Vascular Surgeons Stephen Black, MD, and Houman Jalaie, MD, PhD join VeinWay’s Scientific Advisory Board.

OR YEHUDA, Israel, Sept. 7, 2023 — VeinWay has closed an oversubscribed SAFE round of investment and has opened a series A round.

The funds will be used to complete all design verification testing and to prepare for VeinWay’s First-in-Human clinical trial of its Traversa system towards an FDA IDE trial planned for the first half of 2024.

VeinWay’s Traversa system is in development to empower physicians to overcome the highly challenging task and unmet need of crossing clogged veins to easily restore blood flow from the vein to the heart.   

Today’s news follows two successful compassionate use cases presented at the LINC conference in Leipzig, Germany in June 2023.  In the first case, Traversa demonstrated to help physicians save a patient’s leg and in the second case, restore function to another patient’s arm by enabling the treating physician to cross a previously uncrossable clogged vein.

“We are excited about VeinWay’s leadership, technology and business value proposition,” said Mr. Jordan Feiger, an investor in the SAFE round.

VeinWay also announced today that Stephen Black, MD and Houman Jalaie, MD, PhD have joined the company’s scientific advisory board.

Dr. Black is a Consultant Vascular Surgeon at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital and a Professor of Venous Surgery at Kings College, London. He is the Site Lead for Surgery at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital and the Co-R&D Lead for the Cardiovascular Directorate (Cardiology, Cardio-Thoracic and Vascular Surgery). He was the Clinical Lead for Vascular Surgery for 4 years (2019-2023). He is the Co-founder & Medical Director at UK Vein Clinic.

His principal clinical interest is the treatment of Venous Disease. He has established a large practice in the treatment of both Acute and Chronic Deep Venous Disease as well as superficial venous disorders and together with a comprehensive multi-disciplinary team of colleagues at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital is part of one of the largest such services in Europe. He has led several global studies and is active in ongoing research and development in this field.

Dr. Black said, “We have seen significant growth in the venous space in the last 5-10 years. All the development has, however, focused on stents or thrombectomy devices. As the market matures, we need to see development in venous specific devices that make treatment easier and more effective. VeinWay is the start of that journey.”

Dr. Jalaie is the Head of the European Venous Center in Aachen. He is also the Director of the Venous Program of the European Vascular Course, an annual congress in Maastricht, The Netherlands. His specialties include the treatment of DVT and PTS.

Dr. Jalaie has been a principal or co-investigator in several DVT and PTS clinical trials. In addition, he has authored or co-authored more than 100 different scientific publications, abstracts, and book chapters and has delivered more than 400 guest lectures at national and international meetings.

Dr. Jalaie said, “I’ve seen first-hand the game-changing potential of VeinWay’s venous recanalization device. This is why I am joining the scientific advisory board of the company.”

About VeinWay

VeinWay is developing a device called Traversa, intended to provide physicians with a dedicated, purpose-built tool to create a pathway through a clogged vein to empower physicians to easily restore blood flow through the vein to the heart. Traversa is designed to expand the physician’s ability to safely cross a variety of complicated blockages that were previously un-crossable, as well as shorten the time to cross.

VeinWay addresses an annual market of more than 1.7M Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) patients, half of which will return with Post Thrombotic Syndrome (PTS) within three to five years and 68% of those will have fully blocked veins. Traversa is being developed by VeinWay as part of the MEDX Xelerator’s Entrepreneur-in-Residence program designed to promote breakthrough innovation. VeinWay is a portfolio company of the MEDX Xelerator, a medical device incubator backed by Boston Scientific, Sheba Medical Center among other investors.

Press Contact:

Marjie Hadad
General Manager
Must Have Communication & Consulting
On behalf of VeinWay
[email protected]
917-790-1178

Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2204192/Jalaie_and_Black.jpg

SOURCE VeinWay

The investment will be used to accelerate Momofuku Goods’ mission to make home cooking more fun, enjoyable and delicious.

NEW YORK, Sept. 6, 2023 —Momofuku Goods, a line of restaurant-grade pantry essentials founded by David Chang, Marguerite Mariscal, and the team behind Momofuku, today announced a new $11.5 million funding round led by Alliance Consumer Growth (“ACG”), a leading consumer-focused growth equity firm. ACG was joined in this latest round by existing Momofuku Goods investor, Siddhi Capital. This new investment will help the Company to further accelerate the nationwide expansion of its popular products.

“Alliance Consumer Growth has a remarkable track record of supporting consumer brands that have gone on to become iconic, and we’re thrilled that they see similar potential in Momofuku Goods,” said Marguerite Zabar Mariscal, Co-Founder and CEO of Momofuku Goods and CEO of Momofuku. “We’re grateful to have ACG’s expertise, alongside Siddhi, as we continue to navigate the world of consumer packaged goods.”

Founded in 2019 and spun out of Momofuku in 2020, Momofuku Goods aims to redefine the American pantry by giving home cooks access to restaurant-grade flavors that make cooking more fun, enjoyable, and delicious. Its breakout product Chili Crunch was released to a 20,000-person waiting list in April 2020.

Today, Momofuku Goods includes additional iterations of Chili Crunch, best-selling Noodles, liquids such as Soy Sauce and Rice Vinegar, and Seasoned Salts — all inspired by the bold flavors that have become synonymous with the Momofuku brand. Beyond a thriving direct-to-consumer business, the brand can be found in more than 3,500 stores including Target, Whole Foods, Wegmans, and thousands of independent retailers.

“Momofuku Goods is one of the most exciting emerging brands in food. In our view, it’s the most authentic, trusted brand in its category, given David Chang’s role as one of the most accomplished chefs of this generation, and the company’s heritage of cult-favorite restaurants,” said Josh Goldin, Co-Founder of Alliance Consumer Growth. “Grocery consumers everywhere have just begun to discover Momofuku’s incredibly delicious and authentic products, which enable home cooks to make restaurant-quality food in minutes. We’re thrilled to be part of this journey with David, Marguerite, and the amazing Momofuku Goods team.”

About Momofuku Goods
Momofuku Goods seeks to reimagine America’s pantries with restaurant-grade flavors that make cooking more fun, enjoyable, and delicious. Created by David Chang, Marguerite Mariscal, and the team behind Momofuku, all Momofuku Goods products are inspired by the flavors and techniques used in the group’s restaurants. Products include its Chili Crunches, air-dried noodles, sauces and Seasoned Salts, all of which can be found in more than 2,000 doors nationwide, as well as retailers online. To learn more and shop the line, visit shop.momofuku.com. 

About Alliance Consumer Growth
Alliance Consumer Growth (“ACG”) is a leading growth equity firm, providing capital and value-added partnership to promising emerging consumer product and retail brands. Since its founding in 2011, ACG has built a track record of identifying and backing some of the most disruptive consumer brands of the past decade, across food, beverage, beauty, personal care, pet products, apparel & accessories. ACG has offices in New York City and Los Angeles.  For more information please visit www.acgpartners.com.

SOURCE Momofuku Goods

Capital infusion to fuel Accela’s growth building on its strong fiscal year 2023 performance

SAN RAMON, Calif., Sept. 6, 2023 — Accela, the trusted provider of cloud solutions at the heart of government, today announced a strategic growth investment from Francisco Partners, a leading global investment firm that specializes in partnering with technology businesses. Berkshire Partners will remain a significant investor with an equal equity holding in Accela. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. 

“Today’s announcement marks another notable milestone for Accela as we aim to advance the govtech industry. This new funding and partnership with Francisco Partners kick-starts our next chapter that’s focused on elevating and expanding how we serve state and local governments,” said Gary Kovacs, CEO of Accela. “Francisco Partners’ world-class technology expertise will parlay into investments designed to further simplify and streamline the government experience, and we are pleased to have the continued strong support of Berkshire Partners as we execute our growth strategy. Our mission remains the same: to be the heart of government, vital to the expansion of innovative, growing, and safe communities.”

Serving more than 300 million citizens worldwide and delivering strong 2023 fiscal year momentum, Accela offers agencies a unified suite of cloud solutions and a single cloud-based platform to accelerate government modernization, deliver critical services, and build stronger communities. Accela’s Civic Platform powers major state and local governments, streamlining the internal and residential government experience for Dallas, Texas; Seattle, Washington; the State of California; Abu Dhabi; cities and counties across Florida; and more.

“Accela has been a foundational leader in the govtech space for decades and has demonstrated impressive double-digit growth quarter over quarter—a reflection of their strong brand reputation, competitive differentiation and unbreakable customer relationships,” said Andrew Kowal, partner at Francisco Partners. “Accela’s combination of low-code cloud-based solutions on a single robust platform is transforming the digital government experience. We’ve been impressed with Accela’s industry impact for some time, and we look forward to helping them provide even more value to their government customers,” added Jason Brein, partner at Francisco Partners.

“Since our partnership began in 2017, we’ve seen significant growth in Accela’s ability to serve local and state agencies with increasingly essential government technology solutions,” said EJ Whelan, managing director at Berkshire Partners. “Accela’s outstanding leadership team continues to advance this industry-leading technology that helps governments better serve residents and businesses in their communities,” added Jon Nuger, managing director at Berkshire Partners. “We welcome Francisco Partners to the team and look forward to collaborating to support Accela’s growth within the rapidly advancing govtech industry.”

The government technology industry has seen record growth in the past year with the global cloud market for government expected to reach $49.2 billion by the end of 2023. As communities tackle staffing shortages and new challenges such as adapting infrastructure for extreme weather, digital solutions allow local and state governments to break down agency siloes to streamline critical constituent services—such as permitting, licensing, code enforcement and more. High-quality digital services, in turn, lead to more satisfied constituents and more resilient communities.

Baird served as financial advisor to Accela and Berkshire Partners, and Shea & Company served as financial advisor to Francisco Partners.

About Accela

Accela provides a unified suite of cloud solutions trusted by governments across the globe to accelerate their digital transformation, deliver vital services, and build stronger communities. More than 300 million citizens worldwide benefit from Accela’s government software solutions. The company offers agile, purpose-built solutions and the power of a platform that provides users with a consumer-like experience, shares data across departments, and ensures world-class security. The company is a four-consecutive year Microsoft US Partner Award winner, a recipient of Inc.’s Best in Business for SaaS award, and was selected by Fast Company for its World Changing Ideas Award in 2022. For more information, visit www.accela.com.

About Francisco Partners

Francisco Partners is a leading global investment firm that specializes in partnering with technology and technology-enabled businesses. Since its launch over 20 years ago, Francisco Partners has invested in more than 400 technology companies, making it one of the most active and longstanding investors in the technology industry. With approximately $45 billion in capital raised to date, the firm invests in opportunities where its deep sectoral knowledge and operational expertise can help companies realize their full potential. For more information on Francisco Partners, please visit www.franciscopartners.com.

About Berkshire Partners

Berkshire Partners is a 100% employee-owned, multi-sector specialist investor in private and public equity. The firm’s private equity team invests in well-positioned, growing companies across technology & communications, consumer, healthcare, and services & industrials. Since inception, Berkshire Partners has made more than 150 private equity investments and has a strong history of collaborating with management teams to grow the companies in which it invests. The firm’s public equity group, Stockbridge, founded in 2007, manages a concentrated portfolio seeking attractive long-term investments. The firm’s Stockbridge and Private Equity teams frequently collaborate and leverage their collective industry expertise across sectors. For additional information, visit www.berkshirepartners.com.

Media Contacts

Accela: Courtney Bonness, [email protected]

Francisco Partners: Whit Clay, [email protected] / Sarah Braunstein, [email protected]

Berkshire Partners: Greg Winter, [email protected]

SOURCE Accela

The e-Moto manufacturer has raised more than $7 million to date

CLEVELAND, Ohio, Sept. 6, 2023 — Today, Cleveland-based electric mobility and battery manufacturer LAND announces the close of a successful Series A round. The electric motorcycle maker exceeded fundraising expectations by more than $1 million in this latest round. The company also closed an oversubscribed seed round. In response to interest from new investors, LAND is now launching a $15 million convertible note to further fuel its growth.

“LAND has continuously hit our business and production goals, and this ability to execute has resonated with our investor community,” LAND CEO and Founder Scott Colosimo says. “We have opened our $15M convertible note round to scale up production and expand globally.”

The Series A round was led by Ancora, with participation from several other notable investors. Over the summer, LAND leveraged some of the fresh funds to renovate its 30,000-square-foot manufacturing facility, which includes a modern assembly line and larger design and development center. LAND has also expanded its team and doubled the size of its production staff to be able to ramp up production. Among the new company hires are Tim Leedom, chief revenue officer, and Chris Davis, head of production.

“It is a time of growth at LAND,” Colosimo adds. “Not only is our team bigger, but we’re gearing up to expand our portfolio of electric offerings this fall.”

In 2020, LAND debuted its flagship e-Moto, The District, which combines the ease of use of an electric bike and the power of an electric motorcycle into one two-wheel vehicle. Featuring three speed settings—e-Bike (up to 27 mph), e-Moped (up to 40 mph) and e-Motorcycle (70+ mph)—The District is a versatile option that meets the needs of a range of riders, from beginners to off-road enthusiasts and experienced motorcyclists. The e-Moto is powered by a swappable electric battery pack (CORE), also designed and developed by LAND, that has a range of 120 miles per battery.

LAND’s convertible note round will allow the company to continue to scale e-Moto production and sales in the U.S. and expand internationally within the next year.

“We are thrilled to take the wheel and provide our backing to a Northeast Ohio company that is driving energy independence forward,” Ancora Chairman and CEO Fred DiSanto says. “LAND’s successful second financing round, oversubscribed and with tremendous momentum, is now complemented by the launch of a $15M convertible note, propelling their growth even further.”

For more information, visit landmoto.io.

About LAND
Founded in 2020 by Scott Colosimo in Cleveland, Ohio, LAND is based on the principle that energy continuity and mobility are essential to modern life. LAND provides a transitional eMoto ecosystem with a portable power platform (CORE), a game-changing approach in the light electric vehicle industry. With products proudly manufactured in Cleveland, LAND is unwavering in its belief in American ingenuity and world-class craftsmanship. As a design-forward company, LAND is dedicated to constantly evolving to meet the needs of their customers, everyday consumers and businesses looking for energy efficiency.

SOURCE LAND

Fund II will deploy strategic initiatives to help its portfolio start-ups scale globally

RIDGEWOOD, N.J., Sept. 6, 2023 — Pentathlon Ventures, an early-stage B2B SaaS-focused venture capital firm, has announced the launch of its second fund with a target of $55 Million. The fund aims to invest in 25 B2B SaaS start-ups, supporting breakthrough solutions across Enterprise Digital Transformation, E-commerce Enablement, Fintech, Vertical SaaS, Applied AI, Sustainable Tech, and HealthTech.

The VC firm was founded in 2020 by a team of marquee entrepreneurs with over 150 years of experience: Gireendra Kasmalkar (Ideas to Impacts, Verisoft); Sandeep Chawda (Globant, Clarice, Veritas); Saurabh Lahoti (Grassroots Business Fund, Ennovent); Madhukar Bhatia (Sapience, Symphony, Veritas); Ashok Mayya (Rising Pharma, Citron Pharma); Hemant Joshi (Sapience, Symphony, Veritas), and Shashank Deshpande (Globant, Clarice, Veritas).

US-based Managing Partner Ashok Mayya observed, “Our core expertise is in early-stage B2B SaaS companies built from India. SaaS is a global play with innovative ideas coming from all corners. India’s software talent, with its experience and scale is well positioned to emerge as a dominant player in the worldwide SaaS market.”

India-based Managing Partner Gireendra Kasmalkar added, “The revenues coming from India based B2B start-ups are expected to grow 25X in the next 8 years. With an impressive 50% faster time to revenue, better revenue predictability and solid gross margins ranging between 70-80%, it presents extraordinary prospects of building sustainable businesses. Indian B2B seed stage companies are going to be global leaders in the coming decade. The successes of our investments from Fund I further strengthens our commitment to this strategy.”

For Fund II, Pentathlon Ventures is raising capital from a mix of Indian and global limited partners encompassing successful business leaders, corporations and institutions.

Through its first fund, the VC firm has invested in 23 start-ups, with a remarkable track record which includes successful exits and follow-on investments.

About Pentathlon Ventures: 
Pentathlon Ventures is an early stage VC Fund focusing on the thriving B2B SaaS space in the Indian startup ecosystem to build global products. It works with early-stage technology companies to scale their business by providing Expertise, Ecosystem & Capital. Pentathlon Ventures’ mission is to empower ambitious tech entrepreneurs at every stage of their journey. As a founder-led VC firm, it aims to bridge the gap between Angel and Series A+ rounds.

Media Contact: [email protected], 201-600-9922

SOURCE Pentathlon Ventures US LLC

Creating a new standard for SaaS metrics, SaaSGrid helps companies identify, calculate and track the most important metrics

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 6, 2023 — Today SaaSGrid, the data and analysis platform for SaaS metrics, announced a $3.3M seed round led by Craft Ventures. SaaSGrid is the first dashboarding tool built specifically for SaaS companies: users simply connect their data sources and get perfect, real-time charts displaying the metrics every SaaS business should be tracking. The need for a tool like SaaSGrid has never been more critical as companies strive for efficient growth amidst a difficult fundraising environment. The company is formally launching on stage at SaaStr Annual today.

Despite broad agreement on which metrics are most important for SaaS businesses, there are no dashboarding or business intelligence tools that calculate them automatically. Creating charts is a manual, time-intensive, and error-prone process that involves pulling data into warehouses and CSVs, cleaning up messy data, and writing SQL queries and Excel formulas. The process is so burdensome that SaaS metrics are often reserved only for quarterly board meetings, even though a real-time view would be incredibly helpful to founders seeking to understand their business.

“The need for a SaaS-specific dashboarding tool was so acute, yet nothing existed in the market. So we built it,” said David Sacks, co-founder of SaaSGrid and co-founder and partner at Craft Ventures. “SaaSGrid provides a way for companies to standardize their reporting and ensure they’re tracking the most important metrics, calculated correctly.”

SaaSGrid has identified and standardized the calculations for more than 70 essential metrics, including mission-critical calculations such as MRR, ARR, Net Dollar Retention, CAC Payback, Burn Multiple, and Runway. Using SaaSGrid is simple. After connecting data sources including Salesforce, Hubspot, Stripe, Quickbooks, and spreadsheets, SaaS teams have instant access to real-time dashboards and insights – including metrics they might not have known they should be tracking. This gives SaaS leaders access to all the information they need to run their companies day-to-day, report to their board, or engage in fundraising rounds.

SaaSGrid CEO and co-founder Ethan Ruby developed an early prototype of SaaSGrid to help the investment team at Craft Ventures run metrics for prospective investments. Once founders saw these dashboards, they wanted access to the tool, not just to help with fundraising but for their internal KPI dashboards. With this $3.3 million in seed funding, SaaSGrid officially launches independently of Craft and is available to SaaS startups worldwide. The funds will be used to further develop the product, including pipeline metrics and benchmarking.

“I’ve spent countless hours wrangling data and writing SQL queries and Excel formulas to make SaaS metrics dashboards – both as an operator and as an investor.” said Ethan Ruby. “The process is painful, and I found myself wishing there was a tool that could help. In talking to SaaS founders and operators, I realized I wasn’t alone: everyone struggles to pull data from their systems, clean up edge cases, and get the accurate reporting necessary to run their business. SaaSGrid is the tool SaaS leaders have been wanting for.”

SaaSGrid is already the source of truth for KPIs for hundreds of SaaS companies and is SOC 2 compliant so customers know their data is safe and confidential.

“Before SaaSGrid, we had to manually download Salesforce reports every quarter and spend days modifying, calculating, and verifying the data to ensure it was up-to-date. Since implementing SaaSGrid, we are able to monitor sales and renewal progress in real-time, and generating board reports takes minutes instead of days,” said Diane Garcia, Director of Operations at Scratchpad.

About SaaSGrid

SaaSGrid is the dashboarding tool built specifically for SaaS companies, setting the standard for how SaaS metrics are calculated, analyzed, and reported. Founded by David Sacks, Ethan Ruby, and Teddy Ruby, SaaSGrid is based in San Francisco and New York City and backed by Craft Ventures. Visit SaaSGrid.com to get the insights needed to make the most important decisions for any SaaS business.

Media Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE SaaSGrid

Led by investors including the Reno Seed Fund and AZ-VC, former PayPal executive Jack Selby’s venture firm, this seed round fuels MessageDesk’s growth and market expansion

RENO, Nev., Sept. 6, 2023 — MessageDesk, a text messaging software for small to mid-sized businesses (SMBs), announced today its successful $1.6M million Seed investment. Led by the Reno Seed Fund and with new investments from AZ-VC, Acadian Capital Ventures, Arizona Tech Investors, and Desert Angels; along with support from the Sierra Innovations Entrepreneur Fund of the Sierra Angels.

This new capital furthers MessageDesk’s mission of routing business communications to the right people and places at the right time. The company aims to hit $1M+ in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) in 2023 and anticipates reaching 1000 SMB customers by the end of Q1 2024 while also expanding its mid-market customer base.

“Savvy investors are increasing their investments in companies like MessageDesk because they deliver on strong use cases and they have shown very early on that they are able to generate sustainable, recurring revenue,” explained Gene Wong, Managing Partner of The Reno Seed Fund. “Proven and successful SaaS startups like MessageDesk are hard to find.”

“Healthcare staffing agencies, logistics providers, school administrators, and many other professionals already use MessageDesk’s inbox and broadcast features to route their text conversations and reach everyone on their contact lists,” said Clint Vernon, Co-Founder and CEO of MessageDesk. “We’ve established product-market fit with over 600 SMB and mid-market customers. These new funds will enable us to scale our marketing, sales, and customer success operations while continuing to evolve our platform and expand it to include features like AI-driven sentiment analysis, team chatbots, and voice-to-text.”

“Our investment in MessageDesk is a testament to the potential we see in their innovative solution and business model, especially considering the fluctuating economic conditions and shift to not only more mobile work but mobile work that demands greater efficiency and coordination to deliver services when and where they are most needed,” said Ben Brockwell, Partner at AZ-VC. “MessageDesk’s focus on streamlining the user experience and its strategic growth plans align well with our investment philosophy.”

MessageDesk is a tech company solving real-world problems. It is a great example of the emerging startup ecosystem in Reno, Nevada. MessageDesk’s initial local and regional angel investment and new out-of-state venture funding, reiterate its commitment to serving small and medium-sized businesses and aligns well with the investment theses of the contributing funds.

For more information about MessageDesk, please visit www.messagedesk.com.

About MessageDesk

MessageDesk is a communications software company that helps businesses and organizations text-enable their business phone lines, send mass text message broadcasts, get optimal text message delivery rates, and route, assign, and automatically manage text message conversations across their entire organization. MessageDesk was founded and is based in Reno, Nevada. Please visit www.messagedesk.com

SOURCE MessageDesk

Six early-stage startups provide solutions to challenges in real estate development, mobility, and energy management

BROOKLYN, N.Y., Sept. 6, 2023 — URBAN-X, the leading urban technology startup platform by MINI, today announced its thirteenth cohort of early-stage startups dedicated to advancing climate technology solutions. Run in collaboration with leading venture capital firm JVP, this new cohort represents a number of startups from across the country. Selected from a pool of over 160 applicants, the six startups are working on solutions in real estate development, mobility, and energy & carbon management to create more interconnected cities that improve quality of life for all.

The launch of this cohort coincides with the end of a record-breaking summer, where extreme heat waves, wildfires, and floods have underscored the urgent need to reshape our climate trajectory. Recognizing the significance of this challenge, URBAN-X is committed to fostering more sustainable, livable, and resilient cities by nurturing startups that offer impactful solutions.

“It’s clear, now more than ever, that the work climate tech founders and startups are doing is critical to the continued prosperity of cities in the midst of a climate crisis,” said Mike Peyton, President of MINI Business Innovations LLC, and Vice President of MINI of the Americas. “MINI is committed to driving positive change in urban environments, and we see no better way forward than through the work of the emerging startups URBAN-X is supporting.”

These six startups join a growing list of over 100 companies that have graduated from the URBAN-X program. More than 87 percent of startups raise their next round during or right after the program. Over the course of the four-month program, the startups will benefit from hands-on mentorship in areas such as customer engagement, product development, talent acquisition, and brand strategy. Each team will also have access to URBAN-X’s expansive network of world-class design, engineering, and branding experts from MINI, as well as office space in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

“We are excited by the companies in Cohort 13 because they build on work we’ve supported in the past in new and innovative ways,” said Johan Schwind, Managing Director of URBAN-X. “These solutions will drive us towards a better, more resilient future, and we are dedicated to helping scale them just as climate innovations are needed most in cities in the U.S. and across the globe.”

The complete list of URBAN-X Cohort 13 companies includes:

• Algoma: Partnering with real estate developers to automate the repeatable delivery of zero-carbon buildings by leveraging AI
• HubOn: Offering the cheapest and most eco-friendly transport for goods by partnering with retail shops serving as drop-off and pickup locations
• Blip Energy: Unlocking energy equity by building a new category of smart, affordable energy storage to add millions of homes to the smart grid
• Upward: Collecting, storing, and analyzing building energy data to drive operational success and automate compliance
• Enspi: Bringing efficiency, sustainability, and profitability to modern energy management with a proprietary platform
• Vy-Carb: Performing real-time, autonomous removal, storage, and verification of CO2 in water with a fully-measured carbon management system

To celebrate climate innovation, URBAN-X will host a discussion about the future of mobility on September 18th as part of Climate Week NYC. For more details and to RSVP, please visit the event site.

About URBAN-X
URBAN-X is the platform for founders reimagining city life. Built by MINI in 2016, URBAN-X partners with startups to build bold technology solutions for a sustainable planet. Breaking from traditional startup program molds, URBAN-X provides Pre-Seed and Seed-Stage entrepreneurs with individualized and tailored support that accelerates growth and builds successful businesses for the next generation of climate- and city-focused innovators. Core to its platform, URBAN-X offers world-class engineering and design resources, industry-leading investment capital from our venture partner JVP, a global network of investors, policymakers, corporate strategies and end-customers, and premier educational content for a global network of founders. Find URBAN-X on Twitter & Instagram at @urbanxtech and on Facebook at facebook.com/urbanxtech.

About MINI in the US
MINI is an independent brand of the BMW Group. In the United States, MINI USA operates as a business unit of BMW of North America, LLC, located in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey and includes the marketing and sales organizations for the MINI brand. The MINI USA sales organization is represented by a network of 104 MINI passenger car dealers located throughout the US. MINI USA began selling vehicles in the U.S. in 2002 with the introduction of the MINI Cooper and MINI Cooper S Hardtops. Since then, the MINI Brand in the U.S. has grown to encompass a model range of five unique vehicles.

Journalist note: Media information about MINI and its products is available to journalists on-line at www.miniusanews.com.

About JVP
JVP, is an internationally renowned venture capital fund based in Israel. Established in 1993 by Dr. Erel Margalit, JVP has raised to date $1.6 billion across 10 funds, and has been listed numerous times by Preqin, and other rankings, as one of the top-ten consistently performing VC firms worldwide. JVP has built over 160 companies, leveraging a broad network of partners and market expertise to help companies become global market leaders. Among the pioneering firms of the Israeli venture capital industry, JVP has been instrumental in building some of the largest companies out of Israel, facilitating 12 Initial Public Offerings on NASDAQ including CyberArk Software ($3.6 billion mkt. cap.), QLIK Technologies (then $2.5 billion mkt. cap.) and Cogent Communications ($2.3 billion mkt. cap.). https://www.jvpvc.com/

Media Contacts
Ella Snyder
BerlinRosen
[email protected] 

Andrew Cutler
Head of Corporate Communications, MINI USA
201.307.3784
Andrew.Cutler@miniusa.com

SOURCE URBAN-X; MINI USA

Equity Investment Expands Solar and Battery Land and Lease Financing Access for Developers and Landowners

VIENNA, Va., Sept. 6, 2023 — SolaREIT™, a solar real estate investment fund, and funds managed by AB CarVal, a global alternative investment manager, have completed the close of an investment, initially $100 million with up to $250 million in additional capital, to turbocharge growth of SolaREIT’s renewable land, lease and loan financing solutions. SolaREIT, which launched in late 2020, provides an innovative model for financing solar real estate and offers options to compensate landowners for utilizing their land to host solar farms and battery storage projects. Since its founding, SolaREIT has partnered with developers and landowners across the country to support the development of hundreds of megawatts of renewable energy deployment.

“Solar development is capital intensive, and we believe this investment will deliver innovative technologies and projects that are supporting the energy transition while offering solid, long-term return potential,” said Jerry Keefe, principal with AB CarVal. “This partnership with SolaREIT scales solar and battery storage growth by delivering a full suite of financing solutions for developers, project owners and landowners.”

“AB CarVal’s deep experience in clean energy made them the perfect partner for this important work. We’re just at the beginning of the solar growth curve, and financing needs to expand to meet the need,” said Gautam Chandra, founder and managing director of SolaREIT. “We’re excited to work together with them to expand solar financing options and solutions to developers and project owners across the country.”

“We’re looking forward to partnering with AB CarVal to expand access to solar and battery storage financing at this important time. Developers and asset owners are facing a number of challenges in the current financial environment, and need access to capital and other financial solutions that are flexible and nimble,” said Laura Pagliarulo, founder and president of SolaREIT. “Our deep experience in this sector helps us understand these needs and deliver the right solution.”

The United Nations estimates that $4 trillion* must be invested annually to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. Solar development is particularly land and capital intensive. Since 2017, AB CarVal has deployed over $4 billion in clean energy investments, including solar and storage hard assets, private financings, solar loans and solar asset-backed securities (ABS). SolaREIT provides solar-focused financial options to developers and project owners that monetize land and lease value and free up capital or reduce lease costs. SolaREIT financing solutions are available to solar and battery storage developers across the country. 

About SolaREIT
SolaREIT, based in Vienna, Virginia, focuses on making investments in acquiring, developing and managing climate-friendly real estate assets that support solar and battery storage projects, furthering the transformation to a low-carbon economy. SolaREIT offers practical and streamlined financing options that deliver maximum flexibility to developers, project owners and landowners based on their individual needs and financial goals, Products include land purchases, lease purchases and mortgage loans, among other innovative solutions for clients. For more information, please visit www.solareit.com.

About AB CarVal
AB CarVal is an established global alternative investment manager and part of AllianceBernstein’s Private Alternatives business. Since 1987, AB CarVal’s team has navigated through ever-changing credit market cycles, opportunistically investing $144 billion in 5,680 transactions across 82 countries. Today, AB CarVal has approximately $17 billion* in assets under management in corporate securities, loan portfolios, structured credit and hard assets. Additional information about AB CarVal may be found at www.abcarval.com.

*Source: IEA Flagship report, May 2021

**As of June 30, 2023. AUM is comprised fee-earning AUM and fee-eligible AUM. Fee-earning AUM includes those assets currently qualified to generate management fees. Fee-eligible AUM includes capital that is committed to an AB CarVal Fund but is currently uncalled or recallable. The number represented here excludes assets under AB CarVal’s management that are not generating management fees due to the maturity of the Fund but includes amounts that do not generate management fees solely due to AB CarVal’s decision not to charge management fees.

SOURCE SolaREIT