Winget named to Inc.’s 2026 Female Founders 500 and recognized as a 2026 Woman to KNOW in Texas

DALLAS, March 12, 2026 — Alternative Wealth Partners (AWP), a Dallas-based private equity firm founded by capital strategist and fund manager Kelly Ann Winget, today announced the next phase of the firm’s growth marked by a strategic evolution of its platform and a comprehensive visual rebrand.

Originally launched in 2020 as a private equity firm focused on expanding access to alternative investments, Alternative Wealth Partners is evolving into a more integrated platform designed to support founders, family offices, and next-generation investors navigating complex financial decisions, while seeking more bespoke, investor-aligned solutions.

The evolution reflects a broader shift within private markets toward coordinated strategies that integrate investment opportunities, tax considerations, estate planning, and long-term capital stewardship. “Private wealth has historically been built behind closed doors and managed through siloed advisory relationships,” said Winget. “Our goal is to create a more integrated framework that helps investors think more holistically about how their capital is structured, deployed, and preserved over time.”

The firm’s strategic evolution comes alongside a comprehensive visual rebrand, including the launch of a new logo, redesigned website, and refreshed brand identity, reflecting AWP’s expanding role within the private wealth ecosystem.

Winget founded Alternative Wealth Partners after more than a decade raising capital across alternative assets. Over the course of her career, she has helped raise nearly $1 billion in private capital across sectors including energy, infrastructure, manufacturing, and emerging industries.

AWP focuses on building diversified portfolios of non-correlated assets across sectors such as energy, infrastructure, manufacturing, and supply chain businesses – areas that traditional funds often overlook but that offer strong long-term growth potential.

The firm’s diversified private equity funds are designed to provide individual investors with access to opportunities historically reserved for institutional investors while leveraging creative deal structuring and tax-efficient strategies to enhance long-term outcomes.

As Alternative Wealth Partners enters this next phase, Winget’s leadership has also received national and regional recognition.

She was named to Inc.’s 2026 Female Founders 500, an annual list recognizing the most innovative and impactful women entrepreneurs in the United States. According to Inc., companies represented on the 2026 list collectively generated approximately $12.3 billion in revenue in 2025.

Winget was also honored as a 2026 Woman to KNOW in Texas, part of the KNOW Women global community that celebrates accomplished female leaders driving impact across business, leadership, and community engagement.

A nationally recognized speaker and author of Pitch the Bitch: Grab Your Financial Future by the Bags, Winget is a frequent voice in discussions around private markets, financial education, and access to investment opportunities. She currently serves as an Advisor to the Executive Boards of 360 Venture Collective, Stella Foundation and Fierce Foundry, and has been featured in major media outlets including Worth, Forbes, Kiplinger, Crain Currency, Novogradac, and Business Insider, among others. Her work and leadership have earned her recognition as one of the 100 Women to KNOW in America (2025), a two-time D CEO 500 honoree (2024 and 2025), and a recipient of the Dallas Business Journal Leadership in Diversity Award (2024).

“As investors accumulate wealth earlier in their careers, particularly founders and entrepreneurs, the questions they face become more complex than simply where to invest,” Winget added. “It becomes about how to structure capital in a way that supports long-term goals, generational wealth, and meaningful legacy.”

About Alternative Wealth Partners

Alternative Wealth Partners (AWP) is a Dallas-based private equity firm focused on building diversified portfolios of alternative assets for investors seeking opportunities beyond traditional public markets. Founded in 2020 by capital strategist Kelly Ann Winget, the firm provides access to institutional-grade private investments across sectors including energy, infrastructure, manufacturing, and emerging industries. AWP works with investors, advisors, and family offices to structure long-term strategies through actively managed funds designed to generate durable returns while expanding access to private markets.

Media Contact:
Laura Henson
917-539-7812
[email protected]

SOURCE Alternative Wealth Partners

The firm chose the name to reflect its long-term mission of building enduring partnerships and contributing to the development of the region’s real economy, with a particular focus on supporting local founders, families and institutions

DUBAI, UAE, March 12, 2026 — Nahda Capital Partners, a newly established private equity platform headquartered in ADGM, has filed for the registration of its inaugural private equity fund this week as it prepares to launch investment activities across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

“Nahda” in Arabic refers to a renaissance a renewal and resurgence. The firm chose the name to reflect its long-term mission of building enduring partnerships and contributing to the development of the region’s real economy, with a particular focus on supporting local founders, families and institutions.

Nahda Capital Partners is led by Iñigo de Luna, Founder and Managing Partner, and is building a control-oriented mid-market private equity strategy focused primarily on the UAE, Saudi Arabia and wider GCC. The firm will target resilient founder-led and family-owned businesses benefiting from structural regional growth and increasing institutionalisation, particularly companies undergoing generational transition or seeking institutional capital and operational support to accelerate their next phase of expansion across the GCC.

The founding partners bring significant international experience across private equity and investment banking, with a historical track record generating approximately 36% gross IRR across multiple economic cycles.

Key highlights of the strategy include a majority-investment approach in partnership with founders and family shareholders, and an operational value-creation model focused on professionalisation, operational improvement, governance strengthening, and selective buy-and-build expansion.

Nahda expects to focus on sectors including food production and distribution, healthcare, education, and industrial technology. The firm’s investment approach is guided by principles aligned with Sharia-compliant investing, including a focus on real-economy assets, prudent use of leverage, and disciplined governance.

“Nahda Capital Partners was established to partner with high-quality mid-market businesses across the GCC that can benefit from long-term capital and hands-on operational support,” said Iñigo de Luna. “These are difficult days and the priority is safety and de-escalation. At the same time, we view this as a severe but temporary shock rather than a change in the long-term trajectory of the UAE and the region. Our conviction has not changed: the GCC is structurally strengthening as a place to build businesses and allocate long-term capital.”

Subject to regulatory approval, the firm expects to commence fundraising in the coming weeks, targeting approximately $300 million for its inaugural fund to be managed from ADGM.

About Nahda Capital Partners:
Nahda Capital Partners is an Abu Dhabi-based private equity platform headquartered in ADGM, focused on control investments in mid-market businesses across the GCC. The firm partners with founders and family shareholders to support generational transition, professionalisation and regional expansion through hands-on operational value creation. Nahda targets resilient, real-economy sectors including food production and distribution, healthcare, education and industrial technology. The firm’s approach emphasises disciplined governance and investment principles aligned with Sharia-compliant investing. Subject to regulatory approval, Nahda is preparing to launch its inaugural fund from ADGM.

SOURCE Nahda Capital Partners

Albuquerque-based startup is removing the fundamental energy constraint limiting satellites — unlocking the next era of orbital infrastructure, compute, and revenue generation.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., March 12, 2026 — Mantis Space, a space and advanced energy startup, today announced it has emerged from stealth with an oversubscribed seed round of more than $10 million to develop orbital energy infrastructure designed to eliminate one of the oldest constraints in space operations: Earth’s shadow.

The company is building a constellation of spacecraft that remain almost continuously in sunlight and transmit power to satellites operating in eclipse. This infrastructure allows satellites, space stations, and orbital compute platforms to receive power through their solar arrays in real time, regardless of their position relative to the sun.

The round was led by Rule 1 Ventures alongside Montauk Capital, which incubated Mantis Space through its venture studio platform. The funding will be used to hire and grow out its go-to-market operations from its new headquarters in Albuquerque, New Mexico. 

The orbital economy now exceeds $600 billion and is projected to approach $1 trillion by 2040. The modern world increasingly depends on satellites to provide essential services including GPS navigation, broadband connectivity, national intelligence capabilities, climate monitoring, and global communications.

Every satellite today operates under the same fundamental constraint: power generation depends entirely on direct sunlight. On average, satellites spend nearly one-third of their life in Earth’s shadow. During these periods, energy production stops, systems rely on battery reserves, and operational performance declines, limiting return on investment for every satellite.

To compensate, many satellites are placed in orbits designed primarily to maximize exposure to sunlight rather than optimize mission productivity or revenue generation. The ever-popular Sun Synchronous orbits leave satellites outside of their revenue-generating and mission areas up to 70% of every day. Orbital power infrastructure changes that equation.

By enabling satellites to receive power wherever they operate, spacecraft can remain in their most productive orbital positions rather than spending much of their operational life chasing sunlight. This flexibility can significantly increase mission utilization, extend operational lifetimes, and improve the economic return of satellite systems by 2-3x.

As satellites become more compute-intensive and mission-critical, these energy constraints grow more costly. Until now, they have largely been treated as an unavoidable limitation of space operations.

“We are at the beginning of a space infrastructure supercycle,” said Eric Truitt, CEO of Mantis Space. “Launch has scaled. Manufacturing has scaled. But performance in orbit is still constrained by physics. Every asset going up whether it’s a defense sensor, a broadband satellite, or an orbital compute node has the same power problem. We’re building the grid that makes all of it work.”

The Mantis Space executive team brings together aerospace, defense, and precision engineering credentials that map directly to the problem.

The Founding team includes Truitt, who recently helped BlueHalo successfully exit to AeroVironment in a $4.5B transaction and previously co-founded PredaSAR and previously NYSE-listed Terran Orbital, which was acquired by Lockheed Martin. Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer Hugh Wyman Howard III served 32 years in Naval Special Warfare and joint special operations. His service also includes Director of Operations for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and today, he sits on a number of corporate boards. COO Jeremy Scheerer has led defense and intelligence portfolios at MapLarge and Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) and managed a $1B+ U.S. Air Force program. All three Founders are U.S. military veterans.

Mantis Space has built a world-class team of experts with decades each of success in delivering products to market. Chief Engineer, John Sandusky, PhD, recently retired after more than 20 years of service leading Space, solar, and laser programs at Sandia National Laboratory. Director of Optical Engineering, Greg Brady, PhD, was a key designer of the optical systems inside Apple’s Face ID and multiple camera systems before becoming an integral leader on the team responsible for the Optical Telescope Element within the James Webb Space Telescope. Director of Electrical Engineering, Quentin Diduck, PhD, recently led electrical engineering efforts in developing the MicroLED technology at Google (Raxium) and was the former Director of R&D at Eridan Communications leading innovations in switch mode broadband transmitters.

The company is also supported by Admiral James A. Winnefeld Jr., the ninth Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Power is foundational infrastructure,” said Admiral Winnefeld, General Partner at Rule 1 Ventures. “As the orbital economy matures, the limiting factor shifts from launch to performance. Mantis Space is addressing one of the last unbuilt layers of space infrastructure.”

The timing reflects a structural shift in the space economy. The first generation of commercialization centered on connectivity and Earth observation. The next generation includes orbital data centers, edge compute platforms, and persistent intelligence systems that require uninterrupted, high-density power.

“Enduring companies remove systemic constraints,” said Philip Krim, Co-Founder and CEO of Montauk Capital. “Shared energy in orbit is a prerequisite for the next phase of commercial and defense expansion in space. We funded Mantis Space to create that foundation.”

The next era of AI infrastructure will not be confined to Earth. And none of it scales without a reliable power layer beneath it.

About Mantis Space

Mantis Space is a private space technology company focused on developing advanced infrastructure solutions designed to support the next phase of commercial space activity. The company aims to enable more efficient deployment, operation, and scalability of space-based systems as the industry transitions from government-led initiatives to commercially driven expansion.

Learn more at mantis.space

SOURCE Mantis Space

Insight Partners leads the round as Wonderful scales its hyper-local operating model worldwide

AMSTERDAM, March 12, 2026 — Wonderful, the enterprise AI agent platform, today announced it has raised $150 million in a Series B funding round led by global software investor Insight Partners, with participation from existing investors Index Ventures, IVP, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Vine Ventures. The new capital will enable Wonderful to continue investing in its agentic platform and accelerate global expansion, scaling headcount from 350 to approximately 900 by year-end to serve more enterprises with locally embedded deployment teams.

In the eight months since emerging from stealth, Wonderful has rapidly expanded, scaling to more than 30 countries across Europe, the Middle East, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America and deploying production-grade agents for enterprises in telecom, financial services, manufacturing, and healthcare. This expansion is driven by the success of Wonderful’s thesis: enterprise AI will not scale through technology alone. It requires a state-of-the-art agentic platform paired with locally embedded teams that can deploy agents inside complex organizations.

This pairing is intentional and has been demonstrating its value in-market. By building full-stack teams that are co-located and forward-deployed into customer environments, Wonderful can enable direct collaboration with enterprise stakeholders, accelerate system integration, and sustain post-deployment optimization long after go-live. As a result, agents can move from pilot to full production in days and weeks rather than months, even in highly regulated, operationally complex environments.

“In 2026, enterprises will be deciding who to partner with to operationalize AI across their organizations, and those decisions will hinge on who can deliver deep integrations across complex infrastructures and tailor solutions to each organization’s unique environment,” said Bar Winkler, CEO and Co-founder of Wonderful. “We built our platform and operating model around that reality, and the demand we’re seeing globally reflects it. This capital allows us to expand our ability to support enterprises to do what they want with AI.”

Wonderful’s platform-based approach underpins the operating model. The company is building a horizontal enterprise foundation that can be activated across multiple use cases and workflows, rather than delivering isolated point solutions. The architecture is model-agnostic by design, continuously benchmarking and selecting the best-performing models for each use case while remaining flexible as the model landscape evolves. It incorporates state-of-the-art engineering practices, including harness-based evaluation and self-healing system design, to ensure agents remain reliable in production. As enterprises activate additional use cases on the same underlying architecture, the value compounds over time. Organizations can partner with Wonderful to deploy at speed while retaining the ability to extend, build upon, and ultimately own their AI capabilities over the long term.

“Over 70% of enterprises that begin with a single use case expand into additional workflows within the first three months,” continued Winkler. “That expansion is possible because we built a shared foundation across core systems from day one. Once that architecture is in place, activating new use cases becomes faster, more predictable, and increasingly owned by the enterprise itself.”

Wonderful’s operating model is repeatable across industries. From telcos to financial services, healthcare, and manufacturing, enterprises are agentifying both customer-facing and internal workflows. Across deployments, agents have delivered measurable impact, reducing handling times by up to 60%, achieving containment rates above 80%, and enabling organizations to replace legacy automation vendors while unlocking multi-million-dollar annual efficiency gains.

“Wonderful is establishing trust and deep partnerships inside complex enterprises at a critical moment for the market,” said Jeff Horing, Managing Director at Insight Partners. “We believe that the team’s combination of platform strength and execution position Wonderful as a strong enterprise partner in today’s ecosystem.”

“At Wonderful, our goal is to push the frontier of enterprise AI,” said Roey Lalazar, CTO and Co-founder. “We’re deploying agents across every business function, while pioneering the next generation of application layers that will transform how organizations operate.”

About Wonderful

Wonderful combines a powerful AI platform with best-in-class local deployment to deliver enterprise-grade AI agents to every market and every language. The platform enables enterprises to build, monitor, and optimize AI agents that serve customers and streamline workflows across front and back office. Founded in 2025 by Bar Winkler (CEO) and Roey Lalazar (CTO), and backed by $286M from Insight Partners, Index Ventures, IVP, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Vine Ventures, Wonderful enables enterprises to run human-grade agents in some of the world’s most complex environments and use cases.
wonderful.ai

About Insight Partners

Insight Partners is a global software investor partnering with high-growth technology, software, and Internet startup and ScaleUp companies that are driving transformative change in their industries. As of June 30, 2025, the firm has over $90B in regulatory assets under management. Insight Partners has invested in more than 875 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 Wonderful

TEL AVIV, Israel, 12. März 2026 — StageOne Ventures gab heute den Abschluss seines fünften Fonds in Höhe von 165 Millionen US-Dollar, bekannt und feiert damit 25 Jahre Identifizierung und Unterstützung der ehrgeizigsten israelischen Unternehmensgründer in der Anfangsphase der Technologie.

Mit dem Abschluss von Fonds V übersteigt das von StageOne verwaltete Gesamtvermögen (AUM) die Marke von 650 Millionen US-Dollar. Dieser Meilenstein stärkt die Position des Unternehmens als führender institutioneller Partner für technische Gründer bei der Unternehmensgründung. Seit 2001 war StageOne bei jeder größeren Veränderung im Bereich der Unternehmensinformatik an vorderster Front dabei – von der Ära der Telekommunikation über den Aufstieg der Cybersicherheit bis hin zur Cloud-Migration. Heute nimmt der Fonds V die nächste Herausforderung ins Visier: die KI-Infrastrukturebene.

Der Fonds V wird sich auf bahnbrechende Start-ups in den Bereichen KI-Infrastruktur, Cybersicherheit, physische KI, Agentic Orchestration und vertikale KI konzentrieren – Sektoren, in denen israelische Engineering-Talente weltweit einen entscheidenden Vorsprung haben.

„KI ist für uns mehr als nur eine vertikale Komponente. Sie ist die neue Architektur von Unternehmenssoftware”, betont Yuval Cohen, Gründer und Managing Partner bei StageOne Ventures. „Trotz globaler und lokaler Unsicherheiten bringt Israel weiterhin Ingenieurstalente von Weltklasse hervor. Mit unserem fünften Fonds verstärken wir unser Engagement, der erste und zuverlässigste Partner für Gründer zu sein, die kategorieprägende Unternehmen aufbauen.”

Beeindruckende Erfolgsbilanz bei der Skalierung von Innovationen

StageOne wird geleitet von Yuval Cohen (Gründer und Managing Partner), Tal Slobodkin (Managing Partner) und Netanel Meir (Partner).

Bis heute hat das Unternehmen in 69 Unternehmen investiert und unterstützt derzeit ein Portfolio von 29 aktiven Unternehmen. StageOne fungiert als „First-Check”-Investor, der eine praktische, langfristige Partnerschaft mit den Gründern pflegt und seine stärksten Unternehmen durch erhebliche Folgefinanzierungen weiter unterstützt.

„Unser Modell fußt auf tiefer Überzeugung und Engagement vom ersten Tag an”, ergänzt Tal Slobodkin, Managing Partner. „In einer Welt der automatisierten Investitionen bieten wir das Gegenteil: eine enge Partnerschaft. Wir stellen nicht nur Kapital zur Verfügung, sondern auch die strategische und operative Grundlage, die es technischen Gründern ermöglicht, sich zu globalen Marktführern zu entwickeln.”

Der neue Fonds wird von einer renommierten Gruppe wiederkehrender institutioneller und privater Investoren aus den USA, Europa und Israel unterstützt, was das langfristige Vertrauen in die Strategie von StageOne und die Widerstandsfähigkeit des israelischen Technologie-Ökosystems unterstreicht.

Strategische Ausstiege und Auswirkungen auf den Markt

StageOne hat 21 Investitionen erfolgreich abgeschlossen und dabei durchweg hohe Renditen erzielt. Zu den bemerkenswerten Exits und Portfolio-Highlights gehören:

• Coralogix und Silverfort: (Führend bei der nächsten Generation von Unternehmensüberwachung und Identitätsschutz).
• Qwak: Erworben von JFrog 
• Cyberint: Erworben von Check Point 
• Epsagon: Erworben von Cisco 
• Avanan: Erworben von Check Point 
• Apprente: Erworben von McDonald’s 
• Traffix: Erworben von F5 
• Guardium: Erworben von IBM 

„KI verändert die Wirtschaftlichkeit und Geschwindigkeit von Innovationen, doch die Grundlagen für betriebswirtschaftliche Zuverlässigkeit sind unverändert geblieben”, erklärt Netanel Meir. „Wir konzentrieren uns darauf, die Lücke zwischen einem brillanten technischen Proof-of-Concept und einem resilienten, globalen Unternehmen zu schließen, das die nächsten Wellen der KI-Evolution überstehen kann.”

Informationen zu StageOne Ventures

StageOne Ventures ist eine Venture-Capital-Gesellschaft, die sich darauf spezialisiert hat, herausragende israelische Gründer von Unternehmen im Technologiebereich von der Idee bis zum Exit zu unterstützen. StageOne verfügt über 25 Jahre Erfahrung und verwaltet mehr als 650 Millionen US-Dollar. Das Unternehmen ist spezialisiert auf Frühphaseninvestitionen in den Bereichen KI-Infrastruktur, Cybersicherheit und Frontier Enterprise Tech. Durch die Kombination von Kapital mit praktischer Unterstützung, umfassender operativer Expertise und einem globalen Netzwerk hilft StageOne Gründern beim Aufbau von Unternehmen, die in ihrer Kategorie führend sind.

Weitere Informationen finden Sie unter www.stageonevc.com.

Medienkontakt:
Yael Eckstein
VP Marketing
StageOne
[email protected]

TEL AVIV, Israël, 12 mars 2026 — StageOne Ventures a annoncé aujourd’hui la clôture de son cinquième fonds à 165 millions de dollars, marquant ainsi 25 ans d’identification et de soutien des fondateurs de technologie d’entreprise les plus ambitieux d’Israël au stade de la création.

Avec la clôture du Fonds V, le total des actifs sous gestion de StageOne dépasse 650 millions de dollars. Cette étape renforce la position de l’entreprise en tant que premier partenaire institutionnel des fondateurs d’entreprises techniques. Depuis 2001, StageOne a été à l’avant-garde de tous les changements majeurs dans l’informatique d’entreprise, depuis l’ère des télécommunications et la montée de la cybersécurité jusqu’à la migration vers l’informatique dématérialisée. Aujourd’hui, le Fonds V double la mise sur la prochaine frontière : la couche d’infrastructure de l’IA.

Le Fonds V se concentrera sur les startups révolutionnaires dans les domaines suivants : AI Infrastructure, Cybersécurité, Physical AI, Agentic Orchestration, et Vertical AI – des secteurs dans lesquels les talents d’ingénierie israéliens détiennent un avantage décisif au niveau mondial.

« L’IA n’est pas seulement un secteur vertical pour nous ; c’est la nouvelle architecture des logiciels d’entreprise », a déclaré Yuval Cohen, fondateur et associé gérant de StageOne Ventures. « Malgré les incertitudes mondiales et locales, Israël continue de produire des ingénieurs de classe mondiale. Avec notre cinquième fonds, nous redoublons d’efforts pour être le premier et le plus fiable des partenaires des fondateurs d’entreprises qui définissent des catégories de produits. »

Une expérience éprouvée en matière d’innovation à grande échelle

StageOne est dirigée par Yuval Cohen (fondateur et associé directeur), Tal Slobodkin (associé directeur), et Netanel Meir (associé).

À ce jour, l’entreprise a investi dans 69 entreprises et soutient actuellement un portefeuille à forte conviction de 29 entreprises actives. StageOne joue le rôle d’investisseur de « premier contrôle », en maintenant un partenariat pratique et à long terme avec les fondateurs et en continuant à soutenir ses entreprises les plus solides par le biais d’importants tours de table de suivi.

« Notre modèle repose sur une conviction profonde et une implication dès le premier jour », a ajouté Tal Slobodkin, associé directeur. « Dans un monde où l’investissement est automatisé, nous offrons le contraire : un partenariat de haut niveau. Nous ne nous contentons pas de fournir des capitaux ; nous apportons les bases stratégiques et opérationnelles qui permettent aux fondateurs techniques de devenir des leaders mondiaux dans leur catégorie. »

Le nouveau fonds est soutenu par un groupe prestigieux d’investisseurs institutionnels et privés des États-Unis, d’Europe et d’Israël, ce qui témoigne de la confiance à long terme dans la stratégie de StageOne et de la résilience de l’écosystème technologique israélien.

Sorties stratégiques et impact sur le marché

StageOne a réalisé avec succès 21 investissements, offrant constamment des rendements élevés. Parmi les sorties notables et les points forts du portefeuille, on peut citer :

• Coralogix et Silverfort : (à la tête de la prochaine génération d’observabilité et de protection de l’identité de l’entreprise).
• Qwak : Acquis par JFrog 
• Cyberint : Acquis par Check Point 
• Epsagon : Acquis par Cisco 
• Avanan : Acquis par Check Point 
• Apprentie : Acquis par McDonald’s 
• Traffix : Acquis par F5 
• Guardium : Acquis par IBM 

« L’IA modifie l’économie et la vitesse de l’innovation, mais les principes fondamentaux de la fiabilité de niveau entreprise n’ont pas changé », a déclaré Netanel Meir. « Nous nous efforçons de combler le fossé entre une brillante preuve de concept technique et une entreprise mondiale résiliente, capable de résister aux prochaines vagues d’évolution de l’IA. »

À propos de StageOne Ventures

StageOne Ventures est une société de capital-risque en phase de démarrage qui se consacre à soutenir les fondateurs israéliens de technologies d’entreprise exceptionnelles, de l’idée à la concrétisation. Avec 25 ans d’expérience et plus de 650 millions de dollars sous gestion, StageOne se spécialise dans les investissements de démarrage dans l’infrastructure de l’IA, la cybersécurité et la technologie d’entreprise frontière. En associant le capital à un soutien pratique, à une expertise opérationnelle approfondie et à un réseau mondial, StageOne aide les fondateurs à créer des entreprises leaders dans leur catégorie.

Pour plus d’informations, consultez le site www.stageonevc.com.

Relations avec la presse :
Yael Eckstein
VP Marketing
StageOne
[email protected]

TEL AVIV, Israel, March 12, 2026 — StageOne Ventures today announced the closing of its fifth fund at $165M, marking 25 years of identifying and backing Israel’s most ambitious enterprise technology founders at the inception stage.

With the closing of Fund V, StageOne’s total assets under management (AUM) exceed $650M. This milestone reinforces the firm’s position as the premier institutional partner for technical founders at inception. Since 2001, StageOne has been at the forefront of every major shift in enterprise computing, from the telecom era and the rise of cybersecurity to the cloud migration. Today, Fund V doubles down on the next frontier: the AI Infrastructure layer.

Fund V will focus on breakthrough startups in AI Infrastructure, Cybersecurity, Physical AI, Agentic Orchestration, and Vertical AI – sectors where Israeli engineering talent holds a decisive global edge.

“AI is not just a vertical for us; it is the new architecture of enterprise software,” said Yuval Cohen, Founder and Managing Partner at StageOne Ventures. “Despite global and local uncertainties, Israel continues to produce world-class engineering talent. With our fifth fund, we are doubling down on our commitment to be the first and most trusted partner for founders building category-defining companies.”

A Proven Track Record of Scaling Innovation

StageOne is led by Yuval Cohen (Founder and Managing Partner), Tal Slobodkin (Managing Partner), and Netanel Meir (Partner).

To date, the firm has invested in 69 companies and currently supports a high-conviction portfolio of 29 active companies. StageOne serves as the “first-check” investor, maintaining a hands-on, long-term partnership with founders and continuing to support its strongest companies through significant follow-on rounds.

“Our model is built on deep conviction and involvement from day one,” added Tal Slobodkin, Managing Partner. “In a world of automated investing, we provide the opposite: a high-touch partnership. We don’t just provide capital; we provide the strategic and operational foundation that allows technical founders to scale into global category leaders.”

The new fund is backed by a prestigious group of repeat institutional and private investors from the United States, Europe, and Israel, highlighting the long-term confidence in StageOne’s strategy and the resilience of the Israeli tech ecosystem.

Strategic Exits and Market Impact

StageOne has successfully exited 21 investments, consistently delivering strong returns. Notable exits and portfolio highlights include:

• Coralogix & Silverfort: (Leading the next generation of enterprise observability and identity protection).
• Qwak: Acquired by JFrog 
• Cyberint: Acquired by Check Point 
• Epsagon: Acquired by Cisco 
• Avanan: Acquired by Check Point 
• Apprente: Acquired by McDonald’s 
• Traffix: Acquired by F5 
• Guardium: Acquired by IBM 

“AI is shifting the economics and speed of innovation, but the fundamentals of enterprise-grade reliability haven’t changed.” said Netanel Meir, Partner. “We focus on bridging the gap between a brilliant technical proof-of-concept and a resilient, global company that can withstand the next several waves of AI evolution.”

About StageOne Ventures

StageOne Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm dedicated to backing exceptional Israeli enterprise technology founders from idea to exit. With 25 years of experience and over $650M under management, StageOne specializes in inception-stage investments in AI Infrastructure, Cybersecurity, and Frontier Enterprise Tech. By combining capital with hands-on support, deep operational expertise, and a global network, StageOne helps founders build category-leading companies.

For more information, visit www.stageonevc.com.

Media Contact:
Yael Eckstein
VP Marketing
StageOne
[email protected]

Follow-on financing values the company at $9B showing market conviction in the emerging “prompt-to-production” era of AI-powered software

TORONTO, March 11, 2026 – Georgian, a growth-stage B2B investor that builds alongside portfolio companies to unlock value from AI through its in-house AI Lab, today announced it has led a $400 million Series D investment in Replit, valuing the company at $9 billion. The investment represents a rapid follow-on for Georgian, which first invested in Replit’s Series C late last year and is now doubling down as the company expands its position in AI-powered software creation. Georgian is joined in the round by partners including G Squared, Prysm Capital, Coatue, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Craft Ventures, Y Combinator, Accenture Ventures, Okta Ventures and Databricks Ventures among others.

Replit provides an AI-powered development platform designed to enable students, teachers, designers, small business owners and engineers to generate, deploy, and iterate on software applications within a single environment. The platform integrates the development environment with AI-assisted coding tools, runtime infrastructure and deployment capabilities. Replit supports integrations with enterprise systems, including Salesforce, HubSpot, Snowflake, Amazon Web Services, and Google Cloud, as well as collaboration tools such as Slack and Jira.

“This round reflects our conviction in both the scale of the market and Replit’s momentum,” said Margaret Wu, Lead Investor at Georgian. “Software creation is expanding beyond traditional developers and Replit has built a platform that allows people to move from idea to production software in a single environment. We believe Replit is part of a class of companies shaping the new AI-driven technology economy.”

Replit’s platform is currently used by more than 50 million users, building a range of solutions from school projects to enterprise-grade internal systems. Enterprise customers include Zillow, Labcorp, Atlassian, PayPal and Adobe. According to Replit, users from over 85% of Fortune 500 companies are building using Replit.

Since Georgian’s initial investment in Q3 2025, business adoption has also increased. According to Ramp, Replit ranked among the fastest-growing software platforms as of March 2026, with higher new-customer adoption.

“Our mission has always been that every human with an idea and an Internet connection should be able to build any app they want,” said Amjad Masad, CEO of Replit. “Georgian understood that vision early on, and their partnership has been useful as we continue expanding what builders can imagine and do with Replit.”

Alongside this investment, Replit has launched Replit Agent 4, the company’s latest and most powerful AI agent to date. Agent 4 combines design and code within a single environment, allowing users to move fluidly from concept to working software. The platform is designed with both a low floor and high ceiling, enabling beginners to start building quickly while supporting advanced development workflows in enterprises.

Replit plans to use the new capital to accelerate product development, deepen enterprise capabilities, expand integrations and advance agent-driven software creation.

About Georgian:

Georgian is a growth equity firm investing in B2B technology companies, taking a concentrated approach of 6 investments per year and providing both capital and technical capability to help portfolio companies scale. Georgian has been active in analytics and applied AI since its founding in 2008 and invests across the AI technology stack, from infrastructure and applications to cybersecurity and developer tools. Georgian’s in-house AI Lab of 20+ ML engineers and scientists works with portfolio companies on production AI deployment. Georgian’s team brings together investors with machine learning professionals, software entrepreneurs and experienced operators aiming to provide a differentiated experience across the entire investment lifecycle. The firm manages $5.7B AUM (as of September 30, 2025) and has invested in more than 80 companies.

About Replit:

Replit makes coding accessible to billions on the planet from children making school projects to enterprises running their business. With millions of users worldwide, Replit is democratizing software development by removing traditional barriers to application creation. The company is headquartered in San Francisco.

The information herein is provided for general informational purposes only. Nothing in this press release constitutes legal, business, tax, investment, or other professional advice, nor a recommendation, offer, or solicitation to buy or sell any securities, financial instruments, investments, or services, including those of any fund or entity managed or advised by Georgian Partners Growth LP and its affiliates. 

SOURCE Georgian Partners Growth LP

• Garlock Flexibles and C-P Flexible Packaging (“Garlock/C-P”) combined in October 2025, creating one of the Top 15 players in flexible packaging
• Astara Capital Fund I led a continuation vehicle for Garlock Flexibles and the simultaneous acquisition of CP Flexible Packaging with support from leading co-investors
• Astara initially invested in Garlock Flexibles in 2021

NEW YORK, March 11, 2026 — Astara Capital Partners, LLC (“Astara”), a middle-market private equity firm, today announced that the firm led a continuation vehicle for Garlock Flexibles (“Garlock”), and the simultaneous merger of C-P Flexible Packaging (“C-P”) in October 2025. The combination created one of the Top 15 flexible packaging manufacturers in North America, with 10 manufacturing locations strategically positioned across the United States and Canada. Garlock/C-P is headquartered in York, Pennsylvania.

Astara acquired Garlock in 2021, transforming it from a non-core subsidiary of a family-owned business into a standalone company with a leading position in food and produce packaging. The formation of Garlock/C-P represented a natural progression in that strategy and demonstrated Astara’s ability to execute complicated transactions while returning capital to investors.

Michael Ranson, Managing Partner of Astara, said, “We are grateful to our investors for their support and partnership, which made the C-P transaction possible. Their confidence in our strategy has enabled us to simultaneously provide liquidity to certain investors while building a stronger, more diversified, and scalable flexible packaging platform with significant long-term growth potential.”

A Scaled Platform Positioned for Growth
Garlock/C-P’s platform offers expanded capabilities in high-graphics flexographic printing, adhesive and extrusion lamination, cold seal applications, laser perforation and scoring, clean-room production, and stand-up pouch and bag converting. The company continues to advance recyclable and compostable flexible packaging formats and sustainable material solutions to support customers’ evolving environmental commitments. Garlock/C-P plans to make more than $20 million in capital investments in 2026. This includes preventative maintenance programs, new manufacturing equipment, modernization of select production assets, and continued investment in IT, data infrastructure, and analytics capabilities.

Lindsey Tannenbaum, Partner at Astara commented, “The formation of Garlock/C-P has created a leading flexible packaging manufacturer with the scale, capabilities, and innovation engine to better serve customers across North America. The integration is off to a great start: the team has made significant progress across key functional areas while maintaining disciplined focus on seamless service, quality, and responsiveness for customers throughout the transition.”

Rob Groberg, Partner at Astara added, “We are extremely proud of the progress Garlock has made since we partnered with the company in 2021. Thank you to Greg Powell and the entire Garlock team for their exceptional work. Executing the combination with C-P is a testament to their leadership, discipline, and commitment to building a best-in-class organization.”

BMO Capital Markets served as financial advisor, M2O Private Fund Advisors served as placement agent, and Proskauer Rose LLP served as legal counsel to Garlock on the merger transaction. Greenhill & Co., a Mizuho affiliate, served as exclusive financial advisor and Dechert LLP served as legal counsel to C-P.

About Astara Capital Partners
Astara Capital Partners is an integrated team of investors and operators focused on the middle market. The firm provides capital, strategic guidance, and operational support to help build sustainable value across its portfolio. Astara invests in sectors where it has deep expertise, including building products, home services, food, packaging, manufacturing, and distribution. More information is available at www.astaracapital.com.

SOURCE Astara Capital Partners