Strategic and institutional investors including Yara International back PlasmaLeap to develop Green Fertiliser Technology

• Funding supports first-of-a-kind on-farm fertiliser deployments in Australia, and advances core technology for eFuels & industrial chemicals products.
• Technology addresses emissions from ammonia and nitrogen fertiliser production, a large source of CO2 globally.

SYDNEY, March 2, 2026 — PlasmaLeap Technologies, the Australian company pioneering zero-emissions production of ammonia and nitric acid, has secured almost A$30 million (US$20 million) in new funding from a group of strategic and institutional investors, which was led by the Gates Foundation, Investible and Yara Growth Ventures, the venture arm of Yara International, a world leading integrated nitrogen fertilisers producer.

The Series A round, which closed in January, also included Twynam, GrainCorp Ventures, Uniseed/UniSuper, Artesian, SVG Ventures and Agnition Ventures, part of New Zealand fertiliser co-operative Ravensdown. The proceeds will be used to progress first-of-a-kind fertiliser hubs in New South Wales and Tasmania, expand field trials, and further develop PlasmaLeap’s core technology. Funding will also support longer-term applications in sustainable fuels and energy systems.

PlasmaLeap’s technology, which was spun out of the University of Sydney, enables farmers to produce sustainable nitrogen fertiliser directly on their farms or at local hubs, reducing emissions, input costs, and supply-chain dependency. Nitrogen fertiliser production, transport, and application accounts for a significant share of global industrial emissions (~2.5% global CO2e)^[1], driven by fossil fuel-intensive manufacturing, long-haul transport, and chemical losses at the crop. Moreover, fertiliser access and cost vary dramatically across the globe, with the retail price in certain parts of sub-Saharan Africa being nearly double the world fob^[2] price, due to issues around importation, logistics, and financing.

“The backing of these strategic and institutional investors is strong validation of both the PlasmaLeap technology and the scale of the opportunity,” said Frere Byrne, CEO & Co-founder of PlasmaLeap. “This funding allows us to move from successful trials into real-world deployment, demonstrating how clean, decentralised fertiliser and chemical production can transform agriculture, reduce emissions and guarantee sovereign security of critical resources like food and fuel.”

“PlasmaLeap has developed a breakthrough platform for fertiliser with lower CO2 emissions, delivering step-change improvements in energy efficiency. We see strong potential for this technology to scale competitively and reduce the climate impact of farming,” said Stian Nygaard, Investment Director at Yara Growth Ventures.

“Decarbonized and distributed liquid nitrogen production is the new frontier in agriculture. The PlasmaLeap technology can unlock opportunities for scaling-up fertigation and precision farming globally,” said Martin Debaig, Fertigation Director at Yara International. 

“PlasmaLeap is unlike anything we’ve seen in the green ammonia space and their technology is defining a new category in distributed sustainable fertiliser production. We first met the team through Greenhouse Tech Hub. As our tenth investment in a Greenhouse member, it reinforces our model of pairing early access and capital with a purpose-built innovation ecosystem,” said Ben Lindsay, Investment Principal at Investible.

The global market for ammonia, the primary ingredient in most nitrogen fertilisers, is worth approximately US$69 billion a year^[3], and projected to triple in size over the next 20 years.

PlasmaLeap’s patented reactor technology produces ammonia and nitrate using only air, water and renewable electricity. The company’s modular systems are scalable and designed to integrate with existing fertiliser supply chains.

The technology has the potential to improve national food security, reduce exposure to international price shocks, and reduce and stabilise input costs for growers. This capability becomes increasingly critical as resource availability and geopolitical instability continue to impact global fertiliser markets.

It is also expected to generate high quality carbon credits through the decarbonisation benefits it brings through production, transport and application-related emissions reduction. PlasmaLeap is considering a number of carbon standard methodologies that may be applied to credit generation from its technology.

PlasmaLeap continues to advance its technology platform with a focus on efficiency, scalability and commercial deployment. It also has potential to produce synthetic hydrocarbons from biogas, syngas, or other low-carbon feedstocks, supporting decarbonisation pathways for hard-to-abate sectors.

–Ends–

About PlasmaLeap:

PlasmaLeap designs, manufactures, and distributes the world’s most advanced zero-emissions modular chemical reactors for hard-to-abate industries including agriculture, energy, and transport. Our mission is to build accessible, sustainable technology for global fuel and chemical production. Headquartered in Sydney, PlasmaLeap’s state-of-the-art chemical plants are disrupting the chemical sector, using only air, water and electricity to create valuable fuels, fertilisers, and industrial chemicals with marked-leading energy performance and production rates. PlasmaLeap is a grant recipient of The Gates Foundation, the 2025 winner of SVG Thrive, a finalist in Petronas Future Tech 4.0, and a 2024 Australian nominee for the Earthshot prize.

[1] International Fertiliser Association data.

[2] Free on Board.

[3] Arkwright Market Study 2021.

Procode AI’s Coding Copilot enables medical coders to code 90% faster and with much greater accuracy by translating operative reports to billing and diagnostic codes. The company has already added $2M of ARR in five months post-acquisition, demonstrating the profound benefit to providers: fewer coding-related denials, fewer AR days, and maximized reimbursements.

“Our cofounder is a surgeon. Our mission is personal and singular: create the first, best, and largest AI-powered revenue cycle management company for surgeons in private practice,” said Cripe. “The Auctus Group is a tech-forward, missionary team who want to build the next generation biller with us.”

Procode AI’s technology transforms The Auctus Group’s providers’ experience and revenue:

• Procode AI Coding Copilot reduces coding-related denials, maximizes payments
• Auctus Provider App puts real-time financial and claims data at surgeons’ fingertips
• AR/Denials Management Engine that’s faster, clearer, and more reliable by leveraging AI for AR decision making, payment posting, charge posting and other AR processes

“As a surgeon, choosing a medical biller means trusting all of your insurance-based income to one company,” said Dr. Rezzadeh. “At Procode, we’re building technology that ensures that providers are reimbursed fairly for procedures that they perform, and that they are reimbursed faster than ever before.”

The Auctus Group was founded in 2012 by John Gwin, who will continue to lead the RCM business. “Most RCM AI products are vaporware,” said Gwin. “As CEO of The Auctus Group and a longtime HBMA leader, I’ve searched for AI technology that can better equip our team to deliver better billing outcomes for clients and, in Procode, we finally found that.”

About Procode AI

Procode AI is an AI-powered revenue cycle management (RCM) company for surgeons in private practice. Founded in 2024, Procode AI builds intelligent billing infrastructure that removes the administrative burden and uncertainty of reimbursement, giving surgeons confidence in their revenue and the freedom to focus on patient care. Procode AI’s Coding Copilot, AR/Denial Management Engine, and Auctus Provider App automate coding, streamline claims, and give providers transparency into their revenue cycle. The company has raised $4M in venture funding and acquired The Auctus Group, a leading RCM firm, serving more than 300 plastic surgery and dermatology providers.

Download the Auctus Provider App

iOS
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/auctus-providers/id6751704100

Android
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.procodeai.procodeaicompanion&hl=en_US

SOURCE Procode Inc.

LAUSANNE, Switzerland, March 2, 2026 — Xsensio SA, a Swiss deep-tech company pioneering near real-time continuous biochemical monitoring, today announced the successful closing of a $7M oversubscribed Series A financing round. The round was led by San Francisco-based venture capital firm WI Harper, with participation from Privilège Ventures, the European Innovation Council, and private investors across the United States, Europe, and Asia.

The new funding will enable Xsensio to accelerate the development and clinical validation of its Lab-on-Skin© wearable biosensing platform, designed to provide dynamic, multi-modal, biochemical information to support clinical decision-making in the hospital and beyond.

“This Series A marks a pivotal step in translating continuous biochemical monitoring into real clinical environments,” said Esmeralda Megally, CEO of Xsensio. “For the first time, clinicians can access key continuous biochemical data in real time, information that has historically been unavailable at the point of care. This capability has the potential to fundamentally improve how patients are monitored and treated.”

In parallel, Xsensio announced a long-term collaboration with Texas Instruments, a global leader in semiconductor technology. This collaboration brings unique expertise in CMOS integration, miniaturization, and large-scale manufacturability of biosensing systems, further strengthening Xsensio’s industrial scalability.

“Our collaboration with Texas Instruments significantly strengthens our path to advanced, scalable semiconductor technology,” added Adrian Ionescu, CTO of Xsensio. “By combining our biosensing innovation with world-class semiconductor expertise, we are building a platform designed not only for clinical impact, but also for reliable, cost-effective deployment.”

“We believe Xsensio is defining a new category in wearable biosensing. Given the company’s strong progress and market potential, we are excited to be leading this investment round,” said Wilson Wu, Partner at WI Harper. 

“Continuous biochemical monitoring represents a major shift from intermittent measurements to real-time insight, and Xsensio is uniquely positioned to lead this transformation,” said Jaqueline Ruedin Rüsch, Chair of the Board.

About Xsensio

Xsensio is a Swiss deep-tech company developing the Lab-on-Skin© wearable biosensing platform to deliver continuous, real-time biochemical information for personalized and preventive healthcare. Spun out of leading academic research, the company collaborates with reference hospitals and industrial partners to bring clinically meaningful biosensing innovation to patients in the hospital and beyond. Xsensio has been recognized by TIME as one of the World’s Top HealthTech Companies of 2025.

Media Contact
Esmeralda Megally, CEO & Co-Founder
Xsensio SA
[email protected]
www.xsensio.com

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2923220/Xsensio_Lab_On_Skin.jpg
Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2923219/Xsensio_Logo.jpg

SOURCE XSENSIO

Die von Wellington Management geführte Finanzierungsrunde bringt die Gesamtfinanzierung von Encord auf 110 Millionen Dollar. Das Unternehmen verzeichnete in den letzten zwölf Monaten ein 10-faches Wachstum des Umsatzes mit physischer KI

SAN FRANCISCO, 2. März 2026   — Encord, das Dateninfrastrukturunternehmen für physische KI, gab heute eine Serie-C-Finanzierungsrunde in Höhe von 60 Millionen US-Dollar unter der Leitung von Wellington Management bekannt, wodurch sich die Gesamtfinanzierung des Unternehmens auf 110 Millionen US-Dollar erhöht. Neben den bestehenden Investoren Y Combinator, CRV, N47, Crane Venture Partners und Harpoon Ventures beteiligten sich auch die neuen Investoren Bright Pixel Capital und Isomer Capital an der Runde.

Die Investition wird Encord dabei helfen, seine KI-native Dateninfrastrukturplattform zu skalieren, die KI-Teams dabei unterstützt, die multimodalen Daten zu verwalten, zu kuratieren, zu kommentieren und abzugleichen, auf die physische KI-Systeme angewiesen sind. Dazu gehören Audio-, Video-, Bild- und Sensordaten, 3D-Punktwolken und andere Formate, für die herkömmliche Datenplattformen nicht ausgelegt waren.

Encord arbeitet mit über 300 KI-Teams weltweit zusammen, darunter Woven by Toyota, Skydio, AXA Financial und zahlreiche physische KI- und Frontier-Labs. Das Unternehmen verzeichnete in den letzten zwölf Monaten aufgrund des Anstiegs der physischen KI ein erhebliches Wachstum bei Umsatz und Datenvolumen auf seiner Plattform.

Der Wendepunkt in der physischen KI

Die Serie-C-Finanzierungsrunde von Encord erfolgt zu einem Zeitpunkt, an dem physische KI, die Roboter, autonome Fahrzeuge, Drohnen und andere Systeme in der realen Welt antreibt, in eine neue, explosive Wachstumsphase eintritt. Nach jahrelangen Labordemonstrationen und Pilotprogrammen gehen diese Systeme nun in Produktion. Analysten gehen davon aus, dass allein in den nächsten vier Jahren mehr als 400 Millionen KI-Roboter in Betrieb gehen werden und dass der Umfang der physischen KI-Industrie im gleichen Zeitraum 30 Milliarden Dollar übersteigen wird.

Im Gegensatz zu Large Language Models, die im offenen Internet trainiert wurden, müssen physische KI-Modelle aus proprietären Daten lernen, darunter Sensor-Feeds, Video, Robotertelemetrie, im Feld erfasste Grenzfälle und andere Quellen. Die Speicherung und Verarbeitung dieser Daten erfordert mehr Rechenleistung als die Speicherung und Verarbeitung von Text.

Diese Daten organisieren sich nicht von selbst. Um die richtigen Daten in die Modelle einzuspeisen und falsche Daten herauszufiltern – und das kontinuierlich und in großem Umfang – ist eine speziell entwickelte KI-native Dateninfrastruktur erforderlich.

„Alle richten sich darauf aus, größere Modelle zu bauen”, sagt Ulrik Stig Hansen, Mitbegründer und Mitgeschäftsführer von Encord. „Aber bei der physischen KI ist der Engpass nicht die Modellgröße. Es geht um Datenbereitschaft. Selbst das ausgefeilteste Modell der Welt wird versagen, wenn die ihm zugeführten Daten unvollständig, inkonsistent oder nicht mit den realen Bedingungen abgestimmt sind. Das ist das Problem, das wir lösen.”

Encord verzeichnet eine steigende Nachfrage, da sich die physische KI von der Experimentierphase zum Einsatz bewegt:

• Die Daten auf der Plattform des Unternehmens sind innerhalb von zwölf Monaten von 1 Petabyte auf über 5 Petabyte angewachsen – das sind dreimal mehr als die Daten, die zum Training von GPT-4 verwendet wurden
• Der Umsatz mit physischen KI-Kunden ist im gleichen Zeitraum um das 10-fache gestiegen

Die physische KI-Plattform von Encord ermöglicht es führenden KI-Unternehmen und -Teams, Daten über den gesamten Lebenszyklus eines Modells hinweg zu erfassen, zu organisieren und weiterzugeben. Die Software von Encord wurde entwickelt, um alle Aufgaben im Bereich der Datenautomatisierung und -verarbeitung zu bewältigen, mit denen physische KI-Unternehmen konfrontiert sein können: von der Erleichterung der Datengenerierung in der Vorbereitungsphase bis hin zur Anpassung von Modellen anhand von menschlichem Feedback.

Bill Tinney ist leitender Direktor für KI-Produktmanagement und Partnerschaften bei Vantor, einem Kunden von Encord. Er erklärte: „Bei Vantor entwickeln wir KI für kritische Infrastrukturen und nationale Sicherheit – wir benötigten eine Datenplattform, die unseren Ambitionen gerecht wird. Encord bietet uns eine einheitliche Datenschicht, die sich an die Komplexität unserer Geodaten-Workflows anpasst, von der Kuratierung über die Annotation bis hin zur Auswertung, ohne dass es zu einer Fragmentierung der Tools kommt. Für KI-Teams in der Produktion ist die Art und Weise, wie sie ihre Daten operationalisieren, ein entscheidender Wettbewerbsvorteil.”

Eric Landau, Mitbegründer und Mitgeschäftsführer von Encord, sagte, dass die Finanzierung die Produktentwicklung und die Expansion in neue Märkte beschleunigen wird. „Unternehmen, die im Bereich der physischen KI gewinnen, haben etwas verstanden, was andere gerade erst zu begreifen beginnen: Das Modell ist nur so gut wie die Daten, die ihm zugrunde liegen. Wir bauen die Infrastruktur auf, die diese Daten nutzbar macht – nicht nur einmal, sondern kontinuierlich, wenn diese Systeme in der realen Welt lernen und sich verbessern.”

Informationen zu Encord

Encord ist die universelle Datenschicht für KI. Die Plattform unterstützt KI-Teams dabei, ihre Modelle mit den richtigen Daten zu trainieren und auszuführen – durch Verwaltung, Kuratierung, Kommentierung und Abstimmung von Daten über den gesamten KI-Lebenszyklus hinweg. Encord arbeitet mit über 300 führenden KI-Teams zusammen, darunter Woven by Toyota, AXA und Skydio.

Medienkontakt:
Chris Clemens
Nexios Communications Strategies
[email protected]

Logo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2798765/Encord_Logo.jpg 

Le tour de table mené par Wellington Management porte le financement total d’Encord à 110 millions de dollars, la société ayant vu son chiffre d’affaires dans le domaine de l’IA physique multiplié par 10 au cours des douze derniers mois

SAN FRANCISCO, 27 février 2026 — Encord, la société d’infrastructure de données pour l’IA physique, a annoncé aujourd’hui une série C de 60 millions de dollars dirigée par Wellington Management, ce qui porte le financement total de la société à 110 millions de dollars. Les investisseurs existants Y Combinator, CRV, N47, Crane Venture Partners et Harpoon Ventures ont également participé à ce tour de table, de même que les nouveaux investisseurs Bright Pixel Capital et Isomer Capital.

Cet investissement aidera Encord à développer sa plateforme d’infrastructure de données natives pour l’IA, qui aide les équipes d’IA à gérer, conserver, annoter et aligner les données multimodales dont dépendent les systèmes d’IA physiques, y compris les données audio, vidéo, images, données de capteurs, nuages de points 3D et autres formats que les plateformes de données traditionnelles n’ont pas été conçues pour gérer.

Encord travaille avec plus de 300 équipes d’IA dans le monde, dont Woven by Toyota, Skydio, AXA Financial et de nombreux laboratoires physiques d’IA et de pointe. Au cours des douze derniers mois, l’entreprise a enregistré une croissance significative de son chiffre d’affaires et du volume de données sur sa plateforme en raison de l’essor de l’IA physique.

Le point d’inflexion de l’IA physique

La série C d’Encord intervient alors que l’IA physique, qui alimente les robots, les véhicules autonomes, les drones et d’autres systèmes fonctionnant dans le monde réel, entre dans une nouvelle phase de croissance explosive. Après des années de démonstrations en laboratoire et de programmes pilotes, ces systèmes entrent en production. Les analystes prévoient que plus de 400 millions de robots IA seront mis en service au cours des quatre prochaines années seulement, et que l’industrie de l’IA physique représentera plus de 30 milliards de dollars au cours de la même période.

Contrairement aux grands modèles de langage, qui ont été formés sur l’internet ouvert, les modèles d’IA physique doivent apprendre à partir de données propriétaires, y compris les flux de capteurs, la vidéo, la télémétrie robotique, les cas de figure capturés sur le terrain et d’autres sources. Le stockage et le traitement de ces données nécessitent une plus grande puissance de calcul que le stockage et le traitement de textes.

Ces données ne s’organisent pas d’elles-mêmes. L’intégration des données adéquates dans les modèles et l’exclusion des données erronées, en continu et à grande échelle, nécessitent une infrastructure de données natives pour l’IA spécialement conçue à cet effet.

« Tout le monde se concentre sur la construction de modèles plus grands », a déclaré Ulrik Stig Hansen, cofondateur et co-directeur général d’Encord. « Mais pour l’IA physique, le goulot d’étranglement n’est pas la taille du modèle. C’est la disponibilité des données. Vous pouvez avoir le modèle le plus sophistiqué au monde, il échouera quand même si les données qui l’alimentent sont incomplètes, incohérentes ou en décalage avec les conditions du monde réel. C’est le problème que nous aidons à résoudre ».

Encord a vu la demande grimper en flèche à mesure que l’IA physique passe de l’expérimentation au déploiement :

• Les données sur la plateforme de la société sont passées de 1 pétaoctet à plus de 5 pétaoctets en douze mois, soit trois fois plus que les données utilisées pour entraîner GPT-4
• Les recettes provenant des clients du secteur de l’IA physique ont été multipliées par 10 au cours de la même période

La plateforme d’IA physique d’Encord permet aux entreprises et aux équipes d’IA de premier plan de capturer, d’organiser et de redéployer les données tout au long du cycle de vie du modèle. Du soutien à la génération de données en phase de pré-entraînement à l’alignement des modèles en fonction des retours humains, le logiciel d’Encord est conçu pour gérer toutes les tâches d’automatisation et de traitement des données auxquelles les entreprises d’IA physique peuvent être confrontées.

Bill Tinney, directeur principal de la gestion des produits et des partenariats en matière d’IA chez Vantor, un client d’Encord, a déclaré : « Chez Vantor, nous développons l’IA pour les infrastructures critiques et la sécurité nationale. Nous avions besoin d’une plateforme de données à la hauteur de nos ambitions. Encord nous offre une couche de données unifiée qui s’adapte à la complexité de nos flux de travail géospatiaux, de la conservation à l’évaluation en passant par l’annotation, sans fragmentation des outils. Pour les équipes de production d’IA, la façon dont on rend ses données opérationnelles constitue un avantage concurrentiel essentiel ».

Eric Landau, cofondateur et co-directeur général d’Encord, a déclaré que le financement permettra d’accélérer le développement des produits et l’expansion sur de nouveaux marchés. « Les entreprises qui gagnent dans le domaine de l’IA physique comprennent une chose que d’autres commencent à peine à réaliser : la valeur d’un modèle se mesure à la qualité des données qui l’alimentent. Nous construisons l’infrastructure qui rend ces données utilisables, non pas une seule fois, mais en permanence, au fur et à mesure que ces systèmes apprennent et s’améliorent dans le monde réel ».

À propos d’Encord

Encord est la couche de données universelle pour l’IA. La plateforme aide les équipes d’IA à former et à exécuter leurs modèles avec les bonnes données, en gérant, conservant, annotant et alignant les données tout au long du cycle de vie de l’IA. Encord travaille avec plus de 300 équipes d’IA de premier plan, dont Woven by Toyota, AXA et Skydio.

Relations avec la presse :
Chris Clemens
Nexios Communications Strategies
[email protected]

Logo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2798765/Encord_Logo.jpg 

CALGARY, AB, Feb. 27, 2026 – Summit Explore Corporation (“Summit Explore”), a newly formed lithium brine development company backed by Summit Nanotech, today announced the launch of its US$8 million seed financing round to accelerate the acquisition and development of high‑value brine assets across Chile, Argentina, and the United States. The company begins operations with three secured projects and two additional assets under negotiation.

Lithium is a strategic material essential to every country’s defense and energy-related supply chains. Summit Explore was created to meet the rapidly expanding demand for Western lithium supply as global lithium consumption moves into a sustained multi‑decade growth cycle. Industry analysts project lithium demand to more than triple by 2035, while supply remains constrained by long development timelines and heavy geographic concentration. This dynamic creates a significant opportunity for new, low‑cost brine producers to enter the market.

A central advantage for Summit Explore and its project partners is direct access to Summit Nanotech’s proprietary denaLi™ Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) platform, a high‑performance technology that delivers 95–99% lithium recovery with dramatically reduced water use. denaLi™ performs consistently across diverse brine chemistries, enabling Summit Explore to pursue a unique paleosalar acquisition model targeting large brine deposits overlooked by conventional developers that become economic only with advanced DLE. Summit Nanotech’s years of community collaboration and in-house engineering provide time and cost advantages to Summit Explore.

The company’s development pathway is built around an elegantly aligned BOOM model (Build‑Own‑Operate‑Maintain). Similar to well-established contract processing operations in other commodities, Summit Nanotech (which will remain a major shareholder in Summit Explore) finances, builds, and operates the DLE plant for each project deemed economically viable. This alignment accelerates execution while reducing the total capex burden.

“Summit Explore offers investors a rare combination: low‑cost resource development, best‑in‑class extraction technology, and a capital structure designed to scale efficiently,” said Amanda Hall, Founder and CEO of Summit Nanotech and Summit Explore. “With denaLi™ and the BOOM model, Summit Explore and our project partners can directly address global reliance on foreign lithium supply chains.”

The seed round will fund resource confirmation drilling, pilot testing, and preliminary economic assessments across the company’s initial portfolio. As Western nations compete for secure, high quality and cost-efficient lithium, Summit Explore aims to become a North American-based strategic supplier.

About Summit Explore

Summit Explore is a private lithium brine development company focused on acquiring and advancing high‑potential brine resources in the Lithium Triangle and the US. The company leverages Summit Nanotech’s patented denaLi™ DLE technology and an aligned Build-Own-Operate-Maintain (BOOM) development model to deliver scalable, low‑cost lithium supply to the global battery industry.

SOURCE Summit Explore Corporation

This strategic funding plan will enable Rapidus to steadily progress from its current R&D phase to mass production of 2nm logic semiconductors by 2027 

TOKYO, Feb. 27, 2026 — Rapidus Corporation today announced that it has completed a funding round totaling 267.6 billion yen (equivalent to $1.7 billion USD) from the Japan government and private sector companies.

A total of 100 billion yen was invested from the Information-Technology Promotion Agency (IPA), Japan, an independent administrative agency under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) based on the “Act on Facilitation of Information Processing.”

Prior to the fundraising, METI conducted a public solicitation from September 3 to October 2, 2025. The process was titled, “Public Solicitation for the Selection of Entities Deemed Most Capable of Appropriately Implementing Necessary Measures to Ensure Stable Production of Semiconductors.” Rapidus applied and was selected as the operator on November 21, 2025. Based on this selection of the operator, Rapidus submitted an application to the IPA for investment, and the funding was secured.

Private-Sector Funding

Rapidus is also announcing private-sector funding, totaling 167.6 billion yen from 32 companies including Canon, Development Bank of Japan Inc., Fujitsu, NTT, SoftBank and Sony Group.

These capital increases, combined with the 7.3 billion yen raised at Rapidus’ founding, brings the total amount of stated capital and legal capital surplus to 274.95 billion yen.

Round investors include:

• Government Sector: IPA
• Private Sector: ARGO GRAPHICS Inc.; Canon Inc.; Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd.; Denso Corporation^+[1]; Development Bank of Japan Inc. (government-affiliated financial institution); FUJIFILM Corporation; Fujitsu Limited; Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd.; Hokkaido Electric Power Company, Incorporated; Honda Motor Co., Ltd.; IBM Japan, Ltd.; JX Advanced Metals Corporation; Kioxia Corporation⁺; KYOCERA Corporation; Mizuho Bank, Ltd.; MUFG Bank, Ltd.⁺; Nagase & Co., Ltd.; NEC Corporation⁺; NIPPON EXPRESS CO., LTD.; NOHMI BOSAI LTD.; North Pacific Bank, Ltd.; NTT, Inc.⁺, Seiko Epson Corporation; SoftBank Corporation⁺; Sony Group Corporation⁺; Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation; The Chiba Bank, Ltd.; The Higo Bank, Ltd.; The Hokkaido Bank, Ltd./The Hokuriku Bank, Ltd. (Hokuhoku Financial Group); TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION⁺ and Ushio Inc.

Since its fiscal year 2022, Rapidus has received subsidies from Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization under the “Post-5G Information and Communication Systems Infrastructure Enhancement R&D Project / Development of Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology (Commissioned).” These projects are part of the “Research and Development of 2nm-Generation Semiconductor Integration Technology and Short Turnaround Time (TAT) Manufacturing Technology Based on Japan–U.S. Collaboration” and “Development of Chiplet, Package Design and Manufacturing Technology for 2nm-Generation Semiconductors.”

Rapidus will continue to secure funding through capital increases and loans from both public and private sources. This strategic funding plan will enable the company to steadily progress from its current R&D phase to mass production of 2nm logic semiconductors by 2027.

About Rapidus Corporation
Rapidus Corporation aims to develop and manufacture the world’s most advanced logic semiconductors. We will create new industries together with our customers through the development and provision of services to shorten cycle times in design, wafer processes, 3D packaging and more. We will continue to challenge ourselves in order to contribute to the fulfillment, prosperity and happiness of people’s lives through the use of semiconductors.

U.S. Media Contact:
Breakaway Communications for Rapidus
Email: [email protected]

¹ +: Indicates companies that made additional investments as part of initial funding in 2022

SOURCE Rapidus Corporation

-Encord consigue una serie C de 60 millones de dólares para escalar su infraestructura de datos nativa de IA mientras la IA física alcanza un punto de inflexión

La ronda de financiación liderada por la dirección de Wellington eleva la financiación total de Encord a 110 millones de dólares, mientras que la compañía ve multiplicarse por diez sus ingresos por IA física en los últimos doce meses.

SAN FRANCISCO, 27 de febrero de 2026 — Encord, la empresa de infraestructura de datos para IA física, anunció hoy una ronda de financiación Serie C de 60 millones de dólares liderada por Wellington Management, lo que eleva la financiación total de la compañía a 110 millones de dólares. Los inversores actuales Y Combinator, CRV, N47, Crane Venture Partners y Harpoon Ventures también participaron en la ronda, junto con los nuevos inversores Bright Pixel Capital e Isomer Capital.

La inversión ayudará a Encord a escalar su plataforma de infraestructura de datos nativa de IA, que ayuda a los equipos de IA a gestionar, seleccionar, anotar y alinear los datos multimodales de los que dependen los sistemas físicos de IA, incluyendo audio, vídeo, imágenes, datos de sensores, nubes de puntos 3D y otros formatos que las plataformas de datos tradicionales no estaban diseñadas para gestionar.

Encord colabora con más de 300 equipos de IA a nivel mundial, entre ellos Woven by Toyota, Skydio, AXA Financial y numerosos laboratorios de IA física y de vanguardia. La compañía ha experimentado un crecimiento significativo tanto en ingresos como en volumen de datos en su plataforma en los últimos doce meses como resultado del auge de la IA física.

El punto de inflexión en la IA física

La Serie C de Encord llega en un momento en que la IA física —que impulsa robots, vehículos autónomos, drones y otros sistemas que operan en el mundo real— entra en una nueva etapa de crecimiento explosivo. Tras años de demostraciones en laboratorio y programas piloto, estos sistemas están entrando en producción. Los analistas proyectan que más de 400 millones de robots con IA estarán en línea en tan solo los próximos 4 años, y que el tamaño de la industria de la IA física superará los 30.000 millones de dólares en el mismo período.

A diferencia de los grandes modelos de lenguaje, que se entrenaron en la internet abierta, los modelos de IA física deben aprender de datos patentados, como señales de sensores, vídeo, telemetría robótica, casos extremos capturados en el campo y otras fuentes. Almacenar y procesar estos datos requiere mayor capacidad computacional que almacenar y procesar texto.

Esos datos no se organizan solos. Incorporar los datos correctos a los modelos y excluir los incorrectos —de forma continua y a gran escala— requiere una infraestructura de datos nativa de IA diseñada específicamente.

“Todos se centran en crear modelos más grandes”, afirmó Ulrik Stig Hansen, cofundador y coconsejero delegado de Encord. “Pero para la IA física, el obstáculo no es el tamaño del modelo, sino la disponibilidad de los datos. Se puede tener el modelo más sofisticado del mundo y, aun así, fallará si los datos que lo alimentan son incompletos, inconsistentes o no se ajustan a las condiciones del mundo real. Ese es el problema que solucionamos”.

Encord ha experimentado un aumento de la demanda a medida que la IA física pasa de la experimentación a la implementación:

• Los datos en la plataforma de la empresa han crecido de 1 petabyte a más de 5 petabytes en doce meses, tres veces más que los datos utilizados para entrenar GPT-4.
• Los ingresos de los clientes de IA física se han multiplicado por diez durante el mismo período.

La plataforma de IA física de Encord permite a las empresas y equipos líderes en IA capturar, organizar y redistribuir datos a lo largo del ciclo de vida del modelo. Desde facilitar la generación de datos en la fase de preentrenamiento hasta alinear los modelos según la retroalimentación humana, el software de Encord está diseñado para gestionar todas las tareas de automatización y procesamiento de datos que las empresas de IA física puedan afrontar.

Bill Tinney, director sénior de Gestión de Productos de IA y Asociaciones en Vantor, cliente de Encord, afirmó: “En Vantor, desarrollamos IA para infraestructuras críticas y seguridad nacional; necesitábamos una plataforma de datos que estuviera a la altura de nuestras ambiciones. Encord nos proporciona una capa de datos unificada que escala con la complejidad de nuestros flujos de trabajo geoespaciales, desde la curación hasta la anotación y la evaluación, sin fragmentación de herramientas. Para los equipos de IA de producción, la forma en que se operacionalizan los datos es una ventaja competitiva fundamental.”

Eric Landau, cofundador y coconsejero delegado de Encord, afirmó que la financiación acelerará el desarrollo de productos y la expansión a nuevos mercados. “Las empresas que triunfan en IA física comprenden algo que otras apenas están empezando a comprender: la calidad del modelo depende de los datos que lo respaldan. Estamos construyendo la infraestructura que permite utilizar esos datos, no solo una vez, sino continuamente, a medida que estos sistemas aprenden y mejoran en el mundo real.”

Acerca de Encord 

Encord es la capa de datos universal para IA. La plataforma ayuda a los equipos de IA a entrenar y ejecutar sus modelos con los datos adecuados, gestionando, seleccionando, anotando y alineando datos a lo largo de todo el ciclo de vida de la IA. Encord colabora con más de 300 equipos líderes de IA, como Woven by Toyota, AXA y Skydio.

Contacto para medios:
Chris Clemens
Nexios Communications Strategies
[email protected]

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/C O R R E C T I O N – Encord/ In the news release, ENCORD SECURES $60M SERIES C TO SCALE AI-NATIVE DATA INFRASTRUCTURE AS PHYSICAL AI HITS INFLECTION POINT, issued 26-Feb-2026 by Encord over PR Newswire, we are advised by the company that changes have been made. The complete, corrected release follows, with additional details at the end:

ENCORD SECURES $60M SERIES C TO SCALE AI-NATIVE DATA INFRASTRUCTURE AS PHYSICAL AI HITS INFLECTION POINT

Wellington Management-Led Round Brings Encord’s Total Funding to $110M as Company Sees Physical AI Revenue Grow 10x in Last Twelve Months

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 26, 2026 — Encord, the data infrastructure company for physical AI, today announced a $60 million Series C led by Wellington Management, bringing the company’s total funding to $110 million. Existing investors Y Combinator, CRV, N47, Crane Venture Partners and Harpoon Ventures also participated in the round alongside new investors Bright Pixel Capital and Isomer Capital.

The investment will help Encord scale its AI-native data infrastructure platform, which helps AI teams manage, curate, annotate, and align the multimodal data that physical AI systems depend on, including audio, video, images, sensor data, 3D point clouds and other formats that legacy data platforms weren’t built to handle.

Encord works with over 300 AI teams globally, including Woven by Toyota, Skydio, AXA Financial and numerous physical AI and frontier labs. The company has seen significant growth in both revenue and data volume on its platform in the last twelve months as a result of the surge in physical AI.

The Inflection Point in Physical AI

Encord’s Series C comes as physical AI – which powers robots, autonomous vehicles, drones, and other systems that operate in the real world – enters an explosive new growth stage. After years of lab demos and pilot programs, these systems are moving into production. Analysts project that over 400 million AI robots will come online in just the next 4 years, and that the size of the physical AI industry will eclipse $30B over the same time period.

Unlike large language models, which were trained on the open internet, physical AI models must learn from proprietary data, including sensor feeds, video, robotic telemetry, edge cases captured in the field and other sources. Storing and processing this data requires more computational power than storing and processing text.

That data doesn’t organize itself. Getting the right data into the models and keeping the wrong data out—continuously, at scale—requires purpose-built AI-native data infrastructure.

“Everyone is focused on building bigger models,” said Ulrik Stig Hansen, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Encord. “But for physical AI, the bottleneck isn’t model size. It’s data readiness. You can have the most sophisticated model in the world, and it will still fail if the data feeding it is incomplete, inconsistent, or misaligned with real-world conditions. That’s the problem we solve.”

Encord has seen demand surge as physical AI moves from experimentation to deployment:

• Data on the company’s platform has grown from 1 petabyte to over 5 petabytes in twelve months—3x more than the data used to train GPT-4
• Revenue from physical AI customers has grown 10x over the same period

Encord’s physical AI platform allows leading AI companies and teams to capture, organize and redeploy data across the model lifecycle. From facilitating data generation in the pre-training phase to aligning models in accordance with human feedback, Encord’s software is designed to handle every data automation and processing task physical AI companies may encounter.

Bill Tinney, Senior Director of AI Product Management and Partnerships at Vantor, an Encord customer, said, “At Vantor, we build AI for critical infrastructure and national security – we needed a data platform that could match our ambitions. Encord gives us a unified data layer that scales with the complexity of our geospatial workflows, from curation to annotation to evaluation, without tool fragmentation. For production AI teams, how you operationalize your data is a core competitive advantage.”

Eric Landau, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Encord, said the funding will accelerate product development and expansion into new markets. “The companies winning in physical AI understand something that others are just beginning to realize: the model is only as good as the data behind it. We’re building the infrastructure that makes that data usable—not just once, but continuously, as these systems learn and improve in the real world.”

About Encord

Encord is the universal data layer for AI. The platform helps AI teams train and run their models with the right data – managing, curating, annotating, and aligning data across the full AI lifecycle. Encord works with over 300 leading AI teams, including Woven by Toyota, AXA, and Skydio.

Media Contact:
Chris Clemens
Nexios Communications Strategies
[email protected]

Correction: In the third paragraph and boilerplate, the list of representative customers served by Encord has been revised.

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