MINNEAPOLIS, Sept. 19, 2023 — Kyros, the Minnesota-based technology platform providing Substance Use Disorder (SUD) recovery services, has announced that it has raised an additional $10.5 million in funding to expand access to life-saving services. Existing investor Rally Ventures led the round.

Since launching in 2021, the company has focused on removing barriers to Substance Use Disorder recovery, primarily through connecting individuals who need help with Certified Peer Recovery Specialists (CPRS) who serve as their mentors and advocates. However, the challenges faced by people struggling with addiction are not confined within the four walls of a treatment center – where CPRSs have historically worked with their clients – but are experienced throughout their daily lives, in the communities where they live.

Kyros’ technology-enabled approach to peer recovery services is providing effective and scalable support by meeting individuals where they are physically, emotionally, mentally and culturally within their communities. This community-based, partnership approach works to remove the practical barriers to recovery, elevate and amplify the work already being done by organizations across the industry. Clients are met at times and places that work for them, an average of 4 times per week, to develop and work through individualized wellness plans to achieve the goals that are relevant to their lives and recovery.

“Kyros is defining the next generation of recovery by recognizing that preventative care happens more and more outside the four walls of a treatment center,” Daniel Larson, president and CEO of Kyros, said in a statement. “Our community-based approach, combined with the data analytics enabled by our technology platform, is incredibly powerful. We’re enthusiastic about channeling our investments into broadening access to services for more individuals in need, as well as advancing the refinement of tools crucial to enhancing both client and service provider outcomes.”

“Kyros is demonstrating the ability to significantly move the needle on client health outcomes by filling the gaps inherent in the existing industry model,” said Justin Kaufenberg, Managing Director at Rally Ventures. “Kyros has become a critical partner for industry incumbents to efficiently manage peer recovery services, so they can remain focused on their core mission and services. Our continued support is a commitment to fostering innovation that doesn’t just drive financial success, but also drives meaningful, lasting impact”.

Kyros’ success as a digital solution for the recovery space is reflected in over 5,000 clients served in the last 24 months and over 400 CPRS who have provided those services. In addition to peer recovery services, Kyros is also expanding access to same-day, virtual comprehensive assessments to provide those who are ready to get help an immediate pathway to receive it.

About Kyros
Kyros is the first of its kind digital platform for recovery services, harnessing the power of technology to connect and empower clients, providers and organizations. The pioneering digital interface provides tailored experiences for clients by fostering connections in person and online with providers, and streamlines access to business services like liability insurance, billing, payments, technology, and clinical supervision. Founded in 2021 by Daniel Larson, after he encountered obstacles in his own journey with substance use disorder, Kyros’ mission is to increase positive outcomes for the millions of Americans managing their own recovery or dedicating their lives to helping others find support and wellbeing.

Click here for more information on Kyros

SOURCE Kyros

This new funding accelerates Mapbox efforts to bring AI into the car, with new ADAS features for automated driving and safety that work across a wider range of roads and more geographic locations. The unique Mapbox map allows vehicles and devices to share 28 billion global daily map detections. With an increasingly sophisticated set of sensors inside vehicles, automakers need embedded AI processing to enable fast decision making.

“It’s this combination of data and AI processing that is unique to Mapbox,” said Mapbox CEO Peter Sirota. “It’s what allows us to satisfy our customers’ needs across automotive, logistics, business intelligence, and mobile apps. This investment will allow Mapbox to bring its AI technology closer to the sophisticated camera and LiDAR sensors inside the vehicle, so split-second decisions can be made with the best data possible.”

Mapbox will leverage its real-time map to give automakers the required data and AI to comply with new safety standards such as Europe’s GSR and NCAP. The AI map also plays a role in automotive electrification by integrating with in-vehicle battery systems to monitor energy consumption, intelligently forecasting range, suggesting charging stations based on real-time availability, and facilitating secure payment processing.

Beyond automotive, delivery companies will gain access to local details that efficiently guide drivers to destinations. App developers gain richer 3D map content to create engaging virtual environments in travel, fitness, and weather. And companies of all kinds can leverage the live map to analyze how their business performs through the lens of location intelligence.

“We believe Mapbox is unlocking entirely new applications for AI in the car,” said Vikas Parekh, Managing Partner for SoftBank Investment Advisors. “As AI-driven location features become increasingly sophisticated and computationally demanding, I’m thrilled to see SoftBank’s broad portfolio of companies help Mapbox bring those to market faster.”

Mapbox will be providing new product announcements at SoftBank World 2023 in Tokyo on October 4th – 5th.

About Mapbox
Mapbox is the technology underpinning location-aware businesses and applications. Mapbox equips organizations with AI-enhanced tools and data to power navigation for people, packages, and vehicles everywhere. More than 4 million registered developers and nearly 40 percent of Fortune 500 companies have chosen Mapbox because of the platform’s flexibility, security, and privacy compliance. Organizations use Mapbox applications, data, SDKs, and APIs to create customized and immersive experiences that delight their customers.

For more information, visit www.mapbox.com.

SOURCE Mapbox

Launches Yotta Vision to Enhance solar system management

AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 19, 2023 — Yotta Energy, a leading provider of innovative solar+storage solutions, announced it raised an $8 million funding round led by Evergy Ventures and with participation from strategic investors BlueScope and Cricetus Felix Ventures and existing investors Copec WIND Ventures, EDP Ventures, Doral Tech Ventures, and the SWAN Impact Fund.  The funding will help the company scale up manufacturing and accelerate the deployment of its SolarLEAF battery technology.

Addressing the Growing Market for Commercial Solar Installation
As the world continues prioritizing sustainability and environmental responsibility, the demand for renewable energy solutions in the commercial building sector has experienced exponential growth. Solar energy has become increasingly attractive to businesses looking to reduce their carbon footprint, mitigate energy costs, and improve energy resiliency. Recent data indicates that solar installations on commercial buildings have seen impressive year-over-year growth of more than 30% since 2016, underscoring the immense potential and untapped opportunities in this market segment.

Yotta’s Combined Solar+Storage Solution Can Save Customers Time and Money
Yotta Energy’s proprietary solar+storage architecture has emerged as a game-changer for commercial buildings, addressing one of the most significant challenges in solar energy utilization—intermittency. The company’s energy storage technology is the only system designed to be streamlined and installed alongside solar Photovoltaic systems. Doing so saves significant time on technical design and construction, saving customers up to 40% over energy storage as a separate project. Yotta is increasingly building up a network of certified developers and installers, including Teylon and E2SOL deploy solar+storage architecture to some notable national retailers.

“We are thrilled to partner with Yotta Energy on their journey to transform the commercial building sector with their innovative solar+storage technology,” said Brock Smith, Managing Director at Evergy Ventures. “Yotta’s unique approach to addressing intermittency challenges in solar energy is truly game-changing, and we believe it aligns perfectly with our vision of advancing clean and sustainable energy solutions. We are excited to support Yotta Energy as they expand their commercial deployment and contribute to a greener, more resilient energy future for businesses around the world.”

“This new $8 million funding round, reinforces Yotta Energy’s position as a leading player in the solar+storage domain,” said Omeed Badkoobeh, CEO of Yotta Energy. “With the growing interest within this market for solar, ESS and EV Charging, and our recent entry into the GSA Green Proving Ground, a program that will give us access on deploying our technology across government buildings, we think Yotta Energy is exceptionally positioned to deliver not only the best project economics but also deliver this at scale. With Evergy Ventures as our strategic partner, we are confident in our ability to drive positive change and make a lasting impact on the global transition to renewable energy.”

Announces Launch of Yotta Vision
The company also announced the launch of its new product, Yotta Vision. The product is a monitoring platform designed to enhance solar system management. With its capability to analyze individual solar modules and micro-inverters, it enables remote access to a solar array. Real-time communication, performance issue alerts, Temperature monitoring, and dynamic graphs of solar output empower efficient troubleshooting and optimization, ensuring its clients’ solar investments thrive.

About Yotta Energy
Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Yotta Energy is delivering a green future with ‘Energy Made Simple’ solutions that incorporate solar, energy storage, and electric vehicle charging technologies into commercial buildings. Yotta has developed a unique PV-Coupled™ architecture, a smart energy storage solution designed to scale with rooftop solar PV projects effortlessly, in addition to a number of electric vehicle charging products to create a holistic ecosystem of renewable energy technologies. Yotta’s technology features advanced thermal management to maintain an optimal working temperature even under extreme outdoor conditions. As an integrated software plus hardware solution, Yotta also helps address grid outages by enhancing grid resilience and reliability. Yotta’s technology allows for a much lower total installation cost for rooftop solar-plus-storage and EV charging infrastructure than any other current providers. Learn more at www.yottaenergy.com.

About Evergy Ventures
Evergy Ventures – formerly known as GXP Investments (GXPI) – is the non-regulated investment affiliate of Evergy, Inc., the electric utility serving approximately 1.6 million customers in Kansas and Missouri. Its investment portfolio includes a wide range of businesses, and they are particularly focused on exploring unique opportunities that are aligned with Evergy’s core mission to foster energy that moves us forward. Evergy’s well-respected team of investment professionals has deep experience in both regulated and non-regulated energy solutions as well as investments, entrepreneurship and business strategy. For more information about Evergy Ventures, please visit: https://evergyventures.com/.

For media inquiries, please contact:
Mary Magnani
CodePR
[email protected]

SOURCE Yotta Energy

Leading the Silicon Valley Office, Dr. Strattan’s New Role Will Include Expanded Responsibilities for Deal Generation and Mentorship of Companies within the Two Bear Capital Portfolio

MENLO PARK, Calif., Sept. 19, 2023 — Two Bear Capital, the venture capital firm investing in disruptors in biotechnology, bioinformatics, healthcare IT, machine learning and AI, and information security, today announced the promotion of J. Seth Strattan, PhD to General Partner. In this new leadership role, Dr. Strattan will take on more responsibilities for identifying and securing investment opportunities and mentoring the growth and development of companies within the Two Bear Capital portfolio. He will work closely with Founder and Managing Partner Mike Goguen to chart the strategic course for the firm as it enters a period of expansion. Strattan leads the Silicon Valley office and is focused on the application of data science, software engineering, and genomics technologies to solve problems in medicine and biology.

Mike Goguen, Founder and Managing Partner said: “Seth Strattan has been an incredible partner to me and an asset to Two Bear Capital. Having deep domain expertise embedded into our investment team has distinguished us from other firms. Seth’s experience and insights not only help us identify opportunities in the marketplace but also mentor founders in a way that creates tremendous value. I look forward to seeing all that Seth can accomplish as he takes on an even greater leadership role within our firm.”

Strattan joined Two Bear Capital from Stanford University where he built and led engineering and data science teams in the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE), Human Cell Atlas (HCA), and International Human Epigenomics (IHEC) consortia. Previously, he held entrepreneurial and management positions in enterprise software and consulting. He brings to Two Bear Capital a passion for empowering collaborations between scientists and engineers to deliver durable, reproducible solutions to problems in genomics and health. Strattan holds a PhD in Structural Biology and a BA in Philosophy from Stanford University.

About Two Bear Capital
Founded in 2019 by Mike Goguen, Two Bear Capital is a venture capital firm that invests in brilliant entrepreneurs who have breakthrough ideas. With its unique approach to venture capital, Two Bear Capital’s vision is to build an ecosystem of support, economic opportunity and innovation that brings the most meaningful ideas to market in the form of enduring high-impact businesses that benefit society as a whole, while delivering for investors. The firm primarily focuses on early founder-led companies with disruptive innovations in biotechnology, bioinformatics, healthcare IT, machine learning and AI, and information security. Two Bear Capital has offices in Menlo Park, San Diego, Boston, and New York, with its home base in Whitefish, Montana. For more information visit: www.twobearcapital.com

Photo: Link here.
Photo Caption: Two Bear Capital General Partner J. Seth Strattan, PhD
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Two Bear Capital

Contact:
Susan Ainsworth
[email protected]
[email protected] 

SOURCE Two Bear Capital

Funding enables Mural Health to expand its Mural Link platform to modernize the clinical trial participant experience

BERWYN, Pa., Sept. 19, 2023 — Mural Health Technologies, Inc. a next-generation clinical trial participant management platform, today announced that it has raised $8 million in seed funding, led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from Virtue VC, Operator Partners, Arkitect Ventures, Correlation Ventures, and Project Mayhem Ventures.

The investment empowers the company to accelerate the growth of its Mural Link platform which modernizes the clinical trial experience for both patients and caregivers.

Mural Health was founded in 2022 by Sam Whitaker, Jason Dong, and Shawn Milochik to modernize the clinical trial experience for participants and make it easier to take part in trials. Sam previously founded Greenphire, where he invented and commercialized the world’s first clinical trial payments technology, the ClinCard. Mural Health represents both a disruption to Sam’s original platform, and an expansion of functionality that leverages payments to manage and engage the participant. The company’s software platform, Mural Link, provides a next-generation payment tech that is artfully integrated with transportation, communication, and data collection functionalities.

Being in a clinical trial can often be a burden. The more difficult it is to be in the trial, the fewer people sign up and fewer people will remain in the trial. Today, Mural Link reduces the burden and increases retention of trial participants in three core ways. First, the platform gives participants the power to choose how they receive payment, eliminating the predatory inactivity fees associated with prepaid debit cards that are typically used. Second, Mural Link offers functionality to help patients arrive at site visits without incurring a cash expense through an Uber integration. Finally, Mural Link helps optimize for a positive trial experience through two-way secure participant messaging and real time experiential feedback that informs study personnel on how to optimize operations, and ultimately prevent attrition.

“Participants in clinical trials often get overlooked as the industry, and the world, focuses on study results. But patients and their caregivers represent ground-zero. They are the source of data and without their participation new therapies cannot be safely brought to market,” said Sam Whitaker, Mural Health’s co-CEO and co-founder. “We believe that as we serve participants well, study sponsors will enjoy improved enrollment, retention, and protocol compliance. And the global community will, consequently, be better served by the new products that are made possible by clinical R&D.”

Today, Mural Health has three of the top 15 pharmaceutical companies in the world as customers, as well as several biotechs such as Sonex Health, and research sites. Mural Health has also partnered up with several eClinical platforms such as Clinical ink and Ledger Run to provide an integrated solution. The company’s reception by its customers has been overwhelming.

“I have deployed several different participant support systems. Mural Health’s platform is exactly what the industry needs. Their product is intuitive, delightful to interact with, and is clearly designed for the patient and caretaker,” said Cindy Grabowski, Vice President of Clinical Affairs at Sonex Health. “The Mural team is genuinely passionate about delivering on their promises. Their level of service that follows is refreshing and personal. The Mural team has been an absolute pleasure to work with.”

Steve Kraus leads the investment on behalf of Bessemer Venture Partners and has joined the Mural Health board of directors. “The Mural team has been hyper focused on creating value for the clinical research industry,” said Kraus. “I have been especially excited by the rapid results achieved within the largest global pharma companies. Mural Health has become the clear product leader in its category and I am excited to watch the story unfold and see what this very experienced and driven team is able to create.”

About Mural Health
Mural Health is a next-generation participant management platform. The Company’s Mural Link technology platform is designed to make it easier to participate in clinical trials, thereby improving clinical study operations and the quality of clinical data sets. The Mural Link platform improves participant retention and engagement, increases protocol compliance, and increases enrollment rates. Please reach out to us to learn more about our capabilities, at www.muralhealth.com or [email protected].

About Bessemer Venture Partners
Bessemer Venture Partners helps entrepreneurs lay strong foundations to build and forge long-standing companies. With more than 145 IPOs and 300 portfolio companies in the enterprise, consumer and healthcare spaces, Bessemer supports founders and CEOs from their early days through every stage of growth. Bessemer’s global portfolio has included Pinterest, Shopify, Twilio, Yelp, LinkedIn, PagerDuty, DocuSign, Wix, Fiverr, and Toast and has $20 billion of assets under management. Bessemer has teams of investors and partners located in Tel Aviv, Silicon Valley, San Francisco, New York, London, Hong Kong, Boston, and Bangalore. Born from innovations in steel more than a century ago, Bessemer’s storied history has afforded its partners the opportunity to celebrate and scrutinize its best investment decisions (see Memos) and also learn from its mistakes (see Anti-Portfolio).

SOURCE Mural Health

LillyPad’s “OpenBook” English Club: A New Era for Improving your English

TORONTO, Sept. 19, 2023 — LillyPad.ai, a leading name in AI-powered English language learning solutions, proudly announces the launch of the world’s first Personal AI Book Club called “Open Book.” This ground-breaking feature promises not only to enhance reading comprehension but also to create engaging discussions around any text – be it a favorite novel, news article, or scientific paper. LillyPad.ai makes English learning individualized, engaging, and captivating!

Designed to revolutionize the way students interact with the texts they read, the Personal AI “Open Book” Club is not just another reading app. “We aimed to emulate that warm, intimate atmosphere of a book club gathering, where participants discuss and learn from the nuances of what they’ve read through a personalized discussion,” remarks Genady Knizhnik from LillyPad.ai.

Here’s how it works:

1. Dynamic Reading Modes: The app allows learners to delve into any text in four distinct ways.

• Literal: Understand the basic content and structure.
• Inquisitive: Dive deep into the underlying themes, motifs, and ideas.
• Comparative: Draw parallels between the current text and others the reader might have encountered.
• Analytical: Engage in critical thinking about the text’s implications, context, and broader significance through discussion.

2. Immersive Conversations with the AI: After reading, users enter a discussion room where the AI leads the conversation, touching upon key points from the text, offering insights, and challenging the reader’s perspective. This fosters a personalized conversation, improved comprehension, critical thinking, and reflective learning.

3. Ask Away: If students have questions or thoughts they’d like to explore further, the AI is fully capable of engaging them. This exchange is designed to mimic the fluidity of human dialogue, offering a truly interactive experience.

The advantages of this innovative tool are manifold. “Learners not only improve their reading, speaking, and comprehension skills but also move towards a keen analytical mindset. They’re encouraged to think, reflect, and discuss ideas rather than passively consume information,” adds Chris MacDonald a co-founder of LillyPad.ai.

Through guided discussions, students can grasp the cultural context, idiomatic expressions, and nuances that often elude direct translation.

Educators and independent learners are equally excited about the potential of the AI Personal Book Club. “It’s like having a personal literary expert who is always ready for a chat,” remarks Dennis Hogan, former General Manager of National Geographic Learning and Advisor to Lillypad.ai.

Media Contact:
Chris MacDonald
+1 647.533.9633
[email protected] 

SOURCE LillyPad.ai

Briya Enables Hospitals to Increase Revenue While Research Organizations Capitalize on Most Comprehensive Anonymized Data to Develop and Implement Patient Treatments

NEW YORK, Sept. 18, 2023 — Briya, an end-to-end healthcare data exchange platform, today announced completion of an $11.5 million Series A round of financing, bringing the company’s total funding to $17 million. The round was led by Team8, includes existing investors Insight Partners, Amiti Ventures and Innocare Health Investments, and is joined by the George Kaiser Family Foundation.

The funding will support Briya’s mission to transform how data is exchanged between healthcare organizations and life sciences organizations, with particular emphasis on supporting the United States health ecosystem. The company’s scalable data exchange platform enables hospitals to capitalize on their patient data. It has been implemented in healthcare systems and academic institutions, primarily in Europe and Israel.

“By implementing Briya’s data platform, we can now quickly access relevant clinical and radiological data from various sources in mere seconds,” said Dr. Jawed Nawabi, a radiology specialist at the Institute of Neuroradiology at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, a Newsweek Top 10 global hospital, and Digital Clinician Scientist Fellow at the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH). “This has not only increased our efficiency in clinical research but also improved our collaboration within our international research network, thanks to a decentralized approach, enhanced data security, and increased transparency in data processing. It ultimately enhances interoperability and data quality.”

The Briya platform connects clinics and hospitals with academic and pharmaceutical research teams, addressing the primary challenges faced by organizations in the collection and exchange of healthcare data. The highly secured data exchange empowers hospitals to effectively utilize their health data and safely share it, in compliance with all regulatory guidelines. At the same time, it provides life sciences organizations seamless access to high-quality, de-identified real-world data to expedite development and time-to-market for new therapies.

“Briya has developed the only end-to-end solution currently on the market that streamlines the entire process of data sharing between healthcare organizations and life sciences organizations. It not only handles discovery, formatting, de-identification, and securing transfer of data, but also solves operational hurdles such as contracting, payments and approvals,” said Sarit Firon, Managing Partner of Team8, leading the group’s investment arm. “This unique end-to-end vision, coupled with its cutting-edge technology, makes us confident that Briya will significantly improve the healthcare industry’s ability to make positive use of clinical data.”

Briya’s scalable blockchain-powered system standardizes all forms of electronic health records, enabling streamlined access to and exchange of live, anonymized healthcare data for life sciences organizations. The technology facilitates optimal use of a range of AI and machine learning tools, real-world data, and health economics studies to optimize clinical trials, ensure regulatory compliance, and accelerate drug discovery.

The timing of the funding highlights the confidence stakeholders have in the value Briya brings to the market by enabling healthcare organizations, researchers and pharmaceutical organizations to efficiently exchange real-world healthcare data.

“Despite the abundance of available healthcare data, the fragmented nature of the current system, combined with complex compliance issues and a lack of standardization, means healthcare organizations face significant challenges in sharing their data with pharmaceutical and research partners, impeding medical research and care,” said David Lazerson, CEO and Co-founder of Briya. “Briya’s data exchange platform provides a scalable and secure model that allows hospitals to take full advantage of all that patient data has to offer, with minimal additional effort, to promote greater collaboration while generating lucrative revenue streams.”

“Privacy and speed are top priorities when it comes to digital health and Briya provides both the confidentiality and fast queries simultaneously. It is the most comprehensive decentralized data platform we have seen in recent years, helping us establish smart contracts to share data and reduce data storage costs,” said Janet Meiling Wang-Roveda, professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Arizona. “We expect to see Briya adopted as a scalable data exchange solution in institutes, hospitals, and organizations across the U.S. in the near future.”

Prof. Ronni Gamzu, CEO of the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, said: “Briya has enabled us to concentrate on pioneering research and innovation while fostering strategic partnerships with academia and the industry – all vital elements for our continued relevance in the age of AI. It has become an integral part of the hospital’s legacy of excellence, as well as the broader Israeli innovation ecosystem.”

About Briya
Briya is a blockchain-secured data exchange platform that enables healthcare organizations to share anonymized patient data efficiently, securely, and compliantly, while generating new revenue streams. It facilitates the quick retrieval of accurate information by converting healthcare data into FHIR or OMOP standards and seamlessly de-identifying queried data. This access to high-quality real-world data promotes research collaboration and facilitates effective data analysis in life sciences and healthcare.
Briya was one of 10 startups selected for the 2022 Intel® Ignite accelerator program, among the 2022 intake for the Nashville Entrepreneur Center’s Project Healthcare Showcase, and participated in UC Berkeley’s Health Engine accelerator.
For more information, visit: briya.com
Follow Briya on LinkedIn and X

Media Contact
FINN Partners for Briya
Danny Sudwarts
[email protected]
(+1) 469-297-2515

SOURCE Briya

Cato’s largest financing round to date brings total funding to $773M, underscoring investor confidence in the company’s leadership in the fast-growing single-vendor SASE market.

TEL AVIV, Israel, Sept. 19, 2023 — Cato Networks, provider of the world’s leading single-vendor SASE platform, announced that it raised $238M in equity investment, bringing total funding to $773M. The largest financing round to date was led by LightSpeed Venture Partners with the participation of Adams Street Partners, Softbank Vision Fund 2, Sixty Degree Capital, and Singtel Innov8. The round comes just weeks after adding Carlsberg as a major enterprise customer, Cato’s recognition as a ZTE/SASE Leader by Forrester Research, and as a Challenger in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Single-vendor SASE. This up-round’s valuation underscores investor confidence in Cato’s massive market opportunity and its SASE platform’s disruptive and transformative power.

Following the round, Ravi Mhatre, founder and managing director of LightSpeed Venture Partners, will join the Cato board. “Lightspeed has a proven track record of supporting innovative companies that successfully disrupted and transformed huge legacy markets,” says Mhatre. “I am excited to join Cato’s board of directors to help guide the company towards its next phase of growth as it continues to expand its product offerings and scales global sales, marketing, and branding.”

“This funding round reflects investor confidence in Cato’s leadership in the single-vendor SASE market,” says Shlomo Kramer, co-founder and CEO of Cato Networks. “Cato’s SASE platform uniquely enables organizations of all sizes to optimally secure their businesses without the cost, complexity, and risk of owning and maintaining a pile of point solutions. Cato provides the only SASE platform creating a seamless customer experience and empowers IT to move at the speed of business.”

Cato will use the new funds to scale its organization in three key areas: delivering Cato’s vision and customer success to a broader audience, expanding the partner ecosystem offering managed Cato SASE services, and growing the engineering and product team in charge of its high-velocity train of innovative capabilities.

Market Adopts Single-vendor SASE Architecture Pioneered by Cato

Founded in 2015 by industry luminaries Shlomo Kramer, co-founder of Check Point Software and Imperva, and Gur Shatz, co-founder of Incapsula, Cato was built to deliver enterprise security and networking capabilities through a converged cloud service. This vision inspired the creation of the SASE category four years later. SASE promises an indisputable value to all enterprises: the ability to use a world-class security infrastructure converged with a global private backbone for the entire business without having to ‘own’ the underlying infrastructure. Cato’s SASE stands as a glaring alternative to legacy and emerging approaches that fall short of delivering this outcome as enterprises struggle with skills, resources, and budget constraints.

Cato’s vision has been met with enthusiasm in the market. In 2022, the company crossed the $100 million ARR mark, growing revenues at over 60% year-over-year. Cato’s gross dollar retention rate of over 95% is a strong testament to the improvements in security, agility, and performance experienced by our customers.

More than 1,800 enterprise customers, including Carlsberg and the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E, trust Cato with their mission-critical security and networking infrastructure, demonstrating the robustness of Cato’s platform and its ability to support complex business and technical requirements. On Gartner Peer Insights™, IT leaders give high marks for the Cato Experience. As of 11 September 2023, the Cato SASE Cloud had the highest overall rating of any rated single-vendor SASE platform (4.7 out of 5) based on 10x more reviews than any other vendor in the Single-Vendor SASE market.

“Cato Networks is the poster child for ZTE and SASE,” writes Forrester Research in The Forrester Wave™: Zero Trust Edge Solutions Q3 2023 Report. “Founded by Shlomo Kramer of Check Point Software Technologies and Imperva fame, Cato Networks started with a strong security pedigree and built a global platform of distributed PoPs from which to deliver security as a service. Cato has a strong strategy paired with a truly unified networking and security solution and has shown real security innovation within its single-pass architecture platform.”

Looking ahead, Cato will expand its cloud-first, globally distributed secure network platform to deliver new security and networking capabilities without increasing the customer’s total cost of ownership. Cato’s unique visibility into massive, real-time traffic volumes underpins existing and upcoming AI/ML capabilities to detect and respond to threats in real time. Cato’s zero-touch deployment model is ideally suited to expand beyond the network to further increase Cato’s end-to-end visibility and control of all enterprise traffic.

To learn more about Cato Networks, visit https://www.catonetworks.com. 

Digital Assets

Supporting Resources

About Cato Networks

Cato provides the world’s leading single-vendor SASE platform. Cato creates a seamless and elegant customer experience that eliminates the complexity, rigidity, and risks long associated with enterprise networking and security. Using Cato, businesses easily replace costly and rigid legacy infrastructure with a modern, zero-trust SASE architecture based on SD-WAN and a distributed cloud-native security stack to secure and optimize their global hybrid workforce, mission-critical applications, and business-sensitive data. With Cato, any organization can reap the full benefits of SASE transformation and move at the speed of business.

SOURCE Cato Networks

NEW YORK, Sept. 19, 2023 — Nuveen, the $1.1 trillion asset manager of TIAA and one of the world’s largest real estate investment managers, today announced it has secured a $250 million commitment from the TIAA General Account to seed the Nuveen Real Estate U.S. Impact Housing Fund.

The core-plus, open-end fund is focused on generating strong risk adjusted returns and creating housing opportunities for low-income residents across the U.S., primarily by investing in a geographically diverse portfolio of properties, including housing with rent subsidies, rent restrictions, income restrictions and Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing (NOAH) assets. The fund also intends to invest in regenerative development and financing that supports minority and women developers of affordable housing.

Affordable housing is a compelling portfolio allocation, offering consistent income streams though different market cycles, strong demand and limited supply, due to guaranteed subsidized rent payments for a large portion of residents.

“As demand for affordable housing has intensified nationwide, more investors are seeking opportunities in this resilient housing sector that produces positive societal benefits and steady returns—both of which are also aligned to TIAA’s objectives,” said Pamela West, Portfolio Manager of Impact Investing at Nuveen Real Estate. “As a key component of healthy, sustainable communities, affordable housing also enhances economic activity and job creation.” 

Nuveen has extensive experience investing in U.S. affordable housing dating back to 1992. Nuveen also has unique capabilities as a vertically integrated affordable housing property manager, operator and developer. Through these capabilities, Nuveen has dedicated portfolio management support for its affordable housing assets and can work with local communities to preserve and develop more affordable housing.

“We are one of the few truly vertically integrated fund managers that can build, invest in and operate quality, safe affordable housing across the country,” said Nadir Settles, Global Head of Impact Investing at Nuveen Real Estate. “By consistently reinvesting in our properties, we not only help our residents, but also build quality assets, which helps sustain investment value.”

In alignment with Nuveen Real Estate’s underlying mission, the fund will aim to address the preservation of housing for residents earning less than 80% of the Area Median Income (AMI), with a large concentration of households earning less than 60% AMI.  

The U.S. Impact Housing Fund will also improve the quality of that housing through expenditures to help with environmental adaptability and enhance resident well-being through investment in resident services, like healthcare and education. All investments are expected to make a material step toward achieving important social and environmental outcomes in affordable housing in alignment with select UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Past performance of products associated with the Manager is not indicative of future results, and there can be no assurance that the Fund will achieve comparable results. In addition, an investment in the Fund and an investment in a securitization are different in many significant aspects, including structure, terms, fees and expenses. An investment in the Fund is subject to different risks and the result thereof may vary substantially.

Investing involves risk; principal loss is possible. Real estate investments are subject to various risks associated with ownership of real estate-related assets, including fluctuations in property values, higher expenses or lower income than expected, currency movement risks, environmental problems and liability, and risks related to leasing of properties. Please consider all risks carefully prior to investing in any particular strategy. The portfolio’s concentration in the real estate sector makes it subject to greater risk and volatility than other portfolios that are more diversified and its value may be substantially affected by economic events in the real estate industry.

Responsible investing incorporates Environmental Social Governance (ESG) factors that may affect exposure to issuers, sectors, industries, limiting the type and number of investment opportunities available, which could result in excluding investments that perform well. ESG integration is the consideration of financially material ESG factors in support of portfolio management for actively managed strategies. Financial materiality of ESG factors varies by asset class and investment strategy. Applicability of ESG factors may differ across investment strategies. ESG factors are among many factors considered in evaluating an investment decision, and unless otherwise stated in the relevant offering memorandum or prospectus, do not alter the investment guidelines, strategy or objectives.

Nuveen, LLC provides investment solutions through its investment specialists. Nuveen Securities, LLC, member FINRA and SIPC.

Nuveen Real Estate is a real estate investment management holding company owned by Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA). Nuveen Real Estate securities products distributed in North America are advised by UK regulated subsidiaries or Nuveen Alternatives Advisors LLC, a registered investment advisor and wholly owned subsidiary of TIAA, and distributed by Nuveen Securities, LLC, member FINRA.

About Nuveen
Nuveen, the investment manager of TIAA, offers a comprehensive range of outcome-focused investment solutions designed to secure the long-term financial goals of institutional and individual investors. Nuveen has $1.1 trillion in assets under management as of 30 Jun 2023 and operations in 27 countries. Its investment specialists offer deep expertise across a comprehensive range of traditional and alternative investments through a wide array of vehicles and customized strategies. For more information, please visit www.nuveen.com.

Contact:
Rebecca Vignali
703.505.7954
[email protected]

SOURCE Nuveen