The platform acts as an intermediate layer that reconciles data silos and automatically adds context and meaning to data, enabling reliable and transparent AI initiatives

NEW YORK, June 27, 2024 — illumex, the Generative Semantic Fabric platform for structured enterprise data, announced today that it has raised $13M in seed funding. The round was led by Cardumen Capital, Amdocs Ventures, and Samsung Ventures, with participation from ICI Fund, Jibe Ventures, Iron Nation Fund, Ginossar Ventures, ICON Fund, Today Ventures, and renowned angel investors. illumex empowers organizations to overcome data challenges that hinder generative AI (GenAI) initiatives by automating the creation of a semantic layer that unifies data silos and adds business context, as well as generating a consistent vocabulary of domain-specific terminology. The company already has large enterprises, like Teva and Carson, leveraging illumex for their data AI readiness and has forged partnerships with Microsoft, Google Cloud, and AWS.

Adoption of generative AI has surged over the past year, with two-thirds of organizations now using the technology, according to a recent McKinsey survey. Importantly, GenAI is now driving significant business value, with some organizations reporting a contribution of upwards of 10% to bottom lines. However, concerns about the inaccuracy and the risks of GenAI have only grown, and nearly a quarter of organizations say they’ve already experienced negative consequences. Existing solutions like retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) enhance accuracy by providing enterprise data for AI models. However, RAG has drawbacks, especially with structured data: it demands continuous manual maintenance and doesn’t ensure a single source of truth or accurate LLM responses. Unstructured data, such as text documents, is semantically meaningful, but structured data lacks inherent context, needing manual labeling that often results in ambiguity and inconsistencies across enterprise data sources. This disorganized data, with issues like duplicate records and conflicting terminology, erodes trust in GenAI applications.

illumex solves this by using generative AI to automatically discover, map, and add semantic meaning to structured enterprise data. The platform analyzes metadata — without accessing the underlying sensitive information — to create a unified semantic knowledge graph. This graph acts as a single source of truth that aligns all data with consistent business terminology and context. By automatically constructing a domain-specific ontology, which formally defines the entities, properties, and relationships that represent an organization’s knowledge structure, illumex enables consistent, contextually relevant data interactions across the enterprise. This serves as a foundation that enables LLMs to reliably map user questions to the relevant data points that should be retrieved in order to deliver accurate results while ensuring proper governance.

“The key to enterprise generative AI success lies in solving the fundamental data challenges that have caused so many projects to fail,” said Inna Tokarev Sela, Founder and CEO of illumex. “Our Generative Semantic Fabric aligns organizational data with business meaning and domain-specific context, allowing organizations to finally trust the results of their AI initiatives. By enabling business users to interact reliably with data using natural language, without teaching them the precise technical definitions, we’re democratizing AI and empowering enterprises to make better decisions.”

“For enterprises in complex and regulated industries, adopting generative AI isn’t just a nice-to-have, it’s an existential imperative,” said Gonzalo Martínez de Azagra, Founder and General Partner at Cardumen Capital. “However, they face the unique challenge of needing to balance AI-powered innovation with strict data governance and security requirements. illumex perfectly bridges this gap, enabling enterprises to maximize the GenAI opportunity while ensuring the integrity, lineage, and trustworthiness of the data fueling these applications. illumex plays a crucial role in both reassuring organizational data AI-readiness and enabling contextual and governed GenAI interactions.”

About illumex 

illumex empowers organizations to unlock the full value of their enterprise data through its Generative Semantic Fabric. The company’s turnkey platform automates the complex process of mapping data semantics and resolving terminological inconsistencies across business silos – a critical step for achieving AI and GenAI readiness. By enabling transparent and governed data interactions with LLMs, illumex opens up transformative enterprise use cases for generative AI. The company was founded by Inna Tokarev Sela, former AVP & Head of AI at Sisense and Senior Director of Machine Learning at SAP, who brings two decades of experience leading large-scale initiatives to leverage data for AI. illumex is an alumni of the Intel Ignite and ICON programs.

Gavriel Cohen
Concrete Media for illumex
[email protected]

SOURCE illumex

Company Builds on Momentum with New $3.6 Million NIH SBIR Grant to Fund U.S. Clinical Trial of Breakthrough Medical Device Showing Promise in Improving Dialysis Patient Outcomes

HOUSTON, June 27, 2024 — VenoStent, Inc., a clinical-stage medical device company developing a novel therapeutic device for improving dialysis patient outcomes, announced today that it closed an additional $4 million from Norwest Venture Partners to round out its Series A financing at $20 million with Good Growth Capital and IAG Capital Partners co-leading the deal. In addition, the company was awarded a $3.6 million Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II Grant by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which will help fund its multi-center, 200-patient, randomized controlled trial (RCT) in the US.

Norwest General Partner Dr. Zack Scott and Investor Dr. Ehi Akhirome are joining the company as board observers. Dr. Scott and Dr. Akhirome bring deep medtech expertise from previous experience as a surgeon and physician scientist, respectively.

“2024 has been a momentous year for VenoStent so far. In the span of a few months, we initiated our first clinical sites, enrolled the first patients in our large RCT and closed our Series A with Norwest,” said Tim Boire, Ph.D., VenoStent CEO and co-founder. “We also received the NIH grant, which enables us to execute our trial with the highest degree of quality and rigor to make it as scientifically robust and impactful to patients as possible. Each of these are major company milestones that collectively represent many years of intensive and fruitful R&D and collaboration. These recent milestones will propel our company forward to an exciting next phase.”

As a clinical-stage therapeutic medical device company, VenoStent has developed a bioabsorbable perivascular wrap, SelfWrap, that goes around arteriovenous (AV) access sites at the time of AV fistula creation surgery. The bioabsorable wrap is intended to accelerate the usability and increase the durability of the fistula sites for chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients requiring hemodialysis. SelfWrap uses the body’s own healing mechanisms to mimic the arterial environment in veins, which experience a 10x increase in pressure and flow during AV creation and causes the veins to become unusable in dialysis.

In May 2023, SelfWrap was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to begin its U.S. Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) study, SAVE-FistulaS: The SelfWrap-Assisted ArterioVEnous Fistulas Study. The study is designed to show how SelfWrap can improve clinical outcomes for CKD patients requiring hemodialysis. Based on the compelling results from the company’s first-in-human clinical trial, the FDA granted SelfWrap a Breakthrough Device Designation in May 2022.

“Over half a million people in the U.S. rely on hemodialysis to survive and require an arteriovenous fistula creation surgery in order to receive the treatment. However, the AV fistula procedure has a one-year failure rate of more than 60%, which significantly impacts patients’ survival rates and quality of life,” said Norwest’s Dr. Scott. “VenoStent’s groundbreaking technology for AV fistula formation, SelfWrap, has the potential to significantly improve these odds. We look forward to working with the VenoStent team as it proves the efficacy of this breakthrough technology in order to improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of CKD patients.”

“Norwest’s investment is tremendous validation for VenoStent, and we are thrilled to have both Zack and Ehi joining the company’s board,” said VenoStent COO and Co-Founder, Geoffrey Lucks. “Zack and Ehi have extensive knowledge in our space, and their added value will match the capital and cache of Norwest dollar-for-dollar.”

About VenoStent
VenoStent, Inc. (www.venostent.com) is a therapeutic medical device company developing a bioabsorbable wrap, SelfWrap, to transform outcomes in vascular surgery, starting with hemodialysis access. The device is intended to improve the usability and durability of arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs), the artery-vein connections that are surgically created in the arms of CKD patients to enable life-saving dialysis treatments. SelfWrap has been finely tuned through a decade of development to provide optimal mechanical support, improving hemodynamics and outward vein growth, and ultimately leading to improved quality and length of life for end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, VenoStent is venture backed by Good Growth Capital, IAG Capital Partners and Norwest Venture Partners, amongst others.

About Norwest Venture Partners
Norwest Venture Partners is a global venture and growth equity investment firm managing more than $15.5 billion in capital. Since its inception, Norwest has invested in more than 700 companies and currently partners with more than 230 companies in its venture and growth equity portfolio. The firm invests in early- to late-stage businesses across key sectors with a focus on enterprise, consumer and healthcare. The Norwest team offers a deep network of connections, extensive operating experience, and a wide range of impactful services to help CEOs and founders scale their businesses. Norwest has offices in Menlo Park and San Francisco, Calif.; Mumbai, India; and Tel Aviv, Israel. For more information, please visit www.nvp.com.

SOURCE VenoStent

Capital infusion to fuel development of its industry-leading market intelligence platform which empowers brands and operators with CPG-level analytics capabilities

CHICAGO, June 27, 2024 — Hoodie Analytics (Hoodie), a leading U.S.-based cannabis data and technology firm delivering insights into market performance and competitive intelligence, today announced it has secured all of its $5 million Capital Raise (the “Capital Raise”). Under the terms of the Capital Raise, $5 million has initially closed, with another $1 million open for a follow-on raise. The proceeds will primarily be used to fund the market expansion of Hoodie’s newly launched cannabis market insights and product data management platform.

The Capital Raise was led by Measure 8 Partners with follow-on from Entourage Effect Capital (“EEC”) and Satori Investors. Early investors in the series A round also include Greenlight Investors and OlsonUbben via Tony Olson, Founder and Chairman of SPINS. Hoodie saw continued participation from insiders such as Arcview Ventures Seed Fund, Arcview Collective Fund, Greenlight Investors, and Tech Nexus.

Additionally, Hoodie further strengthened its leadership and governance structures with the appointments of David Navama, Co-founder of Vitamin Capital and former President and Chief Innovation Officer of SPINS. Timur Sultanov from Measure 8 Partners also joins the Board of Directors, as well as observers Andy Sturner, Partner at Entourage Effect Capital, and John Campbell of Satori Investors.

“We are immensely impressed by Hoodie’s innovative strides in developing a state-of-the-art analytics tool for the cannabis sector,” states Boris Jordan, Founder and Partner of Measure 8 Partners. “We are confident that the ability to make informed, data-driven decisions will become increasingly critical for cannabis industry stakeholders as the sector matures.”

“The cannabis industry serves such a large and diverse consumer base that overarching market demands and consumer trends cannot accurately predict customer behavior at a hyper-local level. Location, age, income and other factors all affect the decisions a customer makes at the register,” said Wes Shepherd, CEO and Chairman of Hoodie. “Only Hoodie provides granular market data down to individual dispensary level for brands and operators. We help them position their product in front of their target audiences to maximize sales and success. With the support of our incredible investors, Hoodie will continue to expand its dynamic suite of tools to best serve the industry we love.”

For more information regarding Hoodie Analytics’ data solutions, please visit https://www.hoodieanalytics.com/.

About Hoodie
Hoodie Analytics was founded on the belief that cannabis businesses need deep operational insights and applications to better compete. Our team has decades of experience with e-commerce intelligence & market measurement in markets like Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG). With Hoodie Analytics, you get an indispensable partner tracking the daily movements of the market. You get access to the best people, processes, and data which deliver the critical factor towards building a winning brand. You can focus on running your business. Hoodie delivers the insights needed to outgrow the pack. Please visit https://hoodieanalytics.com for more information.

SOURCE Hoodie Analytics

Rapid revenue growth and an oversubscribed financing round signal that both customers and investors are embracing disruption in the industry

SAN FRANCISCO, June 27, 2024 — KarmaCheck, a technology-based solution for background checks, credentialing, and compliance, announced today that it has raised $45 million in a Series B funding round led by Parameter Ventures, with participation from PruVen Capital, Velvet Sea Ventures, GC1 Ventures, and NextView Ventures. The company will leverage the funding to accelerate development of its proprietary technology platform, scale its exceptional service levels to more customers and candidates, and expand into new industry verticals.

KarmaCheck was founded by Eric Ly, one of the co-founders of LinkedIn. For over two decades, Ly has worked to remove barriers that stand between talent and professional opportunity. His commitment to this space led him to form KarmaCheck in 2019.

The Series B funding round follows a year of significant achievements and milestones for KarmaCheck including:

• Revenue growth of over 600%
• Expansion of its customer experience team by more than 300%
• Delivery of millions of screenings

“Background checks and credentialing have long been among the most frustrating steps of the hiring process for both candidates and hiring managers,” said Eric Ly, co-founder and CEO of KarmaCheck. “But that doesn’t have to be the case. KarmaCheck focuses heavily on both technology innovation and expert-led customer service. This combination, coupled with our AI-forward approach, is unique in the industry and enables us to deliver not only fast and accurate results, but also the industry’s best candidate experience.”

KarmaCheck’s platform offers the advanced technology that one would expect from such an industry pioneer. Staffing administrators benefit from intuitive, automated dashboards and built-in API integrations to applicant tracking systems. Candidates stay informed through a mobile-friendly interface and can easily schedule clinic-based screenings through the platform. These innovative features lead to faster results, lower costs, and a better experience for both candidates and employers. Head-to-head comparisons have shown that KarmaCheck returns results up to three times faster than competitors with no loss of accuracy. 

“As a healthcare staffing firm, there are several factors we need to consider when choosing our background check vendor, including accuracy, speed, scope, cost, and candidate experience,” said Pete Hietpas, CEO of PRN Healthcare. “KarmaCheck excels across all of these areas. Our administrators love the platform and the responsive support, candidates like the transparency and easy scheduling, and everyone appreciates the fast and accurate screenings. Switching to KarmaCheck has resulted in 85% faster background screenings and 12 hours per week saved for our team.”

The company has seen incredible demand for its solution in highly credentialed industries like healthcare, where speed-to-hire is a significant competitive advantage and traditional background check processes are arduous and time-consuming.

“KarmaCheck stands out as a leader in a critical sector ripe for new approaches. Its innovative product, experienced management team, and commitment to customer success aligns closely with our investment philosophy,” said Douglas Romanoff, Partner at Parameter Ventures. “We couldn’t be more excited to support KarmaCheck as it brings its transformative solutions to professional background checks, enabling greater speed, simplicity, and transparency fit for the modern workforce.”

About KarmaCheck
KarmaCheck is reimagining background checks and credentialing by combining the industry’s best technology with exceptional customer support. With powerful APIs and integrations, a mobile-friendly candidate experience, and rapid customer service response times, KarmaCheck delivers accurate background checks faster. Find out why companies across healthcare, staffing, and industrial sectors are switching to KarmaCheck at www.karmacheck.com.

Media Contact
Inkhouse for KarmaCheck
[email protected] 

SOURCE KarmaCheck

Latest funding round capitalizes on recent growth, catalyzing further product innovation and expansion into new markets

SAN FRANCISCO, June 27, 2024 — Odaseva, the leading enterprise data security platform for Salesforce, today announced a $54 million Series C equity financing, bringing the total company funding to more than $90 million. Silver Lake Waterman led the round, with participation from existing investors F-Prime, Eight Roads and Serena Capital, and new investors Eurazeo and Crescent Cove. The investment comes after several marquee new customer wins across industries and geographies, and will support further growth, including additional investment into data security and Zero Trust product offerings.

Enterprises around the globe are digitizing more strategic processes, including assets containing sensitive data with high demand for confidentiality, integrity and availability – further accelerated by AI and compliance standards. Odaseva is the trusted Salesforce enterprise data security platform securing more than 100 million users for customers around the world, including a growing number of Global Fortune 500 companies. The power of the Odaseva platform enables Salesforce end-to-end encryption, optimizes Salesforce availability up to 99.99% and delivers among the best-in-the-industry Salesforce Recovery Point and Time Objective (RPO/RTO).

“Data sits at the core of large organizations, so we know trust with our customers is more important than ever before. We’re proud that Odaseva’s commitment to data security exceeds the requirements of even the most complex, highly regulated businesses in the world,” said Sovan Bin, CEO and Founder of Odaseva. “This round of funding will help to accelerate our growth into new markets and keep us at the forefront of innovation in the space.”

“The Odaseva team has built a leading data resiliency platform for the Salesforce ecosystem that provides security and continuity solutions for mission critical applications,” said Shawn O’Neill, Managing Director and Group Head of Silver Lake Waterman. “Sovan and the Odaseva leadership team have a solid track record of building value and trust with global enterprise customers and we are excited to partner with the team and help drive further growth.”

The Series C funding will accelerate Odaseva’s leading product development and investment into deepening levels of global reach, including additional resources for North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. Odaseva will continue to hire top talent at the executive level, following the recent additions of Steven Corbin, Chief Financial & Operating Officer, Matthew Johnston as Chief Revenue Officer and Susan Lansing as Chief People Officer.

About Odaseva 

Odaseva delivers the strongest data security solution for enterprises running on Salesforce, safeguarding confidentiality and integrity of critical business information. Global Fortune 500 companies rely on the Odaseva Enterprise Data Security Platform to gain powerful defense against threats to Salesforce data, ensure business continuity and comply with regulations. It is designed and built specifically to solve the complex challenges of large-scale global organizations.

With Odaseva, enterprises can confidently navigate the evolving data security landscape, ensuring that operations remain uninterrupted and aligned with regulatory standards. Learn more at www.odaseva.com.

About Silver Lake Waterman
Silver Lake Waterman is part of Silver Lake, the global leader in technology investing with approximately $103 billion in combined assets under management and committed capital and a team of professionals based in North America, Europe and Asia. Silver Lake Waterman focuses on providing flexible expansion capital to later-stage growth companies in the technology and technology-enabled industries. For more information about Silver Lake Waterman and Silver Lake, please visit www.silverlake.com. 

Media Contact
Ginny Lobel
SVP Marketing
[email protected]

SOURCE Odaseva

PINEVILLE, N.C., June 27, 2024 — Li Industries announced the successful closing of its Series B funding round with an additional $6 million commitment from investors. The new investors include General Motors (GM) Ventures, DNX Ventures, and Tech Energy Ventures. This latest investment brings the total size of the Series B round to $42 million and increases Li Industries’ total funding to date to over $50 million.

“We are excited to welcome GM Ventures, DNX Ventures, and Tech Energy Ventures as key investors in our mission to revolutionize battery recycling,” said Zheng Li, CEO of Li Industries. “This additional funding will enable us to further scale our operations and develop synergistic partnerships.”

“GM is taking a holistic approach to the transition to electric, which includes investing in the reuse and recycling of batteries,” said Anirvan Coomer, president & managing director, GM Ventures. “Li Industries’ mission aligns with our own and their technology shows promise. We look forward to continued progress of their technology and the potential for future collaborations.”

GM Ventures’ investment underscores the growing importance of sustainable practices in the automotive industry.

Li Industries plans to expand its 10,000 tonne recycling facility and further develop its cutting-edge recycling technologies. The company is dedicated to addressing the environmental challenges posed by end-of-life batteries and production waste, transforming them into valuable resources in a cleaner and more cost-effective manner.

For more information, please contact [email protected].

About Li Industries

Li Industries is an innovative and fast-growing climate tech company developing next-generation lithium-ion battery recycling technologies. Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Pineville, NC, Li Industries has developed scalable direct recycling technologies for lithium-ion batteries from electric vehicles and consumer electronics. Li Industries’ unique and patented direct recycling process can recycle all types of lithium-ion batteries and generate high purity commercial-grade battery materials faster, cheaper, and cleaner, enabling effective and sustainable recycling. For more information, please visit: https://www.li-ind.com.

SOURCE Li Industries

Stakeholders Across the Education Ecosystem Rely on Authentica Solutions to enable faster, more secure, and
higher quality Intelligence Provisioning and they are just getting started.

ATLANTA , June 27, 2024 — Authentica Solutions™, a leader in data integration and intelligence management solutions for the education sector, today announced the successful completion of a $6.2 Million Series Seed funding round led by Owl Ventures, the largest EdTech focused venture capital firm globally. The company’s Education Intelligence Platform, Authentica seed™, empowers stakeholders across the education ecosystem by providing the flexibility, security, and clear data ownership needed to support their evolving technology investments that drive learning outcomes.

The infusion of capital will further Authentica Solutions’ mission to accelerate from data management to intelligence management, while making substantial advances toward solving interoperability in the education sector. Authentica’s mission is to empower institutions to unlock the full potential of their data investments to achieve actionable decisions.  Authentica accomplishes this by enabling exceptional integration, automated data quality improvement, and top-tier data management and provisioning within a secure single source of intelligence.

“We are thrilled to partner with Owl Ventures as we continue our journey to transform data interoperability in education,” said Russell Long, co-founder and CEO of Authentica Solutions. “We believe the experience and expertise from the Owl team will further empower our customer-centric culture and help us expand our solutions designed to transform how the education ecosystem manages their intelligence.”

The education community is very dynamic and has dramatically changed since COVID with a focus on serving K-12 school districts, higher education at all levels, departments/ministries of education, edtech software providers (enterprise and web based), systems integrators, and key strategic partners. The importance of having explicit clarity in the development of an exceptional ecosystem focused on academic growth, coupled with solutions that empower true data ownership for our customers is clear.

“A foundational principle behind the design of the Authentica seed™ platform is to ensure educational institutions have complete control and ownership over their data,” noted Long. “We can deliver these capabilities by bringing proven, enterprise-level cloud technologies from the commercial world to propel learning intelligence.”

“Authentica has such a deep background, backed by an amazing team. Working to solve insanely complex challenges in education,” noted Long, “The market is ready for an enterprise cloud solution that can satisfy the never-ending demand for interoperability and quality of data to deliver actionable analytics and the responsible use of artificial intelligence (AI).”

Owl Ventures, known for its extensive portfolio of leading EdTech companies and with over $2 billion in assets under management, recognized the transformative potential of Authentica Solutions’ team and experience. “We are excited to partner with Authentica Solutions and support their innovative approach to data management in education,” said Amit Patel, managing director of Owl Ventures. “Their commitment to delivering exceptional value aligns perfectly with our mission to invest in companies that are shaping the future of education.”

“With this investment we are poised to accelerate advancements in our platform, driving greater efficiency and insights for educators, administrators, and students,” added Gene Garcia, co-founder and CTO of Authentica Solutions. “Our goal is to create a seamless and secure data ecosystem that supports the diverse needs of the education community and its partners.”

As Authentica Solutions expands its impact, the company remains dedicated to its core values of servant leadership, high accountability, and ethical principles. The new funding will enable the team to scale operations, invest in research and development, and broaden their reach to more institutions and EdTech partners seeking innovative data solutions.

Looking to the future, Authentica Solutions is also innovating in advanced research with a project currently in stealth mode: Authentica reach™. Authentica reach™ will be an enterprise platform built directly upon the Authentica seed™ platform, empowering K12 institutions with advanced intelligence, accessibility, and an AI-driven system to support all individuals involved with students with diverse needs.

Authentica Solutions is excited to continue the journey with EduLab Capital Partners who also participated beyond their initial November 2023 investment as part of the Series Seed closing.  “We’re thrilled to deepen our relationship with Authentica and assist leadership with international expansion through our own platform in Asia,” said Liam Pisano, Managing Partner at EduLab Capital Partners. 

Long and Garcia also commented, “We also recognize an early investor and contributor, the late Steve Liffick. His contributions and vision for serving the education space globally will continue to live forward through those of us he influenced directly.”

About Authentica Solutions

Authentica Solutions is a leading provider of intelligence management, data integration and the EduLake™, a Modern Data Estate, for the Education sector. Founded by Russell Long and Gene Garcia, Authentica Solutions has a proven track record of innovation and impact across the global education landscape. The company’s flagship product, Authentica seed™, is an Education Intelligence Platform that empowers institutions to unlock the full potential of their data through exceptional integration, automated quality improvement, AI, and top-tier data management. Authentica Solutions drives change through Authentica seed™, Medicaid solution engineering services, and Authentica phoenix™ Special Education software. Authentica seed™ is currently offered in United States and Canada with planned expansion into Asia, Australia, and UK in the near future. Authentica serves K12 school districts, Higher Education Universities and Colleges, Departments and Ministries of Education, Education Software Providers (EdTech), System Integrators, and Strategic Partners. For more information, visit [Authentica Solutions](https://authenticasolutions.com).

About Owl Ventures

Owl Ventures is the largest venture capital firm in the world focused on the education technology market. With over $2 billion in assets under management, Owl Ventures invests in the world’s leading education technology companies across the education spectrum encompassing early childhood, K-12, higher education, and career mobility/professional learning. The firm has deep domain expertise and leverages a global network of Limited Partners, investors, and strategic partners to help entrepreneurs scale their businesses into transformative category-leading companies. [Owl Ventures] (https:owlvc.com)

About EduLab Capital Partners

EduLab Capital Partners is a seed stage venture capital firm focused exclusively on the education market, investing in business models that transcend the traditional education landscape. The Company’s Boston– and Tokyo-based team provides foundational support to entrepreneurs to help expand their customer base, make key early-stage hires, and raise additional capital for profitable and sustainable growth. EduLab’s education market savvy and artificial intelligence expertise provide unique leverage points for its investments, while the Company’s network of global partnerships and distribution channels provide its portfolio companies with the depth and reach to quickly accelerate product integration and impact.  For more information, visit EduLab Capital Partners.

For media inquiries, please contact:
Russell Long
CEO/Founder
Authentica Solutions
214.450.5338
[email protected]

Malvika Bhagwat
Partner and Head of Outcomes; Portfolio Services
Owl Ventures
[email protected]

SOURCE Authentica Solutions

Deal builds out Beroe’s leadership in category-level procurement intelligence, with the addition of supplier insights

RALEIGH, N.C. and LONDON, June 27, 2024 — Beroe, the provider of the SaaS procurement intelligence and analytics platform used by the majority of Fortune 500 companies, today announced a strategic investment in Forestreet, the leading artificial intelligence-driven software solution for supplier and innovation discovery. Building on Beroe’s existing partnership with Forestreet, this investment will drive further joint innovation, to support the incorporation of the latest AI technology in category- and supplier-level intelligence. The deal will also see Beroe Founder and CEO, Vel Dhinagaravel, join Forestreet’s board of directors.

Beroe’s investment will accelerate the integration of Forestreet’s best-of-breed supplier discovery tools. The availability of real-time access to trusted market insights and supplier discovery will ensure that Chief Procurement Officers (CPOs) and their teams have the most up-to-date and curated information, as they face new demands to proactively mitigate risk and build resilient supply chains.

“We are excited to not only invest in Forestreet’s fast-growing business but also to leverage its technology expertise alongside Beroe’s existing AI capabilities, to deliver greater value to our customers,” said Vel Dhinagaravel, CEO at Beroe Inc. “Combining advanced AI algorithm-driven solutions for supplier discovery with our domain expertise, category insights, pricing intelligence, and benchmarks gives Beroe LiVE.Ai a compelling market advantage. Investing in its future development ensures that we will continue to empower procurement teams with the essential intelligence, to achieve savings objectives, navigate inflation challenges, and sidestep supply chain disruptions.”

Forestreet offers a comprehensive suite of tools for uncovering market insights and understanding companies within a market. As procurement professionals navigate an increasingly complex procurement landscape, they are required not only to access category-level intelligence but also to be able to delve deeper into supplier insights. The combination of category and supplier intelligence will equip businesses to build resilient supply chains, to manage sustainable success in an evolving market.

“Our clients tell us that our technology is unique; so, working with an established market leader like Beroe, with its 18 years of success in supporting procurement domain decision-making, will allow us to provide that capability at scale,” said Alex Miller, CEO and Co-founder of Forestreet. “With new challenges cropping up daily, it is important that CPOs can quickly react to changing dynamics. Partnering with Beroe, we can offer the widest possible customer segment the AI-driven tools they and their teams need to get a clear view of the whole market in one glance, making what can feel like an impossible task seem simple.”

Using the Beroe LiVE.Ai platform, companies can determine the impact of event-led disruptions on supply chains, along with multi-tier supplier mapping and associated risks in real-time as well as check financial, ethical, cyber, and environmental compliance credentials for over 300 million suppliers.

“The investment by Beroe in Forestreet creates an incredible opportunity, to eliminate uncertainty for procurement professionals globally,” said James Fox, Lead Investor on the Guinness Ventures’ Series A investment in Forestreet. “With the information and intelligence that Beroe and Forestreet can provide together, CPOs will gain unprecedented insights.“

About Beroe

Beroe has been on procurement’s leading edge since the company’s founding in 2006, bringing a world of insights forward. The unique combination of Beroe’s expertise, artificial intelligence tools, and vast amounts of data enables organizations to make smarter, faster, better procurement decisions. Not tomorrow, not today, but now. Beroe helps thousands of organizations sift through the data noise, mitigate risk, face fewer surprises, and ultimately, gain a competitive edge. To learn more, please visit — https://www.beroeinc.com.

About Forestreet

Founded in 2017, Forestreet is a SaaS Supplier and Market Discovery Tool at the forefront of transforming business research. Leveraging cutting-edge AI, Forestreet enables businesses to revolutionise their sourcing processes, allowing users to map new categories in minutes rather than months, effectively de-risking their supply base. This empowers procurement teams with the speed and confidence to make informed decisions, swiftly accessing supplier led innovation and driving business growth. To find out more, please visit https://www.forestreet.com/

Media Contact

Richard Howson
Temono for Beroe
[email protected]

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2355895/4579249/Beroe_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Beroe Inc.

CINCINNATI, June 26, 2024 — LunchTable, formerly Inphlu, a leading brand amplification platform, has raised a $2.4 million seed financing round led by JumpStart Ventures, with participation from Cintrifuse Capital, Black Tech Nation Ventures, South Loop Ventures, Ohio Gateway Tech Fund, Kobol Fund and angel investors. 

Along with this infusion of capital, the company announced a strategic rebranding, officially changing its name to LunchTable. This move reflects the company’s commitment to fostering a deeper connection between fans and sports teams, turning passive spectators into passionate social media advocates.

“LunchTable evokes a sense of community and shared passion. It represents the watercooler conversations and friendly banter around the metaphorical ‘lunch table’ – a space where fans come together to celebrate their love for the game,” said Joshua Reid, Founder of LunchTable. “The new branding embodies our mission: to create a vibrant online space where fans can connect, engage, and become vocal supporters of their favorite teams and brands.”

The funding will expand the sales and marketing team, refine the platform, and build a robust customer support infrastructure. After successful pilot partnerships with the Cincinnati Reds, FC Cincinnati, the University of Toledo and the University of Cincinnati, LunchTable is poised for growth and preparing for a commercial launch within the next six months.

“LunchTable offers a win-win-win scenario for sports teams, fans, and commercial brands by extending fan engagement beyond game day,” said Hardik Desai, Managing Partner at JumpStart Ventures. “We are excited to partner with Josh and his team to bridge the gap between stadiums and the digital world, creating a more interactive and engaging fan experience.”

Through gamification, exclusive content, and two-way interaction, LunchTable gives brands a powerful platform to connect with highly engaged audiences. Some of the benefits include:

• Targeted Exposure for Sponsors: LunchTable allows brands to sponsor exclusive content, directly reaching targeted audiences within the passionate fan base.
• Authentic Fan Advocacy: Unlike traditional advertising, LunchTable leverages the power of organic content creation. Fans become brand ambassadors, promoting products they love within the context of their team spirit.
• Valuable Data Insights: LunchTable provides teams with valuable data on fan demographics, fan avidity, and preferences, allowing them to tailor their messaging and promotions for maximum impact within the engaged fan community.

About LunchTable
LunchTable is a fan activation platform that empowers sports teams to create a thriving online community of passionate fans. Through gamification, exclusive content, and two-way interaction, LunchTable turns casual fans into social media advocates, driving engagement, brand awareness, and valuable data insights for teams and commercial brands.

SOURCE LunchTable