LA PLATEFORME EUROPÉENNE D’ASSISTANCE AUTOMOBILE ENTIÈREMENT NUMÉRIQUE CLÔTURE UN NOUVEAU TOUR DE FINANCEMENT DE 20 MILLIONS D’EUROS ET ANNONCE L’ACQUISITION DE CARVOILÀ.

MILAN, 23 septembre 2026 — hlpy, la jeune entreprise italienne en croissance qui réinvente l’assistance automobile et la mobilité à travers l’Europe grâce à une plateforme entièrement numérique et basée sur l’IA, annonce une nouvelle levée de fonds de 20 millions d’euros et l’acquisition de 100 % du capital social de Carvoilà, une société de services de transport et de logistique de véhicules. Dans le cadre de cette opération, BNP Paribas BNL Equity Investments (BBEI), la société du groupe BNP Paribas spécialisée dans les prises de participation minoritaires dans les petites et moyennes entreprises italiennes, rejoint l’actionnariat de hlpy. L’opération marque une nouvelle étape dans la stratégie de croissance externe de hlpy, qui vise à élargir progressivement son offre de services sur l’ensemble de la chaîne de valeur de l’automobile et à renforcer son rôle d’organisateur paneuropéen des services liés aux véhicules.

Ces nouvelles ressources financières et l’acquisition de Carvoilà permettent à hlpy de franchir une nouvelle étape majeure dans son parcours de croissance, en passant d’une plateforme numérique d’assistance à la mobilité à un écosystème intégré de services liés aux véhicules capable de relier technologie, données, réseaux opérationnels et compétences spécialisées tout au long de la chaîne de valeur des services automobiles.

À la suite de cette acquisition, les fondatrices de Carvoilà, Francesca Vidali et Michela Conti, rejoindront le groupe hlpy en vue de développer davantage le modèle économique et de tirer parti des synergies opérationnelles.

Valerio Chiaronzi, directeur général de hlpy, commente : « Nous faisons évoluer notre plateforme, qui est désormais en mesure d’accompagner les véhicules tout au long de la chaîne de valeur des services avant-vente et après-vente, de l’assistance à la réparation, en passant par l’entretien et la logistique, grâce à la combinaison de la technologie, des données et des réseaux opérationnels. Ce nouveau tour de table et l’entrée de BBEI dans notre actionnariat témoignent de la confiance accordée à notre modèle industriel et favoriseront encore davantage notre croissance, tant organique qu’externe. »

Lorenzo Langella, directeur général de BBEI, ajoute : « L’investissement dans hlpy s’inscrit parfaitement dans la mission de BBEI : nouer des partenariats stratégiques avec des sociétés actives dans des secteurs dynamiques et dirigées par des entrepreneurs visionnaires. »

Francesca Vidali, fondatrice de Carvoilà, déclare : « Nous sommes ravis de rejoindre le groupe hlpy. L’entreprise Carvoilà a été fondée avec une vision claire : apporter innovation et efficacité à la logistique des véhicules, en repensant la manière dont le transport routier peut être organisé et mis en œuvre. »

Grâce à l’intégration de Carvoilà, hlpy se rapproche de son objectif : dépasser les 100 millions d’euros de chiffre d’affaires récurrent d’ici à 2027. Cette opération porte à 45 millions d’euros le montant total des fonds levés depuis sa création en 2020 par la jeune entreprise en croissance, qui a déjà réalisé deux acquisitions en six ans d’activité.

DIE EUROPÄISCHE PLATTFORM FÜR VOLLSTÄNDIG DIGITALE FAHRZEUGASSISTENZ SCHLIESST EINE NEUE FINANZIERUNGSRUNDE IN HÖHE VON 20 MILLIONEN EURO AB UND GIBT DIE ÜBERNAHME VON CARVOILÀ BEKANNT.

MAILAND, 23. September 2026 — hlpy, das italienische Scale-up , das die Fahrzeug- und Mobilitätsunterstützung in ganz Europa mithilfe einer vollständig digitalen und KI-gestützten Plattform neu gestaltet, gibt eine neue Finanzierungsrunde in Höhe von 20 Millionen Euro sowie den Erwerb von 100 % des Aktienkapitals von Carvoilà bekannt, einem auf Fahrzeugtransport und Logistikdienstleistungen spezialisierten Unternehmen. Im Rahmen der Transaktion wird BNP Paribas BNL Equity Investments (BBEI), das auf Minderheitsbeteiligungen an italienischen kleinen und mittleren Unternehmen spezialisierte Unternehmen der BNP Paribas Group, Teil der Gesellschafterstruktur von hlpy. Die Transaktion stellt einen weiteren Schritt in der Strategie des externen Wachstums von hlpy dar, die darauf abzielt, das Dienstleistungsangebot schrittweise über die gesamte Wertschöpfungskette der Automobilbranche hinweg auszubauen und die Rolle des Unternehmens als paneuropäischer Koordinator von Fahrzeugdienstleistungen zu stärken.

Durch die neuen finanziellen Mittel und die Übernahme von Carvoilà setzt hlpy einen weiteren Meilenstein auf seinem Wachstumskurs und entwickelt sich von einer digitalen Plattform für Mobilitätshilfe zu einem integrierten Ökosystem für Fahrzeugdienstleistungen, das in der Lage ist, Technologie, Daten, operative Netzwerke und Fachwissen entlang der gesamten Wertschöpfungskette der Kfz-Dienstleistungen miteinander zu verknüpfen.

Im Zuge der Übernahme werden die Gründerinnen von Carvoilà, Francesca Vidali und Michela Conti , in die hlpy Group eintreten, um das Geschäftsmodell weiter auszubauen und operative Synergien zu nutzen.

Valerio Chiaronzi, CEO von hlpy, erklärte: „Wir entwickeln unsere Plattform weiter, die nun dank der Kombination aus Technologie, Daten und operativen Netzwerken in der Lage ist, Fahrzeuge über die gesamte Wertschöpfungskette der Vor- und Nachverkaufsdienstleistungen hinweg zu unterstützen – von der Pannenhilfe über Reparatur und Wartung bis hin zur Logistik. Die neue Finanzierungsrunde und der Einstieg von BBEI in unsere Aktionärsstruktur bestätigen das Vertrauen in unser Geschäftsmodell und werden es uns ermöglichen, sowohl das organische Wachstum als auch das Wachstum durch Akquisitionen weiter zu beschleunigen.”

Lorenzo Langella, CEO von BBEI, fügte hinzu: „Die Investition in hlpy steht voll und ganz im Einklang mit der Mission von BBEI: strategische Partnerschaften mit Unternehmen aufzubauen, die in dynamischen Branchen tätig sind und von visionären Unternehmern geführt werden.”

Francesca Vidali, Gründerin von Carvoilà, erklärte: „Wir freuen uns sehr, Teil der hlpy Group zu werden.” Carvoilà wurde mit einer klaren Vision gegründet: Innovation und Effizienz in die Fahrzeuglogistik zu bringen und die Art und Weise neu zu gestalten, wie der Straßentransport organisiert und erlebt werden kann.”

Mit der Integration von Carvoilà rückt hlpy seinem Ziel näher, bis 2027 wiederkehrende Umsätze von über 100 Millionen Euro zu erzielen. Durch diese Transaktion erreicht das Scale-up seit seiner Gründung 2020 ein Gesamtfinanzierungsvolumen von 45 Millionen Euro und hat innerhalb von sechs Geschäftsjahren zwei Akquisitionen abgeschlossen.

La plataforma europea de asistencia a vehículos totalmente digital cierra una nueva ronda de financiación de 20 millones de euros y anuncia la adquisición de Carvoilà.

MILAN, 23 de septiembre de 2026 — hlpy, la ‘scale-up’ italiana que está rediseñando la asistencia a vehículos y la movilidad en toda Europa mediante una plataforma totalmente digital impulsada por inteligencia artificial anuncia una nueva ronda de financiación de 20 millones de euros y la adquisición del 100 % del capital social de Carvoilà, empresa especializada en servicios de transporte y logística de vehículos. Como parte de la operación, BNP Paribas BNL Equity Investments (BBEI), la compañía de BNP Paribas Group especializada en inversiones minoritarias en pequeñas y medianas empresas italianas, se incorpora al accionariado de hlpy. Esta transacción supone un paso más en la estrategia de crecimiento externo de hlpy, orientada a ampliar progresivamente su oferta de servicios a lo largo de toda la cadena de valor de la automoción y a reforzar su papel como orquestador paneuropeo de servicios para vehículos.

Gracias a los nuevos recursos financieros y a la adquisición de Carvoilà, hlpy suma un nuevo hito a su trayectoria de crecimiento, evolucionando de una plataforma digital de asistencia a la movilidad a un ecosistema integrado de servicios para vehículos, capaz de conectar tecnología, datos, redes operativas y experiencia especializada a lo largo de toda la cadena de valor de los servicios de automoción.

Tras la adquisición, las fundadoras de Carvoilà, Francesca Vidali y Michela Conti, se incorporarán al Grupo hlpy con el objetivo de seguir ampliando el modelo de negocio y aprovechar las sinergias operativas.

Valerio Chiaronzi, consejero delegado de hlpy, comentó: “Estamos evolucionando nuestra plataforma, que ahora es capaz de dar soporte a los vehículos a lo largo de toda la cadena de valor de los servicios de preventa y posventa —desde la asistencia hasta la reparación, el mantenimiento y la logística— gracias a la combinación de tecnología, datos y redes operativas. La nueva ronda de financiación y la entrada de BBEI en nuestro accionariado confirman la confianza en nuestro modelo industrial y nos permitirán acelerar aún más tanto el crecimiento orgánico como el crecimiento mediante adquisiciones”. 

Lorenzo Langella, consejero delegado de BBEI, añadió: “La inversión en hlpy se alinea plenamente con la misión de BBEI: crear asociaciones estratégicas con empresas que operan en sectores dinámicos y dirigidas por emprendedores visionarios”.

Francesca Vidali, fundadora de Carvoilà, dijo: “Estamos encantados de unirnos al Grupo hlpy. Carvoilà se fundó con una visión clara: aportar innovación y eficiencia a la logística de vehículos, rediseñando la forma en que se organiza y se vive el transporte por carretera”.

Con la integración de Carvoilà, hlpy se acerca a su objetivo de superar los 100 millones de euros en ingresos recurrentes para 2027. Gracias a esta operación, la empresa alcanza un total de 45 millones de euros en financiación captada desde su fundación en 2020 y suma dos adquisiciones realizadas en sus seis años de actividad.

Funding will accelerate R&D, global go-to-market and a significant Silicon Valley presence as Brahma AI builds the operating system for enterprise audiovisual content

LOS ANGELES and LONDON and MUMBAI, Sept. 23, 2026 — Brahma AI, the AI-native operating system for enterprise audiovisual content, today announced that it has raised $150 million through the issuance of preferred shares with a $100 million investment by Multiples Alternate Asset Management. The company has also received a further $100 million of investor interest.

Brahma AI is focused on four global verticals: media & entertainment, sports, healthcare and advertising. Global anchor customers include Warner Bros, the NBA and Mayo Clinic and strategic distribution partners include Google, Hakuhodo and DNEG.

Brahma AI was founded and is led by Founder & CEO Prabhu Narasimhan. Brahma AI was born from Narasimhan’s vision to bring together the technology stack and capabilities developed across DNEG, Metaphysic and Prime Focus Technologies to build an AI-native platform for the world’s largest enterprises. Under his leadership, Brahma AI has developed its AI-native platform around Brahma AI Core and Brahma AI Studio, secured major global customers and partnerships, and expanded the application of its technology across media & entertainment, sports, healthcare and advertising.

Today, Brahma AI combines enterprise content intelligence and management with sophisticated AI creation technologies spanning visual AI, digital humans, voice and multilingual performance. Its technology has received significant industry recognition, including a 2026 Technology & Engineering Emmy^® Award.

Jo Plaete, Co-Founder & CTO and one of the world’s leading experts in AI, visual AI, digital humans and high-fidelity synthetic media, heads Brahma AI’s technology and R&D division as the company continues to develop and expand its AI platform.

Renuka Ramnath, Founder, MD & CEO of Multiples

“Brahma AI is reimagining the content supply chain in the age of AI. Built on a unique heritage of Hollywood-grade technology and enterprise innovation, the company is helping organizations unlock greater value through AI-powered content, intelligence, localization, digital humans, and workflow automation. Its strong customer traction, differentiated capabilities and recognition thereof, including a 2026 Technology & Engineering Emmy^® Award, reinforce our conviction in its ability to appropriate the multi-billion-dollar market opportunity.

Our investment is anchored in the belief that every enterprise is becoming a content enterprise. Prabhu, Jo and the broader team bring a deep understanding of the industries they serve and have translated cutting-edge AI into highly relevant solutions, spanning enabling multilingual visual experiences for films to developing digital twins for physicians. Multiples Private Equity will be an active partner as the company navigates the next phase of growth through investments in R&D, global market expansion, and talent & process build-out. The company has all the ingredients required to build an enduring global institution in a category that is only beginning to take shape.”

Namit Malhotra, Founder & CEO of DNEG

“Brahma AI began with Prabhu’s bold idea: to bring together the technology stacks and capabilities developed across DNEG, Metaphysic and Prime Focus Technologies and create a new, independent technology company built for the AI era. What he and his team have built from those foundations in such a short period of time has been remarkable.

Under Prabhu’s leadership, Brahma AI has developed its own technology and products, won major global customers and partnerships, and established a clear identity and ambition of its own. There is also a special symmetry to this moment. Prabhu, United Al Saqer Group and Thor Björgólfsson backed and invested in Prime Focus Limited, DNEG and me at an important stage in our journey. Today, all of us are backing Brahma AI and Prabhu alongside new investors led by Multiples.”

Prabhu Narasimhan, Founder & CEO of Brahma AI

“What excites me most about this investment is what it allows us to build next. We are close to launching interactive digital humans, we are building Brahma AI to be model agnostic, and we are taking our technology into entirely new use cases. And security, authenticity and provenance are such an important part of what we are building.

What resonated with us about Multiples is our shared belief that category-defining companies are built through a combination of bold ambition, disciplined execution and long-term thinking. I could not be more excited to have Multiples alongside us as we scale globally and continue pushing the boundaries of enterprise AI.”

Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. served as sole placement agent on this equity financing.

About Brahma AI

Brahma AI is the AI-native operating system for enterprise audiovisual content. Its platform combines Brahma AI Core, its enterprise content intelligence and management layer, with Brahma AI Studio, its AI-powered creation platform spanning visual AI, digital humans, voice and multilingual performance. Brahma AI works with some of the world’s leading content owners and enterprises and is the recipient of a 2026 Technology & Engineering Emmy® Award for its visual AI technology.

Mind² — Human emotion. Machine execution.

About Multiples

Multiples is India’s leading Alternate Asset Management company, distinguished by its long and successful experience of partnering with entrepreneurs. Multiples has backed over 35 enterprises to build aspirational, distinctive, and responsible businesses. Multiples identifies opportunities that benefit from big shifts in its chosen sectors and partners with exceptional entrepreneurs and management teams in creating transformational growth.

Multiples focuses on core sectors of financial services, pharma & healthcare, consumer and technology and more recently the green economy. Some of Multiples’ distinctive investment partnerships include ACKO, Delhivery, Encube Ethicals, India Energy Exchange, Kogta Financial, Licious, Milltec, MoEngage, PVR, Quantiphi, TI Clean Mobility, Vastu Housing Finance, VIP Industries, and Zenex.

SOURCE BRAHMA AI

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 22, 2026 — Snorkel AI, the frontier AI data lab, today announced it raised $350 million at a valuation of $3.5B in a round co-led by Insight Partners and S32, with significant participation from existing investor Addition. The round included new investors March Capital, Blumberg Capital, Allegis Capital, Frontline, Standard, and Third Point Ventures, along with existing investors Greylock, Lightspeed, GV, Factory, Prosperity7, Walden Catalyst, and Wells Fargo. The investment will expand Snorkel’s agentic data factory, which supplies the data and environments behind the world’s most advanced AI lab systems.

The raise comes amid a fundamental phase shift in AI data. Building AI in the Data 1.0 era meant simple labeling tasks, a volume problem solved with headcount. Today’s frontier and agentic systems demand Data 2.0: expert agentic tasks, environments, and rubrics that take even the most qualified humans hours or days to construct. Designing them well is research work, where quality and complexity determine value.

Meeting that bar requires a wholly new paradigm for data development, which is partly why Snorkel has grown rapidly since launching its expert Data-as-a-Service offering in September 2025. The company works with leading AI labs and enterprises on the data behind frontier model evaluation and training. The work is a natural outgrowth of Snorkel’s roots: the company grew out of the Stanford AI Lab nearly a decade ago with a founding team that pioneered the field of data-centric AI and continues to contribute science on data at the jagged frontier of AI development. That body of work spans 250+ peer-reviewed papers cited more than 25,000 times.

“The teams pushing the frontier want a research data partner who pioneers the science of data development,” said Alex Ratner, co-founder and CEO of Snorkel AI. “That’s what Snorkel was built to be: the frontier lab for agentic data, combining human excellence with over a decade of research and technology.”

“Snorkel’s research-grade approach to AI data, environments, and measurement is becoming an increasingly important ingredient in building capable and reliable AI systems – and their demonstrated growth at scale reflects that,” said Lonne Jaffe, Managing Director at Insight Partners. “We’re excited to back Alex and the team as they continue to bring their frontier AI data factory capabilities to longer-running, complex work in high value industries like healthcare, law, and software engineering.”

“Snorkel’s expert-agentic environments create a unique flywheel between human expertise and AI, delivering data at the speed and quality that enables a new era of efficiency and accuracy for model development,” said Andy Harrison, CEO and General Partner of S32. “Working with Snorkel ensures the highest frontier model success rate and creates a true partnership between model developer and data provider.”

Snorkel plans to use the funding to grow the capacity of its agentic data factory to meet demand, accelerate investment in vertical and enterprise AI, and extend its core research and technology into new domains and modalities. The company will also deepen its investment in open research, building on programs like its Open Benchmarks Grants initiative.

About Snorkel AI

Snorkel AI is the frontier AI data lab, helping teams build the data and environments behind high-performing frontier and agentic AI. We combine technology with research-driven AI data development to create datasets, benchmarks, evals, and custom solutions for real-world AI systems. Founded out of the Stanford AI Lab in 2019, Snorkel works with leading AI labs and enterprises to move from better data to better outcomes.

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.

Media Contact [email protected]

SOURCE Snorkel AI

Ande brings corporate entertainment into a single platform and gives venues a direct channel to enterprise bookings.

NEW YORK, Sept. 22, 2026 — Ande, the AI-native network for corporate entertainment, emerges from stealth with more than $52 million in seed and Series A funding from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Redpoint Ventures, Duration Ventures, and Sierra Ventures, with participation from Bain Capital Ventures.

Enterprises spend an estimated $325 billion a year on entertainment from client dinners and team outings to catering, sporting events, and gifting. Yet the booking and expense management behind it is fragmented across credit cards, AP systems, and consumer apps creating an extremely manual reconciliation process for finance teams.

Ande brings structure to one of the last unmanaged categories of enterprise spend by giving teams a single platform to book entertainment effortlessly, while finance and legal teams keep full visibility and control over every dollar spent.

Ande’s agentic workflows surface venue availability, book experiences, route approvals, execute contracts, and reconcile expenses automatically. Executive assistants, office managers, field marketers, GTM teams, and their managers all work together in a single, multiplayer workspace in order to book team offsites and deal-closing dinners, while the agents move each request through approval, signing, and payment.

More than 60 enterprises already run their entertainment on Ande, reporting savings of 12 to 15 percent. Customers like Cloudflare, Salesforce, McGraw Hill, Netskope, Navan, Sigma Computing, Monday.com, Workato, Semgrep, Checkout, Rillet, and many more contribute to over $400 million in entertainment spend flowing through the platform annually.

“Entertainment is one of the most important things a company does. It builds culture, closes deals and deepens the relationships that matter most. Yet the infrastructure to manage it is broken on both sides of every transaction,” said Lohit Sarma, CEO and co-founder of Ande.

“Ande is the first enterprise channel between corporate buyers and the world’s best entertainment vendors. Part of the reason this is such a hard problem to solve is that venues and entertainment providers don’t have a centralized distribution system to plug into. We had to build it. We’ve spent two and half years working with venues to digitize their data, and train models and agents for these workflows that are unique to enterprises,” continued Sarma.

For venues on the other side of the transaction, Ande is the corporate sales and marketing channel that never existed. Venues have historically had no pipeline into the corporate market. Ande gives them a platform to market to, engage with, and transact with corporate buyers at scale. Among the current partners are 1,600 hospitality venues including some of the largest and most decorated hospitality groups like Altamarea Group, Che Fico, Gracious Hospitality, JKS, The Mina Group, MML, Nobu, Riviera Dining Group, Tao Group Hospitality, Unapologetic Foods, Bacchus Management Group, Wish You Were Here, and Wolfgang Puck. Over 93,000 entertainment venues are on Ande’s network today.

“Our programs are high stakes and high visibility, with our executive leadership team and key customers at the core of each event we host,” said Vicky Chung, Director of Corporate Events at Netskope. “My team and I trust Ande’s platform, and especially the team behind it. I have real-time visibility into what’s happening across every event, and when I need something done right, I know it will be. My team is now focused on reaching the executives that matter and scaling the program vs. worrying about the logistics.”

“Entertainment is every enterprise’s biggest expense line that is not yet well managed. For that reason, there are financial inefficiencies and a poor experience,” notes Arif Janmohamed, Venture Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners and Co-Founder of Duration Ventures. “Ande is the connective tissue, the perfect handshake between corporations and venues. Lohit is an exceptional founder, and the size of the market opportunity is largely unbounded.”

Redpoint Ventures Managing Director Alex Bard notes, “Particularly when we invest in an early-stage company, our confidence has everything to do with the founder and their ambition. Lohit has both startup DNA and the enterprise experience to solve this problem. His vision for Ande is bold and ambitious.”

About Ande

Ande is the AI-native network for corporate entertainment. Over 60 enterprises, including Cloudflare, Salesforce, and McGraw Hill already book, manage, and measure every experience through Ande, moving more than $400 million a year through a network of 93,000 entertainment providers across 90+ cities. For the vendors on the other side of the transaction, Ande is the dedicated corporate channel that’s never existed. Learn more at ande.ai.

SOURCE Ande

Investment will accelerate commercialization, strategic partnerships, product development and expansion of CellsBin’s clinical and technical capabilities

BRANFORD, Conn., Sept. 22, 2026 — CellsBin, a biotechnology company pioneering Rare-Cell Biology™, today announced the closing of its Series A financing, led by 108 BioCapital.

CellsBin is building a new observational layer for precision medicine through its Rare-Cell Intelligence™ Platform. By integrating advanced microfluidics, patented multimodal imaging, single-cell analysis and artificial intelligence, the platform makes rare cells visible, measurable and actionable—revealing biological signals that are often missed by conventional methods.

The company’s platform combines ultrasensitive rare-cell detection, high-dimensional cellular profiling, longitudinal biological monitoring, proprietary datasets and AI-driven analysis. Together, these capabilities are designed to help researchers and clinicians understand how therapeutic cells behave, how diseases evolve and why patients respond differently to cell therapy.

CellsBin’s initial applications focus on cell and gene therapy monitoring and hematologic cancers, with the broader goal of establishing Rare-Cell Biology™ as a foundational discipline across research, drug development and clinical medicine.

“CellsBin is building a differentiated platform at the intersection of single-cell biology, artificial intelligence and translational medicine,” said Sasha Bakhru, Managing Partner of 108 BioCapital. “Its ability to detect and characterize extremely rare cells could unlock important insights into therapeutic response, disease progression and patient outcomes. We have been impressed by Ali and the CellsBin team’s scientific rigor, platform vision and commitment to translating complex biology into actionable intelligence.”

CellsBin will use the proceeds to accelerate commercial adoption, expand strategic and channel partnerships, advance its research and product-development roadmap, strengthen its clinical evidence base and grow its commercial, scientific and technical teams.

“We are excited to partner with CellsBin and support the company as it expands its network of strategic, clinical and commercial relationships,” said Shahryar Oveissi, General Partner of 108 BioCapital. “We are already seeing strong interest from leading healthcare institutions in CellsBin’s technology and its potential to create meaningful clinical impact. We believe the 108 BioCapital ecosystem can help accelerate the company’s next phase of growth.”

“This financing represents an important milestone in our mission to make rare cells visible, measurable and clinically actionable,” said Ali Kabiri, PhD, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of CellsBin. “108 BioCapital shares our conviction that rare cells contain critical biological information that can enable earlier, more precise and more confident decisions. This partnership will help us advance the Rare-Cell Intelligence™ Platform, deepen our market and channel reach, and build the capabilities required to establish Rare-Cell Biology™ as a new foundation for understanding disease and therapeutic response.”

About CellsBin

CellsBin is pioneering Rare-Cell Biology™ to reveal the rare cells that shape human health. It’s Rare-Cell Intelligence™ Platform integrates advanced microfluidics, multimodal imaging, single-cell analysis and artificial intelligence to detect, characterize and monitor rare cells at scale. Through applications in precision diagnostics, therapeutic-cell monitoring and translational research, CellsBin is working to enable smarter decisions, earlier care and better lives.

For more information, visit 108.bio.

About 108 BioCapital

The 108 Bio Capital Fund seeks to generate superior returns through a differentiated investment strategy that leverages the founding team’s exceptional technical expertise and deep networks within the US healthcare ecosystem. The Fund’s approach is built upon decades of combined experience in biomedical technology, pharmaceutical development, medical device innovation, and regulatory navigation, enabling the identification and nurturing of breakthrough technologies that address significant unmet medical needs. This technical foundation, combined with proven track records in scaling MedTech ventures and executing successful exits, positions the Fund to capture value creation opportunities that may be overlooked by generalist investors lacking domain-specific expertise.

Media Contact

Steve Ward
Chief Financial Officer
[email protected]

SOURCE 108 Bio Captial

Andrew Schwartz and Bhavik Patel reunite after xtraCHEF to build an AI platform designed specifically for restaurant operators

PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 22, 2026 — xtraCHEF co-founders Andrew Schwartz and Bhavik Patel are teaming up again to launch Tandem, an AI company focused on transforming how restaurants operate. Acclaimed chef and restaurateur Michael Schulson has joined the company as a Founding Partner, bringing decades of restaurant operating experience directly into Tandem’s product strategy and development.

Schwartz and Patel previously built restaurant technology company xtraCHEF, which was acquired by Toast. After spending years working alongside thousands of restaurant operators, the pair are returning to restaurant technology with a new thesis: AI creates an opportunity to fundamentally rethink how technology supports restaurant operators and their teams.

Tandem has also closed an initial seed financing to accelerate product development, expand its team and support its early restaurant deployments. The company is already working with operators across 100 restaurant locations through its pilot program, with a growing waitlist of additional restaurant groups interested in deploying the platform.

Restaurants today operate across an increasingly fragmented technology ecosystem spanning point-of-sale, labor, accounting, inventory, purchasing, reservations, delivery, marketing and more. While these systems have digitized much of the restaurant, operators and their teams still spend significant time manually moving information between platforms, analyzing data, identifying issues and completing repetitive administrative tasks.

Tandem is being built to change that.

Rather than adding another dashboard or standalone application for restaurant teams to manage, Tandem is building AI agents designed to work across the systems restaurants already use. These agents can help operators analyze information, identify what requires attention, automate repetitive workflows and take action across the business. Tandem will also act as a multiplayer workspace for the human employees to communicate with their agentic co workers.

“Bhavik and I spent years building technology alongside restaurant operators at xtraCHEF, and we came away with a very clear understanding of both the power and limitations of traditional restaurant software,” said Andrew Schwartz, Co-Founder and CEO of Tandem. “Restaurants don’t need another system to log into or another dashboard to manage. We believe AI gives us the opportunity to build technology that actually works alongside the operator — understanding what’s happening across the business, handling repetitive work and helping teams take action.”

As Co-Founder and CPO/CTO, Bhavik Patel leads Tandem’s technology, AI and engineering strategy. Patel previously served as CTO and Co-Founder of xtraCHEF, where he helped build the technology platform that ultimately became part of Toast following the company’s acquisition.

“The technology available to us today allows us to approach restaurant operations in a fundamentally different way,” said Patel. “We’re moving beyond software that simply stores data or presents information. AI gives us the ability to build systems that can understand context, reason across multiple sources of information and help execute work. Our focus at Tandem is turning those capabilities into reliable, practical products that solve real problems for restaurant operators.”

Joining Schwartz and Patel as a Founding Partner is Michael Schulson, one of the country’s most accomplished chefs and restaurateurs and founder of Schulson Collective. Schulson brings decades of hands-on experience building and operating successful restaurant concepts and will work closely with Tandem on product strategy, operator needs and the real-world application of AI inside restaurants.

Schulson’s involvement reflects a core part of Tandem’s approach: build with restaurant operators, not simply for them.

“There is an enormous opportunity for AI in restaurants, but it has to solve the problems operators actually deal with every day,” said Schulson. “What excited me about Tandem is the opportunity to build this from the operator’s perspective. We’re identifying the work that takes time away from our teams and asking a simple question: why can’t technology do more of this work for us?”

Together, Schwartz, Patel and Schulson bring a combination of restaurant technology, product development, AI expertise and hands-on restaurant operating experience to Tandem.

The company sees applications for AI across nearly every part of restaurant operations — from finance and accounting to labor, purchasing, inventory, marketing, guest engagement and day-to-day operational management. Tandem’s strategy is to introduce agents around specific, high-value workflows and increasingly connect those capabilities across the restaurant organization.

Tandem is also developing integrations across the restaurant technology ecosystem, allowing its agents to work with the systems operators already rely on rather than requiring restaurants to replace their existing technology stack.

The company will use its seed capital to expand its engineering and product teams, deepen these integrations and accelerate deployments with restaurant groups.

“We think the restaurant technology industry is entering a major new chapter,” Schwartz added. “The last generation of restaurant technology was about digitizing workflows and putting software into every part of the restaurant. We believe the next generation will be about intelligence and action — technology that understands the business and actively helps operators run it. That’s the company we’re building with Tandem.”

About Tandem

Tandem is an AI platform built specifically for the restaurant industry. The company develops intelligent agents that work across restaurant systems to automate operational and administrative tasks, analyze information and help restaurant teams take action.

Tandem was co-founded by Andrew Schwartz and Bhavik Patel, the co-founders of restaurant technology company xtraCHEF, which was acquired by Toast. Acclaimed chef and restaurateur Michael Schulson serves as a Founding Partner, bringing deep restaurant operating expertise to Tandem’s product development and strategy.

Tandem is operated by AI Labz Inc.

Media Contact
Andy Schwartz
[email protected]
www.usetandem.xyz

SOURCE Ai Labz Inc

The funding enables the next generation of AI and high-performance computing chips beyond the limit of silicon, while accelerating the industry’s first 12-inch single-crystal 2D semiconductor platform

SINGAPORE, Sept. 22, 2026 — Nexstrom, the semiconductor company building the first wafer-scale platform for 2D semiconductor materials, today announced it has raised a $12 million seed round led by Xora Innovation, with participation from Foothill Ventures and SEEDS. The round brings Nexstrom’s total capital raised to $15 million, including $3 million in non-dilutive funds. The funding will accelerate commercialization of Nexstrom’s wafer-scale 2D semiconductor platform, driving toward the industry’s first 12-inch 2D wafer growth on production-ready manufacturing tools. The Singapore-based company is also working closely with prominent industry partners to validate its technology within existing chip manufacturing workflows, positioning Nexstrom to bring next-generation semiconductor materials into large-scale commercial production.

As AI workloads drive demand for faster, more energy-efficient computing, the semiconductor industry is approaching the physical limits of silicon. There is a hard ceiling to how much silicon channels can continue to shrink before electrons begin leaking, causing significant power loss. Nexstrom aims to bypass this bottleneck by developing the industry’s first platform for growing 12-inch single-crystal 2D semiconductor materials. These atomically thin materials support precise electron control, reduce energy loss at the transistor level, and improve efficiency, while remaining compatible with advanced foundry manufacturing. Nexstrom is developing the commercial-scale platform advanced foundries need for next-generation computing.

“Silicon has fueled decades of computing innovation, but the industry now needs a new materials platform to continue scaling performance,” said Dr. Lance Li, Co-Founder and Chief Scientist. “For years, the challenge has not been demonstrating the promise of 2D materials, but manufacturing them at the scale and quality advanced foundries require.” Nexstrom was incubated through Xora’s venture-building model to bridge the gap between academic research and commercial semiconductor manufacturing. Through this model, Nexstrom developed a practical path to manufacturing wafer-scale single-crystal 2D semiconductors, allowing chipmakers to move beyond the limitations of conventional materials and build the next generation of AI infrastructure.

Unlike existing methods that yield only small laboratory samples or require changes to existing foundry manufacturing processes, Nexstrom’s full-stack platform integrates proprietary chemical vapor deposition (CVD) hardware, process technology, and wafer-scale 2D material growth right into a foundry’s existing workflow. By combining advanced equipment, specialized chemistry, and manufacturing expertise, Nexstrom’s technology promises continuous, single-crystal 2D material growth across industry-standard 12-inch wafers, providing a clear path to commercial adoption.

Nexstrom’s technical foundation is anchored by Dr. Lance Li, a globally recognized leader in 2D materials and a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher since 2018, a distinction recognizing roughly the top 0.1% of researchers worldwide by research influence. A pioneer in single-crystal MoS₂ (molybdenum disulfide) growth since 2012, he later led corporate research at TSMC on post-silicon electronics, bringing decades of expertise across 2D materials, atomic-layer chemistry, and semiconductor manufacturing to Nexstrom.

Nexstrom is also supported by a board and advisory group that includes semiconductor industry leaders Dr. Sundar Ramamurthy, Dr. Philip Wong, Dr. Aaron Thean and Dr. John Langan. “The question is no longer whether 2D semiconductors matter. They are already on the technology roadmap of major semiconductor companies. The challenge is making them manufacturable,” said Dr. Philip Wong, Board Advisor at Nexstrom and Inez Kerr Bell Professor at Stanford University. “The industry needs high-quality, uniform 2D materials on 300 mm substrates, and solving that materials bottleneck is exactly where Nexstrom is focused.”

By enabling wafer-scale 2D semiconductors compatible with advanced manufacturing, Nexstrom is laying the foundation for the post-silicon era of computing. The new funding will support ongoing platform development, strategic collaborations with semiconductor foundries, and the expansion of Nexstrom’s engineering and leadership teams as the company advances high-performance, low-power chips for AI, data centers, and future computing applications.

To learn more, visit: https://nexstrom.com/.

About Nexstrom
Founded in 2024, Nexstrom is a semiconductor technology company advancing wafer-scale 2D materials for next-generation AI and high-performance computing. The company has developed the industry’s first platform for producing 12-inch single-crystal 2D semiconductors, allowing chipmakers to overcome silicon’s limitations and create faster, more energy-efficient devices. Backed by Xora Innovation, Foothill Ventures, and SEEDS, an arm of SG Growth Capital, Nexstrom is helping bring 2D semiconductor technology from the lab to commercial manufacturing.

SOURCE Nexstrom