Series B, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, will turbocharge company’s rapid growth and extend their lead role in using AI to transform the patient experience—eliminating the stress tied to doctor’s appointments, lab tests, prescription renewals, physician referrals, and beyond—putting an end to the dreaded hold music

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 30, 2025 — Assort Health, the most comprehensive patient experience platform powered by specialty-specific agentic AI, today announced the close of a $76 million Series B financing round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with investments by Felicis, First Round Capital, Chemistry, A*, Liquid2, and Quiet Capital. Galym Imanbayev, partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners, will join the board, and Paul Ricci, founding CEO of Nuance will be joining as a board advisor. Following a recent Series A round just four months prior, the company has raised $102 million to date and plans to use these funds to expand Assort Health’s growing team and accelerate the development of a comprehensive platform—Assort OS—that has handled tens of millions of patient interactions across thousands of providers. Beyond the challenge of scheduling doctor’s appointments, Assort Health has improved the patient experience across every touchpoint including care navigation, lab tests, prescription renewals, and physician referrals.

Today, Assort solves a universal problem—it’s a nightmare to schedule a doctor’s appointment. A patient calls their provider and gets put on endless hold, or worse, is disconnected and has to start over in the queue. If they’re lucky and reach an operator, there are often multiple transfers involved and constant resharing of intake data. Missed calls, wrong doctors, no response on weekends and holidays, call centers overseas—it’s an endless list of barriers and frustration people face that result in missed appointments and ultimately, incomplete care. According to the American Academy of Physician Associates, each month, U.S. adults devote the equivalent of an entire workday to navigating healthcare needs for themselves and their families.

“At Assort Health, we are leveraging agentic AI to revolutionize the way provider practices and hospitals engage with patients to remove barriers to care,” said Jon Wang, founder and co-CEO of Assort Health.

“Launching our comprehensive platform, Assort OS, we are bringing customers an opportunity to up-level operations and making it easier to get patients in the door,” said Jeffery Liu, founder and co-CEO of Assort Health.

Part of Assort’s success is driven through an intense, execution-focused culture committed to patient and customer experience; sources show Assort engineers at the 100th percentile of velocity.

“What drew me to Assort Health was the team’s relentless focus on the patient and their dedication to becoming 1% better each day,” said Apolo Ohno, eight-time Olympic champion and Assort Health investor. “I am proud to be a part of Assort Health’s journey as they simplify the healthcare experience for patients and providers.”

Providers are facing  reduced reimbursements, increasing costs, and persistent shortages of healthcare workers. At the same time, front office operations teams are overburdened, managing multiple sites, several physicians and towering call volumes. With patient access as the top priority, healthcare facilities are in need of technology-driven solutions to ensure timely and dependable patient experience.

“Getting the first impression right during a scheduling call is critical for a good patient experience,” said Dr. Titus Abraham, physician at Annapolis Internal Medicine, whose practice handles thousands of inbound calls a month. “Assort’s AI agent easily manages inbound calls and conducts patient outreach as needs change. The new OS platform has also simplified care navigation and internal operations to ensure consistent quality care. Today’s healthcare system is reactive, but with Assort, we can move towards a proactive patient centric system.”

Assort Health’s AI agents get patients in front of doctors faster through a seamless and pleasant experience. Leveraging Assort’s technology, customers have seen 89% shorter patient call wait times and fewer delays to care. By developing a system of reliable omnichannel AI solutions tailored to providers’ specialization and practice, Assort Health has moved far beyond traditional telemedicine platforms that assist patients in finding and scheduling appointments with healthcare providers. Rather than occupying medical call center teams with routine calls and having patients in need of care left on hold, Assort Health integrates itself into EHR and PM workflows with the use of AI and natural language processing to create ease for the patient and resolve any inquiries.

“Patient engagement is the vital heartbeat of healthcare organizations both clinically and administratively. We are thrilled to back Assort Health as it leads the re-platforming of patient engagement into the AI-native era with superior experience for patients and unprecedented outcomes for the organizations that care for them,” stated Galym Imanbayev, MD of Lightspeed Venture Partners, the leader of Assort’s Series B round.

About Assort Health
Assort Health is the most comprehensive patient experience platform powered by specialty-specific agentic AI. With tens of millions of patient interactions across thousands of providers, Assort’s omnichannel AI agents seamlessly integrate with EHR/PMS and complicated provider preferences to eliminate lengthy hold times and inefficiencies that stand in the way of patients getting the care they need. Hundreds of leading healthcare organizations, from Orthoindy to Chesapeake Healthcare, achieve PSAT scores above 94% and see 98% resolution rates using the company’s platform. Assort was recently recognized on the 2025 Forbes Cloud 100 list, alongside companies like OpenAI and Anthropic. To learn more, visit www.assorthealth.com.

Media Contact: 120/80 MKTG, [email protected]

SOURCE Assort Health

Bite Stream, la plataforma de software insignia de Bite Investments, fortalece su posición como líder en innovación en el mercado privado

LONDRES, 30 de septiembre de 2025 — Bite Investments, un proveedor líder de soluciones tecnológicas para el sector de inversiones alternativas, anunció hoy que ha obtenido 25 millones de dólares en capital de crecimiento estratégico de NewSpring Growth, la estrategia de capital de crecimiento dedicada de NewSpring Capital que invierte en empresas de tecnología de rápido crecimiento que transforman la industria.

La financiación representa un hito significativo en el objetivo de Bite Investments de optimizar la experiencia del inversor y democratizar el acceso a inversiones alternativas. Con esta nueva inversión, la firma continuará expandiendo su plataforma tecnológica, ampliando su equipo y mejorando los servicios para gestores de activos e inversores a nivel mundial.

El producto estrella de Bite Investments, Bite Stream, es una plataforma modular integral que proporciona un único centro en la nube para gestionar cada etapa de la experiencia del inversor. La solución agiliza la incorporación y la comunicación con los inversores, ofreciendo un portal único para que tanto socios comanditarios como inversores minoristas puedan consultar todas sus inversiones en un solo lugar. Bite Stream ha demostrado ser una herramienta esencial e intuitiva para que los clientes recauden fondos y gestionen a sus inversores. A medida que el volumen de activos bajo gestión (AUM) en los mercados privados continúa creciendo rápidamente a nivel mundial, Bite Stream espera impulsar al sector hacia una nueva era de automatización en la gestión de activos alternativos.

Las soluciones puntuales son cosa del pasado. La venta minorista y la innovación definen el futuro.

Los mercados privados han dependido durante mucho tiempo de sistemas heredados y aislados que obstaculizan la innovación y limitan el crecimiento. Bite Investments aborda esta situación ofreciendo una plataforma única que unifica la experiencia del inversor y el gestor. El capital de crecimiento estratégico de NewSpring acelerará esta estrategia, permitiendo a Bite Investments cerrar brechas críticas en el panorama tecnológico de los mercados privados y ofrecer mayor eficiencia, transparencia y acceso.

“Bite Investments refleja el tipo de innovación con visión de futuro que se alinea perfectamente con la estrategia de inversión de NewSpring”, explicó Jonathan Brassington, socio asesor de NewSpring Capital. “Su plataforma integrada está redefiniendo la forma en que los mercados privados conectan a inversores y gestores, haciendo que el sector sea más transparente, escalable y accesible. Nos enorgullece colaborar con el equipo de Bite Investments para acelerar su crecimiento global y contribuir a definir el futuro de las inversiones alternativas”.

“Estamos encantados de haber conseguido el apoyo de NewSpring”, afirmó William Rudebeck, cofundador y consejero delegado de Bite Investments. “Durante todo el proceso, priorizamos la búsqueda de un socio que aportara más que solo capital, ayudando a Bite Investments en su camino hacia convertirse en la solución de software líder para inversores en el sector de la gestión de activos alternativos. NewSpring está liderada por emprendedores y operadores en serie de gran éxito que han impulsado la digitalización en empresas innovadoras de los sectores del software y los servicios tecnológicos durante más de 25 años. NewSpring comprende a fondo la gestión de activos y patrimonios, reconoce la solidez de lo que hemos creado y ve el potencial de nuestros servicios integrados para impulsar la innovación real en los mercados privados”.

“En los últimos 15 años, hemos dedicado nuestra trayectoria a construir una empresa que realmente comprenda las complejidades de las inversiones alternativas”, añadió Henry Talbot Ponsonby, cofundador de Bite Investments. “Esta financiación marca el inicio de una nueva y emocionante etapa en la que aceleramos la innovación, ampliamos nuestra oferta de productos y fortalecemos nuestro alcance global para servir mejor a nuestros clientes y al mercado en general. Con esta financiación, avanzamos en nuestra visión de combinar experiencia demostrada, tecnología moderna y un modelo de servicio creado por gestores de inversiones alternativas, para gestores de inversiones alternativas, para redefinir la interacción con los inversores”.

Bite Investments fue asesorado por Piper Sandler como asesor financiero y Paul Hastings como asesor legal.

NewSpring recibió asesoramiento de Baker Tilly en cuestiones financieras, de KPMG en cuestiones fiscales y de Cozen O’Connor en materia legal.

Acerca de Bite Investments

Bite Investments es una empresa global de tecnología financiera que ofrece soluciones de software innovadoras y escalables para el sector en constante expansión de la gestión de activos alternativos y patrimonios. Su plataforma SaaS, Bite Stream, ofrece soluciones integrales diseñadas para simplificar y agilizar todo el proceso de inversión, desde la captación de fondos y la relación con los inversores hasta la elaboración de informes y la gestión de datos. Con un compromiso con la seguridad y la eficiencia, Bite Investments cuenta con la confianza de los principales gestores de activos alternativos y patrimonios, administradores de fondos y otros profesionales de la inversión de todo el mundo. Para más información, visite www.biteinvestments.com.

Acerca de NewSpring

Durante más de 25 años, NewSpring Capital ha colaborado con fundadores y equipos directivos del mercado medio-bajo, brindándoles capital, apoyo operativo y orientación estratégica para ayudar a las empresas a escalar. Con más de 3.500 millones de dólares en activos bajo gestión y más de 250 inversiones completadas, aportamos experiencia operativa y de inversión para construir empresas líderes en sectores donde combinamos un profundo conocimiento del mercado con un enfoque coherente e informado, como tecnología, salud, servicios empresariales, consumo e industria. A través de cinco estrategias distintas que abarcan desde capital de crecimiento y adquisiciones de control hasta deuda mezzanine, adaptamos nuestro enfoque a la etapa y los objetivos de cada empresa, siempre con el foco puesto en el crecimiento sostenible. Como especialistas en el mercado medio-bajo, impulsamos un crecimiento que genera resultados más predecibles. En NewSpring, nos preocupamos tanto por sus resultados como por usted.

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2784312/Bite_Investments_Logo.jpg
Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2784313/NewSpring_Logo.jpg

Funding fuels product innovation, ecosystem integrations, and expansion of industry-leading AI-powered identity resolution platform

MIAMI, Sept. 30, 2025 — Tie (formerly known as Revenue Roll), a leading AI-powered identity platform helping e-commerce brands turn anonymous website visitors into high-value customers, today announced a $10 million Series A led by Innovating Capital, with participation from Stage 2 Capital,Hawke Ventures, and strategic angels including executives from Brex and Share Local Media. This brings the total funds raised to $17 million.

With access to nearly every U.S. shopper, Tie’s AI-powered identity and enrichment platform can recognize up to 95% of website visitors, including those typically lost to expired cookies, cross-device browsing, or lack of login. Tie enables e-commerce brands to know who is visiting their website and engage consumers in real time through personalized, timely messaging. Brands using Tie have seen measurable impact, including an average of 152 percent increase in email-able abandoned cart audiences and over a 3 percent increase in online sales.

“For too long, millions of B2C marketers have relied on incomplete data and rented audiences, missing the opportunity to connect with the high-intent shoppers already on their sites,” said Michael Diesu, CEO and Co-Founder of Tie. “With Tie, we’re empowering brands to identify, enrich, and convert their most valuable visitors in real time, with privacy embedded from the start. That means fewer, smarter messages for a better brand and consumer experience.”

Over the last four years, Tie has built one of the largest identity networks in the U.S., connecting over 25 billion data points from 1,000+ sources and covering 280 million opted-in consumers. Hundreds of consumer brands across a range of verticals use Tie to identify current customers and engaged shoppers to maximize return on marketing investments. According to Forrester, the average retail net margin falls between 2.8% and 3.5%, highlighting how even modest sales gains can have an outsized effect on profitability. From April 2024 to March 2025, Tie’s 100 largest brands saw online sales rise 3.1% and order volume climb 2.8%.

“We used to miss the chance to engage certain shoppers—or even know when they visited our site,” said Kyle Turadeck, Senior Director of Growth and eCommerce at Caraway. “With Tie, we can now reach these shoppers at the right moment, helping us drive close to $1M in incremental sales in 2025.”

“The Tie team has a clear market fit offering as a compounding ROI,” said Anthony Georgiades, General Partner at Innovating Capital. “The team has built impressive unit economics with sticky growth, and they’re setting the bar for how e-commerce brands can multiply their impact with current customers and shoppers.” 

The company has seen brand adoption triple year-over-year and plans to triple its U.S. headcount in 2025, with a focus on attracting top-tier talent in AI engineering and product development. The funding will accelerate these efforts while enabling Tie to invest in ecosystem integrations with email service providers, commerce platforms, and ad networks. Additionally, it will help deepen its AI-powered data enrichment capabilities — now extending beyond web traffic — to enrich brands’ existing first-party datasets, including CRM records, loyalty members, and past purchasers — while continuing to advance its market-defining compliance architecture.

 “There’s no shortage of data in marketing, but very few solutions offer usable data that’s actionable, accurate, and respectful of privacy,” said Erik Huberman, CEO of Hawke Media. “Tie fills that gap for modern B2C marketers, and is built for the next generation of B2C marketing.”

Earlier this year, the company rebranded from Revenue Roll to Tie, signaling a new chapter of growth, vision, and product evolution. Tie now represents the next generation of the identify graph, following a major AI update and the release of new features that give brands greater control over the quality of leads they generate. By layering verified consumer data such as demographics, behaviors, and interests, Tie helps brands drive more revenue while maintaining leaner, higher-quality databases.

For more information, please visit https://meettie.com/. 

About Tie

Tie helps brands own their audience and empower marketers to create more rewarding consumer experiences across the internet. Tie is the first real-time B2C data platform that can de-anonymise and enrich data on nearly every US shopper—unlocking revenue from brands’ most engaged website visitors—without requiring form fills or purchases. Founded by growth strategists and technologists, Tie is trusted by hundreds of fast-growing B2C brands including Caraway, Cozy Earth, Crunch Fitness and Macy’s Wine Shop to significantly grow their email lists, re-engage more subscribers and ultimately acquire more customers from their existing audiences. Learn more at www.meettie.com.

SOURCE Tie

SANTA ANA, Calif., Sept. 30, 2025 — SureCo, an Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangement (ICHRA) administrator focused on companies with at least 200 employees, today announced the completion of a $23 million Series A funding round led by Health Velocity Capital, with participation from Kaiser Permanente Ventures. The investment will enable SureCo to scale its technology and team, making it easier for large groups to contribute pre-tax dollars to employees to purchase the individual health plan of their choice from all major carriers available in their area.

Signaling confidence in ICHRA’s ability to provide access to affordable coverage for American workers, the funding round was driven by thought-leading organizations in the health insurance industry. Health Velocity Capital’s limited partners include a multitude of insurance carriers providing coverage to over 175 million Americans, and Kaiser Permanente Ventures is the venture capital arm of one of the nation’s largest integrated healthcare organizations. They’ve tracked the evolution of ICHRA since it went into effect in 2020 and recognize it as a strategic opportunity for growth and market expansion.

“ICHRAs provide individual choice and foster competition in the market that benefits employers and employees alike. The construct represents an innovative, flexible option for large-group health benefits,” said Matthew Kim, Co-founder and CEO of SureCo.

As businesses face the steepest health insurance cost increases they’ve seen in 15 years, the ICHRA market is experiencing accelerating momentum. More than 44% of large employers say they’re considering the model for 2026. Adoption is being driven by large employers and their benefits consultants who are looking for predictable, cost-effective, and administratively efficient solutions that will satisfy their employees’ needs.

“The market dynamics have shifted dramatically,” said Saurabh Bhansali, Managing Partner at Health Velocity Capital. ” When we initially evaluated the market a few years ago, carriers acknowledged that ICHRA was not a priority, and benefits consultants had limited awareness of its flexibility and advantages. This time, nearly every carrier we engaged had a dedicated point person and an emerging ICHRA strategy, while consultants consistently described ICHRA as a key tool in their arsenal.”

Kaiser Permanente Ventures’ investment reflects this evolution. “We see ICHRA as empowering employees with choice, enabling them to select the best health plans for their needs,” said Daniel van den Bergh, Senior Investment Director at Kaiser Permanente Ventures. “SureCo guides employees through this process via an intuitive and high-quality end-to-end experience.” 

SureCo will use the funding to accelerate its growth trajectory and continue innovating in the large-group ICHRA space. The company plans to expand its technology platform capabilities, including further integration with carriers, and growth of its award-winning service team to support increasing customer demand.

“This funding comes at a pivotal moment for both SureCo and ICHRA,” added Kim. “We’re seeing unprecedented interest from large employers who are looking to offer their employees more choice and gain visibility into their healthcare costs, while lifting the administrative burden of traditional benefits administration. With the backing of Health Velocity Capital and Kaiser Permanente Ventures, we’re positioned to meet this demand and help more organizations transition to this consumer-driven benefits model.”

About SureCo
SureCo is a leading health benefits technology company specializing in Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangements (ICHRA) for large employers. The company’s enrollment platform enables large employers to offer their employees access to hundreds of individual health insurance plans from all major carriers while maintaining predictable costs and comprehensive compliance support. 

About Health Velocity Capital
Health Velocity Capital invests exclusively in innovative healthcare software and services companies. The firm’s partners have more than 90 collective years as investors, entrepreneurs, and executives helping to finance and build innovative companies that created important new healthcare markets and that became market leaders, including successful companies such as Teladoc, Livongo, Change Healthcare, MDLive, Contessa Health, Headspace Health, Aspire Health, Zipari, IVX Health, Artera (fka Well Health), Compassus, Aperio, The Advisory Board Company, Healthways (Tivity Health), US Renal Care, Spero Health, OnShift, and many others. The firm counts among its limited partners many of the largest and most influential healthcare organizations in the country and current and former senior healthcare executives who collectively represent organizations that insure more than 175 million Americans, operate more than 700 hospitals, provide pharmacy and PBM services to everyone in the United States, and sell software to every major US health system.

Media Contact
Lindsey Unterberger
VP of Marketing, SureCo
[email protected]
573.424.9692 

Karen Sorenson
Account Director, Global Results Communications for SureCo
[email protected]
949.537.8789

SOURCE SureCo

Novo Holdings, SR One and Catalys Pacific co-led the financing

Company emerges from stealth to advance lead asset, dotinurad, through global Phase 3 clinical trials

Dotinurad is a next-generation, once daily oral, URAT1 inhibitor with  potential for best-in-class safety and efficacy, as supported by extensive clinical data from Japan, China and other Asian markets where the drug is approved

SAN DIEGO, Sept. 30, 2025 — Crystalys Therapeutics Inc., (‘Crystalys’ or ‘the Company’), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, is announcing its launch with a $205 million Series A financing to support its mission of addressing the significant unmet medical needs of people living with gout. The financing round was co-led by Novo Holdings, SR One and Catalys Pacific with participation from a broad syndicate of investors, including Perceptive Xontogeny Venture Funds, Lightstone Ventures, AN Venture Partners, funds managed by abrdn Inc., KB Investments, Pontifax, Longwood Fund, Alexandria Venture Investments, Wedbush Healthcare Partners and Prebys Ventures Fund. 

The financing round will support the advancement of global Phase 3 clinical studies evaluating the company’s lead asset, dotinurad, a next-generation, once daily oral, URAT1 inhibitor with potential best-in-class safety and efficacy for the treatment of gout. Dotinurad has already demonstrated robust efficacy and a well-defined safety profile across multiple clinical studies, supporting its approval in Japan, China, Philippines and Thailand.

“Crystalys was built to bring forward a new therapeutic option for the millions of people struggling with gout,” said James Mackay, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Crystalys Therapeutics. “Our lead asset, with its proven efficacy and well-defined safety profile, has already demonstrated its ability to provide meaningful relief for people living with gout. Thanks to the support of our investors, our experienced team is now well-positioned to accelerate dotinurad’s development in the US and Europe as a much needed second-line therapy for patients who do not respond adequately to first-line treatments.”

Led and co-founded by James Mackay, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer, a veteran biotech leader with over 40 years of drug development experience, six drug approvals, and a history of founding and leading innovative companies while contributing to San Diego’s life sciences ecosystem, Crystalys brings together a world-class team with a proven record in gout drug development and deep regulatory success with URAT1 inhibitors. Fellow co-founders of Crystalys include Dr. Nihar Bhakta, Dr. Ashwin Ram and Ms. DeAnne Reid. Dr. Bhakta, Chief Medical Officer at Crystalys, has extensive clinical and regulatory experience in immunology and inflammation, having led the team that secured the most recent small molecule FDA and EU approvals for hyperuricemia associated with gout. Dr. Ram, Chief Operating Officer, has extensive experience as an investor and operator, having managed multiple new company creations as a Partner at Catalys Pacific. Ms. Reid, Executive Director of Operations and Business Development, has significant biotech and gout drug development experience from her roles at Ardea Biosciences and Aristea Therapeutics.

“Since its inception, Crystalys has been guided by a singular vision: uniting a world-class gout drug development team with Japan’s excellence in pharmaceutical innovation to deliver transformative therapies for patients with gout,” said BT Slingsby, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., Co-founder and Chairman of the Board of Crystalys Therapeutics. “We are proud to continue to support Crystalys as it advances dotinurad into two global Phase 3 trials.”

“The clinical effectiveness of dotinurad for treating hyperuricemia associated with gout has already been well validated across 22 trials involving 1,300 subjects, and since its approval in Japan in 2020, more than 1.2 million patients have been treated with dotinurad, consistently achieving target serum uric acid levels linked to meaningful clinical benefits,” said Nihar Bhakta, M.D., Chief Medical Officer of Crystalys Therapeutics. “Our upcoming Phase 3 trials are designed to highlight the superior efficacy of dotinurad in reducing serum uric acid levels, gout flares and tophus area.”

About Gout

Gout is the most common form of inflammatory arthritis. It is a condition which is very debilitating for patients and characterized by sudden, severe attacks of pain, swelling, redness and tenderness in one or more joints. This disease arises from excess uric acid in the body, known as ‘hyperuricemia,’ which causes buildup of uric acid crystals and inflammation, leading to tophaceous gout in people with chronic or undertreated disease. Despite available therapies that aim to reduce uric acid levels below the target 6 mg/dL, a major treatment gap remains between first-line xanthine oxidase inhibitors (XOIs) and last-line uricase therapy. Currently, no suitable second-line options exist in the U.S. or E.U., leaving a critical unmet need for patients who fail to respond to first-line treatments.

About Crystalys Therapeutics

Crystalys Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company transforming the treatment of gout. Headquartered in San Diego, California, and co-founded by Catalys Pacific and Novo Holdings, Crystalys brings together a world-class team with deep expertise in gout drug development, dedicated to delivering more effective options for people living with gout. The company’s lead candidate, dotinurad, is a next-generation, once daily oral, URAT1 inhibitor in clinical development as a second-line therapy aimed to reduce uric acid, gout flares and tophi. Dotinurad was invented by Fuji Yakuhin and has obtained regulatory approval in Japan, China, Philippines and Thailand. With best-in-class potential for both safety and efficacy, dotinurad is supported by clinical data from multiple Asian markets where it is approved. Crystalys is advancing dotinurad in global Phase 3 trials toward regulatory approval and commercial launch.

For more information, visit www.crystalystx.com/ and follow us on X and LinkedIn.

SOURCE Crystalys Therapeutics

Total Round Reaches 17.8 Million USD to Accelerate R&D and Global Expansion

OKINAWA, Japan, Sept. 30, 2025 — Japan-based deep tech startup EF Polymer K.K. (Founder & CEO: Narayan Lal Gurjar, “EF Polymer”), developer of 100% bio-based super absorbent polymers, today announced that it has completed the second close of its Series B financing round through a third-party allotment. In this second close, investors from diverse industries participated, bringing the total amount raised to 17.8 million USD  combined with the first close. This underscores the strong support for EF Polymer’s mission to scale sustainable solutions worldwide.

Business Progress

Sales Milestone:

• EF Polymer has achieved cumulative global sales of 500 tons, upcycling more than 5,000 tons of agricultural residues into sustainable products. Demonstration projects are actively underway in drought-affected regions such as France, Spain, Italy, and Portugal.

Diversification Beyond Agriculture:

• In addition to agricultural use, EF Polymer’s bio-based polymers are being applied in cosmetics, personal care, cooling packs (“Cy-Cool”), and absorbent sheets.

Certifications & Recognition:

• EF Polymer’s India plant (Rajasthan) has obtained ISO 14001:2015, ISO 9001:2015, and ISO 45001:2018 certifications.
• Organic certification “OMRI” obtained for the U.S. market.
• CEO Narayan Lal Gurjar selected for Forbes Japan 30 Under 30.
• Named a “THRIVE Rising Star” and listed in the 2025 Top 50 AgTech by THRIVE.

R&D Focus Areas

• Diversification of raw materials beyond orange and banana peels
• Establishing sustainable and circular production processes
• Development of new agricultural products by combining EF Polymer with other solutions
• Strengthening multi-site global production capabilities
• Expanding applications beyond agriculture

Series B Round Investors
Through this financing, EF Polymer aims to further accelerate and deepen its research and development (R&D), while strengthening our global business development capabilities to drive the next stage of growth.

Participating Investors (in no particular order):
Impact Capital I Limited Partnership / AgVenture Lab / Amami Okinawa Investment Limited Partnership (Kagoshima Development Co., Ltd.) / EMA Enterprise Co., Ltd. / Hokuyo SDGs Promotion No. 3 Investment Limited Partnership (Hokkaido Kyoso Partners Co., Ltd.) / Japan Green Investment Corp. for Carbon Neutrality / Kyoritsu Holdings Corporation / Melissa Estate International Co., Ltd. / OLtV Opportunity Fund / Soken Chemical & Engineering Co., Ltd. / SVG Ventures Sunrise Agri Fund GP, LLC / Okinawa Development Finance Corporation / TOPPAN Holdings Inc. / Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd.

Narayan Lal Gurjar, Founder & CEO of EF Polymer, commented:
“Our mission is to tackle water scarcity and environmental challenges while improving the livelihoods of farmers and communities. With the support of partners who share our vision, this Series B financing will further accelerate our efforts toward building a sustainable future.”

Business Synergies with Investors

EF Polymer will also collaborate with corporate investors to create business synergies:

• SVG Ventures: Supporting global tomato production with Kagome through stable supply of processing tomatoes.
• Soken Chemical: Co-developing absorbent sheets and launching applications in cosmetics and agriculture.
• TOPPAN Holdings: Developing soil regeneration technologies and collaborating on next-generation manufacturing.

About EF Polymer
EF Polymer is a deep-tech startup born in India and nurtured in Japan. By upcycling agricultural residues such as orange and banana peels into 100% bio-based super absorbent polymers, EF Polymer provides sustainable solutions for agriculture and beyond. The company also promotes applications in cosmetics, personal care products, and ice-packs, helping industries achieve green transformation (GX). Through its technology, EF Polymer strives to solve global environmental challenges, particularly water scarcity.
https://efpolymer.com/

CONTACT:
Nakao: [email protected] / +81(0)50-3628-8676
Maekawa: [email protected] / +81(0)70-2210-5880 

SOURCE EF Polymer K.K.

• Series C led by Junson Capital along with new investor syndicate and existing shareholders
• Funding will further advance Full-Life’s global radiopharmaceutical pipeline and manufacturing capabilities in Belgium
• Additional debt financing provides an alternative financing solution for Full-Life’s future development

CHENGDU, China and GEMBLOUX, Belgium, Sept. 29, 2025 — Full-Life Technologies (“Full-Life”, the “Company”), a fully-integrated global radiotherapeutics company, today announced the completion of US$77 million financing, comprised of close to US$50 million Series C equity and US$27 million debt financing. This financing will advance development of the Company’s radiopharmaceutical pipeline worldwide and manufacturing capabilities in Belgium. With completion of this round, Full-Life has secured nearly US$200 million funding since its inception in 2021, including equity financing, debt financing, business development payments and others.  

Junson Capital led the Series C equity financing along with new investors Lapam Capital, Plaisance, TruMed Investment and other prestigious investors, as well as existing shareholders Chengwei Capital, Gordian Ventures, HSG, Prosperity7, Summer Capital and other renowned shareholders. The US$27 million debt financing, secured in conjunction with the Series C equity financing, provides Full-Life with a flexible financing solution for the Company’s clinical pipeline development and early preclinical program exploration globally, while ensuring the smooth completion of its manufacturing facility in Belgium.

“Radionuclide Drug Conjugates (“RDC”) is a promising new modality for oncology treatments, especially alpha emitters such as ²²⁵Ac–based therapies, where global supply shortage is a current bottleneck,” said Wei Shen, Head of Principal Investment at Junson Capital. “We have invested in Full-Life in each financing round since its Series A in 2022. We continue to be impressed by the company’s strategic vision for a fully-integrated radiopharmaceutical company, its progress in establishing an innovative pipeline and manufacturing capacity to address this key bottleneck, and the outstanding team it has assembled. We are happy to lead Full-Life’s Series C equity financing to drive the growth of such a high-potential biotech at this key stage of its development.”

“The financing reflects strong confidence from our new and existing investors in our strategy and the remarkable achievements we have made under four years,” said Julie Wu, President and Chief Financial Officer of Full-Life. “The funding will support completion of the global Phase I clinical trial of our lead asset, [225AC]AC-FL-020, and initiation of further clinical studies, upcoming new IND filings worldwide, as well as the completion of construction of a Good Manufacturing Practices (“GMP”) manufacturing facility in Belgium.”

About Junson Capital

Junson Capital is a prominent global investment management company, anchored by permanent capital. Junson manages a diversified global portfolio that covers real estate, fixed income, alternative, private equity and venture capital investments. Junson currently has offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, New York, Palo Alto and Frankfurt.

 About Full-Life Technologies

Full-Life Technologies (“Full-Life”) is a fully-integrated clinical-stage global radiotherapeutics company with operations in Belgium, Germany, and China. We aim to own the entire value chain for radiopharmaceutical research & development, production & commercialization to deliver clinical impact for patients. The Company endeavors to tackle fundamental challenges affecting radiopharmaceuticals today by pioneering innovative research that will shape the treatments of tomorrow. We are comprised of a team of fast-moving entrepreneurs and seasoned scientists with a proven history of success in the life sciences, alongside radioisotope research and clinical development.

SOURCE Full-Life Technologies

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 29, 2025 — Alex, the AI recruiting partner transforming how companies discover and hire talent, today announced it has raised $20 million in funding, including a $17 million Series A round led by Peak XV Partners with participation from CHROs at Fortune 500 companies, Y Combinator, Uncorrelated Ventures, and other investors including Tim Sackett, Kris Fredrickson, and Dalton Caldwell. The funding also includes a $3 million Seed round led by 1984 Ventures. This investment will enable Alex to deepen its AI capabilities, expand its team, and further its mission to match every open job with the right candidate.

In today’s competitive landscape, companies often struggle to efficiently sift through vast talent pools, leading to missed opportunities for both candidates and recruiters. Traditional hiring processes can be slow, inconsistent, and reliant on gut instinct, preventing deserving candidates from shining.

Alex leverages AI agents to solve these challenges by conducting video and phone interviews, running resume screens, scheduling follow-ups, detecting fraudulent candidates, capturing structured notes, and syncing seamlessly with applicant tracking systems (ATS). With over 20 autonomous workflows, Alex empowers recruiting teams to look beyond the obvious candidates, evaluate more people more fairly, and uncover hidden gems who might otherwise be overlooked.

“In my 20 years in talent acquisition, I’ve worked with a ton of recruiting software and Alex is a game-changer,” said Tim Sackett, General Partner at HR Tech 100 Fund and a leading voice in talent acquisition. “Adopting the newest and best AI technologies isn’t a nice-to-have, it’s a necessity for top talent organizations, and Alex is leading the charge.”

Alex frees recruiters to focus on what they do best: building relationships with pre-qualified candidates, advising hiring managers, and guiding individuals towards successful careers. This not only accelerates the hiring process but also significantly improves the quality of hires, ensuring that every candidate gets their chance to shine.

In just 18 months, Alex has powered hiring for hundreds of companies across tens of thousands of jobs at some of the world’s largest employers — including Fortune 100s, major financial institutions, nationwide restaurant chains, and Big 4 accounting firms.

“In the future, AI agents will run the entire recruiting process autonomously. It’s inevitable. Alex.com has incredible customer love and usage curves,” said Arnav Sahu, Partner at Peak XV Partners. “In the end-state, Alex could redefine how hiring is done across the entire labor market. We are excited to be a part of this journey with Aaron and John as they build a category-defining company.”

Alex’s core mission is to ensure that no great candidate is lost in the talent pool. By enabling recruiters to widen their search and delve deeper, Alex provides every candidate the opportunity to be discovered, effectively closing the gap between a promising role and a deserving candidate.

About Alex
Alex is an AI recruiting partner that automates recruiter busywork. By automating and streamlining workflows in areas including phone screens, video interviews, fraud detection, and notetaking, Alex empowers companies to find the best talent faster and more fairly, while ensuring every candidate has the opportunity to be discovered. Backed by world-class investors including Y Combinator and Peak XV Partners, Alex is used by global employers and Fortune 500 enterprises around the world.

Media contact:
Michelle Faulkner
Big Swing
617-510-6998
[email protected]

SOURCE Alex

Funding to Launch new CPG Sustainable Consumer Brand

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Sept. 29, 2025 — Aspyr Living, a natural lifestyle company, announced today a $250,000 lead investment from RJD Green (OTCPK: RJDG) as part of a $3.0 million seed funding round. RJD Green will provide both capital and growth expertise to support the launch of Aspyr Living’s innovative new consumer brand, Ascend®.

Aspyr Living helps people live healthier lives with a new generation of safe, high performance home, laundry and personal care products that outperform toxic chemical-based national brands.

Its flagship brand, Ascend®, features proprietary, patent-pending botanical technologies preferred by consumers over toxic national brands after a single use. The funding will be instrumental in bringing these products to market and solidifying Aspyr Living as an emerging leader in the home, health, and wellness space.

“We’ve cracked the code to delivering superior performance for naturally derived household cleaning and laundry products using botanicals, instead of petrochemicals. The results are household cleaning & laundry products that are safer, stronger, and preferred by consumers,” said Benjamin Shell, CEO of Aspyr Living.

“We’re thrilled to have RJD Green as our lead investor for this funding round,” said Shell.  “Their track record of building companies is precisely the kind of expertise we need as we scale operations and introduce our industry-first products to North America.”

RJD Green’s investment builds on a successful 3,000-store Walmart private label test, which demonstrated significant consumer demand for products based on Aspyr Living-derived technologies. The pilot generated over $5 million in sales from 2 million units, with over 98% of consumers preferring the products over top chemical brands. The test also showed a strong 70%+ repurchase rate, proving mass market appeal and a loyal customer base.

Aspyr Living is expected to hit retail shelves with its Ascend® Home Essentials line in early 2026, followed by the launch of its groundbreaking Ascend® Sanitizing Laundry Detergent in Summer 2026. It’s the first consumer detergent to kill 99.9% of bacteria in a home washing machine and represents the most significant advance in home laundry care in 70 years.

About Aspyr Living

Aspyr Living is a natural lifestyle company helping people live healthier lives industry-first safe, natural, and effective home, laundry and personal care products that outperform toxic chemical-based national brands.

Aspyr Living is a natural lifestyle company transforming the $32 billion home and laundry care products market. The company’s vision is to help families live healthier lives by providing safe, effective, and science-backed products and removing toxic chemicals from U.S. homes. Visit www.aspyr-living.com.

About RJD Green, Inc.
RJD Green, Inc. (OTCPK: RJDG) is a publicly traded holding company focused on acquiring and managing assets and companies in the construction, green environmental, and healthcare service sectors. RJD Green is dedicated to providing shareholders with access to small and medium businesses with significant growth opportunities. Visit www.rjdgreen.com.

SOURCE Aspyr Living Inc.