SANTA CLARA, Calif., Sept. 17, 2026 — Viabot™, the autonomous robotics startup tackling trash, debris and soft security at scale, announced today a $24 million Series A raise led by Walden International, with participation from CDIB Capital Group and Stalwart Ventures, alongside existing investors: Baseline Ventures, Era Ventures, Morado Ventures and SOSV. The funding brings Viabot’s total capital raised to $43 million, strengthening its capacity to meet growing enterprise demand for autonomous property-management robotics.

“We founded Viabot on the belief that technology should be extremely helpful, beautifully-designed and built to perform meaningful tasks that give teams their time back,” said CEO and Co-Founder Gregg Ratanaphanyarat. “This investment marks an important new chapter in pursuit of that mission.”

The company’s flagship product The Viabot One services 25 million square feet of commercial property with intelligence trained on more than 5 billion square feet of real world, multi-modal data. Viabot will apply the new capital to growing its sales and engineering teams, accelerating new product development, and continued improvements to its robotics-as-a-service and Viabot One.

“We invest in teams that combine technical depth with the discipline to solve important customer problems. Viabot has demonstrated both by building a compelling platform with a clear focus on real-world customer value,” said Steve Anderson, founder of Baseline Ventures. “The best technology becomes part of everyday life without asking people to think twice. Viabot produces robots that are both highly capable and thoughtfully designed for the communities, campuses and commercial properties they serve.”

THE VIABOT ONE: PRODUCT FEATURES & FUNCTIONALITY
The design-forward Viabot One outdoor property care platform features proprietary technology, including autonomous tool swapping and the ability to hot-swap its own batteries for 12-24 hour runs. Viabot One’s primary function is sweeping and cleaning trash and debris up to 10 inches. It also provides supplementary soft security services, like loitering detection and asset monitoring. The platform is designed to continuously improve its intelligence with remote software updates. 

The Viabot One uses cameras, lidar, depth sensors, DGPS and dynamic path planning to map and navigate its surroundings, perform scheduled routes and adapt to changing conditions. After completing a scheduled run, the robot independently returns to its docking station to recharge and empty collected debris into standard trash bins, requiring only a standard 120V outlet to operate.

GROWING DEMAND FOR AUTONOMOUS PROPERTY CARE
Following the release of its RUNO prototype in 2021, Viabot developed and validated its new mobile intelligence platform, The Viabot One, through real-world deployments that resulted in unit economic profitability, contract renewals and new business. The company also established its production and expanded service nationally to California, Florida, Indiana, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, Texas and Virginia. Viabot’s customers include: Fortune 500 retailers, higher education institutions, multi-national real estate owners, developers, property management firms across retail, shopping, entertainment, class-A office buildings, healthcare and utility companies, among others.

Fueling interest in Viabot’s platform are customers searching for innovative solutions to environmental debris removal requirements, and autonomous infrastructure that addresses public and organizational concern about litter. Businesses spend an estimated $9.1 billion annually on litter cleanup and 94% of Americans view litter as a major problem according to recent studies (Litter In America, Keep America Beautiful).

“By removing trash and debris at scale and adapting to each client’s needs, Viabot delivers a visible environmental benefit while freeing property teams to focus on higher-value work,” said Anderson. “This combination of value is what makes the company so compelling.”

The landscape of outdoor commercial property care has been reshaped by a convergence of technological breakthroughs, regulatory imperatives and evolving customer expectations, with RaaS demand accelerating 42% in 2024 (International Federation of Robotics), and the global autonomous sweeper market surpassing $1.17 billion in 2025 (Wiseguy Reports).

Under the leadership of Ratanaphanyarat, who conceived the idea for Viabot while attending college – and CTO and Co-Founder Dawei Ding – Viabot emerged as a market leader in 2025 having pioneered outdoor mobile RaaS, cloud and AI technology, tailoring solutions for large-scale sweeping, debris removal, and soft security facing Fortune 500 companies and large-scale outdoor enterprises.

“Viabot One is already operating at a meaningful scale, helping property teams maintain cleaner, safer and more reliable environments across 25 million square feet of commercial property,” said Ratanaphanyarat. “This funding enables us to build on that foundation: expanding our team, advancing the intelligence behind our platform and bringing practical, dependable robotics to more of the places where people live, work and gather.”

For more information, visit www.viabot.com and follow @meetviabot.

Images & Video: Here  

Media Inquiries:
Sonia Hendrix
[email protected]  

About Viabot

Headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif., Viabot™ (“Viabot”) is a leading technology company tackling trash, debris, and soft security at scale for big-box retailers, utility companies and academic institutions across the United States. Viabot’s mission is simple: to build extremely helpful, beautiful robots that perform meaningful tasks and give people their time back. The Viabot One embodies that mission, delivering next-generation precision outdoor property care and maintenance that blends seamlessly into everyday life while creating safer, cleaner environments. Its self-charging, self-emptying, three-wheel mobile platform operates on a RaaS model and provides autonomous sweeping with interchangeable tools, 3D modeling, and dynamic path planning. Founded by CEO and Co-Founder Gregg Ratanaphanyarat and CTO and Co-Founder Dawei Ding, Viabot publicly launched in 2021 with $6.1 million in seed funding from Baseline Ventures (Steve Anderson), Morado Ventures (Ash Patel), and SOSV. For more information, visit Viabot.com. 

SOURCE Viabot

The investment will fund AI-powered product development and new talent as Overfuel scales — while doubling down on the customer service it’s known for

INDIANAPOLIS, Sept. 17, 2026 — Overfuel, the AI-native automotive technology platform, today announced a $6 million growth equity investment from Comedor Capital, an Austin-based growth equity firm backing founder-led software and AI-enabled services companies.

The investment follows a period of rapid expansion for Overfuel, which has grown its dealership website count by more than 225% over the past two years. The investment pairs growth capital with hands-on operating support as Overfuel brings AI deeper into the products its dealerships use every day.

“Dealership technology has spent too long adding complexity and calling it innovation,” said Alex Griffis, CEO of Overfuel. “We built Overfuel to reduce shopper friction, deliver measurable performance, and provide dealers the technology, data, and expertise to compete and grow. We believe the future is AI-first and API-first — more intelligent, more connected, and more open to the broader ecosystem. This investment gives us more capacity to advance the platform with AI, invest in exceptional people, and continue raising the bar for the world-class customer support we’re known for.”

Built for inventory-driven dealerships across Automotive, RV, Powersports, and Commercial Truck, Overfuel brings together performance-first websites, AI-powered shopping assistance, advanced analytics, local visibility and reputation tools, inventory management and syndication, and digital retailing. The platform is certified in multiple OEM programs, and its websites are engineered for speed and performance — Overfuel’s optimization approach has reduced website load times and bandwidth requirements by more than 90%. Industry research shows that every second of faster load time can increase shopper engagement by 11%, with optimized sites seeing 21% higher engagement overall.

“Overfuel is exactly what we look for in a partnership: a founder-led, capital-efficient business using technology to solve a real and costly problem for its customers,” said Bradley McBride, Managing Partner of Comedor Capital. “This is a proven team, with a deep understanding of dealership operations and a disciplined, performance-first approach to product. They are building a simpler, more connected way to operate for an industry that has long been underserved by legacy incumbents. We are excited to back them through their next phase of growth.”

For Overfuel customers, the partnership means more of what they already count on — continued product innovation, dedicated customer service, and a platform that delivers measurable results as it grows.

About Overfuel

Overfuel delivers performance-defining websites and AI-powered digital strategies for inventory-driven dealerships across the Automotive, Powersports, RV, and Commercial Truck industries. Its connected platform brings together performance-first websites, AI-assisted shopper engagement, advanced analytics, local visibility and reputation tools, inventory management and syndication, and digital retailing — helping dealerships reduce shopper friction and create clearer paths from search to action.

Learn more at www.overfuel.com.

About Comedor Capital

Comedor Capital is an Austin-based growth equity firm backing founder-led software and AI-enabled services companies. The firm partners with high-growth, capital-efficient businesses, providing flexible capital and hands-on operating support to accelerate AI adoption, expand revenue, recruit talent, and strengthen the operational foundation to scale — while preserving founder ownership and maximizing long-term outcomes.

Learn more at www.comedorcapital.com.

SOURCE Overfuel

The new funding positions Kastle to help enterprises deploy reliable AI across existing infrastructure, giving banks and lenders a faster, safer path to realizing the full value of AI without replacing critical core systems

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 17, 2026 — Kastle, the AI workforce platform transforming consumer lending, today announced it has raised $24 million in Series A funding. The round was led by Insight Partners, with continued participation from existing investors Y Combinator and Commerce Ventures. Fifth Wall and a group of prominent founders and financial services executives also joined the round as new investors.

Kastle is building the AI workforce for financial services, beginning with consumer lending – an industry where enormous volumes of essential work still move through legacy systems, manual processes, and operational teams. The company is already powering work across some of the largest enterprises and banks in the world. Its AI agents have processed more than $1.8 billion in transactions, establishing Kastle as an emerging category leader in consumer lending and demonstrating that enterprise AI can perform consequential work at scale.

AI has given financial institutions a historic opportunity to transform how that work gets done. But for most large enterprises, the path to adoption is logistically challenging. Replacing legacy infrastructure with an entirely AI-native technology stack could require years of complex, high-risk migration, in a world where technology shifts happen every other quarter, and layering conventional AI assistants onto existing systems captures only a fraction of AI’s potential. The result is a growing adoption gap: institutions recognize what AI can do but remain constrained by the systems and operating models they already have.

Kastle offers another path.

Its platform enables financial institutions to deploy specialized AI agents that work across their existing core systems, execute high-volume workflows, and keep systems of record current. Rather than requiring a full infrastructure overhaul, Kastle turns that infrastructure into an environment where AI agents and people can work together.

This creates a new operating model for financial services: hybrid teams in which AI agents handle high-volume, repeatable work, while people focus on complex cases requiring judgment, expertise, empathy, and relationships. Kastle’s agents complete work inside the institution’s existing processes and controls, giving organizations additional capacity while helping their teams maintain consistency, oversight, and compliance.

“For years, enterprises have effectively been presented with a false choice: accept the limitations of legacy operations or endure a long and risky replacement of the systems at the heart of their business,” said Rishi Choudhary, Co-Founder and CEO of Kastle. “Kastle creates a third path. We give financial institutions an AI workforce that can operate across the systems they already have, so they can capture the benefits of AI now—not five years from now. We believe this will become the safest and fastest way for the world’s largest institutions to become AI-native.”

Kastle’s initial focus is consumer lending, where institutions must coordinate high volumes of time-sensitive work across fragmented technology environments while meeting exacting service, risk, and regulatory requirements. Its AI agents are purpose-built for these workflows, combining financial services context with the ability to take action across the tools institutions use today.

“Financial institutions do not need another layer of software that creates more work for their teams. They need AI that can reliably complete the work while ensuring compliance,” said Rebecca Liu-Doyle, Managing Director at Insight Partners. “Kastle deploys AI agents that can navigate complexity, pass the bar on regulatory rigor, and get high-stakes work done without waiting for a multiyear transformation. We’re thrilled to partner with the Kastle team as they continue to reshape this category.”                     

The funding comes as financial institutions move beyond isolated AI experiments and begin searching for a practical path to enterprise-wide adoption. Kastle will use the capital to expand its engineering, product, and go-to-market teams; deepen the capabilities of its platform; and accelerate deployments with leading banks and other financial institutions across North America.

“Software gave every employee more tools. AI will give every enterprise more capacity,” Choudhary added. “The winning institutions will be built around hybrid teams that combine the scale and consistency of AI agents with the judgment and relationships of exceptional people. Kastle is building the platform that makes that future possible.”

About Kastle

Kastle is building the AI workforce for financial services. Its platform enables financial institutions to deploy specialized AI agents that execute high-volume work across existing systems, allowing enterprises to realize the benefits of AI without replacing their core infrastructure. Beginning with consumer lending, Kastle helps institutions create hybrid teams in which AI agents provide scale and consistency while people focus on work requiring judgment, expertise, and relationships.

Kastle powers work across some of the largest enterprises and banks in the world and has processed more than $2 billion in transactions. The company is backed by Insight Partners, Y Combinator, Commerce Ventures, Fifth Wall, and leading founders and financial services executives.

To learn more, visit www.kastle.ai.

About Insight Partners

Insight Partners is a global software investor partnering with high-growth technology, software, and Internet startup and ScaleUp companies that are driving transformative change in their industries. As of December 31, 2025, the firm has over $90B in regulatory assets under management. Insight Partners has invested in more than 900 companies worldwide and has seen over 55 portfolio companies achieve an IPO. Headquartered in New York City, Insight has a global presence with leadership in London, Tel Aviv, and the Bay Area. Insight’s mission is to find, fund, and work successfully with visionary executives, providing them with tailored, hands-on software expertise along their growth journey, from their first investment to IPO. For more information on Insight and all its investments, visit insightpartners.com or follow us on X @insightpartners.

SOURCE Kastle

Exclusive offer provides select SVB clients access to private company ratings and intelligence relied on by the world’s leading companies

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 17, 2026 — CB Insights, the authority on private technology companies, today announced a new partnership with Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a division of First Citizens Bank.

Market and competitive intelligence can create a significant advantage. But trustworthy, comprehensive data about the private markets is challenging to find, validate, and monitor. Many growing companies lack dedicated strategy and research teams to analyze the data. And the innovation economy moves quickly.

Through the SVB Offers program, SVB startup banking clients can now address these challenges and gain a competitive edge.

CB Insights ranks and rates the private companies that matter, drawing on proprietary interviews with operators and rich, validated intelligence about more than 12 million private companies, public companies, and investors. They track company performance, competitive networks, emerging technology markets, funding activity, commercial deals, hiring trends, and movements by operators and technical talent. Their “ChatCBI” AI agent and model context protocol (MCP) tools power market analysis and target sourcing with analyst expertise and nonpublic data.

“For founders, every second counts. They need not only data they can trust, but also perspective on what it means,” said Karl Kong, CEO of CB Insights. “We take a position on which markets, competitors, customers, and operators to pursue. Our partnership with SVB puts that intelligence in founders’ hands from the start when it can have the most impact.”

These capabilities will help SVB clients target prospective partners and customers, build investor relationships, find exit opportunities, spot top talent, and anticipate new competitors. SVB clients can also share their perspective with CB Insights analysts directly, elevating their visibility with leading companies and investors.

“As a multi-exited founder, investor, and mentor who has supported hundreds of founders, I believe founder success is all about creating more opportunities for them to win; to provide more shots on goal and the added firepower they need to compete in today’s market,” said Ben Maitland-Lewis, Director, Startup Banking & Founder Success at Silicon Valley Bank. “The insights that CB Insights provides can help founders better understand their competitive landscape, identify opportunities earlier, and make more informed strategic decisions as they scale.”

SVB clients can visit the dedicated landing page to learn more.

About Silicon Valley Bank, a division of First Citizens Bank

Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a division of First Citizens Bank, is the bank of some of the world’s most innovative companies and investors. SVB provides commercial banking to companies in the technology, life science and healthcare, private equity and venture capital industries. SVB operates in centers of innovation throughout the United States, serving the unique needs of its dynamic clients with deep sector expertise, insights and connections. SVB’s parent company, First Citizens BancShares, Inc. (NASDAQ: FCNCA), is a top 20 U.S. financial institution with more than $225 billion in assets. First Citizens Bank, Member FDIC. Learn more at svb.com.

Silicon Valley Bank, a division of First Citizens Bank, will rebrand as First Citizens Innovation Banking in Q4 2026. For more information, visit firstcitizens.com/rebrand.

‍About CB Insights

CB Insights is the authority on private technology companies. Six of the Mag 7 and 26 of the top 30 banks use us to build conviction in their next investment, acquisition, partner, or customer. We rank and rate the companies that matter, drawing on proprietary interviews with operators and rich, validated intelligence on 13 million companies. Built for leaders and their AI agents. Learn more at cbinsights.com.

SOURCE Silicon Valley Bank

Ravel’s Purification Recycling™ technology was intentionally designed to address the industry’s biggest unsolved challenges: valorizing hard-to-recycle blends that make up the vast majority of modern clothing, and avoiding disruption and angst in existing supply chains. Ravel does this with feedstock flexibility and a market-based product offering that is ‘drop-in ready.’ 

“There are countless advantages to blended fiber materials for clothing, blends are what make clothing durable, functional, and affordable. But blends are not recyclable with existing infrastructure. That’s where Ravel comes in. We’re solving a huge problem that other technologies fail to address.” says Zahlen Titcomb, CEO of Ravel.

Ravel’s process is able to isolate inseparable mixtures like poly-elastane, a popular combination for performance clothing, and purify waste into mono material fiber, using non-destructive and low energy processes. Ravel optimizes for cost, environmental impact and drop-in ready quality.

Jack Wielebinski at One Small Planet explained that “Ravel offers a rare opportunity in recycling: a clear pathway to producing recycled materials that are cheaper than their virgin counterparts. The logic is elegant on a first-principles basis, positioning Ravel to solve one of the most pressing problems in the circular economy. The company’s technology transforms complex material blends into virgin-quality feedstock, creating a transparent, low-carbon, cost-effective supply chain, and opening the door for more global industries to adopt circular models.”

Textile waste is not a simple feedstock. About 85% of textiles are made up of the top four material categories, and very commonly blended together for products (based on Textile Exchange’s recent annual market report). Because Ravel accepts blended materials as the inputs for their process, they have an unprecedented tolerance for feedstock, unblocking the logistically complex and costly problem of isolating pure streams of textile waste. At any scale, this is yet another major hurdle that existing legacy technologies face.

Helen Lin, Partner at At One Ventures, commented: “The biggest driver of success for any recycling business is feedstock. How much of the waste stream that is being utilized is actually usable? How pure does it need to be for the processing to work viably? How far does it need to be transported? Those factors determine unit economics, operational complexity, and ultimately scalability. What impressed us about Ravel is that the team recognized this early and designed their technology specifically around scalability and the feedstock challenge. The result is a solution with broad feedstock flexibility while still producing the high-purity output materials at low cost. In our view, this is the combination of characteristics to enable mass adoption.”

By prioritizing industrial and economic feasibility, Ravel has designed its process to be drop-in ready for manufacturers in the existing textile supply chain. A key pillar of this design philosophy is offering a recycled output material that doesn’t force unnecessary “green premiums” on the system, or rely on subsidies to cover costs.

As Ravel expands from its Seattle pilot plant to commercial scale operations, the company is focused on validating its technology across the textile supply chain and demonstrating its performance at production scale. With Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) legislation increasing the responsibility of brands and manufacturers for textile waste, Ravel is actively seeking industry partners to validate blended textile waste as a feedstock and to integrate Ravel’s materials into existing manufacturing supply chains.

About Ravel

Ravel is a textile-to-textile recycling company specializing in Purification Recycling™ based in Seattle, Washington. Ravel transforms complex blended fiber waste into high-purity raw materials that achieve price parity with existing textile materials. By closing the loop on post-industrial and post-consumer waste, Ravel is building the infrastructure necessary for a truly circular fashion economy. Visit: www.ravelfuture.com

About One Small Planet

One Small Planet invests in companies where positive environmental impact is fundamental to how they scale. The firm backs founders across climate tech who create genuine ecological benefit alongside strong unit economics, rather than treating impact as a secondary outcome. For more information, please visit www.onesmallplanet.org

About At One Ventures

At One Ventures invests in deep-tech startups catalyzing a world where humanity is a net positive to nature. The firm is highly technical and was founded by Tom Chi, former Head of Experience and founding member at Google X. At One Ventures finds, funds, and grows companies that are using disruptive deep tech to upend the unit economics of established industries while dramatically reducing their planetary footprint. To date, At One Ventures has invested in 49 companies, including Colossal Biosciences, Blue Energy, and CUBY Technologies. For more information, please visit https://www.atoneventures.com/.

Media Contact: Kristen Albrecht – [email protected] 

SOURCE Ravel

The limited 7mg THC / 7mg CBD single-serve sold out in pre-orders and is available mid-September on the company’s site and at Sprouts Farmers Market stores in Texas and Florida, with backing from Listen Ventures.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Sept. 17, 2026 — Magic Cactus, the functional beverage brand built around a microdose of hemp-derived THC, today announced the release of Higher Desert Edition, a limited-edition, higher-potency single-serve of its sparkling cactus water.

The product was initially made available exclusively to Sprouts stores and Magic Cactus subscribers, a community the brand calls The Cactus Club. After the first batch of the limited SKU sold out from pre-orders alone, the company announced a restock shipping mid-September.

The limited launch follows a year of grocery expansion anchored by Sprouts Farmers Market, where Magic Cactus ranked #1 in the retailer’s hemp THC beverage set for the first half of the year (SPINS, H1 2026), and a follow-on investment from Listen Ventures, which led the company’s Seed round in early 2025.

INTRODUCING: HIGHER DESERT EDITION

Higher Desert Edition arrives in a single flavor, Mojave Berry, with 7mg of hemp-derived THC and 7mg of CBD per 12-ounce can, a 1:1 ratio designed for a fuller, still clear-headed experience built as a slow-sipping, single-serve occasion rather than the sessionable nature of the brand’s micro-dosed core products. Like the core lineup, each can is built on a sparkling prickly pear cactus base with real fruit juice and premium functional ingredients like L-theanine and magnesium, and stays at only 20 calories with no added sugar.

• Price: $19.99 per 4-pack
• Where: All Sprouts Farmers Market stores in Texas and Florida, and online at magiccactus.com
• Availability: Limited run. The first batch sold out on pre-order; a restock ships mid-September.

“Our entire value proposition since launch has been what we call approachable feel-ability, built for the mainstream consumer. The cannabis connoisseur already had plenty of options and didn’t need another potent product. The gap was a feel-able one, a can you can have two or three of on a Friday night and feel it come on gradually, instead of the zero-to-a-hundred approach that pushed a lot of people away from this industry in the first place,” said Jonny Locarni, Founder and CEO of Magic Cactus. “Higher Desert Edition is a different job. Our community kept asking for a single-serve with a bit more to it, one can that does the work of a strong cocktail for our core consumer. It’s still less than the standard 10mg serving that outsells everything else in most retail channels, and it’s a true one-and-done rather than something you session.”

ALL IN ON GROCERY

Magic Cactus launched in roughly 120 Sprouts Farmers Market stores across Texas and Florida in mid-January 2026, followed by The Fresh Market in North Carolina and Florida in February. The focused grocery rollout, now representing about 40 percent of the brand’s total door count, reflects a deliberate choice to build the brand in the everyday grocery aisle rather than in smoke shops, convenience, and other channels in which potency is the focus.

The strategy is working. Year to date, wholesale revenue is up more than 200 percent over the same period in 2025, with all four core flavors, Lavender Raspberry, Spiced Peach, Wild Black Cherry and Watermelon Hibiscus, now on shelf alongside Higher Desert Edition at Sprouts.

“Grocery is where Magic Cactus resonates most,” Locarni said. “Sprouts shoppers already read labels, they already care about what’s in the can, and they’re already looking for a better option for a Tuesday night or a backyard hang. We’re not asking anyone to walk into a new kind of store. We’re just showing up where they already shop.”

EXPANDING THE OCCASION

Locarni is quick to clarify what Magic Cactus is not: an anti-alcohol brand.

“We’re not trying to replace alcohol or only reach people who’ve stopped drinking entirely,” he said. “We’re trying to give people optionality in drinking environments, to broaden what it means to ‘have a drink’ for the next generation. Sometimes that’s a cocktail. Sometimes that’s a Magic Cactus. The point is to blur the line between drinking and not drinking so there’s a conscious choice available at the same occasions.”

That positioning sets the brand apart on two fronts: from the wave of non-alcoholic brands leaning heavily into sober-curious messaging, and from the high-potency THC products that dominate much of the hemp market. Rather than asking consumers to choose sides, or chasing milligram counts, Magic Cactus is betting the bigger opportunity is expanding the occasion itself, making a THC beverage a normal part of a night out rather than a replacement for one.

BUILDING BRAND AT A CATEGORY TURNING POINT

The expansion comes as the hemp beverage category awaits regulatory clarity. Federal legislation passed in November 2025 capped finished hemp products at 0.4mg THC per container, a limit the industry views as impractical. Congress has since delayed the effective date to December 11, 2026, creating space for a more workable framework.

Magic Cactus supports a regulated hemp beverage market with clear dosing standards, age gating and third-party testing, and believes its low-dose, grocery-first approach is exactly the kind of product responsible regulation should protect.

“We built this brand for a world where we’re regulated differently than traditional cannabis products, similar to the bifurcation between beer and wine versus liquor and spirits. We’ve always operated like we’d be regulated the way a beer is,” Locarni said. “Whatever the final framework looks like, we want to be the example of what a responsible THC beverage brand looks like on a grocery shelf.”

BACKED BY LISTEN VENTURES

Listen Ventures, the Chicago-based consumer venture firm behind brands like Calm, Factor, Angel’s Envy, and many more, led Magic Cactus’s Seed round in early 2025 and made a follow-on investment in the company in 2026. Magic Cactus has also raised capital from Tonic Ventures and other consumer-focused investors.

“There is a sea of hemp THC beverages in the market but very few brands. Magic Cactus has built a cult following, a brand that people want to be seen drinking. That badge value is what sets it apart. And once you taste it, it’s easy to see why people keep coming back,” said Jeff Cantalupo, Founder and Managing Partner at Listen Ventures.

LOOKING AHEAD

Over the coming months Magic Cactus is focused on deepening its grocery footprint and launching additional products built for the grocery channel.

FOLLOW ALONG

ABOUT MAGIC CACTUS

Founded in 2023 and headquartered in North Scottsdale, Arizona, Magic Cactus is a functional beverage brand that gives adults a clear-headed option for social occasions. The brand’s core products contain a base of lightly sparkling prickly pear cactus water, and combine a microdose of hemp-derived cannabinoids with functional ingredients like magnesium and L-theanine. Magic Cactus sells direct-to-consumer at magiccactus.com, and is available at various retailers including Sprouts Farmers Market, The Fresh Market, Total Wine, and more. Magic Cactus donates 10 percent of profits to organizations treating substance abuse, a commitment rooted in founder Jonny Locarni’s experience losing his father to alcohol.

CONTACT

Taylor Foxman
The Industry Collective
609-432-2237
[email protected] 

SOURCE Magic Cactus

Participation in one of America’s top-ranked startup accelerators and incubators will support commercialization, manufacturing scale and market adoption of Iron Rain™

LAGUNA HILLS, Calif., Sept. 17, 2026 — ARCYN Defense Corp., a U.S. defense technology company developing next-generation counter-drone systems, today announced its selection for the 2026 MassChallenge Security & Resiliency Traction Program.

Selected through a competitive application and pitch process, ARCYN joins a select cohort of companies developing technologies for defense, national security, critical infrastructure and resilience.

MassChallenge is one of the nation’s leading startup accelerators and incubators and was recently ranked No. 2 on TIME and Statista’s 2026 list of America’s Best Incubators & Accelerators. Its programs connect high-potential companies with experienced business leaders, industry experts, government stakeholders, prospective customers, strategic partners and investors.

“Selection by MassChallenge is an important validation of ARCYN’s team, technology and market opportunity,” said Dr. Aaron Poynton, Chief Executive Officer of ARCYN Defense. “The program will help us accelerate Iron Rain’s path to market, strengthen our manufacturing strategy and build the partnerships needed to scale.”

ARCYN will use the program to advance manufacturing readiness, sharpen its commercialization strategy, expand customer and partner engagement and strengthen relationships across the investment community. The company is entering an important stage of growth as it prepares Iron Rain for continued development, testing, integration and scalable production.

Iron Rain is a configurable counter-drone platform that combines artificial intelligence, advanced sensors and high-speed, non-explosive kinetic technology. Designed to defend against individual drones and coordinated swarms, the system is intended to provide military forces, critical infrastructure operators and other high-value assets with a precise, scalable and cost-effective layer of protection.

The need for effective counter-drone technology continues to grow as inexpensive unmanned systems become more capable, more widely available and increasingly difficult to defeat using traditional methods. ARCYN is developing Iron Rain to help close that gap with a flexible system designed for real-world operational environments.

ARCYN’s selection for MassChallenge builds on the company’s growing momentum, including its Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with the U.S. Army DEVCOM Armaments Center and its ongoing engagement with government and industry partners.

Together, these milestones support ARCYN’s strategy of advancing Iron Rain from development toward field-ready capability while building the manufacturing, commercial and strategic foundation required for long-term growth.

About ARCYN Defense
ARCYN Defense Corp. is a U.S. defense technology company developing next-generation systems to protect military forces, critical infrastructure and other high-value assets from drones and emerging aerial threats. Its flagship Iron Rain platform combines artificial intelligence, advanced sensing and kinetic technology to deliver precise, scalable and cost-effective counter-drone protection.

Learn more at www.arcyndefense.com

About MassChallenge
MassChallenge is a global startup accelerator and incubator that helps high-potential companies overcome barriers to growth and bring important new technologies to market. Its programs connect founders with mentors, business leaders, government stakeholders, customers, strategic partners and investors.

Learn more at www.masschallenge.org

Media Contact
ARCYN Defense Corp.
(949) 414-9961
[email protected]
www.arcyndefense.com

SOURCE ARCYN Defense

Small Buyout Opportunities Fund VI Targets a Market of Over 500,000 Small and Lower Middle Market Companies, Representing Approximately 96% of All Businesses in America

NEW YORK, Sept. 17, 2026 — Siguler Guff & Company, LP (“Siguler Guff” or the “Firm”), a multi-strategy private markets investment firm with $19 billion of assets under management, today announced it has raised more than $3 billion for its small buyout strategy, with over $2.3 billion for commingled vehicles, including Small Buyout Opportunities Fund VI (“Fund VI” or the “Fund”), and nearly $700 million in separately managed accounts. The fundraise further highlights Siguler Guff’s standing as one of the nation’s largest and most active investors across the small and lower middle market and received strong support from existing and new investors.

Siguler Guff believes the size and fragmentation of the U.S. small and lower middle market can create opportunities to access established businesses and support value creation through active ownership. Fund VI will continue the Firm’s approach of partnering with experienced private equity sponsors through fund commitments and select direct equity co-investments.

The Fund’s strategy continues to target established companies with less than $200 million in annual revenue and typically up to $50 million in annual EBITDA, with an emphasis on businesses holding leading positions in niche markets. Its investments in portfolio companies are often founder or family-owned providers of products and services with long operating histories and resilient fundamentals across economic cycles.

Since the launch of the small business investment strategy in 2006, Siguler Guff has committed more than $10 billion across over 1,000 U.S. companies with an aggregate employee base of more than 400,000; completed more than 300 equity co-investments; served as the largest LP for more than 87 sponsors; and backed 46 first-time funds. Through its combination of fund investments and co-investments, the strategy seeks to provide differentiated exposure to lower middle-market opportunities while benefiting from deep sponsor relationships and diversified deal flow.

“We are pleased to have completed the largest fundraising in the history of our small buyout strategy. The small and lower middle market is a vital part of the U.S. economy, with more than 500,000 businesses and approximately 96% of all U.S. firms,” said Kevin Kester, Partner, and Co-Managing Partner of Small Business Investments at Siguler Guff. “We believe supporting family-and founder-owned American businesses as they professionalize and grow continues to offer an enduring investment opportunity.”

“In this market, deep relationships and specialized expertise can create a meaningful advantage,” said Jonathan Wilson, Partner, and Co-Managing Partner of Small Business Investments at Siguler Guff. “Our experience has given us the insight and network to identify compelling opportunities and partner with high-quality sponsors and companies.”

“This record close reflects the scale, maturity and success of the small buyout franchise our team has built over more than two decades,” said Drew Guff, Co-Managing Partner, and Chief Investment Officer of Siguler Guff. “We are grateful to our existing and new investors for their confidence and partnership in this important and growing strategy.”

Editor’s Note
References to the size and composition of the U.S. small and lower middle market are based on the latest U.S. Census Bureau data. 

About Siguler Guff
Siguler Guff is a multi-strategy private markets investment firm with approximately $19 billion of assets under management as of December 31, 2025. With 30 years of experience investing in private markets, Siguler Guff seeks to focus opportunistically on market niches globally. The Firm’s core investment strategies include Small Business Buyout, Emerging Markets, Opportunistic Credit, Real Estate and Small Business Credit. Siguler Guff’s institutional investment knowledge, sector immersion approach and longstanding relationships can provide access to compelling investment opportunities within each of its targeted strategies. The Firm serves institutional clients, including corporate and public employee benefit plans, endowments, foundations, government agencies, and financial institutions, along with family offices and high net worth investors. For further information, please visit www.sigulerguff.com

Media Contact
Gabrielle Mwangi
Siguler Guff & Company
T: 212-634-5939
[email protected]

SOURCE Siguler Guff

Disco Cow earns $20,000 in funding to scale dairy innovation.

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn., Sept. 17, 2026 — Illinois startup Disco Cow has been crowned grand prize winner of the second annual Midwest Dairy Accelerator, following a live pitch competition yesterday at the Green Acres Event Center, a historic barn event venue near Minneapolis in Eden Prairie, Minn. Founder Kate Colehour earned $20,000 in prize funding to help scale dairy-based innovation for her growing brand.

The competition marked the finale of the Midwest Dairy Accelerator, an intensive 10-week virtual program designed by Midwest Dairy in partnership with innovation advisory firm VentureFuel, to help emerging food and beverage brands scale innovative products that use Midwest dairy as a key ingredient.

Throughout the program, founders gained access to workshops, one on one mentorship and direct collaboration with leaders across the dairy ecosystem, including ingredient experts, processors, manufacturers, retailers, academics and food industry executives. Programming covered consumer insights, ingredients and innovation, manufacturing, distribution, retail strategy, marketing and business pitching.

“The Midwest Dairy Accelerator has connected Disco Cow with an incredible network of experts, resources, and people who are genuinely excited about the future of dairy, said Disco Cow founder Kate Colehour. The $20,000 grand prize is going to help us move from founder-led production to scaled manufacturing, which supports our growing retail presence and gets whipped cottage cheese into the hands of more consumers!”

“Dairy farmers have a long-standing legacy of innovation, and that commitment continues to shape the future of our industry,” said Corey Scott, CEO of Midwest Dairy. “It has been a pleasure to equip emerging dairy brands with the expertise, connections and resources to strengthen the dairy category and create new opportunities for consumers.”

“The vision and execution demonstrated by Disco Cow represents the kind of innovation that drives meaningful commercial impact,” said Fred Schonenberg, CEO of VentureFuel. “We’re proud to have partnered with Midwest Dairy for a second year to accelerate breakthrough ideas and support entrepreneurs innovating with real dairy.”

For more information on the program and this year’s winner, visit MidwestDairyAccelerator.com.

About Midwest Dairy

Midwest Dairy represents 3,600 dairy farm families and works on their behalf to build dairy demand by inspiring consumer confidence in dairy products and production practices. Midwest Dairy is committed to Bringing Dairy to Life! by giving consumers an excellent dairy experience and is funded by farmers across a 10-state region, including Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma. For more information, visit MidwestDairy.com and follow Midwest Dairy on Facebook and YouTube.

About VentureFuel

VentureFuel helps established organizations accelerate growth through strategic startup partnerships. Powered by its repeatable Innovation Engine™, VentureFuel identifies, validates and commercializes emerging technologies, transforming innovation into measurable business outcomes in months instead of years. The company has facilitated more than 100 corporate-startup partnerships, unlocking more than $1 billion in enterprise value creation for clients. Learn more at venturefuel.net and listen to The VentureFuel Visionaries podcast wherever podcasts are available.

Media Contact:
Anna Walsh
917-969-7081
[email protected]

SOURCE Midwest Dairy