculi Diseases.

BT01001 is a small-molecule eye drop designed to treat retinal diseases. In pre-clinical head-to-head studies, it demonstrated best-in-class exposure in ocular tissues, with efficacy comparable to intravitreal injections of Aflibercept. The project has successfully completed Phase I SAD and MAD studies, showing excellent safety and tolerability in healthy subjects. Beyang is now advancing toward First-in-Patient trials, aiming to offer a safer, non-invasive alternative for ocular fundus diseases.

• BT01002: First-in-Class Second-Generation Menin Inhibitor to Overcome Resistance.

BT01002 is a second-generation Menin inhibitor for KMT2Ar or NPM1 mutated acute leukemia. While first-generation inhibitors often face acquired resistance mutations, BT01002’s innovative molecular design successfully overcomes all known resistance mechanisms. Currently undergoing IND-enabling studies, the project is advancing at a globally leading pace.

“We are grateful for the strong recognition from our Series A investors. The oversubscribed financing validates the value of our ExCEED platform and our differentiated pipeline, “said Qiyue Hu, Founder of Beyang. “As our platform continues to deliver Best-in-Class potential, we are not only accelerating our proprietary pipeline but also actively seeking external collaborations to deliver high-value innovative drugs to patients and partners worldwide.”

“We observe that AI Drug Discovery (AIDD) is entering a 2.0 era characterized by vertical integration. Beyang’s team combines deep industry experience with computational expertise, establishing a distinct moat with the ExCEED platform, “said Fei Qi, Executive Director at Legend Capital. “The platform’s ability to cover the full value chain—from de novo scaffold discovery to biological optimization—has been verified by experimental data, proving its capacity to continuously incubate high-potential candidates. “

Qiushan Guo, President of Shanghai Healthcare Capital, added, “Beyang has generated highly differentiated molecules across multiple disease areas. We are particularly impressed by their next-generation Menin inhibitor, which addresses resistance issues through novel scaffold design, and their ophthalmic delivery platform that overcomes the limitations of invasive administration. We look forward to seeing Beyang leverage its platform strength to produce assets with strong global competitiveness.”

About Beyang Therapeutics

Beyang Therapeutics is an AI-driven innovative drug R&D company, aiming to become the “DreamWorks” in the field of innovative Drug Discovery. The company focuses on the development of drugs with clear mechanisms of action (MOA) and high potential for clinical translation, in the areas with unmet medical needs. Based on its proprietary ExCEED platform (molecular design, druggability assessment, and biological research), Beyang boasts industry-leading preclinical pipeline conversion rates. The core team comprises experienced scientists from leading pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer, Merck, and Hengrui. They have participated in the R&D of three globally-launched small molecule drugs and successfully advanced over 10 projects into clinical trials. With strict target selection standards and an “AI + experience-driven” model, the company is actively deploying in high-potential fields, accelerating the development of effective drugs to address unmet patient needs while maximizing commercial value. For more information, please visit www.beyangtx.com.

About Legend Capital
Founded in 2001, Legend Capital is a leading early-stage and growth equity investor in China. With a strong focus on healthcare, it has backed numerous industry leaders, including Pharmaron, WuXi AppTec, WuXi Biologics, and Innovent Biologics.

About Shanghai Healthcare Capital
Shanghai Healthcare Capital is a specialized investment management platform under Shanghai Industrial Capital, managing a multi-currency, full-lifecycle fund matrix in the biomedical sector to support the innovation and development of the global biopharmaceutical industry.

Contact:
Minghui Tong, PhD
Beyang Therapeutics
[email protected] 
+86-13265738517

SOURCE Beyang Therapeutics Co., Ltd.

HELSINKI, Aug. 12, 2026 — STRGY AI Oy, the Helsinki-based startup building StrategyOS, today announced it has raised €1M in angel funding, backed by a private investor base spanning the UK, Norway, Switzerland, and Finland, with additional equity participation from Innovestor’s Angel CoFund and non-dilutive support from Business Finland.

The round reflects a deliberately international investor base from day one – a signal, the company says, of how broadly the shift toward AI-native strategy execution resonates across Northern and Western Europe.

The investment will be used to ramp up the commercial side of the business, invest in product development, and fuel growth.

StrategyOS is an AI-powered strategy execution platform that helps organizations turn strategy into daily, trackable action. Instead of static plans and one-off reporting cycles, StrategyOS gives leadership teams an always-on view of how work across the organization connects to strategic priorities – flagging drift early, automating board-ready reporting, and keeping teams aligned even during the busiest periods. The platform serves Chiefs of Staff, Heads of Strategy, and COOs at mid-market organizations who need clear, continuous visibility into whether execution is actually moving the business toward its goals. StrategyOS is already in use with early customers across consumer brands and private equity-backed companies, with additional enterprise deployments in progress.

“Most companies have a strategy. Very few have a way to know, day to day, whether their teams are actually executing on it. That’s the gap we built StrategyOS to close – giving leadership teams an always-on view of execution, instead of finding out weeks or months later that priorities have drifted,” said Samuli Bäck, Co-founder & CEO of STRGY AI.

The round’s investors include Maryne Lemvik, whose executive and board experience led her to invest after testing and evaluating StrategyOS firsthand.

“Having led international businesses and served on several boards, I’ve seen that strategy execution is often the weakest link, while leadership teams spend far too much time pulling together information for board reporting. What convinced me about STRGY is its ability to turn strategy into a continuous management discipline rather than a periodic exercise. That has the potential to significantly improve how leadership teams and boards make decisions. That’s the kind of company I want to support,” she said.

STRGY’s founding team includes Co-founder & CEO Samuli Bäck and co-founder Anton Skarp, alongside Head of Agentic Systems Oskari Listomaa and Head of Agentic Design Niko Savander.

STRGY plans to grow its commercial team, deepen its enterprise customer relationships, and prepare for further product launches later this year.

About STRGY AI

STRGY AI is a Helsinki-based startup building StrategyOS, an AI-powered platform that gives leadership teams an always-on view of strategy execution – connecting daily work to strategic priorities, flagging drift early, and automating board-ready reporting. StrategyOS serves Chiefs of Staff, Heads of Strategy, and COOs at mid-market companies across Europe. Learn more about STRGY at www.strgy.com.

Media Contact

Samuli Bäck
Co-founder & CEO
[email protected]
+358 40 550 9897

SOURCE STRGY AI

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 11, 2026 — Kruze Consulting, a leading accounting and finance firm serving venture-backed startups, today released its 2026 C-Suite Salary Guide, a benchmarking report on CEO, CTO, and COO cash compensation drawn from actual payroll records rather than self-reported surveys. The findings challenge a common assumption in startup compensation planning: That the CEO is always the highest-paid executive.

The study focuses solely on base salary, not equity compensation like stock options or restricted stock units.

According to the report, startup CEOs, CTOs, and COOs each earn an average of roughly $165,000 to $167,000 in overall cash salary. But that convergence masks a striking pattern beneath the surface: The highest-paid role changes as companies mature.

CTOs command the top average salary at the Seed stage, at $155,000, reflecting fierce competition for scarce technical talent. The average salary at Seed for CEOs is $135,000, while COOs earn an average of $144,000.

By Series B, however, COOs overtake both CEOs and CTOs, reaching average salaries of $246,000 at Series B. In comparison, CEOs earn an average of $216,000, and CTOs earn an average of $238,000 at Series B. This shows boards pay a premium for experienced operators who can scale day-to-day execution.

“The data shows compensation planning can’t be a flat rule applied across the leadership team,” said Vanessa Kruze, CPA, Founder and CEO of Kruze Consulting. “Founders and boards need a stage-specific and role-specific view of pay, because the executive who commands the top salary at Seed is often not the same one commanding it by Series B.”

Key findings from the report include:
 

• Convergent averages, divergent stories: CEO, CTO, and COO cash pay each average close to $165,000-$167,000 overall, but the roles reach that figure through very different trajectories by stage.
• CTOs lead early; COOs lead later: CTOs post the highest average pay at Seed ($155,000). COOs take the lead at Series A ($227,000) and hold it at Series B ($246,000).
• Medians reveal a small pool of outliers: Median pay sits below the average for all three roles, indicating that a smaller group of well-funded, later-stage executives is pulling each average upward.
• CTO pay is the most consistent benchmark: CTO average and median compensation differ by less than $1,000, making it the most reliable figure for hiring against.
• COO pay is the most stage-dependent: COO compensation starts lowest of the three roles at Seed, then rises fastest, ultimately becoming the highest-paid role by the growth stage.

The report attributes these patterns to the post-2022/2023 correction in venture funding, which pushed startups toward smaller, more milestone-driven early rounds and more disciplined cash compensation overall. As companies reach Series B with proven product-market fit, larger rounds allow boards to fund the technical and operational leadership needed to scale — which shows up directly in CTO and COO pay.

Unlike many published salary benchmarks, which rely on surveys that can lag market conditions by a year or more and skew toward the best-funded respondents, Kruze Consulting’s figures are drawn directly from the payroll systems of its US-based, venture-backed client companies. All data was anonymized and aggregated before analysis, so no individual company or executive can be identified.

The full C-Suite Salary Guide includes detailed average and median compensation breakdowns by role and funding stage (Seed, Series A, and Series B), along with guidance for founders and boards on benchmarking executive pay responsibly in the current fundraising climate. A companion report, the Startup CEO Salary Report, offers a deeper, founder-focused analysis with historical trends and year-over-year data.

About Kruze Consulting

Kruze Consulting provides accounting, finance, tax, and advisory services to venture‑backed startups, helping founders manage their finances, understand their metrics, and make data‑driven decisions about compensation, fundraising, and growth.

Media Contact

Bryan Long
Kruze Consulting
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://kruzeconsulting.com

SOURCE Kruze Consulting

Neros announces new products including Archer AI, Bandit c-UAS interceptor, and tech stack required for multi-drone control. 

TORRANCE, Calif., Aug. 11, 2026 — Neros Technologies has announced a $250M Series C at a post money valuation of $2.5B co-led by Sequoia Capital and American Strategic Technology Fund (ASTF) with participation by Interlagos, Valor Equity Partners, Allen & Company, Thiel Capital, Spark Capital, and Dylan Field.

These funds will accelerate the development and production ramps for new drone programs including Archer AI, an FPV platform augmented with autonomy features including Terminal Guidance and GPS-denied Position Hold, and Bandit, a c-UAS interceptor drone intended to counter Class 2 and 3 drone threats including Shahed-style systems.

These platforms are being developed with the hardware and compute required for multi-asset control (often termed “swarming”) while retaining the cost efficiency Neros is known for – and that’s essential to achieving true attritable mass. 

Both Archer AI and Bandit will be deployed in theaters of combat by the end of 2026.

“This newest round of funding accelerates Neros into a multi-capability drone manufacturer. Our mission to produce one million drones per year hasn’t changed, but the span of drones and mission sets we can support are multiplying. Our core business has seen explosive growth since our last financing round in November, and this added capital gets our systems into war fighter hands faster, and at the scale needed for decisive outcomes on the battlefield.”

— Soren Monroe-Anderson, Co-Founder and CEO, Neros

This expansion of products will enable Neros to own the entire mass-manufactured, small drone segment: manual FPV augmented by autonomous strike, counter-UAS interceptors, and coordinated effects through multi-asset control.

Through owning the core technology, vertically integrating its component stack, and leveraging its preexisting domestic production capacity, Neros is positioned to deliver credible deterrence by building millions of drones per year for America and its allies.

About Neros
Neros is building a new era of credible deterrence for America and its allies by establishing a domestic drone industrial base in the United States. By 2028, Neros will be producing a million drones per year across a range of capabilities including long range strike, close-quarters combat, and interceptors. Neros has major contracts with the Army, Marine Corps, as well as contracts with every component of SOCOM and half a dozen allied countries. The company is partnering with allies across Europe via its UK subsidiary, as well as other allied nations across Asia and the Middle East in support of their own defense and sovereign manufacturing needs.

SOURCE Neros Technologies

Two years in: revenue nearly doubled, 24/7 global support live, and SugarShot’s white-glove service model left intact

LOS ANGELES and SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 11, 2026 — Treeline announced that SugarShot, the Los Angeles-based managed services provider, joined the company in August 2024 as its first design partner. In the two years since, SugarShot has nearly doubled its revenue while keeping the client teams that define its brand.

Treeline is challenging the decades-old acquisition playbook: that scale and efficiency come at the expense of the client experience. Treeline’s model inverts that assumption. SugarShot keeps its structure, leadership, and ways of working with clients. What it gains is engineering capabilities, institutional credibility, and ultimately, the ability to scale impact without sacrificing client experience.

That strategy has paid off; since August 2024, SugarShot has grown revenue nearly 100% by going deeper with existing clients and landing new, larger accounts. Headcount has grown 68%, all while service delivery quality continued to improve.

“By pairing the strongest companies and operators in this market with world-class engineering and go-to-market capabilities, Treeline can build and define the future of this industry,” said Peter Doyle, CEO of Treeline. “One that doesn’t depart from the value of people and high-touch service, but leverages software development, automation, and AI to provide a better experience to customers who are constantly growing and evolving.”

For clients, the SugarShot experience stayed consistent. “Clients are still able to work and interact with the same people who already know their environment and own the problem until it’s closed,” said Brandon Fox, Head of Technology at SugarShot. “What has changed is that I trust every ticket is triaged, worked, and escalated inside our service levels, which means I finally get to work on the business instead of in it.”

SugarShot has expanded the range of the work it can take on. Tina Grintjes, Director of Operations, said, “Historically, our conversations were primarily around managed IT, security, and technology operations. Today, through Treeline, we can have much broader conversations around AI, compliance, cloud infrastructure, and more. We can grow alongside our clients in ways we simply couldn’t before.”

Before joining Treeline, roughly 5% of SugarShot’s client base had significant overseas operations; today, about 50% of new clients do. SugarShot has also stood up a follow-the-sun support model, giving clients 24/7 coverage and eliminating the weekday on-call rotation for its technicians.

“We are now partnering with clients that we would never have partnered with if Treeline hadn’t pushed us to look at them differently, and there are also clients Treeline would never have won without SugarShot,” said Pam Boston, CEO of SugarShot. “It’s truly a two-way street. Treeline has given us not only the resources, but also the encouragement, to really run headfirst into opportunities that we might not have looked twice at in the past.”

SugarShot was Treeline’s first design partner. Treeline is excited to be applying learnings from the success with SugarShot as the business selectively brings additional partners into the model.

About SugarShot

SugarShot is a Los Angeles-based managed services provider, formed in 2018. The company delivers managed IT, cybersecurity, and technology solutions to mid-market companies, with a focus on healthcare and manufacturing. SugarShot is led by CEO Pam Boston and has been part of Treeline since August 2024.

About Treeline

Treeline is a modern IT and security partner for mid-market and scaling companies, delivering the ownership and accountability of an internal team without the cost of building one. Built on AI-native infrastructure and backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Treeline works with best-in-class service providers to bring that model to clients.

Media Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE Treeline, Inc.

After seven years of profitable growth, the bootstrapped company now operates at nine figures in annual recurring revenue.

MIAMI, Aug. 11, 2026 — Horatio, a global leader in AI-enabled business solutions and tech-powered talent, today marked seven years in business as a bootstrapped company operating at over nine figures in annual recurring revenue. Operating at this scale without outside capital places Horatio among less than 1% of companies that have achieved profitable recurring revenue through bootstrapped growth.

Founded in 2018 by Jose Herrera, Alex Ross, and Jared Karson, Horatio has grown from a startup focused on customer support into a global operation serving more than 125 clients across healthcare, fintech, ecommerce, and other high-growth industries. Today, the company operates at over nine figures in annual recurring revenue—all without raising outside capital.

“What started as a vision to build a better workplace and a better customer experience partner has grown beyond anything we could have imagined,” said Jose Herrera, CEO and Co-Founder of Horatio. “Reaching this milestone is a testament to our team, our clients, and our beliefs that customer experience can be a strategic driver of business growth when powered by exceptional people and the right technology.”

Over the past seven years, Horatio has expanded its footprint across the United States and Latin America, with operations in the Dominican Republic, Colombia, and Honduras. The company now employs more than 3,500 team members globally and continues to scale at 40% year-over-year, with 77% of customers expanding their team size and scope with the brand. 

Recent milestones include:

• Operating as a nine-figure annual recurring revenue business without outside capital
• Growing to more than 3,500 employees across the U.S. and Latin America
• Nearly doubling its workforce in 2024 to meet growing demand from ecommerce and technology companies
• Launching HoratioHX, the company’s healthcare-focused division, to support patient engagement, revenue cycle management, and healthcare operations
• Opening operations in Honduras, further strengthening Horatio’s nearshore delivery network and access to top bilingual talent across Latin America
• 3 out of 4 customers expand their team size and scope after partnering with Horatio

“What we’re most proud of isn’t just winning customers—it’s earning their trust over time. Today, 77% of our customers expand after their first engagement, which we believe is the strongest validation of our model,” said Herrera. “When we launched Horatio, we set out to challenge the perception of what outsourcing could be. The future of customer experience isn’t about replacing people with technology, it’s about combining exceptional talent with AI and operational excellence to deliver better outcomes at scale.”

As the company looks ahead, Horatio plans to continue its AI capabilities, consulting services, and regulated-industry expertise while deepening partnerships across healthcare, fintech, and ecommerce.  For more information, visit www.hirehoratio.com or follow @HireHoratio.

About Horatio
Horatio is a global leader in AI-enabled business solutions and tech-powered talent. The company combines AI-enabled business solutions with world-class global talent to help companies scale faster across customer experience, trust and safety, back-office operations, and other business-critical functions. Founded in 2018, Horatio partners with many of the world’s fastest-growing startups and enterprises, helping them build more efficient operations, deliver exceptional customer experiences, and unlock growth. With headquarters in New York City and Miami and operations across the Dominican Republic, Honduras, and Colombia, Horatio is committed to innovation, talent development, and creating economic opportunity throughout the Americas. Horatio is ISO/IEC 27001 certified, reinforcing its commitment to the highest standards of information security and data protection for clients operating in highly regulated industries, including healthcare and fintech.

Media contact: Mercedes Lovato at [email protected] 

SOURCE Horatio

ITHACA, N.Y., Aug. 11, 2026 — Soctera, Incorporated (Soctera) has closed $4 million in seed funding backed by Anorak Ventures and Multiball Capital, with additional participation from 9Yards Capital, Mana Ventures, and Red Bear Ventures. The company will use the funding to develop its power amplifiers: the electronic devices that dictate wireless signal range and fidelity for radar, electronic warfare, satellites, and telecommunications networks.

When a power amplifier overheats, the system it powers goes with it. Range collapses and signals distort. The increasing demands of modern systems have made heat the fundamental constraint on wireless performance. Soctera attacks that constraint at the semiconductor level, enabling longer-range detection and communication, clearer signals, and hardware that lasts.

“By co-optimizing the semiconductor stack electrically and thermally, we reduce the gallium nitride (GaN) content in each device by 20X and halve thermal resistance. We are now turning our materials-level advantage into qualified power amplifiers,” said Reet Chaudhuri, co-founder and CTO of Soctera.

“The people building next-generation radar and satellites are already asking for more than any amplifier can deliver,” said Austin Hickman, co-founder and CEO of Soctera. “This raise lets us answer them, scaling the team and the manufacturing to put that hardware in their hands.”

The company spun out of Cornell University’s Jena-Xing group, a top research lab in the field of wide bandgap electronics. Prior to the seed raise, Soctera won over $4.2 million in non-dilutive grant funding from the National Science Foundation, U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, and the CHIPS Act to develop and demonstrate its core technology. As defense and space systems take on harder jobs at longer distances, the reach and reliability of every signal increasingly decides what those systems can do.

“The ability to immediately detect threats at greater range with improved fidelity is increasingly becoming a key advantage for the modern warfighter,” said Greg Castle, Managing Partner at Anorak Ventures. “The shift towards autonomous systems is accelerating the need for improved signal handling. Soctera’s technology will give the U.S. and our allies a key advantage for communication and detection both on and off the battlefield.”

About Soctera

Soctera builds power amplifiers that extend the range, fidelity, and reliability of modern systems that detect threats and carry critical communications. From defense radar and electronic warfare to satellite and commercial networks, Soctera is building the semiconductor foundation these next-generation systems will run on. Learn more at www.soctera.com or reach out at [email protected].

SOURCE Soctera, Inc.

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 11, 2026 — House of Student, a global student living technology company operating the world’s largest student housing marketplace with over 2.5 million verified student rooms across 25+ countries including the UK, US, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, UAE, Singapore, and 18 European nations, has raised $2 million in seed capital through a mix of equity and debt. The funding will accelerate product innovation, AI capabilities and global expansion.

The round is led by Saltwater Sutra, a New York-Mumbai based investment banking group, alongside Nirmitsu Inspirational Ventures. Other participants include Gautam Verlekar (co-founder, Saltwater Venture Sparks), Glen Fernandes (MD, Bank of New York Mellon), Richard McCallum (former MD & CEO, UK India Business Council), Ali Moosa (Exec-Vice Chairman, Singapore Gulf Bank), and other strategic investors. Existing investors from Unilodgers also continued their support.

The company was founded in 2025 by Vaibhav Verma, who earlier built Unilodgers, the world’s first student housing marketplace, bootstrapping it until the company reached $109 million in valuation. For Verma, House of Student isn’t a second venture but the continuation of a 15-year mission & responsibility towards students globally. Much of the original Unilodgers leadership, including leaders Ayushi Gupta and Deepak Bahuguna, has stayed on to build this next chapter.

Verma’s inspiration traces back to his own housing struggles as a student in London and Nottingham, UK, where he relied on classifieds and broken networks to find accommodation, a gap that led him to found Unilodgers on principles of trust and care.

“We never started with the ambition of building an accommodation company,” said Vaibhav Verma, Founder of House of Student. “Student housing was simply the first problem we wanted to solve. Today, our ambition is to become the world’s most trusted company around student life.”

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the sector significantly, including Unilodgers, prompting Verma and his team to ask a bigger question: what responsibility do they have to support students throughout their university journey? The answer was House of Student.

About House of Student 

Headquartered in San Francisco with teams across India, the UK, and the Middle East, House of Student operates the world’s largest student housing marketplace, with a broader mission to become the most trusted company around student life globally.

Learn more: https://houseofstudent.com/

SOURCE House of Student