KANSAS CITY, Mo., July 8, 2024 — Gymdesk, a leading provider of member management software for fitness and wellness businesses, has raised a $32.5 million growth investment from Five Elms Capital, a leading software investment firm. This investment will fuel Gymdesk’s mission to expand and strengthen its solutions for the fitness industry and widen its customer base across new verticals.

“At Gymdesk, we’ve created an industry-leading product in a market dominated by outdated solutions,” says Eran Galperin, Founder and CEO of Gymdesk. “We’re excited to partner with Five Elms and leverage their resources and expertise to continue growing our company as we take our operations to the next level.”

Since 2016, Gymdesk has empowered gym and studio owners with simplified solutions for complicated operations. By employing people with deep industry knowledge and maintaining close feedback loops with its customers, Gymdesk has invested in innovation to become a clear solution for gym owners. Today, Gymdesk provides 2,000+ gym and studio owners, across 34 countries, with the tools to operate their businesses successfully.

The investment from Five Elms will deepen support for existing and new customers, accelerate product development, and expand market reach. As a result, Gymdesk is poised to set new standards in the gym management industry, delivering unparalleled value to its clients and the broader fitness community.

Austin Gideon, Principal at Five Elms Capital, commented on the investment: “Gymdesk has demonstrated remarkable growth and a strong commitment to empowering gym owners with top-tier management solutions. We are excited to support Eran and the Gymdesk team as they continue to expand their impact in the fitness industry.”

Discretion Capital served as the sole financial advisor to Gymdesk on this transaction.

About Gymdesk

Gymdesk is a premier provider of management software designed to simplify and enhance operations for gyms, martial arts schools, yoga studios, membership clubs, and more. Offering a full business management solution, Gymdesk helps boutique fitness businesses manage their memberships, billing, marketing, and attendance tracking, allowing them to focus on delivering exceptional fitness experiences for their clients.

For more information about Gymdesk, please visit gymdesk.com.

About Five Elms Capital

Five Elms Capital is a global growth equity firm that invests in fast-growing B2B software businesses that users love. Five Elms provides capital and resources to help companies accelerate growth and further cement their role as industry leaders.

Since its inception in 2007, Five Elms has focused exclusively on software investing, building an unmatched network and deep domain expertise. Today, with over $2.4 billion in assets under management and a global team of over 70 investment professionals, Five Elms has invested in more than 65 software platforms globally.

For more information about Five Elms Capital, visit www.fiveelms.com.

SOURCE Five Elms Capital

LOS ANGELES, July 8, 2024 — St. Cloud Capital, LLC, a Los Angeles based private investment firm, is pleased to announce an investment in AIM QSR, LLC (the “Company”), a Miami-based franchisee of a leading Chicken QSR brand alongside AIM Capital. It is an investment out of St. Cloud’s fourth fund, which has committed capital of $236 million.

St. Cloud’s investment was used to help fund the acquisition of 46 Florida-based restaurants and 9 Alabama-based restaurants by the Company.

Fernando Amaro, AIM QSR Executive Chairman and AIM Capital Managing Partner, had this to say, “AIM Capital is excited to collaborate with St. Cloud and over 20 families to build a market leading Chicken QSR platform focused on the strategic markets of Florida, Alabama, and Georgia. By partnering with great investors who care about our team members, brands that understand the guest and delivering on operational excellence we aim to deliver an exceptional experience to our guests and above market long-term returns to our investors.”

Ben Hom, Managing Partner of St. Cloud, added, “St. Cloud has had a long-standing relationship with a partner of AIM Capital. We look forward to partnering with the Company on its next stage of growth.”

For more information about the AIM QSR platform and the Company, please visit: www.wearetice.com

About St. Cloud Capital

St. Cloud Capital is a Los Angeles-based private investment firm founded in 2001 that provides debt and equity growth capital to the lower middle market (companies with annual revenues generally between $10 million and $150 million). St. Cloud has managed over $700 million and invested in over 80 portfolio companies. Investments have been made in a wide range of industries and in every layer of the capital structure, including senior secured debt, subordinated debt, and preferred and common stock. St. Cloud typically invests in non-control situations, acting as both a financial and strategic partner to strong emerging managers, management teams and industry entrepreneurs in fulfilling their long-term growth plans. For more information about St. Cloud Capital, please visit: www.stcloudcapital.com

Media Contact: Matt Smith, [email protected]

SOURCE St. Cloud Capital

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo., July 8, 2024 — Pinpoint Search Group, a leading cybersecurity recruitment firm in the U.S., has released the findings of its Q2 2024 cybersecurity funding report. The report reveals a slight increase in the number of transactions compared to Q2 2023 but a significant increase in the total amount of funding raised. The rise in funding year over year is a positive indicator for an industry that has undergone considerable changes over the past year.

In Q2 2024, Pinpoint Search Group’s research team recorded 120 transactions in the cybersecurity vendor space, totaling $3.3 billion across 98 funding rounds and 22 M&A events. This represents approximately a one percent increase in transaction volume from 97 in Q2 2023 and a 71 percent increase in fundraising from the previous year’s $1.9 billion. (Note: The 71 percent year-over-year increase over Q2 2023 is skewed due to the $1 billion raised by Wiz in May 2024; however, even excluding that round, Q2 2024 still saw a 21 percent increase over the previous year.)

“The upward trend in funding year over year is not easily explained,” said Mark Sasson, founder and managing partner at Pinpoint Search Group. “Last year was a challenging year economically, likely contributing to the dip in cybersecurity funding we experienced throughout 2023. Additionally, there has been growing evidence of an industry reset, with investors spreading their funding dollars among new technologies designed to address the IT threat landscape of tomorrow, including AI, crypto, and automation.”

Just like in Q1 2024, early-stage rounds (Seed and Series A) dominated funding volume in Q2 2024, accounting for 55 percent. The growing investor interest in budding companies indicates continued confidence in a new generation of vendors addressing not only current but also future business challenges. For instance, 89 percent of enterprises believe AI-powered threats are just beginning. Foreseeing this trend, investors began spreading their investments among emerging technologies last year. In 2023, Seed-stage rounds accounted for 42 percent of the tracked funding rounds.

While later-stage financing (such as Growth Funding, Series C, D, and E) only represented 13 percent of the total deals in Q2 2024, it accounted for a significant proportion of funding dollars, making up 65 percent of the total funding during that period. The interest from investors in later-stage rounds can be attributed to their ongoing investments in established security vendors. These vendors have adapted to market changes driven by increased demand, with cybersecurity budgets rising 59 percent year over year due to the growing number of breaches and cyber incidents affecting more organizations. Since these later-stage rounds usually indicate companies aiming to expand their product lines and enter new markets, vendors and investors can anticipate a rise in hiring cybersecurity professionals. 

A full copy of Pinpoint Search Group’s Q2 2024 report on cybersecurity funding can be found here. 

About Pinpoint Search Group
Pinpoint Search Group is a leading cybersecurity recruitment firm and specializes in filling vice president, director, and senior individual talent. Pinpoint’s collective experience recruiting hundreds of candidates in all segments of cybersecurity provides the company with the credibility to communicate with, qualify, and place professionals in today’s most competitive area of technology. Pinpoint also produces Cybersecurity M&A and Vendor Funding Reports highlighting M&As and funding in the cybersecurity space monthly, quarterly, and annually.

Media Contact:
Christopher Joseph (CJ) Arlotta
CJ Media Solutions, LLC for Pinpoint Search Group
C: 631-572-3019
[email protected]

SOURCE Pinpoint Search Group

SINGAPORE, July 8, 2024 — To enhance the liquidity and the ecosystem for Bitcoin, HTX Ventures, the global investment arm of the cryptocurrency exchange HTX, has announced a strategic investment in Lombard. Lombard is a restaking protocol poised to catalyze growth across the Web3 ecosystem by transforming Bitcoin from a static store of value into a productive financial asset.

Lombard builds its restaking product on top of the Bitcoin staking protocol Babylon, which allows individuals to use Bitcoin to secure other proof-of-stake networks. Lombard increases liquidity for staked BTC by issuing LBTC, a liquid and yield-bearing representation of BTC. LBTC can move seamlessly across chains and decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms as collateral without compromising security. LBTC will soon be integrated into the most popular DeFi protocols on the Ethereum Mainnet before launching on widely used Layer 2 (L2) chains later this year.

“Liquid restaking is the next revolution for the Bitcoin Ecosystem, and Lombard is the project driving this transformation,” said Edward, Managing Partner at HTX Ventures. “Lombard is rapidly expanding to onboard the LBTC token onto major ecosystems and DeFi protocols. This will enable Bitcoin to be lent, borrowed, and traded, unlocking tremendous utility for Bitcoin holders and revitalizing the BTC ecosystem. HTX Ventures is incredibly excited to partner with Lombard to empower Bitcoin holders and the broader BTC ecosystem.”

“We are delighted to have HTX Ventures for investing in the development of LBTC as a new core primitive. LBTC will unlock a massive amount of net-new capital into the ecosystem and bring new liquidity and users to DeFi protocols and exchange platforms. HTX Ventures shares Lombard’s mission to accelerate on-chain finance and we look forward to building on these synergies to accelerate the growth of LBTC,” said Jacob Phillips, Co-founder, Lombard.

LBTC will soon be accessible to all and supported by all chains and DeFi protocols. Join the LBTC Waitlist for exclusive access to LBTC and rewards for early participation.

About Lombard

Named after the historic Lombard Street in London—a hub of financial activity since the Middle Ages—Lombard symbolizes a place where all participants are connected to opportunity. By adopting the Lombard name, we rebuild its legacy on digital blocks, transforming it into a modern nexus of innovation and connectivity.

Founded in April 2024, Lombard is dedicated to unlocking Bitcoin‘s potential as a dynamic financial tool by connecting it to DeFi. We are a diverse team of DeFi natives, working with technology and infrastructure partners towards a shared, ecosystem-driven mission to collectively onboard Bitcoin to DeFi.

About HTX Ventures

HTX Ventures, the global investment division of HTX, integrates investment, incubation, and research to identify the best and brightest teams worldwide. With a decade-long history as an industry pioneer, HTX Ventures excels at identifying cutting-edge technologies and emerging business models within the sector. To foster growth within the blockchain ecosystem, we provide comprehensive support to projects, including financing, resources, and strategic advice.

HTX Ventures currently backs over 300 projects spanning multiple blockchain sectors, with select high-quality initiatives already trading on the HTX exchange. Furthermore, as one of the most active Fund of Funds (FOF) investors, HTX Ventures collaboratively forges the blockchain ecosystem alongside premier global blockchain funds, including Dragonfly, Bankless Ventures, Gitcoin, Figment, and Animoca. Visit us here.

Contact Details
EE
[email protected]

Company Website
https://www.htx.com/en-us/ventures

SOURCE HTX

• Ascendion announces AI veteran Daryush Laqab as new Chief AI Officer.
• In his new role, Daryush will accelerate Ascendion’s AI capabilities by leading client solutions, platform development, and internal evolution.
• With a proven track record at NVIDIA, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Google, Microsoft, and Twitter, Daryush brings over two decades of cutting-edge technology experience to spearhead Ascendion’s AI-driven initiatives.
• Ascendion’s commitment to Gen AI is reinforced with Daryush leading continuous improvement and innovation of AVA+ and Metal — the company’s AI-powered platforms – to accelerate productivity and innovation.

BASKING RIDGE, N.J., July 8, 2024 — Ascendion, a leading provider of AI-first software engineering services, proudly announces the appointment of Daryush Laqab as Chief AI Officer, effective June 28, 2024. Bringing over two decades of technology leadership, Daryush will drive innovation and operational excellence for all AI-powered initiatives and technologies for clients. In his new role, Daryush will report to CEO Karthik Krishnamurthy.

Throughout his career, Daryush has been a pioneer in integrating advanced technologies into business strategies. Most recently, he served as Director of Product Management for NVIDIA’s Autonomous Vehicles and AI Infrastructure team. He led tooling, platform engineering, validation, and infrastructure, managing thousands of GPUs for hundreds of engineers and machine learning experts.

Previously, Daryush held senior roles in technical engineering and AI product development roles in several world-renowned innovator firms. As the head of engineering and product at JPMorgan Chase & Co., Daryush founded and led the strategy and development of the banking giant’s firm-wide AI/ML platform and ecosystem. In addition, Daryush has led development of multiple game-changing products for Microsoft, Twitter, and Google, where he created Contact Center AI on Google Cloud Platform and other AI products.

Ascendion takes an “all in” strategic business transformation approach with Gen AI. Software engineering clients are offered immediate value from talented developers using their proprietary Ascendion AVA+ platform, which delivers productivity, transparency, quality, and velocity from Gen AI. Innovation is further accelerated by connecting ideal candidates to specific programs with their Metal platform.

“Throughout his career, Daryush has been at the cutting edge of delivering AI-fueled value and service to clients,” said Karthik Krishnamurthy, CEO, Ascendion. “Today, business and technology leaders in every sector must now resolve challenges related to trust, velocity, and capital needed for the next wave of innovation. We’re already taking GenAI the last mile for clients with our people and our platforms, and now Daryush will help us deliver even more value, innovation, and better technology – key elements of our ‘Engineering to the Power of AI.'”

Ascendion’s AI platforms deliver higher levels of transparency, up to 50% higher developer productivity, software quality, and up to 45% higher development velocity. The company is widely regarded as an innovative leader in Gen AI services. Ascendion was named a Market Leader among global service providers in the recently released HFS Horizons: Generative Enterprise™ Services report

“The ecosystem of powerful processors, cloud platforms, connectivity, and Gen AI-based tools and models like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Mistral, and others is maturing rapidly. This new ‘stack’ is poised to disrupt nearly every industry, but Gen AI needs to be taken the last mile to change how we work,” said Daryush. “This vision has captured all our imaginations, but in order to make the future of work a reality, we need to evolve how data is used and how software is engineered. With thousands of Gen AI-trained engineers, powerful data capabilities, and a platform-first strategy, Ascendion is uniquely positioned to re-imagine how work gets done using modern AI technology. I couldn’t be more excited about joining the team to help bring this vision to life.”

About Ascendion
Ascendion is a leading provider of AI-first software engineering services. With a focus on applied AI, software engineering, cloud, data, experience design, and talent transformation, Ascendion accelerates innovation for Global 2000 clients. Ascendion is headquartered in New Jersey and has 30 offices across the U.S., India, and Mexico. Ascendion is a leader in digital engineering services, dedicated to providing innovative solutions that empower businesses.

SOURCE Ascendion

Grant helps improve nursing home resident quality of life by amplifying the voice of residents and direct care staff

WASHINGTON, July 8, 2024 — The Moving Forward Nursing Home Quality Coalition received a $1.69 million grant from The John A. Hartford Foundation (JAHF) to continue its work to improve nursing home resident quality of life and to support staff for the next three years.

The Coalition is a network of 1,600+ nursing home residents, care partners, staff, advocates, and others who are developing, testing, and promoting policies and practices to address common challenges in nursing homes. The challenges were outlined in the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine’s 2022 report, The National Imperative to Improve Nursing Home Quality.

“Any effort to improve the quality of nursing home care must empower residents within their communities,” said Margaret Barajas, Pennsylvania Long-Term Care Ombudsman and Moving Forward Coalition Steering Committee Member. “With this grant, we can coordinate resources, scale partnerships, and effectively create nursing homes that foster a culture of resident engagement.”

The Coalition has spurred improvements in nursing home quality, including collaboration with the federal Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program to include a focus on developing apprenticeships for direct care workers; brought attention to the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s role in financing nursing home quality improvement; and worked with Michigan’s state survey agency to train nursing home surveyors on person-centered care.

 Over the next three years, the Coalition plans to:

• Develop and test a certified nursing assistant apprenticeship program to build and strengthen the nursing home workforce;
• Provide nursing home staff with tools and a process to identify and prioritize “what matters” most to residents;
• Empower residents to create and strengthen a Resident Council that advocates for change and improvements within their nursing home; and
• Convene stakeholders, experts, and policymakers to identify the most promising paths forward for nursing home quality improvement.

“New practices and policies that enhance nursing home care are taking root thanks to the Moving Forward Coalition, and that benefits everyone,” said Terry Fulmer, PhD, RN, FAAN, president of JAHF. “The Coalition’s work shows that a broad set of partners from both the public and private sectors can work together to improve nursing home care and create a sustainable platform for driving change.”

The Moving Forward Nursing Home Quality Coalition is funded by JAHF and draws on leadership from LeadingAge, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, and other national organizations and advisors.

About the Moving Forward Nursing Home Quality Coalition
The Moving Forward Coalition is a diverse group of individuals and organizations that came together in July 2022 to prioritize recommendations from the 2022 National Academies report on nursing home quality. The Coalition’s purpose is to develop and promote action plans to address those priorities in partnership with national, state, and local organizations, including professional associations, nursing home providers, clinicians, researchers, advocates, long-term care Ombudsmen, Quality Innovation Network-Quality Improvement Organizations, and others. The Coalition is funded by The John A. Hartford Foundation, a national philanthropy dedicated to improving the care of older adults. More than 2,000 people have signed up as Coalition participants at movingforwardcoalition.org.

CONTACT: Gisela Rosende, [email protected], (786) 239-8679

SOURCE The Moving Forward Coalition

GUILDFORD, United Kingdom and DURHAM, N.C., July 8, 2024 — MedPharm, a global topical and transdermal Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) and Ampersand Capital Partners portfolio company, announced today a merger with Tergus Pharma, a Great Point Partners portfolio company. The combined organization will operate under the MedPharm name, establishing a leading, end-to-end CDMO with robust scientific, clinical trial manufacturing and commercial production capabilities. As part of this transaction, Tergus Pharma CEO Michael Kane has been appointed CEO of MedPharm while Patrick Walsh will continue to serve as Executive Chairman of MedPharm.

The merged business is well-positioned as a global leader in delivering a full suite of drug development and manufacturing services to innovators of all sizes focused on advancing topical and transepithelial pharmaceuticals. The strategic combination of Tergus and MedPharm’s capabilities enables commercial production and serialization to existing formulation development, in vitro testing and clinical manufacturing within one integrated organization. Expanded capabilities will also include the development and manufacture of hormone-based and highly potent drugs at the Company’s GMP manufacturing facility in Durham, NC.

Michael Kane commented, “This strategic partnership is an exciting opportunity to deliver extensive pharmaceutical product development resources fueled by a robust team of scientific experts while leveraging our cutting-edge topical GMP facility to seamlessly meet our customers’ commercial production needs. With locations in both the United Kingdom and the United States, we are well positioned to provide exceptional support to our existing and prospective pharmaceutical clients.”

MedPharm Executive Chairman Patrick Walsh added “Pharma clients have been seeking a reliable, integrated service offering for their ophthalmic, topical and transdermal development and manufacturing projects. This merger creates an immediate option with two organizations already well-positioned in the industry.”

Tergus lead investor Great Point Partners will retain a significant minority ownership stake in the newly combined MedPharm, while private equity firms Ampersand Capital Partners and Bourne Partners Strategic Capital assume majority ownership.

About MedPharm
MedPharm is an end-to-end contract service provider of topical and transepithelial products supporting early phase research, formulation development and in vitro testing services in addition to both clinical and commercial manufacturing. For more than 25 years, MedPharm has specialized in reducing risk through its unique, industry-leading in vitro testing and research biology models. Well-established as the global leader in product development for dermal/transdermal, lung and nasal, mucosal membrane, ungual, otic and ophthalmic delivery, MedPharm has locations in the United Kingdom and United States, including a new 97,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art facility in Durham, NC and is recognized globally for its regulatory and technical expertise. For more information, visit: medpharm.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

About Ampersand Capital Partners
Founded in 1988, Ampersand Capital Partners is a middle market private equity firm with $3 billion of assets under management dedicated to growth-oriented investments in the healthcare sector. With offices in Boston, MA and Amsterdam, Netherlands, Ampersand leverages a unique blend of private equity and operating experience to build value and drive long-term performance alongside its portfolio company management teams. Ampersand has helped build numerous market-leading companies across each of the firm’s core healthcare sectors. For additional information, visit ampersandcapital.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

About Bourne Partners Strategic Capital (“BPSC”)
Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Bourne Partners Strategic Capital is a private equity and growth equity investment firm focused exclusively on the pharmaceutical, pharma services and consumer healthcare sectors (10 current portfolio companies).  As owners and operators with over 20 years of experience, BPSC has investment, strategic and operational experience in companies ranging from $5M to $3B in equity value and seeks to align and partner with management teams and other owners in these sectors to grow their business. BPSC is a related company of Bourne Partners, which offers investment banking and advisory services in the same key focus areas  For more information, please visit Bourne Partners Strategic Capital.

About Great Point Partners
Great Point Partners, founded in 2003 and based in Greenwich, CT, manages over $1.9B of capital in its private funds and public life sciences equity strategy (BioMedical Value Fund). The private equity funds invest across all sectors of the health care industry with a particular emphasis on biopharmaceutical services and supplies, alternate site care, medical device contract manufacturing and information technology enabled businesses. The firm pursues a proactive and proprietary approach to sourcing investments and tuck-in acquisitions for its portfolio companies. For additional information, visit gppfunds.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

SOURCE MedPharm

• Auros has unveiled the launch of Auros Ventures, with seasoned digital assets expert Julien Auchecorne at the helm.
• Auros Ventures’ focus on investment will be on driving innovation within the dynamic digital assets and Web3 sector while bolstering ecosystem growth.

HONG KONG and NEW YORK, July 8, 2024 — Auros, a leading global market-making and algorithmic trading firm, today announced the launch of its new investment arm, Auros Ventures. This strategic addition will harness the firm’s extensive expertise in digital assets to foster ecosystem innovation and drive substantial value creation for all market participants.

Auros Ventures will leverage the risk management capabilities and liquidity provision expertise of Auros to invest in the full project life cycle, from early-stage primary investments to liquid secondary opportunities. In addition to capital, Auros will provide market-leading advice and support to its entire portfolio, particularly where it pertains to their expertise in both on-chain and off-chain liquidity, market microstructure and exchange product design. This strategic approach reflects the firm’s commitment to active involvement in the operational and strategic development of its portfolio companies and it forms a core component of Auros Ventures’ value proposition as a partner. Since Q3 2023, Auros Ventures has deployed over $15 million and plans to invest in excess of $50 million over the next two years.

As of April 2024, Auros Ventures has recorded a total of 14 investments in its portfolio. This includes the firm’s participation in the launches of high-profile projects such as oracle network Pyth and high-performance Layer-1 Berachain, among others. Spearheading Auros Ventures is Julien Auchecorne, a seasoned traditional finance and digital assets expert who has previously held investment, operating and advisory roles at firms such as XBTO, J.P. Morgan and Brevan Howard. As the Head of Auros Ventures, Julien will collaborate closely with Auros’s Founder and Chief Investment Officer, Ben Roth, to guide the venture capital arm in the deployment of capital as the firm doubles down on ecosystem development and its role as a champion of innovative startups in the digital assets and Web3 sector.

Founder and CIO of Auros, Ben Roth, said: “Auros has seen tremendous growth since its inception in 2019. The launch of Auros Ventures is a reaffirmation of our expansion strategy and a commitment to continue growing our role as a trusted industry steward that fosters sustainable ecosystem growth. We are thrilled to welcome Julien to our team, having witnessed his impressive track record in investments and business scaling. His expertise and deep understanding of the digital assets market puts him in a strong position to lead Auros Ventures as we embark on a shared journey to discover the next wave of Web3 innovations and deliver outsized value, not only for the firm but for the collective ecosystem also.”

“This marks a significant milestone, for both Auros and the broader digital assets community,” Head of Auros Ventures, Julien Auchecorne shared. “Auros has made substantial strides in expanding its market presence in the past 18 months. I am excited to be working with Ben and the exceptional team at Auros to support groundbreaking projects that push the boundaries of innovation in our industry.”

For more information about Auros Ventures and the innovative work being done at Auros, please contact [email protected].

About Auros

Auros, a market-making and algorithmic trading firm, was established by experienced derivatives traders and trading system designers with over two decades of expertise. The firm generates daily notional turnover in the billions of dollars. Auros’ technological foundation fuses advanced pricing models with cutting-edge execution capabilities, ensuring reliable and consistent trading performance. Their distinctive, partnership-oriented strategy to providing external liquidity has quickly positioned them as the preferred market maker for many token projects and ecosystems. Additionally, Auros possesses in-depth knowledge in trading structured products, optimizing DeFi, and investing in liquidity-driven ventures. For more information about the company, please visit http://auros.global.

About Julien Auchecorne

Julien brings extensive experience in C-suite positions within the digital asset space. After a successful career in investment banking and asset management, Julien transitioned to the digital asset industry in 2017 and has since helped various early-stage companies navigate the challenges of this rapidly evolving industry, including fundraising, product and token go-to-market strategies, and compliance with evolving regulations.

Julien also played an instrumental role in establishing WebN, a Brevan Howard incubator that supports projects across various verticals, including staking and zero-knowledge (zk) scaling technologies.

About Ben Roth

Ben Roth is the CIO and Founder at Auros, one of the crypto industry’s leading algorithmic trading and market making firms. With over two decades of experience in trading and portfolio management at leading TradFi firms such as Optiver, First New York and Hudson Bay Capital, Ben founded Auros in January 2019 with the specific goal to build the market’s leading High-Frequency Trading and Market Making firm. As of April 2024, Auros trades on more than 40 centralised and decentralised exchanges and regularly accounts for as much as 5% of all crypto trading volume. With a staunch belief in the power of liquidity to drive value creation, Ben and the Auros team are dedicated to assisting projects, exchanges and foundations in navigating the complexities of the market and helping them to understand the impact that deep, reliable and consistent liquidity can have for the value of their business.

SOURCE Auros

OSLO, Norway and CAMBRIDGE, Mass., July 8, 2024 — Biotechnology company Apriori Bio has been awarded US $1.1 million from CEPI to advance its biology-informed artificial intelligence platform Octavia™, aimed at protecting humanity against rapidly-evolving viruses by designing variant-resilient vaccines.

The Octavia platform works by characterising large libraries of viral variants on their ability to bind to cells in the human body and evade the immune response. Then using machine learning, Octavia generates maps to identify the mutations that have the greatest ‘escape potential’ and could therefore pose the greatest threat. These insights can guide how new vaccines are designed and how existing vaccines are updated so that they can protect against worrisome variants for years to come.

Experts can also use Octavia’s real-time variant insights to inform public health decisions and policies against some of the world’s most deadly diseases. Having this information ‘a priori’ – before things appear – can significantly enhance the world’s pandemic readiness and ability to respond to an outbreak in as little as 100 days.

In-Kyu Yoon, M.D., Executive Director of Vaccine R&D (Acting), CEPI, said: “The world was brought to its knees by the devastating COVID-19 pandemic where fast-emerging variants like Omicron outsmarted our medical defences, so we had to constantly play catch-up. To avoid being in this vulnerable position again, we need to shift our global mindset to one of preparedness. By focusing on the range of potential deadly viral variants that could emerge from deadly pathogens ahead of time, we could seriously speed up our response to a future outbreak.”

Lovisa Afzelius, Ph.D., MBA, Co-founder and CEO of Apriori, said: “We are honoured to be recognized by a global leader in pandemic preparedness who shares our commitment to better protecting humanity from rapidly-evolving viruses. With CEPI’s support, we will continue advancing our Octavia platform, focusing on viruses beyond coronavirus, to ensure the global community is better prepared to effectively address future outbreaks with precision and speed.”

Octavia uses both computational insights and experimental biological data to build and train its algorithms. This includes looking at evolutionary trees of viruses to identify the point at which viral variability is most likely to occur and exploring how mutations could affect each other.

Apriori has already explored how Octavia works on COVID-19 variants. The new seed funding from CEPI will focus on pandemic influenza strain H3N2, which has previously affected pigs, birds and humans.

This work is supported by CEPI’s new dedicated biosecurity department, which was established to reduce biosafety and biosecurity risks associated with CEPI research investments, and accelerate responsible AI for vaccine development.

CEPI and Apriori are committed to enabling equitable access to the outputs of their partnership, in line with CEPI’s Equitable Access Policy. Project results, including related data, will be published open access for the benefit of the global scientific community. This includes the potential to share learnings with CEPI partners so that they can quickly get to work using their data to advance their vaccine designs.

This is the second project to be announced as part of CEPI’s call for vaccine innovations that could be critical to helping the world better prepare for future epidemics and pandemics.

About CEPI 
CEPI is an innovative partnership between public, private, philanthropic and civil organisations. Its mission is to accelerate the development of vaccines and other biologic countermeasures against epidemic and pandemic threats so they can be accessible to all people in need. CEPI has supported the development of more than 50 vaccine candidates or platform technologies against multiple known high-risk pathogens or a future Disease X. Central to CEPI’s pandemic-beating five-year plan for 2022-2026 is the ‘100 Days Mission’ to compress the time taken to develop safe, effective, globally accessible vaccines against new threats to just 100 days.

About Apriori Bio
Apriori is working to create a world where humanity is protected against viral threats. Our pioneering approach centers on a unique technology platform, Octavia™, which allows us to survey the entire fitness landscape of existing and potential viral variants to design new vaccines against the most threatening variants. Octavia can also inform public health policy in real time by predicting the impact of emerging variants. Apriori was founded in 2020 by Flagship Pioneering. For more information visit www.aprioribio.com or follow us on LinkedIn and X.

Press Contacts

CEPI
[email protected]
+44 7387 055214

Apriori Bio
[email protected]

SOURCE Apriori Bio