BALTIMORE, Md., Aug. 12, 2025 — Think Consulting, a premier consulting firm dedicated to providing exceptional strategic leadership and business solutions, announced today it has been named to the annual Inc. 5000 list, the most prestigious ranking of the fastest-growing private companies in America.

The Inc. 5000’s 2025 list offers a data-driven look at the most successful companies within the economy’s most dynamic segment—its independent, entrepreneurial businesses. Past honorees include Microsoft, Meta, Under Armour, Patagonia, and many other leading brands.

“We are honored to once again be named to the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing private companies,” said Joe Poling, President and Chief Revenue Officer of Think. “This achievement is a testament to the extraordinary commitment and talent of our team, who continue to deliver results year after year. After more than two decades of growth, sustaining this level of performance becomes increasingly challenging, making this recognition all the more meaningful. We are grateful, proud, and excited for what lies ahead.”

Think has been included in the list for the past five years and employs more than 130 consultants and professionals in regions across the country.

“Making the Inc. 5000 is always a remarkable achievement, but earning a spot this year speaks volumes about a company’s tenacity and clarity of vision,” says Mike Hofman, editor-in-chief of Inc. “These businesses have thrived amid rising costs, shifting global dynamics, and constant change. They didn’t just weather the storm—they grew through it, and their stories are a powerful reminder that the entrepreneurial spirit is the engine of the U.S. economy.”

In a dynamic economic climate, Think earned a ranking of 4,277 on the list, accelerating its global growth and expanding into strategic service areas. Last year, it announced a partnership with Valtus Alliance, an international network of leading executive interim management companies. This partnership has extended Think’s reach worldwide, opening new opportunities around the globe.

Think offers management consulting, project management and PMO solutions, post-merger integration, human capital management services, and government solutions to companies in industries such as media, broadcasting, financial services, education, non-profit, manufacturing, and government. Its clients range from small startups and mid-market businesses to enterprise-level organizations.

For the full list of companies on the Inc. 5000 list, company profiles, and a searchable database by industry and location, visit: www.inc.com/inc5000.

About Think

Founded in 2004, Think is a national management consulting firm serving both the private and public sectors. Think is a transformative partner that helps clients bridge the gap between the company they are today and the company they want to become. Founded on the principles of trust and reliability, Think approaches every challenge with a fighting spirit and the resolve to redefine the standard for operational excellence across sectors and at any stage of a business’s lifecycle.

Its team is composed of senior executives with deep expertise in technology, human capital, and operations, as well as diverse industry knowledge and perspectives. Simply put, Think’s advisor-experts supercharge transformation and strategic structuring.

To learn more visit https://thinkconsulting.com.

Contact:
Will Atkinson
410-206-4890
[email protected]

SOURCE Think Consulting

NRN to scale distributed energy platform ahead of VPP boom  

SYDNEY, Aug. 12, 2025 — NRN (National Renewable Network), Australia’s leading distributed energy infrastructure platform, has finalised a $67.2 million Series A funding round, one of the largest ever in Australian climate tech. The raise includes equity and debt, with major support from a superannuation-linked fund.

NRN enables energy retailers like Alinta Energy (an NRN-partner retailer) to offer customers solar and battery systems with no upfront costs, repayments, or system maintenance fees. With NRN, retailers can quickly build a distributed renewable energy portfolio and white-label it as their own Virtual Power Plant plan.  

This significant capital raise, comprising both equity and debt, is backed by some of Australia’s premier climate technology investors, led by Investible, Virescent Ventures, Electrifi Ventures, Ecotone Partners’ newly established Planet Fund, and a major debt commitment from Infradebt managed funds (including the Australian Ethical Infrastructure Debt Fund). Throughout the raise, Neu Capital has been acting as NRN’s debt advisor.

The Series A also coincides with a massive surge in interest in solar, battery, and VPP plans in Australia, with major government incentives for homeowners who install renewable energy.

“Millions of Australian homeowners want solar but the costs are prohibitive, and every energy retailer wants to scale up their solar energy generation” said Alan Hunter, CEO and Founder of NRN. “Our platform integrates tech, data, capital, compliance, and market access, to neatly solve the problem at both ends. For customers, it’s access to solar with no upfront fees. For energy retailers, NRN can instantly establish or scale distributed energy businesses without capital-intensive balance sheet burdens, while maintaining complete ownership of the customer experience. Our unique model is intentionally structured around empowering partners, never competing with them.” 

In the past 24 months, NRN has expanded its network by more than 600 per cent, with over $12 million in renewable energy assets under management and nearly 10 megawatt hours of installed battery capacity. With total funding now exceeding $85 million, the company is positioned as Australia’s trusted, data-driven distributed energy platform. NRN expects to deploy an additional 40 megawatt hours of battery storage over the next 12 months.

NRN’s model allows partners to offer solar and battery systems to households with no upfront costs, no hidden fees, no repayments, and no ongoing system maintenance. This removes the financial barriers for families and enables energy retailers and solar providers to rapidly grow their portfolios without capital exposure.

With this new funding, NRN will accelerate the rollout of its national platform and continue expanding its role as the connective layer between industry, government, and regulators. The company is focused on enabling widespread access to renewables, strengthening partner businesses, and delivering meaningful consumer savings.

With more than 4 million rooftop solar systems now installed across Australia, our energy market has fundamentally changed. Each system acts like a mini power plant, pushing energy back into the grid unmanaged, causing volatility in the market, unless all assets are connected into a VPP. But this decentralised boom, while good for renewables, has also triggered rising energy prices and market volatility, as energy retailers grapple with shrinking demand and shifting supply.

NRN was built to solve this. By operating as an independent infrastructure layer between the solar industry and energy retailers, NRN helps stabilise the grid, lower costs for households, and deliver solar and battery systems with no upfront payment, unlocking clean energy for those who can’t afford to fork out tens of thousands to go it alone.

Investor Quotes:

“This Series A marks Investible’s third investment in NRN since leading their seed round in March 2024,” said Ben Lindsay, Investment Principal at Investible. “This latest raise represents the largest investment from our fund to date, underscoring the conviction we’ve built in the team, the model, and the scale of the opportunity. In just over 18 months, NRN has grown its network by more than 505% by solving one of the toughest challenges in energy: making clean energy accessible and affordable for households. We’re thrilled to welcome our co-lead, Virescent, and other exceptional investors to the cap table. NRN is building both a company and a category with global potential, and we’re proud to be on the journey with them.”

“Virescent Ventures is proud to support NRN in its Series A. Alan and the NRN team have built a smart, scalable solution to one of the most pressing challenges facing Australia’s energy transition – grid stability,” said Blair Pritchard, Partner at Virescent Ventures. “Australia’s transition to renewables has reached a critical moment – without the rapid deployment of battery storage and distributed generation technology, the energy transition will stall. NRN’s business model and technology can help address this by rapidly unlocking additional storage capacity, while democratising access to solar and battery technology. It will help more households benefit from renewable energy and battery technology without the upfront costs, while helping retailers and easing pressure on the grid. NRN presents a smart solution for consumers and the energy market, and a big step forward in decarbonising the electricity grid.”

“Infradebt is pleased to provide a bespoke debt financing solution to support the rapid growth of the NRN platform,” said Chin-Lee Yu, Co-Founder at Infradebt. “The build out of residential battery storage and VPPs will be a key next step in the energy transition.”

“NRN exemplifies the kind of business the Planet Fund is designed to support, where access to cost-effective capital is critical to achieving scale and reducing emissions,” said Amanda Goodman, Partner, Planet Fund. “Its innovative business model, which requires both equity and non-dilutive debt to scale, aligns with our thesis of deploying flexible capital to accelerate climate solutions and help people save money. We’re particularly excited by NRN’s potential to drive meaningful household decarbonisation and contribute to lower energy emissions intensity.”
“We’re proud to have supported this pivotal transaction, which positions the company to scale its operations and accelerate its Series A equity raise,” said Jason Watts, Managing Director, Neu Capital. “This debt raise highlights the depth of investor appetite for high-quality opportunities in the energy transition sector.”

“I’m thrilled to be backing NRN for the third time through Electrifi Ventures, as well as several times personally. It’s been amazing to watch their journey, and this raise gives them the runway to truly take off — accessing capital at an incredibly efficient rate and having successfully bridged the valley of death that so many startups face. I’m proud to be part of helping get businesses like this off the ground,” said Danin Kahn, Electrifi Ventures.

About NRN
NRN is an Australian renewable energy company reshaping how households access solar and battery systems. Specialising in Virtual Power Plants, NRN makes clean energy affordable and accessible. Recent partnerships with Alinta Energy and Jacana Energy highlight NRN’s ability to deliver innovative, scalable energy solutions across the country.

SOURCE National Renewable Network

ATLANTA, Aug. 11, 2025 — Softwear Automation, the pioneer in autonomous sewing technology, today announced the successful close of its $20 million Series B1 funding round, marking a major milestone in its mission to revolutionize sewn goods manufacturing. The round was led by a strategic investment from BESTSELLER, the Danish fashion company behind brands such as JACK & JONES, VERO MODA, and ONLY. The investment was made through Invest FWD, BESTSELLER’s dedicated innovation and investment platform for advancing sustainability in the fashion industry. Current investors (including CTW Venture Partners, SRI Capital, MacDonald Ventures) also participated in the financing.

As part of the collaboration between Softwear Automation and BESTSELLER , CFO Thomas Børglum Jensen, on behalf of BESTSELLER, joins the board of Softwear Automation. This at a time of rapid progress towards commercialization of Softwear’s fully automated SEWBOT® worklines.

“This partnership with BESTSELLER and the support from Invest FWD are not just a vote of confidence in our technology — they are a powerful catalyst for the future of on-demand, localized, and more sustainable apparel manufacturing,” said Palaniswamy “Raj” Rajan, Chairman and CEO of Softwear Automation.

Softwear Automation’s patented SEWBOT® technology delivers a fully autonomous sewing solution, enabling sewn products to be made closer to the consumer, with radically reduced waste, faster cycle times, and superior cost-efficiency. This funding round will accelerate the company’s expansion into new product categories and geographies, deepen its R&D capabilities, and scale its production footprint to meet growing global demand.

From BESTSELLER, CFO Thomas Børglum Jensen added, “At BESTSELLER, we look for innovations that can support progress within the fashion industry, where change is needed. Softwear Automation is helping address some of the key challenges we face across the industry — from speed and flexibility to lowering environmental impact. We’re pleased to support their development and explore how this technology can help us move forward.”

The partnership supports BESTSELLER’s wider efforts to improve its supply chain model with ambitions about reducing environmental impact and increasing transparency.

By leveraging SEWBOT® technology, Softwear Automation and BESTSELLER aim to enable more circular and demand-driven production practices.

With this strategic alliance and fresh funding, Softwear Automation is poised to lead the next era of apparel manufacturing — one where fashion is faster, focused on sustainability improvements, and made closer to home.

About Softwear Automation

Softwear Automation is an Atlanta-based robotics company disrupting the $1.1T sewn products industry with fully automated worklines. Its patented SEWBOT® platform combines advanced robotics, machine vision, and AI/MLto create a scalable, localized, and sustainable solution for apparel manufacturing. For more information, visit www.softwearautomation.com.

About BESTSELLER and Invest FWD

BESTSELLER is a family-owned international fashion company with brands sold in more than 70 markets worldwide. Invest FWD is BESTSELLER’s innovation platform and investment arm, focused on accelerating sustainable transformation across the fashion value chain. Learn more at www.bestseller.com.

Media Contact:

Radhika Madhavan
Marketing Consultant
Softwear Automation
[email protected]

Kasper Reggelsen
Head of Communications
BESTSELLER
[email protected] 

Logo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2747998/Softwear_Automation_Logo.jpg 

Round was led by Forerunner with participation from Y Combinator, NFX, Perceptive Ventures, and Gaingels.

NEW YORK, Aug. 11, 2025 — Novig, the leading peer-to-peer sports prediction market in the United States, today announced the successful close of an $18 million Series A funding round. The round was led by Forerunner, with participation from existing investors Y Combinator, NFX, Perceptive Ventures, and Gaingels.

Founded by Jacob Fortinsky and Kelechi Ukah, Novig is reimagining sports predictions as a transparent and fair marketplace. Unlike traditional sportsbooks, Novig allows users to trade directly with one another, rather than against the house, eliminating hidden fees, biased odds, and the risk of being penalized for winning.

Novig has experienced explosive growth since its public launch in September 2024, achieving a 50x increase in monthly trading volume and surpassing 2 billion worth in annualized volume in Novig Cash.

“What we’re building isn’t just sports predictions–it’s a true peer-to-peer market,” said Jacob Fortinsky, CEO and co-founder of Novig. “We believe users deserve a system that rewards skill, reflects true supply and demand, and gives every fan a fair shot. We’ve quickly become the #1 sports prediction market in the US, and our organic growth speaks to the strength of our product and the passion of our community. The support from some of the world’s leading tech investors, who believe in our mission to democratize sports betting for good, is a powerful endorsement—not just of what we’ve built, but of the future we’re creating. This funding will allow us to scale our mission across more sports, more formats, and ultimately, to more users.”

More than 90% of trades on Novig are now fully peer-to-peer, a signal of strong product-market fit. Novig users are three times more likely to remain active on the platform compared to traditional betting platforms. Every new Novig user receives a starting balance of Novig Coins and Novig Cash, enabling them to experience the thrill of trading with no upfront deposit or risk.

With the new capital, Novig plans to expand coverage to additional sports and deepen its presence in existing markets. The company will also launch new features, including leaderboards, group contests, and head-to-head trading. Additionally, Novig aims to support fiat on-ramps such as debit and credit card payments, launch a full-featured web app, and scale hiring across its engineering, product, and growth teams.

“Novig sits at the center of several key secular trends in gaming and entertainment, namely that consumers increasingly are spending their time, energy, and attention with financial products,” said Fawzi Itani, Principal at Forerunner. “The Novig team brings the most sophisticated and nuanced perspective to sports prediction markets. They not only deeply understand their target customer, but are building a system that is more fair, community-oriented, rewarding, and well, fun.”

As Novig continues its mission to deliver the best sports prediction experience in the market, it is quickly becoming the go-to platform for fans who care about price, product, and performance.

About Novig:
Novig is America’s #1 Sports Prediction Market, and the only platform to offer commission-free, peer-to-peer trading on sports. By eliminating the traditional sportsbook model, Novig delivers better pricing, full transparency, and a more efficient market structure for users.

For more information, visit novig.us or follow Novig on X or LinkedIn.

SOURCE Novig

–  Strategic investment to support RBL’s mission to launch and scale breakthrough startups 

–  Founder and general partner of Modi Ventures, Sahir Ali, to join RBL board of directors

–  Modi Ventures’ Ali, RBL managing partner Wotton to speak on venture creation at Canaccord Genuity Growth Conference Aug. 12

HOUSTON, Aug. 8, 2025 — RBL LLC, a pioneering biotech venture creation studio dedicated to rapidly building companies based on breakthrough medical technologies, announced that it has secured an investment from Modi Ventures to support its mission to launch and scale breakthrough startups into clinical-stage companies.

In addition, RBL has announced the appointment of Sahir Ali to its board of directors. Ali is the founder and current general partner of Modi Ventures, a leading venture capital firm investing in biology and technology based in Houston. Ali’s experience as an accomplished technology and health care leader, investor and adviser will be instrumental in bridging the gap between academic biotech discoveries and the clinical care market.

“This investment by Modi Ventures will be instrumental to RBL’s growth as it reinforces confidence in our venture creation model and accelerates our ability to develop successful biotech startups,” said Paul Wotton, RBL’s managing partner. “Sahir’s addition to the board will also amplify this collaboration with Modi. His strategic counsel and deep understanding of field-defining technologies will be invaluable as we continue to grow and deliver on our mission.”

“The bold thinking and entrepreneurial initiatives coming out of RBL represent an important cornerstone of the rapidly evolving Houston life sciences scene, and I am honored to contribute to this growth by joining this exceptional board,” Ali said. “Partnering my new role at RBL with the investment made by Modi can truly help not only build companies but also shape the future of patient care in a collaborative and more efficient way.”

“Modi Ventures’ investment is a strong signal of market validation for the acceleration model we’ve built into RBL,” said Paul Cherukuri, board member of RBL and chief innovation officer of Rice University. “It reflects growing investor confidence in RBL’s ability to turn breakthrough science into real-world therapies and in Houston’s rise as a global force in biotech innovation.”

Modi Ventures employs a proprietary financial engineering framework grounded in modern portfolio theory and efficient frontier principles. With $134 million under management, Modi Ventures backs category-defining companies advancing artificial intelligence (AI)-driven drug discovery, diagnostics and engineered therapeutics. The firm also invests in leading funds across the biotech and technology spectrum. A parallel entrepreneur, scientist and innovator, Sahir has led transformative work and built companies across AI, cloud computing and precision medicine.  Sahir serves on the board of directors of the Drug Information Association, a leading global life science membership association driving collaboration in drug, device and diagnostics development in pursuit of a healthier world.

Sahir will join existing board members Wotton, Cherukuri, Omid Veiseh, Rima Chakrabarti, John Jaggers, Devyn Smith and James Watson, an accomplished group of leaders with deep expertise in biotech innovation, clinical translation and venture building who together provide strategic guidance to help drive RBL’s continued growth and success.

Wotton and Ali will participate in a panel discussion at the Canaccord Genuity 45^thannual Growth Conference Aug. 12 to discuss the future of biotech venture creation and the evolving role of academic innovation in company formation.

About RBL LLC:

RBL LLC is a pioneering biotech venture creation studio based in Houston that is dedicated to accelerating the development of breakthrough medical technologies and therapies through company formation. RBL provides entrepreneurs, researchers and innovators with infrastructure, financial support and strategic guidance as well as access to laboratory space and shared resources in the Texas Medical Center Helix Park. For more information, please visit https://www.rbl-llc.com/.

Media Contact:

Russo Partners
David Schull or Liz Phillips
(347) 956-7697
[email protected] 
[email protected] 

SOURCE RBL LLC

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 7, 2025 — OneSkin, the pioneering skin longevity brand, powered by biotech and grounded in science, is proud to announce a $20 million Series A investment from growth equity firm Prelude Growth Partners. The investment, completed last month, reflects Prelude Growth’s strong conviction in OneSkin’s mission and potential, and marks a significant milestone in the brand’s next chapter of growth.

Unlike traditional funding rounds, OneSkin was not actively seeking new capital at the time. Prelude Growth Partners proactively approached the brand with a desire to invest, and OneSkin leveraged the opportunity to replace an early seed stage investor with a partner who could best support them in this next stage of growth. This strategic investment underscores Prelude Growth’s belief in the long-term potential of skin longevity as a category and in OneSkin’s leadership at the forefront of this movement.

Founded by a team of female PhD scientists, OneSkin is the first brand to focus exclusively on extending skinspan — the period during which skin remains healthy and functional, by using rigorous scientific research to target the underlying mechanisms of aging, not just surface appearance. Their approach centers around longevity science, particularly targeting senescent cells—the aging cells that accumulate in skin over time and contribute to inflammation, collagen breakdown, and visible signs of aging. OneSkin’s proprietary peptide, OS-01, is designed to reduce the burden of these senescent cells, aiming to make the skin that looks and behaves like younger skin.

“We’re incredibly proud to welcome Prelude Growth Partners to the OneSkin family,” said Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD, Co-Founder and CEO of OneSkin. “Their team’s expertise in building modern consumer brands and their enthusiasm for our science-driven approach made this a natural fit. We weren’t looking for new capital — but their passion and belief in our vision made this an opportunity to expand our resources and work alongside people we deeply admire. We got ourselves a dream team!”

Prelude Growth Partners, a New York-based growth equity firm, is known for backing high-growth, founder-led consumer brands. Their portfolio includes several female-founded companies that have successfully scaled across health & wellness, beauty & personal care, food & beverage, and consumer service categories.

“OneSkin’s cutting edge science, novel proprietary technology, leadership in skin longevity, and compelling brand are truly unique in the category,” said Alicia Sontag, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Prelude Growth. “We are extremely proud to have the opportunity to partner with Carolina, Alessandra and the team at OneSkin to support them in creating an iconic, powerhouse brand of the future.”

OneSkin’s best-selling topical and supplement offerings — including OS-01 FACE, BODY and EYE, and the recently launched OS-01 LIP and HAIR — have garnered a passionate community of consumers and fans, including Jennifer Aniston, Camila Alves McConaughey and Katy Perry. Previous investors include Selva Ventures, Unilever Ventures, Plus Capital, 2Future, SOSV, Meta Planet and Able Partners. Products are available at www.oneskin.co.

About OneSkin
Founded by four female PhD scientists with deep expertise in stem cell biology, bioinformatics, and tissue engineering, OneSkin is a skin longevity company committed to transform skincare into skin longevity—developing scientifically proven products that optimize skin’s biology at the cellular level, reversing signs of aging while supporting overall healthspan. For additional information on OneSkin, please visit www.oneskin.co .

About Prelude Growth Partners
Prelude Growth Partners is a leading consumer-focused growth equity firm that supports brands made for the new modern consumer. By partnering with founders and CEOs, Prelude Growth Partners provides deep category experience, value-added operational support, and a broad network to power the high potential, fast-growing consumer brands of tomorrow. Prelude Growth Partners seeks to make investments of $15 million to $75 million in each company, across branded consumer categories including beauty & personal care, food & beverage, health & wellness, pet and other consumer product and service companies. Representative past and current partner investments include: Bachan’s, Banza, Blueland, Fly By Jing, MadeGood, So Good So You, Skin Pharm, Sol de Janeiro, Summer Fridays, The Center Brands (including Naturium and PHLUR), Tower 28, and Westman Atelier. For additional information on Prelude Growth Partners, please visit www.preludegrowth.com or follow the firm on LinkedIn.

SOURCE OneSkin

Total funding reaches $17.5M as the company launches Perle Labs, a platform that rewards users for reviewing and contributing accurate data sets to AI systems

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 7, 2025 — Perle, an AI training data platform powered by Web3 that brings human wisdom to AI models, today announced it has closed a $9 million seed round led by Framework Ventures. The round brings Perle’s total funding to $17.5 million across its seed and pre-seed rounds, marking a major milestone in the company’s growth and mission to improve how AI systems are trained and evaluated.

With this new capital, Perle will launch Perle Labs, a crypto-native ecosystem designed to transform how human input powers AI. By integrating blockchain infrastructure and incentive design, Perle Labs will provide transparent payments, on-chain attribution, and verifiable work histories—unlocking global participation and improving data quality at scale.

“As AI models grow more sophisticated, their success hinges on how well they handle the long tail of data inputs—those rare, ambiguous, or context-specific scenarios,” said Ahmed Rashad, CEO of Perle. “In our benchmarking, we’ve seen high-quality human-in-the-loop annotation outperform Amazon Rekognition by over 70%—proving that thoughtful human input is essential to closing critical data gaps. By decentralizing this process, we can unlock global participation, reduce bias, and dramatically improve model performance.”

While today’s AI models are only as good as the data they’re trained on, even the most advanced systems continue to struggle with complex, nuanced tasks. Perle Labs aims to address these limitations by expanding access to high-quality, diverse, and verified data sets, thus rewarding contributors, establishing on-chain proof of work, and empowering a global community to actively participate in shaping AI.

“We believe the pace of AI progress will be driven more by better data than by simply scaling models”, said Vance Spencer, Co-Founder of Framework Ventures. “That’s why we see a natural synergy between Perle’s powerful training platform and the transparent incentive structures enabled by crypto networks – together, they have the potential to kick off a flywheel that unlocks a wave of high-quality, useful data.”

Founded by AI veterans from Scale AI, Meta, MIT, and Berkeley, Perle combines human expertise with adaptive workflows to help teams collect, annotate, and evaluate specialized training data—faster and with higher accuracy. Its self-serve platform supports the full AI development lifecycle, including multimodal data collection (audio, image, video, etc.), reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF), and assistant fine-tuning. Perle is already supporting leading companies in scaling agentic training processes across complex use cases.

Perle’s latest funding round was led by Framework Ventures, a major crypto venture capital firm known for its early investments in key AI, DeFi, and blockchain infrastructure projects. Perle’s previous $8.5M seed round in October 2024 was led by CoinFund and included participation from Protagonist, HashKey, and Peer VC. With fresh capital and a growing network of partners, Perle is accelerating its vision to make high-quality human feedback the foundation of next-generation AI. As the boundaries of AI continue to evolve, Perle is committed to building the infrastructure that ensures progress is not just faster—but smarter, safer, and more inclusive.

About Perle
Perle transforms how AI teams access and use training data by combining human expertise with adaptive workflows. Specializing in data acquisition, expert annotation, and model evaluation, Perle delivers faster, more reliable results tailored for generative AI, LLMs, and RLHF. Our approach ensures data quality and context where it matters most-helping teams build smarter, more trustworthy AI. Learn more at Perle.ai.

About Framework Ventures
Framework Ventures is a prominent VC firm in the crypto industry, known for its early investments in several multi-billion dollar protocols across the DeFi and Web3 gaming industries. In 2022, the firm raised $400M for its third fund and has since significantly expanded into additional maturing verticals like Web3 gaming, real-world assets, and social crypto. To learn more, visit https://framework.ventures/.

Disclosures: Information contained herein is accurate as of the date of publication and is subject to change. This release is not investment advice, and readers should not construe the discussion of any particular organization as a recommendation to purchase or sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy or sell any securities or digital assets related to such organization.

Media Contact
[email protected]

SOURCE Perle

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 7, 2025 — Vector AIS, the leading fund administrator for closed-end alternative investment funds, is proud to announce the launch of Valence Vero, a transformative solution for investor onboarding and compliance. Purpose-built for the operational demands of private capital, Valence Vero empowers fund managers with modern workflows, embedded KYC/AML, and seamless LP onboarding, all in one unified platform.

At the heart of Valence Vero is an integration with Passthrough, the industry’s gold standard in KYC/AML automation and investor onboarding management. This partnership enables daily sanctions screenings, streamlined document collection, and fully customizable workflows for even the most complex fund structures.

“From a few early adopters to dozens of shared clients in five years, our partnership with Vector has been about one thing: delivering real value to GPs and investors through focused tech and process,” said Ben Doran, Co-Founder of Passthrough. “We’re excited to take the next step together with Vector’s best-in-class service and Passthrough’s investor onboarding solution.” 

“Valence Vero reflects our belief that the investor onboarding process shouldn’t be a barrier to launch,” said Molly Yakubian, CEO of Vector. “By combining Passthrough’s trusted infrastructure with our proprietary Valence platform, we’re removing friction from day one and giving fund managers and LPs the experience they deserve.”

Key Features of Valence Vero:

• Embedded KYC/AML: Daily screening against global sanctions lists, PEP, and criminal watchlists with zero lift from the manager.
• Workflow Automation: From entity structure to beneficial ownership, onboard any investor, anywhere without the back-and-forth.
• Single Source of Truth: Centralize investor records across vehicles and vintages, enabling faster closings and greater oversight.
• Fund Administrator-Ready: Built to connect directly into the Vector back office for seamless fund operations and reporting.

The release of Valence Vero marks another milestone in Vector’s mission to modernize the operational core of private capital. Designed by fund professionals, for fund professionals, Valence Vero is now available to all Vector clients.

About Vector

Vector is the new wave of fund administration.

With a commitment to building the next generation of fund administration, Vector offers closed-end, alternative investment fund managers top-tier talent, innovative workflows, and a comprehensive suite of integrated fund services, enhanced by our proprietary Valence platform. To learn more, reach out to [email protected] or visit www.vectorais.com/valence-vero.

SOURCE Vector AIS

Current investors Cornerstone Investment Capital and Canaan Partners lead financing with participation by SimCorp and Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures; Bob Greifeld joins Alkymi Board of Directors

NEW YORK, Aug. 7, 2025 — Alkymi, the leading AI-powered data workflow platform for financial services, today announced a strategic financing round led by Cornerstone Investment Capital and Canaan Partners, with participation by industry leaders SimCorp and Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures. The capital will be used to accelerate Alkymi’s growth and innovation as it continues to modernize data management in private markets.

Alkymi’s platform empowers clients to validate, integrate, and analyze complex data sets such as transaction notices, quarterly reports, loan agent notices, and financial statements, with speed and accuracy. Leveraging AI engineered for investment workflows, including machine learning, large language models (LLMs), and agentic AI, Alkymi helps firms automate operations, streamline valuations, reduce risk, and accelerate investment decision-making.

“We invested in Alkymi after using the technology, and continue to experience its impact,” said Craig Schedler, Managing Director at Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures. “Their team is helping solve complex data challenges, and delivering real innovation for our business.”

The company also announced that Bob Greifeld, Co-Founder at Cornerstone Investment Capital and former Chairman and CEO of Nasdaq, has joined Alkymi’s Board of Directors. Greifeld brings extensive expertise in capital markets and financial technology, further strengthening Alkymi’s strategic position as it scales. In addition, Thomas Mosimann, Director at Cornerstone, joins the Board as Chairman, and other new board members include Bob Ward, CEO of QUODD, and Robert Greifeld Jr., Director at Cornerstone.

“Private markets are experiencing unprecedented growth and transformation, and Alkymi is uniquely positioned to lead it,” said Bob Greifeld. “Their ability to automate and structure complex data sets gives firms a real competitive advantage. I’m excited to join the board and help Alkymi scale its impact across the financial services industry.”

“This strategic financing comes at a pivotal moment for Alkymi,” said Harald Collet, CEO and Co-Founder of Alkymi. “The continued support from our world-class investors and clients, including Cornerstone, Canaan, SimCorp, and Northwestern Mutual, validates our mission to transform how capital markets teams operate in a data-driven world. We are excited to welcome Bob Greifeld to our Board. His deep expertise in capital markets and experience scaling fintech platforms will be invaluable as we enter our next phase of growth. We’re also pleased to welcome Bob Ward, Thomas Mosimann, and Robert Greifeld Jr. and look forward to their contributions as we continue to scale Alkymi.“

With several recent client wins, Alkymi has seen rapid adoption among investment managers representing over $20 trillion in AUM, including top pension funds, leading global banks, major hedge funds, and prominent sovereign wealth funds. The company has also received recognition through multiple industry awards in 2025.

About Alkymi
Alkymi is the leading AI-powered data workflow platform for financial services, unlocking 100% of the investment and client data trapped in unstructured documents. Alkymi transforms this data into standardized, interactive datasets that integrate seamlessly with clients’ core business processes. The platform empowers institutional investors, wealth managers, asset owners, and asset servicing firms such as Northwestern Mutual, PGGM, Strategic Investment Group, and SimCorp to scale their investments, serve more clients, and respond faster to changing market conditions. To learn more about how Alkymi is transforming data management, visit www.alkymi.io.

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SOURCE Alkymi