WASHINGTON, June 26, 2024 — Martis Capital Management, LLC (Martis Capital), a healthcare-focused private equity firm, has opened an office in Miami and hired two senior team members.

Beth Dresdale joined the firm as a principal on the value creation team and is based in the Miami office. Before Martis Capital, she was a principal focused on value creation at Incline Equity Partners. David Muckey, also based in the Miami office, joined Martis Capital as a director on the investment team. Before Martis Capital, he was a vice president at Gemspring Capital and earlier a vice president at Vector Capital.

The Miami office, located in Coconut Grove, is Martis Capital’s third location. The firm also has a presence in Washington, DC, and San Francisco.

“The growth of our firm enables us to continue to support company founders across the healthcare industry and deliver improved patient care,” said Barry Uphoff, founder and managing partner of Martis Capital. “We are delighted to attract two accomplished professionals in Beth and David and expand the Martis Capital geographic footprint to Florida.”

Earlier in her career, Dresdale led sales and commercial operations at A Place for Mom, a tech-enabled healthcare services company. She started her career at McKinsey & Company and Centerview Partners. Dresdale received a bachelor’s degree in history from Brown University and an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School.

Muckey started his career at Lazard Freres & Co. He received a bachelor’s degree in economics from Princeton University and an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

About Martis Capital

Based in Washington, DC, San Francisco and Miami, Martis Capital is a founder-friendly capital partner for growth-oriented healthcare companies. Since 2011, Martis Capital has raised more than $2.2 billion from a global base of institutional clients to invest in the middle-market North American healthcare sector. For more information visit www.martiscapital.com and follow Martis on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/martis-capital 

Media Contacts:
Margaret Kirch Cohen/Richard Chimberg
Newton Park PR
+1 847-507-2229
+1 617-312-4281
[email protected]
[email protected]

SOURCE Martis Capital

Capital infusion to enable strategic investments in the business.

NEW YORK, June 26, 2024 — CipherHealth, Inc., a leader in patient-centered communication solutions, announced that it has received a capital investment from Atalaya Capital Management in support of CipherHealth’s continued growth and expansion.

Since 2009, CipherHealth has been a leader in patient engagement, providing a platform that enables patients and caregivers to connect through scalable and omnichannel communications. They help healthcare systems better understand all patients, while providing communications that are personal, relevant and actionable. The incremental capital raised from Atalaya will allow CipherHealth to continue investing in its award-winning solutions and deliver its industry-leading service across the healthcare continuum.

“We are excited to partner with Atalaya as we position our business for our next stage of growth. The investment will provide us with capital to support our ongoing strategic initiatives and improved delivery of care,” said Jake Pyles, CEO of CipherHealth.

“We are impressed by CipherHealth’s comprehensive offering and continuous product improvement as it strives to create better patient experience and outcomes. We are excited to contribute to CipherHealth’s continued success,” said Mark Schachter, Managing Director at Atalaya.

Lincoln International acted as exclusive financial advisor to CipherHealth, helping to arrange and negotiate the capital raise.

About CipherHealth:

CipherHealth is an award-winning leader in patient-centered communications committed to enhancing communication and coordination throughout the care continuum. Since 2009, CipherHealth has helped define the patient engagement category, delivering groundbreaking tools and superior services to help health systems deliver patient-centric, quality care that improves clinical outcomes, drives operational efficiency, and creates sustainable financial value through a full suite of communications solutions. CipherHealth’s automated, scalable platform empowers healthcare organizations to drive meaningful conversations among patients, provider staff and caregivers, regardless of care setting, thereby achieving new standards for patient care and accelerating the digital transformation of the industry.

About Atalaya:

Atalaya Capital Management is a privately held, SEC-registered, alternative investment advisory firm. Atalaya primarily focuses on making private credit and special opportunities investments in three principal asset classes – specialty finance, real estate, and corporate. Founded in 2006, Atalaya is headquartered in New York City and has approximately $10.5 billion in assets under management. For more information visit www.atalayacap.com.

SOURCE CipherHealth

NEW YORK, June 26, 2024 — Formation Bio, a tech-driven and AI-native pharma company, announced today that it has raised $372MM of Series D financing. The financing was led by a16z with significant participation from Sanofi. Current investors also joined the round, including Sequoia, Thrive, Emerson Collective, and Lachy Groom, along with new investors, such as SV Angel Growth and FPV Ventures. This round reflects a material step up from the company’s Series C valuation. As part of the financing, Scott Kupor, Managing Partner at a16z and Alfred Lin, Partner at Sequoia will join Formation Bio’s Board of Directors alongside existing board director Michael Moritz, Sr. Advisor to Sequoia Heritage and board observer Kareem Zaki, Partner at Thrive Capital.

“We are thrilled to partner with the Formation Bio team on their journey to build an AI-enabled pharma company,” said Scott Kupor, Managing Partner at a16z. “Pharma represents one of the biggest industries in the world, and there is immense potential to make the drug development process more efficient. We’ve been impressed by the team and culture that the co-founders, Ben and Linhao, have built, one that brings together the best of pharma, tech, and AI to ultimately make an enduring impact for patients.”

Formation Bio is differentiated by its tech and AI enabled approach that drives more efficient drug development. Advancements in AI and drug discovery are creating more candidate drugs than the industry can progress because of the high cost and time of clinical trials. Recognizing that this development bottleneck limits the number of new medicines that can reach patients, Formation Bio (launched in 2016 as TrialSpark) has built technology platforms, processes, and capabilities to accelerate all aspects of drug development and clinical trials. The company partners, acquires, or in-licenses drugs from biotechs and pharma companies and develops those programs past clinical proof of concept and beyond.

The company plans to allocate the new capital towards two primary objectives: acquiring and in-licensing candidate drugs and expanding their AI capabilities.

Acquiring and in-licensing drug assets

Formation Bio plans to deploy this new capital to continue acquiring and in-licensing clinical stage assets from biotech and pharma partners.

By partnering with Formation Bio, smaller biotechs can advance more than just their lead asset, creating a pathway for other drugs in their pipeline. For large pharma companies, Formation Bio creates an “off balance sheet” pathway for development, enabling a company to take more shots on goal in a P&L efficient way.

Formation Bio creates win-win structures for its partners, leveraging a NewCo model for every asset which can facilitate shared ownership and outcomes, while providing all the capital and capabilities needed to advance the assets through their next phases of clinical development.

Applying AI and technology to drug development

Today, the biggest bottleneck of enabling more drugs to reach patients is the cost and time of drug development and clinical trials. Since its founding, Formation Bio has focused on building the technology, operations, and processes to streamline all aspects of drug development.

Through its tech-enabled operational model, Formation Bio has been able to run clinical trials significantly faster and more efficiently than industry benchmarks by streamlining activities such as study startup, participant recruitment, data management, database lock, and study close out.

Because of their tech, data, and operational foundations, Formation Bio has been able to rapidly integrate LLMs, AI models, and applications throughout its platform. While many drug development processes today are highly manual, time intensive, and costly, Formation Bio is working toward a future state where fine-tuned and customized LLMs, coupled with expert human oversight and reinforcement, can automate many of the core drug development functions. Some examples include: medical writing, protocol development, biostatistics, report generation, regulatory intelligence and much more.

Formation Bio’s plans for AI innovation span short, medium, and long term horizons. In the short term, the company is focusing on workflow automation. Two examples include: AI-generated patient recruitment content tailored to specific cohorts and AI-generated adverse event reports that are created in minutes rather than hours. In the medium term, their focus is on training AI for augmented decision making within drug development. The company is building an “AI R&D Scientist” that can provide drug development teams with decision support and eventually steer high quality R&D decisions. And, in the long term, the company’s goal is to build and train AI models that can better predict toxicity, tolerability, and one day, efficacy.

Last month, Formation Bio announced a new collaboration with OpenAI and Sanofi to jointly design and develop customized AI solutions for drug development, which is a first-of-its-kind collaboration within the pharma and life sciences industries.

“At Sanofi, we’re all in on AI,” said Paul Hudson, CEO at Sanofi. “And we are proud to partner with and invest in Formation Bio, whose AI-driven drug development vision and capabilities will help lead our industry forward in the shared ambition to accelerate and improve how we bring more new medicines to patients.”

Operating at the intersection of tech and pharma

As a tech and AI-enabled pharma company, Formation Bio has focused on building a team and culture that leverages expertise across pharma, AI, and technology.

“We are in the early stages of AI driving significant efficiencies in pharma and biotech, and Formation Bio is well-positioned to lead this transformation,” said Alfred Lin, Partner at Sequoia. “Ben and his team bring a unique mix of tech, pharma, and AI expertise, along with a track record in licensing high-quality drugs and executing clinical trials. We are proud to partner with them as they push the industry forward.”

Formation Bio’s team comes from across the tech and pharma industries, reflecting broad conviction in the company’s mission and business model. Similarly, the company’s investors represent both pharma and tech profiles, as reflected in the two new leading investors in this funding round: a16z and Sanofi. They are joined by a selective group of investors who have been part of enduring companies that have fundamentally transformed industries with technology.

“Thanks to A.I, biotech and pharmaceutical companies are about to be drowned in an avalanche of promising looking drugs that merit enquiry,” said Michael Moritz, Sr. Advisor to Sequoia Heritage. “Formation Bio has the technology and know-how to help the industry sort the wheat from the chaff.”

By addressing the drug development bottleneck, Formation Bio can enable the industry to advance more drugs than it currently can, ultimately enabling more new medicines to reach patients.

“Formation Bio” and “TrialSpark” are trademarks of TrialSpark Inc.

Press Contact

Lily Mintz // [email protected]

SOURCE Formation Bio

Saint-Gobain and KLA to Partner with Ion Storage Systems to Dramatically Accelerate Path to Commercialization for ION’s Solid-State Batteries

BELTSVILLE, Md., June 26, 2024 — Ion Storage Systems (ION), a Maryland-based manufacturer of safe, high-energy density, fast-charging solid-state batteries (SSBs), announced today that it will receive $20 million from the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) as part of a three-year, $40 million partnership with several world-class commercialization partners. ION will collaborate with Saint-Gobain, one of the world’s largest ceramics, glass and material suppliers and KLA, a leader in semiconductor process and quality control, to dramatically accelerate the commercialization of ION’s high-performing, anodeless SSB. The ARPA-E SCALEUP program will contribute $20 million that will be matched by another $20 million in private funds, bringing the total program size to $40 million.

“ION and our world-class partners have reinvented ceramic membrane manufacturing for high throughput, low cost, and low emissions production of our safe, high energy solid-state battery. We are proud to be working hand-in-hand toward gigawatt-hour production and delivery of a market-leading EV battery solution. ARPA-E’s RANGE program initiated the development of this technology in 2013 and we’re honored to be partnering with them again through SCALEUP to expand the impact of our technology and accelerate electrification of a greener energy economy.” Said Dr. Gregory Hitz, Co-Founder and CTO of ION.

ARPA-E’s SCALEUP (Seeding Critical Advances for Leading Energy Technologies with Untapped Potential) program builds on the agency’s “primary research and development focus to support the scaling of … disruptive new technologies across the full spectrum of energy applications.” ION was one of four companies to secure funding from SCALEUP in 2024 as part of its $63.5 million program budget. According to ARPA-E, the program’s goal is to help ARPA-E-funded technologies transition from proof-of-concept prototypes to commercially scalable and deployable versions of the technology. ARPA-E’s SCALEUP funding and corporate partnerships enable ION to manufacture high performing, EV-scale SSB cells in the US with domestically sourced materials while expanding on what is already among the largest SSB manufacturing facilities in the United States.

“Accelerating the widespread adoption of electric vehicles requires increasing driving range, reducing costs, and improving safety. Ion Storage Systems—through an earlier ARPA-E program—focused on working toward these goals, and now, through SCALEUP, the company will accelerate domestic manufacturing of next generation solid-state, high-power-density lithium-metal batteries, based on ION’s proprietary ceramic electrolyte manufacturing technology,” said Dr. Evelyn N. Wang, ARPA-E Director.

“Electrification is one of the critical grand challenges in the global transformation that the world needs to reduce emissions. At Saint-Gobain Ceramics, together with key innovators, we are excited to engineer a better, safer and greener world,” said Jeffrey T. Mydlarz, Vice President & General Manager Saint-Gobain.

“KLA is pleased to bring industry-leading inspection and metrology equipment and experience to support ION and next-gen battery development,” said Oreste Donzella, Executive Vice President, Electronics, Packaging and Components, KLA Corporation. “We are proud to partner with ION as a key supplier of process solutions to enable efficient ramp-up and enhanced manufacturing success of solid-state batteries. KLA is committed to leveraging the established methodologies and standards from the semi-industry to address the challenges associated with the inflection of next-gen batteries.”

The project will include sustainability-focused cell design and manufacturing milestones, with planned innovations offering the opportunity for the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions on the order of tens of thousands of metric tons of CO₂ per GWh relative to Li-ion. ION, the only anodeless and compressionless SSB battery to achieve hundreds of cycles, recently opened one of the largest SSB manufacturing facilities in the country and announced a supply agreement with Saint-Gobain in late 2023. In addition to the extensive collaboration with ARPA-E, the company is also working closely with other government agencies on applications related to defense and aerospace.

About ION Storage Systems, Inc.
ION offers a uniquely adaptable solid-state battery solution for a variety of applications including defense and aerospace, consumer, electronics, electric vehicles, and grid storage. The product of a materials-science-based approach, ION’s patented solid-state lithium metal technology can offer a battery without cobalt, nickel, and other less sustainable materials offering a variable architecture of revolutionary 3-D, ceramic structure, built with rapidly scalable manufacturing in mind. ION leverages a unique ceramic cell design that supports the use of current and next-gen cathode chemistries, promoting circularity and recycling, avoiding the issues and challenges of mining, and refining rare earth metals.

About Saint-Gobain
Worldwide leader in light and sustainable construction, Saint Gobain designs, manufactures and distributes materials and services for the construction and industrial markets. Its integrated solutions for the renovation of public and private buildings, light construction and the decarbonization of construction and industry are developed through a continuous innovation process and provide sustainability and performance. The Group’s commitment is guided by its purpose, “MAKING THE WORLD A BETTER HOME.”

About KLA
KLA Corporation (“KLA”) develops industry-leading equipment and services that enable innovation throughout the electronics industry. We provide advanced process control and process-enabling solutions for manufacturing wafers and reticles, integrated circuits, packaging and printed circuit boards. In close collaboration with leading customers across the globe, our expert teams of physicists, engineers, data scientists and problem-solvers design solutions that move the world forward. Investors and others should note that KLA announces material financial information including SEC filings, press releases, public earnings calls and conference webcasts using an investor relations website (ir.kla.com). Additional information may be found at: www.kla.com.

Contact:
Colin Mahoney, Mahoney Communications Group
212-220-6045

SOURCE ION Storage Systems

Rebellion partners with entrepreneurs to build autonomous operations and AI agents, revolutionizing business models and ushering in the era of artificial super capability

SAN FRANCISCO, June 26, 2024 — Rebellion Ventures today announced its inaugural fund, which is dedicated to partnering with entrepreneurs to build what it coined the era of artificial super capability (ASC) through autonomous operations and AI agents that have the power to revolutionize business models and unleash the greatest productivity boost in human history.

Rebellion foresees the shift from passive, intelligence-focused AI to action-oriented artificial super capability that drives business outcomes autonomously. In the real world, it is the context-specific ability to act that delivers results, rather than general intelligence. AI capabilities will evolve to be superior to humans in areas such as speed, cost, and accuracy. This shift will create an era of artificial super capability, with the potential to increase productivity by 10 to 100 times, unleashing growth and transforming business models and the way we work. Rebellion predicts the emergence of a diverse AI workforce across industries, including AI workers, digital humans, autopilots, and autonomous agents. These entities will bring super-human capabilities, continuously learning, observing, thinking, and acting 24/7 to proactively achieve business goals and elevate human work.

Rebellion partners with entrepreneurs to build revolutionary new ventures focused on autonomous operations and AI agents through its inaugural $12.9 million pre-seed/seed fund. The fund brings an operating track record of building companies to multi-billion dollar IPO and M&A exits and an advisor network of over 70 unicorn founders, operators, and industry experts in AI and automation as limited partners. Rebellion provides access to industry relationships, operating playbooks, and critical expertise that entrepreneurs need to build and scale disruptive startups.

Through the fund’s companies, Rebellion targets to collectively create at least $100 billion in annual productivity value for customers by 2030 based on initial ROI metrics. The fund has thus far partnered with 12 pioneering startups creating or enabling autonomous operations and AI agents, transforming areas such as engineering, sales, financial services, insurance, and healthcare. Subsequent to Rebellion’s initial investment, half of these ventures have already raised more capital at higher valuations. The fund expects to partner with an additional 25 startups over the next 18 months.

Rebellion is led by Jukka Alanen, who was previously SVP of Strategy, Corporate, and Business Development at PagerDuty. He helped build the company to a $2.8 billion IPO and led the strategy to revolutionize digital operations management with AI and automated workflows. Venture partners include Dr. Ramesh Raskar, a professor at MIT Media Lab and a renowned AI innovator, entrepreneur, and advisor with over 130 patents, and Aaron Aubrecht, a top product executive with a $1.2 billion M&A exit. The fund’s limited partners include over 70 unicorn founders, executives, and industry experts in AI and automation who are part of the Rebellion Advisor Network, lending their expertise and relationships to the fund and its portfolio companies.

“We are excited to partner with entrepreneurs who challenge the status quo and reimagine operations and business models for the era of artificial super capability,” said Jukka Alanen, Managing Partner of Rebellion Ventures. “To help entrepreneurs build this future of productivity, we bring the power of our community of unicorn founders, operators, and experts and our collective experience and relationships in the industry.”

Recognizing its responsibility in this new era, Rebellion seeks to be a force for good by elevating human work, committing to ethical practices in AI and automation, and contributing positively to societal and economic development. The fund has pledged 1% of its profits to give back to the community.

About Rebellion Ventures
Rebellion Ventures is a specialized pre-seed/seed venture capital firm in Silicon Valley partnering with entrepreneurs to build autonomous operations and AI agents. We seek to revolutionize business models with 10-100x productivity and create the era of artificial super capability (ASC). Rebellion brings an operating track record of building companies to multi-billion dollar IPO and M&A exits and an advisor network of over 70 unicorn founders, operators, and industry experts as limited partners. To learn more, visit rebellionvc.com.

Media Contact
Jukka Alanen
Managing Partner, Rebellion Ventures
[email protected]

SOURCE Rebellion Ventures, LLC

PALO ALTO, Calif., June 26, 2024 — Sensi.AI, a trailblazer in care intelligence, announced today the successful raise of $31 million in Series B funding, bringing the company’s total funding to over $53 million. This round was co-led by Zeev Ventures and Insight Partners, with continued support from existing investors Entrée Capital, Flint Capital, Jibe Ventures and Secret Chord Ventures.

Following a remarkable 3X year-over-year growth, driven by the urgent need to address the escalating care crisis marked by a severe caregiver shortage and soaring care costs, Sensi.AI is poised to redefine the aging-in-place landscape.

According to AARP, 90% of older adults prefer to age at home, yet a study by MissionCare Collective reveals that 89% of providers have been forced to deny home care due to the workforce crisis. Home care agencies nationwide are grappling with the challenge of delivering exceptional care while scaling their operations effectively.

Sensi.AI’s advanced audio platform revolutionizes home care by detecting and predicting care events while ensuring privacy. It provides agencies with critical insights into senior health for timely interventions and personalized care plans, reducing hospitalizations, improving caregiver-client relationships, and extending service durations to keep seniors at home longer. Sensi customers value its AI for identifying over 100 types of crucial insights, including early signs of pneumonia, UTIs, care resistance, cognitive changes, and emergency events such as falls.

In a market estimated to be worth over $390 billion globally, Sensi is the world’s first in-home 24/7 virtual care agent using audio AI technology. This innovation empowers long-term care providers to tackle significant challenges in the care industry, offering an unprecedented level of insight and support for senior care.

“When our customers say that Sensi is more than just technology, that there is a heart behind it, we know we are on the right path. We are dedicated to ensuring every senior can age with dignity in the comfort of their own home, the place they love most,” said Romi Gubes, Co-Founder and CEO of Sensi.AI. “This funding from renowned investors will help us continue to innovate our product and scale our go-to-market strategy, bringing our vision to life.”

“When I came across Sensi, I immediately recognized the magnitude of the problem they were solving. It requires more than simply applying AI technology,” said Oren Zeev, Founding Partner at Zeev Ventures. “I am confident that Sensi’s advanced audio AI technology along with their talented team will spearhead a transformation in the care ecosystem unlike anything seen before.”

“We were immediately impressed by Sensi’s mission and innovative approach to senior care. This unique use of AI shows technology’s potential to create a more compassionate and connected society, solving real-world problems that impact millions,” said Jeff Horing, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Insight Partners. “Insight is proud to back Romi and the Sensi team, and we look forward to an exciting next chapter together.”

ABOUT Sensi.AI

Sensi.AI is the most trusted 24/7 care intelligence agent on the planet using audio technology with highest level of precision. Sensi’s technology drives significant growth and efficiency for home care businesses, by providing a 360-degree understanding of a senior’s physical, emotional, and cognitive needs. Sensi supports over 80% of the largest home care networks across 41 states in the United States. For more information, visit www.sensi.ai.

SOURCE Sensi.AI

Crossover to use proceeds to expand its role as the leading ECN in digital assets and bring 24/7 trading to additional asset classes

LONDON, June 26, 2024 — Crossover Markets, a digital asset technology firm focused on meeting the unique liquidity requirements of institutions, today announced that it has raised $12 million in its Series A funding round led by Illuminate Financial (Illuminate) and DRW Venture Capital (DRW VC). Illuminate and DRW VC join a growing list of strategic investors that includes institutions such as Flow Traders, Laser Digital, Two Sigma, Wintermute, and retail brokers such as Exness, Gate.io, GMO, Pepperstone, Trademax and Think Markets.

“This fundraise comes at a time when institutional market structure is changing in digital assets,” said Brandon Mulvihill, Co-Founder and CEO of Crossover Markets. “Prime brokerage and central clearing models are advancing, creating fungibility and exposing execution venues that hold clients captive. We are honored to welcome strategic shareholders who share our vision and passion to create the world’s leading execution-only trading venue for digital assets. Illuminate brings enormous depth of knowledge across the institutional landscape, and DRW adds significant expertise as one of the largest, multi-asset market makers in the world.”

“Illuminate Financial has been building out a portfolio of institutional grade digital assets infrastructure companies since 2019 as part of our thesis around the convergence of traditional finance and digital asset market structure,” said Mark Beeston, Founder and Managing Partner, Illuminate Financial. “Crossover adds best-in-class execution capability to that portfolio, serving both the immediate and long-term needs of financial institutions that wish to trade digital assets with a future-proof 24/7 low latency infrastructure that traditional markets are increasingly moving towards.”

“DRW VC has a proven track record of supporting early-stage companies committed to delivering market structure innovations both in the traditional and crypto markets,” said Kim Trautmann, Partner at DRW Venture Capital. “Crossover Markets was a natural fit for our portfolio, and we’re excited to support its experienced management team to deliver a best-in-class technology solution for digital asset trading that delivers superior execution while minimizing counterparty risk.”

Crossover also announced the addition of new Board Members. Mark Beeston, Founder and Managing Partner of Illuminate Financial, will join Crossover’s board of directors along with Kevin Wolf, CFO at American Financial Exchange and former CEO of Euronext FX.

Mulvihill added, “Digital assets market structure is experiencing a pivotal change driven by institutional needs and activity. Simultaneously, we are witnessing the early-stage emergence of discussions around 24/7 trading across traditional asset classes. CROSSx is designed to be among the fastest, highest-performance venues in any asset class. More specifically, we developed the platform to bring 24/7 trading, price precision and size precision characteristics to traditional markets where technology is lagging in such areas. Bolstering governance and broadening corporate strategy to address the needs of clients in this evolving landscape were atop our agenda when thinking about Board expansion. Mark and Kevin bring a wealth of experience that spans equities, fixed income, FX, and digital. We are elated to add dynamic leadership by welcoming Mark and Kevin to Crossover.”

Crossover Markets is best known for its execution-only electronic communication network (ECN), CROSSx, an institutional trading venue for digital assets. Its ultra-low-latency and quote-driven matching technology, combined with tailored liquidity and smart order routing, make it a destination for more competitive prices and overall lower trading costs.

Crossover Markets recently reported over $3.15 billion (USD) in notional trading value, 415,450 trades, and over 141 billion quotes processed on CROSSx in Q1 2024. With the added funding, Crossover Markets will continue to invest in its team and technology, further strengthening its position in the market.

About Crossover Markets

Crossover Markets is a digital asset trading technology firm focused on meeting the unique liquidity requirements of institutions in the cryptocurrency markets. CROSSx, the company’s execution-only cryptocurrency Electronic Communication Network (ECN), is powered by the industry’s fastest and most advanced matching engine and includes order logic that enables clients to choose with whom they want to trade. Led by a team with decades of FX trading, prime brokerage technology and artificial intelligence experience, Crossover is ushering the next big wave of institutions in the crypto market. For more information, visit www.crossovermarkets.com.

Media Contact
Forefront Communications for Crossover
[email protected]
+44 (0) 7375 288 641

SOURCE Crossover Markets

HELSINKI, June 26, 2024 — Blastr Green Steel (Blastr) has successfully executed a financing round with strategic partners, advancing the development of a European integrated ultra-low CO2 steel value chain with its flagship steel plant in Finland.

Global steel industry leader Cargill Metals, Germany-based steel trader INTERFER Group, Tesi, Finland’s state-owned venture capital investment company, and Blastr’s founder Vanir Green Industries participated in the equity financing round. The proceeds will be used to progress development planning for the steel plant in Inkoo, Finland, and a facility in Northern Europe designed for producing 6 million metric tonnes (Mt) of high-quality low-carbon DR pellets feedstock annually. The funding will also support organisational ramp-up aligned with commercial and supply chain activities.

“This successful early financing round represents a significant step towards realising Blastr’s multi-billion Euro investment program for production of pellets, sponge iron and steel at global scale,” said Mark Bula, the CEO of Blastr Green Steel. “Together with our partners, we are set to materially contribute to transforming how the world’s most important engineering and construction material – steel – is made. The confidence from our development partners is a validation of Blastr’s unique competitive advantages and position within the global steel industry.”

Lee Kirk, Managing Director, Cargill Metals, said, “It is increasingly urgent that the global steel industry delivers on its decarbonisation commitments. We are therefore very pleased with the strong momentum and progress made by the new Blastr leadership towards the realisation of an ultra-low CO2 steel value chain in Europe as part of developing a more sustainable ferrous industry.”

Gerold Lorenz, CEO of INTERFER Edelstahl Group, added, “Our customers are increasingly focusing on low-carbon steel products, and we are committed to bringing green steel solutions to the market at scale. Our investment in Blastr reflects our strategy of establishing stable and trusting partnerships with suppliers and manufacturers worldwide.”

Esa Koponen, Investment Director at Tesi, commented, “Blastr Green Steel fully aligns with Tesi’s industrial scale-up strategy aimed at promoting economic growth, innovation and investments. We look forward to providing our long-term support to the project which will create significant economic activity in Finland by leveraging our rapidly growing local renewable energy industry to offer new competitive solutions for reducing global emissions and drive the clean and green transition.”

As part of the next development phase, Blastr is establishing framework agreements covering the entire green steel value chain from the supply of steelmaking technology and working with Cargill Metals to finalise the supply of raw materials and feedstock for pellet production, to sales of surplus pellets, HBI (hot briquetted iron) and low-cost, ultra-low CO2 steel products utilising greener logistics. These agreements will form the basis for construction financing discussions with strategic and financial partners with the ambition of making final investment decision for both the pellet plant and the steel plant by early 2026 and commencing production before 2030.

Blastr is creating a low-carbon mine-to-gate steel value chain with 90% lower C0₂ emissions than conventional steelmaking by using hydrogen instead of coal in the iron production process and feedstock made with carbon-free energy. This mine-to-gate model enables a differentiated and profitable business model with a low carbon footprint.

Completion of the partner financing round is conditional upon the approval by the general meeting of Blastr 28 June 2024. SEB acted as financial advisor to Blastr and BAHR was legal advisor. Capient AS acted as strategic capital markets advisor.

For media inquiries, please contact:
[email protected] 
+358 50 465 4767 

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

The AI Startup Aims to Deliver Safety and Security for AI Large Language Models

SAN JOSE, Calif., June 25, 2024 — HydroX AI, an artificial intelligence (AI) startup with the industry’s first comprehensive all-in-one large language model (LLM) safety and security platform, today announced closing a $4 million angel round from Vitalbridge Capital, Atom Capital and noted AI expert, Qi Lu, EVP of Microsoft, former COO of Baidu.

The funding will provide the means for HydroX AI to continue LLM safety innovation, validate the market need, and further the platform’s market entry goals.

The investment comes to a fast-growing segment of the exploding LLM AI market. Global LLM revenue is projected to grow to 260 billion by 2030. With that growth comes increasing safety and security risk. HydroX AI has found that a typical LLM is vulnerable to attack and compromise in as little as three months from release, meaning constant security measure updates are a must. As a result, HydroX AI sees great need and potential in the AI Trust, Risk, and Security Management (AI TRiSM) sector.

“The blending of artificial intelligence with society is just starting. It raises issues beyond privacy and security, including ethics, learning, and mental effects. Looking ahead, security will be key, not just for protection but as a foundation for AI’s growth,” said Ben, partner at Vitalbridge Capital.

HydroX AI was created to directly address these LLM risks by providing a comprehensive platform for the evaluation, mitigation, protection, and monitoring of Large Language Model (LLM) safety and security in the four trust domains: safety, privacy, integrity and security.

Introducing EPASS – HydroX AI’s Evaluation Platform for AI Safety and Security

HydroX also announces the official launch of EPASS, its cutting-edge Evaluation Platform for AI Safety and Security.

HydroX AI EPASS Platform

This state-of-the-art platform enables precision evaluation and management of AI models, offering detailed insights that empower users to understand and enhance the safety, security, privacy, and integrity of their AI systems. EPASS serves as a crucial tool in a landscape where robust evaluation frameworks are imperative due to the substantial ethical, social, and existential risks associated with AI technologies.

The EPASS platform facilitates:

• Evaluation: Precision assessment of AI models using advanced techniques to identify vulnerabilities and ensure models meet high standards of safety and integrity. Detailed reports provide actionable insights, helping users refine AI performance and reliability.
• Management: A user-friendly dashboard allows for effortless model management and comparison, integrating seamlessly into existing workflows for real-time monitoring and updates.
• Leaderboard: A comprehensive ranking system that benchmarks AI models across over 30 safety and security categories, offering users critical reference points for continuous improvement.

This platform allows stakeholders across industries to manage and compare AI models with ease, enhancing decision-making and improving AI system reliability, without the need to build an expensive in-house evaluation team and infrastructure.

All standard accounts come with essential features, including one model evaluation daily, one attack method, and one evaluation per category. For those seeking advanced and comprehensive evaluations, HydroX also offers a range of customizable add-ons:

• Unlimited Evaluations per Category: Dive deeper into the evaluation process with unlimited assessments for each category.
• Category Bundles: Tailored category bundles designed to align with specific domains, streamlining the evaluation process.
• Higher Speed: Accelerate evaluations with higher processing speeds, optimizing efficiency.
• Dashboard to Visualize Results: Gain real-time insights into models’ performance with intuitive dashboard interface.
• More Attack Methods: Expand assessment capabilities with a wider array of attack methods at the clients’ disposal.
• Dedicated GPUs: Enhance processing power and efficiency with dedicated GPU resources.

HydroX AI is currently in early development engaging with major LLM companies. Several of these companies have seen notable enhancements from the platform, showcasing EPASS’s potential and affirming its strategy for tackling trust issues in LLMs. These endorsements from leading LLM companies not only underline its pioneering role but also secure a first-mover advantage in the crucial, evolving field of AI safety and security.

HydroX AI was founded by Zhuo Li, former head of the Privacy and Data Protection Office at Bytedance. Before Bytedance, Li developed his expertise at Meta and LinkedIn, contributing significantly to privacy and security measures. The team, rich in safety and security veterans, includes Head of Engineering Yuji Kosuga, with deep roots in the field through experiences at companies such as LinkedIn, Google, and Meta, underscoring their profound dedication to advancing AI safety and security.

About HydroX AI LLC

Founded in 2023, HydroX AI (www.hydrox.ai) is a San Jose, California based AI trust, risk and security management (AI TRiSM) startup with the mission to ensure a safer world through cutting-edge AI security solutions for LLM evaluation and enhancement. Their platform, the industry’s first all-in-one platform for LLM safety and security, allows LLM developers to address the major LLM risk areas with development-stage tools and post deployment monitoring tools.

Check out https://www.hydrox.ai/blogs/64ab58a5-73a9-4b82-bffa-dcb2406a3efe, for a more in-depth look at how to use EPASS. Additionally, dive into our newest blog post highlighting a white paper exploring the vulnerabilities of LLMs, dissecting attack methods, and offering practical recommendations for anyone interested in AI security: https://www.hydrox.ai/blogs/818992e9-b828-45c3-b808-b69dca5a5833.

SOURCE HydroX AI