The Series A financing was led by iGan Partners and included new strategic investors, Eli Lilly and Company and Topcon Healthcare, Inc., along with existing investors, Gentex Corporation, the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation’s Diagnostics Accelerator, Verge HealthTech Fund, University of Minnesota’s Discovery Capital, Ontario Brain Institute, Centre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation, and private investors. This financing brings RetiSpec’s total fundraising to $17M USD.

RetiSpec’s clinically validated test aims to help healthcare providers predict amyloid burden, a core biomarker of Alzheimer’s disease. The test is now available for Research Use Only, it is expected to be utilized in routine clinical office visits globally in the near future. RetiSpec’s AI solutions applied to non-invasive retinal images, provide real-time assessments at the point of care. The company’s goal is to also develop additional AI-driven diagnostics for neurodegenerative diseases and side effects of Alzheimer’s therapeutics.

In related developments, RetiSpec will take part in the upcoming Bio-Hermes-002 study sponsored by the Global Alzheimer’s Platform Foundation (GAP). The study aims to investigate the relationship between novel markers of Alzheimer’s disease, including RetiSpec’s test, and the gold standard for diagnosis across a sample of 1,000 cognitively normal and impaired participants. Bio-Hermes-002 is expected to include an unprecedented number of participants from traditionally underrepresented populations in Alzheimer’s studies in order to benefit everyone impacted by Alzheimer’s and related dementias.

Along with the financing, RetiSpec is pleased to welcome Lance Patton, Chief Commercial Officer at Topcon Healthcare, Inc., to its board of directors. His 28 years of expertise in driving adoption of diagnostic imaging technologies via eyecare settings will be invaluable as RetiSpec continues to scale and bring its innovative solutions to market.

“The closing of this Series A financing is a testament of the significant strides we’ve achieved and marks a significant step forward in our mission to enable widespread early and accurate detection of neurodegenerative disease markers with our innovative AI-driven eye test,” said Eliav Shaked, Co-founder and CEO of RetiSpec. “We are thrilled to welcome such strong new investors, alongside existing investors, such as Gentex, who have been key contributors throughout our journey. Together, this investment will allow us to accelerate the commercialization of our AI-driven eye test, which has the potential to transform patient outcomes and enable early, accurate, and equitable access to treatment”.

About RetiSpec

RetiSpec is a Toronto-based medical AI company that aims to enable widespread early and accurate detection of neurodegenerative disease markers through a simple eye exam. RetiSpec’s AI solutions applied to non-invasive retinal images, provide real-time results at the point of care. RetiSpec’s first clinically validated AI is intended to predict amyloid burden to aid in the evaluation of individuals for Alzheimer’s disease. RetiSpec’s AI solutions are currently available for Research Use Only.

RetiSpec acknowledges generous support from the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation’s Diagnostics Accelerator, Davos Alzheimer’s Collaborative, University of Minnesota’s Center for Drug Design, Ontario Brain Institute, and Centre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation. For more information on RetiSpec, visit retispec.ai.

SOURCE RetiSpec Inc.

BRISBANE, Calif., July 26, 2024 — ReviR Therapeutics, an AI-enabled biotechnology company focused on developing small molecule RNA modulators for neurogenetic diseases, announced today that it has successfully completed a $30 million Series A financing, bringing the total raised so far to $54M, including the seed financing in 2021. The financing was led by Lapam Capital with strong support from existing investors CDH Investments, 5Y Capital, and Yael Capital, as well as new participants XtalPi and the Charcot-Marie Tooth Research Foundation (CMTRF).

These funds will be used to further augment ReviR’s AI-driven drug discovery VoyageR platform, which will be leveraged to advance proprietary chemical matter for novel and undruggable targets and to support clinical development of treatments for Huntington’s disease (HD), Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and other neurological disorders.

Since its founding in 2021, ReviR Therapeutics has assembled an expert global drug discovery team and built a robust customized AI platform. ReviR’s platform strategy focuses on developing non-invasive, orally administered genetic therapies that use small molecules to regulate RNA splicing and influence protein expression. This approach leverages the VoyageR platform to develop potent, safe, and selective RNA splicing modulators for a broad range of diseases.  

While over 80% of disease-related proteins are considered “undruggable”, ReviR’s novel genetic therapies target RNA, upstream of protein synthesis to stop causal disease progression. Other genetic therapy modalities often encounter delivery challenges, particularly with crossing the blood-brain barrier, and can be invasive, especially for CNS diseases. ReviR is currently focused on treating neurodegenerative diseases and rare genetic disorders while exploring partnerships in the fields of oncology, immunology & inflammation, and metabolic diseases. 

Dr. Peng Yue, Co-founder and CEO of ReviR Therapeutics, stated, “Neurological diseases affect a large number of individuals worldwide, many of which do not have disease modifying therapies available. ReviR is dedicated to developing accessible, safer genetic therapies that can be administered orally. We value the support from new and existing investors as we progress from initial platform development to clinical trials, continually enhancing our AI platform and advancing our pipeline. As we move forward, we will continue to raise funds as an extension to our Series A to support additional programs entering clinical trials.”

Mr. Zhihua Yu, Founding Partner of Lapam Capital, commented, “Small molecule targeting RNA represents a highly challenging and innovative field. RNA targets offer greater potential compared to protein targets, but also present higher development difficulties. We have great confidence in ReviR’s platform, which can identify potential RNA targets and efficiently develop safe and effective RNA-targeted therapies. This enables the development of orally administrable small molecule drugs for previously undruggable targets. ReviR has built a team with extensive experience in computational biology, RNA biology, and drug discovery, showcasing exceptional execution capabilities. We are confident the company will advance its pipeline to clinical trials soon, benefiting patients worldwide. We will continue to support ReviR with our experience and resources as it grows.” 

Dr. Shuhao Wen, Co-founder and Chairman of XtalPi, added, “At XtalPi, we recognize the immense potential of small molecule targeting RNA to significantly expand the boundaries of drug discovery. Our collaboration with ReviR, leveraging XtalPi’s cutting-edge AI and robotics drug discovery solutions with ReviR’s specialized capabilities in RNA structural analysis, small molecule screening, and target engagement evaluation, has already yielded promising pipeline results. Our collective expertise is aimed at propelling these innovations into clinical research, tapping into the vast and underexplored potential of RNA targets, and delivering effective novel therapeutic options to patients worldwide.”

About ReviR Therapeutics

ReviR Therapeutics is an emerging biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of RNA-targeting small molecule therapies that modulate the causal genes of diseases, including CNS diseases, cancer, and other rare genetically-defined diseases. The company is utilizing cutting-edge technologies to develop therapies with the goal of developing disease modifying therapies that are highly specific, efficacious, and safe. The company’s initial focus is to apply SpliceR modulation technologies towards RNA targets of genetic diseases with limited or no treatment options. ReviR Therapeutics was founded in 2021 by leaders in computational biology, AI/ML, RNA biology, and drug discovery. The company is headquartered in Brisbane, CA. For more information, visit our website www.revirtx.com or email [email protected].

About Lapam Capital

Lapam Capital is a leading healthcare venture capital firm managing six funds with more than 1.5 billion dollars under management. Lapam Capital focuses on investments in early to mid- stage fast-growing companies that have innovative pharmaceuticals and medical devices. Its investment portfolio currently consists of 120+ projects, of which innovative drug therapeutics projects account for over 80%, including Betta Pharma, RemeGen Co. Ltd., Gyre Therapeutics, Asieris Pharmaceuticals, ImmuneOnco Biopharmaceuticals, Binhui Biotech, Biostar Pharmaceuticals, Eyebright Medical Technology Ltd., and many other companies with great potential. Lapam Capital has a professional investment team with more than 20 years of international and domestic biopharmaceutical industry R&D and management experience and can provide comprehensive value-added support for the invested companies.

About XtalPi Inc.

XtalPi Inc. (“QuantumPharm”, stock code: 2228.HK) is a quantum physics-based, AI-powered, and robotics-driven, innovative R&D platform company. Established in 2015 by three postdoctoral physicists at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the Company is dedicated to driving intelligent and digital transformation in the life sciences and materials sciences sectors. The Company combines quantum physics, AI, cloud computing, and large-scale robotics to provide R&D solutions and services for biomedicine, chemical, renewable energy and advanced materials industries globally.

About Charcot-Marie Tooth Research Foundation

CMT Research Foundation (CMTRF) is a patient-led, non-profit focused on delivering treatments and cures for CMT. The foundation identifies significant obstacles or deficiencies impeding progress toward a cure and seeks out collaborators to address these issues. To date, CMTRF has funded 24 projects, of which 8 are completed. Of those 8 completed projects, 5 have clinical candidates. CMTRF’s mission to invest in promising science with high potential of leading to treatments and cures was proven effective and ground-breaking when DTx Pharma with a CMTRF- backed program as its lead candidate was acquired by Novartis for $1 billion. Founded by two patients who are driven to expedite drug delivery to people who live with CMT, the 501(c)(3) federal tax-exempt organization is supported by personal and corporate financial gifts. 

SOURCE ReviR Therapeutics

Ian Davis Will Use His Grant to Build an Affordable, User-Assembled Prosthetic Hand Device

GREENWICH, Conn., July 26, 2024 — O’Shaughnessy Ventures LLC (OSV), an investment firm that empowers creators, has awarded an O’Shaughnessy Fellowship to Ian Davis, a product design engineer based in Oregon.

Davis will continue to design, develop and bring to market an affordable prosthetic hand, incorporating his engineering expertise and real-world experience as an amputee, to improve upon currently available devices. He intends to offer the device as an assembly-required DIY kit, enabling users to assemble, fit and repair it independently.

Davis is a self-employed product design engineer with 28 years of experience operating a fabrication and machine shop in Oregon. In 2019, Davis had four fingers on his left hand amputated but was unable to find a prosthetic device that fully met his needs. That experience set him on a mission to build a device of his own, and Davis has been documenting his progress on YouTube ever since.

OSV’s founder and CEO, Jim O’Shaughnessy, commented, “Ian has a rare combination of domain knowledge and personal experience with regard to prosthetics and is perfectly positioned to bring this potentially life-changing device into the world. We’re delighted to be able to support him in bringing this idea to fruition.”

“I’m hugely thankful to OSV,” said Davis. “This is an amazing opportunity, which will allow me, at an accelerated rate, to build something that has the potential to vastly improve the lives of fellow amputees.”

About the Fellowship Program

OSV launched the O’Shaughnessy Fellowships in 2023. It is a one-year program for ambitious people who want to build something great. Fellows receive a $100,000 grant and access to OSV’s network of founders, investors and experts to support them in bringing their projects to life. More information about last year’s Fellows is available on OSV’s website.

In 2024, OSV will award ten $100,000 Fellowships. Applicants for the Fellowships will also be considered for its sister program, the O’Shaughnessy Grants. Under this program, OSV will make twenty additional $10,000 grants to promising creators, who will also be provided with access to OSV’s network.

Applications for the 2024 Fellowships are now closed and will reopen on January 1, 2025. Creators interested in learning more can visit OSV’s website.

About O’Shaughnessy Ventures

OSV is a creative investment firm that empowers and inspires creators to bring their ideas to life. Founded by Jim O’Shaughnessy, a pioneer in quantitative investing, founder of O’Shaughnessy Asset Management, and author of four books on investing, OSV aims to provide financial support and to partner in growing the next life-changing creative ideas.

OSV combines Jim’s deeply rooted interest in all things art, science, investing, and tech with his long-held desire to establish scenarios designed to help promising creators and their inspiring ideas succeed, regardless of age, location, job history, or level of education. For more information, visit https://www.osv.llc.

Media Contact:
Ena Gong
O’Shaughnessy Ventures LLC
(917) 355-7420
[email protected]

SOURCE O’Shaughnessy Ventures

-Applied Intuition cierra más de 300 millones de dólares en una ronda secundaria y da la bienvenida a un nuevo inversor, Fidelity Management & Research Company 

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., 26 de julio d 2024 — Applied Intuition, un proveedor de software para vehículos con sede en Silicon Valley para las industrias automotriz, de transporte por carretera, de construcción, minera, agrícola y otras, anunció hoy que ha cerrado una ronda secundaria de más de 300 millones de dólares y da la bienvenida a Fidelity Management & Research Company como nuevo inversor. También participaron los inversores existentes General Catalyst, BOND, Lux Capital y Elad Gil. Como parte de la venta secundaria, los inversores compraron acciones de empleados actuales, ex empleados y primeros inversores.

“Es fantástico contar con el apoyo de inversores institucionales de primer nivel y a largo plazo”, afirmó Qasar Younis, cofundador y consejero delegado de Applied Intuition. “Esta ronda secundaria es un testimonio de nuestro crecimiento y marca nuestra tercera oferta pública de adquisición con algunos de nuestros mayores accionistas: nuestros empleados. Reclutar talento de primera clase y recompensarlos por su arduo trabajo es un sello distintivo del éxito de Silicon Valley”.

La ronda secundaria, con exceso de oferta, se produce poco después de que Applied Intuition recaudara 250 millones de dólares en la Serie E, anunciada en marzo. La financiación de la Serie E se está utilizando para hacer crecer el equipo de Applied Intuition y expandir la cartera de productos impulsados por IA de la empresa para seguir satisfaciendo las necesidades de los clientes.

“Applied Intuition avanza a toda velocidad y se beneficia de la extraordinaria confluencia de la IA, la conducción autónoma y la electrificación”, afirmó Peter Ludwig, cofundador y director de tecnología de Applied Intuition. “Todos los clientes que conocemos quieren fabricar productos a prueba de futuro y nos consideran un socio de misión crítica”.

2024 ya se perfila como otro año trascendental para Applied Intuition. La empresa lanzó recientemente una solución de pila de autonomía todoterreno que permite una navegación segura en terrenos complejos y no estructurados, una herramienta de IA generativa que crea escenarios de simulación hasta 40 veces más rápido, un software de prueba de hardware en el circuito y una solución de desarrollo de estacionamiento automatizado. La empresa también anunció asociaciones con Porsche AG y Audi, lo que demuestra aún más la confianza de los fabricantes de equipos originales de automóviles en la marca.

Acerca de Applied Intuition 

Applied Intuition es un proveedor de software para vehículos de primer nivel que acelera la adopción de máquinas seguras e inteligentes en todo el mundo. Fundada en 2017, Applied Intuition ofrece la cadena de herramientas ADAS/AD definitiva, una plataforma para vehículos de primera clase y un conjunto de herramientas de autonomía para ayudar a los clientes a acortar el tiempo de comercialización, construir sistemas de alta calidad y crear experiencias de consumo de próxima generación. Dieciocho de los 20 principales fabricantes de automóviles del mundo confían en las soluciones de Applied Intuition para impulsar la producción de vehículos modernos. Applied Intuition presta servicios a las industrias de automoción, transporte por carretera, construcción, minera, agrícola y de defensa y tiene su sede en Mountain View, California, con oficinas en Ann Arbor y Detroit, Michigan, Washington, D.C., Múnich, Estocolmo, Seúl y Tokio. Más información en appliedintuition.com.

Foto – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2468675/Applied_Intuition_funding.jpg

RALEIGH, N.C., July 25, 2024 — Medicom, a health tech startup leading enterprise imaging interoperability, today announced completion of its oversubscribed strategic financing round. Notable participation included UPMC Enterprises, Tampa General Hospital (TGH) Ventures, expanded participation from existing investors Cone Health Ventures, Oval Park Capital and Grayhawk Capital, as well as local Triangle venture groups such as the Carolina Angel Network and the Triangle Tweener Fund.

With participation from two nationally renowned academic institutions—UPMC Enterprises, the innovation, commercialization, and venture capital arm of the health system UPMC (University of Pittsburgh Medical Center), and TGH Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Tampa General Hospital—Medicom welcomes the strategic partnerships and the clinical and research expertise they bring as the company enters its next phase of growth.

“As we continue to strengthen our core enterprise imaging interoperability platform and unlock transformative insights from Real-World Data, we are excited to have two extraordinary partners join our team,” said Michael Rosenberg, Co-Founder and CEO of Medicom. “Medicom’s alignment with UPMC’s and TGH’s missions around interoperability and RWD&E will accelerate the platform’s evolution and commercialization, and we are excited to see the impact these partnerships will have on our thousands of Medicom Connect and Intellect user organizations.”

“At UPMC Enterprises, we have a front row seat to the transformation that health care is undergoing as data becomes more accessible and interoperability improves,” said Brent Burns, Executive Vice President of digital solutions at UPMC Enterprises. “Medical imaging files and metadata are critical to supporting clinical and academic research to develop novel therapeutics. We are thrilled to partner with Medicom and bring their expertise in secure and efficient medical image and data exchange to support UPMC’s continued leadership in health care research.” 

“Since 2021, Tampa General Hospital has expanded its deployment with Medicom to offer a comprehensive singular, high reliability enterprise imaging platform that facilitates cross-institute exchange across all 23 TGH Imaging locations in the Tampa Bay region,” said Sherri Lewman, senior vice president of Enterprise Imaging. “Broadening our scope with Medicom has allowed TGH Imaging to increase telemetry, observability and control while reducing overall image exchange costs.”

“TGH Ventures is proud to approve this investment in Medicom to continue to advance innovation across our enterprise and all aspects of healthcare imaging,” said Rachel Feinman, vice president of Innovation at Tampa General and managing director of TGH Ventures.

In addition, Medicom secured capital from Customers Bank, the $22 billion asset subsidiary of Customers Bancorp and a leading partner in the venture banking community. 

This round of funding aims to leverage strategic partnerships with leading academic institutions and local Research Triangle Park participants, alongside the deployment of new capital, to drive platform innovation and go-to-market functions for accelerated growth.

Recognized by KLAS as one of the most promising HCIT companies in 2024, Medicom’s platform addresses the long-standing challenges of interoperability of medical images and relevant clinical data. By leveraging its unique peer-to-peer network and generative AI, Medicom consolidates the use of multiple cloud solutions, CDs, fax, courier services, and VPNs into a single enterprise-wide platform for all enterprise imaging workflows. Whether it’s automatically capturing relevant prior images and associated clinical data before a patient’s appointment and reconciling it across all internal systems, enabling patients with the ability to access and share their images directly within their existing patient portal, or providing researchers with longitudinal patient-cohort specific de-identified data for research and development, Medicom ensures real-time access to relevant data for the advancement of patient care.

About Medicom
Medicom is a health tech company that is dedicated to ensuring timely access to clinically relevant data at the point-of-care and advancing research. The company developed the first fully federated, decentralized, peer-to-peer network for medical image and clinical data exchange. The Medicom platform leverages the Medicom Network for both clinical and research use cases. Medicom Connect enables enterprise imaging interoperability, eliminating long-standing data exchange, accessibility, and usability challenges for patients and providers. Medicom Intellect leverages the Medicom Network for research collaboration, providing data and insights for research within precision medicine and life sciences.

Related Links
https://home.medicom.us
https://enterprises.upmc.com
https://tgh.org/research-and-innovation/tgh-ventures

Provided by:
Medicom Technologies, Inc. (Medicom) // Raleigh, NC & Phoenix, AZ

SOURCE Medicom Technologies, Inc.

The newest release of the world’s only commercial simulation software for extremely large-scale and rapid design and analysis of ion traps

• Purpose-built simulation software for design and development of ion traps
• Additional features, including planar and rotational symmetries and double ground plane symmetries, accelerate simulations and reduce memory requirements by 16X
• Extended support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 and Ubuntu

IRVINE, Calif., July 25, 2024 — Nullspace, Inc., a Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE) software company, announced today the new release of Nullspace ES, the world’s only commercial simulation software for extremely large scale, rapid, and accurate design and analysis of ion traps for quantum computing applications.

Historically, the lack of robust design tools and complex experiments, forced engineers to develop relatively simple ion trap architectures. Legacy simulation tools are not purpose-built for ion trap design, and lead to higher prototyping costs and longer production schedules and limiting the accuracy and scalability of ion trap designs, thus limiting advancements in quantum computing.

Nullspace ES was developed by top electromagnetics and ion-trap design experts. Today it is used by leading companies and universities spearheading innovation in ion trap-based technology for quantum computers.

“Nullspace ES has been a game-changer for our design work,” says Dr. Björn Lekitsch, a researcher at the AG Quantum Group in Johannes Gutenberg Mainz University. “It allows us to simulate how our ion traps behave in order to calculate and predict the ion movement more precisely. With Nullspace ES software, we can explore the effects of varying geometries and configurations on the ion behavior, which is critical for enhancing the performance and scalability of our quantum computing systems.“

The latest release of Nullspace ES, along with its CAD design and meshing companion tool, Nullspace Prep, includes a new, faster, and more efficient meshing algorithm. Meshing is a key step to ensure users obtain high accuracy results. Nullspace’s meshing technology is tailored for the ion trap community and efficiency in both meshing time and meshing quality gives users confidence in high accuracy results leading to reduced prototyping demands.

Nullspace ES 2024 R1 provides powerful geometric symmetry features including planar and rotational symmetries. The new release adds double ground plane symmetries, and these features can be used in combination. Leveraging Nullspace’s new symmetry workflows can speed up simulations and reduce memory requirements by factors of up to 16X for ion trap simulations.

The newest Nullspace ES release adds support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9, expanding support for all current Red Hat and Ubuntu-based Linux operating systems.

For more information on Nullspace ES visit: https://www.nullspaceinc.com/nullspace-es. To schedule a demo of Nullspace software: www.nullspaceinc.com/contact.

Press Contact
Masha V. Petrova
[email protected]

SOURCE Nullspace, Inc

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., July 25, 2024 — Applied Intuition, a Silicon Valley-based vehicle software supplier for automotive, trucking, construction, mining, agriculture and other industries, today announced it has closed a secondary round of over $300 million and welcomes Fidelity Management & Research Company as a new investor. Existing investors General Catalyst, BOND, Lux Capital and Elad Gil also participated. As part of the secondary sale, investors purchased equity from current employees, former employees, and early investors.

“It’s fantastic to have the support of top-tier, long-term institutional investors,” said Qasar Younis, co-founder and CEO of Applied Intuition. “This secondary round is a testament to our growth, and it marks our third tender offer with some of our biggest shareholders — our employees. Recruiting world-class talent and rewarding them for their hard work is a hallmark of Silicon Valley’s success.”

The oversubscribed secondary round comes on the heels of Applied Intuition raising a $250 million Series E announced back in March. The Series E funding is being used to grow Applied Intuition’s team and expand the company’s AI-powered product portfolio to continue meeting customer needs.

“Applied Intuition is going full speed ahead and benefiting from the extraordinary confluence of AI, autonomous driving, and electrification,” said Peter Ludwig, co-founder and CTO of Applied Intuition. “Every customer we meet wants to build future-proof products and looks to us as a mission-critical partner.”

2024 is already shaping up to be another momentous year for Applied Intuition. The company recently launched an off-road autonomy stack solution enabling safe navigation of complex unstructured terrain, a generative AI tool that creates simulation scenarios up to 40 times faster, a hardware-in-the-loop testing software and an automated parking development solution. The company also announced partnerships with Porsche AG and Audi, further demonstrating automotive OEM trust in the brand.

About Applied Intuition

Applied Intuition is a Tier 1 vehicle software supplier that accelerates the adoption of safe and intelligent machines worldwide. Founded in 2017, Applied Intuition delivers the definitive ADAS/AD toolchain, a world-class vehicle platform and an autonomy stack to help customers shorten time to market, build high-quality systems and create next-generation consumer experiences. Eighteen of the top 20 global automakers trust Applied Intuition’s solutions to drive the production of modern vehicles. Applied Intuition serves the automotive, trucking, construction, mining, agriculture and defense industries and is headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., with offices in Ann Arbor and Detroit, Mich., Washington, D.C., Munich, Stockholm, Seoul and Tokyo. Learn more at appliedintuition.com.

SOURCE Applied Intuition

NEW YORK and HAMBURG, Germany, July 25, 2024 — Freestyle Chess, a groundbreaking new venture founded by Magnus Carlsen and Jan Henric Buettner, announced today that it is raising €10 million in funding from Left Lane Capital. This significant investment will be used to establish a leading tournament series that aims to revolutionize the world of chess.

The event series will showcase the world’s best chess players, each with compelling stories, in a completely new and attractive format for media, spectators, and consumers. The 25 Super Grand Masters currently representing the total of the Freestyle Chess Players Club all have an ELO rating above 2725. The world’s top-players will be front and center to this new, mass-market-oriented chess series, where nine Super Grand Masters are handpicked by Magnus Carlsen, who has committed himself to playing Freestyle Chess exclusively at the Grand Slam series. All tournaments will be held in exclusive venues with an aura of luxury and style, with all games played according to chess960 rules. Freestyle Chess already had a tournament in February as a blueprint that set the bar high.

The company will organize six to eight Freestyle Chess Grand Slam tournaments per year across all continents, introducing Freestyle Chess as an exciting new global event series. The prize funding for the tournaments that will be distributed among the players has been set to $750,000 for each of the first three events, and $1 million for every tournament thereafter. Freestyle Chess maintains the core elements of traditional chess but with a twist: the back row is randomized. This setup is Fischer Random and adds new strategic elements and unpredictability to the game, fostering a fresh era of competitive play.

“Chess needs to evolve into a more dynamic and captivating spectacle, one that allows players to showcase their skills from the first move,” says Magnus Carlsen, Co-founder of Freestyle Chess, who has been instrumental in shaping the format for Freestyle Chess competitions. “Modern chess variants like Fischer Random will define the future of chess, which needs to evolve to more thrilling gameplay.”

Jan Henric Buettner and Magnus Carlsen are opening up a new chapter in the history of chess. Jan Henric Buettner, German Entrepreneur, founded and led AOL Europe in the mid-1990’s and started Headline VC where he managed over a billion euros in startup investments, including GoTo Meeting, Groupon, and Sonos. His co-founder, Magnus Carlsen, a chess prodigy, became a grandmaster at the age of 13 and has held the number one spot in the FIDE world chess rankings since 2011. He is considered one of the greatest chess players of all time.

Harley Miller, CEO and Managing Partner of Left Lane Capital, recognizes the immense potential of this innovative chess format and remarked, “Any time you have the best athletes in the world competing at the absolute highest standard of play, coupled with more avant garde storytelling and showmanship, you inherently will build something of great consequence. Freestyle Chess has the potential to become a mainstream sporting spectacle, akin to Formula 1, or ATP Tennis.”

This new capital will be used to fuel the development of Freestyle Chess, organize and host the inaugural Grand Slam tournaments across different continents, enhance the digital experience and develop new product features, hire additional team members across various functions, and increase marketing efforts to grow the reach of the game.

Freestyle Chess: www.freestyle-chess.com

ABOUT LEFT LANE CAPITAL

Founded in 2019, Left Lane Capital is a New York and London-based global venture capital and growth equity firm investing in internet and technology companies with a consumer orientation. Left Lane’s mission is to partner with extraordinary entrepreneurs who create category-defining companies across growth sectors of the economy, including software, healthcare, e-commerce, consumer, fintech, medtech, and other industries. Select investments include Kings League, LOVB, Bilt Rewards, Blank Street, M1 Finance, Wayflyer, Masterworks, Talkiatry, Kittl, and more. For more information, please visit www.leftlane.com.

Media Contact: 
[email protected]

SOURCE Left Lane Capital

New financing and underwriting relationships enable customers to accelerate cloud investments using Archera’s first-of-a-kind cloud insurance and financing products

SEATTLE, July 25, 2024 — Archera, a leading provider of cloud purchasing and management solutions, announced today closing a $17 million Series B round accompanied by access to over $100 million in reinsurance capacity. This empowers the company to pioneer insurance and financing solutions that enable flexible and cost-effective cloud resource procurement.

Built for cloud engineering, DevOps, and FinOps and finance teams that need to efficiently purchase and manage cloud resources, Archera’s free management platform and unique commitment insurance and financing products bring flexibility, control, and automation to the process of buying public cloud resources—enabling teams to reduce the risk of overcommitment while optimizing rates.

Archera provides cloud discount automation and FinOps visibility at no cost, enabling customers to save millions without any fees. Unlike other FinOps solutions, Archera generates revenue solely through unique products that transparently extend vendor-native solutions, creating new, automatable savings strategies. Archera’s current offerings include:

• Free Cloud Management Platform: Comprehensive management for Savings Plans Reserved Instances, and Committed Use Discounts, cost and usage visibility, and long-term forecasting and assessments.
• Insured Commitments: Save on all reservable AWS and Azure services with commitment terms as brief as 30 days.

“Effective cloud management involves more than just cost oversight and automation of existing cost savings tools from cloud vendors like AWS,” said Aran Khanna, CEO of Archera. “It requires new primitives that solve the financial uncertainties of committing to cloud resources. At Archera, we redefine cloud cost management by introducing unique commitment insurance and financing solutions, easily accessed through a completely-free FinOps platform. Our latest funding round focuses on partners who enhance our offerings, enabling us to innovate further and drive significant savings and risk reduction for our clients.”

The equity round was led by HighSage Ventures with participation from Ridge Ventures, Amplify Partners, and PSL Ventures. Archera will be using the funding to accelerate multi-cloud offerings as well as offer new financial products.

“Archera is precisely what enterprise DevOps and Finance teams need to streamline cloud purchasing and management,” Mike Dauber, General Partner, Amplify Partners. “We’re thrilled to support Archera as they accelerate their delivery of unique insurance and financing solutions that redefine the landscape of cloud cost management.”

In addition to the venture capital investment, Archera is establishing a strategic relationship with Relm Insurance, enabling the company to expand its insurance underwriting capabilities.

This announcement comes on the heels of significant momentum for Archera. In the last year, the company has achieved 500 percent growth in revenue and reached net profitability. Archera has also expanded its customer roster by over 1,200 percent to include leading organizations like Hex, OctoAI, and numerous Fortune 500 companies. Additionally, this announcement will accelerate Archera’s partnerships with leading cloud providers such as AWS, further accelerating the company’s growth and market presence.

About Archera
Archera is a leading provider of cloud purchasing and management solutions. For more information, please visit https://archera.ai/.

SOURCE Archera