HUNTINGTON, N.Y., Oct. 17, 2025 — Sen-Jam Pharmaceutical, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company advancing affordable therapeutics for inflammation-driven disease, today announced a major step forward in combating addiction with the filing of a new U.S. provisional patent titled “Compositions and Methods for Stimulant Withdrawal.” This milestone expands Sen-Jam’s non-opioid therapeutic platform, addressing the growing methamphetamine epidemic, for which no FDA-approved treatments currently exist.

More than 1.6 million Americans are living with methamphetamine use disorder, and stimulant-related overdose deaths have tripled in the past five years (NIH/CDC). Alongside the opioid epidemic, this emerging stimulant crisis represents a dual public health emergency — underscoring the urgent need for non-opioid, validated treatment options.

The patent builds upon positive preclinical results from Sen-Jam’s collaboration with the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) under its Addiction Treatment Discovery Program (ATDP). Preclinical studies demonstrated that Sen-Jam’s proprietary combination drug, SJP-005, significantly reduced methamphetamine-induced hyperactivity without producing stimulant-like or addictive effects in validated rodent models.

Data included in the patent show reduced behavioral stimulation and mitigated withdrawal responses in methamphetamine-exposed animals. These findings suggest that SJP-005 represents a novel, anti-inflammatory approach to treating stimulant dependence by targeting neuroimmune and glial cell activation pathways — key drivers in both opioid and stimulant addiction.

“This marks an important expansion of our science and mission,” said Jacqueline Iversen, RPh, MS, Founder and Chief Clinical Officer of Sen-Jam. “Our data, generated with NIDA’s support, reinforce that neuroinflammation is a root cause in addiction. By addressing inflammation and neuronal recovery together, SJP-005 may redefine how substance use disorders are treated — safely, effectively, and without addictive substitution.”

Unlike traditional approaches, SJP-005 targets neuroinflammation and glial activation — a first-in-class, non-opioid platform capable of addressing multiple substance use disorders through a single inflammation-modulating mechanism.

The new patent builds on Sen-Jam’s prior work on Opioid Use Disorder (OUD), where SJP-005 reduced withdrawal symptoms by up to 50% and shortened recovery time in preclinical models. Together, these results highlight Sen-Jam’s ability to bridge discovery and clinical impact — positioning SJP-005 as a platform therapeutic across the addiction spectrum.

Sen-Jam expects to initiate Formulation and CMC development later this year with its venture partner KVK Tech, which is evaluating a follow-on investment to accelerate this work. The company plans to open an Investigational New Drug (IND) application in 2026 to advance SJP-005 into first-in-human studies.

“This achievement demonstrates the power of collaboration between innovative biotech and public health agencies like NIDA,” added Jim Iversen, CEO. “Our goal is not just to treat addiction, but to bring forward accessible, affordable, non-opioid therapeutics that meet urgent public health needs.”

About Sen-Jam Pharmaceutical
Sen-Jam Pharmaceutical  is a clinical-stage biotechnology company reimagining how inflammation and addiction are treated through innovative, affordable, and rapidly deployable combination therapeutics. With a portfolio of over 60 global patents and 11 pipeline assets, Sen-Jam is advancing safe, effective solutions for global health challenges, including pain, addiction, and inflammatory disease. For more information, visit www.wefunder.com/senjam.

CONTACT INFORMATION:
Sen-Jam Pharmaceutical
Christine Leonard
781-913-1902
[email protected]

SOURCE Sen-Jam Pharmaceutical

A roundup of the most newsworthy financial press releases from PR Newswire this week, including the effect of tariffs on holiday spending, PayPal’s cybersecurity tips and a look at the spending habits of sports fans.

NEW YORK, Oct. 17, 2025 — With thousands of press releases published each week, it can be difficult to keep up with everything on PR Newswire. To help finance journalists and consumers stay on top of the week’s most newsworthy and popular releases, here’s a recap of some major stories from the week that shouldn’t be missed.

The list below includes the headline (with a link to the full text) and an excerpt from each story. Click on the press release headlines to access accompanying multimedia assets that are available for download.

1. S&P Global Ratings and Chainlink Collaboration Brings S&P’s Stablecoin Stability Assessments On-Chain
   This initiative makes S&P Global Ratings’ deep, independent stablecoin risk analysis directly accessible within decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols and smart contracts for the first time.
2. TrueCar to Be Acquired by Founder-Led Strategic and Financial Investor Group in All-Cash Go-Private Transaction
   Fair Holdings, Inc., an entity led by TrueCar founder Scott Painter, will acquire the company in an all-cash, go-private transaction at $2.55 per share, or an equity value of approximately $227 million based on current basic shares outstanding.
3. LendingTree Announces the Unexpected Passing of Company Founder, Chairman and CEO Doug Lebda
   Doug Lebda, the Company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, passed away unexpectedly this week in an all-terrain vehicle accident. The Board of Directors and the entire LendingTree management team deeply mourns his passing and extends sincere and heartfelt condolences to his family.
4. Tariffs Cast Shadow on 2025 Holiday Shopping, Spending Slows
   The report from project44 finds that tariffs are top of mind for holiday shoppers, with 80% worried that tariffs will increase prices. Additionally, 70% plan to purchase fewer gifts if tariffs increase the cost of goods.
5. Zillow and Esusu partner to expand credit-building for renters nationwide
   Under this expansion, any renter — not just those paying rent through Zillow — can now have their on-time rent payments reported to all major credit bureaus for $20 per year. Starting in November, renters simply verify their lease details and payment method, and Zillow and Esusu handle the rest. 
6. PayPal Alerts Consumers to Phishing Scams and Encourages Safety Tips
   As scammed funds cannot be recovered in all circumstances, avoiding fraud from occurring in the first place is the best defense. PayPal encourages everyone to keep an eye out for the warning signs and learn best-practice tips.
7. Acorns Launches Money Manager to Automate Financial Wellness
   Money Manager takes the stress out of financial management by automatically splitting customers’ deposits across savings, retirement, spending, and investing the moment they hit their Acorns accounts.
8. The Cost of Fandom: Ally Bank Finds Sports Fans Breaking the Bank for the Love of the Game
   Fifty-seven percent of sports fans admit to overspending, yet 85% report having no dedicated savings set aside for expressions of fandom. Nearly 7 in 10 fans (67%) say spending on women’s sports has increased or stayed the same, with Gen Z and millennials especially viewing their women’s sports fandom as a reflection of personal values
9. Campfire Raises $65 Million Series B to Redefine How Finance Works in the AI Era
   A key part of Campfire’s differentiation is its advanced use of AI, including L.A.M. (Large Accounting Model), its newly announced proprietary AI model, trained exclusively on accounting data to automate tasks with industry-leading accuracy. 
10. Landmark Gallup Study Shows Less Than Half of U.S. Workers Have A Quality Job
    A new nationally representative survey reveals that four in 10 U.S. workers are in jobs that meet the basic elements of job quality, such as providing fair pay, having predictable schedules, and offering opportunities to grow and advance – contributing to higher turnover, negative impacts to businesses’ bottom lines, and economic instability in communities.
11. Reducto Raises $75M Series B to Define the Future of AI Document Intelligence
    Customers rely on Reducto to handle their most complex and mission-critical document workflow, such as, converting pdfs with redlines to text in legal workflows, extracting complex charts for financial due diligence, or high-stakes figure extraction for healthcare decisions.

For more news like this, check out all of the latest finance-related releases from PR Newswire.

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SOURCE PR Newswire

Investment will drive product development velocity, go-to-market initiatives, and other key corporate strategies.

AUGUSTA, Ga., Oct. 16, 2025 — Conceal, the pioneer in browser-native Security Service Edge (SSE) and proxy-less Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) technology, today announced the closing of a $26 million Series B funding round led by Two Bear Capital, with continued support from Allegis Cyber and Gula Tech Adventures.

The new investment will accelerate product development, expand go-to-market initiatives, and grow the Conceal team. This will support the company’s mission to help enterprises deliver trusted access and in-browser security to employees and third-party contractors wherever they are located.

“We are thrilled to have Two Bear Capital lead this newest investment in our vision to change the way organizations reach their zero-trust and browser security goals,” said Eric Cornelius, CEO of Conceal. “For years, organizations have relied on inefficient methods of delivering secure access and browser protection, often leaving gaping holes that attackers could exploit. Our direct approach to zero trust and in-browser security finally delivers on the promise of tech-stack consolidation, driving out complexity, cost, and friction.”

“Conceal’s browser-native approach represents a major shift in how enterprises deliver secure access,” said Mike Goguen, Founder and Managing Partner at Two Bear Capital. “They are addressing one of cybersecurity’s biggest challenges, simplifying secure connectivity without sacrificing control and doing it in a way that scales naturally with how people work today. Conceal is a great addition to the Two Bear Capital portfolio and we look forward to working with its leadership team to support the company’s dynamic growth.”

The investment comes at a time when organizations are reevaluating legacy VPNs, proxies, and cloud-routed SSE solutions that add latency, cost, and operational complexity. Conceal’s browser-native approach is leading a growing industry shift toward lightweight, direct-to-browser security.

The Conceal Approach to Zero Trust and Browser Security

Today, most organizations maintain two complicated technology stacks to deliver connectivity and security. While many cybersecurity vendors focus on consolidating the security stack, the connectivity stack, often a significant source of cost and complexity, remains largely untouched.

With the Conceal Browser-Native SSE Platform, organizations can consolidate both into a single platform, allowing them to reallocate budgets and scarce human resources to other critical priorities.

Through advanced in-browser technology, Conceal delivers direct connections to applications while eliminating the need for complicated connectivity products such as VPNs, VDIs, and proxies. Unlike “enterprise browsers,” Conceal doesn’t require installing yet another browser; its intelligent extension works seamlessly with any existing one.

For unmanaged devices, users log into the Conceal Console, where they receive secure, policy-based access to the private resources they’re authorized to use without installing software locally.

Security and IT teams gain complete visibility into user activity and threats, with pre-built integrations that stream data into SIEM/XDR platforms and commonly used tools such as Splunk, SOAR, and BI solutions. Conceal also provides executive-level reports showing the platform’s measurable value and risk reduction.

To learn more about Conceal and its approach to Zero Trust and Browser Security, read the blog from CEO Eric Cornelius and register for the upcoming webinar.

About Conceal
Conceal delivers a Browser-Native Security Service Edge (SSE) platform that provides Zero Trust Access and in-browser security without relying on VPNs, proxies, or datacenter-routed traffic. Conceal enables secure, direct access to any application from any device, helping organizations reduce complexity, cost, and risk. For more information, visit conceal.io.

About Two Bear Capital
Founded in 2019 by Mike Goguen, Two Bear Capital is a venture capital firm investing in brilliant entrepreneurs with breakthrough solutions to complex and critical problems. With its unique approach to venture capital, Two Bear Capital’s vision is to build enduring, high-impact businesses that benefit society while delivering for investors. The firm primarily focuses on early founder-led companies with disruptive life sciences and technology innovations. Two Bear Capital has offices in Menlo Park, San Diego, Boston, and New York, with its home base in Whitefish, Montana. For more information, visit: www.twobearcapital.com.

Media Contact:
[email protected] | conceal.io

SOURCE Conceal

Insight Partners-led funding will accelerate ExaCare AI’s development of intelligent decisioning, clinical insight, reimbursement automation, and go-to-market expansion; ExaCare AI also announces five new advisors to guide product roadmap.

NEW YORK, Oct. 16, 2025 — ExaCare AI, a trailblazer in automation for operations teams in post-acute care facilities, today announced a $30 million Series A round led by global software investor Insight Partners, with participation from Foundation Capital, Bienville Capital, and select post-acute operators. The new capital will scale ExaCare’s AI platform for skilled nursing facilities and expand product, engineering, and customer support. ExaCare AI powers 1500+ facilities, including customers such as National Healthcare Associates, Journey Healthcare, Ignite Medical Resorts, Monarch Healthcare Management, and Majestic Care.

Across post-acute care, admissions teams are under pressure to make life-changing decisions in minutes often with incomplete information. Referral packets arrive as vast, unstructured documents, leading to clinical deal breakers getting buried, slow and inconsistent communication with referral sources, increased wait times for patients and families, operator revenue loss, and staff burnout. ExaCare AI exists to change this reality.

ExaCare AI enables skilled nursing facilities to make decisions faster and with greater confidence the moment a referral arrives. The platform ingests unstructured packets, surfaces clinical deal breakers, highlights risk and readiness signals, standardizes criteria across teams and shifts, and streamlines communication to reduce back and forth. The goal is safe, confident placements with less administrative burden.

“Our vision is to build an AI operating system for all of post-acute,” said Laird Russell, Co-founder and CEO of ExaCare AI. “Powerful AI agents will work alongside every team to turn scattered data into clear next steps. When every decision is auditable, every handoff is complete, and every workflow adapts in real time, caregivers can focus entirely on people and outcomes. I spent three and a half years with a brain injury in and out of medical care. Creating this new world is personal for me, and it is why we are investing deeply in proprietary models that are purpose built for this setting.”

“Post-acute providers operate under razor-thin margins and chronic staffing shortages, which have a real impact on health outcomes,” said George Mathew, Managing Director at Insight Partners. “ExaCare’s agentic AI platform is addressing this head-on by making admissions simpler, more reliable, and measurably faster for operators and the people they serve. Laird and the ExaCare AI team are relentless in their mission to improve post-acute care, and we’re thrilled to back them on their journey.”

In addition to the Series A, ExaCare is also announcing five new advisors who will help guide the company’s product roadmap with deep domain expertise, working hand-in-hand with ExaCare to build a custom-fit platform with features that matter the most to clinicians, caregivers, and administrators. ExaCare is pleased to welcome:

• Ephram Ostreicher, Chief Operating Officer at National Healthcare Associates
• Bernie McGuinness, President and CEO at Journey
• Austin Steele, Chief Strategy Officer at Journey
• Tim Fields, Co-founder and CEO at Ignite Medical Resorts
• Renee Pruzansky, Vice President of Strategy and Business Development at Infinite Care

Introducing ExaCare AI Agents: A New Workforce for Skilled Nursing

ExaCare AI is building a breakthrough AI model purpose-built for post-acute care. It understands referral packets, payer rules, care histories, and the clinical signals that matter most during admission, allowing facilities to move from reactive processes to proactive, data-driven operations grounded in real-time insight. This foundation will power a suite of AI agents that work alongside care teams to streamline decisions and documentation, creating a connected system that reduces paperwork, improves consistency, and gives staff more time for patient care.

Each agent focuses on a specific part of the workflow:

• Admissions Agent: Triage referral packets, extract critical clinical information, align to facility criteria, and recommend disposition with clear rationales and audit trails.
• Reimbursement Agent: Guide documentation and coding for accurate, timely reimbursement across Medicare, Medicaid, and managed care. Reduce denials with proactive validation, completeness checks, and evidence collection.
• Clinical Agent: Surface prior care history, current conditions, and likely care pathways. Retrieve a richer clinical history by searching across hundreds of thousands of care providers so teams see the full picture and deliver the right care at the right time.
• Survey Readiness Agent: Monitor for common deficiency risks, flag documentation gaps, and provide templates and checklists that keep teams inspection ready.
• Documentation Agent: Standardize forms and notes, attach the right supporting evidence, and maintain a clean, reviewable record from first touch through discharge.

All agents are built with auditability, role based controls, and safeguards that respect privacy and security requirements. The intent is simple. Reduce the documentation mess, return the focus to patient care, and use the thousands of data points before and after admission to match each person to the right care and the best possible outcome.

Announcing ExaCare AI Summit

ExaCare AI will host the ExaCare AI Summit on April 26, 2026 at The Phoenician in Scottsdale, Arizona. The company will bring together the most innovative CEOs and industry leaders in skilled nursing and long-term care to launch and celebrate the future of AI in the sector. Attendees can expect:

• Keynotes and panels with operators, clinicians, payors, and technologists
• Live demos of ExaCare AI Agents and customer case studies
• Working sessions on admissions acceleration, reimbursement accuracy, and survey readiness

More details and registration will follow.

About ExaCare AI

ExaCare AI is the agentic solution for post-acute admissions. Purpose built for skilled nursing facilities, ExaCare ingests referral data, surfaces critical insights, and standardizes decisioning so teams can say “yes” faster and start care sooner. Learn more at www.exacare.com.

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.

About Foundation Capital

Foundation Capital is an early-stage venture firm that partners with founders at “day zero,” backing companies across three practice areas: Enterprise AI, Fintech, and Crypto. The firm’s approach centers on going early, building deep conviction, and providing high-touch support. The firm is presently making early stage investments out of its Flagship Fund 11, a $600M vehicle announced in March 2025. Since its 1995 founding, dozens of Foundation Capital portfolio companies have gone on to successful IPOs and ICOs. Learn more at foundationcapital.com or follow on X @FoundationCap.

About Bienville Capital

Bienville Capital is an idea-centric investment platform investing across sectors and geographies in both public and private markets. Founded in 2008, Bienville partners with entrepreneurs, investors and families to identify differentiated opportunities that have the potential to drive long-term value creation. The firm’s collaborative culture and multi-asset approach enable it to pursue opportunities globally across a range of strategies. Bienville is headquartered in New York, NY and as of June 30, 2025, manages over $4.5B. Learn more at www.bienvillecapital.com.

SOURCE ExaCare AI

Funding will expand AI-powered platform to mobile research and scale team to meet demand from Fortune 500 and high-growth companies

NEW YORK, Oct. 16, 2025 — Strella, the AI-powered customer research platform, today announced that it has raised $14 million in Series A funding, led by Bessemer Venture Partners with participation from Decibel Partners, Bain Future Backed Ventures, MVP Ventures and 645 Ventures.

The investment will allow Strella to expand its platform to mobile customer research and accelerate engineering team growth – enabling new research methodologies that leverage Strella’s AI capabilities.

Emerging from stealth in October 2024, Strella is building the AI-native platform to democratize customer research across organizations. Traditional customer research remains a weeks-long manual process. Strella addresses this gap by incorporating AI into the most tedious parts of the research process.

“We built Strella to make research faster, smarter, and more human — proving that teams no longer have to choose between speed and depth. By combining AI with human insight, we’re creating a new standard where qualitative research is continuous, scalable, and empowers confident decisions at every level of an organization.” Lydia Hylton CEO, Co-founder

Strella has experienced explosive growth, quadrupling its customer base and increasing revenue tenfold since coming out of stealth. The platform now serves leading companies, including Amazon, Duolingo, Apollo GraphQL, and Chobani, collectively conducting thousands of interviews, delivering a 90% average time savings on manual research work.

“Before Strella, studies took weeks. Now we get insights in a day — sometimes in just a few hours. And because participants open up more with the AI moderator, the feedback is deeper and more honest. Research is now faster, richer, and easier to access across our team.” Brian Santiago, Sr Product Design Manager, Apollo GraphQL.

“Strella makes it possible to do user interviews at a scale, speed, and cost that was impossible before LLMs and also expands the universe of use cases (customers are creative!). This macro trend combined with ever-improving voice models places Strella at the center of multiple compelling technological tailwinds,” said Lindsey Li, Vice President at Bessemer Venture Partners. “We are especially impressed by the team’s combination of technical depth and commercial expertise, and by Strella’s ability to unite AI with human insight. The team is setting a new standard for qualitative research.”

About Strella
Strella is an AI-powered customer research platform that enables teams to conduct hundreds of in-depth user interviews in hours instead of weeks. The platform’s AI moderator adapts in real-time to participant responses, probing deeper like skilled researchers to uncover the ‘why’ behind user behavior. By combining survey speed with interview depth, Strella delivers 10x faster insights while maintaining the nuanced understanding of traditional qualitative research. Used by Fortune 500 companies and fast-growing startups, Strella helps teams validate ideas and understand customer needs — transforming weeks of manual research into insights overnight.

Contact: 
David Rubies
[email protected]

SOURCE Strella

ORANGE, Calif., Oct. 16, 2025 — Assistive Technology Development, Inc. (ATDev), a pioneer in AI-enabled, high-performance rehabilitation and personal mobility solutions, announced today that it has raised $3 million in Seed funding. The round was led by Dobrzelecki Legacy Ventures, with participation from Uphonest Capital, The Life Science Angels, and other industry expert angels.

“This investment is a major milestone in our mission to deliver mobility for all, empowering people of every ability to live independently through cutting-edge, affordable technology,” said Todd Roberts, CEO and co-founder of ATDev. “We’re thrilled to have partners who share our belief that access to movement is a fundamental human right.”

Reimagining Independent Mobility

ATDev’s mobility ecosystem combines robotics, wearable technology, and telehealth to support independence at any level of physical ability. Its flagship device, Reflex, is a smart, at-home knee rehabilitation robot that brings high-quality physical therapy into the home environment.

Meeting a Growing National Need

More than 61 million Americans live with disabilities, and 10,000 Americans turn 65 each day. The demand for affordable, reliable assistive mobility solutions is growing rapidly. Yet, traditional technologies are often bulky, expensive, and ill-suited for modern, independent living.

“Our long-term vision is a world where ability is never limited by cost or infrastructure,” said Owen Kent, CMO and co-founder of ATDev. “This capital helps us bring that vision to life faster, for millions of people.”

About Assistive Technology Development, Inc. (ATDev)

Founded in 2020 and spun out of UC Berkeley, ATDev is an assistive technology startup building an ecosystem of robotic personal mobility devices.

Learn more at assistivetech.dev

Media Contact:
Owen Kent
Chief Marketing Officer and Co-Founder
[email protected]

SOURCE ATDev

NEW YORK, Oct. 16, 2025 — Temple Digital Group announced that it successfully raised a $5M seed round to build a privacy focused trading platform for digital assets on the Canton Network.

The round was led by Paper Ventures and included participation from YZi, CMT Digital, Sfermion, Halo Capital, Protagonist, 5N Canton, Eterna Capital, AMA, GSR, Selini, Presto and G20.

Temple leverages Canton ‘s privacy-preserving architecture to deliver 24/7 markets with built-in compliance and connectivity to the broader digital-asset economy. The platform combines features of traditional electronic trading systems—such as automated order routing, all-to-all liquidity, and post-trade reporting—with blockchain innovations such as instant settlement, tokenization, and non-custodial wallets.

With the new funding, Temple plans to expand its product lines to support additional assets, financial instruments, and integrations across blockchain networks.

The Canton Network, whose development group, Digital Asset, recently raised 135M,has built a new technical stack to update the international financial system in collaboration with the world ‘s largest institutions. Canton Network is already conducting trillions in monthly volume from products launched by major partners such as Goldman Sachs, Broadridge, BNP Paribas, and more.

Designed to meet institutional standards for privacy and compliance, Canton provides additional privacy and compliance features for capital markets —offering capabilities that networks like Ethereum and Solana cannot natively support.

The company ‘s leadership team— Evan Varsamis (CEO) and Dan Simerman (CSO) —bring deep experience in digital assets, trading systems, and decentralized networks. The duo see Canton as ‘An Open Institutional Network ‘ where anyone can access and build technology for the new financial system.

“We see an incredible opportunity to develop new financial primitives with and for large institutions ready to participate in digital asset markets” said Evan Varasmis, CEO and co-founder of Temple. “We want Temple to be a core trading engine for use cases that have traditionally been inaccessible on decentralized networks.”

About Temple Digital Group

Temple Digital Group is an infrastructure development company building a privacy focused technical stack to trade capital markets on the Canton Network.

Media Contact

Dan Simerman 
[email protected]
templedigitalgroup.com
(201) 540-9430

SOURCE Temple Digital Group

The expansion will add 12,000 square feet of covered bay space and 3,000 square feet of indoor workspace 

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., Oct. 16, 2025 — RTI International, an independent scientific research institute, today celebrated the start of a project that will more than double the size of its RTI Pilot Xcelerator (RPX), a plug-and-play demonstration facility at its Research Triangle Park campus that helps government agencies, commercial partners and startup companies scale, engineer and test transformative energy and industrial innovations.

The expansion of the RPX will add 12,000 square feet of covered bay space and 3,000 square feet of indoor workspace, control rooms and staff amenities, resulting in over 25,000 square feet of space dedicated to pilot-scale technology demonstration. The upgraded facility is expected to open in 2026 and will enhance RTI’s ability to help clients validate the performance of new technologies under real-world conditions.

“The RTI Pilot Xcelerator brings our mission to life, helping transform bold scientific ideas into real-world solutions that tackle society’s toughest challenges,” said RTI President and CEO Tim J. Gabel. “We’re proud to be investing in the infrastructure that allows science to move faster and farther.”

RPX is the only privately owned energy pilot laboratory in North Carolina and one of the few in the U.S. To date, it has been used to develop and scale technologies that convert agricultural waste into biofuels, capture carbon emissions and produce low carbon intensity aviation fuels.

“Today’s groundbreaking reflects our commitment to advancing energy innovation,” said David Dausch, Ph.D., Vice President, Engineering and Advanced Technology at RTI. “Taking emerging energy technologies from concept to commercial readiness is a major challenge. By expanding RPX, we’re creating a more robust environment to help clients bridge the gap between laboratory prototype and real-world impact.”

The expanded RPX will feature configurable bays for process skids and dedicated control rooms for real-time monitoring. It will also be fully connected to the utilities, bulk gas supply, and other infrastructure needed to support advanced testing and scale-up. A planned adjacent solar field will enable behind-the-meter integration for renewable energy demonstrations.

“The RPX expansion builds on the success of the original facility established in 2013, which has supported partnerships with government agencies and commercial clients,” said Sameer Parvathikar, Ph.D., Program Director of RPX and the Senior Director of Sustainable Energy Solutions at RTI. “This next chapter opens the door to even more collaborations with clients tackling the toughest energy and industrial challenges.”

In June 2025, Aether Fuels, a sustainable fuels technology company, announced a project to demonstrate its breakthrough Aether Aurora™ sustainable aviation fuel at RPX. Other recent clients include Syzygy Plasmonics, which successfully demonstrated an all-electric CO2-to-fuel production pathway, and Lydian Labs, which conducted a successful pilot demonstration of its e-Reforming technology for producing sustainable aviation fuel.

Learn more about the RTI Pilot Xcelerator

Insights Blog: RTI Pilot Xcelerator: Transforming Energy Innovations through Scale-up and Commercialization

Media Contact:
RTI Media Relations
919-541-7300
[email protected]

SOURCE RTI International

Funding led by Bayland Capital , with participation from GTJA Investment Group , Proxima Ventures , Lapam Capital , and Grains Valley Venture Capital

SAN JOSE, Calif., Oct. 16, 2025 — BridGene Biosciences, Inc., a leader in the discovery and development of small molecule drugs for traditionally “hard-to-drug” targets, today announced the recent completion of a $28 million Series B+ financing round. The round was led by Bayland Capital, with participation from GTJA Investment Group, Proxima Ventures, and existing investors Lapam Capital and Grains Valley Venture Capital.

Proceeds from the financing will be used to advance BGC-515, a covalent TEAD inhibitor for solid tumors, through ongoing clinical development and toward Phase 2. The funding will also support the company’s second program, expected to enter the clinic in 2027, and accelerate the development of additional programs in oncology and autoimmune diseases. In addition, the financing enhances BridGene’s capacity to expand strategic collaborations and further validate the broad applicability of its proprietary IMTAC™ chemoproteomic platform across oncology, immunology, and neurology.

“Our recent financing provides important resources to advance our lead program, BGC-515, a covalent TEAD inhibitor, through Phase 2 clinical development,” said Ping Cao, Ph.D., CEO and co-founder of BridGene Biosciences. “This funding will also enable us to progress additional pipeline programs toward the clinic and further expand the reach of our IMTAC™ chemoproteomic platform through strategic collaborations, as we continue to translate our discoveries into transformative therapies for patients.”

“We are excited to lead this financing round for BridGene Biosciences,” said Yuexing Su, Founding Partner of Bayland Capital. “BridGene’s IMTAC™ platform represents a powerful and differentiated approach to drug discovery, enabling the company to discover small molecules against traditionally undruggable target s. With a growing pipeline led by the covalent TEAD inhibitor BGC-515 and multiple follow-on programs across oncology and autoimmune diseases, we believe BridGene is well positioned to deliver transformative therapies to patients and generate substantial value in the biopharmaceutical field.”

About BridGene Biosciences
BridGene Biosciences is a biotechnology company pioneering the discovery and development of innovative small-molecule drugs that target traditionally undruggable targets. Leveraging its proprietary IMTAC™ (Isobaric Mass-Tagged Affinity Characterization) chemoproteomic platform, BridGene screens covalent small molecules against the entire proteome in live cells to identify novel binding sites and drug candidates for high-value targets.

The company is advancing a diversified pipeline led by BGC-515, a covalent TEAD inhibitor currently in clinical development for solid tumors, along with additional programs in oncology and autoimmune diseases. BridGene’s approach integrates deep chemical biology with translational insight to unlock new therapeutic opportunities and bring transformative medicines to patients.

For more information, visit https://bridgenebio.com/ .

About Bayland Capital
Founded in 2019, Bayland Capital is an investment firm specializing in the healthcare and life sciences sectors. It serves as the exclusive investment platform of Pharmaron, a leading global provider of life sciences services. Leveraging deep industry insights, Bayland Capital seeks global investment opportunities in innovative drug R&D platforms, novel therapeutics and medical devices. Bayland’s mission is to enhance human health by integrating life sciences, the healthcare industry and capital markets. Bayland’s vision is to become a leading global healthcare investor, driving biomedical innovation.

About GTJA Investment Group
Founded in Shenzhen in 2001, GTJA INVESTMENT GROUP (GIG) is dedicated to investment in the healthcare industry with a focus on strategic equity investment. GIG is involved in all the investment stages which include PIPE, M&A, PE, VC, and angel investment. GIG has the largest healthcare investment team in China, and has an AUM of US$3.3bn. GIG has invested in more than 160 companies, 110 of which are in the healthcare industry, 41 portfolio companies went IPO. GIG’s global impact is sustained through our branches in HongKong, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Beijing, and other major cities worldwide. GIG is in the process of growing into an investment group with global vision and impact.

About Proxima Ventures
Proxima Ventures is a respected VC fund focused on investing in innovative and disruptive medical and bio- technologies, dedicated to serving outstanding and innovative companies with tremendous potential for growth. Proxima Ventures is run by a highly experienced team with proven track record in the life science industries. The team has broad global knowledge, in-depth experience, and an extensive industry network. Currently, Proxima has multiple Chinese Yuan (RMB) and USD funds under its management, investing in angel to growth stage companies. Proxima Ventures has established a leading medical entrepreneurship ecosystem, helped its portfolio companies connect with high-quality clinical and industrial resources, and achieved remarkable results.

About Grains Valley Venture Capital
Since its establishment in 2012, Grains Valley has focused on early-stage venture capital investments in cutting-edge technologies including information technology, life sciences, artificial intelligence, and clean technology. With assets under management exceeding RMB 3 billion, the firm has invested in over 50 companies, including notable names such as Hello Inc. and CloudMinds. Adhering to in-depth sector research and long-term collaboration as its core philosophy,  Our vision is Empowering humanity’s exploration of new frontiers in technological civilization.

Contact
Tiberend Strategic Advisors, Inc.
Jonathan Nugent (investors)
205-566-3026
[email protected]

Eric Reiss (media)
[email protected]

SOURCE BridGene Biosciences