Precision medicine pioneer to establish new clinical lab in Arizona, bringing predictive testing for renal denervation to market
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Oct. 21, 2026 — Xcellerant Ventures today announced a $1 million Fund I investment in Geneticure, a precision medicine pioneer developing tests that predict patient response to hypertension treatments. The capital will accelerate Geneticure’s commercial scaling and support a new clinical laboratory in Arizona, expanding the state’s thriving life sciences ecosystem.
Geneticure utilizes a non-invasive cheek swab test to analyze four physiologic pathways, predicting whether a patient with resistant hypertension will respond to renal denervation (RDN)—an FDA-approved procedure with 35 million eligible U.S. patients. Because more than 10 million of those patients may see no benefit, Geneticure’s responder score gives physicians confidence in patient selection, lowers payer costs, and drives clinical adoption.
“Renal denervation is a game-changer, but identifying the right candidates has been the critical missing link,” said Mike Shufeldt, General Partner at Xcellerant Ventures. “Geneticure delivers that clarity. We are thrilled to back a team with deep Arizona roots as they build a state-of-the-art laboratory here, bringing healthtech innovation and biotech jobs to our local economy.”
“Increasing our presence in Arizona puts Geneticure close to the clinical partners and talent we need to scale,” said Scott Snyder, CEO of Geneticure. “Xcellerant brings more than capital, and we are excited to work with their team as we bring renal denervation responder testing to physicians and patients.”
Geneticure will use the funding to advance clinical validation, refine its reimbursement strategy, and build commercial readiness ahead of a planned Series A round. Alongside its RDN platform, Geneticure holds four U.S. patents and offers a commercial hypertension test guiding daily medication selection.
While Xcellerant’s institutional Fund I is now closed, individual investors can access Xcellerant’s early-stage healthcare pipeline through Jetstream Venture Fund (jvf.vc), a first-of-its-kind, retail-accessible venture fund designed to democratize VC investing.
About Geneticure
Geneticure is a precision medicine company with operations in Arizona and Minnesota. Its patented genetic tests help physicians predict patient response to hypertension treatments, including medication selection and renal denervation. geneticure.com.
About Xcellerant Ventures
Xcellerant Ventures is a Scottsdale, Arizona-based venture capital firm investing in early-stage healthcare technology companies that improve clinical outcomes and reduce costs. xcellerantventures.com.
Fast-growing innovator is establishing itself as the agentic operating system for the multi-trillion-dollar global CPG industry, reinventing how brands operate, compete and scale
CHICAGO and LONDON, Oct. 21, 2026 — Opply, the agentic operating system for consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands, has raised $7.5 million after growing gross revenue 15-fold in just 12 months. Its pioneering technology has the potential to transform the economics of the global CPG industry, dramatically reducing costs, accelerating growth and freeing businesses to focus on product innovation, profitability and expansion.
Martin Postel and Helen Murphy, founders at Opply
The company is capitalising on the rapid rise of vertical AI, with recent McKinsey & Company research¹ highlighting surging investment in industry-specific AI technologies designed to transform complex business operations. Opply is at the forefront of this shift, going beyond AI-driven analysis to actively execute and finance transactions. By combining specialised AI agents, proprietary data and deep industry expertise with an extensive supplier network and flexible financing, Opply is building a powerful competitive advantage.
The funding round, led by Chalfen Ventures with participation from Index Ventures, Anthemis, Entrepreneurs First, In This Together and Ventures Together, follows rapid international expansion. Since launching its Chicago operations in 2025, Opply’s US business has grown 30-fold in just 12 months, driven by demand from CPG brands looking to reduce costs, streamline operations and accelerate growth.
Unlocking growth in the $18.9 trillion global CPG market
The global CPG market is forecast to reach $18.9 trillion by 2031, according to Allied Market Research². In the US alone, the sector contributes $2.5 trillion to GDP and supports 22.3 million jobs, according to the Consumer Brands Association and PwC³.
Founded by Helen Murphy and Martin Postel, Opply is turning complex, resource-intensive operations into an intelligent engine for growth. Going far beyond simply connecting buyers and suppliers, its AI actively manages and executes critical operations, from sourcing and procurement to financing and supply chains. Its impact extends directly into real-world operations, from managing stock levels and coordinating production to ensuring deliveries run smoothly, enabling brands to scale faster and more efficiently.
Customers including UK drinks innovator Agua de Madre and US kombucha brand RMBR are demonstrating the transformative potential of its technology, with results including cost reductions of 40% and a 12-fold return on investment in just 12 months.
Mike Chalfen, Founder of Chalfen Ventures, commented: “It’s a beautiful thing to see a team I backed at the start exceed my very high expectations. Opply has all the ingredients to become a globally significant business: custom AIs that together have proven to make customer operations work end to end; as a result, exceptional growth; and a huge market opportunity in front of it. Its rapid expansion across both the UK and US demonstrates the strength of demand for technology that fundamentally changes how CPG businesses operate and scale. I believe Opply has the potential to become the operational backbone of a multi-trillion-dollar global industry, unlocking enormous value for businesses of every size.”
Helen Murphy, co-founder and CEO of Opply, said: “CPG supply chains have remained fragmented and manual for far too long. By taking operational complexity out of the equation, we give ambitious brands the headroom to grow faster, invest in innovation and reach more customers. Our AI technology doesn’t just tell brands what needs to be done. It does the work, managing everything from sourcing and procurement to payments and supply chains.
“This latest funding gives us the opportunity to bring that model to many more businesses, from ambitious emerging brands to major global players.”
About Opply
Opply is an AI-powered operating system for CPG brands, initially focused on food and beverage. Opply Brain combines specialised AI agents, proprietary data and an extensive supplier network to execute and manage core operations, including sourcing, procurement, financing, inventory, production planning and logistics. Founded in 2021 by Helen Murphy and Martin Postel, Opply operates across the UK, Europe and North America.
Funding supports Peak as it scales domestic manufacturing and expands its passively cooled sodium-ion platform into data center power infrastructure
BURLINGAME, Calif., Oct. 21, 2026 — Peak Energy, the leading developer of passively cooled sodium-ion energy storage systems for the grid, today announced the closing of its oversubscribed Series B financing round led by General Motors Ventures with participation from Maverick Silicon, Infinite Capital, Eclipse, Xora Innovation, and LG Technology Ventures. The new $108 million in financing positions Peak to scale domestic manufacturing, fulfill over $1 billion in existing customer orders, and launch its product to the data center market where access to power has become the primary constraint on growth.
“Peak’s mission from day one has been to lower the cost of energy through safer, simpler, cleaner, and more reliable technology,” said Landon Mossburg, co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Peak Energy. “The investment we announce today will supercharge Peak’s ability to scale and deliver as the world increasingly turns to passively cooled sodium-ion storage to solve our energy needs.”
In just three years, Peak Energy has taken sodium-ion from a promising concept to a global category now widely recognized as the leading alternative to lithium-ion for grid-scale applications. With more than $1 billion in customer commitments and growing demand from utilities, power producers, and data centers, the company continues to strengthen its market leadership. The financing follows a period of significant progress for Peak. In June, the company announced a partnership with General Motors to jointly develop next generation sodium-ion battery cells for the storage market, leverage GM’s U.S.-based battery cell industrialization expertise to support Peak, and in July unveiled its 4 GWh factory in Sacramento, CA, which will start production in Q1 2027.
“GM Ventures is investing to help Peak Energy continue to scale this innovative technology because we believe it has significant potential in the energy storage market as a safe, cost-effective solution using abundant, domestically sourced materials,” said Kevin McCabe, president of GM Ventures.
Peak’s flagship passively cooled energy storage system is engineered to address the components that make energy storage expensive to operate and maintain. With a fundamentally simpler architecture, Peak can reduce the cost of energy by up to 20% compared with conventional storage systems. By eliminating wasteful cooling systems, reducing energy waste, and requiring zero planned maintenance, Peak systems deliver longer operating life and lower lifetime ownership costs – enabling a lower-cost and more reliable alternative to conventional energy storage technology.
“We spent a lot of time looking at the growing power requirements around AI infrastructure, and it became clear that energy storage is going to be an increasingly important part of the solution. Peak is taking a differentiated approach to sodium-ion, with a focus on the full system from chemistry and design through manufacturing and deployment at scale,” said Kenneth Safar, Managing Director at Maverick Silicon. “The combination of strong technical progress, growing customer engagement and a large end market gives Peak an opportunity to build a defining platform in energy storage. We’re excited to support the team as they scale.”
Peak’s system emits virtually no noise, consumes zero water, and eliminates the leading causes of battery fires, providing a safer and more community-friendly alternative for energy storage. As AI-driven demand accelerates, data center operators need storage solutions that are not only better for the community but also deliver more usable power. The result is a solution that addresses community and ratepayer concerns around affordability and safety while improving reliability and energy efficiency for data center operators.
To learn more about Peak Energy visit peakenergy.com.
ABOUT PEAK ENERGY: Founded in 2023, Peak Energy is delivering low-cost, giga-scale energy storage purpose-built to meet today’s grid challenges. Built by veterans from Tesla, Enovix, and Fluence, the company’s proprietary passive cooling platform makes grid-scale storage safer, simpler, and more affordable. The company has secured over $1 billion in commercial agreements, including deals with Jupiter Power, RWE, and Energy Vault, and in June 2026 announced a strategic partnership with General Motors, backed by a GM Ventures investment, to develop next-generation storage cells purpose-built for the grid. Peak is scaling domestic production through a new 4GWh manufacturing facility in Sacramento, California. For more information, visit www.peakenergy.com.
The partnership marks The Newcastle Network’s first investment in food, backing a brand built with a community of more than 15 million home cooks.
WELLESLEY, Mass., Oct. 21, 2026 — The Newcastle Network, a consumer-focused private equity firm, today announced a $25 million investment in Dan-O’s Seasoning, the Louisville-based brand that turned a farmers market table into a flavor community more than 15 million strong. The investment marks The Newcastle Network’s first move into food.
Dan-O’s Seasoning Founder Dan Oliver (left) with Chris Casgar (right), Managing Partner at The Newcastle Network.
The investment will supercharge Dan-O’s next chapter, bringing fans more of the flavors they love, in new formats, and expanding availability across retail and online. Founder Dan Oliver and CEO Phillip Crosby continue to lead Dan-O’s as the company grows, staying true to its mission to change the way the world seasons food.
“The brands we’re most excited about don’t just sell products, they change behavior,” said Chris Casgar, Managing Partner, The Newcastle Network. “Dan has built far more than a seasoning company. He’s created a platform that inspires millions of home cooks to experiment, create, and enjoy cooking more. That’s rare, it’s incredibly difficult to replicate, and it’s exactly the kind of business we’re looking to back as we build our food portfolio. The Dan-O’s investment is just the beginning.”
For Newcastle, Dan-O’s is a signal of a broader commitment to the category. The firm sees founder-led challengers taking share from legacy food brands by building community first and distribution second. Newcastle’s team brings deep expertise in food, built over their individual careers, positioning the firm as a hands-on partner to the brands it backs.
“I started out at a farmers market with one goal: get people to put some Dan-O’s on it, have fun in the kitchen, and make food they were excited to share,” said Dan Oliver, Founder of Dan-O’s Seasoning. “Our Fan-O’s took it from there. They started shakin’ it on everything, mixing flavors, creating their own recipes, and making Dan-O’s part of their own cooking stories. They’ve built this into something way bigger than me. With Newcastle’s support, we’ll keep bringing more Dan-Good flavor, helping more people cook with confidence, and making time in the kitchen even more fun.”
Founder Dan Oliver started Dan-O’s in 2015, selling an early version of his Original blend at a local farmers market after friends kept telling him it was too good to keep to himself. He shared the recipes he was cooking, fans cooked along, and before long they were stacking blends, mixing flavors, and making them their own. Dan-O’s became more than a seasoning. It became a creative outlet in the kitchen and the center of a growing community of home cooks. The brand is sold at danosseasoning.com and in more than 22,000 retailers nationwide, and Dan was named an EY Entrepreneur of the Year in 2023.
Dan-O’s and The Newcastle Network will build the brand’s next chapter together, staying true to the flavor, the fans, and the community that made it what it is today.
About Dan-O’s Seasoning
Dan-O’s Seasoning was founded in 2015 by Dan Oliver in Louisville, Kentucky. The company’s mission is to change how the world seasons food, one seasoning at a time, by providing a flavor-first alternative to traditional herbs and spices. Dan-O’s is one of the fastest-growing seasoning brands in the country with a community of more than 15 million home cooks, and a presence in more than 22,000 major retailers nationwide and online at www.danosseasoning.com.
About The Newcastle Network
The Newcastle Network is a consumer-focused private equity firm that backs standout brands and the exceptional people behind them. Newcastle pairs capital with an operating engine built around data science, technology, and go-to-market expertise, designed to help founders and leadership teams grow faster than they could alone. Its portfolio spans footwear (Kizik), collectibles (Super7), pet (Pet Life Unlimited), and food (Dan-O’s Seasoning).
The Atlanta company reached the milestone in under two years, entirely within the Atlanta Metro Area, and is preparing to launch in Houston and Dallas
ATLANTA, Oct. 20, 2026 — Undaunted, the Atlanta robotic security company protecting apartment communities and other commercial properties, today announced it has more than 100 security robots deployed in the field. The fleet is now the largest deployed robotic security fleet in the United States, despite only operating within metro Atlanta. Undaunted is now preparing to launch in Houston and Dallas.
Undaunted Reaches 100 Robots
Most robotics companies never make it past the pilot stage. A few units go out, generate a news story, and quietly come back. Putting 100 robots to work every night at paying customer sites is the point where robotic security stops being an experiment and becomes infrastructure that property owners plan their budgets around.
“Undaunted provides human-controlled robots at half the cost of traditional security guards. By moving the trained agent behind a screen, we’ve been able to help secure many of the most dangerous properties in Atlanta in a manner that’s safer for everyone. We work to stop crimes before they happen through proactive deterrence, while keeping a human in the loop for moments when judgement is required.”
-Bryan Dinner, Founder and CEO, Undaunted
Why 100 robots matters
The results at that scale are showing up in police records and on property balance sheets.
At one Atlanta community, police records show residential burglaries fell to zero, motor vehicle theft dropped 84% and firearm incidents fell 64%, while the owner saves $75,000 a year on security since Undaunted went live 18 months ago
At a suburban community in Gwinnett County, overall crime fell 72% and no violent incidents have been recorded in 8 months since deployment.
Those results are why the fleet keeps growing. Owners who start with one property tend to add the next, and running 100 robots in one city has enabled Undaunted to build the operations, training and support model to expand nationwide.
“We have expanded Undaunted from eight hours on one property a year ago to 24/7 and are now across eight properties and will be adding more. It works and our residents love it.”
-Shmuel Wolf, Balfour Residential
Next stop: Texas With Atlanta as its proving ground, Undaunted is bringing the same model to Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth, two of the largest apartment markets in the country. The company is meeting with owners and operators in both cities now.
About Undaunted Undaunted is a robotic security company that helps apartment owners prevent crime and lower security costs. Founded in Atlanta in January 2025, Undaunted combines existing property cameras, real-time monitoring and human-controlled patrol robots to stop incidents before they happen. Learn more at getundaunted.com.
AI-native Enterprise TRiSCM™ innovator secures institutional backing, earns Leader recognition in GRC and Third-Party Risk Management, and accelerates global expansion
DALLAS, Oct. 21, 2026 — DigitalXForce today announced the launch of the industry’s first Enterprise TRiSCM™ (Trust, Risk, and Security Management) platform designed for the AI and Quantum era, introducing a new operating model for organizations to manage Trust, Risk, Security and Compliance through continuous assurance, operational intelligence and autonomous risk operation.
Lalit Ahluwalia – Founder
DigitalXForce, the AI-native Enterprise Trust, Risk, Security and Compliance Management (TRiSCM™) platform, today announced a strategic institutional investment from Arsenal Equity Group to accelerate global expansion, enterprise adoption and AI-powered innovation.
The investment follows a period of exceptional momentum for DigitalXForce, highlighted by three major milestones:
IDC MarketScape Leader Recognition: DigitalXForce was named a Leader in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Third-Party Risk Management Software 2026 Vendor Assessment (Doc #US53007725, September 2026), following its Leader positioning in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Governance, Risk, and Compliance Software Vendor Assessment, 2025 (Doc #US53615325, June 2025).
514% Growth: DigitalXForce was recognized as the second fastest-growing technology company in North Texas in the 2026 Tech Titans Fast Tech Awards.
Strategic Institutional Investment: Arsenal Equity Group’s investment will support the company’s next phase of global growth, product innovation and enterprise market expansion.
Together, these milestones reinforce DigitalXForce’s evolution from an emerging GRC innovator into a rapidly scaling enterprise technology company advancing the shift toward continuous Digital Trust and AI-powered Risk Intelligence.
Institutional Investment to Accelerate Global Scale
The strategic investment from Arsenal Equity Group will support DigitalXForce’s expansion across North America, the Middle East, Europe and Asia-Pacific, while strengthening its global enterprise sales, partner ecosystem and product engineering capabilities.
The company plans to accelerate investment in its unified Enterprise TRiSCM™ platform, including Automated GRC, Continuous Control Assurance, Third-Party Risk Management, AI Risk Governance, Enterprise Security Posture Management and X-ROC™ Risk Operations.
The funding also supports DigitalXForce’s strategy to deepen relationships with global systems integrators, consulting organizations, technology partners and regional distributors.
CEO Perspective
“Our 514% growth, IDC MarketScape Leader recognition and Arsenal Equity Group’s investment validate our vision. We are scaling AI-powered Enterprise TRiSCM and XForce Risk Operations Center (X-ROC) globally to redefine Digital Trust.”
— Lalit Ahluwalia, Founder & CEO, DigitalXForce
Investor Perspective
“DigitalXForce brings together exceptional growth, differentiated AI-native technology and a compelling vision for enterprise risk management. Its industry recognition and global market momentum reinforce our conviction in the company’s ability to scale and establish a leadership position in Digital Trust. We are excited to partner with Lalit and the DigitalXForce team as they enter their next phase of growth.”
— Jason Rottenberg, Principal, Arsenal Equity Group
Recognized as a Leader in Two IDC MarketScape Assessments
DigitalXForce’s latest recognition in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Third-Party Risk Management Software 2026 Vendor Assessment marks another significant milestone in its Enterprise TRiSCM strategy.
The assessment evaluated third-party risk management software providers based on their capabilities and strategies, positioning DigitalXForce in the Leaders category.
The recognition follows DigitalXForce’s Leader positioning in the 2025 IDC MarketScape for Governance, Risk and Compliance software.
Together, the two assessments recognize DigitalXForce’s competitive positioning across complementary enterprise risk management markets.
DigitalXForce’s architecture brings third-party risk management, automated GRC and continuous control monitoring together on a unified platform, enabling enterprises to manage internal and external risk through connected evidence, common controls and continuously updated risk intelligence.
Transforming Third-Party Risk from Questionnaires to Continuous Intelligence
Traditional third-party risk management programs often rely on annual questionnaires, manual evidence reviews and periodic vendor assessments.
However, expanding supplier ecosystems, cybersecurity threats and regulations such as DORA and NIS2 are increasing the need for ongoing oversight.
DigitalXForce’s Automated Third-Party Risk Management with External Risk View combines:
Risk-based vendor classification and tiering.
AI-assisted questionnaire and document analysis.
Continuous external attack surface and cyber risk intelligence.
Vulnerability, misconfiguration and breach exposure monitoring.
Fourth-party dependency visibility.
Automated risk scoring, remediation workflows and SLA tracking.
Unified evidence mapping across regulatory and compliance frameworks.
Unlike standalone third-party assessment tools, DigitalXForce integrates supplier risk intelligence with an organization’s internal security, compliance and enterprise risk posture.
This enables risk teams to move beyond periodic vendor attestations toward continuous, evidence-driven third-party risk management.
From Traditional GRC to Enterprise Digital Trust
DigitalXForce is building a unified operating model for enterprise trust, risk, security and compliance.
Its Enterprise TRiSCM™ platform brings together 15 integrated modules on a common data layer, with controls mapped across more than 50 compliance frameworks and supported by more than 250 technology integrations.
Two proprietary AI engines, AI JedAI and XForce GPT, support capabilities spanning evidence analysis, control testing, risk quantification, policy intelligence and remediation orchestration.
The platform is designed to help enterprises transition:
From Periodic GRC → Continuous Control Assurance
From Fragmented Risk Tools → Unified Enterprise TRiSCM™
From Vendor Questionnaires → Continuous Third-Party Risk Intelligence
From Reactive Risk Management → Proactive Risk Operations
From Compliance Reporting → Measurable Digital Trust
DigitalXForce is extending this vision through X-ROC™, its Risk Operations Center approach, designed to help organizations continuously monitor, prioritize and manage enterprise risk.
514% Growth Reinforces Market Momentum
DigitalXForce’s 514% three-year growth and No. 2 ranking in the 2026 Tech Titans Fast Tech Awards reflect increasing market demand for automated, AI-native approaches to risk, cybersecurity and compliance.
Founded in North Texas in 2023, DigitalXForce has expanded into international markets, supporting organizations navigating complex enterprise risk, regulatory requirements and digital transformation initiatives.
Its hybrid deployment architecture also enables organizations to address regional data residency and sovereignty requirements while benefiting from centralized governance and AI-powered risk intelligence.
With institutional backing, two IDC MarketScape Leader recognitions and continued international expansion, DigitalXForce is positioned to pursue its next stage of enterprise growth.
Building the Future of Digital Trust
As organizations adopt AI, cloud technologies and increasingly interconnected digital ecosystems, traditional point-in-time risk assessments are becoming insufficient.
DigitalXForce believes the future belongs to platforms that continuously connect security, governance, compliance, third-party exposure, resilience and enterprise risk into a unified view of organizational trust.
From GRC to Enterprise TRiSCM™. From periodic compliance to continuous assurance. From managing risk to building Digital Trust.
With the support of Arsenal Equity Group, DigitalXForce intends to accelerate that transformation globally.
About DigitalXForce — We Stop Risk Before It Strikes.
DigitalXForce, Industry’s first AI-Powered Enterprise TRiSCM (Trust, Risk, Security and Compliance Management) Platform, is pioneering the next generation of Automated GRC with Continuous Trust Assurance by converging AI, cybersecurity, compliance, operational resilience, and posture management into one unified Risk Intelligence platform. Designed with a modular and composable architecture, DigitalXForce delivers an integrated suite of capabilities spanning automated GRC, Enterprise Security Risk Posture Management (ESRPM), Third-Party Risk Management, Cyber Resilience, and Regulatory Compliance.
At the core of DigitalXForce is its AI-powered engine, which leverages intelligent agents, machine learning models, and a dynamic control library to autonomously monitor controls, map evidence, assess risks, and generate real-time insights. Trusted by global enterprises across healthcare, finance, critical infrastructure, and technology sectors, DigitalXForce delivers measurable value by reducing manual effort, accelerating audit readiness, and improving organizational resilience in today’s fast-evolving threat and compliance landscape.
IDC MarketScape vendor assessment model is designed to provide an overview of the competitive fitness of technology and service suppliers in a given market. The research utilizes a rigorous scoring methodology based on both qualitative and quantitative criteria that results in a single graphical illustration of each supplier’s position within a given market. IDC MarketScape provides a clear framework in which the product and service offerings, capabilities and strategies, and current and future market success factors of technology suppliers can be meaningfully compared. The framework also provides technology buyers with a 360-degree assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of current and prospective suppliers.
The financing round, led by investment firm Pekron, Investcorp-backed Sanos Group, Icelandic investment company Kaldbakur and Landvættir, an Icelandic venture capital fund managed by AxUM Securities, was increased to US$21.5 million following strong investor demand
The proceeds will advance AT-002 and AT-003 towards clinical development, broadening the company’s pipeline and building on key Phase II milestones achieved by its lead programs, AT-001 in rare and common forms of dementia and AT-004 in inflammatory skin diseases.
The funding round follows the company’s participation in the acquisition of the lead clinical-stage asset of US-based Nobias Therapeutics and the subsequent launch of Synaptiq Therapeutics
REYKJAVIK, Iceland AND PHILADELPHIA, October 21, 2026 — Arctic Therapeutics (ATx), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company translating genetic discoveries into new treatments for diseases with significant unmet medical need, today announced the closing of an oversubscribed US$21.5 million financing round, which was increased following strong investor demand.
The financing round was led by investment firm Pekron, Investcorp-backed Sanos Group, Icelandic investment company Kaldbakur and Landvættir, an Icelandic venture capital fund managed by AxUM Securities.
The proceeds will primarily be used to advance ATx’s pipeline assets, AT-002 and AT-003, towards clinical development, expanding the company’s clinical pipeline beyond its lead programs, AT-001 and AT-004, in rare and common forms of dementia and inflammatory skin diseases, respectively.
The new financing follows the company’s oversubscribed approximately US$31 million Series A round, which was allocated towards advancing the company’s lead assets, AT-001 and AT-004. ATx has since achieved the clinical development milestones targeted with the Series A financing, with both programs reaching key Phase II clinical milestones.
“The support from both new and existing investors allows us to build on the substantial progress made across Arctic Therapeutics over the past two years,” said Ivar Hakonarson, co-founder and chief executive officer. “Our Series A enabled us to move our lead programs forward and achieve the clinical milestones we set out to reach. This new financing gives us the opportunity to unlock additional value within the broader pipeline by advancing AT-002 and AT-003 towards the clinic, while advancing partnering and out-licensing activities for AT-001 and AT-004,” he added.
AT-002 is a peptide mimetic of the kinase inhibitory region (KIR) domain of suppressor of cytokine signaling 1 (SOCS1), a potent inhibitor of the JAK-STAT signaling pathway. The program is initially being developed for autoimmune uveitis, with potential applications across other autoimmune and inflammatory diseases including lupus, psoriasis, and juvenile dermatomyositis.
AT-003 is a small-molecule mitophagy and autophagy modulator designed to counteract the consequences of aberrant activity of CLEC16A. Genetic variation involving CLEC16A has been strongly associated with 16 autoimmune diseases, including lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and type 1 diabetes, as well as Parkinson’s disease. The program is intended to address cellular dysfunction associated with impaired mitochondrial function and autophagy dysregulation.
“AT-002 and AT-003 reflect the same genomics-driven approach on which Arctic Therapeutics was founded, identifying disease biology through human genetics and translating those discoveries into therapeutic interventions,” ATx founder Dr. Hakon Hakonarson said. “Both programs target biological pathways implicated across multiple serious diseases both common and rare. Bringing them closer to clinical development significantly expands the potential reach of our pipeline beyond our current clinical-stage programs,” he added.
The company’s lead dementia program, AT-001, is an oral investigational treatment designed to prevent and disrupt the aggregation of amyloid, tau and related toxic aggregation proteins. The company has completed the 12-month core treatment period of its pivotal Phase IIb/III study in Hereditary Cystatin C Amyloid Angiopathy (HCCAA), a rare familial form of dementia, with an approved extension continuing to evaluate longer-term treatment.
AT-001 is also being evaluated in an ongoing fully recruited randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase IIa biomarker study in patients with mild cognitive impairment and mild Alzheimer’s disease, investigating its effects using blood-based biomarkers and brain imaging. The program is intended to evaluate whether findings from ATx’s work in genetically defined amyloid disease can translate into the much larger Alzheimer’s disease population.
AT-004, the company’s second lead clinical program, is an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor targeting the non-neuronal cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway, a biological system present in human skin involved in regulating inflammation and pro-inflammatory cytokines such as TNF-α. A Phase IIa signal finding proof-of-concept study in acne vulgaris has been completed, demonstrating favorable safety, tolerability and generating encouraging efficacy signals supporting further clinical development. The program is initially focused on acne but has potential applications across other inflammatory skin diseases, including atopic dermatitis, rosacea, psoriasis as well as wound healing.
Earlier this year, ATx participated in the acquisition of NB-001, a clinical-stage program previously owned by US-based Nobias Therapeutics. The asset, now known as SYN-001, forms the foundation of newly established Synaptiq Therapeutics, which was launched in July 2026 by a consortium including ATx, Sanos Group, an Icelandic investment fund managed by AxUM Securities, and investors in Nobias Therapeutics, including US-based Medical Excellence Capital.
SYN-001 is being developed for the treatment of neuropsychiatric symptoms associated with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11DS). The program has received FDA Rare Pediatric Disease Designation and Orphan Drug Designation and, following positive Phase II clinical results, is being prepared for a Phase IIb clinical trial in North America and Europe. ATx provides Synaptiq with clinical development infrastructure, scientific expertise, and operational capabilities.
Arctic Therapeutics was advised by Arctica Finance as financial advisor and BBA//Fjeldco as legal advisor in connection with the financing.
About Arctic Therapeutics
Arctic Therapeutics (ATx) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company established in 2015 as a spin-off from the US-based Center for Applied Genomics (CAG), a research center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. The company’s diversified pipeline reflects its commitment to addressing diseases with significant unmet medical need by translating human genetic discoveries into safe and effective treatments. ATx is advancing clinical and preclinical programs across neurology, autoimmune diseases and inflammatory skin conditions and has operations in Iceland and the United States, alongside research and clinical collaborations across Europe. For more information, please visit www.arctictherapeutics.com and follow Arctic Therapeutics on LinkedIn.
About Pekron
Pekron is a private investment firm and family office headquartered in Reykjavík, Iceland. The firm invests and manages capital across private and public securities, real estate and other investment opportunities, with a long-term approach to capital allocation. For more information, please visit www.pekron.is.
About Sanos Group
Sanos Group is a leading specialist provider of clinical study services to the global pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Headquartered in Denmark, the group operates across Europe, the United States and Asia and provides clinical development capabilities through specialist CROs, research clinics, technology platforms and clinical supply services. Its specialist areas include dermatology, central nervous system disorders and osteoarthritis. For more information, please visit www.sanos.com.
About AxUM Securities and Landvættir
AxUM Securities Ltd.(AxUM Verðbréf hf.) is an Icelandic licensed alternative investment fund management company headquartered in Akureyri, Iceland. AxUM manages investment funds for professional private investors, including venture capital fund Landvættir. For more information, please visit www.axum.is.
About Kaldbakur:
Kaldbakur is an international investment company focused on creating long-term value through active ownership and strategic investments. The company manages a diversified portfolio spanning the seafood industry, tourism, food production, healthcare and a range of smaller businesses, reflecting its commitment to diversification, sustainable growth, and long-term value creation. For more information, please visitwww.kaldbakur.net
For media inquiries Gulli Arnason, Chief Strategy Officer [email protected]
Series E raise is led by Scaleup Europe Fund managed by EQT, with participation from existing investors, WIL (World Innovation Lab), and a planned investment from NVIDIA
New capital accelerates Pigment’s move toward autonomous planning, powered by its proprietary Graphite engine
PARIS, Oct. 21, 2026 — Pigment, the AI business planning and performance management platform, today announced a $250 million Series E funding round at a $2.3 billion valuation. The round was led by Scaleup Europe Fund, managed byEQT, with participation from WIL (World Innovation Lab), existing investors including Greenoaks, ICONIQ, IVP, and Meritech, and a planned investment from NVIDIA. This capital will accelerate Pigment’s mission to move fast toward autonomous planning for global enterprises.
The investment comes on the heels of a milestone year for Pigment, which surpassed $100 million in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) earlier this year, once again doubling year-over-year. Adoption of Pigment’s AI is also accelerating: today, 85% of new metrics in Pigment are created by an Agent. The fundraise puts Pigment in a position to build on this momentum and expand its presence and growth in new regions.
Pigment has rapidly cemented itself as the enterprise-ready platform of choice for large enterprises like Danone, DirecTV, Siemens, Snowflake, ServiceNow, and Unilever displacing legacy incumbents. And, instead of building internal solutions, the world’s most AI-savvy and engineering-dense organizations, including Anthropic, ElevenLabs, and Uber, trust Pigment to serve as the reasoning runtime for their enterprise data.
A commitment to technical superiority and continuous innovation is why some of the largest organizations trust Pigment to replace their legacy systems. It also ensures that Pigment has the capacity to seamlessly support massive global deployments, such as its recent selection by L’Oréal, who is replacing its salary planning tool for their 95,000+ employees globally by deploying Pigment.
On the raise, Pigment Co-Founders Eléonore Crespo and Romain Niccoli said, “Enterprise planning will change more in the next few years than it has in the last thirty. Legacy tools are being left behind, and the world’s most advanced AI companies now run their planning on Pigment. With the backing of our investors, we are moving fast to make autonomous planning a reality for every enterprise. With AI agents running planning workflows end to end and turning decisions into action, companies can respond to change as fast as it happens.”
Enterprise-Ready Scale and Engineering
This $250 million injection will significantly accelerate Pigment’s R&D and fuel the expansion of Pigment’s engineering team, focused on its proprietary, patent-pending compute engine, Graphite, and the AI agents that run on it.
AI agents are only as good as the engine underneath them. Graphite already lets thousands of AI agents and people work on the same governed model at once, scaling to hundreds of billions of data points with deterministic, fully traceable results. That is what makes autonomous planning possible: agents can only be trusted to run planning workflows and act on the results when every number they produce is accurate and every action can be traced. With this funding, Pigment will keep advancing Graphite to handle even larger and more complex workloads, while extending its agents from building models and analyzing data to running planning workflows end to end.
“In most companies, the richest picture of how a business actually runs sits in its plans. Pigment has built that foundation with a single platform connecting finance, sales and workforce planning – and put AI agents to work on it, helping teams model, analyse and act in hours rather than months. Eléonore and Romain have built a global category leader from Paris, and that is exactly the kind of company the Scaleup Europe Fund was created to back,” said Shannee Braun, Managing Director, EQT and Scaleup Europe Fund.
Pigment is an AI business planning and performance management platform. Built for the complexity of modern enterprises, Pigment combines dynamic modeling with autonomous AI agents and an intuitive UX, to help teams make intelligent decisions with speed and clarity. Across finance, sales, supply chain, and other business functions, teams at companies like Unilever, Snowflake, and Anthropic use Pigment every day to anticipate change, plan ahead, and act with confidence. Try Pigment for free for 14 days at Pigment.com.
About the Scaleup Europe Fund, managed by EQT
The Scaleup Europe Fund, managed by EQT, is a commercially driven alternative investment fund backing ambitious European technology companies with the potential to become global leaders. Targeting €5 billion, the Fund brings together public and private capital and invests across DeepTech, AI Apps and Life Sciences. http://scaleupeuropefund.eu/
About EQT
EQT is a global investment organization with a Nordic heritage and more than three decades of experience developing companies. With €341 billion in total assets under management, EQT invests across the full lifecycle of companies, from start-up to maturity. https://eqtgroup.com/
New research-backed neuro-recalibration framework targets the autonomic nervous system’s threat response to managing high financial amounts, offering enterprise leaders a biological pathway to scaling.
ANTALYA, Turkey and ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., Oct. 21, 2026 — Conscious Spark LLC, a research and advisory firm specializing in applied neuroscience for executive leadership, today announced the official launch of Alphimiya®, a proprietary C-suite neuro-recalibration framework designed to resolve corporate revenue plateaus by upgrading the biological capacity of enterprise decision-makers.
Dr. Ahmed Al-Nashi, Founder & CEO of Conscious Spark LLC, introducing the Alphimiya® C-Suite Neuro-Recalibration framework.
Developed to address the root causes of stalled enterprise growth, the Alphimiya® framework targets the human autonomic nervous system’s subconscious threat response to managing high financial amounts. When commercial leaders and CEOs attempt to scale past historical capital thresholds without recalibrating their stress response, the body’s natural survival mechanism triggers decision fatigue, strategic risk aversion, and systemic self-sabotage. Alphimiya® recalibrates this biological safety brake, enabling executive teams to hold, absorb, and scale larger financial volumes without physiological or operational friction.
“A corporate revenue plateau is rarely an operational or marketing failure; it is a biological safety brake embedded within executive leadership,” stated Dr. Ahmed Al-Nashi, Founder of Conscious Spark LLC. “When managing high financial amounts triggers an underlying physical stress response, the enterprise subconsciously contracts to remain in its perceived safe zone. Alphimiya® removes that biological friction, allowing C-level leaders to multiply revenue with calm, biological authority.”
The Alphimiya® framework restructures executive performance across three core operational pillars:
Sovereign Enterprise Scaling: Expands the nervous system’s tolerance for high-stakes capital, allowing leadership teams to scale revenue without experiencing executive burnout.
High-Value Deal Execution: Regulates autonomic stress responses during multi-million-dollar negotiations and volatile market entries, eliminating hesitation under pressure.
Restored Strategic Clarity: Removes chronic decision fatigue across C-suite teams, restoring mental focus and strategic presence inside and outside the boardroom.
By recalibrating the autonomic nervous system’s response to high capital exposure, Alphimiya® removes the subconscious biological brakes that lock corporate revenue at a standstill. Senior C-level executives and enterprise leadership teams seeking to evaluate their organization’s biological capacity can access the official executive briefing, case studies, and framework assessment directly at https://alphimiya.co/.
About Conscious Spark LLC
Conscious Spark LLC is a U.S.-registered firm specializing in executive education, training, and strategic performance consulting. Pioneering applied neuroscience for C-level leaders, founders, and commercial decision-makers, the firm utilizes its proprietary Alphimiya® methodology to enable leadership teams to recalibrate biological stress responses, resolve revenue ceilings, and build scalable corporations.
