PLEASANTON, Calif., March 7, 2024 — Neural Propulsion Systems (NPS), a pioneer in software-defined radar, today announced it secured a $17.5 million Series B funding round. The round is led by Cota Capital with contributions from GM Ventures, the venture capital arm of General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM), and RTX Ventures, the venture capital arm of RTX (NYSE: RTX). This collaboration marks a transformative step in enhancing roadway safety (benefiting pedestrians, drivers and all other traffic participants) and defense radar systems.

NPS will use the investment to further develop and apply its award-winning Atomic Sensing Platform to automotive radar technology. The platform provides significantly enhanced, reliable radar resolution and groundbreaking precision. The improved performance stems from a new mathematical framework known as the Atomic Norm (AN), revolutionizing how the raw sensor data is processed into relevant information.

“This investment confirms the value of our vision and technology,” said Dr. Behrooz Rezvani, Founder and CEO of NPS. “By harnessing the potential of our newly developed radar technology, we can potentially achieve performance enhancements that are over 10 times greater than current radar capabilities, putting us at the forefront of revolutionizing the $28 billion radar market. Our radar software works with all radar hardware and significantly improves the performance of existing sensing platforms with lower cost and more efficiency.”

The NPS software-defined radar, SDR, achieves near maximum likelihood performance in detection — meaning, the NPS proprietary software achieves close to what is theoretically possible with existing radar sensors. This advancement in radar technology enables clearer and earlier detection.

“Behrooz and his team are achieving new benchmarks for advanced radar sensing technology,” said Bobby Yazdani, Founder and Partner of Cota Capital. “We recognize the significant impact NPS can have in the fields of mobility and defense systems, and our investment reflects Cota Capital’s commitment to ground-breaking innovation.”

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) proposed rule changes in May 2023 aim to significantly reduce roadway fatalities by strengthening regulations around automatic emergency braking (AEB) and pedestrian AEB (PAEB). NPS’s technology is poised to further assist companies and suppliers in meeting these new standards, using less complex and more reliable sensors.

“NPS’s continued focus on enhancing defense radar systems exemplifies the commitment that is needed to transform the aerospace and defense landscape,” said Dan Ateya, President and Managing Director at RTX Ventures. “To protect against tomorrow’s threats, RTX Ventures looks to invest in companies working to solve the most complex challenges today and the NPS automotive radar technology does just that.”

About Atomic Sensing Platform and Atomic Norm Tensor Processing Software
The NPS Atomic Sensing Platform for automotive market is powered by the patented Atomic Norm Tensor Processing Software to achieve disruptively high resolution, precision and reliability. NPS ANTP radar SW performance is based on a new mathematical framework, the Atomic Norm, that transforms how sensor data is processed and understood. AN Radar SW technology achieves revolutionary, never-before-seen radar performance that solves industry-level challenges and opens the door for the future of ADAS, autonomous driving and next-generation aerospace and defense systems.

About Cota Capital
Cota Capital backs the bold. Cota is a technology investment firm that partners with exceptional teams to build and grow timeless companies that enable the future. Cota delivers Knowledge Capital, a differentiated combination of deep operational expertise, know-how, impactful and data-driven market insights and intelligence, and a vast industry network. Together, these elements are put to work to empower Cota entrepreneurs to execute their vision, unlock scale, minimize risk and bring enduring ideas to life. For more information, please visit www.cotacapital.com.

About Neural Propulsion Systems (NPS)
Founded in 2018 by Silicon Valley luminaries, NPS develops digital imaging radar technology. Based on a radar algorithm system capable of running on a multitude of hardware platforms, the NPS Atomic Norm Radar SW achieves performance that reaches the information-theoretic limits of what is mathematically possible, enabling groundbreaking applications in the mobility and defense industries. Find NPS on the Web, X and LinkedIn.

All product and company names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. Use of them does not imply any affiliation with or endorsement by them.

Media Contact:
Gary Bird
FortyThree, Inc.
831.888.9011
[email protected]

SOURCE Neural Propulsion Systems

The “Adobe for Web3” makes building dApps accessible to a wide range of developers, not just those who have expertise with the entire blockchain stack

SAN FRANCISCO, March 7, 2024 — Cosmology, the tech suite that enables developers to build Web3 apps in the Cosmos ecosystem, has closed its $5M seed round, co-led by Galileo and Lemniscap with participation from Dispersion, Hashkey, Tuesday Capital, the Osmosis Foundation, Chorus One, Informal Systems, and angels including Kevin Lin, Zaki Manian, Leland Lee, and Ethan Beard. As an official part of the Interchain Stack, Cosmology empowers over 2,000 developers to build applications like dYdX, Osmosis, and Celestia. This funding allows Cosmology to support the growth of the interchain, and provide tools that make app development accessible without requiring deep technical blockchain knowledge.

“Having spent nearly three decades at the intersection of design and technology, I see the potential of Web3 and the need to lower the barriers to development,” said Dan Lynch, Founder of Cosmology. “Our mission is to empower a broad range of developers, driving innovation and the shift from Web2 to Web3. We achieve this by enabling builders to swiftly turn their ideas into launched applications, focusing on big-picture concepts rather than the low-level technical details of blockchain.”

Cosmology’s tools make the development of Web3 applications dramatically simpler for developers throughout the interchain and have been downloaded over 5 million times. They’ve created tools like Telescope, which generates easy-to-use TypeScript libraries for developers to access the functionality of Cosmos blockchains, and Cosmos Kit, a universal wallet adapter for quickly making apps that easily interact with Cosmos blockchains and wallets.

“Dan’s work building developer tooling has led to huge growth in the number of applications being built in Cosmos,” said Sunny Aggarwal, Founder of Osmosis. “Cosmology is making app development on the 100+ blockchains in the ecosystem a streamlined, elegant process.”

Initially focused on front-end tools, Cosmology is now broadening its scope of services to offer a comprehensive full-stack environment for developers. The team now includes experts in key blockchain technologies like Tendermint, Cosmos SDK, and IBC Protocol, enhancing its suite’s capabilities across the board. This expansion gives Cosmology extra bandwidth to support developers from design to deployment, covering everything from user interface design all the way to backend blockchain and smart contract tooling.

“Cosmology is the bedrock underlying everything being built right now in the Cosmos and Celestia ecosystems,” said David Feiock, Managing Partner at Galileo. “As an integral part of building application-specific blockchains, Cosmology tools like Telescope materially reduce the complexities for developers allowing for much quicker innovation and iteration cycles, which will be an essential component of this next phase of growth in crypto.”

Commenting on the announcement, Roderik van der Graaf, Founder of Lemniscap, said: “To date, the perceived complexity of Web3 has kept many Web2 developers from exploring novel use cases that would enhance their product offerings. Cosmology is playing a pivotal role in enabling developers to incorporate Web3 elements in their applications, while circumventing the steep Web3 learning curve. We’re delighted to have co-led this funding round and look forward to supporting Dan and the team in executing a strong growth strategy in 2024 and beyond.”

“Dan’s experience building and exiting low-code platforms like Brandcast is invaluable in the Web3 space, where building applications can prove daunting,” said Pat Gallagher, Managing Partner at Tuesday Capital. “Cosmology is democratizing the digital landscape for businesses and developers alike with an Adobe-style suite of products that lower the barrier to entry, so decentralized application development doesn’t require the full-stack expertise that very few software engineers possess.”

“In the early days of the internet, the concept of every business having its own website once seemed like a pipe dream. Today, we’re at a similar point in time before the brink of a revolution with the Internet of Blockchains. Much like low and no-code platforms transformed Web2, making digital participation accessible to all businesses, I see a future where Web3 is equally open and user-friendly,” said Dan Lynch.

As Cosmos becomes an increasingly interwoven mesh of blockchains, Cosmology is at the forefront of enabling developers to build interchain-native applications. This raise helps the team further build out the essential tooling that’s making Cosmos one of the most attractive places to build in Web3 today.

About Cosmology

Cosmology is creating the Adobe of Web3 – a suite of products that work interdependently to catalyze creativity for builders.

Cosmology is building a unified developer experience for cross chain dApps, streamlining everything from low-level encoding and signing to user interfaces and wallet adapters. Our tools are becoming the standard in the interchain, where our community has now grown to 100+ chains and countless smart contract projects across the Cosmos ecosystem.

Hundreds of developers leverage Cosmology’s software to build DEXes, wallets, governance tooling, NFT platforms, lending, leverage, and liquid staking protocols. These include Osmosis, dYdX, Celestia, Cosmostation, Stride, Juno, DaoDao, Stargaze, Mars Protocol, Leap Wallet, AstroTech, Persistence, Quicksilver and more.

Press Contact

Frank Spence
[email protected]
415-294-1157

Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2357105/Cosmology.jpg

SOURCE Cosmology

Active ETF Trend Provides Growth Opportunity for Asset Managers

OAKS, Pa., March 7, 2024 — SEI^® (NASDAQ: SEIC) today announced that Cullen Capital Management LLC (Cullen Capital) selected the Advisors’ Inner Circle Fund^® as its operational platform for the Cullen Enhanced Equity Income ETF (NYSE: DIVP), its first active ETF. Cullen Capital’s first active ETF aims to offer a higher income potential compared to traditional equity-income investments.

Assets in active ETFs have grown significantly from $350.4 billion in 2022 to $532.9 billion in 2023, representing a 34% increase¹ and driving the entry of asset managers like Cullen Capital into the active ETF market. DIVP integrates dividends from equity holdings with premiums from covered call options on a portion of the portfolio, enabling the potential for upside market participation in addition to income generation.

Jeff Cullen, Managing Director of Cullen Capital Management, said: 

“We’ve selected SEI’s Advisors’ Inner Circle Fund to launch our first active ETF because it offers an established, proven operational platform that efficiently addresses the complexities associated with ETF product strategy, distribution, and compliance. SEI’s series trust and client service model provides us with the infrastructure and expertise needed to quickly and successfully bring our first ETF to market.”  

Mike Beattie, Managing Director of SEI’s Investment Managers business and President of the Advisors’ Inner Circle Fund, added:  

“We are pleased to provide Cullen Capital Management with the operational infrastructure and advice they need to launch their active ETF product. With our turnkey operational platform and dedicated, skilled relationship management team, SEI will provide ongoing oversight of their ETF fund.” 

With the significant increase in new active ETFs hitting the market in 2023, investors piled another $131 billion into their net flows, setting another annual record. That growth accounted for 22.1% of net flows into all ETF products in 2023.¹ 

John Alshefski, Senior Vice President and Managing Director of SEI’s Traditional Investment Managers business, said:

“Asset managers like Cullen Capital Management are expanding their investment lineup with active ETFs, and we’re excited to support them with the Advisors’ Inner Circle Fund Trust—alleviating the need for them to build their own in-house operational infrastructure. With the rising popularity of active ETFs as an investment vehicle, we believe we are well-positioned to seize growth opportunities by providing an operational platform that can efficiently and cost-effectively launch and support ETF products.” 

SEI helped pioneer the series trust concept more than 30 years ago by introducing the Advisors’ Inner Circle Fund Trust (AIC) with an institutional-quality turnkey mutual fund operating platform. The AIC enables investment organizations to rapidly launch and grow mutual funds, exchange traded funds, and interval and tender offer funds without having to build their own fund operating infrastructure. The platform is designed for asset managers seeking a more cost-effective way to operate their existing funds.

¹ Source: FUSE, Morningstar

About SEI^®
SEI (NASDAQ:SEIC) delivers technology and investment solutions that connect the financial services industry. With capabilities across investment processing, operations, and asset management, SEI works with corporations, financial institutions and professionals, and ultra-high-net-worth families to help drive growth, make confident decisions, and protect futures. As of Dec. 31, 2023, SEI manages, advises, or administers approximately $1.4 trillion in assets. For more information, visit seic.com.

About SEI’s Investment Managers business
SEI’s Investment Managers business supplies investment organizations of all types with the advanced operating infrastructure they must have to evolve and compete in a landscape of escalating business challenges. SEI’s global operating platform provides investment managers and asset owners with customized and integrated capabilities across a wide range of investment vehicles, strategies, and jurisdictions. SEI’s services enable users to gain scale and efficiency, keep pace with marketplace demands, and run their businesses more strategically. SEI partners with more than 550 traditional and alternative asset managers, as well as sovereign wealth funds and family offices, including 48 of the top 100 asset managers worldwide.* For more information, visit seic.com/ims.

*Based on Pensions & Investments’ “Largest Money Managers” 2022 ranking.

SOURCE SEI Investments Company

Company secures $16 million seed round to unveil a transformative processor architecture and usher in a new era of energy-efficient computing

PITTSBURGH, March 7, 2024 — Efficient Computer emerged from stealth today, introducing a new computer processor that is up to 100x more energy efficient than leading general-purpose CPUs on the market today. With a $16 million seed funding round led by Eclipse, Efficient has created a transformative computer architecture and software stack that delivers unprecedented levels of energy efficiency. The introduction of Efficient’s processor marks the beginning of a new era of general-purpose edge computing that frees a wide range of applications from restrictive energy limitations. The technology enables a quantum leap in device capabilities and battery lifetime, unleashing a wave of innovations in devices and applications across the Internet of Things, wearable and implantable health devices, space systems, and security and defense. 

Devices in these domains are increasingly doing more processing locally, creating a demand for more efficient on-device computing solutions. Shifting computation on-device can save large amounts of energy by avoiding expensive off-device communication to the cloud. Existing general-purpose processors are over-designed for generality, spending an overwhelming majority of their energy (>99%) on inessential internal data movement and instruction control overheads. Scaling performance requires complex, power-hungry optimizations that increase energy consumption further. The inefficiency of these designs rapidly kills the battery, limiting a device’s capability and requiring frequent battery recharges or replacements.

Efficient’s novel Fabric architecture is a unique approach to general-purpose computation that eliminates the extreme energy overheads of existing general-purpose computer architectures. Efficient’s new architecture enables dramatically more energy-efficient chips, bringing computing capabilities to use cases that were previously impossible due to the limited energy availability. For example, a smartwatch or health wearable could go weeks between charges and support more sophisticated sensor data analytics, or a remote-sensing satellite could provide high-fidelity data insights using the limited energy of a nanosatellite’s small battery.

“Energy consumption impacts nearly everything in modern computing, from where devices are located to the capabilities they offer and the scale of their deployment,” said Brandon Lucia, co-founder and CEO of Efficient Computer. “We are removing the energy barrier from computing at the edge, while giving developers the freedom and flexibility to quickly build devices and applications at scale. Efficient hardware and software will significantly reduce energy consumption for computing, creating entirely new categories of use cases.”

The Efficient processor architecture features three key benefits that set it apart from other computer chips, including:

• Longer lifetime and expanded capabilities: Efficient’s Fabric makes computing orders-of-magnitude more efficient, which prolongs battery life and increases the computing capabilities of a device. This drives down operational expenses, enables larger fleet sizes, and reduces environmental impact (e.g., for battery disposal).
• Developer friendly and future-proof: As a fully general-purpose programmable processor that supports mainstream, high-level programming languages, Efficient offers versatility across application domains and a seamless developer experience – enabling developers to concentrate on innovation, freeing them from the burden of learning cumbersome new languages and tools often associated with specialized hardware.
• Computing at the edge: The Efficient processor avoids expensive off-device communication to the cloud, allowing for more efficient on-device computing solutions and enabling more computing capabilities at the edge. Low energy consumption technology in edge devices also avoids the need for costly and often unavailable communication to the cloud, further improving efficiency and data privacy.

“The technology community’s long-held secret of highly inefficient general-purpose processors has slowed innovation and limited applications, particularly at the edge,” said Greg Reichow, partner at Eclipse. “More than just closing this gap, the Efficient team is introducing an entirely new category of processor that is enabling organizations to reconsider what is possible. With its unmatched energy efficiency, the software-agnostic processor is capable of powering a variety of smart devices with additional capabilities designed to improve the user experience, data consumption, and overall serves as a catalyst for innovation moving forward.”

The Efficient processor saves energy across many domains, including machine learning-enabled extreme-edge machine vision, continuous audio intelligence, and versatile sensory and signals intelligence. It also enables developers to bring their own code, with support for mainstream embedded languages, to build rich intelligence applications that integrate AI/ML, signal processing, data analytics, and other general-purpose data processing computations. To learn more about Efficient’s transformative architecture, please visit https://efficient.computer/technology 

For those interested in joining Efficient’s early adopter program, please reach out to [email protected] for more information.

About Efficient Computer
Efficient has created a transformative computer architecture and software stack that delivers unprecedented levels of energy efficiency. Combining software with hardware, this novel processor technology is up to 100X more energy-efficient than leading general-purpose embedded processors. The Efficient processor is ideal for edge computing devices and applications across industries, including the Internet of Things, wearable and implantable health devices, space systems, and security and defense, where power restrictions have often limited both capabilities and value. Efficient is founded by a renowned team who have a wide range of expertise areas – from professors and PhDs at Carnegie Mellon University, to startup veterans. For more information about the company, please visit https://efficient.computer/.

About Eclipse
With over $4 billion in assets under management and a team of investors with deep operating expertise in technology, manufacturing, supply chain, logistics, healthcare, and consumer products, Eclipse is a leading U.S. venture capital firm. Its leadership team has the experience necessary to create and scale complex operations. Eclipse partners with exceptional companies that make physical industries more efficient, resilient, and profitable. For more information, visit www.eclipse.vc. 

SOURCE Efficient Computer

The global competition called for new and innovative solutions to provide lifesaving care and reduce cancer mortality in rural areas.

TAMPA, Fla., March 7, 2024 — TGH Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm and innovation team at Tampa General Hospital (TGH) announced the winner of the first TGH Innovation Challenge on Wednesday, February 28 at Synapse Summit in Tampa, Florida.

After narrowing the field down to four finalists, Aayu + Box was named the winner. This monthly subscription service provides an array of diagnostic tools, multilingual information pamphlets and QR code referrals for early cancer screening detection and education. As the winner, Aayu + Box received a prize valued at $50,000 from Tampa General to support a potential partnership or pilot project in collaboration with TGH Ventures and the TGH Cancer Institute.

You can learn more about the TGH Innovation Challenge and Aayu + Box in this video.

The TGH Innovation Challenge received 75 applications from around the world submitted by established and start-up companies, academia, the medical community as well as individuals who have had their lives impacted by cancer.

ABOUT TAMPA GENERAL HOSPITAL
Tampa General Hospital, a 981-bed, not-for-profit, academic health system, is one of the largest hospitals in America and delivers world-class care as the region’s only center for Level l trauma and comprehensive burn care. Tampa General Hospital is the highest-ranked hospital in the market in U.S. News and World Report’s 2023-24 Best Hospitals, with six specialties ranking among the top 50 best hospital programs in the United States. Tampa General Hospital has been designated as a model of excellence by the 2022 Fortune/Merative 100 Top Hospitals list. The academic health system’s commitment to growing and developing its team members is recognized by two prestigious Forbes magazine rankings – in the top 100 nationally in the 2023 America’s Best Employers for Women and top 25 in Florida in the 2023 America’s Best Employers by State. Tampa General is the safety net hospital for the region, caring for everyone regardless of their ability to pay, and in fiscal year 2022, provided a net community benefit worth approximately $240.3 million in the form of health care for underinsured patients, community education, and financial support to community health organizations in Tampa Bay. It is one of the nation’s busiest adult solid organ transplant centers and is the primary teaching hospital for the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. With six medical helicopters, Tampa General Hospital transports critically injured or ill patients from 23 surrounding counties to receive the advanced care they need. Tampa General houses a nationally accredited comprehensive stroke center, and its 32-bed Neuroscience, Intensive Care Unit is the largest on the West Coast of Florida. It also is home to the Jennifer Leigh Muma 82-bed neonatal intensive care unit, and a nationally accredited rehabilitation center. Tampa General Hospital’s footprint includes TGH North which is comprised of three hospitals and several outpatient locations in Citrus and Hernando counties, 17 Tampa General Medical Group Primary Care offices, TGH Family Care Center Kennedy, TGH Outpatient Center, TGH Virtual Health, and 21 TGH Imaging outpatient radiology centers throughout Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas and Palm Beach counties. Tampa Bay area residents also receive world-class care from the TGH Urgent Care powered by Fast Track network of clinics. To see a medical care professional live anytime, anywhere on a smartphone, tablet or computer, visit Virtual Health | Tampa General Hospital (tgh.org).  As one of the largest hospitals in the country, Tampa General Hospital is the first in Florida to partner with GE Healthcare and open a clinical command center that provides real-time situational awareness to improve and better coordinate patient care at a lower cost. For more information, go to www.tgh.org.

Media Contact: Karen Barrera
Assistant Director of Communications and Partnerships
(813) 928-1603 (cell)
[email protected] 

SOURCE Tampa General Hospital

Round led by Skycatcher, and includes renowned game investors Mitch Lasky and 1Up Ventures

SACRAMENTO, Calif. , March 7, 2024 — The new and fully-remote studio Good Trouble has emerged from stealth announcing a $1.8M funding round completed last year to build a groundbreaking next-gen Real-Time Strategy game. The investment round, led by Skycatcher, included renowned games investors Mitch Lasky and 1Up Ventures, founded by Ed Fries and Kelly Wallick.

Good Trouble founder Arman Nobari, a cancer survivor and experienced game developer, is joined by a world-class team of industry veterans from Disney, Panic, EA, and more. Nobari said that his team was building a strategy game that would feel “really fresh and exciting, without heavy micromanagement.” Good Trouble intends to develop its initial game with community feedback taken to heart, with consistent updates, cross-platform play, and more.

Arman explained, “It’s a game that really emphasizes clever strategy, unique base-building, and more ways to win, with extremely thoughtful UX that makes it easy to jump into. For years, a large portion of RTS players have been asking for a fresh take on the genre, and we’re thrilled to try and craft exactly what they’re looking for with a focus on genuinely captivating gameplay.”

“The Real-time strategy genre hasn’t seen disruption in years, but we think the talented team at Good Trouble can build a game here which can expand the genre and reach new players through the team’s groundbreaking accessible design and totally reimagined AI in gameplay. They’re building dynamic worlds where players can have exciting and engaging sessions without the heavy burden of millions of clicks, or overwhelming micromanagement,” said Sia Kamalie, founder of Skycatcher.

Kamalie continues: “The Shooter genre saw massive new player growth on the back of Battle Royale which enabled more win conditions for a wider audience of players; the real-time strategy genre hasn’t seen its Battle Royale moment yet. We believe Good Trouble has validated the foundation of an exciting high-potential vision early-on, so we’re excited to see the game come to life.”

Development continues on Good Trouble’s next-gen RTS project, with plans to reveal the game later this year. Follow the studio on social media and join the community to be the first to know about new updates.

Good Trouble Links

Press Contacts

SOURCE Good Trouble Games Inc.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark, March 7, 2024 — BioInnovation Institute (BII), an international non-profit foundation incubating and accelerating world-class life science research, today announces that six companies are to receive additional financial support through its Venture House program, created to further support former Venture Lab companies through their next phase of growth.

The 18-month Venture House program provides exclusive follow-on funding in the form of a founder-friendly convertible loan, of EUR 1.3M, to selected companies that have already benefitted from BII’s 12-month Venture Lab program designed to support business acceleration, scientific and team development. As part of the Venture House program, companies will also take advantage of BII’s extensive network to help establish a strong board, chairman and key scientific advisors. This is the fourth cohort of companies to be accepted into the Venture House program since its launch in August 2022.

To support product innovation and ecosystem growth, the program consists of four executive sprints, each focused on a key development area to help mature the project and ultimately attract further funding. The first sprint focuses on helping companies develop an operational plan, while the following sprints provide training and support in fundraising, partnership, and leadership.

Bobby Soni, Chief Business Officer at BioInnovation Institute, said: “All six of these companies align with BII’s mission, to develop solutions to benefit human and planetary health. That is why we are proud to further support these companies through the Venture House program and bring these companies closer to receiving external investment and commercializing their technologies.”

All six companies have partaken in BII’s Venture Lab program that supports business acceleration, scientific development and team development in which each company received a risk-free convertible loan of EUR 500,000 plus access to labs and offices at the BII’s entrepreneurial ecosystem in the center of Copenhagen. Thus, after entering the Venture House program they have received in total EUR 1.8M. The new companies BII has accepted into the Venture House program are:

• Amplify Therapeutics is developing novel, disease-modifying treatments for lysosomal Parkinson’s disease
• Droplet IV is developing novel medical devices for IV infusion therapy to ensure each patient receives the full prescribed dose without adding strain to already overburdened nurses
• Fuse Vectors is developing a novel, infinitely scalable platform to manufacture viral vector-based gene therapies, which hold the promise to cure genetic illnesses through single-dose treatments
• FÆRM is an industry enabler of alternative dairy, offering various segments within the alternative proteins industry with solutions customized to their specific target group, followed by licensing of its patented enzyme technology
• Metsystem determines whether and where cancer will metastasize, and which drugs will most effectively combat it
• NorFalk produces sustainable surfactants for the use in personal and household care consumer products

Since its inception in 2018, BII has supported 100 start-ups and projects with EUR 97 million alongside the venture capital, industry and business expertise it provides to help them accelerate to the next level.  In total, BII’s start-ups have raised over EUR 428 million in external funding from both local and international investors.  Recent company successes include Embark Laboratories, Adcendo, Stipe Therapeutics, Twelve Bio, Octarine Bio, and Cirqle Biomedical.

Read more about the Venture House program here.

About the BioInnovation Institute Foundation:

At BioInnovation Institute (BII), we accelerate world-class life science start-up innovation for the benefit of people and society. As a non-profit institute, BII operates the company creation programs, Bio Studio, Venture Lab and Venture House, to support life science start-ups with knowledge, network, infrastructure and funding of up to 3M EUR per projects and 1,8 M EUR per start-up. With our expertise, network, funding, and infrastructure, we empower startups to succeed and believe in the transformative power of life science innovation. Read more on www.bioinnovationinstitute.com 

SOURCE BioInnovation Institute

Led by game industry veterans from Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft, and leading AI researchers, the company is committed to revolutionizing game development

SAN FRANCISCO and RALEIGH, N.C., March 6, 2024 — Jabali, an AI company advancing game engines and empowering visionary game designers and developers, announced that it has raised a $5 million seed round led by BITKRAFT Ventures with participation from Sapphire Sport, Sony Innovation Fund, Canonical Ventures, and angels from Amazon, Google AI, Open AI, and Pinterest. The investment will be used to expand the Jabali team, refine proprietary models, and accelerate the product launch.

Jabali’s founding team is composed of gaming executives from Amazon, Meta, Zynga and Microsoft along with leading AI researchers with extensive publications in prominent journals such as AAAI and IEEE. Combined the team has over 50 years of gaming experience and the games technology and games built by this team has been used by thousands of game developers and played by a billion players. Jabali is committed to transforming the processes and tools used to create games – removing major roadblocks like excessive coding or complicated workflows – into something that anyone with a creative vision can use. 

The company’s generative AI-powered game engine will let users create new types of games and interactive experiences without needing extensive game development knowledge. Jabali is creating a purpose-built, closed-loop feedback workflow and technology for video games and interactive experiences, utilizing the advances in multimodal generative AI.

“At Jabali, we believe that AI is the next chapter of innovation in video games. We need a revolutionary engine, built from the ground up incorporating advancements in generative AI. Our engine revisits what a game engine can do, enabling more people to make games and new experiences,” shared Jabali Founder and CEO, Vatsal Bhardwaj. Vatsal also added that Jabali is interested in partnering with visionary game makers who want to revolutionize the way games are created and exploring new game mechanics using AI.

“Today’s engines were built 25 years ago and we see an opportunity with Jabali to democratize game creation and drive innovation in today’s growing $200B+ gaming industry,” added Scott Rupp, Partner at BITKRAFT Ventures. “With Vatsal’s experience in building games and games technology at Meta, Amazon and Zynga and Dr. Arnav Jhala’s extensive expertise in AI and video games research at NC State University and UC Santa Cruz, Jabali is poised to fundamentally change how developers make games and how gamers play them.” 

“Game engines are a critical driver to the expansion of creative capability and reach. Jabali is addressing fundamental shifts in game development requiring multi-modal generative AI technology to be built from the core of the game engine. This approach will not only supercharge game studios but also enhance game development and foster a new generation of game creators,” said Joseph Tou, Managing Director – U.S., Sony Ventures. “AI is disruptive across almost all sectors and Jabali’s commitment, experience, and purpose-built application positions it as a leader in shaping the future of game creation.”

The company is hiring. For more information regarding Jabali and the company’s open roles, please visit the Careers page. 

About Jabali 
Jabali’s mission is to democratize creation and bring innovation to video games. Jabali is building an AI-native engine to empower visionaries, game designers and developers. Jabali will offer a comprehensive, easy-to-use, engine to create games and interactive experiences. Learn more at www.jabali.ai 

About BITKRAFT Ventures

BITKRAFT Ventures is a leading global investment platform for gaming and Web3 according to research from InvestGame and Drake Star Partners. Founded by industry pioneer Jens Hilgers, BITKRAFT serves a worldwide network that spans many of the industry’s forward-thinking startups and founders—including former executives from the likes of Activision Blizzard, Riot Games, Epic Games, Google, and Apple who are working to build and operate the virtual worlds and economies of the future. BITKRAFT operates four venture funds with a total of over $830M in assets under management and has over 100 companies in its global portfolio as of August 2022.

BITKRAFT’s experienced international team works closely with exceptional entrepreneurs to create significant value through early candid partnerships, unique domain experience, entrepreneurial history, and a global ecosystem of strategic partners. Find out more about how BITKRAFT and its portfolio companies are pushing the boundaries of Synthetic Reality® by visiting https://www.bitkraft.vc/vision.

About Sapphire 
Sapphire Sport is the first-of-its-kind ~$300M AUM venture strategy that brings together the capital and industry experience of premier global sporting, media and lifestyle brands, including City Football Group, adidas, AEG, MSG, Sinclair, Arctos, Bank of Montreal and principal owners and investors from franchises in all major U.S. sports leagues. Sapphire Sport primarily invests in Seed, Series A and B-stage technology companies (both B2B2C and B2C) that are powering the next generation of consumer behavior across media, digital commerce, gaming, health and human performance, culture and community. Sapphire Sport is currently investing out of its $181M second fund, announced in January 2023

About Sony Ventures Corporation   
Sony Ventures Corporation manages the Sony Innovation Fund (SIF), which invests in all stages of emerging technology companies as well as in startups solving global environmental challenges. SIF engages with pioneering startups to help fuel the development of disruptive technologies, launch new businesses, and contribute to the environment while seeking return on investment. Sony Ventures Corporation is headquartered in Japan. Learn more at www.sonyinnovationfund.com.

SOURCE Jabali

$10-Million Round Led by Financial Services Entrepreneur Landon Smith, Backing Future ‘Front Runner’ in Sandal Space

DALLAS, March 6, 2024 — Hari Mari, the premium sandal brand known for infusing color and comfort into its distinctive flip flop lines, announced today it recently closed on a $10-million equity raise to support its continued growth plans in the casual footwear & lifestyle space.

The twelve-year-old Dallas-based brand, which gained immediate traction in the $26-billion global sandal market with its no break-in MemoryFoamToe™ and commitment to crafting high-end casual footwear, made the announcement on the eve of its Spring 2024 collection launch on HariMari.com.

‘This is a very special day for Hari Mari. Since starting the brand from our garage in 2012, my wife and I have dreamed of growing Hari Mari into a household name,’ said Jeremy Stewart, Hari Mari’s co-founder and CEO. ‘Hari Mari makes best-in-class footwear and delivers exceptional value to its great customers. With this raise under our belt, we’re investing in our core high-margin flip flop and slipper lines, expanding our audience reach, and strengthening our position to set Hari Mari up for sustainable, long-term growth in the market.’

Hari Mari’s equity investment round is led by financial services entrepreneur and former founder and CEO of Riveron, Landon Smith. ‘Well-made consumer products in the casual space will serve as growth centers for decades to come. We believe Hari Mari is going to be a front-runner in that conversation, and our investment is going to give the brand and its management team the runway to get there,’ said Smith. ‘It’s going to be a fun journey.’

In concert with the investment, Smith and his advisory team will serve an active role in helping Hari Mari management shape and advance the company’s strategic goals in the coming months and years.

‘We’re excited beyond words, and to be doing this with incredibly talented people who bring a ton of experience to bear, makes it that much more exhilarating,’ said Hari Mari co-founder, Lila Stewart.

Additional participants in Hari Mari’s equity raise include Montgomery Capital Advisors and DWBI Investments. Subsequent to closing, Method Bank will serve as Hari Mari’s primary banking facility, while also providing the business with a working line of credit.

ABOUT HARI MARI FLIP FLOPS
Hari Mari is a premium sandal & slipper brand based in Dallas, Texas, with distribution in over 800 retail doors throughout the U.S., Mexico, Canada, and the Bahamas. The company also sells its products through HariMari.com, where it offers its full footwear and accessory assortment, including footwear, sweatshirts, shorts & joggers ranging from $60 to $160.

Jeremy & Lila Stewart founded Hari Mari in 2012 with the goal of creating a flip flop brand steeped in comfort, introducing the brand’s patented MemoryFoamToe™ at the time of launch to mitigate and do away with the painful break-in periods and toe irritation associated with most sandals. Combining its comfort-first approach with classic looks and color profiles, Hari Mari quickly gained traction for crafting timeless flip flops with modern comfort components.

The idea for Hari Mari came while the Stewarts were living abroad in Indonesia. As such, ‘Hari’ means ‘Sun’ in Indonesian, and ‘Mari’ means ‘Sea’ in Latin – a nod to the roots of the idea. Hari Mari also gives a portion of its sales to help children and families battling pediatric cancer. The program is called Flops Fighting Cancer.

Hari Mari’s Spring 2024 sandal lineup can be found on HariMari.com, along with a full list of the brand’s retail partner stores and locations. The brand’s best-selling flip flop, is its water-friendly men’s & women’s ‘Dunes’ line, retailing for $60.

ABOUT LANDON SMITH
Landon Smith is the Founder and former Chief Executive Officer at Riveron, a national business advisory firm specializing in accounting, finance, and operations. A serial investor, Landon has served as CEO to Envolve, a corporate wellness consulting program, as well as Chairman to Zyyah, a digital home companion that leverages technology, expert knowledge, and relationships to radically simplify home management. Smith ensures management, investors, and board members are aligned and empowered to fulfill each firm’s strategic vision and achieve rapid growth with the initiatives & causes he spearheads.

Contact: 
Lila Stewart
(214) 908-0282                                                                                                                                                                
[email protected]
Office 214-637-2700    

SOURCE Hari Mari